Moon Food
Moon Food
Moon Food
What distinguishes the one who has gazed upon the naked Isis by way
of initiation? In sloughing off the dark matter (which is sometimes called
the black matter) he can gaze upon the 'prima mater' - that Isis who is the
white matter. He is said to have escaped the dark side of his own being, the
dark matter which holds him in the land of the Sleepers. The Sleepers are
the human slaves of the Moon goddess, Selene.40 One makes the choice:
either one sleeps to Selene, or awakes to Isis. In one of the most beautiful
engravings of an alchemical laboratory which has survived from the 16th
century, the initiate is reminded by way of a Latin motto that he, above
all other men, must be prepared to be vigilant: he must remain awake,
even while in ordinary slumber.41 In this injunction lies the whole secret
of initiation, for it is a command insisting that the initiate must remain
free of the soporific influence of the dark Moon (see page 197). The true
initiate-alchemist must not fall back into being one of the multitude of
Sleepers. -- 71
We became fascinated by the nature of the Moon, and with the other female planet,
Venus. It was as though our attention had been drawn to the feminine
side of Darkness and Light, as represented in the purgatorial side of the
Moon, and the burning light of Venus. Our questions led our Master to
some fascinating and unexpected observations about the lunar
connections in ancient esoteric lore, and it was not surprising that the few
questions we did put to our Master at that time concerned these planets.
'Do you know what the third-day pig is?' he asked in response to a
question I had put to him about the Moon. Although our Master was
looking directly at us, everyone shook their heads, as though he had
directed the question to each of us personally. Perhaps the question had
been rhetorical, for he continued almost immediately. 'The three-day pig
is a phrase from the ancient Mysteries. Prior to the initiation held during
the Greater Mysteries of the Boedromion at Eleusis, in Greece, there was
what the Greeks called the Halade Mystai.48 Early in the morning, the
candidates for initiation would make their way to the sea, carrying young
pigs, which they would wash and then sacrifice. The usual - we might
even say the exoteric - explanation for this sacrifice is that they
considered the blood of the pig to be especially pure, and much
appreciated by the gods of the Underworld. They buried the killed pigs
deep in the Earth, after the blood and slaughtered bodies had been
dedicated to these infernal gods. Because the sacrifice was held on the
third day of the Greater Mystery, such a creature was called the third-
day pig.' -- 196
'In a sense, the third-day pig is humanity - the liquid sweat of the
Earth. Humanity is in thrall to the Moon - mankind is subject to the two-
and-a-half-day rhythm, and to all other lunar periodicities.49 In another
sense, the third-day pig is the animal of Set, the reject darker side of
Mankind - that lucifuge side, which does not strive towards the light.
'This truth is recognized both in the overt symbolism of the pig
sacrifice, and in its deeper arcane implications. The initiation centres
have always recognized that Mankind is in thrall to the Moon - that
ordinary men and women are sleeping under the influence of the lunar
powers. This is sometimes symbolized through the typical lunar symbols
of the serpent - the Egyptian snake, Apep (plate 22), or the alchemical
serpent, wrapped around the human form. It is usually portrayed as
possessor of the spine of man or woman (see figure on page 105), yet
which belongs to the Moon. This may account for the fact that serpents
entwine in the hair of the Moon-goddess Hecate: one of the most
widespread of beliefs is that certain snakes are the dead, returned to the
Earth Plane. The snakes in the hair of Hecate are a sign of the extent to
which the serpent still whispers imaginative words into the thinking of
Mankind. These imaginative words are pictures derived from the Moon,
the realm of imagination.
'Perhaps this explains why the highest initiation chamber in the Great
Pyramid of Cheops has within it an open tomb, a lidless sarcophagus. In
Greek, the original "sarcophagus" was a "flesh-eater" - the stone from
which it was made was said to have such a caustic property that it would
devour the flesh within 40 days. With the body eaten away, the Spirit was
free to live again. It is the same symbol of regeneration as we see in the
Christian Resurrection story of the cave, or burial chamber, visited by the
three women - for this was an open tomb.53 The open tomb was an
initiation chamber, where the body could be placed while the priests per-
formed initiation ceremonies on the Spirit (plate 4).
'On one level, then, the pig is symbol of the lower nature, which must
be buried - or, more accurately, placed into the hands of the infernal
hordes, to which it rightly belongs. Meanwhile, the initiated Spirit rises
upwards on the scalae of perfection.54 As you know, only the initiates
sacrifice at the Helade Mystai, so we may presume that, at the symbolical
death, it is only the lower part of the "pig" - the body and the blood -
which is rendered unto the lower world. The higher world carries the
Spirit to a higher realm, in the wonder of initiation. After the pig
sacrifice, the neophytes return to the Telesterion at Eleusis, and continue
with their inititation.
'You see, the three-day pig is a symbol of this rejected part, of the dark
part pushed downwards after the separation which is the immediate
consequence of initiation.' --198
'Why,' asked one of the young women in our circle, 'is the emphasis
given to the three days? Surely, it is just another sacrifice, such as was
common in pre-Christian rites?'
'You will find, as your studies progress, that the change from two and
a half to three is no mere obfuscation, for the number three has deep
meaning in relation to Spiritual fission.55 The number three takes a great
deal of its numerological significance from the idea of fission. You will
recall that one of the inscriptions on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi was
"Number is the law of the Cosmos". The number three represents the
idea of fusion, wisdom, love and Spiritual expression. However, when
you consider these things, remember that the three-day pig is really a
two-and-a-half-day pig - it requires something else, something
expressed only in the Mysteries concerning which we cannot speak
openly - to bring it to the completion of three. The lunar number, of two
and a half, is out of balance, whereas the three is balanced - one on either
side of the one: 1 + 1 + 1. Given the lunar connection with this number,
it is perhaps not surprising that the form for three may also be stripped
down to a sigil which exhibits three points, conjoining two lunar
crescents: . Of course, these last two are linear balances, while the
symbol for Libra is a vertical balance of three: . The upper curvature
represent the Sun, the lower rectilinear the Earth. The third element is
the space between them. This arrangement, however, is vertical balance,
relating the higher to the lower.
'Caroline, you may not be aware of this, but your own name begins
with the letter associated with the balance of the number three. Balance
is a grace of spirit. This is why the horizon stone played such an
important part in the Egyptian mysteries. The hieroglyphic depicts the
meeting of Sun and Earth.' ---199
He laughed to himself, and, with his left hand resting against his beard,
he flicked at his lower lip in some amusement. Perhaps he had realized
that he was being carried by his own thoughts in a direction he had no
wish to explore. He returned to his main theme. 'We should all look into
the numerological significance of our names. Caroline, the C form we
now use is the rounding of the Greek gamma, which is linked with the
number three.'56
He cut the simple rectilinear form of the gamma in the air with his
ringer.
'One can learn a great deal from meditating on the present alphabet,
and its relationship to the ancient forms. The Greek gamma is an inner
sacred sound - this is why the sound itself cuts. As you make the sound,
you can feel the cut in your throat. The sound cuts the inner from the
outer. There is magic power in such sounds: with sound alone it would
be possible to destroy or create.'
'Well, perhaps now you can see the link between the three-day pig and
the Moon? On the lowest level of symbolism, the letter C is itself a
crescent, the eternal symbol of the Moon. The form of the gamma is
made from the junction of an horizon line with a vertical - the first
pertains to the Earth, the other to the Spirit. This is a letter of fission,
cutting between matter and Spirit. Just so does the Moon operate: yet
this is the redeemed lunar quality, because it is a three: it is complete, and
in harmonic balance.'
'But the pig. Let us glance once more at the symbolism of the famous three-day pig. We are the pig,
awaiting sacrifice. We are in thrall to the
Moon: we are all sleeping Endymions, who must render to the Moon that
which bears the imprint of the Moon. Let us presume that the sacrifice
of the three-day pig is symbolical of the three days . . .' - he emphasized
the words to show that they had a much deeper meaning than might be
at first apparent -'. . . that we spend in the sphere of the Moon after our
death.59 As you know, in traditional Christianity, this period is called
Purgatory. In esotericism, it has other names, with which you will all be
familiar. The three-day pig is a symbol' - he emphasized the word - 'of
this period we must spend in Purgatory.
