7. Seven Stages to Spiritual Unfolment Through Tarot

And so here this evening we have the last class of this series, which we've been calling the Seven Stages of Spiritual Unfoldment. And it will be, as you know, the last class for the rest of the summer. We will reopen our classwork in September, at which time we expect to start giving you the works.

Quite an intricate and detailed course in the classwork in the training of the use of color and sound now tonight then we're taking up the last three tarot keys that deal with the seventh stage of spiritual unfoldment so having whirled around the first six world the first six stages We're now about to set off on what is supposed to be considered the final step in the journey or the final whirl or the final circle in the spiral.

Nevertheless, Qabalah teaches there's no such thing as final.

And although we know that many of our Eastern brethren have given us various books and studies which would seem to indicate that what we need to work for or attempt to attain is that state, which is final, that is called cosmic illumination or liberation from karma, from the world, from from incarnations in general. The Western occult tradition does not say the same thing at all, nor, incidentally, do some of the more detailed esoteric traditions of the Eastern schools of thought. Actually, every ending is said to be a new beginning. And again it's rather interesting that modern science seems to bear this out in its own strange way because no matter how far we look into space with our telescopes what we discover is this that some universes are in the early stages of their birth and growth and other universes are in their a heyday so to speak and then other universes again seem to be aging quite rapidly this is determined incidentally by examining of examining the colors the spectrum the colors tell us the story which in itself is rather curious considering the esoteric traditions involved with the idea that the world is created through sound broken into the prismatic colors that is the specialization from sound or the first vibration considered also the Word of God now here then though we seem to be entering what we call the last stage of spiritual unfoldment in actuality it is supposed to be the start for a new beginning and that's why in qabalah it is said that kefir which is the first circle on the tree of life the white one the one that symbolizes the all the indivisible the the one that that kefir is in malkuth and malkuth incidentally is the physical universe the fruit of the tree kether then is in malkuth and malkuth is in kether but after another manner so that when the fulfillment of say a cycle comes to pass that becomes the beginning of a new cycle so that shall we say malkuth which was the fruit or the physical universe or the result becomes becomes in its place the white circle for the next projection of a new series, but with something added.

And again, this would help to explain what we see when we look out into space and see that the universe is expanding and expanding.

And there seems to be no end to the matter, incidentally. Because, look, if it were true that what we are really working for, is to become a melted dewdrop where we return back into the shining sea, lose ourselves therein, what would have been the use of all of this? Don't you agree? What would have been the use of all these tears and these struggles, these crucifixions? What would have been the use of the play, even if it were just a play? What would have been the use of it if the whole idea is to make sure that we get rid of it and melt back into whatever it is we're supposed to have been and inasmuch as none of us could even dimly comprehend what it is we're supposed to have been at this stage of our unfoldment or the way our consciousness can perceive we need to think a little more deeply and to realize that becoming individualized, attaining to certain states of power and ability, must surely indicate that there is something more involved than gaining enough consciousness in order to do everything possible to return to the mother's womb wouldn't you think so I hope you can see this at any rate this series attempts to show that idea in its own way as we will show you key 21 of course is the final result the effect or shall we say the seventh stage of spiritual unfoldment and yet what is it that it shows it shows a dancing figure dancing incidentally on air you can surely see but what doing what dancing on air but within a circumscribed area the reef and that wreath looks like what it looks exactly like the zero up there where the fool is you remember what we told you the fool is involved in every single tarot key each tarot key is really an expression or a development from the one super conscious being from the one life going off on this great adventure going from mountain to valley then back to the next mountain and so it goes so that we have a circumscribed area which is shown there as a zero also you can think of it as the cosmic womb or the cosmic egg and curiously enough if you haven't read my mention of it in the last our last additive news notes I would like to point out to you or least to remind you that even science tells us that the universe is shaped like some large oval or egg and of course qabalah has known this from the knowledge that comes through attaining to the level of consciousness which is responsible for the universe which grows it which creates it and along with that which is it this makes a great difference all right now let's go into some of the the Qabalistic attribution so that we can understand a little better what is involved here.

And again, we will remind you, each stage of spiritual unfoldment does not necessarily mean the total stage, though it means this also. It has to do with any particular problem we may be facing. It has to do with any particular relationship that exists. The principle holds true the whole series of the seven whirling circles composed of each of the three tarot keys that are a part of it. This is the way that unfoldment comes, or perception comes, or growth comes, in relation to anything and everything, even learning how to cook a special dish, or how to build a special house, or involve oneself in a certain mechanical creation.

