General Evolution Of Religion

Christianity

As we begin the history of the great White Brotherhood and the characteristics of the people who originally composed it, it is necessary to give an explanation of the Aryan race. There is generally a great deal of confusion in regards to this race. Many historians and writers have tried labeling the Aryan race the Caucasian, but the Aryan was more definite than can be indicated by the term Caucasian.

The word Aryan itself is difficult to trace and to analyze. It is used in the Sanskrit language and in such a manner as to indicate it was in languages much older than the Sanskrit, which are now lost to history.

In the Sanskrit the word aria means noble, and the Zend-avesta, the oldest of all preserved mystical writings, defines the words Aryan and non-Aryan (aryia, anaryia). The words Aryan and non-Aryan indicate the highest and lowest classes of certain races of people, and in the oldest hymns of India, the Rig-veda, the word arya is used to indicate the members of the ruling people of Northern India. All of this indicates that from primitive times the Aryans were a race, ruling and controlling as a nobility -- not because of any royal power, such as indicated by the word nobility today, but because of superior nature, physical and spiritual development.

There were black, red and yellow people in the White Brotherhood.

Today the term Aryan is used in many references to indicate a great many groups of European and Asiatic peoples who have traced their origin back to the original Aryan nations. Recently the language used by the Aryan people when they were one united tribe or nation was discovered and is called Tocharian, and thus far science has not been able to give this language a definite classification.

The Aryan first came into great prominence as a ruling race on the continent of Atlantis when the great deluge came and the migration of the surviving nation to various parts of the Eastern world took place.

When the Aryans left the continent of Atlantis, they proceeded to a section located somewhere between the Northern Sea and the Caspian Sea and the foothills of the mountains in the Southern part of Russia.

Here they lived for several centuries evolving and developing a great deal of mystical truth. The period after they had developed into a powerful and super-developed nation, they began to migrate to various parts of the world.

The Aryan race kept its pure blood, not because of pride, but because of their beliefs regarding the development of character and mystical power associated with it. This did not prohibit their intermarriage with many tribes of slightly different tongue and of different location, but it did prohibit inter-marriage with people that were not of the same race originally and who did not have fundamentally Aryan blood.

In their desire to know nature and to educate themselves with all knowledge, evidence shows that the leaders and the hosts of followers moved from country to country in these early days, and the Aryan race was found eventually in India and then later in Egypt.

The original stop in India was probably very short and only a temporary choice on their way to Egypt, for they stayed quite a while in Egypt and then they made a longer and more permanent stop in India.

As they went from country to country, perhaps moving every 100 years or so, they gathered many people of the lower castes and breeds who became their servants or slaves.

In those days the term slave had a much different meaning from that which is given to it today. The word slave is not precisely the word they used, but it is the nearest interpretation of the original word.

Because of the Aryan policy of non-intermarriage with less developed races than theirs, those persons who did attach themselves to the Aryan race had to remain outside the Aryan family. Although these persons were given every possible help and accepted as students under the system of development, the Aryan nevertheless kept these foreign members of their nation isolated and quite distinct from their own clan.

We find when they entered Egypt, the Aryans consisted of perhaps ten or twelve thousand highly developed pure blooded Aryans and many thousands of persons of mixed races.

It was this mixture of many races or tribes that constituted the tribes which are referred to in Egyptian history as those which eventually left Egypt and went to Palestine as the tribes of Israel.

Today the term Israel means Jewish or Hebrew in the common understanding, but in that time it did not. The word Israel was a term or title bestowed upon the patriarch Jacob and meant a prince of God, or in other words, a title of nobility.

It appears that this great Aryan nation of ten tribes consisting of one tribe of pure Aryan stock and nine definite tribes of mixed foreign blood began the ten tribes of Israel referred to in biblical and other histories which became lost, as we will explain later.

The Aryans after entering Egypt, became promoters of the mystical schools of philosophy, in contra-distinction to the schools of idolatry and the heathen religious systems of idol worshippers which had developed in Egypt through ignorance and superstition.

The slaves were servants who were part of the Aryan nation, and were put to work building temples and other great structures. There has been found evidence of one or two of these tribes of the Aryan nation, which were devoted almost exclusively to the making of bricks and the cutting of stone, according to the Aryan principles, for the building of the beautiful structures.

After the Aryan leaders had succeeded in making a deep impression upon many of the most learned and advanced of the Egyptians, who had traced their ancestry back in remote times to an original family tree of Aryans, an alliance was formed between the then-advanced Egyptians and the Aryans for the establishment and maintenance of colleges, schools and palaces of great learning in Egypt.

This was also the foundation of Egypt as a great center of learning throughout the world for several centuries. Early in the stages of this alliance, Thothmes the III and Thothmes the IV became leaders and promoters of the schools of learning. They were undoubtedly initiated in the Aryan secret schools and made members of the Aryan race.

In that time the Aryan and certain of the Egyptian powers were united slowly and secretly in evolving the intellectual power and spiritual development of the Egyptian nation. This was done against the great obstacle put in their path by a very large priesthood in Egypt, who would cater to the superstitious idol-worshipping beliefs of the uneducated Egyptians.

The mother of the great Master Amenhotep the IV was a woman named Tia. She was one of the most highly developed women of the Aryan race which had settled in Egypt. She became queen, and history has recorded the grandeur and beauty of her soul and character.

There are many picturesque and romantic tales of how Queen Tia and her husband, and the initiates of the secret schools, exercised all their spiritual gifts in planning for the birth of a son, who would become the great ruler or leader of the Egyptian schools of mysticism.

By this time, the secret schools and their followers had become a major influence in Egypt and their knowledge was extending beyond the borders of Egypt through messengers and from those who came from foreign lands to study in these great schools of learning. Then Queen Tia gave birth to the most remarkable person ever born in Egypt, if not the most remarkable person ever born in the world up to that time.

Her son was Amenhotep the IV, who was later called Akhnaton. Many modern writers of Egyptian history refer to Amenhotep the IV as "the world's first great citizen." Amenhotep the IV completely overthrew the heathen priest- hood of Egypt and established the first monotheistic religion in the world, proclaiming the existence of a "true and ever-living God" in the heavens. He also built a great city along the Nile after abandoning his school at the royal palace in Thebes.

At the height of Amenhotep's power in the year 1350 BC, we find the Aryan race living in the midst of Egypt, scattered throughout its principle cities and looked upon by the idol- worshipping Egyptians as foreigners, tolerated but constantly suspected because of the power and the alliances which they feared.

We find the nine tribes of the foreign blood which had come with the Aryans into Egypt, which were still living in the various parts of the land more or less isolated, and employed in various industries and agriculture. They were looked upon by the heathen Egyptians as the most undesirable of all the foreigners in their lands.

Thus the heathen Egyptians would not accept the members of these nine foreign tribes into their families by marriage, and gave them only such labor and such places to live as were unwanted by the Egyptians themselves.

These nine tribes of people, therefore, had become slaves in another sense, and were engaged in the most menial and difficult forms of manual work. It was these tribes, who were greatly increased in number by births in their own tribes through the centuries, that performed the slave labor of building the great structures in Egypt.

The situation in Egypt around 1350 BC was, first of all, the great mass of Egyptian people. Ninety-nine percent of them were illiterate and uneducated and held in mental and spiritual bondage by the heathen priesthood of the country, who also tried to hold the people in financial and physical bondage.

The Pharaoh and his Queen, and all of his officers were also greatly dominated by the priesthood. It was worth a persons life to criticize or attack the priesthood. Neither the Pharaoh nor the most humble slave in that country could express his opinion about the priesthood or its practices without being very careful and judicious.

The natives of Egypt were of mixed blood and were constantly intermarrying with tribes from surrounding countries, building up a nation of idol-worshipping superstitious people. It was into this unhappy situation that the Aryan tribes came. It was like a great nation from some foreign lands coming in a body and settling in a country where they were suspected, unwanted and constantly watched.

The Aryan tribes also represented various classes of people. First was a pure Aryan stock of which there were about 12,000 persons. However, many thousands who were not of pure Aryan blood came into Egypt with them and stayed as part of the Aryan tribes. Some of these were of Atlantean origin, some were of Lemurian origin, some were from the far north of the European continent, and the rest were from places not known.

These ten tribes which constituted the Aryan race did not live together in Egypt as a separate nation of people. They spread out considerably a few years after their entrance into Egypt.

They remained to themselves, independent of the Egyptian people in many ways. This independence on the part of the Aryan tribes, plus their knowledge, learning and health really disturbed the priesthood of Egypt because they knew that if any of the great leaders of the Aryan tribes became high officials in the government, it would mean the ruin of the priesthood.

The same jealous attitude that the priesthood had here in Egypt was the same attitude that Our Lord Jesus ran across when he came to Earth also.

The priesthood and politicians of Egypt were afraid that the learned Aryan leaders were going to seek political power, just as the Roman politicians had and also part of the Jewish priesthood did. They thought that Jesus would seek power of some form and become a dangerous threat to the priesthood. In both cases the jealous minds were wrong. Just as Jesus sought no political power and never had such a thing in mind, so, it was too with the Aryan leaders.

They believed that you can do more in the way of ruling people, directing them and having their support and cooperation through educating them and helping them to evolve.

The leaders of the Aryan tribes were naturally highly educated, and as students of the laws of the universe did not seek and did not want political power in that land. They did not even attack or criticize the priesthood, and never made any open protest against the things that the priesthood or politicians were doing.

In their secret sessions, in their grotto temples and secret meetings in the valley, they instructed their own tribes and some of the natives who were to be trusted in regards to the higher laws of living and the higher ways of thinking. In this way they gradually were not educating only their own people, but also some of the Egyptian natives to see beyond the superstitions of the priesthood and the ignorant beliefs of the politicians.

After fifty or one hundred years of such educational work, the Aryan tribes had attracted to themselves some of the most

brilliant minds of the native Egyptians. Among the Aryan tribes there were four or five eminent leaders. After several hundred years of activity in Egypt, a number of pure-blooded Egyptian natives of high position, and low position also, became great mystics and leaders in the higher living. Among these evolved Egyptians were the predecessors of Amenhotep the IV.

Amenhotep himself and his seven daughters were taught carefully by the Pharaoh himself. His mother, Tia, was of Aryan birth as was mentioned before; Amenhotep moved the capitol from Thebes to a new city which he built along the Nile. Thebes has been the capitol and palace city of many Pharaohs.

It as not only the home and principle business office of the ruler of the country, but it was the home of all the politicians. Nearly every branch of the political activity was dominated by the priesthood, which also had its secret headquarters in Thebes.

Amenhotep's parents soon found that every move they made and even everything they tried to do was being watched by secret spies and representatives of the priesthood, who were living as servants and workers in their palace.

Amenhotep, when he was a young Pharaoh, also discovered every move he made was being watched: his private sessions were being spied upon, and his own life was in jeopardy every hour.

Not only was he hindered in the care and instruction of his family, but the high sessions of the newly formed White Brotherhood, composed of all the leaders of the mystical work, were being interfered with by the politicians and representatives of the priesthood.

For this reason he moved his palace and his home to the new city of El-amarna. There he built a great temple that was absolutely safe from intrusion and protected by hundreds of loyal followers and guards, who were also neophytes in the great movement that was now becoming an important power in Egypt.

In this temple were held the various classes of instruction and the initiation ceremonies, the tests and trials by fire, water and air, and likewise the secret sessions of the great council of leaders which met often to decide important matters.