'If you reflect upon it, you will see that it is not a far-fetched
symbolism. The pig, through its association with Set, is a creature of the
Moon, and the period in Purgatory is a "blood sacrifice" in the sense that
during that experience the sins of the blood - one might say the sweat of
our blood sins - are washed away. In Purgatory, at great cost to ourselves,
we sacrifice our sins. These entities - our sins - are devoured by the
demons in what might be regarded as a blood-lust. We have clung to our
sins throughout our lifetime, and letting them go is no easy matter: they
must be torn away from us.
'The skull-face of the Moon, glaring down with cratered eyes at the
world, is a perpetual memorial to the inexorable consequences of human
sin. It would be possible to point to vast documentary sources for this belief
that the Moon is the cosmic centre of purgatory - it is indeed encapsulated
in very many symbols in Christian doctrine and symbolism. On what may
be the most obvious level, the very idea that demons have horns is probably
a throw-back to the idea of the crescent of the Moon, their natural
homeland: they are, so to speak, branded with the C of the crescent.
'You were quite right, Mark . . .' - much to our chagrin, he turned to
us, making public private conversations we had had with him — '. . . to
link the Moon with demonic assault, and with the dark realm of seances
and atavistic clairvoyancy. The demonic beings love the dark. While it is
true that the seance rooms are kept dark to enable amateur conjurors to
perform without detection, it is also true that those Spiritual beings who
work evil through such seances love the dark. They are lucifuges.60 Just as
they cannot understand the need for light, so they cannot understand
human love.
'The ancients used darkness, not to contact the demons, but to contact
the Higher Beings. One reason why the so-called air-shafts in the Great
Pyramid are directed towards specific stars is to allow these stellar
influences to pierce into the darkness where the initiations took place.61
'The ancients built their stone circles to enable them to use darkness
for specific purposes. They knew that during an eclipse, when the Moon
is thrown into darkness, the effect of the Moon is, to some extent,
weakened. At such times, certain diabolical and evil influences which
have been built up in the aura of the Earth can escape. It is as though a
safety valve has been opened in the skies, pouring into the cosmos down
the dark tunnel of the Black Moon, which hangs in the shadow of the
Earth. This Black Moon - the Moon of snake-infested Hecate in the
ancient mythology - is quite different from the Lighted Moon. In some
of the ancient centres this Black Moon was even given a different name.62
'The Lighted Moon is, to some extent, Spiritually warmed by the Sun.
One has to be attuned to cosmic realities to feel the difference between
the Dark Moon and the full Moon. When the Sun is eclipsed by the Dark
Moon, then it is not unusual for birds to drop from the skies in fear.63
Great wisdom is shown in such fear. You must all try to experience an
eclipse - solar or lunar - to catch a feeling of this cosmic reality. There is
a frisson in the air, quite unlike anything which can be felt under normal
circumstances. The primaeval terror of the Moon among the ancients
was not entirely unrealistic: in those days, there was a different
consciousness which allowed men to perceive cosmic realities that are
now hidden from us. You will never understand why the ancient stone
circles were built if you do not familiarize yourself with the Dark Moon.'
As our Master spoke, one of the group had been becoming increasingly
worried. He would shuffle his feet and shake his head, when the
convention during these talks was that we should remain as still as
possible, on the principle that the body language should be under
control, if only to aid clarity of thinking. After a while, the Master said,
not unkindly:
'Yes.' There was a trace of challenge in the tone of his voice. 'You
speak of the Moon as the centre of Purgatory, yet in all the esoteric
literature - from Egyptian to Dante - Purgatory is located in the centre
of the Earth. How can you explain this contradiction?'
'Your question is a good one. To answer it fully, I will have to
introduce a topic which I would have preferred to speak about much
later. Undoubtedly, what I have to say will take us to the very edge of
what is permissible in such gatherings as this - in a group where there are [...]
203
When the initiate of initiates, Hermes, was asked about the nature of
ordinary man - that is, of man who had not entered the stream of
development which leads to initiation - he said that such a man or woman
was merely a 'procession of Fate'.9
The initiate was the individual who decided to wrestle with Fate — to,
as it were, take the ordinances of the gods in hand, and by changing his
or her own inner world, change the personal destiny. This meant
becoming aware of what the fiat of the gods intended, and collaborating
with the Higher Beings, either working this out or amending it in some
way. The individual who wished to change this procession of Fate had to
wake up to his or her condition: they could no longer afford to be a
Sleeper during the journey through the cosmos.
232
In the meeting prior to his death, our Master fulfilled his promise to
speak about the secrets of the Moon. Normally, he would wait for
someone in our midst to ask a question. This time he began to speak
without preamble.
'In the esoteric literature, you will find many records indicating that
the Moon was at one time part of the Earth. It had to leave the Earth, in
order to allow life on Earth to continue its Spiritual development
unimpeded.
'It is important that anyone on the Path should attempt to form a clear
picture of what this separation was like. Not only was it of considerable
evolutionary importance in the cosmogenesis of the Earth, but it is
played, in miniature, in many of our Spiritual activities. It is the
archetypal form of fission. Now, unfortunately, in modern times even
our imaginative faculties have been materialized, and it is difficult for us
to form a picture of what this Moon-loss was really like. It is difficult for
us to form clear images of the fission which lies at the root of all Spiritual
activity. It is difficult for modern man and woman to visualize things in
purely Spiritual terms. This is because the picture-making which lies at
the basis of our imaginative faculty longs for mythology, since mythology
is itself an agency of Spirituality.
'If you cannot imagine in this way at present, you must perforce cling
to materialistic images . . .' - he touched the glass of water on the round
table in front of him - '. . . then imagine a glass of water clouded with a
pigment. If the glass is left to stand, the particles will settle to the bottom
in a thick dross, leaving the water above clear. This is much nearer to the
Spiritual reality of what happened when the Moon left the Earth, taking
240
with it certain forms of dross materiality. Now, in your imagination, try
to link this separation with the sigil for Libra, the sign of the Balance, and
consider the place of this seventh sign in the rest of the zodiac. Consider
also that Libra is not a violent sign. Of course, I realize that this imagery
would not please those of the Velikovsky School, who imagine cata-
strophic assaults on the Earth at fairly frequent intervals.33 Even so, the
fact is that in the remote past, neither the Earth nor the Moon were as
material as they are now.
'The schema which depicts the planets in extended space pertains only
to physical vision. You must understand this, or there will be no way in
which you can approach some of the greater Mysteries of the cosmos.
What appears to be on the outside is more accurately described as being
on the inside: our Earthly vision is extremely limited, for, under normal
circumstances, we see outwards from the central Ego to the cosmic
periphery. However, this is not the cosmic vision. We are so used to this
limited vision that we are not sufficiently tolerant to accept that there can
be others - including a vision from the periphery into the centre.
'In the case of the Moon, the matter is made more complex by the fact
that the physical matter of the Moon did once form part of what we now
call the Earth. Within the context of the lunar sphere, the two centres did
once coincide. A tremendous effort of meditative power is required to
follow these connections, however, and the bald statement I have made
can result in misconceptions.'
'Why,' asked Philip, 'did the Moon have to separate from the Earth?'
'It was a cosmic fission. The Moon represents the harder mineraliza-
tion of the Earth. In the body of the Moon is the matter which, had it
remained with the Earth, would have weighed down human develop-
ment too deeply. Man would not have been able to bear the weight of
those forces in his own body. Just as we know from our own observations
of ourselves that we must slough off darkness to reach into the light, so
the planetary bodies must also involve themselves in a similar fission.
Even so, it is true that the weight of the Moon, albeit removed by half a
million miles, still contorts the physical body of the Earth and its
inhabitants through what are usually called 'gravitational' effects.34
'Now we must touch upon the connection between the Moon and
clairvoyancy. We must do this because one of our members has - wisely
or unwisely - become involved with mediumistic groups.'
'It is important that we set out very clearly the dangers inherent in
opening the soul to such activities. It is not for me to forbid such activity.
