Preface

Introduction

Part One

These are days in which the spirit of inquiry is perhaps more alive than at any other time in the history of humanity. They are days also in which the orientation of humanity towards spiritual realities and towards the higher values is more pronounced than ever before, in spite of many opinions of the pessimistically inclined to the contrary. The masses are becoming increasingly sensitive to the world of ideas and to the vision of truth. Hitherto it has been the advanced men and women who have so responded, but today it is the many. The spirit in man has always been divinely alive, but today men everywhere are inquiring with one voice: Which is the WAY that we should go? How far have we travelled towards our goal?

This book is an attempt to trace in brief and simple language the progress man has made as he has travelled along the way of truth and thus answer that question. It seeks to penetrate behind the outer world of seeming to the world of spirit, and to find, behind the external forms, that which gives them life.

The subject is necessarily so vast that it is safe to say that it can only be handled in three ways. First by the production of volumes which would embody the erudition of the ages and which would be read, therefore, only by the erudite and selective few. Secondly, by specializing in some one or other of the many aspects of the Ageless Wisdom, and writing on a chosen subject, appealing consequently only to those attracted to that subject and that particular presentation of a part of the truth. Thirdly, by writing simple ‘bridging’ books which (selecting the highlights in the history of truth and the basic foundational realities) will make the teaching real to the average man in the simplest terms. In this way the man of average intelligence, busy with the affairs of everyday life, can get some understanding of that enlightenment which has ever poured forth over humanity from the heart of God Himself, and thus regain that confidence and that belief in love and immortality which is our divine heritage. This we have somewhat lost through the activity of living, the press of the economic situation, the fear and suspense engendered by the world situation, and the bewilderment aroused in many minds by the warring theologies of the great religions.

As I have read this book, it has seemed to me that the intent of the author is to present to the man in the street (who is now awake and demanding such information) a picture of the two lines of continuity which the history of the past reveals to the attentive student. There is, first of all, the continuity of the Wisdom Teaching, which, down the ages, has come forth from God and thrown the needed light upon the ways of men. It has taken the form outwardly of the world religions (living or dead), but has always presented to those whose eyes were open those esoteric truths and those clear instructions whereby man can find his own soul and his way back to the centre of life. There is, secondly, the continuity of Messengers from the Most High – Revealers of Divinity, culminating for us in that supreme Son of God Whom Christianity recognises.

These two interwoven golden threads of light can be seen passing – unbroken and untarnished – down through the history of the race. They are the product of human aspiration and divine response, of human effort and divine transmission. They constitute the way to the goal. The form the Path which all must tread. The way to Those Who have journeyed ahead of us upon the selfsame Path. It is a practical way; it has the endorsement of history and the example of the foremost and the most enlightened who have walked the ways of earth. It is the history of the WAY in contradistinction to the many ways.

There is need for such books as this in the world today, for bridging books which all people can read, which can evoke their interest and lead them to a closer and a more earnest search. This book should find immediately a real field of usefulness and serve and help many. The field of esoteric truth is so large and its departments so many and so varied that the neophyte is apt to be confused and bewildered by the extent of the horizon which opens up before him and the many types of knowledge which presumably he is expected to master. Mysticism, occultism, esoteric psychology, astrology, numerology, theosophical doctrines, Kabbalistic lore, Rosicrucian truth, comparative religion, symbolism and the conflicts between creeds all clamour for his attention. We need simple synthetic presentations, which eliminate the non-essentials and give a clear picture in clear outline and clear language. Such a book is this, and, as a forerunner of many more, I wish it Godspeed and a wide field of service.

Thirty years have passed since this little book was published. During that time the book and its successors have brought me much rich experience and many friends.

Together we are watching the transition from the old age into the new age, and we are offering our thought and our prayers for the expected event of the ‘Second Coming’.

Time rushes by. The old civilization is burning itself up in a crescendo of confusion. But, even before its ashes are formed, the Phoenix can be seen arising, emerging as the new revolting youth of today, in every land – an unprecedented event – universal revolt, seeking, however instinctively, for the Will of God.

If to these new crusaders everywhere could be introduced the Plan of Evolution as it has emerged from all the great Wisdom teachings, they might find an anchor and a purpose by means of which they could lead the world into a new era of both sanity and fulfilment.

It is to this end that this book and its successors are dedicated. The emblem on the cover is a reminder of the instruction from Christ: ‘Be ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves!’

Are human beings potential gods, as they have been told, or are they merely the least of worms?

The world today is a seething mass of contradictions. Life does not become simpler with each new achievement, and the average man, kept busy with the urgent process of existing, has little time for thought.

Yet there are moments when, looking out upon a world which appears drab, cruel, confused, and very ugly in many ways, man wonders…….

If there are great heights for him to attain why does he seem to know so little about them? What has man been doing all these centuries? Why do disease, difficulties and dangers appear to have increased the more civilization ‘progresses’?

There comes a time in the lives of many people when they earnestly desire to find an answer to these questions. They would know why they are here, what it is all about, and if they can learn to master circumstances instead of continually being a prey to them. They begin to make an individual effort to find out for themselves if there is really any rhyme or reason, any justice in life, anything to hope for or to work for.

When a man arrives at this stage in his life it marks a very important crisis in his development. It is the moment at which he changes from a puppet into an individual and joins the honoured company of the seekers.

To his surprise he finds that the number of these seekers is increasing rapidly, and that, in fact, they are beginning to make their impact felt upon social consciousness.

He soon sees the significance of this. True socialism becomes possible when people recognize themselves as individual units of power, capability and thought; then there will inevitably follow a correspondingly important and congenial position in life for each one of them. There is an unfailing demand for either the competent worker or for those able to wield constructive influence, and all can fill one of these needs. There is no other way to individual happiness.

The general apathy and ignorance which has existed for so long has reduced living conditions to a chaos in which there has been undernourishment in the midst of plenty, barbaric wars and cruelties taking place under the wing of so-called religion, and a system of education which results neither in mental power, physical fitness, good looks nor happiness.

Now, however, humanity is waking up in a wonderful manner to a recognition of its own failures. Everywhere there is widespread effort and intensive seeking going on in manifold directions. This effort is to be found not only among the leaders and teachers of the people but among the people themselves. The public interest in health, diet, physical culture, spiritualism and hundreds of other cults and movements shows the beginning of a powerful wave of progress which may sweep humanity upwards to the peak of a new Renaissance of a kind the world has never known before.

There are many today already caught in the throes of the birth of this coming Renaissance. They are tormented by the desire to know more of the inner meaning of life and the hidden issues to which they are so swiftly moving. One after another they take up the challenge of Life’s Riddle, and join the ever-growing band of seekers.

It is significant that this seeking should press into the realms of ‘religious’, ‘psychic’, ‘spiritualistic’ and ‘occult’ thought – in other words, the inner unseen world of causes. Man realizes that ‘science’, which had dealt so successfully with physical phenomena, has not yet succeeded in giving humanity any measure of happiness or safety. So he is at last determined to try to find his happiness by getting in touch with causes instead of effects, by seeking for the laws or truths, if any, which may lie behind the reactions of living things. He begins to sense the difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Knowledge is the result of an accumulation of facts, and its tendency is, through specializing, to isolate subjects one from another.

Wisdom is the deduction from these facts of useful laws, a process which can only take place by comparing the facts in one compartment with those in all the others, thus giving a vision of the whole.

When man becomes an individual seeker his first effort is to discover what he can of ‘facts’ connected with the fundamental truths of life. He wants proofs.

There are many people ready to admit him into the world of inner research. He is faced with a long and complicated pilgrimage. Wonderful promises are held out to him, he is assured of becoming a superman, with health, happiness, and power hitherto undreamt-of and hard for him to comprehend. He asks himself if all this can be true. If so, why is humanity still wallowing in such helplessness? In bewilderment he hesitates on the threshold of philosophy, Spiritualism, Christian Science or a dozen other cults and ‘isms’!

His inexperienced eyes are unable to detect the true from the false, and he is at the mercy of many people who seek to enlist him for their own pet cult, or who wish to make profit for themselves by trading upon his virgin curiosity and yearning. If he has a tendency to emotionalism or a love of the sensational, he will be an easy prey.

How, then, is he going to escape the many pitfalls and manage to keep upon the true path to an understanding and mastery of life?

These chapters have been written in an effort to provide the seeker with a simple guide-book for his pilgrimage to Truth, a concise and bird’s-eye view of the new universe which he is about to explore. It endeavours to help him to place each new discovery into its relevant position so that he, while gathering his store of knowledge, may develop wisdom, also, and learn those few essential secrets through which he may attain the poise, power and creativeness which will ultimately develop him into a superman.

The seekers who acquire and use this knowledge will be the builders of the new and promised Golden Age.

In this book an effort will be made to sort out, summarize and compare the ancient knowledge with modern science. Most of the statements made are capable of world-wide and extensive corroboration by trustworthy authorities, and can be verified by any reader who will care to give the time to it. He can satisfy himself by as many proofs as he has the patience and energy to seek and the intelligence to judge and sift.

The quest after Truth opens up an unimagined and wonderful new world to the seeker, so thrilling and so full of reward and interest that it is not within the power of human speech to portray it. Only the fringe of this absorbing search has been touched in these few pages, but even so this book contains the recipe for turning an ordinary human being into a superman, one who commands the means of success, happiness or personal fulfilment always within himself, and irrespective of all circumstances.

Our first concern will be to take a survey of the present position with unprejudiced eyes.

The unprejudiced eye is a much more difficult thing to cultivate than we may imagine. In fact, to most of us it is an impossibility. For generations, indeed for centuries, we have been brought up in certain grooves of thought, certain traditions and habits, until our brains become wedged into a confined rut and are unable to look at things from a new angle.

When, however, after finishing our survey of the present position, we see around us the result of thinking in these grooves, and realize to what a state of unhappiness, chaos and muddle this has brought us, we may, in sheer desperation, make the effort needed to jerk our brains out of their ruts and guard them against ever slipping back again.

Truth can only be understood by one in a state of attention. Therefore Truth is not available to those in a slack condition of mind – they could not take it in. Truth is only to be found ‘at the bottom of a well’; it must be struggled for and sought after and come upon through earnest effort, through the stimulation brought about by suffering or striving, whereby the mind is prepared to recognize it.

That is why Truth appears always to be hidden, veiled and guarded.

Let us, then, try to look with new eyes at the struggling mass of inconsistencies which we are in the habit of calling civilization.

Man has striven always for happiness, and he has sought to attain it mostly in one of three ways – comfort, entertainment, and religion. But he has sought these things only in their outward form. Comfort for the body has been the first aim, while a comfortable state of mind has been the last thing considered, until the lack of it has reduced the victim to despair. Cleanliness has also been studied outwardly, but seldom in its inward form – we do not understand how to keep our minds wholly free from rubbish and poisoning material. Religion likewise has come to be mostly an external observance, while as for entertainment it is poured in from outside, the mind being required to make no effort to obtain it.