When the great leaders of the pure Aryan tribe decided to form a real secret society consisting of the most evolved persons in their ten tribes, and decided also to admit the most advanced of the Egyptian natives, they were forced to make plans for testing and trying persons who they thought might qualify for membership.

However, they did not reach that stage of testing until after they had been watched and studied carefully by many leaders for several years. This also constituted the foundation for all of the present-day initiation ceremonies used by secret orders, and also the rituals in the various churches.

As a point of interest we will follow this source of rituals, for by tracing the origin of the Roman Catholic and Jewish ceremonies we will have the origin of all, as far as church ceremonies are concerned.

St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the more evolved priests of the Roman Church, expressed in a few words the real meaning of all religious ceremonies. He said that ceremony is the necessary outcome of the two-fold nature of man -- intellectual and sensible -- on account of which he must pay God a two-fold adoration.

One is in the spiritual aspect, which consists of the interior devotion of the soul; the other is corporeal, which manifests itself in the outward form of worship. For there is no inward sentiment or feeling which man has not wanted to express outwardly by some subtle gesture or action. He refers especially to the liturgy, gesture movements which accompany prayers, exercises and forms in connection with blessings, light, incense and vestments.

All of the light used in the church of Rome and in all church ceremonies, whether candle light, altar fires, taper lights, oil lights or otherwise, are symbolical of the spirit of the great Christos.

The word ceremony itself is from the original Sanskrit. The word karmen means action and work, and we find that karmen is a word in Sanskrit composed of one syllable that originally was kar which meant to make or create.

It is generally known that the Oriental religions follow very closely the methods of these early secret societies, and maintain an inner secret circle, as well as an outer circle.

The trouble with the masses of the people in the world is that they judge all religious systems by what they learn of their outer congregation, or outer circle of activities. They never become familiar with the real inner teachings.

For an example, if an American should travel through the Oriental lands and come into contact with the Orientals in a general way, he has become familiar with the practices and customs of just the outer circle of the religious movements from which he bases his judgments about these religions, just by such things as he sees.

For instance, in India among the outer members of the religious movements, one finds the fakirs who know very little of the real inner teachings of the inner circle of their church or religion, and who are still guided by the many superstitious beliefs, with all sorts of tricks and astonishing performances.

If the religious teachings of India were to be judged by these outer demonstrations, by attending the public service of the church, or by reading the literature that is given to the mass of people, an entirely wrong opinion and conception of the real religious teachings of the inner circle is formed.

Mankind, in general, is constantly passing through various steps of evolution, while it is true that an entire race of any country may be a little further advanced than the preceding generation of the same race, the fact remains that the highest degree of evolution in any race is found among the few.

While the majority are considerably lower in evolution and development, therefore, something has to be done to take care of those that develop more rapidly and at the same time to guide and instruct those who are not so well developed.

We will use a hypothetical situation to illustrate this further; let us say that in some country in any period of history there are 100,000 men, women and children constituting the race of natives living in this particular country.

Now let us say that according to the law of averages of this 100,000 persons 50,000 of them are one step behind in intellectual, mental and spiritual development.

In other words, they are very primitive in their ways of thinking, guided by superstitious beliefs of their forefathers, biased against anything that is modern or new, doubtful about many of the important spiritual or religious beliefs of the church or greatly bound to some primitive doctrine which they think is perfectly good and satisfactory.

Among these 50,000 people there are some who are very wealthy, who have selfish and personal motives in wanting to keep the rest of the 50,000 in ignorance, and backward in their development. Most of the 50,000 people are of the middle class of wealth or very, very poor.

The health of these latter persons is generally bad, and epidemics of diseases break out quite frequently among them because they resort to superstitious practices to heal them- selves and are prejudiced against modern medical practices or scientific methods.

Industrious in a primitive way and willing to work very hard for a small income, they shut their eyes to any methods that would improve their ways of working and living.

Because of their superstitious and primitive methods of thinking along religious lines, they are usually associated with some form of religion which is all ritualistic and which does not require any study, and very often requires nothing more than the going to some place of worship once a week, making certain salutations, burning incense, going through some form that is supposed to bring them a blessing and then going about their business for the rest of the week, without any understanding of the religious principles at all.

Then we would have about 35,000 persons who are more modern in their way of thinking and living. They would represent the present stage of evolution and progress in their country. Usually they have comfortable homes and more enjoyment of life, with better incomes, less disease and a lower death rate.

They are usually prominent in all lines of thought, easily picking up the new ideas of the advanced teachers, lecturers, and writers of their day.

These are a body of persons which are very dependable, very solid, very enthusiastic in regard to life. They would be called modernists by the 50,000 persons who are in the stage of development below them. Yet, these 35,000 persons are seekers and are not entirely satisfied with the life they have.

It is because there is a restlessness in their minds and in their hearts that they have risen out of the class of the 50,000 persons and are better off than others.

They always want what is new and what is better. They are the big book buyers and readers of better literature. They are the ones who patronize lectures or listen to the advice of teachers. They are constantly inventing, improving and trying to make their position in life much better than it is.

Naturally they look among themselves in their own class of people for leaders, for teachers and for guides, and what they cannot find among their own class, they begin to seek among those persons who can lead them to better things, begin to seek outside their own class and eventually outside their own race of people. They are quick, however, to recognize the superior among their people.

Whenever several hundred of these persons live in any one community they are quick to recognize the one or two persons among them who may be just a little degree above them in intellectual, mental and spiritual development, and therefore, they gather around such persons and ask questions or form groups and societies for the discussion of great problems.

In this way, they organize themselves into bodies of students, inventors and seekers. They are happy indeed when someone from another land or another race or higher grade of development comes in contact with them or offers them books to read, or points out the way to self-improvement.

Now we have two classes of people so far in this imaginary country: class A, consisting of 50,000 persons who are backwards at least one stage of development and progress; and class B, consisting or 35,000 persons who are right up to the present time in their development and are restless, seeking information and help in advancing still further; and we have the third class, or class C, consisting of 15,000 persons.

These three classes make the total of 100,000 persons in the imaginary country. In class C we have 15,000 persons who are one or more stages ahead in progress and development. They are the ultra-modernists. Such persons would be called fanatics by the persons in class A and would be called geniuses by the persons in class B. These persons in class C have attained a high degree of development and evolution in many ways.

First, because of high development in previous incarnations -- they were probably in class B or C in a previous life in the same country or some other. Second, through birth they have become members of class C -- very likely their fathers or mothers were members of class B and were highly developed. In this class C perhaps 5,000 might be two or three stages ahead in development and progress. They are very spiritual in their religious thinking, intuitive in their reasoning, and are natural born leaders. They constitute the pathfinders in every race and in every land. They are the ones who can study the needs of a person in class A and class B and see just what both of these classes need to improve themselves and proceed to bring about the necessary changes in living and thinking.

They organize the learned societies and establish special schools and colleges and do everything they can, not just to improve themselves, but to improve those in the other two classes.

The first problem that would confront you would be that you have two great powers with which to deal. First you have the opposing suspicious, biased, prejudiced minds of class A. In that class you would find an army outnumbering your own class who would suspect your motives and oppose you on the basis that you are going to tread on the under-class in order to raise yourself higher. You would have the heathen worshippers of class A and their religious leaders claiming that you are unorthodox, that you are ungodly and therefore, a sinner among men.

You would find many in class A who would be ready to stone you or spit upon you in the belief that they were serving their god by wiping you out of existence. You would find the ignorant minds in class A misrepresenting and misusing everything that you said or did for them. Hence, you and your group of assistants would keep in mind the fact that you must approach the persons of class A very carefully, very gradually, and never letting them know your full intentions and purposes. But slowly and gradually win their confidence while letting them have only a little information, a little light and a little help at a time.

On the other hand, you would have another great army of persons with whom to contend. These would be those in class B. The most progressive, anxious and restless amongst this class would be swooping down upon your group with such insistence, demanding that they be given all the light and all the information that you have, that you would find yourself almost torn to shreds, figuratively speaking, by the demand that immediately, quickly, without reserve, that you give them everything that you have to give.

Now, how would you and your assistants proceed to deal with these two great armies composed of class A and class B? If you will stop to think for a moment, you will realize that there would be only two ways of working out your great scheme, which would be to organize your work in two forms. Form A would be an outer circle, or movement, with just a little of the great light and truth, just to interest casually persons in class A, without arousing their suspicions or their intellectualism too greatly.

On the other hand, you would organize another form which we class as form B, which would be an inner or secret circle for persons in class B. You would do your utmost to prevent persons in class A from ever knowing anything about the existence of the inner circle.

As you would find, however, some in class A reaching a point where they had developed to a proper degree of under- standing, tolerance and sympathy, you would let them come into the inner circle, but such persons would be very few indeed.

Your great hope would be not to bring many out of class A into the inner circle or form B, but to educate enough persons in class A so that they would help others in their own class to rise a little higher so that their children eventually would be ready for the inner circle or form B.

On the other hand, you would try your utmost to advance as many as possible in class B, who belong to the inner circle, to become candidates for admittance into your own secret executive body, which would be the highest group in the whole land. This is exactly what the early Aryan tribes and advanced thinkers in the Oriental lands did in each country.

Now that we have established the fact of how these ancient societies adopted the form of having an inner and outer circle, we'll begin to study the early original mystical doctrines taught to the members of both the inner and outer circle. The persons who joined the outer circle or who were admitted into the inner circle of the mystery schools were seekers of light and wisdom and there was no social or recreational motives which induced them to seek such association.

People of today think they have many profound subjects to discuss and many very, very important questions to ask regarding life and its mysteries. They tend to feel that because of their advancement in civilization it is more urgently necessary to find answers to nearly all of life's problems. But none of those who have, or do enter into this work today, have any more important questions in their minds than the early members had in their minds when they sought the mystery schools many centuries ago in Egypt.

Human nature has remained the same throughout all of its stages of evolution, which includes the way people think. Therefore, it is not surprising to find that the first and important questions which the new members in the secret schools asked were almost identical with the questions that are being asked by future generations until each man knows the truth.

In the ancient records we find that in the outer congregation of the early mystery schools much time was spent in explaining to the seekers the one great problem that evidently was considered the most important of all. Namely, who created the world and all that is on the Earth, including the animal life and man.

Anybody would have extreme difficulty in answering such questions asked by their children if they did not have on hand a Bible to refer to, and who had no other means of offering a correct explanation. Today one could answer his child's questions briefly by saying that God created all things.

He would recognize the name of God and feel satisfied with your answer. But what if your child had never heard of God or had no conception or what the term God meant?

The first thing a person would have to establish in the child's mind is the existence of God and then to convince him of God's powers to create and then proceed to built up a logical outline of why such a God could create such a world as this.

Suppose this persons and a neighbor a few miles away whose child asked the same questions and suppose the neighbor didn't know that the person had already attempted the tremendous task of explaining to his child the existence of God, and the neighbor proceeded to explain God and God's creation to his child. If the two children got together afterwards, they would find some discrepancies in the two explanations.

Very likely one child will tell the other that his God was a different God from his. Soon you would hear these two children speaking to each other of my God. By this you would know that they were referring to the God of their conception or comprehension. Although there is only one God in the Universe or of the Universe, each one of the two children had created for himself a unique God.

If these two children were to meet each other often and in their ways discussed their individual Gods and finally agreed as to what God must be like, if there is only one God, we'd find that their final agreement differed from the first person's conception and his child's conception and also of the other child, and that now a fifth God was in existence acceptable to the two children, but not acceptable to the parents.

By multiplying this sort of thing by the number of persons who attempted to have a realization and conception of God, you would multiply the number of Gods created in the minds of men. Such varying conceptions of God existed since the day that man began to think.