I have no power to forbid, and would relish no such power. Much as I
would wish to protect you, I cannot. The best I can do is make the
241
dangers clear to you. After that, your beliefs and your conduct remain
your own.'
'Our purpose here is not to document how so deep an esoteric idea was
made public - or even to assess whether it was wise for this idea to be
brought out into the open. All this has been dealt with in the literature —
and if any of you wish to follow this up, I will give you a few titles later.35
'In a nutshell, what was made public during this conflict in the Schools
was the truth that our Moon is a sort of counterweight to another sphere,
which remains invisible to ordinary vision. This counterweighted sphere
is called in esoteric circles the Eighth Sphere 'We must be careful with these words, for, in spite
of what I have just said, this region is not itself a sphere, nor is it a moon. Even to locate it
behind the physical Moon is not correct, for in the Spiritual realm spaces and distances are
different. The truth is that this Eighth Sphere does not pertain to anything we are familiar with
on the physical plane, yet we must use words from our own vocabularies whenever we wish to denote
its existence. Were we to use a word which fits most appropriately this
Sphere, then we should really call it a vacuum. Certainly, vacuum is a
242
more appropriate term than sphere, for the Eighth Sphere sucks things
into its own shadowy existence.
'This Sphere is lower in the scale of being than the Seventh Sphere
(which is the Earth). It acts as a sort of demonic conduit to suck into its
maws certain degenerate Spiritual forms on the Earth. It is a shadow
Sphere, controlled by shadow beings. However, the fact that they are
shadow beings should not lead us to demote or underestimate their
capabilities and intelligence. In many respects they are more intelligent
than Man, for they are not limited by the power of love, as is Mankind.
'The operation of this Eighth Sphere is complex. Its denizens - those
shadowy beings for whom it is home - wish to people their Sphere with
humanity, or (more accurately) with human souls. Towards this end, it
has erected what we might call terminals on the Earth: these terminals are
soul-conduits, which will suck into the lower Sphere a certain form of
materialized Spiritual energy that is engendered on the Earth plane. The
most usual circumstances where this materialization or engendering
takes place is in seances, and in other localities wherein human beings
attempt to meddle - against the cosmic law - with the lower Etheric
planes.'36
Philip was having difficulties with this curious account of the lunar
powers, and asked: 'Are you saying that Spiritualist activity is itself
victimized by the Eighth Sphere?'
'In fact, the School which revealed the secret of the Eighth Sphere
made a very bad job of it. The person delegated (if that is the word) to
reveal the secret was not a very advanced or accomplished occultist. His
name was Sinnett38 and he worked within the group of Theosophists who
were, in the last decades of the 19th century, busy promulgating the
wisdom of Eastern esotericism through the Theosophical Society, at the
behest of H. P. Blavatsky.39 The story of Sinnett's incompetence need
not trouble us here: Blavatsky recognized his errors, but, for reasons best
known to herself, refrained from correcting them in a systematic or
informative way.40
'Of course, it may astound some of you to learn that a highly informed
stream of initiate knowledge has been preserved within the Church -
even if this religious stream was associated with dissenters. One is often
persuaded by the history of the Church that almost everything of esoteric
worth either degenerated or was forgotten, as inner content gave way to
outer form. Indeed, when in search of esoteric knowledge, it is often
more productive to look through the literature of the Apocrypha, or the
heretical Schools, than to search through official ecclesiastical literature.
However, this is a mistake. Not only does the Bible - and the related
apocryphal literature - remain the supreme arcane literature of the West,
but certain of the hidden truths derived ultimately from the ancient
Mystery Schools are still preserved within the Church itself.
'Such observations might remind you that there is much talk in certain
circles about the esoteric and heretical lore hidden away in the Secret
Library of the Vatican.42 Some years ago, I was privileged to work in this
archive, and I can tell you that while there must be hundreds of arcane
documents in its 20 miles of corridors, this has little to do with the
esoteric traditions of Christianity. The true knowledge cannot be
244
41. The analysis by C. G. Harrison, The Transcendental Universe, written around a series of
lectures given in 1893 before the Berean Society, while admitting that he recognized 'many
occulists who say the subject ought not to be brought before the public at all', gave a much more
thoroughly esoteric account of the Eighth Sphere. He recognized that Sinnett had been the first to
profane this mystery, but that in doing so he had been working unconsciously, and in any case
succeeded in getting many of his facts wrong. There is a less partisan analysis in Steiner's
lectures, given in Dornach, in October 1915, now available in Occult Movements in the Nineteenth
Century, 1973.
Beelzebub:
The Moon is actually a fragment of this Earth, which must now
constantly maintain the Moon's existence. - 61
We must realize that all this refers to being. What are the
features of our being? The chief feature of our being is that we are
many, not one. If we want to work on our being, make it
correspond better to our aim, we must try to become one. But this
is a very far aim. What means to become one? The first step—which
is still very far—is to create a permanent centre of gravity. This is
what it means to create moon in ourselves. Moon is a permanent
centre of gravity in our physical life. If we create a centre of gravity
in ourselves we do not need moon. --82
through self-will.
MR. O. No, that does not make us mechanical. The moon controls
gravity?
gravity.
MR. O. No, ordinary people think they are Napoleon one minute,
gravity. -85
shock between planets and earth. Without this shock certain vibrations
will not pass below planets, they w ill be reflected by earth. Organic life
All organic life on earth plays a certain cosmic role and has a cosmic
less attached, is more free and can escape. If he does not escape, while
he lives he is food for the earth, and when he dies he is food for the
organic life enters into earth and plays an important part in the
Moon also plays an important part in our life, or rather the life of
be more free or less free. When one understands that, one will
understand that one can become more free by not identifying, not
MISS L Will you tell us what you did when G dropped the stick?
and so forth?
MR. T . What happens to type if we can get away from the influence of
the moon?
MR. O. Type has nothing to do with that But what happens? You see
you take it as if there were only one possibility. We can get sometimes
in some cases very easily away from the influence of the moon and
then it is not very pleasant situation. There are people who are
naturally free from moon. But it is not an advantage if they have not
will and have not moon in themselves. If they have, that is another
thing If not, they just bounce, cannot attach themselves—too light
MR A . Where lies the connection between the moon and man? What
kind of a thing is it? I mean between the moon and a man with this
bouncing quality you have just described.
MR. O. There is no connection. That man is free of it Moon does not
keep him down. It is like marionette on strings and here strings are
cut, marionette cannot move, falls and dies or flies one way or the
other with the wind.
Moon affects everybody. All movements are controlled by moon
We cannot have a single movement without it. It is like a clock with a
weight, moon is the weight, moves all the wheels. Organic life is the
mechanism
MR R By moon you mean actually the thing we see in the sky?
MR O Its reflection, yes That is what we see Really it is much
bigger
Q . What do you mean by 'free from moon'?
MR O Some people, either accidentally, or by wrong work, may become
free from moon Moon does not control them If they have will, they
control themselves If they have no will, they are driven along by the wind
MRS S Can one recognize these people?
MR O Yes.
MISS F. Is that why YOU say we should 'create moon in ourselves'?
MR O. We must create weight in ourselves. Struggle not to be blown
along and around Replace the word 'moon' by 'weight'.
MR. A . I have never detected any lunatory influences on myself. How
can we?
MR. O. We do not notice it. We do not know it. If we study we can
find what it is. But in ordinary life we do not know it because
everybody is equally under the same influence. If one was more
influenced, another less, then it would be easier to notice.
MISS M. Is there a difference in the moon's influence according to the
time of the month—full moon, new moon?
MR. O. No. --- 241
MR. L. We have heard that men's souls go to the moon when they die.
If the souls of men and nothing else from organic life go to the moon
at death, men seem to occupy a special place in organic life.
MR. O. Not only man, everything. Every living being sends something
to the moon when it dies. -- 258
MR. J. Did Mr. O. say that man's essence either develops after death or
goes to the moon?
MR. O. No, that is wrong. It is soul which goes to the moon. Soul is
material, a certain quantity of fine matter, energy if you like, which
leaves the body at death. -- 266
MRS. S. Is it our mental and emotional parts which feed the moon?