All the same, we are told that Mind over Matter constitutes our real power! Therein is one of the inconsistencies! Let us find some more!

In some countries the State supports a Church which tells us, ‘thou shalt not kill’, but is not averse to sending us out to war in order to slaughter our possibly blameless fellow-men. For this we are called heroes. Yet is we kill someone for a reason which seems good enough for us we are no longer heroes, and we are hanged!

Many of us are asked to believe in Church teaching and the Bible, both of them containing a mass of contradictions which no one attempts to explain. For example, Christ asked His disciples to carry on the work as He had done, saying: ‘He that believeth in me, the woks that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.’ These words referred to healing, prophesying and clairaudience, which, with the ‘gift of tongues’ (power to be understood by all nationalities), the power to work miracles, to interpret dreams and symbols, and to have wisdom, were the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. Yet the State, which supports the Church’s teachings, may imprison one for prophesying, and the clergy, who should be cultivating these gifts, leave them mostly in the hands of those whom they consider ignorant and superstitious.

Calling ourselves civilized, we produce a race which cannot compare with many of the most savage tribes in health and physique. Look around at the members of an average crowd of today and compare them with the Greek ideal, or the early Egyptian or Assyrian bodies. Through unbiased eyes we shall see that we are mostly misshapen travesties of what a human being should be; we cannot deny the prevalence today of imperfect bodies, unlovely vacant faces, ugly clothes and primitive conversation.

Surely a modern crowd’s appearance shrieks of the wrongness of our present mode of living?

We know the hospitals are full; so are the asylums – who dares to tell us how full?

Consider also that we are at present in imminent danger of a world war which would let loose as much beastliness and cruelty as has ever existed in history.

But even without war man is being murdered daily in various ways by the terrible Robot which he has reared under the name of Civilization. This Robot is running amok; it has mastered its creator for the time being and produced a clever system of keeping him in slavery. Much that is really enlightening in knowledge is gradually being eliminated from man’s education, which is given to him in odd spoonfuls having no apparent relation to each other. Through no fault of his own he is under an economic system which causes him to spend all his days in the terror and anxiety of being without means of support. If he works at all he must drudge the whole week through, while many of his comrades are refused employment, and he is obliged to pay for their support; there is ‘over-production’ and yet a difficulty in obtaining cheap food, even in some countries the danger of starvation; honesty and purity are preached to him from one side, while pornography and sensationalism are showered upon him from the other.

Every effort is made to soak him through and through with an interest in sex – by means of cinemas, theatres, books, newspapers and through the type of food most cheaply obtained. He is never told the plain truth – that a preoccupation with sex is one of the greatest deterrants to brain development. He is surrounded with mind-destroying noise, rush and anxiety, until even the doctors are beginning to say that modern life will soon exterminate itself!

As if this were not enough, he is furthermore at the mercy of the war-lords, who can send him out to murder and mangle his fellow-man even if he has the kindest character; and, escaping this last horror, he is daily slaughtered in his own streets by his brother road-hogs, while they, in turn, pay millions into the hospitals to put him together again!

Life altogether seems to have been expressly planned to prevent him from creative thought; he has been, until quite recently, offered no problems to solve; his entertainment has been put before him in the form of predigested sensationalism – mental baby-food.

Weary and half drugged by this intensive treatment, man has largely ceased to recognize the heritage of his wonderful mind. He no longer knows why he should think – or what there is to think about.

Here then is a pessimistic picture of life as it is today!

Ought we to be satisfied with this state of affairs? Is this indeed the whole picture, or is there a brighter side to it?

Let us not forget the claim that man is a marvellous creature, in spite of much that appears to the contrary. This claim seems not to be entirely without foundation. On every hand we find clues to strange and tremendous forces hidden within us, forces that when properly understood and developed could certainly lead us to unimaginable power and achievement. We glimpse these powers in such people as the imaginative genius, the child prodigy, the thought-reader, the healer and the clairvoyant. We hear of them on every side and their existence is too well known to be disputed.

There are many great men alive today whose achievements stand out in sharp contrast to the average. Is it that they are supermen, or that the rest of us are lagging far behind the point of development we should have reached? If we were to lay any of them upon the dissecting table we should certainly find nothing about them that differs in any degree from the average person.

Where, then, is the key to the wonderful power and omnipotence that apparently may be every man’s birthright? There is nothing to prove that we could not all attain complete mastery over our lives and fortunes, and reach ideal happiness, were we given this key, and had the will and the determination to use it. Had we this secret, instead of being, as we are, slaves to life, to our possessions, our environment, ill-health, ‘bad luck’ and the rest, we could be master and controller of all our circumstances, and welcome with content and understanding everything that life brings to us.

We are told that the secret lies in the use and understanding of a certain knowledge through which is given an insight into the inner laws and forces of life, and the manner in which to use them. This knowledge has always existed, but it remains hidden for ever from all but the earnest seeker.

For the last few hundred years humanity has been passing through its Slough of Despond – Ignorance.

The hour has already struck which marks the beginning of humanity’s emergency from that blackness. Men have suffered so much and for so long, through ignorance, that at last the inevitable reaction has set in. We can feel this change beginning to play in subtle ways through all phases of life.

We have reached the time when we demand to know, and to know for ourselves and through ourselves, and to wield that knowledge irrespective of authority. We refuse any longer to dance like puppets to the drugging jazz tunes of incompetent authority. And soon authority will have to pull itself together and follow the lead of the seekers.

For there is widespread seeking going on everywhere now for the happiness, freedom and power which we instinctively feel will be ours when we have gained the requisite knowledge.

And the knowledge is to be found – hidden, waiting, wonderful!

Our first clue to this knowledge lies in the study of what is known as the Secret Wisdom. This teaching was always in the charge (in the early days) of those who were well equipped both to govern and teach. But in time they neglected their deep knowledge in favour of the easier way – power through money, superstition and material pomp. This resulted in laziness and effete degeneration. Their only hope of retaining hold on the people was to plunge them into ignorance also. Therefore a systematic persecution of certain knowledge began, by edicts, inquisitions and massacres. Finally their end was so thoroughly attained that from the highest to the lowest the wisdom had apparently faded out.

Fortunately, however, there are now, and always have been, those who would give their whole lives to the guarding and hiding of a treasure so precious. Such people were the alchemists, hermits, early freemasons and many more. So the knowledge was not really lost, but only concealed and safely guarded from desecration.

Humanity is fast approaching the day when, through patient struggling, it will have earned the right to this wisdom; in fact, some years ago it was given out in part for those earnest seekers in the vanguard of progress to discover. Let us make all speed to gain for ourselves this rich heritage.

Whether we approach the subject from a purely scientific viewpoint, from a common-sense one, or from a religious one, we will find that science, logic or the root-form of any of the principal religions will lead us finally to identical truths. We will realize that if we are able to accept these truths we will obtain a very satisfactory understanding of the ‘workings’ of Nature’, and of certain rules which will enable us to control ourselves and our circumstances in a manner hitherto impossible.

We cannot gain such valuable knowledge without making worthy effort, but if we persevere there is no limit to the benefit we shall obtain.

The earliest results achieved will be, firstly, a considerable improvement and control of health and looks, a growing capacity for happiness, an inability to worry or fear; a gaining of popularity, and freedom from boredom.

In time, when greater strides are made, there will be immunity from disease, conquering of fatigue, and prolonging of youth. There will be a growing capacity for helping others, a mastery of sorrow and pain, and the development of healing power. A growing inner force will be felt, both for creating ideas and the carrying of them out.

Neither does the tale end here. Very advanced students, such as are the Yogis, become unaffected by heat or cold, wounds and poisons. They are able to perform feats usually considered as miracles, and they appear to have access to regions of wisdom and felicity undreamt of by us. People of this type move about among us unsuspected. They do not advertise themselves; they are under a Law which forbids them to help unless help is asked, or to give out knowledge unless it is sought and will be properly understood. They are ready and waiting for the time when a growing number of people sense their secrets and beg their help.

When the general public have sufficiently advanced they will insist on being governed by persons of such attainments, and then indeed will begin the coming Golden Age.

Meanwhile those who are anxious to forge ahead and prepare for the future will find in this book a broad survey of many sides of the subject, together with the first simple rules for the beginning of attainment.

They are asked only to keep an open mind as they read, for only an open mind is big enough to contain the secrets of the universe.

Before we begin studying the ancient wisdom we will find it very helpful to prepare our minds by taking a survey of the ground covered by modern science today. It will be fascinating to see how identical facts can be known under different names and reached by different methods.

Both the ancient sages and modern scientists are agreed that everything in life is formed of vibrations. So that, as we shall be obliged often to use this word, we can begin by defining it.

We are told that vibration is the result of force or energy, concentrated in some mysterious way and caused to vibrate, shake or oscillate at different speeds. The composition of an atom, according to some scientists, is, first of all, a tiny vacuum, round which this force or energy revolves as a vortex, just as the circle of the sun’s aura or zodiac revolves round it. The zodiac contains the planets revolving within it, and the minute ‘zodiac’ of the atom contains also its planets, or electrons as they are called.

The difference between one object and another is ultimately a question of rate of vibration. It is the number and arrangement of the electrons within an atom, and the varied cohesions of atoms into molecules, which go to make up these vibratory differences.

The disturbance in the atmosphere caused by a vibration sends out a ripple or air-wave in all directions. As an illustrative simile of this we can throw a stone into a pool of water. At first we see the hole which the stone makes, corresponding to the vacuum in the centre of the atom. Then we see the disturbance in the water created by the hole, a circle of energy which sets up waves or ripples which spread out to an unlimited distance. Drop other stones in nearby, and their circle of waves will flow over and through the others, none, however, being destroyed although they affect one another slightly. The distance between one ripple and the next is called the ‘wave-length’.

We have in this a rough picture of what happens in the atmosphere, and of the waves set up by light, sound, or any kind of object – anything, in other words, that vibrates.

Low rates of vibration form the more static or visible objects; we might say that they send out only slow ripples; higher rates of motion, between the rapidly flying particles, form less tangible things, such as gas. These particles intermingle rapidly with the air, but often they do not move sufficiently quickly to penetrate through solids.

I would like to say here that the statements in this chapter are not intended to be scientific accuracies, but roughly suggestive for the purposes of our argument. As the ‘facts’ of science are continually having to be modified or changed we need not take them too seriously. The last word has never been said!

Vibrations of a relatively low frequency are known to us as sounds. Higher ranges are known as heat.

Sound and heat are fine enough to pass through certain solids. We know all about the ripples or waves caused by sound. So also we know about the electrical impulses, through the wireless, and we call them wave-lengths, and know all their measurements. Some of the wireless wave-lengths are as much as three miles long.