The explanation of how God created the world would have to depend much upon the kind of God or the nature of the God who created. Since there were so many different conceptions of God, there were bound to be a number of different ideas or stories as to how the world was created.

If the God conceived by man was a supreme being living on Earth with unlimited powers, then the story of creation would take on the form of a visible or invisible God walking about on Earth, planting trees, plowing fields, breathing on the waters to make storms, clapping his hands together to cause thunders and molding man's body out of the clay and animating it, and so on.

If, on the other hand, God was a supreme being living as a spirit in the heavens, then the story of his process of creating the world would be considerably different.

Of course, between these two ideas are hundreds of slightly different ones, again taking into consideration man's early education and primitive comprehension. Especially the type of men and women who were permitted in the outer congregation, it gives a good fore-drop to the situation that the Aryans met in Egypt, and their explanations of God and His creation which had to be understandable in the minds of these people.

Because man always had the tendency to compare the members of the outer congregation in such a way that the various incidents could be compared with things with which they were familiar in the ancient records, and which the White Brotherhood recorded when it was taught to the early members of the outer circle about God and creation. These ancient teachers realized that there was no way for the primitive mind to conceive of God or God's existence in a proper way, so they did not attempt to picture God or describe God as the first point in their explanation. Rather they permitted the story of creation itself to reveal God by His various manifestations.

The story of creation which finally became the adopted official explanation is very much like that which now appears in the book of Genesis in the Bible. First, there is the establishment of light and the naming of day and night. Then that was the end of the first day of work.

The early mind would have immediately asked whether God did not have to stop at the end of each day and rest a while, and so the story of creation was divided into periods called days in order that the human mind could conceive of the work progressing in stages just as their own work progressed in stages. No attempt was made, however, to explain to them what constituted one of God's days, and none of those in that day demanded that the exact length of a God-day be established in years, months, weeks, and minutes.

As one reads the story of Genesis, he will notice that the animals mentioned were familiar in the Orient and that the trees or shrubbery mentioned were known to the persons who were being instructed. Nothing was mentioned that they had never seen or with which they were not familiar. For instance, there is no mention of icebergs or frozen lakes, yet there was ice in parts of the world in the very time this explanation originated. The apple is mentioned as one of the fruits, but there are many other forms of fruits which are not mentioned.

We could go on pointing out hundreds of things that would have been included in the story if the people of that time had been familiar with them. So the very nature of the story itself shows the location of its origin.

Before taking up the subject of the creation of man, I wish to comment upon the fact that the story is divided into seven periods or seven days. This points out that the calendar of seven days constituting a week had its origin in those early times also. From that day there existed no other calendar than moon cycles.

The number seven was a mystical number with the ancient mystery schools and was the completion of the three or the triangle, and the four was the square. When the triangle was placed on the square, it symbolized a complete task, a perfected thing. The number three always meant the symbol of perfect creation, and the square represented the basis upon which it was placed or rested to keep it in perfect balance.

Therefore, the square foundation had to be made first and it was merely a preparatory thing of and by itself, except in a grossly material sense. Upon this a triangle had to be placed to act as a watershed during the rains and to symbolize that all beneath it rose to one point of infinite manifestations tapering off into infinity.

The story of Genesis states that the first four days of creation laid the foundation of the grossly material world. The first day divided itself into the light and the dark parts. Then the firmament was made on the second day. On the third day all the land and water were created.

You will notice that the waters are called seas, which in the original wording referred to bodies of water smaller than oceans. These persons had little conception of oceans and, therefore, the teachers did not include something which the people had never seen or could not comprehend.

On the fourth day the sun, moon and stars were created. These four days laid an excellent foundation for the material universe, as it was visible and easily seen by those students. On the fifth day began the creation of living things, the first point of the triangle -- which included something more than the gross material things of life. So on the fifth day, the things in the water and those above the Earth that were living were created. During the sixth day, living things on the face of the Earth, including man, were created. On the seventh day God completed the triangle by His holy benediction upon what He had created, thereby bringing the Holy Ghost into it and upon it, and giving it conscience. The Bible story simple says that on the seventh day God ended His work and rested and blessed the day or sanctified it.

Creation

In the ancient records it shows that in the original story at sunrise on the seventh day, God began the process of expanding His consciousness into all living creatures, and finally placed His benediction on man who was to be His living representative on the face of the Earth.

Also, throughout the seventh day God did not simply rest but spent the day in meditation and it was therefore a day of sacred communion. The early mystery schools thereby laid the foundation for one day of sacred ceremony and communion out of each seven. This is also the origin of our churchly Sunday.

The Bundasish states that Ahuramazda created the first man and woman, joined together at the back. After dividing them, he endowed them with motion and activity, placed within them an intellectual soul, and bid them to be of humble heart; to observe the law; to be pure in their thoughts, pure in their speech, pure in their actions.

Thus were born Mashya and Mashyana, a pair from which all human beings are descended. The idea brought out in this story of the first human pair having originally formed a single androgynous being with two faces, separated later into two personalities by the creator, is to be found in the account of creation in Genesis, "Male and female created He them, and placed them and named their name Adam."

Jewish tradition and the Targum and Talmud as well as well-learned rabbis allege that Adam was created man and woman at the same time, having two faces turned in opposite directions, and that the Creator separated the feminine half from him in order to make her a distinct person.

It was natural for inquiring minds to want to know more about themselves than about nature such as mountains, seas, sky and trees. Therefore, more time was spent in the early teachings in these ancient mystery schools explaining to man his own existence than was spent in explaining the origin, and manifestation of the origin.

In fact, for many ages the natural laws of the universe were set aside in preference to a study of man himself. Since man was really a great enigma, it is not surprising that gradually there were postulated many theories, philosophies and speculative ideas about the creation of man and that knowledge which was much easier to secure, such as botany and cosmogony for instance, was allowed to remain untouched.

The ancient schools had a very extensive study of the creation of man which were scientific in their nature, while outside of these schools the speculations and superstitious ideas regarding the origin of man and his creation became so fantastic as to become absurd and of no value.

To the general populace who did not attend these ancient schools, every discovery of a scientific or semi-scientific nature necessitated a change of ideas about the origin of man because such discoveries disproved their ideas and contradicted their beliefs.

These early teachers had no mechanical means for the study of the cell and knew very little of the subject of biology as we know it today, but they did have one source of information that was infallibly correct, and this was the contact they had with the infinite mind of the Creator which through revelation and inspiration revealed to them the fundamental principles regarding the origin of man as a species. Therefore, their teachings on the origin of man distinctly stated that in the beginning man as the highest type of the animal kingdom was bi-sexual.

In other words, he was both male and female and, therefore, each being of the human species had the ability to impregnate his own eggs and thereby bring his own species into existence. This idea puzzled many of the students in these ancient schools, mainly because they knew of no bi-sexual animals and therefore it was hard for them to conceive of such a thing.

These ancients had a religious doctrine about this that was as much a mystery to them as the idea of the Immaculate Conception is to the average Christian today.

In their doctrine about the origin of man they stated that because man was of this peculiar nature in his first form, the process of giving birth to children was a result of "self-conception." This term was referred to by them as a process of mental conception or mental creation. The term self-conception to them was just as peculiar and erroneous as the term Immaculate Conception as applied to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother intimates or implies that all other forms of conception other than the usual, normal, natural form of conception are not immaculate, but are unclean, impure or unholy, which is not true and does not follow the teachings of the Holy Bible.

When the term self-conception or mental conception was used by these ancient teachers, what they were really saying is more closely taught in the term divine conception or cosmic conception. Thus the account of the origin of man became the fundamental one used through many ages, which, after being slightly modified, eventually became the sacred story of the origin of men.

Here is the fundamental outline of the origin of man as understood by those in the ancient schools after God created the heavens and the earth in all the material things that were without apparent life: He decided to create a representative of Himself on the earth plane in His own spiritual and creative image, so that in His dominion that being might carry out the great work of building up the characteristics and creatures of the preconceived nations of the world.

God Himself was neither male nor female, but contained within His own being and consciousness the essence of male and female, the creative power of all animals, and was therefore bi-sexual.

In creating man, therefore, as a representative of Himself He took from the material elements of the earth the most refined and the most highly evolved in a vibratory nature, which, when brought together, produced a body of more delicate texture, more sensitive nature and more beautiful form than any other of the animals in the animal kingdom. This material form made out of the earthly elements did not represent a replica of God's form, since God was formless in a material sense.

After God had thus molded the physical body of His human representative on earth, He breathed into its body His creative powers and essence which were of a spiritual nature and gave to this lifeless form not only life, but a degree of consciousness possessed by Himself. At once man became a living spiritual being with a material body through which to function, and yet the bi-sexual powers for procreation for ages, which in the terms of infinity may be called a day, man continued to live as a bi-sexual creature reproducing his kind.

However, there came a time when God believed that man would be guided to greater tenderness, greater application of his forces and powers and greater activity in various directions if the dual natures of his being were separated and man became a dual creation in two bodies, instead of one.

Thus God formed another body out of the earthly elements, this time creating one that was even more beautiful in form, softer and more delicate in physical action and more sensitive to the higher vibrations and impulses of His consciousness. At the same time, He made the original body of man a little stronger, a little more rugged, a little larger and better prepared to function exclusively in connection with the more difficult task of the Earth.

With these two bodies then before Him, He took from the body of the original man that part of his sex functioning which was the feminine nature, and put it into the new, softer, smaller and more beautiful body that He had just made. Then into this new body He breathed life and consciousness and called this new body female.

The more rugged body which was now minus a part of itself, He called male. In this way God created male and female, after He had created the original man as bi-sexual. God said that these two bodies were companions and necessary parts of each. They should ever live in unity and if separated, seek one another, and that for each male there was a distinct female which originally had been part of himself, and for each female there would be a male which originally had been a part of herself, that they should live together and multiply and bring forth of their own kind. This they did and their offspring were in pairs like themselves.

The female would seek the male companion and the males would seek the female companions. And when they met, they would know each other by the natural attunement between them, and they would live together as one, permitting nothing to separate them.

There are other details somewhat philosophical, ethical and moral in regards to how they should live together as man and wife, how their souls after transition would still seek companionship, and how in future birth the original pair would meet again and unite.

When reading Genesis out of the Bible, one can see clearly that its account of creation had its origin from this ancient doctrine. There had always been considerable dispute about the authenticity or reliability of the account in the Holy Bible, because in the Book of Genesis there might seem to be two apparently contradictory accounts regarding the creation of man.

In the first account the statement is made that after all other animals were created, man was created -- male and female in His own image.

In the second account, we read that man was created first and that later, while man was in a deep sleep, God took something from his side, out of which He created woman. Having the original story made by the ancient mystery schools from which the Bible accounts were taken, because of their widespread acceptance among all of the early nations of the earth, we see that both accounts in Genesis are correct and contain no contradiction.

God did create man originally male and female as stated in the first account of Genesis. Later God did cause a deep sleep or coma or a suspension of animation to come upon the evolutionary stage of man, during which a change was made and his body was reformed into a strong, masculine character to do the heavy work allotted him. At the same time a part of his bi-sexual nature was taken from him, whether from his side or not. With this part taken from him, the distinct sex nature of woman was separated from man and placed in the female body, and we have the two creatures instead of one.