MR. O. It does not matter. It will happen anyway. And again, it is not
only we who feed the moon, but all organic life—birds, worms,
everything. You somehow manage to take it personally. Actually
there is nothing personal in it, but there is a very interesting principle
behind it. It shows the connection between the moon and organic
life. -- 279
MISS L. You say organic life came from the sun. Do you mean the heat
and warmth of the sun feed it?
MR. O. That we don't know. We don't know what do and si mean.
Out of all this octave we know la, sol. fa and mi. Re we don't know,
even. We are told only that when man dies, or anything dies—man or
cockroach, it is just the same—their souls go to the moon.
MISS L. When you say that we know what mi is, do you mean earth?
MR. O. No. All that goes into the earth—the physical body—all physi
cal matter, when one dies, goes into the earth. -- 349
"For instance, the evolution of humanity beyond a certain point, or, to speak more
correctly, above a certain percentage, would be fatal for the moon. The moon at
present feeds on organic life, on humanity. Humanity is a part of organic life; this
means that humanity is food for the moon. If all men were to become too intelligent
they would not want to be eaten by the moon.
"But, at the same time, possibilities of evolution exist, and they may be developed
in separate individuals with the help of appropriate knowledge and methods. Such
development can take place only in the interests of the man himself against, so to
speak, the interests and forces of the
planetary world. The man must understand this: his evolution is necessary only to
himself. No one else is interested in it. And no one is obliged or intends to help him.
On the contrary, the forces which oppose the evolution of large masses of humanity
also oppose the evolution of individual men. A man must outwit them. And one man
can outwit them, humanity cannot. You will understand later on that all these
obstacles are very useful to a man; if they did not exist they would have to be created
intentionally, because it is by overcoming obstacles that man develops those qualities
he needs. -- 64-65
"The orders of laws and their forms vary according to the point of view from which
we consider the ray of creation.
"In our system the end of the ray of creation, the growing end, so to speak, of the
branch, is the moon. The energy for the growth, that is,
for the development of the moon and for the formation of new shoots, goes to the
moon from the earth, where it is created by the joint action of the sun, of all the other
planets of the solar system, and of the earth itself. This energy is collected and
preserved in a huge accumulator situated on the earth's surface. This accumulator is
organic life on earth. Organic life on earth feeds the moon. Everything living on the
earth, people, animals, plants, is food for the moon. The moon is a huge living being
feeding upon all that lives and grows on the earth. The moon could not exist without
organic life on earth, any more than organic life on earth could exist without the
moon. Moreover, in relation to organic life the moon is a huge electromagnet. If the
action of the electromagnet were suddenly to stop, organic life would crumble to
nothing.
"The process of the growth and the warming of the moon is connected with life and
death on the earth. Everything living sets free at its death a certain amount of the
energy that has 'animated' it; this energy, or the 'souls' of everything living—plants,
animals, people—is attracted to the moon as though by a huge electromagnet, and
brings to it the warmth and the life upon which its growth depends, that is, the growth
of the ray of creation. In the economy of the universe nothing is lost, and a certain
energy having finished its work on one plane goes to another.
"The souls that go to the moon, possessing perhaps even a certain amount of
consciousness and memory, find themselves there under ninety-six laws, in the
conditions of mineral life, or to put it differently, in conditions from which there is no
escape apart from a general evolution in immeasurably long planetary cycles. The
moon is 'at the extremity,' at the end of the world; it is the 'outer darkness' of the
Christian doctrine 'where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
"The influence of the moon upon everything living manifests itself in all that
happens on the earth. The moon is the chief, or rather, the nearest, the immediate,
motive force of all that takes place in organic life on the earth. All movements,
actions, and manifestations of people, animals, and plants depend upon the moon and
are controlled by the moon. The sensitive film of organic life which covers the earthly
globe is entirely dependent upon the influence of the huge electromagnet that is
sucking out its vitality. Man, like every other living being, cannot, in the ordinary
conditions of life, tear himself free from the moon. All his movements and
consequently all his actions are controlled by the moon. If he kills another man, the
moon does it; if he sacrifices himself for others, the moon does that also. All evil
deeds, all crimes, all self-sacrificing actions, all heroic exploits, as well as all the
actions of ordinary everyday life, are controlled by the moon.
"The liberation which comes with the growth of mental powers and faculties is
liberation from the moon. The mechanical part of our life depends upon the moon, is
subject to the moon. If we develop in our-
selves consciousness and will, and subject our mechanical life and all our mechanical
manifestations to them, we shall escape from the power of the moon.
--- 92-93
Another talk was about the moon and its relation to organic life on earth. And again
one of our group found a very good example showing the relation of the moon to
organic life.
The moon is the weight on a clock. Organic life is the mechanism of the clock
brought into motion by the weight. The gravity of the weight, the pull of the chain on
the cogwheel, set in motion the wheels and the hands of the clock. If the weight is
removed all movements in the mechanism of the clock will at once stop. The moon is
a colossal weight hanging on to organic life and thus setting it in motion. Whatever we
may be doing, whether it is good or bad, clever or stupid, all the movements of the
wheels and the hands of our organism depend upon this weight, which is continually
exerting its pressure upon us.
---102
"The conditions to insure the passage of forces are created by the arrangement of a
special mechanical contrivance between the planets and the earth. This mechanical
contrivance, this 'transmitting station of forces' is organic life on earth. Organic life on
earth was created to fill the interval between the planets and the earth.
"Organic life represents so to speak the earth's organ of perception. Organic life
forms something like a sensitive film which covers the whole of the earth's globe and
takes in those influences coming from the planetary sphere which otherwise would not
be able to reach the earth. The vegetable, animal, and human kingdoms are equally
important for the earth in this respect. A field merely covered with grass takes in
planetary influences of a definite kind and transmits them to the earth. The same field
with a crowd of people on it will take in and transmit other influences. The population
of Europe takes in one kind of planetary influences and transmits them to the earth.
The population of Africa takes in planetary influences of another kind, and so on.
"All great events in the life of the human masses are caused by planetary influences.
They are the result of the taking in of planetary influences. Human society is a highly
sensitive mass for the reception of planetary influences. And any accidental small
tension in planetary spheres can be reflected for years in an increased animation in one
or another sphere of human activity. Something accidental and very transient takes
place in planetary space. This is immediately received by the human masses, and
people begin to hate and to kill one another, justifying their actions by some theory of
brotherhood, or equality, or love, or justice.
"Organic life is the organ of perception of the earth and it is at the same time an
organ of radiation. With the help of organic life each portion of the earth's surface
occupying a given area sends every moment certain kinds of rays in the direction of
the sun, the planets, and the moon. In connection with this the sun needs one kind of
radiations, the planets another kind, and the moon another. Everything that happens on
earth creates radiations of this kind. And many things often happen just because
certain kinds of radiation are required from a certain place on the earth's surface."
-- 145
Only the
'intervals' between fa and mi have
to be filled by 'additional shocks.'
These 'additional shocks' can
come either from other octaves
which pass across the given point
or from parallel octaves which
start from higher points. We
know nothing about the nature of
the 'shock' between mi-fa in the
first octave Absolute-Sun. But the
'shock' in the octave Sun-Earth is
organic life on earth, that is, the
three notes la, sol, fa of the octave
which starts in the sun. The nature
of the 'shock' between mi and fa
in the octave Earth-Moon is
unknown to us.
-- 312-314
Organic life is a sort of receiving apparatus for catching and transmitting influences
coming from the planets of the solar system. At the same time as serving as a means of
communication between the earth and the planets, organic life feeds the moon.
Everything that lives serves the purposes of the earth; everything that dies feeds the
moon. This sounds strange at first, but when we understand the laws which govern
organic life, we will realize that it is based on a very hard law, the law that one
class of living beings cats another class. This not only makes organic life self
supporting but also enables it to feed the moon and serve as a transmitter of energies.
Thus organic life serves many purposes—those of the greater worlds, the planets, the
earth and the moon.
The question arises: how can we prove it? We can find certain proofs later by
analogy with man, because man is built on the same principle as the Ray of Creation.
There are many things which we cannot prove in an objective way, but it may be we
can find proofs by studying ourselves.