We might picture the scale of vibrations as a vast keyboard, on which there are many octaves and different types of vibration and motion. One range of motion expresses itself as solid, liquid and gaseous forms. Other ranges are perceived as sound, heat and those intangible things about which we know little.

Above the octaves of sound would come those of light and colour vibrations. The colours range from red – the lowest (which vibrates at 451 million million times per second, and has a wave-length of one 36,918^th of an inch) – up to violet. We see this order of colours in the rainbow and in the spectrum.

Above the violet, colour can no longer be seen by the eye, and we find the ultra-violet rays and the X-ray. Now at last we have reached vibrations fine and rapid enough to penetrate through most solids. Higher up on the scale we come to the magnetic vibrations and their wave-lengths, such as those that issue from the mind of the hypnotist. These can go through denser solids than the X-ray can, which accounts for the hypnotist being able to produce the effect of a deep trance upon a person seated in an adjoining room.

Apparently the vibrations of the mind can travel instantaneously many hundreds of miles, as in thought telepathy, passing through all solids which intervene. They have an intimate connection with electricity which, as we know, can travel round the world in a flash.

Each thought is a vibration having a set wave-length! When, however, we consider the vastness of the scale of vibrations with which we have to deal it will be seen that there are enough and to spare for everything.

Now, having placed sound, light and heat in their respective order as we know it, we must ask what they are and how we know they exist.

Had we and the animals no ears, what would sound be?

What we know as sound is that tiny section of octaves on the scale of vibration which can be transmitted to the brain by the receivers in the ear. The human ear is successful up to a certain point, beyond which it can receive no more; but many animals hear vibrations which to us are no longer sounds at all.

Higher up on our keyboard than sound comes heat. Our skin contains the little receivers to transmit these vibrations, to which the ear is no longer sensible.

Farther up the scale still we come to light and colour. We only have one tiny marvellous organ to register this set of vibrations to the brain – the optic nerve. The eye is made to react up the scale of colour to the violet vibration. After that, as already stated, the oscillation is so minute and rapid that it can inter-penetrate solids, so these ultraviolet vibrations pass right through the eye lens.

The question now arises – have we any organs which can deal with those higher vibrations, or the very subtle substance of which they are composed, and in what form are these contacted?

These last vibrations are so fine that they use the ether as their vehicle instead of the heavier air particles. The ether is the indefinable substance in which this earth and all the atoms of the air are supported. Scientists are on the verge of discovering that there is more than one kind of ether, in fact even perhaps three or four. The finest vibrations which we have yet considered are within the realm of electrical and magnetic phenomena. These are the forces which man also contains within himself, and which can be utilized through the mind.

We must now inquire what organs man has with which to register these particular vibrations, embracing the radiations and emanations, which come under the general term ‘psychic’. There are two small glands in the head which give doctors much cause for speculation. I refer to the Pituitary Body and the Pineal Gland.

The former is a tiny, double bean-shaped body situated behind the root of the nose. It is posed so that it is very sensitive to vibrations. We know that it is in some way connected with nurture, body-building, and the nervous system. If it is removed all organic function ceases. If overdeveloped it produces giantism, which if underdeveloped dwarfism is the result. The Pituitary Body has been called the seat of the mind. Its frontal lobe is concerned with emotional thought, of the type which produces poetry and music, while the anterior lobe is connected with more concrete intellectual concepts.

The Pineal Gland is a tiny cone-shaped body in the middle of the head, behind and just above the Pituitary. It contains pigment similar to that found in the eyes, and is connected by two nerve cords with the optic thalmi; it is said to control the action of light upon the body, and for these reasons scientists have suggested that it is the remnant of a third physical eye. Men of learning, such as Descartes, have pronounced it to be the point in the human being where soul and body meet, the seat of intuition.

It is said that when, for specific reasons, the Pituitary Body and the Pineal Gland have become fully developed and stimulated, their vibrations fuse and stir into life the mysterious 'Third Eye’ of man, the eye of the soul. Apparently this activity provides the mind with a perfect instrument with which to work, a transmitter by means of which vibrations of very differing types can be translated, interpreted and rearranged. This gives him personal access to much knowledge, of which we will speak later.

Man can also become sensitive to the finer chemical and magnetic emanations in the ether, and can ‘see’ the numberless thought-forms, entities and creatures, the endless complexities and types of life which make up a vast world of teeming energies which the limited capacity of ordinary physical sight is unable to register.

In a few people there is a slight involuntary functioning of these latter activities, and we call them either clairvoyant or crazy, according to our understanding. They can literally see the radiations and ‘photographs’ in the ether which are given off by almost any kind of body. We will study these in a later chapter. But, just as the muscles and brain need developing in an average person, so these organs of ‘second sight’ need their own particular training. Many, however, are born with a ‘knack’ for their use, in the way of any other type of prodigy.

When a psychometrist holds an article to his forehead against the awakened ‘Third Eye’ it tunes in to and commingles with the vibrations emanating from the article, and as these vibrations represent a certain picture, just as do our thoughts, he is able to describe the associations attached to it. The emanations from an object are often so fine and numerous that they continue to be given off for thousands of years, just as with radium.

The Egyptians knew all about the ‘Third Eye’, and indicated it on the statues of their gods by a knob on the forehead. They trained the people in the use of this psychic centre in the temple of Ma-at. The god Ma-at was vulture-headed, because the vulture has a sight so keen as to be almost clairvoyant. When people responded to this training they became ‘seers’, or psychic, as we should say now. They could see with the trained ‘Third Eye’ right through a body, as the X-ray does, and diagnose disease. All over the East we find statues of historic men or women of wisdom with a knob or other mark upon the forehead indicating this type of achievement.

Of course there are some people who have this power today, but we do not understand its use now how to train them properly, consequently their development has been left to chance.

We have now reached the most subtle portion on the scale of vibrations which we are discussing. The question arises as to whether we have quite exhausted its possibilities, or whether there are still finer ones than those that exist in the ether, and, if so, have we any means of contacting them?

The sphere of thought next occurs to us. We are told that ‘thoughts are things’! We know that each thought has its definite vibration, because this has been proved. An instrument has been invented by Dr. Baraduc of Bordeaux which records thought vibrations. When an intelligent person approaches this instrument it registers a high-speed and strong vibration. When a low type or imbecile approaches it the vibration is correspondingly feeble and slow.

It has also been proved by experiment that by an act of will the mind can cause objects such as metal levers to move (see experiments by Sir William Crookes in Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science). We have also heard of numberless cases of fakirs and people of that kind having been able to prevent themselves from burning by fire, from suffocating when buried alive, from bleeding from wounds, and from other normal reactions. They can do this by being able to bring into action the power that the finer vibrations of the mind have over the lower ones of chemical matter. The same thing is done in chemistry through the use of electrical heat to split up, reorganize or control chemical compounds.

Sometimes people use these powers without knowing exactly what they are doing, nor what the result will be, as in the cases of some forms of mental healing, based on ‘blind faith’. Such cases are a wonderful proof of existing possibilities, but at best they are uncertain (sometimes only ‘flukes’), and often much harm is done through lack of a fuller understanding.

In curing some diseases, either by self-treatment or by a mental healer, the fine vibrations of the mind act on the lower vibrations of the disease tissue. This can be performed at the same rate at which that particular mind is able to visualize and concentrate – it may take hours, days or weeks, according to the condition of patient and healer.

However, we know that there have occurred many cases of ‘instantaneous’ healing, diseased and broken tissues being rendered whole in a flash of times. We have heard of such things throughout history, and they are said to happen at the present day in places such as Lourdes. In these cases we have at last touched upon the finest and subtlest ‘vibrations’ of all, those of the ‘spirit’ or the highest creative force. Such vibrations, being unhampered by the processes of the brain, and operating at a terrific speed, can go through the whole process of cure so quickly that we cannot possibly follow its course, and the result seems to us to be instantaneous.

With a great spiritual healer such as Christ was, works of this kind are possible, especially if the sufferer can tune in, through ‘faith’ or through the medium of his own ‘spiritual’ vibrations, to the healer’s actions. Christ encouraged us to strive for these powers of healing, which are not really ‘supernatural’, but the result of an intensive development and an understanding of the laws of the universe.

The mind has power over everything that it can understand and visualize. Therefore the first step of all is to study these arguments and theories, and those facts which are supported by adequate testimony, with a perfectly open and logical mind.

If and when we become convinced of any argument or concept, we must tabulate it carefully, and pass on to a study of the next. In this way we will begin gradually to discover what we really can know and believe.

For instance, we may feel that it is impossible for us to prove for ourselves the truth of Christ’s miracles, or of any others in the past. But actually such things are happening every day, in every guise and form, and a little inquiry will soon put us in touch with them. Our own common sense will then enable us to separate the true from the false.

The object of this chapter is to show that, although we may approach this subject from the angle of pure chemical and mechanical science, we shall still be able to work through to the final result that there is a certain force controlled by our minds which can act more powerfully over solid matter than anything else; and that there is a still stronger force, apparently outside of mind, which can act instantaneously and ‘miraculously’.

It is not enough to go on any longer weakly tabulating these things as ‘hypnotism’, ‘thought-reading’, or ‘imagination’. They must be better understood for what they really are. We must have an explanation for the changes in tissue and matter which occur. The old alchemists claimed that it was possible to direct a mental force to change the composition of atoms by altering their vibrations, and that thereby it would be possible to make gold. They believed it was so, but already materialism had stepped in, and they often endeavoured to accomplish it by chemical means alone.

The only real power to do such things lies within ourselves, but we must first learn to use our own highest vibrations.

These powers can only work if they are undisturbed by the inharmonious heavy vibrations which enter into our composition if we live out of harmony with the laws of Nature.

The athlete knows that alcohol, smoking, unbalanced diet, worry and lack of sleep upset his health and undermine his stamina, so that even the low vibrations of physical strength and steadiness cannot gain control.

The mental worker knows that he has to steady down all his bodily disturbances and vibrations before he can concentrate at all. He needs not only to be able to ignore the vibrations all around him, which he can only do if they are steady and balanced (a hum of traffic disturbs many much less than odd drops of falling water), but also he must have steadiness and balance of every activity of his own body – so that he can ignore it.

If, however, he is seeking neither athletic nor mental expression, but ‘inspiration’, he can only obtain that by steadying down the brain itself, so that, balancing its vibrations to the same state of poise as those of his body, he can ignore the brain and reach for the subtler forces of the mind. The greatest inspiration will flash suddenly into the brain at a moment when it is quiet and receptive.

Therefore, although the highest vibrations are the most powerful, we cannot get in touch with them within ourselves when our bodies and brains are a mass of struggling, fighting inharmonious vibrations, as is usually the case. Though the highest forces are there within us, we give ourselves little chance of linking up with them, and consequently are unable to utilize them.