It is a known fact that the Bible accounts as presented in the Book of Genesis are similar to the legendary accounts from the ancient schools because we find almost the same wording as we find in Genesis in many of the ancient writings in the various countries. For instance, if we read the book by Brunsen called Angel Messiah, we note that Ormuzd, the Persian god of gods, proclaimed in his sacred doctrine this phrase: "Let us make man in our own likeness." Also, in many other ancient writings of the Oriental peoples we find a similar story about the mythological gods or the gods of the superstitious heathen tribes creating man in their own likeness and making the original man both male and female.

As the account of the creation of man got outside of the ancient schools and became accepted by the populace, they revealed the story to other lands and eventually in each land, in each nation of people discussing among themselves, if the God of the Aryans or the God of the Egyptians created them in His likeness and created them male and female, then our God must have created us in the same way. Thus we find throughout the world all peoples contributing to their mythological gods and to their idols a creation of man and woman in the same manner as laid down in the ancient mystery schools.

Following the teachings of the ancient schools, we come to another point which was a natural result of the teaching regarding the origin, the creation of man. Even though the primitive students of the ancient schools were not as versed in logic and reasoning as people today, they still could not help noticing what seemed to be inconsistencies in the scheme of things.

These primitive peoples suffered from diseases and illnesses and died or passed away just as people do today. They had our financial troubles even though they did not have coins such as we use today. They had their daily trials with success and failure and they had their ambitions, some of which were probably altruistic and not wholly selfish but which seemed to fall or fail, and in their way many of them tried to live a godly spiritual life and yet suffered pains and sorrows seemingly without warrant.

Thus they asked questions as: "If God created man in His own image and man is a part of God's good living, pure soul and consciousness, why do we suffer and have disease and die, while God continues to live eternally?"

The ancient mystic schools said that man's spirit was created in God's image, he could not be created materially or physically in God's image because God had no material or physical body. If man were an image of God only in a spiritual sense and were an image of nothing but the higher form of the animal kingdom in the physical sense, man was therefore believed to be a dual being. The real and most noble and God-like part of man was an etherical spiritual part and a counterpart of God, with all of God's attributes, powers and goodness. The physical part of man was made of all the physical elements like the trees, the rocks, the water and all the other things God created in the first part of His plan of creation. Therefore, the physical part of man was a mortal, vacillating, non-dependable element in his existence.

The real part of man -- the spiritual part -- that is a part of God, could not die. The physical part of man suffered and had trials and temptations and died or passed through various transitions as a part of its evolutionary changes. This explanation did not answer their questions fully, but it did help them to understand that man was dual and that the real part of man did not die, although it might suffer in a sense that it would be prostrated or handicapped by the tortures of the body through disease and pain.

To answer their questions more completely, the explanation went further and the early mystics thought that when God created man, He also gave man the ability to choose and to be a free agent in his actions. Thuswise, man being a free agent with the ability to reason, judge and choose, as he chose so would he have to abide and take the consequences.

Up until this time, man had been taught and believed that he was slave to all kinds of evil spirits and subject to the will of invisible gods and invisible beings, and upon these he blamed his misfortunes and his illnesses. He even went so far as to believe that if a series of events showed that he was under the evil influence of some evil spirit or god, it was useless for him to try to succeed in any plan or event or even attempt anything.

It is easily seen why these people lived a life of fear and dread and continually suffered from more misery than was necessary. You can realize what a revolutionary idea it was to be taught that even God, Who created man, did not attempt to enslave him, but had given man the power and the right to choose for himself to be a free agent.

But in the teachings of these ancient schools they did not express the idea that when a person chose wrongly and decided to do something he should not do and did it, that God would punish him in revenge or out of wrath. That idea was developed by the pagan priesthoods.

The ancient schools thought that man had the right to choose and that he had to assume responsibility of his acts. As further explanations were required, the teachers pointed out the fact that soon after the first created things had the right to choose, they chose wrongly in some important things, accepting evil in place of good, and that by so choosing, man had established for himself an evil course in life as more enticing, more interesting, more enjoyable than the good path and that, therefore, man subsequently and for all future time, had to contend between the good and the bad and assume the responsibility of his choice.

Thus, out of the ancient writings we have seen that while we wish for the end, we deliberate upon and choose the means thereto. Actions that are concerned with means then will be guided by choice and so will be voluntary, and the acts in which the virtues are manifested are concerned with means; therefore, virtue depends upon ourselves and vice likewise.

For where it lies with us to do so, it lies with us not to do. Where we can say no, we can say yes. If then the doing a deed which is noble lies with us, the not doing it which is disgraceful, lies with us; and if the not doing which is noble lies with us, the doing which is disgraceful also lies with us. But if the doing and, likewise, the not doing of noble or base deeds lies with us, and if this is found identical with being good or bad, then it follows that it lies with us to be worthy or worthless men.

The next thing they cover in their teachings is the great deluge. It is interesting to note that none of the statements made by these ancient schools have ever been found to be inconsistent with the discovery of science.

At that time they had neither telescopes nor microscopes, which puzzles many as to how they learned so much about the planets and the heavens and so much about the germs and cell life.

They recorded that their knowledge and wisdom came from the cosmic, and that when they wanted to learn some important facts, they spent time in meditation and received the facts directly from the cosmic mind.

One statement made by these early mystics, which refers to the deluge that covered a large part of the earth's surface, is that this great change did not occur suddenly and that it was not of short duration. They thought that the deluge covered many centuries and occurred in different times. It was, in fact, a series of deluges and inundations, most of which were not connected in any way, except that as time has passed and one looks back on the centuries in which these things occurred, they group all of these events together and make one event out of them.

The ancient stories that are to be found in every historical record of every race and tribe regarding a great deluge are based upon the doctrines and teachings of these ancient schools. An interesting thing is that if these early mystery schools had not taught the story about this great deluge and how and why it occurred, it would never have been known of until a few hundred years ago when science began to make its scientific experiments.

In their teachings, they explained that the earth is continuously going through changes, and they indicated that we are amidst just as many important changes of the Earth's surface as were the ancient peoples when the great deluge took place.

It is a known fact by science today that, in many parts of the world, land is slowly disappearing beneath the water. Science has shown that at some time in the past, probably before the great deluge, much of North America that is now in the temperate zone was covered with ice and was a part of the arctic zone.

This would mean that the poles of the Earth are in a different position today from what they were at some time in the past.

They also point out the fact that the poles of the Earth are again changing their position, and there is no question of the fact that the cold temperature of the north is becoming warmer and the temperate zones are becoming warmer also.

In many parts of North America where snow and cold weather existed early in the fall and throughout the winter many years ago, there is now a very mild snow before the first of January, with the coldest period falling late in the winter or early spring. Many persons now living have noticed this gradual change taking place.

The story of the great deluge coming to destroy all of the wicked people of the world was originated by the ancient secret schools in the conclaves of the council of advisors, and was carried into the different lands through the organizations who had to modify or change the story slightly to fit the various philosophies and mystical teachings of their individual tribes and people.

The image of Osiris of Egypt was shut up in a secret ark on the same calendar day and month as that in which Noah is said to have entered into his ark. Thus the Egyptian priesthood adopted the story from the ancient schools, but changed the name of Noah to Osiris to fit their religious doctrines and teachings.

References to this similarity in the accounts are also found in such books as Bonwick's Egyptian Beliefs. It reads as in the biblical account also, that the rain was upon the earth for 40 days and 40 nights.

It is interesting to note that the mystical number 40 is introduced in the biblical records for the first time. It has also been noticed that throughout the Bible the number seven and the number three have been used, which were secret numbers in these ancient schools.

These council sessions held by these ancient schools were held many hundreds of years before the Roman Catholic Church was instituted. Consequently these sessions were the originators of the plans of establishing teachings which were helpful to man.

These ancient schools in their council sessions were not bound by any precedence or any ancient traditions or doctrines which had to be kept in mind in formulating answers or official explanations. They also resorted prayerfully to cosmic attunement to get the right explanations and right answers from the cosmic mind.

After their council sessions they offered the following explanation as official teachings: After the Earth had been populated with men and women of many tribes and races, all living in sin and evil ways as a result of the fall of man, there grew up with them giants of evil minds, or mighty men and women of cunning evil ways, devising new and alluring temptations to lead the multitudes into sin.

These giants of evil were threatening to lead the human race into irredeemable sin, and God realized that a purging and cleansing must take place.

God caused another cycle of change to take place on the face of the Earth to complete His creative work.

Once again the face of the Earth was in chaos as when He first created the heavens, the Earth and all that was therein.

This cycle of change consisted of seven periods, each period lasting 40 days. In the first period, the waters rose inundating all the land of the Earth and destroying all living things, except the male and female of each species. Each species was paired off that they might multiply and reproduce their own kind.

Thus reviving, they were especially preserved in a great ark which floated upon the face of the water until the spirit of peace, columbe of the universal mind of God, expressed the consciousness of peace upon the troubled waters and quieted them. This ended the forty days of the first period.

In the second period, other changes took place on the surface of the Earth and likewise in the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh periods of the cycle.

During these remaining periods after the second, the ark rested upon the mountain of illumination where God instilled His grace and His wisdom and the spirit of goodness in the minds and consciousness of all living things that had been saved. This was done so that they might be remade and thereby purified to produce of their kind in goodness rather than in evil.

During the sixth period of the cycle, all the living things that had survived and which had been illuminated on the mountain top came down into the valley of the new lands that appeared above the water, where they began the great work of repopulating the Earth once again.

During the seventh period God rested in peace and contentment because of the survival of the fittest of His creatures, and the establishment of His kingdom on Earth.

All living creatures today are descendants of the new race that followed the deluge. Therefore, we are free from the evil instincts and now have within us the sleeping instinct of goodness and peace.

The reason for giving the explanation thus is to give hope and inspiration to those who are struggling against the temptations of evil, but was also to afford the leaders and teachers of the ancient schools an opportunity to impress upon their followers many important points of their beliefs and practices.

For instance, this story introduced for the first time to the students -- the mountain of illumination.

Throughout the Christian Bible, there are many references to inspired leaders going up on the mountain to speak with God and receive divine wisdom. This mountain to them was a very secret place and did not refer to a physical mountain; but as in their teachings, means rather the ascending to greater heights, especially those levels of vibration which take one out of the material things of life and put them in touch with the cosmic mind, or mind of God.

Here is the origin of the mountain upon which the ark rested. Also contained in their explanation is the seven days and forty days and the seven creatures of each species and the meeting of them by two's.

At the same time that these ancient schools were teaching those things which they received from revelation and inspiration, there were also philosophical views and ethical teachings being taught to the masses by the various priesthoods of the heathens. So the general masses would ask the questions, "If God created man, would God create elephants, cats, dogs, snakes and other animals? If there is a God of mankind, there must be a God of trees, mountains and of rivers?"

Bear in mind that these ancient teachers did not have any telescopes with which to observe the planets, as there are in our present-day astronomy. Whether or not these early mystics ever saw the planet Saturn, even as a speck of light in the distant heavens, is something we cannot be sure of, but they most evidently knew of the existence of it and other planets by the effects they produced among human nature. With their spiritual sight they undoubtedly saw more than our modern telescopes reveal.

As the ages passed and man became more and more knowledgeable in things, and science began to develop, the scientist began to question the continuous statements of these ancient mystical schools, regarding the existence of planets and their effect upon material conditions, such as wind storms, tides, plant life and animal life. As scientists began to develop telescopes and the planets were brought into view, the science of astronomy developed to such a point that every one of the planets mentioned by these ancient schools was eventually located and found to resemble and be in action as described by the mystics.