Q. Why does the soul at death go to the moon?
A. The moon is hungry.
A. The whole surface of the earth, its composition and structure, depend on organic
life. The earth receives the body, for that is what it wants. It depends on taste and
appetite. The moon wants one thing, the earth another. It is a very interesting idea.
Later you will see more clearly how things are connected, how one thing makes
another grow. Certain matters pass to the moon in that way which otherwise would not
203-204
A. You see, you can look at it from different sides even when you hear about it for the
first time. When you see the right principle, then everything becomes clear. When I
first heard it, it certainly seemed very strange, but at the same time I saw that the
principle behind it was that everything is connected, that things do not exist separately,
Q. Does the moon actually cause human catastrophes by requiring certain food for its
own being?
A. The moon does not cause catastrophes; we are guilty ourselves—it is no use trying
to accuse the moon. Suppose we neglect to repair a wall and it falls, whose fault is it?
It falls because of physical laws, but at the same time it cannot be the fault of the
physical laws. If cosmic influences fall on a right soil, there are no catastrophes, just as
a wall does not fall if we repair it. But of course there may be big catastrophes that are
-205-206
A. The body is born and at the same time the soul is born too; it is simply part of the
body, invisible, unknown to medicine, physics and chemistry But without it the body
cannot exist. When the body dies, the soul is free and is attracted by this big electro
magnet—the moon
-220
There is an expression in the system, 'to create moon in oneself. Let us talk about
what it may mean. It is a symbolical expression, and symbols in the form of diagrams
or symbolical expressions are used for very definite purposes.
A symbol expresses many ideas at once. If it meant only one idea, the answer would
be simple; but a symbol is used to avoid long descriptions and to put many ideas into
one sentence.
How to decipher a diagram or symbolical expression? In order to decipher a
symbol, it is necessary to know the order of ideas included in it.
Now, if we ask what it may mean to create moon in oneself, we must first ask
ourselves, what is the moon's function in relation to organic life? The moon balances
organic life—all external movements are balanced by the moon. What will happen if
this function of the moon disappears? Will it be beneficial to an individual man or the
opposite?
We must realize that all this refers to being. What are the features of our being? The
chief feature of our being is that we are many. If we want to work on our being, make
it correspond more to our aim, we must try to become one. But this is a very far aim.
What does it mean to become one? The first step, which is still very far, is to create a
permanent centre of gravity. This is what creating moon in oneself means. The moon
is a permanent centre of gravity which balances our physical life, but in ourselves we
do not have such a balance, so, when we create this balance or centre of gravity in
ourselves we do not need the moon. --271
Q. How can you explain the great amount of suffering that exists in the world?
A. This is a very interesting question. From the point of view of the work it is possible
to find at least a logical form of solution of this problem. In organic life man must be
regarded as an experiment of the Great Laboratory. In this laboratory all possible kinds
of experiments are made, and they have to be made by means of suffering to bring
about some kind of fermentation. In some way suffering is necessary for this; all the
cells of this experiment have to suffer, and because of that their tendency is to avoid
suffering, to have as little of it as possible, or to run away. If some of these cells break
this tendency and accept suffering voluntarily, they can rid themselves of it and
become free. Suffering, voluntary suffering, can become school-work. Nothing is more
difficult and at the same time nothing can create so much force as voluntary suffering.
The idea of development is to create an inner force, and how can a man put himself to
the test without suffering? From one point of view the whole of
organic life exists for planetary purposes. From another point of view it exists only for
the sake of those who escape. So it does not exist for feeding the moon alone. This
suffering is the highest product and the rest are merely by-products; the highest is
always the most important.
We are far from understanding the idea of suffering, but if we realize that small
things can be attained with small suffering, and big ones with big suffering, we shall
understand that it will always be proportionate. But we must remember one thing—we
have no right to invent suffering. Also, one has the right to accept suffering for
oneself, but one has no right to accept it for other people. According to one's views of
life, one helps other people, only it must be understood that helping cannot diminish
suffering, it cannot change the order of things.
Q. Should not one work for the relief of suffering?
A. As much as one can, but there is suffering which can be relieved and suffering
which cannot be relieved because it depends on bigger causes. Sleeping people have to
suffer; maybe there is a great cosmic purpose in this suffering, because only suffering
can eventually wake them up. If they can arrange their life so as to be happy and
contented in sleep, they will never awake. But all this is only talk, because anyway it
cannot be changed.
Q. Is there a definite amount of suffering to be borne in the world?
A. Probably for the purposes of possible evolution everyone must be surrounded by
enormous possibilities of suffering. Evolution depends on man's attitude; if he accepts
suffering and tries not to identify with it. It may be that this whole law was created so
that he could become stronger, because strength can only be created by suffering.
Q. Is it good for one person to suffer for another?
A. No one can suffer for another; if I have a toothache, it will not diminish mine if you
have a toothache too.
Q. You say that man is an experiment?
A. Man is specially made for evolution—he is a special experiment made for self
development. Every man is an experiment, not all men.
---- 383
We have already said that the Sun controls the life-force, the vital seed of man; and
the planets control his different functions. We may say that his life belongs to the Sun,
his type or essence to the planets. Thus when man's movement serves to preserve or
maintain life, or again when it is a natural expression of one or another function, it is
if not fully deliberate -at any rate useful. Movement of this kind is legitimate and
productive movement, resulting as it were from a combination of lunar and solar, or
lunar and planetary stimulus. In lives filled with the movement of physical labour, of
crafts and skills, of sports and dances, the Moon's urge to movement is profitably
harnessed. The itch of the lymph is used to the advantage or pleasure of the individual
concerned.
But unfortunately such is not the case with large numbers of lazy and sedentary
people in modem life. Since their lives contain almost no intentional movement, they
are completely filled with unintentional
movement, aimless movement, movement wholly under the Moon's sway.
Only a man who has already begun to study himself will realize what an
immense part such pointless movement plays in human life. Not only all
obvious kinds of fidgetting, restlessness, mechanical gestures of the hands and
arms, changes of bodily position, stroking the face and chin, tapping with
fingers or feet, belong to this category, but also the mechanical play of the
facial muscles, which in many people incessantly produce smiles, frowns and
grimaces of all kinds, without any corresponding emotion at all. It may
literally be said of many who do not engage in intentional physical efforts
which use up motor energy in a right and normal way, that they are never still.
This may be hard to believe. Yet it requires no more than the simple
experiment of trying to remain completely motionless in any position, even
the most comfortable, for five minutes, to prove that it is a literal fact. Almost
all the waking and sleeping life of many city-dwellers is occupied by
involuntary, unrecognized and completely aimless motion. This is what it
means to be under the power of the moon. For a man or woman whose
physical mechanism has been in involuntary motion for say twelve hours will
be so exhausted, that they will have no energy whatever left for those things
which from the point of view of their real nature they both should and would
like to do.
We thus have the strange situation that the Moon rules that which has no
conscious purpose in man, that which happens, mechanicalness. And if it be
objected that power over mechanicalness is no power at all, this only attests
the strange fact that mechanicalness always remains invisible to the man ruled
by it -and the stronger its power over him the more invisible it remains.
It is well known that at certain total eclipses the disc of the moon exactly
fits over that of the sun, obscuring its whole surface but leaving visible the
fiery corona with which it is surrounded. In fact this is so well known that no
one considers it extraordinary. But if the moon were a few hundred miles
larger or smaller, a few thousand miles nearer or farther away, the exact
coincidence could not occur. Out of all the immense range of size and
distance apparently possible for a satellite, this particular point has been
chosen. Clearly such combination of size and distance must represent some
meaning, a focus in some field of unseen force.
-135
-- 136
The moon, then, is the great magnet of all Nature. It sustains the millions of separate
magnetic fields which animate all individual living bodies upon Earth, and which
distinguish them from dead ones. Every living organism, endowed with life by the Sun,
constitutes such an individual and ephemeral magnetic field. It may indeed be said to
possess a magnetic body, in addition to its physical one. And it is these magnetic
bodies which are both produced and influenced by the magnetic action of the moon,
though given form and variety by the lesser and ever-changing magnetism of the
planets.