The yogis and fakirs spend hours in ‘meditation’, or the effort to quieten down every activity in the body and brain, so that the aforementioned portions of the latter, the Pineal Gland and the Pituitary Body, can ‘tune in’ to those highest powers. When this is accomplished these men can, while in that state, cure their own and others’ bodily or mental ills, obtain inspiration or wisdom, and attain a high state of physical fitness and strength without our methods of ‘exercise’.

The first thing for us to do, therefore, is to eliminate all inharmonious vibrations from our bodies and brains. We must throw them out one by one as we discover them. Every unnecessary act, thought, emotion and fear must go! We must build into the fabric of our lives only those things which will balance, strengthen, and beautify them. We will find that there is a tremendous amount of accumulated rubbish to cast away! Those things which remain will give us all the greater joy and interest through being intensified.

The simple methods for doing this will be explained later.

Before closing this chapter let us give a thought to the modern scientists. Having followed a long trail in their efforts to discover the difference between matter and the life which pours through it, they have finally arrived at the perplexing result that there is no difference at all! They now know that solid matter in its final analysis is merely energy in a certain state of motion. They also know that our thoughts are also energy in a certain state of motion!

In other words, the world appears to be made up of the energy of the Being or Mind behind it, whose idea it was!

The scientists do not put it this way – yet!

From a scientific point of view they have come up against a blank wall, and their present attitude is probably that of a big question-mark.

Having studied our world according both to the modern matter-of-fact scientist and the less orthodox modern ideas, let us now turn and plunge into the past, and see what our ancestors knew, and how their knowledge helped them.

They prophesied the long dark Age of Ignorance from which we are at present emerging. That ignorance has engendered in us the habit of scoffing at everything which is not ‘ordinary’, ‘normal’ or able to be weighed and measured by scientists.

The scientists themselves have reached a point where they are no longer dealing with purely physical or chemical things – they have pushed upwards through the great scale of vibrations until their heads are in the clouds of conjecture. Perhaps they dare not speak of the possibilities they conceive.

Let us leave them hesitating in that exciting position, and start a tour of exploration on our own.

In a universe full of trillions of stars, of constellations and solar systems, there is one minute speck of matter which we call our earth. This speck of matter is covered with millions of microcopical creatures called human beings. The strange thing is that these microscopical creatures consider themselves important. Each minute one of them is able to feel that he is more important than the whole universe upon ;which he is but a speck.

Are these creatures really important, and if so, why?

Looking at them dispassionately, we can see that there is at least one remarkable thing about them. Almost any one of them, by training his microscopical brain, is able to visualize the past, present and future, not only of his own little person, country or planet, but of the whole universe. Within his tiny personality there is locked a power which will give him unlimited understanding of things quite beyond his physical reach, a dynamic capacity to wield the forces of Nature with a mind of which he knows not the limits.

Man is an animal, but he is an animal embodying a god. The ancients were much more alive to his potentialities than we are now. As we explore, it will take us some time to decide whether man knew more thousands of years ago than he does today, and whether he was a finer being.

This planet is infinitely older than most of us imagine, and so is the history of mankind. Archeologists are continually having to push back their dates further into the past. Much learnt in history books by the last generation is obsolete, and must now be unlearnt! Civilizations had been rising, falling and disappearing aeons before the men who owned the paleolithic skulls were born.

All these things are revealed to us in the Ancient or Secret Wisdom, which is a collection of teachings handed down from the very earliest times, explaining man, his origin, his composition and destiny, and also the purpose of the Universe. The Wisdom has come to us in unchanged form, concealed and taught throughout the world under the garb of many of the ancient religions. We will trace this in a later chapter, but begin now by a study of the Wisdom itself as it is still to be found in the East.

This teaching professes to expound to us the few great fundamental laws upon which are founded the life and progress of man and the universe.

Let us endeavour to shake off the habits of thought imposed upon us by the generations of a Dark Age, and consider with an open mind the heritage bequeathed to us by our earlier ancestors.

The Great Laws can best be named for us in English as follows:

The principle of the first of these laws is: ‘As in the Microcosm (man) so in the Macrocosm (the universe)’. It asserts that the same system of form, time and motion runs through the whole universe, so that if we properly study an atom or a cell we will obtain the key to the workings of a man, a planet, or a constellation. In that way, through a knowledge of periodicity – or the regular periods of time which occur on a small scale in nature – the ancient mathematicians were able to calculate the stars, their movements, and thereby the evolutionary stages in history on a large scale, and to prophesy conditions and influences thousands of years ahead.

It is disconcerting to find that the conceptions of the very ancient sages tax the modern man’s mind to the utmost. Even to understand their meaning and visualize their ideas takes effort and practice – much less could modern man originate such profound theories himself. And the ancients accomplished these things without, so far as we know, any of our modern mechanical aids.

This great Law of Repetition declares that there is an ordered arrangement within the universe, with certain periods of time and patterns of form repeated up the scale and governing the tiniest to the greatest. It asserts that the little things are a mirror of the larger ones, and everything is not only a replica but intimately connected with everything else. For instance, if you want to study a solar system you can study an atom. And if you want to study animal, plant, mineral or even solar life you will find it all represented in the body of man himself.

‘Man, Know Thyself’ was the ancient command written above the temple door. If we persevere with this fascinating study we will find that in the form of every human being the universe is presented to us; we can inspect the solar systems of his atoms, the mineral world in its most active and creative form in his interior laboratory, and the physical development of animal life from its lowest to highest form in his embryo. In his nature we will find a mixture of the passions and peculiarities of all living creatures. We can also trace an intimate relationship with all the planets through the interplay going on in his body with the cosmic and planetary rays, and a connection with the world of magnetism and electricity as well. Finally we will discover that man has in his puny frame the capacity to connect his mind with the highest unseen cosmic intelligence – the mind of ‘Nature’.

This first great Law, then, that of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm, gives us at once a much more comprehensive outlook on life, and therefore the capacity of brining vision and breadth into our creative work.

The second great Law is that of EVOLUTION:

Everything in life is evolving upwards and onwards to a higher and more perfect state, having had its beginning in an uncreative, unconscious and elementary form, and growing and progressing through striving, sacrifice and struggle to a condition of creative selfconscious potent strength.

Beginning at the lowest end of the scale with the minerals, we know that they have an elementary consciousness or mentality; that they strive, struggle and become tired, and that they are ‘sacrificed’ to or absorbed by the kingdom above them, the vegetable kingdom which lives upon them.

The vegetable kingdom has a higher consciousness or vibration than the mineral kingdom, and a greater power for struggling and adapting itself; in its turn it is sacrificed to the animal kingdom who feed upon it. The animals may seem to the plants to be some kind of deities, with wonderful and to them ‘miraculous’ powers of movement.

The sum of vegetable and mineral experience is absorbed by the animals, who depend on this for their life and evolution. In return, it is said that the animals provide, by their breathing, the carbon dioxide upon which plants exist during the day. Some of the animals are becoming extremely advanced in consciousness, and are full of what can be described as (for them) spiritual aspiration. Mankind are their deities, and they strain and strive to attain, in such things as speech and work, to the miraculous activities of their gods. The adoring eyes of a dog and his efforts to talk, and the keenness and pride of an elephant at work, are instances in point.

Animals in their turn offer up their sacrifice of adoration, emulation and service to man. Whereas the vegetable kingdom should adequately sustain the body of man, the animal kingdom should feed his emotional needs only, through his function of guardianship (‘domain’) over them. This relationship of loving, learning and teaching is the true one, instead of the prevailing extraordinary exploitation, slaughter and cruelty enacted towards animals, which forms the basis of similar attitudes towards all the other kingdoms, producing the predatory world which we have today.

We continue up the scale and find that in the kingdom of man the same process is going on. The more advanced type of human being is sacrificing his lower nature, and striving to reach and copy a higher kingdom of beings than his own. He calls these beings angels, gods or deities, and has as much difficulty in understanding their wonderful capabilities as the animals have in understanding his own. But just as the animals depend upon man for the final development of their intelligence, so man depends upon the subtler and more inspiring minds of the ‘angels’ for his own awakening.

We are told, also, that, just as man depends for his sustenance and progress upon the lower kingdoms of nature, so the ‘angel’ world depends upon the offering and sacrificing of man’s ‘soul-force’ for its own nourishing and development. Mankind and the angels can only reach greater heights of realization through the interplay of mutual service.

In accordance with the first great Laws of Repetition we realize that the process must continue, and therefore we are bound to infer that the angels are also sacrificing to, and striving to reach, a higher kingdom of Beings than themselves.

The Ancient Wisdom has mapped out for us the pattern of these angel communities and Hierarchies. An amazing vista of worlds ahead of us is thereby opened up for our consideration.

The third great Law is that of KARMA AND REBIRTH. This states that nothing in life is wasted, and all things share alike the chance of gaining ultimate perfection and of going through the full course of experience and development. We see that in the physical world as soon as a plant or other living creature has had its particular span or life it dies or withers. The cells which formed it disintegrate, but their chemical constituents come together at a later period to form a future plant or animal, closely resembling the former one, but plus, always, a stage of further adaptability, and change, showing that the consciousness and memory of the former plant has been reborn too.

When we come to a highly specialized consciousness like that of a human being we are told that it is being continually reborn upon the earth, and that it struggles and strives upwards perfecting and developing itself through numberless hard lessons and inevitable mistakes, until finally it reaches the stage of creative and conscious power which we call ‘superhuman’.

The method by which experience and progress is assured is expressed in the ancient law of KARMA. This word has not even an equivalent in the English language. Its meaning is ‘cause-and-effect’, or ‘action-and-reaction’. We are told that all of life is built upon the law of opposites, as in the negative and positive poles of electricity, day and night, heat and cold, summer and winter, good and evil. The constant friction between these opposites causes development, change, adjustment – in other words originality, or the free-will which functions throughout all creation, and through which creation itself learns eventually to become creative.

All this happens so slowly (to us) that at times we don not realize that there is progress, because we become confused by the backward crouch of the wave of progress before a further push forward. Probably we are living at the time of a backward crouch now, and perhaps that is why so much that is bad in humanity seems to be driven to the surface, so that to some the world appears at present to be deteriorating.