There is no part of life that is absent from the group of principles, the laws and agencies through which they work, and the results. That is why we are very much hoping and praying that you've managed to get the spirit of this really fully intensified during this very short course on something which perhaps we should have taken a great deal more time on, but we didn't know just quite what to do having about seven weeks and we decided we'll condense this particular principle at this time and give you a special treat to sort of whirl you around rapidly so that those of you who are taking the lessons at home when you come to the tarot interpretation course will get a great deal more out of it of course and those of you who've already been through that course I hope you'll go back and review it and notice how how much more you can do with it, and how much more it will mean to you in terms of helping you to meet the various situations.

Because now you will know then how to go in for a more disciplined analysis, taking the steps as they come until it becomes second nature, no matter what is involved. Now then, in relation to the Qabalistic attributions. First, let's look at Tarot Key Number 7. This is the principle for this particular series. Tarot Key No. 7 is assigned in terms of consciousness to the intelligence of the house of influence.

This is very interesting, the intelligence of the house of influence, because surely you can see that this figure is in what can be called a house.

This canopy is a type of house. Furthermore, do not forget that the Tarot Key No. 1, the magician called bait is attributed to house so that here we are seeing something that very much involves tarot key number one and remember that began everything you know that which we put our attention to is a life and death and remember how we pointed out to you that the way you look at life is your house of life and that you have as much life or as much lack of life that is zombieism dependent on the amount and degree of intensity you put on each situation. That is, the amount of concentration you have evolved, the attention you're able to give anything.

So the fact that this figure is sitting in a house is something to remember also when you consider that the Qabalistic consciousness is the intelligence of the house of influence. And it is saying many things, of course, we couldn't begin to go into all the messages involved. But essentially, for us, in this series, let's try to remember this. It is saying that the house we build is what influences what we are.

And remember what we've told you over and over again. Your body is a result of your consciousness.

Your body is your house your environment is the result of your consciousness your environment is your house your universe is the result of your consciousness and your universe is your house you have lots of houses or shall we say many rooms within a house or within the house of of life, which is really what? The house of consciousness. And we want to remind you again that the house of consciousness indicates that you are a conscious being, because without a framework, a limitation, you would not be able to be conscious at all. The amorphous, the one big happy amorphous mass, when we think of the entire fluidic universal consciousness, may sound very enticing to weary people at times but this is not a having individuality this is not being a center of conscious expression conscious living it is not being a center of unique livingness in for and with the one life and our eternalness should be thought of not only and because of the fact that we are part of the heavens you see the stars in the canopy which we are but because we have become a very unique house indeed and no matter what we think of the particular physical vehicle that we have at the moment it's still a miracle and it conditions our consciousness which does not mean that we are materialists remember because we are saying that in essence after all it is consciousness which built it to begin with but we must never forget that when we say consciousness has built it and builds it we are not limiting it to the personal consciousness that's where people get into trouble and that's when they start developing uh more guilt complexes than they need and also perhaps more ego more inferiority complexes because we are parts of the mass consciousness remember we are parts of the genetic consciousness we are parts of the whole consciousness that knows how to build bodies and knows it universally and we just pull out our share as individuated beings and learn more and more how to take the colors the vibrations the sounds that charm us uh in greater measure than they did before so in a way you can say we are artists we are immortal we are eternal artists eternally creating and building all sorts of houses living houses and even in the house we are we tear down and build anew remember what we said about change in depth how this was a guarantee of our life and our immortality and and had nothing to do with extinction at all.

So the intelligence of the house of influence is shown here, being guided by a figure that is symbolizing the higher self.