In the case of man, this magnetic field or magnetic body has many interesting
aspects. It is this which, studied by Kilner and Bagnall through screens of cyanine dye,
appeared as a kind of aura extending two or three inches in every direction beyond the
physical body. As we should expect, it has a particular affinity for the body liquids,
especially arterial blood, which -through its high iron content -is as it were the vehicle
of magnetism; and it is stronger in those individuals who have a full rich flow of blood,
and more tenuous in the thin and anaemic. It is thus closely connected with state of
health, both of the body as a whole and of its separate parts.
It is with this magnetic body that a man is sensitive to the physical states of others,
and he feels immediately sympathetic towards one and ruffled by another. It is also the
medium of 'sympathy', that is, the understanding or 'feeling with' another's physical
suffering or need or well-being, though this capacity must not be confused with
emotional understanding, which is very much quicker and more penetrating.
--138
What chance has the moon of acquiring rotation, and thus in time of generating air
and life? Is it in fact growing? In answer to this we can present four facts. The moon is
at present 30 times its parent's diameter away. It does not rotate. Mercury is 42 times its
parent's diameter away from the sun. It does not rotate.41 Venus is 77 times its parent's
diameter away from the sun, and it has begun to rotate. All further planets rotate, and
in general the farther removed they are the faster they do so. Meanwhile, the Moon
certainly, and the planets probably, are slowly moving away from their luminary.
It thus seems extremely probable that a planet or satellite, springing originally out of
the body of its parent, acquires the power of rotation and consequently of independent
life of its own, only when it has emancipated itself to a certain definite distance from
its source. This distance seems to be between fifty and seventy times the diameter of
the parent. On this calculation the Moon will have to be twice as far away from the
Earth as it is now before it can begin to rotate and generate life. It is in fact half-way
between conception and birth as an independent planet.
[Organic Portals, 2.5]
-140
We have noted the various influences of the moon upon the Earth. What is the
corresponding influence of the Earth upon the moon? What passes from the parent to
the offspring? Once again the phenomenon which we have variously described as the
lunar pull, its lifting or sucking effect, its creation of a centrifugal current outward from
the Earth, will help us to answer the question. For all these are simply ways of
describing the effect of a certain flow from the Earth to the moon, like the flow of blood
from the mother to the unborn infant.
The moon lifts or sucks the whole organic creation from the surface of the Earth. But
its power of attraction does not stop there. And there is reason to suspect that at the
moment when organisms die, and their elements return to the Earth's general stock, this
attraction is in some way fulfilled and a magnetic circuit completed. When the puppet
player releases his dolls, they fall back to the stage and become inert fragments of card
board and cloth. Something passes from them back to him. It is their motion, their
illusion of life, their puppet-soul.
All that has been deduced about the role of the moon leads us to believe that it is
exactly this electric tension which constitutes the difference between living and dead
matter, that provides the current necessary to the
moon's existence. Every living organism, endowed with life by the Sun,
constitutes an individual and ephemeral magnetic field. When it dies and its
power of transforming the solar life-force is withdrawn, this magnetic tension
is released. The release every hour and every moment of millions of such
magnetic fields, large and small, over the whole surface of the Earth, will
induce an enormous current in an adjacent conductor. Since there is no
indication that this energy is used again on Earth -for the next generation of
living beings always arises from new solar energy -we have to suppose that it
is drawn off somewhere.
In fact, the magnetic current released by the death of living creatures flies
to the lowest level of the ionosphere, which is now recognised as the level
where lunar magnetism takes effect.42
There it joins the general magnetic current connecting the Earth and the
moon. Calculations based on the delay between magnetic disturbances on the
surface of the sun and the repercussions in the atmosphere have shown that
magnetic influences travel at about 400 miles a second.43 In ten minutes that
which made the difference between a living and a dead body has flown to the
moon which sustained it during life.
This magnetic current is the moon's lifeline, the umbilical cord which
connects it with its mother Earth.
141-142
We have seen that the intentional cosmic deed of the War in Heaven led to the three hierarchies of
evil. The Asuric, led by Adzura, resulted from the recapitulation of the Old Saturn manvantara; the
Ahrimanic, led by Ahriman, resulted from the recapitulation of the Old Sun manvantara and the
Luciferic, led by Lucifer, resulted from the recapitulation of the Old Moon manvantara. As a
result, the evolution of the spiritual gifts (the three higher principles) given to mankind by the
hierarchies are constantly under attack by these legions of evil, which we have now come to call
the Spirits of Darkness. Lucifer works thru the hierarchy of angels within the astral body; Ahriman
works thru the hierarchy of archangels within the etheric body and Azdura works thru the hierarchy
of Archai within the physical body. The elemental spirits of Lucifer work thru the elements of air
and water. The elemental spirits of Ahriman and Adzura work thru the elements of earth and fire and
working with fire is much more powerful than the other elements, as the ancient Atlanteans
hopefully learned.
The occult concept of the Eight sphere was first made exoteric by A.P.Sinnett in his landmark book
ESOTERIC BUDDHISM. Here he absolutely identified the Eight sphere with the materiality of the moon.
Some of the errors he made were later corrected by the Good Madame Blavatsky in her SECRET
DOCTRINE, where she hoped that future editions of Sinnett's book would finally correct the
mistakes. However, this was never done and the errors still persisted leading to the conclusion
that the Eight sphere was the moon, the former sphere of Lucifer during the Old Moon manvantara.
Later, when Dr. Steiner identified the nine interior levels of the earth with source levels of
evil, the Eighth sphere became identified with the earth, the sphere of Ahriman. In addition,
Steiner said that man could not penetrate with his consciousness the earth's interior thereby
setting up an absolute barrier for knowledge of the Eighth sphere. Dr. Steiner in his book THE
OCCULT MOVEMENT IN THE 19TH CENTURY (1915) tried to reconcile the two views.
As we know, seven of the 12 conditions of consciousness are available to mankind thru the evolution
of the seven manvantaras from Old Saturn to Vulcan. We are presently in the fourth, the Earth
manvantara. These seven spheres represent successive stages of evolution and they occur within each
other, as transformations of the planet earth. Since the beginning of this Fourth round, Lucifer
and Ahriman have had a plan to create or mineralize their own sphere, which at the end of
plantetary evolution, would detach itself from the earth and go its own way into the cosmos. This
sphere has come to be called in occultism, the Eighth sphere.
In order to accomplish this task, it is necessary for a process of mineralization to occur. What
are "imaginations" or thought forms in an earlier sphere, become materialized in the next sphere.
Thus, the imaginations of humanity that occur during this Round, will descend from the astral world
during the next Jupiter sphere and become physical. This is especially true for the great works of
art and music we produce now.
During the transition from the Old Moon manvantara to the Earth manvantara, what was formerly only
imaginatively perceptible, becomes materially perceptible. This occurs by adding matter to the
spirit by the process of mineralization. All the imaginations present in the Old Moon manvantara,
should have passed over into Earth evolution to become mineralized. However, Lucifer and Ahriman
stole certain imaginations belonging to the Old Moon evolution and when these are added to the
sphere of Earth evolution, an Eighth sphere is created that works in opposition to the Divine Plan
of the Elohim. The Earth sphere arrives out of the Old Moon sphere by virtue of the activities of
the Spirits of Motion being added to the activities of the Spirits of Form. During the Fourth globe
of this Fourth round, the mineral kingdom is added to the plant and animal kingdoms that previously
evolved on the Old Moon. When the activities of Lucifer and Ahriman are also added to the normal
activities of the Spirits of Motion and of Form, the Eighth sphere becomes mineralized, presently
with astral substance, which in the future, will become physical substance.
Now, when these stolen imaginations become mineralized during our Earth evolution, they take with
them certain physical atoms that rightfully belong to our Earth evolution. What is taken away is
directed by Lucifer and Ahriman into the Eighth sphere in the hope of creating their own planet.
This was the planet promised to Lucifer after the War in Heaven but, as you can see from the
asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, this planet was destroyed and only remnants remain, still
in orbit. Thus, do the Spirits of Form, "Battle for every morsel of substantiality capable of
mineralization lest it should be wrested away from them by Lucifer and Ahriman and borne into the
Eighth sphere."