The Laws of Rebirth and Karma work hand in glove, so to speak. We are told that mankind came into being because Spirit, or the life-force behind everything, wished to develop more creative power. This development could only be accomplished by Spirit being so imprisoned and confined in matter (flesh) that It forgets Its oneness with Wisdom, and has to find everything out afresh through fighting and experience. So we are told that Virgin Spirit divided itself up into fractions and, by ensouling the egos of man and all other forms of life, sank itself into the heavy imprisoning matter of this world, and is slowly and patiently fighting its way back to Truth and Light and Power. The human egos evolve steadily, each undergoing constant rebirth, until it gradually attains to a knowledge of the laws of the universe through Karma – or the effect of its own acts and thoughts, achieving power and strength through the mastery of one law after another until at last it reaches omnipotence both physical and spiritual. We might say that the friction between the opposite poles of spirit and flesh causes, as in electricity, light or energy, which is creative force-power! The planets, the earth, the races of mankind, the animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms also reincarnate, all being under the same law. (We must mention here that it is not possible, according to the Secret Teaching, for man to be reborn as an animal, because however low he might sink in his own kingdom he could not retrogress into a slower vibration. This theory, called Transmigration of Souls, is held by certain peoples who have allowed their former knowledge to become distorted.)

Many persons here in the West find it rather difficult to accept this theory of reincarnation, because it has been stamped out for thousands of years. It therefore requires a great deal of unaccustomed mental exercise to obtain a real picture of it to hold in the mind. It is accepted quite naturally by most of the Eastern peoples, and has been for untold centuries, so that whether we believe in it or not we should go into the theory as fairly and impartially as if we were studying their ideas on art or agriculture.

As a rule human beings are unable to remember anything about any past lives they may have had. Of course there are exceptions, and many people have collected a great deal of evidence of such memories, which evidence is extremely interesting. In fact, I think we would find it impossible to deny that some people, at least, have lived before. When we consider that we are unable to remember a great deal of our present life, especially things which have affected our characters deeply, until they are laid bare by a psychoanalyst, it is not surprising if we do not remember past lives. But we are told that the experience gained in such lives is retained by us in those qualities which we describe as ‘having a conscience’, an ‘instinct’ or a ‘knack’.

According to this, then, a child prodigy is the result of continuous effort in past lives along some particular line. It might reasonably follow that imbecility is the result of a continuous refusal to use the brain and make effort; that to be a dwarf or cripple is the Karma of one who in previous lives neglected his body; and that an epileptic is probably discharging the debt of continuous immorality in a past life. In the light of this reasoning we could feel that there is no injustice or inequality in life, because the egos are choosing their own ways of learning life’s lessons, which can only be learnt through experience and suffering. Believing this, then, we could blame our parents for nothing since we are the masters of our own fate, and reap exactly as we have sown in the past – the effect of the cause – Karma!

We are told that certain groups of people incarnate together at intervals. In this way old injuries and insults must be recompensed, old enmities finally adjusted, and old loves allowed to continue and to grow and beautify. Nothing is lost, nothing is wasted, everyone finally reaches the same goal of perfection, although they are all in such different stages and classes now. No man becomes perfect or attains his goal so long as there is a single feeling of enmity between him and another, or until a score has been settled and wiped out by service and friendship. This is what Christ meant when He gave us that difficult injunction to ‘turn the other cheek’ and to ‘offer thy cloak also to him who shall take thy coat’. If we ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’ we cannot mind to whom the coat belongs! These conceptions are very difficult for a selfish world to grasp as yet, and few of us have the pluck to try them out.

We limit ourselves by being possessive. The greatest things we can have – wisdom, health and power – are all-pervading, and cannot be divided. They can only develop and be shared. Possessiveness, on the other hand, causes wars, cruelties, jealousies and sufferings. It can never do any good, and usually despoils the most beautiful thing in life – Love.

Therefore, if we can once believe in Reincarnation we would realize that Fear is wasted effort, because though we have suffered death and pain often before we are here again! Fear is something of our making, and it paralyses us and renders us stupid.

Also we can see that it is better not to think evil, unkind or worried thoughts, because by doing so we are causing effects which we will have a lot of work in putting right again – Karma! Thoughts are things, and when we unloose an ugly or harmful thing into the world we shall be obliged to remove it. Thoughts persist in the ethereal regions, and are connected with the one who made them until they are disintegrated through his effort.

The fourth great Law is that of the PLAN OF CREATION which teaches us about the Seven Planes. We learn that the whole of the solar system is built upon an orderly numerical system, and a set of seven definitely graded types of matter, substance, or, as the mystics and occultists call them, planes. These planes meet one another in a delicately graded sequence of interpenetrating vibrations with which the modern scientist is experimenting today and which we discussed in Chapter 2. The scope of his discoveries lies roughly between the phenomenon of sound (with its lowest vibration at about sixteen to the second) to that of X-ray (whose highest vibrations are estimated at 2,305,843,009,213,693,952 per second). These vibrations constitute a portion of what is known as the chemical or physical world or plane. The ancients were able to understand and tabulate seven times as much as this, because they postulated seven worlds of different kinds of life, interpenetrating and influencing one another, through which were functioning the various life-forces, currents, rays, thoughts, emotions, and archetypes of form which combine to produce life as it is, with all its different complexities. They had all this thoroughly worked out, and understood just how these different forces were concentrated into man’s body through the channels of his various glands. The doctors of today are still struggling with the ‘unknown’ functions of some of these glands because they have not had the inspiration to refer to the ancient knowledge and unravel the symbolism in which it was presented.

This symbolism was arranged and used both to awe the public and keep them from a knowledge which might be dangerous when in the hands of the ignorant and unprincipled, in much the same way as Latin is employed today by doctors. In times of high national morale more and more of the secrets were given out and understood by the public. But in periods of decadence and materialism the priests and rulers themselves deteriorated, and the knowledge was hidden away and guarded by the few remaining initiates or sages.

We are emerging from a long period of such materialism at present, and that is why doctor, priest and public are confronted with the task of learning a great deal all over again, and revising the knowledge of their ancestors before they can carry things a step further.

This revision was begun at the end of last century by such people as Madame Blavatsky through the Theosophists, by the Christian Scientists, by Mesmer, and a host of others, who aroused the public desire to penetrate once more into the fundamental meaning of Life and its ultimate purpose. Since then modern methods have been used to unearth the Ancient Wisdom and once more reinstate it.

Some people say, ‘What do we want with the past? Let us go forward and be practical!’ But as we have not yet been able to improve in some respects upon the conceptions of art, architecture, mathematics, ethics, and science of some of those very ancient civilizations to any degree, it will surely be worth our while to study the foundations upon which their mentalities were built.

The four Great Laws which we have enumerated in this chapter were a part of those foundations.

We hear people say, ‘Oh, the East is degenerate and effeminate, and social conditions there are terrible – therefore, of what use has that Ancient Wisdom been? People like this should think further, realizing that the higher one mounts the lower one can fall. Degeneracy is the result of laziness, slackness and subsequent distortion of teaching, and has nothing whatever to do with the pure teaching of a religion in its original form, which is nearly always fine. We have only to consider the original teachings of Christ, observing how we have degenerated that, with our long history of bloodshed, greed and oppression, to feel that we cannot point any finger of criticism at the East. Also, the East is now the prey of old age, and feminine in character, as compared with the vigorous, youthful, masculine Western civilization.

The four Great Laws are hidden in the Christian religion, and can be revealed with a little study, in spite of the mistranslation and censorship to which it has been subjected.

It is very necessary to see life as a Whole, and realize that we can obtain a high state of mental balance and vision only when we attempt to link together the past, present and future, and all the sciences, into one comprehensive and comprehensible picture.

The secret knowledge explains to us in quite a scientific way how we are made.

We have seen that modern scientists have worked out the whole of physical or chemical life to a scale of atoms vibrating at different speeds. The Ancients called this great scale the Physical Plane.

A Plane meant a complete series or world of substances under one Law.

The Physical Plane includes solids, liquids, gases and the ethers of which we are told there are four. That totals up to seven ‘states of matter’, which go to make up the densest or chemical expression of life called the Physical Plane. We must remember that these ‘states of matter’ are mostly able to interpenetrate each other, as we saw in Chapter 1.

The Physical Plane includes, of course, our Solar System, with its solids, gases and chemical rays.

Now, the Ancient Wisdom teaches that life is made up of Seven Planes or states of matter, of which the Physical Plane is only one – the densest or, in wireless parlance, the one of lowest frequency.

We are told that each of the Seven Major Planes is divided into seven sub-planes or strata, just as is the Physical Plane, each Plane and each Stratum being a mirror or counterpart of one of another series. Take the seven colours of the spectrum and split them up into seven shades of each colour, and you have a simile. Let the seven darkest shades represent the Physical Plane, and the seven palest and most luminous represent the Spiritual Plane. You will see how closely they are all connected with each other, even taking into account the complementary colours.

The Planes are neither above nor below one another, but interpenetrating, those which we think of as ‘above’ being of higher frequency from the standpoint of vibrations. (Bear in mind that all these things are very difficult to put into words.)

Everything in life, from a planet to a fly, from a cloud to a grain of sand, is interprenetrated by all these seven planes or worlds, and in most cases has a ‘body’ with which to function in each of them.

Man possesses a body made up of the material of the physical plane world, a body containing chemicals in liquid, solid and gaseous state. This body is interpenetrated by another body, which is its counterpart, and is made up of the four ethers. This is called his ‘etheric’ body, and constitutes a fine web through which the electric and radiating life-forces are fed into his physical body from the outer universe. This completes a man’s physical plane equipment.

The next of the Seven Planes is called the Astral World. It is called by some the Desire World, as it is the sphere of emotions or desires. It contains the substance that stirs or motivates us. It is the world of attraction and repulsion.

Man has a body of this astral material, which is in full action when he is roused, excited, afraid, or full of desire – these feeling being, as we know, sometimes quite divorced from and stronger than our reasoning minds. It is possible for man, the individual, to separate his astral body from his physical body and wander about in it. Such an astral body can be seen by the astral eyes of another person, who will speak of it as a ‘ghost’.

Everything physical has its counterpart in astral substance, so that a man wandering in his astral body can see chairs and tables, or, rather, their astral counterparts. The counterparts of physical things are made up of the lowest and densest stratum of the astral material, whereas the counterparts of thoughts and feelings are made up of the subtle and malleable kind of astral stuff. This has been described by clairvoyants as a moving and shimmering kaleidoscope of swiftly interchanging colours.

The Astral World is therefore almost impossible to visualize by anyone who has not been able to see it, but a vague idea of it can be obtained by a study of the various descriptions given to us by clairvoyants of all times.

The third of the Seven Great Planes is the world of thought or mind. The densest stratum of this Plane contains our own more worldly and material thoughts. The finer strata are used by cosmic intelligences for planning the archetypes and activities of the universe. That is why if we can contact the higher strata of the mind-world or Mental Plane by training the corresponding parts of our brains (as all the sages have endeavoured to do), we shall gain inconceivable knowledge. The world of thought is even more difficult for us to picture than the Astral World, but as a beginning let us realize that it is said to interpenetrate all of life, like a sort of forceful ‘gas’. It is not confined to the brain, which latter acts more like a kind of telephone switchboard to all the thoughts which pass through it.