Astronomy, through its mechanical devices, received its concrete evidence of things which these ancient mystics found through revelation and inspiration, although the scientists yet today still refuse to accept that the planets have an effect upon human life or plant life, and regard it as pure superstition and ignorance on the part of these ancient schools.

One could ask this question: If the planets have no effect upon human life, plant life or animal life, and if the early mystics in the primitive days had no telescopes and no modern equipment with which to see the planets -- how then could they have worked out such a complete list of planets and movements and their natures which are correct?

If everything that God created was good, then everything that is bad was created by some other God or some being that was not of a God? If God made the winds to blow to keep us cool in the hot sun, then there must be a bad God that makes them blow so hard as to cause storms. Out of such questions as these the heathen priesthoods began building up the multiplicity of gods which was found among all the primitive races.

Proceeding on in their teachings to answer the questions of their students, of who or what is responsible for the diversity of natures and complexity of the abilities and characteristics of the children of God, in their teachings they briefly answered that at the moment of birth each individual becomes associated in an alchemical way with one of the large planets of the universe, through the vibratory and physical essence breathed into the body at the time of birth, which establishes a physical affinity with the nature and characteristics of that planet.

Their detailed explanations covered many pages and related how each climate had certain physical characteristics, which when brought into the human body influenced the effect of the emotions, the desires and the tendencies of each human being. The explanation also included the effect of these climates and their characteristics on the tides, plant life and all forms of animal life.

It also included an explanation of the general tendencies and characteristics of each planet or each combination of planets or relationships between the planets; and ended with a list of the 12 pure types as standardized by the 12 signs of the zodiac, along with the eight types of mentality as standardized by eight known planets, and the multiple complex natures resulting from the combined influences of planets and signs of the zodiac. This was a leaning toward cosmic alchemy, how to use individually or in organization, the forces of nature.

It was this subject matter explaining the diversity of planetary natures that was eliminated from the Book of Genesis. Yet throughout the rest of the Bible we find innumerable references to the effects of the planets and the nature of the influences of the various comets which were often called stars.

There are so many references throughout the Christian Bible to the stars and the planets and the effect upon certain individuals and certain events, that one can't help seeing that the science of astrology was generally accepted and understood right up to and including the Christian period.

It is quite surprising that nowhere in the Old Testament is the science of astrology referred to as part of the rules and laws governing nature and man. This makes it quite apparent that it was deliberately eliminated and withheld by those who had some special purpose in doing this.

The Ancients had tests of faith, one of which, although greatly modified from its original story, is found in Genesis, Chap. 22:1-9, but is typical of many of the tests that the Ancients in their sacred temples were given in determining whether they were ready for further initiation.

Thus it was in these olden days, when one of those aspirants who had been attending the outer congregations had expressed a great enough interest in the work, that he had been observed and tabulated as one who might some day be found worthy; when he reached such a point, that this interest encouraged him to ask where he could find one of the temples or get in touch with one of the Master Teachers, then he was given many strange directions to do many peculiar things.

These tests were not only for the purpose of making it hard for him to find the place and thereby become discouraged unless he really was sincere in his determination, they were also for the purpose of testing his faith in the goodness and wisdom of the ones who were directing him.

Those who gave him the directions often told him to do things and to perform certain acts that meant not only labor or cost in time, but very often the sacrifice of some of his most beloved possessions. Especially if the seeker had some asset, or some personal property or valuable things of his own which he greatly prized, he was directed to destroy some of those things, burn them as an offering, or to do something with them in order that the Ancients might observe whether or not he was willing, in his professed faith, to follow all directions without asking questions.

The original parable of the test of Faith was about an elderly man who had as his most beloved belonging, a son. The father sought the Great Wisdom of God, and Illumination, and was directed to ascend a great mountain which is always the place in ancient writings where the Illumination takes place. There he was to erect an altar for the purpose of sacrificing his most precious possession, his son, which act was to bring Illumination to the father.

When the old man ascended the mountain, built the altar and placed his son upon the burning coals, a great cloud enveloped the altar which the old man thought was smoke from the fire and the consuming of his son's body. However, after the "smoke" had cleared away, he found a new, beautiful stone altar upon which his child stood in perfect composure and without injury. When the old man fell to his knees with thankfulness, the cloud descended again and enveloped him and he found that the cloud was the cloud of the Holy Spirit entering his spiritual body. From that time, God and the Masters spoke with him and blessed him for his faith and trust.

The story in Genesis is slightly modified to fit the circumstances of the Jewish people or the Hebrew race, for the Genesis story is taken from the Hebrew records of this original parable. The original teachings and the parables prepared by these ancient schools were immediately sent forth into various lands by the representatives of this school, and there slightly modified to meet the conditions of the local religion, history, traditions and beliefs. Accordingly, among the Hebrew people the story was changed to fit their own characters and Godly omen.

We find among the Hindus the story was modified slightly to read as follows:

A king there by the name of Harescandra had no son, but he prayed to Varuna and promised that if a son were born to him he would sacrifice the child to the deity. A son was born, who was called Rohita. When the son had grown up, his father one day told him of his promise to Varuna and that now was his time to keep faith with the god. The son objected and ran away. For six years he wandered in the forest, where at last he met a starving Brahman. He persuaded the Brahman to sell one of his sons, Sanahsepha. The boy was bought by Rohita and taken to the old man who was still king. The old king was about to sacrifice the purchased child as a substitute for Rohita when while praying to Varuna, the child was released. We can see in this story the similarity to the original story with the local Hindu interest added.

Another version is the Phoenician parable which states that Saturn had a child called Jeoud, who was his one and only child, as is meant by the word Jeoud. When a great war broke out bringing the country into imminent danger, Saturn erected an altar and placed his upon it his son. As he was preparing to sacrifice the child as a great demonstration of his faith, a miracle happened which prevented the actual sacrifice of the son.

In some countries the story was changed, supplanting a female child, as the Grecian version. In this parable, the Delphic oracle transmitted the command from God that the father should sacrifice his daughter. But before the fatal blow had been struck, the goddess Artemis interfered and carried the maid away. There are several slightly different versions of this parable among the Grecians, which show of the mythological gods of that country.

The parable of Abraham and Isaac, as it appears in the Book of Genesis, was adopted by the Hebrew people at the time when the Mosaic people in Israel were endeavoring to abolish idolatry among the populace.

Since they had been offering human sacrifices to their gods Moloch, Baal and Chemosh, the story was written to try to make people think that the Lord or God had abolished such offerings as far back as the time of Abraham. Of course, you realize that at one time human sacrifice was an almost universal practice; it was one of the great crimes and sins that had to be overcome, not by legislation, but by convincing the populace in some way that it was wrong.

Thus is shown the practices of these ancient schools of evolving the understanding of persons through proper parables and various ways of presenting the Laws of nature. At different periods, they modified the parables to fit the religion, rather than restrain through prohibition or legislation.

This method of instructing and evolving man's understanding to the degree that crime and sin of any kind will be distasteful, and the desire or even the ability to do wrong will not exist in his consciousness, they felt was better than attempting to prohibit man from immoral acts.

The parable of the sacrifice of the human child on the altar as an offering, frustrated at the last moment by God, Who did not want such a thing to be done but wanted man to express his Faith in God, undoubtedly did more to keep the wise persons from continuing the false practice of offering human sacrifice than any preachment would have done or any form of legislation or prohibition.

As we follow along the teachings of the ancients, in the next part of their teachings we find the original version of the story told in the Bible about Jacob's ladder. In this story, as it is again in the Bible, there are a number of incidents which are of little importance, whereas a few others are. First, we find that the story surrounds the nocturnal period of sleep; second, the story is related as a dream, which the ancients always used as a denoter of a vision or inspirational sight; third, we find the significant utility called a ladder around which the whole story pivots; fourth, that upon this ladder ascended and descended angels and God Himself, thus reducing these four incidents to the principles used in these ancient schools, from which this story had its origin. Jacob had a vision in which he saw what he called a ladder reaching from heaven to earth which served as a pathway for the coming of angels and God to him; also Jacob built an altar at the place where he had this vision and called that place Beth-el.

The purpose of this story in Christian theology is slightly different from what it originally was. The Christian church accepted this story of Jacob's ladder for the purpose of impressing upon the minds of the people that there was a future life in which all the good had become angels and lived as angels in the heavens. Therefore, the story was modified slightly so that Jacob would see God and hosts of angels ascending and descending.

If the story is accepted by anyone as it appears in the Christian Bible, such persons must accept the belief in angels living in a heavenly or spiritual world. This is what the clergy wanted the reader to accept and believe, and therefore the purpose of the story would be fulfilled.

The original story was for quite a different purpose. These ancient schools brought forth this parable to answer the question: "What becomes of the soul after transition?" Thus the teaching of reincarnation was being evolved, not because of arbitrary adoption of certain principles, but as a result of the observation and experiences of those whom developed enough spiritually as to be able to recall their past incarnations and to make contact with those who were about to be reincarnated.

At this point they hadn't collected sufficient evidence and examples of proved reincarnation to be able to state the doctrine any clearer than in the story about Jacob's ladder.

One fact which they were sure of is that the soul at the time of so-called death, was released from the physical body and for a time existed on the spiritual plane awaiting reincarnation.

The additional fact gradually was being demonstrated also that while these souls were existing on the spiritual plane awaiting reincarnation, it was possible for them, being light, to project some form of their consciousness upon the consciousness of those living on the earth plane.

Or it was possible for those living on the earth plane to project or attune their consciousness upward and to the consciousness of those living on the spiritual plane.

The next question asked them was regarding the manner in which the projection, or ascending of earth consciousness to the heavens, or the descending of spiritual consciousness to the Earth, could be made. In answer, the ancient schools introduced the idea of the beam of light.

It was explained that when attunement between this plane and the spiritual world was established, there would appear to be a beam of light coming down from the heavens into the body of the person who was attuned, and that along this beam of light, or through it, there would come to Earth the consciousness from those who were sending the beam from the heavens; furthermore, there would ascend from the person who was having the vision some of his consciousness, along or through the beam, to the person he wished to contact.

Later on, in some of these writings this beam of light was referred to as the silver thread which connects the soul in man with the universal cosmic soul, so that the soul in man is never completely separated from the universal soul.

Other references to their teachings in the mystery schools have appeared, and later on the first authentic teachings issued from their school in Tibet just before the Christian Period. Here the more advanced students at certain hours of each month were encouraged to sit in meditation, prayer and chanting for the purpose of strengthening and widening the silver thread or light beam until it was broad enough to be very visible. The students were conscious of those whom had passed on and could see them.

Now with this thought in mind, and with the idea being spread to various lands that there was something that came down from the heavens to man upon which spiritual beings ascended and descended, and by which even God Himself could reach down into the heart of man, it is easy to see how the Jewish people slightly modified the story and turned the beam of light into a ladder.

The ladder would be understood by the untrained minds, whereas a beam of light or a beam of consciousness would not be understood at all.

It was from logic that they called the beings that went up and down this ladder by the name of angels rather than souls. Thus we have the original purpose of the ladder story and the Jewish modification of it.

When this story reached other peoples in other lands, they also modified it as did the Jewish, and they all used the idea of a ladder to take place of a light beam, probably as if people today would use an escalator or elevator instead of a ladder; but since a ladder was the only common method whereby people climbed to their roofs, to the tops of trees or to other high places, it was logical for them to change the beam of light into a ladder.

We find also in the story adopted by some of the foreign peoples that the ladder had seven sections, or seven gates, or in some cases seven rungs.

This was another introduction of the mystical number seven, this time for the purpose of making it appear that it would take a long time, perhaps seven hours, seven days, seven weeks, seven months or seven years for a person to make the contact.

