The Masters and You: Part Two

As was stated in the first part of this series, the Adepts of Geburah, or as some of you know it, those who hold the inner grade of Adepus Major as a genuine inner experience (using the old Rosicrucian system for reference) are said to have played a role in putting some limits on human activity. These limits being for our own collective good. Think of it as planetary tough love.

Let’s take a look at this, from a slightly different perspective.

Mars is about energy, it is also about limitations. Geburah on the Tree of Life is a powerful checkpoint on the ascent and descent of energies. Energies also means consciousness, as the two are inseparable. That which is useful is maintained, and that which is not useful is discarded. An idea easier said than experienced. What this teaches us is what the ancient knew to be true – life in all of its expressions is a brutal struggle for survival – for the realization of consciousness. Civilization is too often but a veneer, and all you have is what you make of it. Anything else is a bonus.

Jean Dubuis has pointed out there is a powerful occult organization that cleans the earth’s psychic aura on a regular basis. This clean-up clearly is not a permanent event, but rather provides a temporary balancing of energies in a effort to keep things from getting out of control. This occult organization was never named and may have been the Elus Cohen of Pasquelez and its twice yearly Equinox rituals, More likely the Elu Cohen was an extension of it on the material plane. It is not widely known, but the Elus Cohen were for lack of a better description “state exorcists” functioning in a Masonic style organization. It is possible that there others across the globe, but we are told, if you go looking for them you will not find them. They will find you if you are ready, willing, and able.

According to the doctrines of Taoism we read:

“Nature is cruel, and the Sage is like nature.” By cruel it is meant that nature, and the true Sage are indifferent to social status, idealistic notions, or conventions. One can consider the meaning of the Tarot Card “Death” in this instance wherein we see the pauper and the Pope both taken by it – death is the true face of nature. Those who do not pay attention will be shocked by this, but is not the 32nd Path a path of Saturn? Is not the Sun and Tiphareth given to death and resurrection? Is not the realization of Illumination something that follows death to duality? Death and limitation are one in the same, and are the same in this world. Learn your limits and learn them early and then you will begin to truly live.

“Your actions have definite consequences. So, too, do your thoughts and words. But time carries the most dramatic of all consequences: time gone is irrevocable, irretrievable. There is no second chance to relive an hour gone by.

In the fantasy world of American thought, the passage of time is trivial – it’s never too late to do anything. … Popular convention will try to convince you that there are no negative consequences to missed opportunities. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a student of the Tao, you must train yourself to understand the timing of your physical and mental stages and then synchronize your actions with society’s forces. This is a core concept in your spiritual development. Indeed, timing is everything.

… Nature’s limits manifest themselves in concrete ways, often with devastating consequences. Physical limits are the easiest to comprehend. … Understanding the concept of limits is vital to becoming an enlightened and spiritual person. So how does the Taoist identify his personal limitations, particularly since certain abilities increase with correct training and experience?

The answer lies in recognizing that we naturally overestimate our abilities. … Each of us has strengths and weaknesses; only through constant testing in doable increments can we progress safely. This is the spiritual path. … Contentment is only possible if we recognize our limits and act within them.” – The Truth of Tao by Alex Anatole

What are these limits? The most important one being time of course! Decide what it important to you, and limit yourself to that. If you wish to be enlightened, to look behind the curtain of reality, to find freedom from suffering, and to help others along the way, then know your limits and act within them but ACT! Action is what matters most. What we do is what we become.

It is easy to think that these “Elder Adepts” or enlightened ones who have achieved so much are indifferent to suffering. Nothing could be further from the truth. They know suffering deeply and have learned to transcend it. They will help us when asked, but they must be asked. They will intervene when absolutely necessary, but only then – for we as individuals and groups must learn to solve our own problems. Part of that solution is turning our attention toward those who can instruct us on how to achieve Illumination, freedom from ignorance, freedom from fear, and freedom from sloth.

But to presume the energies of life as we experiences them are always friendly as we understand it is naive and foolish. The lion is friendly, but not to the lamb. God loves Stalin as much as you. That means, no one is loved exceptionally if all are loved equally. The universe is a spectacular place, but it is essentially neutral. It is we who make of it what we will.

Limits, or in another term, our choices and environmental conditions, are what make us as individuals as well as groups. I can create conditions for others to work on the path but I cannot force them. I also must recognize that that even means – “create conditions”. Are they the right ones for the person or people I am dealing with? This is discrimination, the first virtue on the Path.

For example, I can offer a course for ‘free’. Let’s say a hundred or even a thousand people sign up. Now, it is up to them to complete it, and apply it, and stay consistent in their application and practice. I can encourage, but I cannot do for them. To really help people requires wisdom, otherwise it simply become enabling, martyrdom, or both. Limits both form and inform us so it is best that we decide as much as possible for ourselves what those limits are that we want to work with. In defining ourselves and our limits we learn to overcome them, that is the self-mastery. Or as Harvey Lewis, said, “Through our mastery of the finite we gain mastery of the infinite.”

To help you in the path we again direct your attention to the course “Unfolding the Rose” and the short video in the curriculum section entitled, “Suggestions for Practice.” If you wish to be like the adepts of old, as well as adepts of the present time, and of the future, then you must begin to imitate them just as a child learning to walk or draw imitates what they are shown. You must turn your mind and attention towards the adepts, and open up to the possibilities that are within yourself and your capacity for courage and joy as you enter this peculiar and strange path of service. This “service” is nothing other than a healthy active engagement with others rooted in an experience of the transcendent and its imminent presence in daily life.

To paraphrase the Chaldean Oracles, the gods are ever willing to help us, but it is up to us to ask. To do so, we need to forget our ‘drunkenness’ with the earth, and ‘sober’ up. This is the same as ‘renunciation’ in many schools of yoga and Vajrayana: we turn our attention towards the spiritual and stop seeking the impossible dream of permanent happiness in and through physical experiences alone. We do not abandon the world of action, we simple realize that there is a great deal more to the cosmos than materiality, and we turn our attention to experience the dimensions currently invisible to us. In doing so, we then have a greater understanding of our physical life. We then experience our daily life and all that is with us in the material universe, as the Corpus Hermeticum says, as the most revealed aspects of divinity.

Next week we will conclude this set of essays with a discussion of adepts, the Philosopher’s Stone, longevity, Crazy Wisdom and what they all have in common.

Here are some suggested practices to help you prepare for what we will be discussing next.

Alchemical Pathworking – Paris of Long Ago
https://voxhermes.wordpress.com/2021/09/02/alchemical-pathworking-a-paris-of-long-ago/

Alchemical Pathworking – A Journey to a Strange Castle
https://voxhermes.wordpress.com/2021/10/07/alchemical-pathworking-part-two-a-journey-to-a-strange-castle/

Hermetic Prophecy and the Worlds of Light
https://voxhermes.wordpress.com/2023/02/02/hermetic-prophecy-and-the-worlds-of-light/

Invoking the Apocalypse
https://voxhermes.wordpress.com/2022/03/03/the-apocalypse/

Now, I have spent a great deal of time preparing this lecture for you – about four hours in total. So, get to it so that my time and yours, the only and most important resource we really have, is well spent.

Sincerely,
Mark Stavish, M.A,
Director of Studies
Institute for Hermetic Studies