The Fourth Plane is that of the Will or Life-spirit, and it is of this world that the real individual, the Ego, is a part. It is the Ego who uses the physical, astral and mind bodies as tools with which to achieve his purpose. When they are completely under his control and in harmony and balance one with another he becomes omnipotent and has achieved conquest over matter. He can, after careful training, shed his physical body like a coat and, leaving it safely in the nourishing care of its etheric web, continue his activities in his other bodies, or ‘vehicles’ as they are called.

When he wishes to return he slips back into the cramping and restricting burden which is his outer coating of flesh. We call this waking up, or returning to consciousness, as the case may be. He has often brought back useful knowledge which would benefit mankind, but the jar of contact once again with the heavy earth vibrations is so harsh that it usually snaps the thread of memory of the preceding activities, unless the person has been specially trained.

We have now come to a point where words are no longer even of the slightest help, so we will not attempt to describe the remaining three of the Seven Great Planes, those three which carry the consciousness through to a contact with the world of the Divine Creator Himself. It takes courage even to think, let alone speak, of such untranslatable wonders – but we do need such courage, and man is therefore obliged to reduce them to tiny Physical Plane conceptions able to be grasped by his five limited senses. Daring, however, is not without its reward, provided the motive is sincere, so man soon learns that he is more than an animal.

The Seven Planes, then, comprise the material of which the whole evolving universe is made. The Physical Plane, or solid world, takes up the smallest space, because it is condensed and we can see it everywhere with our physical eyes. The etheric counterparts protrude an inch or two outside all living objects, and can be seen with the help of the Kilner glass screens.

The astral body protrudes to a still further extent, and is described by the clairvoyant who can tell a great deal about the individual by looking at it. Our earth also has an astral body, of course, which stretches very far out from its circumference. Incidentally, we shall have to accustom ourselves to the idea that the earth is a living creature, as are also the planets.

The Astral World is the world wherein the Fourth Dimension is to be found and understood. If you can imagine having eyes that see right through everything in all directions at one, you are visualizing your condition when functioning in the Astral World!

The thought-world, or Mental Plane, or that part of it which is the thought-body of our earth, extends still further outwards into interplanetary space. It presents a marvellous field of exploration for the mystic and the occultist.

The worlds of spirit occupy still larger space. The finest stratum of these, in the final world of Divine force, embraces all and flows uninterruptedly through everything. By this we can see what is meant when we are told that God, or heaven, is within us. We are each able to contact the world of spirit within our own little bodies, because in the final analysis it is the life of that world which is interpenetrating and sustaining us.

We have taken but a superficial glance at the Law of the Seven Planes. It is open to us to reject or accept such a hypothesis, as we choose. But the exhaustive way in which all the workings of these Planes have been analysed gives us a most interesting and suggestive field of study, full of amazing and thrilling conceptions.

Let us summarize some of the main points once again.

According to this teaching, then, man has for his use first of all his solid physical body of low-frequency vibrations (an instrument or switchboard through which he contacts physical things).

Secondly, he owns a body of ether, interpenetrating this first body by reason of its higher and finer vibrations, and acting as an intermediary between it and the outer ether, a channel through which all the magnetic life-forces are fed to it.

Thirdly, he owns an ‘astral’ or ‘ghost’ body, interpenetrating the other two, and having much the same high speed of movement as electricity, at which speed he can travel when polarized entirely in the astral body (as in sleep).

Fourthly, there is his mental body, and well-known instances of though telepathy travelling right across the world in the space of a few seconds prove to us the speed at which we can function while in this body. We often hear of cases of people appearing to their friends at the moment of their death, although living in a distant land.

Man’s spiritual body is composed of the finest and most high-frequency vibrations of all, and can for that reason take control of all the lower ones. It can travel so fast that it can appear to be ‘everywhere at once’. When man can consciously function in his spirit-body he is able finally to conquer time and space, which only belong to a seventh part of the universe, the Physical Plane.

It is very hard for present-day materially minded man to visualize these ‘planes’ and ‘bodies’. But he must not allow his brain to remain inferior to that of the early races. The Egyptians, for instance, were quite at home with this knowledge, and drew and named the different ‘bodies’ of man on tombs and frescoes.

According to some authorities they symbolized them as follows:

They called the physical body KAT, a dead fish! The symbol was a curled-up dead fish, perhaps the most physical of all creatures.

The knowledge of these early peoples was astonishing. They understood so completely the power of mind over matter. One outstanding instance of this is seen in their feats of building, still incomprehensible to us.

It is said that they were able to wield the spirit-force over astral and physical substance and create entities to attach to the tombs, to guard them for centuries.

Present-day scientists are busy exploding the atom with magnetic and electric force, but so far the results of their efforts have been dubious, because of the poisonous by-products produced. Perhaps they are doing things the wrong way round, using physical-plane instruments of low vibrations to try to control higher vibrations. They might do better if they could train the only high-powered instrument they possess – the mind – as did the ancient scientists. The true alchemists tried to use the burning force of the concentrated mind as the crucible in which they could distil the elixir of life from gold.

Fire can burn up anything of lower vibration than itself. The mind can control fire, being of higher vibration. There are many authentic cases of people who can contact fire without being burnt and can be pierced by knives without shedding blood.

The mind can act very quickly on matter, but the spirit can act instantaneously, rearranging the vibrations and re-forming them. This fact is probably the basis of the performance of ‘miracles’ and ‘faith-healing’.

Many people are testing these things out, through mesmerism, hypnotism, thought-reading, psychometry, and other methods.

The explorer along such lines will find that the etheric body has been weighed by scientists; that the aura can be seen through a glass prepared by psychic researchers; that numberless people have had experience of the astral body; that the vibrations of the mental body have been recorded by instruments; and the power of the spirit-body demonstrated by innumerable ‘miracles’.

It is natural to be sceptical about many of these things, but he who is wise will keep an open mind until he has fairly tested the various proofs available to him.

We are told that the attainment of wisdom and power can only be acquired through study and knowledge of ourselves. We have seen also that the same laws govern the whole universe, and that if man can understand some of the laws governing himself or the tiniest atom he will have a clue to those which govern the solar systems and the greater system to which they belong. Scientists have discovered that an atom closely resembles a miniature solar system in its turn is one of millions of atoms forming the body of some great Being too vast for us to picture. Such a Being might feel small compared to the world which He in turn finds surrounding Himself.

Let us carry this idea a little further. The atoms (the starts) forming the cells (constellations) of the body of this vast Being would not appear to be far apart to Him; seen by Him they would be intimately connected with each other, there being strong chemical reactions and influences between them, just as with the cells in our own bodies. When an atom from one of our own cells is examined it is found to be composed of a proton (or sun) surrounded by various numbers of electrons (or planets) all vibrating at set speeds. Now, we are told that the proton is so small a part of the atom that it can be compared with a bee buzzing inside a cathedral! So that if we could become small enough to cling to that proton we should certainly feel as if we were clinging to a star in a mighty space, and it would be difficult to believe that our star was part of an atom in the cell of a very solid body.

Some scientists now claim that the ether itself is denser than the planets that swing through it, so you see we must reserve ideas about solidity until we are a little better informed. The point made in this case is that through visualizing our vast giant we can better understand the intimate relation in which the stars stand to each other. Composed of chemicals held together by force or energy, the radiations from each star and planet strongly affect each other, carrying with them chemicals in a very fine and subtle form. Thus from the planet Mercury we should expect to receive rays of the wave-length that belongs to Mercury, and containing mercury itself in a fine form; also certain other chemicals which are contained in the planet to a lesser degree. As our solar system is believed to have been formed from the splitting up of one star, every planet, every man and every atom within it must still be held and connected one with another by the interplay of identical chemical radiations. As an example, it is said that a ruby is actually a fragment of that part of the original star which finally broke away to form the planet Mars.

The astrologer makes careful calculations of the chemical and spiritual influences set up by the continual changing of the relative positions of the planets and luminaries (sun and moon), and of their effect upon the microcosm or tiny replica which is man. The macro-microcosmic law comes into play also in the question of time. A man’s whole life is said to be mirrored in the moment of his birth.

According to one school of astrologists a person’s individuality, his positive side, his character, are determined by the zodiacal sign in which the sun is found at his birth. His personality, or negative side, is determined by the sign in which the moon is found at his birth. When he is born he is ‘tuned in’, as it were, to the play of the planetary influences at the time, and the vibrations set up within him rule him all his life, determining his reactions both chemical and characteristic, and the environment which they attract.

It is in this way that people are classified.

There are at present scientific experiments in progress whose object is to indicate the differing results of inaugurating the same chemical mixtures at various phases of the planets, and also the different reactions at such times in plants and animals.

The ancient sages had a great knowledge of this fascinating subject and considered it of paramount importance. First of all they conducted endless studies about the planets, and we call the results of their research Astronomy. They next made extraordinarily complicated and exhaustive studies of the combined influences of the planets on both the earth and human beings, according to their different positions in the heavens at various times. The results of this particular research have come down to us embodied in another science which we call astrology.

Astrology divides the heavens into twelve portions, rather like the divisions of an orange. These divisions, called the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac, correspond roughly with the twelve months of the year. Each of these Signs is governed by one of the planets. According to the month of the year in which you were born you can tell which Sign rules your life, and consequently what sort of health you may expect to enjoy, and what your characteristics will be.

Astrology is such a lengthy study and so difficult a science that there are few really expert astrologers in the world. Those few who do exist usually belong to a family of astrologers, whose teaching has been handed down for generations. A genuine astrologer must make complete calculations of the interplay of influences, chemical and otherwise, of every planet upon the person or subject under consideration.

But anyone can make a beginning with a simple study of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac, and although the information gained is only generalization, it is close to the truth and therefore helpful and can be used by those who have not learnt to cast a horoscope.

To attain his final development, man is supposed to be born under the Signs of the Zodiac one by one, to learn the lessons they teach. Sometimes he is obliged to learn one of these lessons for the third time, perhaps for the thirtieth!

This has all been beautifully expressed in the Twelve Labours of Hercules, which was written with a profound knowledge of both astrology and symbolism, and contains deeply occult meaning.

The ancients declared that the whole history of the evolution of mankind, the solar system, and the universe is described and foretold by the start, grouped in a kind of mystic shorthand, and capable of perfect translation. Such translation are contained in many of the hidden archives.

In respect of our year, one Sign of the Zodiac, with its planet, is ruling from about the 21^st to the 21^st of each month.

The influences of the Signs overlap each other slightly, so that a person born between about the 15^th and 25^th of the month is influenced by two Signs (being born near to their junction). This gives him a more complex character. The most composite influence takes place on the 22^nd of the month, so we find many prominent characters born on that date, such as Wagner, Van Dyck, Byron, George Washington, Hitler, Conan Doyle, Baden-Powell, Faraday and Rider Haggard.