It was thought he would have to wait until his consciousness passed through each of the seven stages or seven gates, one at a time, through prayerful or spiritual development, or wait while the descending souls came through the seven stages, or gates by attunement and mastership over earthly conditions.

The Manicheans, however, did not introduce the idea of a ladder, but kept the original idea of light, and in their teachings stated that pure souls, who were properly purified and prepared to live again on Earth, came down to Earth repeatedly to reincarnate and their passage to Earth was by means of a column of light.

Even in some of the mythological and allegorical paintings of the Indians and other tribes we find representatives of the mystical ladder with spirits ascending and descending upon it.

In the case of the Persian god Mithras, there are a number of pictures representing initiation, and in these we see the angels and spirits descending and ascending from the heavenly spheres on a ladder with seven steps, which they claimed represented the seven spheres of the planets.

In the Royal Library of France is a hand-made volume of superb paintings representing the pictures of the Gods of India; and in these very early paintings the ladder is represented with the souls of men ascending and descending.

Among the Egyptians, the ladder was replaced by a flight of steps reaching from heaven to earth with the spirit forms going up and down. Here, however, the outer priesthood's misconception of reincarnation was also introduced.

The Egyptian priesthood made it their business to present only such religious or moral teachings as agreed with superstitious and heathen ideas they had adopted. They had changed the original teachings regarding reincarnation, as given by the ancient mystery schools, so that their teachings in that regard were somewhat as follows: that everyone would live again after death or transition but only the good would become humans, while the evil ones would be turned into lower animals, or those who had mistreated lower animals would become one of the kind they had mistreated, in order to learn how that animal felt under the mistreatment of humans.

Their teaching became distinctive from the true teachings of reincarnation and was called the doctrine of transmigration.

In the Egyptians' sculptures and paintings on the heathen temples of the priesthood, the doctrine of transmigration was illustrated by a flight of steps, upon which the souls of the wicked were ascending as human beings and descending as animals, while the souls of the good were going up as priests and coming down as angels.

Understanding Of Sex Worship

Sex worship, or phallic worship as it was originally called, was wide-spread among the people in these times. Tracing the origin of the form of worship, we find that it had its inception in something that was idealistic.

The greatest mystery to the thinking man and woman was the mystery of sex in its natural principle.

This had nothing to do with sex practice, sex indulgence, or sexual relations of any kind, but was concerned with the reproductive processes of sex.

We find, in the early Phallic teachings and rituals, constant reference, not to sex relations or practices, but to the principle of reproduction, as being the greatest mystery and the most marvelous demonstration and manifestation of some unknown law.

As they attempted to study and analyze the unknown law and principle involved, they became impressed with the fact that the reproductive processes in the human being, in animals, and in nature were a part of God's creative principles, or the creative principles of that unknown being or group of beings which they had been worshipping.

Therefore, to them the reproductive processes were sacred because of their importance, their mystery and their sublime origin.

Later on, they conceived the idea, also, that the reproductive processes were responsible for the continuity of life, and that life, which was continually reproducing itself, was a demonstration of the immortality of existence.

Now in the early days of this Phallic worship, the reproductive organs of the human were considered sacred because of their possible relationship with some divine principle.

In some countries, sacred oaths were taken by placing the hand on the sex organs and swearing by the sacredness of them to the truth of the statement being made.

In the present-day Christian Bible, we find many references to oaths taken in this manner, except that the translators, wishing to avoid the questions that would be made by children and unthinking minds, have changed the wording so that it appears that the oaths were taken by placing the hands on the thighs.

The writer of the Jewish story about Jacob's ladder was also familiar with the phallic worships, and the general habits and customs of people who believed in this worship, and he has added to the story in Genesis a little incident of phallic worship.

You can see at the end of the story as given in the 28th chapter of Genesis that after Jacob had awakened early in the morning, he took the stone that he had used for a pillow and set it up as a pillar and poured oil upon it and called the place Beth-el.

The most elaborate of these phallic altars or monuments consisted of an upright stone set upon an oval emblem or base, and the two thus united formed an altar called the ashera or grove. It was against these monuments or altars that the Hebrew prophets lifted their voices in protest.

It was at this time, however, that phallic worship was being degraded into a worship of the sex functioning rather than of the sex principle, and many of the emblems and rituals connected with the phallic worship in both Judah and Israel assumed a corrupt form.

In some of the temples the women were directed to weave silk hangings to place over or suspend from the upright stone that stood in the center of the temple and during some of the rituals, the women and especially the maidens, had to dance around this upright emblem and pay adoration and homage to it as a form of sex worship.

It is from this old heathen system of dancing around a garlanded and bedecked upright stone that the maypole came into existence, as used in a May-day ceremony.

Thus we see that from phallic worship of a great principle, the tendency was degraded toward worship of the sex organs and the indulgence, and this was its deterioration and final condemnation.

In closing this subject, the Egyptian symbol that is called crux ansata, or the key to life, was one of the most sacred, divine, and mystical symbols used by the Egyptians up to the last hour of their great rulership in the occult and mystical world.

It is not true that the crux anasta, composed of an oval on top of a cross, represents the female and the male sex organs, for the cross was a mystical symbol long before the oval was added to it; but, it was a cross like the letter T with no upright portion in the center, and was called the Tau cross.

In many beautiful phrases written on the temple walls of Amenhotep's city in Egypt, which was free from any impure thoughts or ideas or any obnoxious sex principles, we find the crux ansata used in the sense of a symbol of immortal life.

Understanding Of Writing

Now we will review some of the ancient writings of the various mystic schools of the Orient that were standard at just about this time in our historical review. By 1350 BC we find several systems of mystical and religious philosophy very well established in various lands.

The real leaders in each one of these various mystical schools were connected directly with the White Brotherhood and this fact alone prevented the leaders in the different lands, who represented their different schools, from being rivals or opponents, although the followers of these various leaders were opponents to some degree.

Among the oldest of the Aryan writings we have the beautiful Brahmanic books of India called the Vedas, or Books of Holy Knowledge. The original writings of these books were never allowed to be changed, even so far as a single word was concerned.

Many of the foreign words in these hymns are difficult to translate into English, or to translate into thought expressions in keeping with modern consciousness.

Here is the Rig-veda which contains the old hymns regarding creation and adoration to God and the other principles taught by the White Brotherhood which were embodied by the Hindu school of Philosophy.

Hymn I

1. O worship by himself Agni, the high-priest of the sacrifice, the deity, the sacrificial priest who presents oblations to the deities and is the possessor of great riches.
2. May Agni, lauded by the ancient and modern Rishis, conduct the deities hither (i.e., in this sacrifice.)
3. Through Agni, the worshipper comes by wealth which multiplies daily, which is the source of fame and which secures heroes.
4. O Agni, the sacrifice, around which thou residest, is unimpeded and reaches the celestials of heaven.
5. May Agni, the presenter of oblations, the attainer of success in works, ever truthful, highly illustrious for many noble deeds, divine, come hither with the celestials.
6. Whatever good, O Agni, thou mayest confer upon the giver of oblations, that indeed, O Angrias, belongs to thee.
7. Bowing into thee mentally, O Agni, we approach thee daily, both morning and evening.
8. Thee, the radiant, the protector of sacrifice unobstructed by Rakshasas, the perpetual illuminator of truth and increasing in thine own room.
9. Like unto a father to his son, O Agni, be easily accessible unto us; be ever present with us for our well-being.

Hymn 2

1. Come hither, O Vayu, Thou beautiful one! Those Somas are ready; drink of them; hear our call!
2. O Vayu, the prayers celebrate thee with himself, they who know the feast-days, and have prepared the Soma.
3. O Vayu, the satisfying stream goes to the worshipper, wide-reaching, to the Soma-drought.
4. O Indra and Vayu, these libations of Soma are brought out, come hither for the sake of our offerings, the drops of Soma long for you.
5. O Indra and Vayu, you who perceive the libations, you who are rich in booty; come then quickly hither!
6. O Vayu and Indra, come near to the work of the sacrificial quick; this is my prayer, O ye men!
7. I call Mitra, endowed with holy strength, and Varuna, who destroys all enemies; who both fulfill a prayer accompanied by fat offerings.
8. On the right way, O Mitra and Varuna, you have obtained great wisdom, you who increase the right and adhere to the right;
9. These two sages, Mitra and Varuna, the mighty, wide-ruling, give us efficient strength.

Hymn 3

1. Aswins, cherishers of pious deeds, have outstretched hand for accepting the oblations, long-armed, desire for sacrificial viands.
2. Aswins, of many acts, guides of devotion, endowed with intellect, accept our eulogistic words with unaverted minds.
3. Aswins, destroyers of diseases, shorn of falsehood, leaders in the van of heroes. Come to the mixed libations of Soma, extracted and placed on lopped Kus'a-grass.
4. Indra of variegated splendor, come hither; these libations ever pure and extracted by fingers, are seeking thee.
5. Indra, drawn by the devotion of the sacrificer and invoked by the intelligent priest, come hither and accept the prayers of the priest as he offers the libations.
6. Indra, by tawny horses, come hither speedily, to accept the prayers of the priest; in this sacrifice of extracted Soma juice, accept our proffered offspring.
7. Viswadevas, protectors, spiritors of man, granters of sufficient rewards, come to the extracted Soma juice of the worshipper.
8. May Viswadevas, the givers of rain, come speedily to the libation, as the rays of the sun come diligently to the days.
9. May Viswadevas, who are exempt from deterioration, omniscient, shown of wealth, givers of wealth, partake of this sacrifice.
10. May Saraswati, the purifier, the giver of food, the bestower of wealth, in the shape of sacrifice fruits, seek viands in our sacrificial rite.
11. Saraswati, the inspirer of truthful words, their instructors of the right-minded, has accepted our sacrifice.
12. Saraswati, makes manifest by her deeds a huge river, and in her own form enlightens all her undertakings.

History of Writing

This brings us to one of the important mysteries first evolved by the Brotherhood, which is the origin of writing. As soon as man was able to speak intelligently, in order to convey ideas, the most learned came together in each nation or place to decide what words were to be used to express certain ideas, and how they were to be pronounced. This was the way that language came into existence and, of course, some groups of men had to be the essential authorities for each tribe or nation in order to standardize language.

Among the ancient languages that became standardized were the Sanskrit and the Zend. When the Sanskrit and Zend languages were standardized, the alphabet was used as a key to the idea they wished to express.

Today the alphabet is the key to the spelling of words and the letters in our present-day alphabet, especially in English, do not have any connection with the ideas being expressed.

In the original words of man two great principles were discovered. First, that all sounds made by the human voice caused certain vibratory effects; and second, they found that these vibrations effect not only the words, but certain parts of the spiritual body of man.

Certain sounds were used only in connection with spiritual or religious things, and many other sounds for commonplace things. For instance, the letter R was used only in connection with things of royalty, rulership or religious ceremonies under the rule of a master.

Therefore, whenever these people wished to create a new word pertaining to some of these ideas, they would start the word with the letter R, or have the R sound very prominent in the word.

As a result, we have today such words as royalty, rule, religion, regulate, right.

When they wished to express an idea connected with divinity or the supreme God or divine power, they would use the letter D as the first part of the word.

Thus we find such foreign words as dius, deus, dios, and in English, divinity, divine and so forth. Even the word Zeus, the man of a mythological god, is a part of the word deus.

The A sound, always pronounced ah, was limited to use in words that pertained to the radiating force from God. There- fore, the Egyptian word RA, being a combination of R and A, meant a ruling life force or the symbol of ruling life force.