As a counter-weight to the astral materiality of the Eighth sphere, the Spirits of Form mineralized
the moon, with a much greater density than that of the earth. Thereafter, when the moon separated
from the earth, JHVH-Elohim went with the moon to command the forces of the Elohim from there.
Thus, the imaginations created during the Old Moon manvantara that were stolen by Lucifer and
Ahriman which by now had mineralized into physical atoms, went out of the earth to remain in the
physical moon. The mineral content of the present moon also contains the spiritual content of the
Old Moon forces. As such, the major source of mineral atoms from which Old Moon imaginations could
be mineralized, was removed from the earth and put back under the domain of the Spirits of Form as
a physical counter-weight. However, what materiality that still remains within the earth sphere is
subject to the war between the Lords of Light and the Spirits of Darkness, only the largest source
has been removed.
We seen then the error of Sinnett was to mistake the astral corporality of the real Eighth sphere
with the physical materiality of the moon. The moon in effect acts as a counter-weight, with its
center of gravity located in the center of the moon, which is under the influence of JHVH. Like the
polar field of forces of a magnet, the moon, as one pole, draws against the center of gravity
within the center of the earth, as the other pole, which is under the influence of Ahriman. In the
middle is the astral sphere of the Eighth sphere with Lucifer in his domain as leader of the Old
Moon forces.
The astral substance of the Old Moon forces (imaginations) is the actual Eighth sphere. As the
astral becomes etheric and as the etheric hardens into physical matter, so too the combined
activities of the Spirits of Motion, the Spirits of Form and Lucifer/Ahriman would have passed over
to the Jupiter manvantara only a shell of the earth, while at the same time creating a physical
planet to further the evolution of the Spirits of Darkness. Whether or not this will actually
happen is a matter of future evolution. Since our earth is the planet destined to become a future
sun in a far distant manvantara, with Christ as our leader, we do not want any competition from the
Spirits of Darkness.
What they really need is to capture a human soul to take with them. This has been symbolised in the
past literature by the "pact with the Devil" such as seen in the 16th century HISTORIA VON D.
JOHANN FAUSTEN, Christopher Marlowe's play and Goethe's FAUST. To date, no human soul has yet been
lost to the Eighth sphere, including those of Nero, Ghengis Khan, Shaka Zulu and Hitler. However,
can this happen in the future sixth and seventh cultural epochs ?
Moreover, shells of this nature [lost souls] do not remain for any great length of time in the
atmosphere of this earth, but like straws floating near a whirlpool get caught up by and dragged
down in that terrible Maelstrom, which hurries off the failures towards disintegration, in other
words to the planet of matter and death -- the mental as well as the physical satellite of our
earth. -- The Theosophist, Sept. 1882, p. 312
This somber planet is what at different times has been called the Planet of Death, or the Eighth
Sphere, or the realm of Mara. As a globe it is slowly dying, and therefore is in its last round. It
is almost a corpse, and is properly called, in two ways, the Planet of Death. It is of material so
dense, so heavy, that we, with our relatively ethereal bodies and the relatively ethereal physical
substance around us, do not perceive it as a material sphere. However, there are rare occasions
when, due to a number of converging causes including the materializing influence of the moon,
certain individuals may catch a glimpse of it in the moon's neighborhood. The reason that we do not
see it is that very gross or material substance is as invisible and as intangible to us as is
highly ethereal or spiritual substance, because both planes are different from our physical plane.
Further, this Planet of Death has a retrograde motion of rotation. As a matter of fact, every
planet or globe in the solar system, visible or invisible, at different times in its planetary
manvantara, slowly changes the position of its axis of rotation, so that the axis has a secular
movement of inclination, slowly increasing (or decreasing) through the ages. Thus it is that at one
time the axis of our earth is upright -- the plane of its equator coinciding with the plane of the
ecliptic -- and then there is springtime over all the globe throughout the year. At other times the
poles of the earth, i.e. of the axis of the earth, are parallel with the plane of the ecliptic, or
with the earth's own orbit. This secular movement of inclination continues until what is the north
pole points, so to speak, downwards, and the south pole upwards. The poles then have become
inverted; and the movement of inclination continues until finally the north pole resumes its former
upright position in space when considered in relation to the plane of the ecliptic.
An inversion of the poles usually brings about great continental readjustments, with consequent
karmic changes in the destiny of human races, such as those which took place in the long career of
the fourth root-race, the Atlantean. It should be obvious that a slow secular movement of change in
the earth's axis takes millions of years; and an inversion of the poles brings about a retrograde
rotation of the thus inverted globe. The Planet of Death or the Eighth Sphere is in such an
inverted condition, and therefore its rotation is retrograde (cf. The Secret Doctrine, II, 352-3).
The Eighth Sphere is a very necessary organic part of the destiny of our earth and its chain. Just
as in a great city the sewers form a most important part of the organization for public health and
convenience, and we have designated places where refuse is disposed of, similarly in the solar
system there are certain bodies which act as vents, cleansing channels, receptacles for human waste
and slag.
The Planet of Death has been given this name because it is the dread sphere to which utterly
corrupt souls finally descend, although it is not hell in the Christian sense, because there is no
similarity in its functions to the exoteric horrors of the theological place of punishment. But
when a human soul has lost its link with its inner god, and is therefore cast off because it is no
longer a fit and receptive channel for the spiritual life flowing from its inspiriting divinity, it
then is discarded, much as the body may slough off particles of itself which have become useless
and dead. Obviously such a lost soul or discarded psychologic entity must find its own proper
habitat. It cannot go floating around aimlessly forever in the astral world or kama-loka, because
its propensities or attractions are too gross even for the vile and filthy ranges of the kama-loka
itself. It therefore sinks into the Planet of Death or the globe of Mara to which its own heavy
material magnetism drags it, where it is dissipated as an entity from above, which means from our
globe, and is slowly ground over in nature's laboratory.
Bad, irretrievably bad must be that Ego that yields no mite from its fifth Principle, and has to be
annihilated, to disappear in the Eighth Sphere. A mite, as I say, collected from the Personal Ego
suffices to save him from the dreary Fate. Not so after the completion of the great cycle: either a
long Nirvana of Bliss (unconscious though it be in the, and according to, your crude conceptions);
after which -- life as a Dhyan Chohan for a whole Manvantara, or else "Avitchi Nirvana" and a
Manvantara of misery and Horror as a ---- you must not hear the word nor I -- pronounce or write
it. But "those" have nought to do with the mortals who pass through the seven spheres. The
collective Karma of a future Planetary is as lovely as the collective Karma of a ---- is terrible.
This is the outline of the teaching, although there are many and various exceptions pertaining to
individual lost souls. However, precisely because the lost soul is an aggregate of astral-vital-
psychical life-atoms concreted around a monad as yet scarcely evolved, this monad, when freed from
its earth veil of life-atoms, thereupon begins in the Planet of Death a career of its own in this
highly material globe.
Finally, the whole subject is complicated by the fact that the Planet of Death is in its last
round, and that in consequence its 'normal' inhabitants are not to be confused with these monads
dropping among them from our earth globe. The truth is that while the Planet of Death receives
these fallen monads and cares for them according to those laws of nature which prevail and operate
in the Eighth Sphere, it receives them as imperfectly evolved entities and treats them as such;
which simply means that they are 'failures' which in the next globe reimbodiment of the Planet of
Death will have to begin their evolution in an inferior capacity.
Now there are -- there must be "failures" in the etherial races of the many classes of Dyan Chohans
or Devas as well as among men. But still as these failures are too far progressed and spiritualized
to be thrown back forcibly from their Dyan Chohanship into the vortex of a new primordial evolution
through the lower kingdoms -- this then happens. When a new solar system is to be evolved these
Dyan Chohans are (remember the Hindu allegory of the Fallen Devas hurled by Siva into Andarah who
are allowed by Parabrahm to consider it as an intermediate state where they may prepare themselves
by a series of rebirths in that sphere for a higher state -- a new regeneration) born[e] in by the
influx "ahead" of the elementals and remain as a latent or inactive spiritual force in the aura of
the nascent world of a new system until the stage of human evolution is reached. Then Karma has
reached them and they will have to accept to the last drop in the bitter cup of retribution. Then
they become an active Force, and commingle with the Elementals, or progressed entities of the pure
animal kingdom to develope little by little the full type of humanity. In this commingling they
lose their high intelligence and spirituality of Devaship to regain them in the end of the seventh
ring in the seventh round.