A person born during the first half of the month comes under the unmixed influence of the sign, and would therefore be of a more definite type.

It must be understood, however, that in dividing the whole of humanity into only twelve types we are merely taking the first step. We are only generalizing, and although we have made an important beginning we must not take it as the final word.

The birth of Christ took place at a rare and wonderful conjunction of the stars, by which they announced (in the aforementioned shorthand) that tremendous event.

The Three Wise Men, who were Astrologer Kings of Chaldea, had been waiting for this conjunction to occur, and when they saw its approach they set off to journey to Jerusalem, over which town it was apparent that it would take place. They arrived and told King Herod, who at once realized the significance of the conjunction, which heralded a new ‘King’. Herod called all his wise astrologers together and ‘inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared’. They were all much troubled.

History is full of stories illustrating the immense importance given to astrology, of which astronomy was but the foundation. All priests and governors in olden days had to be well versed in the science of the stars and in the science of numbers, and we find that this knowledge existed all over the then known world.

We have only time here to take a superficial glance at the way in which we can apply astrology to the understanding of ourselves, and also of racial and world conditions.

By means of this science it is considered possible to map out the whole of a person’s life. This is done in the first place by using the law ‘As in the Microcosm so in the Macrocosm’, and therefore by postulating that the plan of a person’s threescore years is mirrored in the first day, and even in the first moments, of his life. In the same way the history of a race or country can be determined by the influences under which it had its inception.

These things can, of course, only be believed through the study of proofs. The way to obtain these proofs is first of all to study astrology (!) and then to consider the hundreds of horoscopes of famous people which are available, as well as the annals of history itself.

In Astrology the great law of cause and effect (Karma) plays a big part. If, for instance, a man is greedy, it is not magical to predict that at a future date he will suffer from a digestive trouble, or if he is rash and impetuous that an accident is very sure to befall him. The average astrologer will predict the accident, but if instead he would study the cause, and persuade the man to cure his rashness, Karma would be defeated or adjusted, and the accident need not happen. ‘The wise man is master of his stars, the fool is ruled by them.’

A conscientious astrologer always tries to show a person what tendencies he has to master, instead of playing upon his love of sensation by describing future events. What does a man need with his future before he has any idea of how to deal with the present? Today contains all possibilities for those who know how to strive for them.

Astrology has been sadly neglected as a science, but lately it is beginning to come into its own again, under the patient research-work of hard-headed scientists who are quite unsuspecting of that which they are about to unearth.

One of the principal uses to which Astrology can be put is the thorough diagnosis of a patient, bringing to light the chemical deficiencies or maladjustments in his internal laboratory, and the planetary rays which he is able to assimilate and use, or those which are causing him trouble. This method will do away with all guesswork, it is claimed, as we are assured that it is an exact science and will play a large part in the future of medicine.

Some of the biochemical experts have declared that the twelve principal cell-salts found in the human body are ruled by the twelve Signs of the Zodiac. They affirm that a person uses up more of the cell-salt belonging to the Sign under which he was born, as that chemical is connected with the key-note of his activity. Therefore the fist deficiency that occurs in his internal laboratory is this cell-salt, his ‘birth salt’, and the various symptoms of his ills may be traced primarily to this depletion. All this was apparently known to the ancients, but as they gave to the cell-salts the names of gods, and described their activities in mythical parables, we are only just beginning to understand what they meant.

Let us now take a rapid glance at the major general classifications of astrological characteristics:

The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac represent the twelve lessons of human existence, the twelve qualities to be developed in the formation of the perfect man. It is said that these qualities are gradually achieved by every human being, life after life, but not necessarily Sign after Sign. That is where man’s free-will comes in. If he chooses to work under some particular Sign more often than the others, or repulses the lesson of one Sign altogether, a one-sided character results, such as a genius with evil tendencies.

The Zodiacal year begins at the vernal equinox on March 21^st, with the Sign of Aries. The symbol of Aries is a Ram, because the ram pushes his head into the wintry stubble and ploughs it up with his horns to expose the new budding green upon which his family can feed. Aries represents the first crude uprush of life, the beginning of the human journey, and therefore bestows extreme physical activity, daring and impulsiveness upon its natives. Aries rules the head, and therefore the Arian, or person born between march 21^st and April 21^st, uses the brain intensively, although without much experience of life to back him. Aries is ruled by Mars, the warlike planet. So man, at the beginning of his journey, spoils for a fight, is a born leader, eager, brave, with quick-working brain. Keen to help, he is a poor judge of character, and often deceived. He makes a bad subordinate, and although plucky, he is full of fears, because he has not yet developed much faith or philosophy. These Arians should be guarded from overworking the brain and given plenty of sleep. Hans Christian Anderson was an Aries born, although a very advanced type.

From April 21^st to May 21^st we have the second Sign, that of Taurus. Its symbol is a bull, and those born under it partake of the nature of that animal. They are very strong but quiet and plodding, until, if suddenly roused, they plunge ruthlessly to their goal. They are ruled by the planet Venus, and so love is a part of man’s second lesson; he can love devotedly and work the earth patiently. It is among the Taurians that we find many of our great agriculturists and lovers of nature, also our singers and poets. Often they serve their fellow-men with courage and devotion. Sir James Barrie and Florence Nightingale are examples of this Sign.

Taurus folk are very strong, and easily over-nourished. Their chief ills arise from too-luxurious living.

Having learnt both activity and service the next lesson which man has to tackle is how to use the brain for practical matters and for reasoning. This is the work of those born under the third Sign, Gemini, May 21^st to June 21^st, whose symbol is ‘The Twins’. This symbol represents a dual type of mind, one who can see both sides of a question, and jumps with keen interest to every new idea presented. Such people, apparently changeable and ambitious (without knowing exactly for what), and whose brains race like chattering birds from branch to branch of the tree of knowledge, have difficult characters to govern. They are ruled by the planet Mercury, which gives quickness and brilliance, and through an intensive study of life they learn to develop a logical reasoning mind. This brilliance and rapidity of thought depends upon the nervous system more than on the brain, so these people must be guarded against overworking their nerves.

Advanced types will have attained to a very broad vision, and we can take as examples Elgar and Dean Inge.

Our human being has by now gained much experience, and so his next lesson is to learn how to apply it. The fourth Sign, Cancer, June 21^st to July 22^nd, bestows great patience and tenacity, and a genius for parenthood and family life. As we develop, however, we of course become more complex, and so Cancer people are sometimes restless and love to travel. The symbol of Cancer is the Crab, who carries his house on his back, and moves through life in a curious zig-zag way, suddenly going backwards again when least expected. Cancer people are like that. Just when about to achieve success they will turn back, or begin something else, and so in spite of their industry they have a life of ups and downs. Sir Joshua Reynolds ruined many of his pictures through continually changing his method of painting. Cancer people are ruled by the Moon, which makes them deeply sensitive and passionate. They badly need a life of discipline and order.

Henry VIII is a good example of a Cancer type who became undisciplined, and John Calvin of one who went to the other extreme.

Now we come to the point where man has learnt a great deal of the human side of life and is able to produce very fine results. His next task, therefore, is to stand forth as a powerful and well-developed human being, capable of high achievements.

The fifth Sign is Leo the Lion, July 22^nd to August 23^rd. We sometimes find born under it the kings of men – people of power, large-hearted, strong both mentally and physically, proud, ambitious and popular. They have not yet touched the Divine Intuition, and so as a rule they misunderstand and despise those weaker than themselves, although they attract many sycophants. They often suffer cruel disillusion in their friendships, through their own inadaptability. They are ruled by the Sun (the heart of the solar system) and are therefore liable to high blood pressure and other affects of the heart and circulation.

We expect to find famous people born under this Sign, and sure enough among them are Napoleon, Mussolini and H.P. Blavatsky.

Having risen to great heights through impulsiveness, forcefulness and the talent for self-expression, the next quality to be acquired is that of discrimination, of taste, the lack of which brought Leo into many unhappy relationships. Therefore we find that the sixth Sign, Virgo, August 23^rd to September 23^rd, whose symbol is the Virgin, teaches this lesson.

Virgo people are born with a natural fastidiousness and critical faculty. They are ruled by Mercury, who also held sway over the people of Gemini, but whereas in that Sign great energy was expended in the collecting of facts from all quarters, the Virgo people have all that experience to draw upon, plus the fruit garnered in Cancer and Leo. So they are able to take up life from the angle of the critic rather than the man of action. They are adaptable to almost any pursuit, make excellent subordinates, are plodding, and generally successful. Their exquisite taste is evident in many walks of life. From their ranks are drawn both restaurant-keepers and art critics! Journalism and hygiene also attract them.

They rely on the material side of life, and because Mercury rules the nerves they often suffer from ills due to worry, hypersensitiveness and imagination. Nevertheless, they can be controlled, practical and resourceful. We can study one of the higher types of the Sign in Elizabeth, the Virgo or Virgin Queen.

The Sign of Virgo ends at the autumnal equinox on September 23^rd, so we have therefore traversed the first half of man’s journey round the Zodiac. He has learnt how to be the complete human being; but yet only half his journey is accomplished! The remaining half will be taken up in learning to give over the reins of power to the spiritual man, and live in both worlds at once, with feet firmly planted on the earth, but with mind in communion with the Divine. The man has now become the aspirant, realizing that there is a world for his conquering worth infinitely more than the physical world. His task now becomes harder to understand, but the first thing that such a man must achieve is balance. And so the symbol of Libra, September 23r^d to October, 23^rd, the seventh Sign, is the Balance.

The Libran seeks balance all through his life. In fact, he misses many opportunities through too much weighing and balancing in his mind – through ‘second thoughts’! In his case these are not always the wisest. He has reached the stage where man is becoming psychic and intuitive, and he would do well to act on his first impressions. Librans are ruled by Venus, and so are full of love, but their love has become more mental than physical. They are able to love abstract things such as harmony, justice and beauty, and they shrink from all disharmonies in life.

Some of them will do anything to avoid a row. This desire for harmony and balance deprives them of the more direct energy and impulsiveness of the preceding Signs. The refining process has begun, but those who do not understand may think Librans cowardly and weak. They may sometimes be condemned to rather colourless lives. We find among their ranks many lawyers, judges and specialists, also architects and research-workers, as all these require the qualities of care and balance. Their personal life is often unhappy, through their being too analytical of other people and afraid to let themselves go. So we can be sure that they must guard against loneliness and depression, which feelings often cause them to overwork themselves.

As examples of the advanced types of Librans we can take Faraday, Sarah Bernhardt, and Annie Besant.