R always carried the connotation of a mystical ruler and they used the letter M to represent the mother of a similar moving power.

We have the MA, meaning a mother force ruling in the universe, and from the word MA have come mother and material and other words indicating the same idea.

When a word contained some of the holy letters or divine signs, they would leave out those sounds in their writings and use only the letters that did not have any divine or mystical power in them, because they thought it disrespectful to use the divine sounds too freely or too often. And that was why in writing the name of God, only the letters YH, WH or JAO, IAO were used as a short abbreviation.

As we continue now with the history of the White Brotherhood:

In Egypt at the time of the Exodus, the tribes were suffering from various plagues or conditions which made them feel that they wanted to leave Egypt and go on their way to another land. Many of the things recorded in the Bible story show that these people and their leaders performed mystical demonstrations in order to convince the Egyptians of their desire to leave the land.

The records of the Brotherhood show that finally they appealed to Amenhotep, who was also highly advanced in the mystical principles; he showed great kindness to the leaders and offered to help them, with the understanding that they must make it appear to the pagan priesthood that he was not helping them, or else their priesthood would interfere.

Among the miracles that are described in the Bible, there are some that need a little explanation. We find references, for instance, to the pillar of fire which gave them light by night, and the pillar of cloud which guided them by day, and references to the Rod with which certain miracles were performed.

According to the records of the White Brotherhood, these same demonstrations were made later, or in other places at other times. For instance, the rites of Bacchus, which were brought from Egypt, contained statements that Bacchus had a rod with which he performed miracles, and which at times changed into a serpent.

Other references state that Bacchus also crossed the Red Sea, dry-shod, at the head of his army. These references in the ancient writings are called the Hymns of Orpheus. Also, Bacchus divided the waters of the rivers.

In the Christian Bible in II Kings, Chapter 2, Verse 8, it is stated that the waters of the river Jordan were divided by Elijah, and in other records we learn that Bacchus brought fountains of water and wine out of a rock, just as Moses brought water from a rock.

There are many records showing how many of the great spiritual leaders of antiquity performed similar demonstrations of the laws, and such demonstrations were quite common with the Masters of the White Brotherhood.

We notice also, in the history of Moses that it is claimed he had two mothers, one by nature and one by adoption. We find that Bacchus was placed in the same way with two mothers, which the ancients explain refers to a physical mother and a spiritual mother, and that the spiritual mother was the one adopted and really was the mother-master of each individual.

Among the brethren of the White Brotherhood each had a great master as a spiritual father and another great female master as a spiritual mother. There are many records which refer to the fact that a great plague period of pestilence did come upon Egypt at this time in history, and that there was a great Exodus out of Egypt as a result of this plague.

Amenhotep's great sun city was abandoned at just about that time and the excavations made in that city show that the abandonment was fairly sudden, indicating that the people who left gave no thought to lingering for the purpose of saving their homes or their positions.

Perhaps it will be interesting for you if we state here what is contained in the ancient records regarding the cleanliness of these mystical tribes, and how they would naturally want to leave a country that was infested with disease. The records show that these mystical tribes which left Egypt were mocked for their cleanliness and for their strict way of living.

They not only bathed two or three times each day while in that hot and unclean country, but often bathed at night when it was very cool. This was a surprise to the natives of Egypt, who would not think of going into the water when the sun was down, when the air and water were cold.

They also shaved their heads after they found that the hair was becoming infected and even removed all hair from their bodies every three days. Their garments were all white linen, which was considered more hygienic than cloth made from hair of animals, because all the animals were infected with vermin.

Whenever they wore anything of a woolen nature, such as a mantle or a special covering to protect them from the cold or from the hot sun, they removed such woolen material before entering their homes or the temples.

They were always sure before going inside that no dirt adhered to their clothing or their hands, and for that reason established the custom of removing their sandals outside the building.

The linen cloth used was always white because the process of dying or coloring the material had some impurities which might effect the skin, and because of perspiration would result in skin disease.

The Egyptian natives on the other hand, not only wore woolen cloth from animals such as that from camels, but highly colored and decorated materials, the dyes of which were responsible for many of their skin diseases. These clothes which became very dirty after many months of use also contaminated their bodies.

The mystics destroyed and actually burned in a community fire on stated occasions, such linen as had become soiled in such a way they could not be cleaned by washing. Therefore, these mystic people, who were always seen in very white robes, came to be known as brethren of white cloth or children of white.

This name became a distinguishing title for them, and we find it in many of the ancient records. We also observe that because of its distinguishing mark they continued to wear white after their Exodus and all through the Christian period and up to the present time.

Therefore, you will understand the many references to the great White Brotherhood or the Brotherhood of White and so forth.

There are references in the Bible and in other places which indicate that the native Egyptians considered these mystical tribes as unclean. Other statements that the Israelites were so unclean that they were forced to leave Egypt, only prove how the priesthood of Egypt changed the facts in their records to make it appear that the Egyptian natives were very clean and the foreigners among them were the unclean ones.

So we find these tribes of mystics, now called sons of Is-ra-el, arriving safely in a new land with their great leaders and other leaders.

Among these people who left Egypt, there were those who had joined with them in Egypt, who had become converted to their ways of thinking and were still to be tested and tried. They were probably the first initiates of the great White Brotherhood.

They had discovered in the tribes of Is-ra-el a newer and better religion and a better way of living and thinking. They had pledged allegiance and assured the leaders that it was their desire to become true followers of the Brothers in White.

We find that there were some of those who joined the tribes of Is-ra-el who were only half convinced or half-converted, or perhaps insincere in their desires, and were selfish in their motives. Therefore, over all of these new members were older members who continually watched and tried and tested them for their sincerity.

In the records, it shows how some of these unprepared followers lost faith in the mystical principles, and began to doubt the truth and power of the Brotherhood and the greatness and goodness of God, Whom the Brothers worshipped.

Some of them returned to their heathen forms of worship and tried to convince others that the White Brotherhood was wrong in its beliefs, thus causing considerable trouble, just at the time when their faith would have helped them the most.

Out Of Egypt

We are now approaching a part in the history of the White Brotherhood when the Exodus from Egypt occurred. Not all Jews are Hebrews, and not all Hebrews are Jews. Many persons, even today, seem to think that the term Jewish refers to nationality, blood or physical characteristics of some kind. It is simply a religious denomination or classification and one may be Jewish by religion without being Jewish by blood relationship to the Hebrews.

In these early days the Jewish religion had not yet been established and the children of Israel were not Hebrew in the same sense as people would designate them centuries later. Not all the children of Israel went into Palestine and became Hebrews, or adopted the Jewish religion. The tribes of Israel were scattered throughout the world. The records of the White Brotherhood show that even the American Indians, discovered on this continent by Columbus and the early navigators, were descendants of some of the early tribes of Israel.

Among the children of Israel and the tribes of the Aryan race that came into Egypt along with the educated and mystically prepared leaders, were many who were untrained for any other work than that of agriculture or the trades of handicraft.

Since these were not paid salaries, they were given the necessities of life in exchange for their labors, and in order to secure these necessities, they had to labor. There is ample proof that the children of Israel developed their mental faculties and became educated in understanding the laws of nature as well as the laws of the land. They ceased to live in any form of bondage and began to be more free and independent.

While Moses was an adopted son of the daughter of the Pharaoh of the time, he was really one of the Israelites, who as a child had been hidden away because the ruler of the land had ordered the death of all male infants born to the Hebrews.

Moses was made aware of the fact that he was of the tribe of Israel when a young boy, and the story he was able to learn regarding the sufferings, trials and tribulations of his people aroused his sympathy at a very early age.

There are many accounts of his contacts with the tribes of Israel for the purpose of discovering how they fared, and how they were progressing in their development.

We have the Biblical story of how he killed an Egyptian who was maltreating a member of the tribe of Israel, and although his motives were high, nevertheless, he was made to suffer many times and in many ways for this rash act.

Moses soon became fearful that the Pharaoh himself would learn of his crime, and not only dismiss him from the royal household, but perhaps demand his life in return. This forced Moses to leave the royal home and escape to the peninsula where he lived with Reuel or Requel, the priest of Midian.

Eventually Moses married a daughter of this priest. For 40 years he lived in this foreign section and followed the occupation of shepherd. It was during these 40 years that his son, Gershom, was born. According to the third chapter of Exodus, Moses accidentally met with a miracle, which placed him in cosmic attunement with God or the heavenly Hosts.

According to the records of the White Brotherhood, the incident is very understandable and is really a key to many of the problems of the life of Moses and his place in the scheme of things.

According to the Biblical record, Moses accidentally came upon a burning bush or a bush that was burning without being consumed.

While he was about his duty as a shepherd and while he was looking into the same, this miracle -- the voice of God -- spoke to him.

The White Brotherhood's records reveal that Moses was always mystically inclined, especially in his adulthood. After his contact with the priest Reuel, he became even more so, for Reuel was one of the masters of the mysteries.

Reuel secured a promise from Moses at the time of the marriage of Moses to his daughter, that Moses agree to have their offspring brought within the mystical brotherhood.

It is apparent that Moses and his son came upon this altar of fire after some ceremony had been performed and the performers had left. Here they saw the remains of a ceremony at which mystical invocations had been held for the purpose of attunement with the Holy Ghost or the voice of the heavenly spirit.

The record states that both Moses and his son knelt before the altar of fire and began to chant, which they knew in some of its phases, and while in meditation following the chanting, Moses became cosmically attuned and received his first inspirational message.

According to the Bible, the sound of the voice of Yhwh came from the bush and in the Biblical account the name of God is given as Yhwh, the unspeakable name.

However, in the records of the White Brothers nothing is said of the voice coming from the bush or from any particular place and, in fact, it is intimated plainly that it was the still small voice from within, rather than from without, that gave the inspired message to Moses.

According to the Brotherhood records, this message directed that Moses, rather than vent his exuberance and determination to help his tribe by killing any who might have harmed his people, should expend that energy in leading his people to a more prosperous land.

Moses stated later that, accompanying the voice which he heard, he was given certain signs; that these signs appeared before his eyes as a vision revealing to him an emblem by which he could identify himself when he went to any of the higher mystery temples in Egypt.

Various other incidences are added in the Bible that are not found in the Brotherhood records. Evidently they had been added by the later Jewish writers in order to substantiate some of their doctrines. Moses finally reached the palace of Amenhotep and he helped Moses to save the tribes.

The tribes of Israel were persons of various branches of the Aryan race who, being nomadic in type, traveled from country to country seeking greater knowledge and better opportunities to advance their form of civilization. Many of them were poor, uneducated and illiterate, but they were seeking for knowledge and attempting to build a better civilization.

The leaders, teachers and rulers of these tribes, who prepared the great mystical teachings and who helped to hold these tribes together, had a considerable understanding of what was being accomplished. But so far as the individuals of the tribes them- selves were concerned, it is doubtful indeed if they were conscious of the fact that their movements throughout the various lands, as well as their long contact with Egypt and its advanced learning, and the movement from that land into other lands to spread those teachings, were part of a great universal plan of the higher Order.

There is no evidence to indicate that there was a practicing Hebrew or Jewish religion in the times that Moses rose up, became a great leader of these tribes, and led them on to Palestine. The truth is that it is difficult to tell where these tribes came from. It is certain that they did not come from any one country or part of a country in one great hoard, but that they gradually assembled. While they were all Aryan and of a certain blood and type, they had different dialects or languages and somewhat different facial characteristics.