And so another Qabalistic attribution that is very important for this particular key, incidentally, is fence. And notice, everything we see here, really, in terms of fences, we've brought this out before, A house is a fence. This is even assigned to the zodiacal sign of Cancer, which has a crab walking around in its own fence. It carries its house with it. The skeleton is on the outside. And everything, a building is a fence. The wall that goes along the river there before the building, it's a fence. And it's because of the fences that we are able to have unique experiences and it's because of the fences that we are able to have power it's like a concentration you concentrate your energy within a specific area and this is what we are even the most unevolved of us are certainly extraordinarily unique glorious beings when you consider what it is that we're able to do with our consciousness building our houses continuously now another qabalistic attribution which is most important to understand rather it's really a trinity of attributions you have receptivity is one will is another and the third is speech speech now remember what it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

And then remember in Genesis, and God said, let there be. So when we're talking about speech, we're talking about an energy that is the creative energy of life in actuality. People, especially in metaphysics, have gotten themselves confused because of hearing so much about what we must do with our mental imagery.

They've overlooked the fact that the mental imagery in a sense is secondary to that which we call a cult or esoteric speech because the thought the abstract thought comes before the specific mental image and the abstract thought is a vibration it's a motion and in the higher realms we come to know it as the beginning beginning of all forces with the intention of creating something specific. And as it's becoming specific, it goes down the worlds, the Qabalistic worlds, for its final manifestations. Now speech involved here is something we must get to understand in our last and seventh swirl around these cycles why well if you'll remember tarot key number 16 you recall that we mentioned to you then that one of its attributions was the mouse well that's the mouth as the organ of speech and that was an effect if you recall the mouth as an organ of speech then is an effect that comes from other things an ability that has been developed and And the way we use it helps to perfect it.

That's why we have in that tower, key number 16, the tower, you know, the Tower of Babel, built by all the nonsensical thinking, the prisons, the bigotries. All of us have done it. That's why we should feel so loving with each other. That's why we'll be extra loving with each other tonight, you know, after the class. We're having a party.

All of the foods have been collected in there as a sort of celebration.

But in essence, I think that the best reason we have to just love each other, and really and truly love each other, is because we should all know that in order to come wherever we are, and however we want to interpret where we are, whether we want to over-exaggerate our growth level or whether we want to underestimate it, the point is we've all been uh naughty naughty how else could it be every child learning picking up a pencil learning how to write is a very poor job except that practice and practice and practice finally makes perfect so you see we do have this in common and speech really is the way we show what level of consciousness we have arrived at, believe it or not. And if you don't believe it, I'm going to start arguing with you right now. Lovingly, of course, remember, as long as it's lovingly. But you've heard me mention this before. This friend once pointed it out to me, and I have found it so unfailingly true. When people talk, there's only one thing they give away. That's the state of their own consciousness and nothing else. Even if a person is discussing something abstract with you, they're still giving away the state of their own consciousness regarding this abstract idea. And if they're talking to you about a neighbor or a friend or a loved one, they're still doing nothing but giving away their state of consciousness regarding that specific person or neighbor or friend or loved one. And their state of consciousness doesn't mean that that particular state or person or neighbor or loved one is that way. But their speech, what they say, is the measure, truly the measure of their level of consciousness regarding that particular idea or attitude or person and that particular response so we can see why receptivity would be included because we are really receptive to the kind of vibrations the kind of thought forms the kind of emotional elements in the mass mind which are in accord with our own preconceived notions the mouth is an organ of speech and particularly let's take a little glimpse of what we saw last week we didn't go into it then because we thought you'd understand it more fully if we pointed it out here you remember the last stage of spiritual unfoldment last week the sixth stage which dealt with tarot key number 20 showed this angel blowing the horn and what is blowing the horn it's making noise only this wasn't just noise noise because you see there were lines showing definite vibration that is intention consciousness fact there was seven of them and that was pointing to the seven shock with you know what in Qabalah we call the seven inner holy planets so that the noise making really was indicating the power of sound which shows itself in terms of what kind of consciousness we've got at the moment in our speech and the kind of speech now remember speech has to do with what we think because we think we speak silently when we're thinking that we're thinking in terms of speech we write this is speech and of course we express it outwardly in terms of the actual vibration when when I make noises and they hit your ear and then you are interpreting ideas from the noises I'm making but what are we doing in essence we are sharing ideas aren't we because I am making noises and then you are taking up those noises you know it's rather a miraculous ability isn't it for me to make a bunch of noises and yet what it's really doing is putting us in rapport with a very high and extraordinary mental and emotional level so speech is a bridge between consciousness and consciousness this is what speech actually is and this bridge is as strong and as weak as as our development is in terms of our understanding of perceptions regarding whatever the problem is or whatever our total stage might be at this time, you see, coming into any area.