Having begun to learn how to transmute the tender passion of love to higher planes, man’s next step is to bend the warlike force of Mars in the same direction. So we see that the eighth Sign, Scorpio, October 23^rd to November 22^nd, is ruled by Mars, giving to its natives a strong, forceful and magnetic personality. We are coming now to the types who are so stored with accumulated magnetism and experience, so full of ‘character’ that they exercise great fascination, and sometimes call forth fanatical devotion from their friends.

The Sign of Scorpio has produced more saints than almost any other, and probably more villains too. These people are capable of the best or the worst, but never of being negative or unnoticed. Therefore, Scorpio has three symbols, firstly the scorpion – the animal who bites itself with its rail, representing the man who is his own enemy; secondly, the Serpent, representing the birth of wisdom, and thirdly, the White Eagle soaring to the sun, showing the final rising upwards from earthly ties and attaining the spiritual sunlight. The Scorpio native usually passes through the fire of the temptation of sex in all its forms. He has to learn that it is his sex-force which he needs for use in higher channels, and no other. He is usually versatile, full of ideas, a leader who can sway audiences, a mental fighter, proud, ambitious, sensitive and a good organizer. He is capable of intense and enduring feelings. The higher types are the humanitarians, peacemakers and philosophers.

The Scorpio native should be guarded against evil companions and always allowed to wield authority. We can take as examples Saint Augustine, Mahomet, Martin Luther and Edward VII.

By this time man has become a very potential being, though still extremely self-centred. The ‘I’ dominates everything. So that in the next stage of development we find the beginnings of unselfishness taking shape. The ninth Sign is that of Saggitarius, November 22^nd to December 21^st. Its symbol is the archer shooting straight into the sky, representing the quick, strong mind leaping at its goal, Truth. These people instinctively grasp the fact that Truth is beautiful and joyful, and translate that realization into a keen wish to spread joy and beauty around them. They are the lovers of life, full of kindly humour. They may be domineering, egotistical and stubborn; but they cannot live without attempting to make their companions happy. They are therefore usually the souls of hospitality. They give great encouragement to music, the arts, and all the pleasures and luxuries of life. Containing as they do the qualities of all preceding signs, they are extremely versatile, but as they are ruled by Jupiter, music and ceremonial make a special appeal to them. Their love of life makes them an easy prey to self-indulgence, and they are very excitable and emotional.

Most of their ills come from these two characteristics. Their agile minds and prophetic instinct cause them to jump to results without patient study, and this is a snare to their undoing. They often fail to appreciate the worth of slower folk.

As they are high-powered people, Saggitarians must always be actively employed, but they should have short intervals of complete rest in which to relax their tenseness. Because of their zest for life they are very popular. We can take as examples Lord Beaconsfield, Queen Alexandra, Heine and Winston Churchill.

We have arrived at the stage where man has at last realized the wonder of spiritual accomplishment, and has bent his will to attain it. His challenge is at once accepted, and Saturn or Satan, the great tester and trainer of humanity, steps in to help. So we find that the tenth Sign, Capricorn, December 21^st to January 21^st, is ruled by the planet Saturn, whose metal is lead, and who exerts a heavy crushing influence, holding his victim down to earth, pressing and pressing upon him until all the dross in his nature is forced out.

The symbol of Capricorn is the Goat. Man has ceased to be the sheep, listening and following others’ lead; he has decided to stand on his own feet and work out his own salvation. He wants proof of all that he may hitherto have believed. So the Capricornian is, above all, thoughtful and practical, outwardly perhaps a materialist, yet with a worship of intellect and an interest in the sciences and in the occult. He is independent, proud and domineering, happiest when leading and organizing. Although he lacks the kindly humour of Saggitarius and the brilliant enthusiasm of Leo, he has more tact, pity and patience than either, and with these he is beginning to earn his Godhead. He is learning to see outside of himself, using his own sufferings to identify himself with the feelings of all humanity. Such a one is likely to become a Communist, a Socialist, or fighter for some ideal. The difficult personal adjustments he is making often cause him to be hard to understand, complex and peculiar in some of his reactions. Nevertheless, in spite of the stern discipline of his life he is usually long-lived and rarely is obliged to call in the doctor.

We can take as examples of the higher types Joan of Arc, Woodrow Wilson, Benjamin Franklin and Gladstone.

Saturn’s intensive work on man is not complete by the end of the Sign of Capricorn, so he carries it right through the next Zodiacal month, The Sign of Aquarius, January 21^st to February 21^st, which follows, is also ruled by that planet. By now, man has lost much of his crudity, and having had some of his pride knocked out of him, he is less egocentric. He feels that he is a part of the Whole, and has made a great step forward in that he is beginning to give more importance to others than to himself. The Symbol of Aquarius is the Water-Carrier pouring out the Waters of Life upon mankind and the child of this Sign loves to merge himself with people, in gatherings and functions; he loves to work in intimate relation with the masses. He is visionary and inventive and has a great desire for the public welfare. No longer ambitious for the self, he is apt to remain in the background unless inspired to work for a cause, in which case he can rise to great heights and can then push forward quite impersonally. The Aquarian mind is learning to be non-attached, clear-cut, honest, with a love of freedom, and a sympathy with human weakness. He is still over-sensitive. He reads character instinctively, ‘seeing through’ people, and this gives him intense likes and dislikes. He has already developed some of the finer subtle qualities of the soul, and this causes him to be very delicately balanced. For this reason he often feels frail in health, although in reality he has great reserve force.

As examples of the higher types we can take Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, Swedenborg, Darwin, Ruskin and Voltaire.

The merging of the self into other peoples’ lives produces genius for the stage, so we also find such people as Nell Gwynne, Pavlova, and Sir Henry Irving under Aquarius.

We have now arrived at the last Sign of the twelve, the one therefore under which the most perfected type of spiritual man can be born. This Sign is called Pisces and lasts from February 21^st to March 21^st. Its symbol is the Fish, which is also the symbol of Christianity. The lesson of Pisces is a final letting go of the self, the complete merging into the lives and feelings of others. Therefore under this Sign are born our most brilliant actors. The inspiration which the people of Pisces have earned produces also fine poets, dramatists and musicians. The strongest and the weakest types are born at this time. The force which flows through the Piscean is difficult to handle, and unless he turns it to good account it may drive him to drugs, drink and other excesses. The Sign is a dual one, so the two Ways are open. The native may rise, if inspired, to any heights of self-denial and attainment, but he needs encouragement and confidence in himself. As with all the later Signs, his character is complex and versatile. His past training gives him a ‘natural’ understanding; he absorbs knowledge rather than studies it. Pisces is ruled by Jupiter, who bestows brilliance and a love of ceremony, as we saw in Saggitarius. So our Piscean contributes much to the decorative and romantic in life, and this arouses intense and sometimes fanatical devotion in his friends. If these friends push him in the right way he can become a great public servant, but he depends upon co-operation with others – he prefers to work in brotherhood. He has identified himself with the universe, and this gives him a great love of travel and the sea.

From the advanced types in this Sign we can choose Chopin, Michael Angelo, David Livingstone, David Garrick and Ibsen.

We have now completed our initial review of the types born under the twelve Signs. We must, however, remember that astrology subdivides them ad infinitum, and that the laws of rebirth, Karma and free-will arrange for numberless variations of the order in which people progress through these Signs. The number of times they have accomplished the full round will determine whether they are ‘old and experienced souls’ or ‘new souls’. The old souls are of course becoming more rounded out as they approach the state of perfect man, who is a blend of the best in all the Signs. The examples which we have given of famous people are therefore the older souls, and not really very typical of their Sign, but the mediocre and simple types rarely leave their mark in history.

With regard to the twelve cell-salts which are the principal agents of activity in the human body, let us note the interesting relation they are said to bear to the Signs of the Zodiac.

Aries, the Ram, the brain worker, uses up very much of the Potassium Phosphate which nourishes the brain fluid and produces the highest rate of vibration in the body. A deficiency causes brain-fag and lack of comprehension.

Taurus, the Bull, ruling the liver, governs the cell-salt Sulphate of Sodium, which eliminates excess water from the body, due to the abundant intake of the luxury-loving Taurian. A deficiency of this salt causes such ills as diabetes and quinsy.

Gemini, the Twins, ruling the nervous system, governs that cell-salt Potassium Chloride, which forms fibrin in the blood and so builds the nerves; while a deficiency causes thickening of the fibrin, and therefore bronchitis, asthma and other nervous diseases result.

Cancer, the tenacious Crab, rules the spleen, and governs the salt Fluoride of Lime, which builds the tenacious elastic fibres holding the body together. A deficiency of this causes sagging throughout the organs, with many attendant ills, from depression to dropsy.

Leo, the Sun, ruler of the heart and vitality, governs the salt Phosphate of Magnesia, which regulates the muscular spasms such as those controlling the heart-beats. A deficiency causes cramps, lack of muscular force, palpitations and meningitis.

Virgo, ruler of the solar plexus and stomach, governs the salt Potassium Sulphate, which makes the oil necessary to keep the machinery going throughout the body. A deficiency causes thickening of the oil, which clogs the pores and produces various forms of stagnation.

Libra, the Balance, ruler of the kidneys, governs the cell-salt Carbonate of Sodium. This salt holds the balance between the acids and the fluids in the system, and produces harmonious life. A deficiency engenders acidity, with hate, jealousy, depression and their attendant ailments, such as headache and lumbago.

Scorpio, the Scorpion, ruler of the sex organs, governs the cell-salt Sulphate of Lime. This needs to be transmuted by water to form the white plaster of Paris; this strengthens the whole system and gives tone to the grey matter of the brain. A deficiency demoralises the brain, destroying the power of elevated thought, and renders the body prone to infectious diseases.

Saggitarius, the archer, rules the thighs, and governs the cell-salt Silica, which is really quartz. This is formed of strong minutes arrow-shaped pieces, which stiffen the walls of hair, nails nerve sheaths and cells, and pierce a way outwards to the surface for necessary eruptions. A deficiency produces weakness of the cell-walls, leading to various forms of self-poisoning such as rheumatism and other inflammations.

Capricorn, the Goat, rules the bones, and governs the cell-salt Calcium-Phosphate. This uses albumen to make cement for bones. A deficiency causes diseases due to overflow of albumin, which upsets the gastric juices and brings on such inflictions as Bright’s Disease and other digestive troubles.

Aquarius, the Water-Carrier, rules the white corpuscles, and governs the cell-salt Sodium Chloride, which acts as water-carrier to the human system. A deficiency causes general frailty and such diseases as jaundice.

Pisces, the Fish, rules the feet, the foundation of the body, and the red corpuscles, and governs the cell-salt Phosphate of Iron, which is the foundation of the blood. A deficiency gives bad circulation, chills and fevers.

Here, then, we have a rough idea as to how the planetary rays are said to affect the chemicals within us and our own reactions. Much research work along these lines by certain of the bio-chemists and other