It is quite evident that their first contact with any definite system of religious or cultural thought was while they were in Egypt and thus came about the gradual development of the Brotherhood's plan to save just such tribes or people in all parts of the world from remaining in darkness and ignorance.

In the Brotherhood records, it states in connection with some of the ritualistic ceremonies of the great White Lodge in Egypt, that no one was allowed to enter the temple of Serapis in Egypt who did not bear on his breast or forehead, in proper symbolical form and in the proper position, the emblematic secret name of Jao or, in true hieroglyphic characters J-ha-ho.

Moses was acquainted with this secret and sacred name, which was like the key to the temple or to the higher mystery; and this key was referred to when mention is made in sacred literature as the key of St. Peter.

With this key in his possession, Moses immediately was attuned to the higher activities of the cosmic, and at the same time, permitted to enter into the official connections of the mystical organization.

The Biblical account in the Book of Exodus says that God instructed Moses to go before the rulers or leaders of the Egyptians, as well as before the leaders of the tribes that were dwelling in Egypt, and acquaint them with the fact that he was about to save these tribes from being held in any form of bondage and lead them on to a new land and to a new civilization. In verses 19-22, it would appear that God told Moses to inform the tribes that they might still lie, deceive and cheat the Egyptians in order to make a profitable and successful Exodus from Egypt.

It is quite evident therefore, that part of the Biblical account of the Exodus was added by someone who had some purpose in introducing such an inconsistent and contradictory element into the story.

The Bible story then continues to show how Moses prepared to appear to the Pharaoh and how God prepared the Pharaoh's heart. By reading this part of the story, it is seen at once that some writer of the Jewish records or the Hebrew people had some cunning motive in mind in making it appear that God had to resort to all kinds of magic and trickery in order to aid Moses in delivering His people from Egypt, which was not at all necessary.

We may suspect what the Jewish writer was attempting to do by introducing this sort of thing into his sacred account. It is quite evident that the Jewish writer of the Exodus account wished to have a very satisfactory explanation of how Moses freed his tribes from the supposed immutable and unchangeable bondage in which they were held by the Egyptians.

Since the story of the Exodus began with the statement that the tribes of Israel were life-long slaves in Egypt, which they were not, the writer had to invent some explanation of their escape from that bondage under the leadership of Moses. Also, he believed that he had to invent some explanation of how the tribes were able to get from Egypt to Palestine across seas and lands that had no food, nor means, or protection of life. Thus he resorted to some of the old mythological stories of Bacchus, which he thought would be lost to future generations; but this story remained as the sacred writings of truth.

Existing similarities between the story of Moses and the story of Bacchus, show quite evidently that the characterizations are identical and that the story of one was taken from the story of the other; and Biblical research makes it very plain that the books of the present Christian Bible were prepared long after the old mythological stories were well established. So thus, most of the Biblical account of Moses and his miracles were taken from the old mythological writing.

Here we have Chapter 5 of an interesting work written by Jasher, who lived during the time of Moses and was his closest companion:

"These are the words of Jasher, the son of Caleb, by Azuba. And it came to pass in process of time, that the children of Israel were multiplied exceedingly. And they said one unto the other, Shall we bow down and serve the Egyptians, seeing we are becoming more and mightier than they. And the sayings of the children of Israel were told unto Pharaoh, and he said, "They are wanton, they lift up the heel; set over them more task-masters." And they did so, but it availed not: for the more the house of Jacob was afflicted, the more they increased and multiplied.

"Pharaoh was greatly vexed, and he said, This people will eat us up; wherefore ye shall slay every male of the Hebrew that cometh out of the womb, in the day that he is born shall he surely die. Now when the daughter of the Pharaoh heard of these things she sought to turn away the evil imaginations of her father against the males of the children of Israel.

"It came to pass that Moses, son of Amram by Jochebed his wife, was the first male that came out of the womb after the decree of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to slay all the males of the Hebrews. Jochebed, the mother of Moses, with Miriam his sister, came unto the Pharaoh's daughter, and Jochebed said, Behold, here is the son of thy handmaid! And the Pharaoh's daughter said, Give unto me the child. And she did so. And she said, This child shall be my son. And it came to pass, that the wrath of Pharaoh was turned away from slaying the males of the Hebrews and the child Moses grew and increased in stature in all the magic of the Egyptians."

At this point in our history of the White Brotherhood and its activities, we are dealing with the conditions a few centuries before the birth of Jesus.

We look upon the first four or five centuries before his birth as a greater era of modern mysticism and modern philosophy and one of the most important epochs in the history of civilization. The birth of Jesus was a grand culmination of hopes, aspirations, expectations and cosmic conditions which had prevailed for many centuries.

It is necessary to go into detail regarding the activities of the Brotherhood in Egypt and other lands between the time of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt and the birth of Jesus, at which time they left a great point in their activities.

First of all, we find that the White Brotherhood had established its principle monastery and school at Heliopolis. There had been a small school at Thebes; there had been another at Fayeum; and there were smaller branches just out of Cairo and in other parts of Egypt, but the Brotherhood finally built and established its largest monastery and supreme temple at Heliopolis.

Thotmes the III had erected Heliopolis was a very old center of civilization, but not a large city or town by any means. Thotmes the III had erected an obelisk there and the place was called the City of the Sun from the Greek word helios, meaning sun.

Ancient Heliopolis was situated right in the center of a great expanse of perfectly level low lands. It had a wonderful climate and a high rate of vibrations, which are still sensed by those who visit the locality. The priesthood of Egypt also had built some shrines and temples there before the White Brotherhood decided to build its supreme temple and monastery at this location.

The sacred buildings erected there by the pagan priesthood of Egypt gave the city of Heliopolis the aspect of being entirely a religious center.

The fact is, it was known as such all through the centuries preeeding the birth of Jesus and during the Christian period as well.

The native name of the town was On. This name is also mentioned in the Bible. The sun worship from which the city derived the name Heliopolis was, or course, the pagan interpretation of the sun's relationship to divine power.

The pagan priesthood had built and established at this locality one of the largest and best structures for the preservation of the ancient Egyptian records. How well the Brotherhood succeeded in making the new monastery and supreme temple a great school of learning, is show by the fact that Plato and other Greek philosophers went there to study. Some centuries later, Alexandria almost duplicated Heliopolis as a center of learning for the priesthood, as well as private interest not connected with the priesthood or with the White Brotherhood, and also established some schools there.

The White Brotherhood, it is evident, built a college of the higher sciences at Alexandria, and thus the two cities became rivals because of their proximity. The existence of these two centers of learning made northern Egypt the educational center of that part of the world.

As centuries passed, more and more students seeking to learn only the arts and sciences attended the schools at Alexandria. Nothing of an educational nature was left in Heliopolis, except the monastery, temple and schools of the White Brotherhood. This was one of the conditions that the White Brotherhood anticipated; it left them with that isolation, privacy and secrecy which they desired.

If one visits Heliopolis today he sees the ruined walls of the ancient town, and within these ruins only the foundations and partial walls of the ancient temple, and of the three obelisks that originally stood in the ancient city, but one remains. The second is located in Central Park in New York, and the other, on the banks of the Thames in London.

The monastery which the White Brotherhood built at Heliopolis was not only for worship and high ceremonies, but was used periodically for the initiation of a new great member of the Brotherhood, especially for one who was about to become a great avatar in the distant lands.

The inner court of monastery was a magnificent garden 400 feet square; surrounding the monastery were many homes built for the high priests, instructors and scribes of the White Brotherhood. Near them were some smaller homes and stone structures of one room, each like monks' cells, in which the students of the school lived. Several beautiful gardens or parks were located in the midst of the enclosures.

The Essenes

It was during the first few centuries before the birth of Jesus that the work of the Brotherhood became so divided in distant lands that various names were adopted for these branches in order to conform to the language and customs of the people.

Thus we find that the work carried on by the Brotherhood in Alexandria assumed the name of the Essene Brotherhood. The word Essene is derived from both the Greek and Egyptian words meaning secret and sacred, and not from a word meaning physician, as commonly presupposed.

On the other hand, healing was such a principle part of their work that another branch born by the Greeks was called the Theraputi, which means the brotherhood of healers and physicians.

Here we find the origin of the Essene Brotherhood, which eventually established its main headquarters in the Holy Land.

Midway between Cairo and Heliopolis is the place where Mary and Joseph stayed for a while during their flight from Palestine to Egypt. At this place, there is a very old tree known as the "virgin tree." Under this tree there is a great rock and nearby a spring. According to the ancient records, it was under the shade of this tree and near this spring that Mary and Joseph occasionally stopped to rest.

At night they would sleep in a nearby hut made of mud in the ancient style. This site is worshipped also as the place where the infant Jesus made his first visit to Egypt. It is highly significant that after Jesus had passed his twelfth year and entered upon his journey to other lands to study, he eventually returned to Heliopolis where he entered the monastery of the White Brotherhood.

At the monastery in Heliopolis, the Brotherhood maintained its great laboratory, and scribes there prepared the teachings in manuscript form for distribution to their branches in various lands.

Philosophers who went to take up the mystical teachings of the Brotherhood, came here from various lands, and after perfecting themselves in the studies, went forth as members of the Brotherhood to spread openly philosophy of a general nature which would be helpful to the public. At the same time they were to conduct the work of the inner circle of the Brotherhood in privacy, and with those who were qualified to study in this way.

The White Brotherhood was rapidly becoming a large and powerful organization laying the foundation that would serve civilization through many centuries.

Just when the Essene Brotherhood established itself in Palestine is difficult to tell, but it was well established there long before the Christian era. Elijah, a descendant of the mystery schools of Egypt, had gone on to Palestine and established himself in the ruins of an old monastery on the top of Mount Carmel. Under Elijah's guidance the monastery was rebuilt and other buildings were constructed.

We find that the Bible accounts of Elijah are very similar to the accounts in the Brotherhood records.

The important fact to note is that the monastery of Mount Carmel was under the supervision of Elijah when the early Essenes entered Palestine. They first had a temporary settlement around the shores of the Jordan, then they moved to Galilee where they established a more permanent community near the sea of Galilee.

This community remained throughout the several centuries preceding the Christian era and was at its height during the time of the ministry of Jesus.

Flavius Josephus speaks of the Essenes at length and so does Philo, Pliny and others. The Essenes formed a true religious community and were already in existence about the second half of the second century BC in various places throughout Palestine, but their most important center was the oasis of En-gaddi on the western shore of the Dead Sea. There were about four thousand of them in all.

The principle rules governing this society, which was very much like the monastic orders of Christianity, are as follows: Anyone seeking admission had to undergo a one year novitiate period, at the end of which he was baptized. There followed two more years of probation and then he took the solemn oaths which made him finally and definitely a full member in the society.

There was a great difference in degree of dignity and legal purity between the professed members and the novices, so that if a novice accidentally touched a member, the latter contracted a certain impurity from which he had to be cleansed.

Material possessions were held entirely in common and were managed by especially appointed stewards. All the Essenes worked, especially at farming, and their earnings went into the common treasury. Trade, the manufacture of weapons, and slavery were forbidden. Normally the Essenes were celibates.

Flavius Josephus mentions a particular group among them who married under special conditions, but this he did not elaborate upon. In any case, they could have been only a limited exception to the general rule. According to Pliny, the Essenes are a people into which none were born.

Because there were none born to the community, children were also admitted as subjects for proselytism and as probable candidates for the society.

The Essenes' day was divided between work and prayer. The first thing in the morning was a community prayer directed toward the sun. Their meals, taken in common, had something of