So keep this in mind, and if you don't want people to get wise to you, remember what I've said, because there are times we don't want them to, really. As long as we're honest with ourselves, this is what counts let's not make a bugaboo about uh forcing other people to hear whatever we think is the honest thing because this usually is just an excuse uh to tear somebody else down and seem to sound like some high and mighty uh highly evolved something or other and nor should we give people material with which to be able to feel superior to us it's not good for them we know that we are sincerely working at our growth and that we're being honest with ourselves and we're learning to love each other and understand each other's problems and weaknesses So this is what counts, isn't it? Therefore, keep in mind that every time you open your mouth, you're giving yourselves away.

And the best way to remain, so are others. And listen. And the little saying that I think is so charming that many of you have heard it, but some of you haven't, and the whole idea is just this. Don't look now, but your consciousness is showing. You see?

This is the point. Why? Remember, the previous principle is what? Discrimination and we must learn to be discriminating to be ever more aware and that's why in the house our house of life our own awareness is what we will work with so speech not only gives away what we think and feel are to others but it gives it away to ourselves so we have to listen to our own speech far more than what we usually do we almost stand on our heads trying to get other people to listen to us you know and we reverse the process a little bit we'll find we grow far more rapidly and gain far more perception which is what we always need more of no matter how much we've got wouldn't you say All right then, speech has power, not only to give us away to ourselves and to others, but it has power to influence others. For instance, how did Hitler manage to take millions of human beings and make them behave like monsters?

He did it through the power of speech, didn't he? How did mussolini do it how did stalin do it stalin perhaps didn't use the power of speech exactly in the same way but it was because remember the written word is just as much the power of speech and everyone uses it the propaganda that we are subjected to at all times this is the use of the power of speech but when we're being told your head hurt or we're being told our heads going to hurt they don't usually ask us if it hurts they assure us over tv and radio that is going to you know and then they invite us when it does to uh take blah blah because this has been shown to melt nine and ten and twenty two thirty seconds faster than anybody else's blah with nice little glass cubicles all this is using the power of speech and we've got to be on guard at all times offense this is the principle remember we're dealing with in this stage of spiritual unfoldment we have to use our fences or we're not using these marvelous faculties we've been developing we have to use them constructively powerfully consciously so that we neither send out all this black magic nor take it in but learn to be stronger than any of it and this is part of the power that's shown here so you see you have here a warrior and the higher self don't you notice he's wearing armor and you see a highly evolved soul doesn't go slip shod though a lot of people get this this foolish and strange idea that they sloppily go around assimilating everything and sentimentally saying oh I love all and I love you and you love me and if we love each other everything's going to be all right and they open themselves up uh to some of the strangest kind of experiences with this slipshod thinking certainly we must love because love is the law of life and without it we certainly will perish but loving does not mean being sentimentally slipshod and letting the black magic a power of the word the the the usages that are made by unevolved and foolish souls who still don't recognize what they're doing by letting those powers overwhelm us we must learn to become inviolate in our purity in unholding to the heart highest, in holding to the reality, in holding to the sound of the horn of Gabriel of the previous Tarot key in the face of the cacophony that comes at us from other people's ideas and thoughts and writings going around all over. What do you think, for example, that civilization is?

Is we would not have civilization were it not for the power of the word because the thing that makes human beings the thing that makes human beings different amongst other things not the only thing then other creatures really is involved with the power of the word in this way that we take our children and we teach our children that which we have been taught and each generation adds in the written word which is the power of the word this is all the same power each generation adds to the researchers the knowledge the wisdom the scientific know-how as well as the superstitious areas it all gets collected and we keep handing on to our children things that were discovered details things they can learn to do how to make things how to grow things how to invent and use the various items involved with civilization so that we have been able to make ourselves an ever more complex civilization because we are able to manipulate the power of the word. We're able to put it on paper, we're able to put it into books, and then we're able to give it to those who come after us. And how do you think that the occult wisdom has been saved through all these years? Again, through the power of the word, except that most of it has been oral and the little that has been put down has been put down in what has been called the magical language where only those trained to read and see and understand could read this language still it's been done in the same way you might call it the spiritual shorthand that's what the occult language is and that's what we are training you in when we train you in the tarot you know that's part of it and a very essential part therefore we have here in terms of the principle for this last stage the recognition that what we must learn to understand is the proper use of the power of the word keeping in mind at all times that it isn't only what we say it's also what we think because what we think and And what we say and what we write are all the same thing.