But enough of this. Always remember that we are sons of the Sun, even if we did pass through the
moon and played on that stage of life -- as Shakespeare might have said -- such antics as made the
gods weep. Yet we are rays from the solar Lhas, and ultimately, after many manvantaric ages, we
shall return to Father Sun, and pass the solar portals into our spiritual home.
But what happens to a personality which has absolutely no atom of spirituality, no trace of
spiritual affinity in its fifth principle, either of the good or bad sort? Clearly in such a case
there is nothing for the sixth principle to attract to itself. Or, in other words, such a
personality has already lost its sixth principle by the time death comes. But Kâma loca is no more
a sphere of existence for such a personality than the subjective world; Kâma loca may be
permanently inhabited by astral beings, by elementals, but can only be an antechamber to some other
state for human beings. In the case imagined, the surviving personality is promptly drawn into the
current of its future destinies, and these have nothing to do with this earth’s atmosphere or with
Devachan, but with that “eighth sphere” of which occasional mention will be found in older occult
writings. It will have been unintelligible to ordinary readers hitherto why it was called the
“eighth” sphere, but since the explanation, now given out for the first time, of the sevenfold
constitution of our planetary system, the meaning will be clear enough. The spheres of the cyclic
process of evolution are seven in number, but there is an eighth in connection with our earth, our
earth being, it will be remembered, the turning-point in the cyclic chain, and this eighth sphere
is out of circuit, a cul de sac, and the bourne from which it may be truly said no traveller
returns.
It will readily be guessed that the only sphere connected with our planetary chain, which is lower
than our own in the scale, having spirit at the top and matter at the bottom, must itself be no
less visible to the eye and to optical instruments than the earth itself, and as the duties which
this sphere has to perform in our planetary system are immediately associated with this earth,
there is not much mystery left now in the riddle of the eighth sphere, nor as to the place in the
sky where it may be sought. The conditions of existence there, however, are topics on which the
adepts are very reserved in their communications to uninitiated pupils, and concerning these I have
for the present no further information to give. - Sinnett, Esoteric Buddhism
If the Tritocosmosis life on Earth —and the life of the Earth, in as much as
it is a living Being — the notion of the Tessaracosmos is related in an ana-
logous way to our satellite. This means that the Moon, from the point of
view of the System of Cosmoses, is only foetus, approaching the end of the
period of pregnancy: the Tessaracosmos has not jet been born. It must absorb the
energies and elements made necessary by its incomplete growth. In fact, a
massive supply of these elements is becoming accessible to it from the
progress of technology, with the accelerated multiplication and new or-
ganization of human society, the growth of livestock breeding, and the
rationalization of agriculture. These elements promise a rapid increase in
growth in the next century. And like the foetus in the mother's womb, the
Tessaracosmos exercises an enormous influence on the Tritocosmos, and so on
man, who is an integral part of organic life on earth and so contributes to
the growth of the Moon, the cosmic foetus. -110
With the progress of science and technology, man takes more and more
control of matter and, to a certain measure, of Earth's organic life on the
biological plane. This organic life, as we have seen, serves as a station of
transmission for the life giving energy going to Earth and the Moon,
through the FA-MI interval of the Great Octave. This task is crushing.
Under normal conditions of peace, insufficient quantities of energy are
transmitted to the Moon as a result of the work of human society and its
surrounding fauna and flora. This necessitates interventions on the part of
the Deuterocosmos, which provoke convulsions in the Tritocosmos. The aim
of the latter is to increase the energy expended at this level, so as to ensure
the nourishment and growth of that cosmic fcetus that is the Tessaracosmos.
This is, for example, the cosmic origin of wars and revolutions, of epi-
demics, and of all the other large-scale catastrophes that plague humanity.
It was remarked, a long time ago, that a massive appearance of sunspots
results in magnetic storms on earth, and in a psychological state which
leads to conflict on the social, international and racial planes.
-139
As a cell of organic life on Earth, man plays a part in the development of the
Ray of Creation. The vivification of the Moon, that cosmic foetus, is one
aspect of this development. This requires considerable quantities of
energy, which is produced in particular by the human part of organic life.
Illusion, which plays such an important role in the waking consciousness
of man, was introduced into that state so that he would accept this aspect of
the cosmic work, participating in it without rebellion.
If we become conscious of this situation and desire to escape it, we must
conceive and create a screen which will protect us against this devouring
influence of the Moon. We must meanwhile guard against falling into
Illusion again by erecting a false screen; the result would be an aggravated
waste of these forces instead of an economy of force. The quantity of force
necessary to genuinely oppose the influence of the Moon is already con-
siderable. The first imperative, then, is to stop wasting these forces, to turn
off the taps which let the energy escape uselessly: sterile emotions, in
particular negative emotions; fantasies from uncontrolled imagination;
uncoordinated mental gymnastics, gossiping and chattering. We must
thus act like a wise minister of finance and carefully economize our
energies, yet without all the time sterilizing either our activity or our
intelligence. On the contrary, we must store and as far as possible aug-
ment these forces to build up our reserves. These are the two main aspects
of the first objective we have to attain.
-168
The direct aim has been created for special cases. Here, man goes against
life's general current. He climbs the ladder of the cosmos individually,
after first neutralizing that influence within him which the Moon exerts on
organic life for general ends. The direct aim cannot be grasped, formu-
lated, and followed, by man except at the price of conscious effort. -204
Placed between the Sun and the Moon the Earth, as we know, plays the
of a dransmitfer station; this is an instance of the universd law by which
the active force- from which life in a particular cosmos proceeds- has its
source in the next higher cosmos, Earth thus receives life from the Sun,
md the Sun maintains that life. In the case of the Earth and the Moon the
Absolute III, who ensures the procreation of species on earth, is also
charged with the vivification of the satellite, If we correct for the time
factor these mechanisms are comparable from one stage to another,
although the analogy should not be stretched too far because of the roles
assigned to each step in the larger context.
What, in broad outline, is the mechanism and form by which the trans-
mitter station, Earth, communicates solar energy to its satellite? How can
energies produced by human activity, paaicularfy the energy produced by
sexual fife in its widest sense, reach the Moon and bring it to life?
To simplify the explanation5 we shall only consider two of the many
movements of the terrestrial world; its gravitation around the Sun and its
rotation about its axis.
In the first of these movements the indination of the ecliptic produces a
seasonal rhythm that becomes more and more distinct the furher we move
away from the equator. Obedient co this rhythm, floral life passes rhrough
four phases: sowing, growth, development, which ends by its bearing fruit
-and rest. The unfolding of these phases is far less apparent for fauna, and
even less for man in whom the normal rhythms of city life mask them
without entirely eliminating them. In its natural course this produces a
pulsation in organic life. The inversion of the curve from one hemisphere to
the other does not produce total compensation: the extent of cultivated
lands and the density of population show a net balance in favour of the
Northern hemisphere, which consequently captures and emits much more
radiation. ---29
[montalk: planets without moons do not rotate, without rotation there is no possibility of life,
therefore the moon is both the driving force of rotation and life.]
================= Cassiopaean Transcripts =============
950304
Q: (L) Georges Gurdjieff proposed the idea that the earth is, in a
sense, food for the moon. What he meant was, what he had learned
from these ancient teachers
was that earth was a food source for some level of being, and that
possibly these beings had encampments or bases on the moon, but
that earth was eventually to become a star and that then the moon
would become an inhabited planet as the earth was, and so on... Is
this a fairly...
A: Close.
Q: (L) Is the Moon a second density planet?
A: Yes.
980627
Q: One final question: I have to start scheduling time for the
psychomantium. Can you suggest the optimum time or optimum
schedule?
A: Mid-evening and nearer to full moon and new moon.
990731
Q: Let me ask it this way: was the moon added or placed
deliberately?
A: Okay. This is impossibly complex because in one way or
another, everything is part of a "plan."