How can they be different? I think you see for yourself that there's no difference in them. Now, that is, there's no difference in terms of what it does for giving the consciousness the impact for its daily environmental living and reacting to the environment and to people.

Now the law or agency through which this principle works and remember this principle isn't just power speech this is its function but it has to do with will will receptivity and ability to hold offenses ability to be ourselves rather than to be what other people try to make us to mold us into whatever it is a person is better off remaining on a certain negative level than being one of these wishy-washy types who let somebody else mold him into his idea of a good conduct did you know that because then all he is is a response mechanism for another He's not becoming his own individualized special center for God's creative living, loving, working, accomplishing. And this is what we must come to realize, to recognize. Now the law or agency through which this particular principle works, here we see an angel, another angel. This one is Michael. You know, when we intone it, it's Michael.

Ael now this angel curiously enough has attributions that could be very puzzling if we didn't also understand the tree of life and those of you who have not yet come to that part in your work will understand it far more fully when you do because it's placing on the tree explains why we have such a strange attribution here now as you can see there's an angel and yet this and angels we think of as being protective and certainly I agree I say angels are protective and especially this one I call one of the names I have for this particular tarot key the 14th tarot key is the holy guardian angel this is to me synonymous with the word temperance and yet there are esoteric elements involved that we must understand cabalistically this is assigned to the word to several ideas now the one of the words is prompt now remember what is a prop it's something that holds up and something that holds up in a sense you might say could weaken you but also it's something that gives strength doesn't it therefore a prop gives strength to something if it isn't overdone that's where you have your wonderful equal vibrating element involved now this kind of consciousness cabalistically is given this name the intelligence of probation and trial now the intelligence of trial sounds a little frightening doesn't it and being on probation This doesn't sound like a very happy idea either.

Nevertheless, here's what we call the holy guardian angel. Furthermore, the further attributions involved here are verification and wrath.

Wrath. Now, wrath sounds like anger. That's exactly what it could be if we interpret it that way. At least, let's put it this way.

We will have experiences quite regularly that seem to be rather wrathful in terms of what the universe is doing to us doesn't it we can be knocked down not pretty flat as a matter of fact quite often we can have experiences that uh devastate us and make us feel that we are truly being punished and so many people develop the idea that oh some terrible karma or other is overwhelming them and they're being punished this is they think of it as divine retribution and of course in actuality until one reaches a certain stage of spiritual perception it's not a bad idea for them to think just that this is one of the reasons that sometimes you've heard the idea that the few are taught one thing and the many are taught another because you see the many could not possibly see certain subtleties that are involved in relation to what this key really is portraying and having brought out the qabalistic attributions I will now point out what is involved in the attributions for ourselves everything that is done uh say in terms of building because don't forget we have a house there everything that's done in terms of building building is done because it has to have supports, doesn't it? I mean, not because, but supports and props are needed. Otherwise, you will have a very rickety house. If you don't have the proper beams and the beams aren't nailed properly, and if they're not given their supports in various parts of the sections where there will be stress, it will fall apart, it will kill, it will destroy or an earthquake will come and it will be flattened down so that building a house requires props but it requires more than that it requires materials that have been tested right and this is the intelligence of probation and trial which means testing again let's put it this way this one this particular analogy I took from our darling grand prologue eater Felix J Frazier because he likes to use engineering analogies and though as you know I don't know a thing about engineering I sure like their analogies so I use them now he points out that in building a bridge certain steel has to have been used that was tempered and it had to go through certain tests to know that it will be strong enough to hold a certain amount of weight then when the bridge is made it's made to hold a certain amount of weight so that you will see signs capacity load you know for various bridges so many so many pounds you put an extra ounce above some of this capacity load and the whole thing collapses all right now evolution is the same and the intelligence of probation and trial really has nothing to do with retribution and this is the thing we work so hard at helping you to see it has nothing to do with punishment as such though we have painful experiences actually you must realize that your house of life involves your body, involves your attitudes, it involves your environment, it involves your relationships. And all of these things, being your house of life, they need to be tested. How strong are they? Where will they collapse? Where are you putting weak materials into it? Where do you have to strengthen the steel? So every time we have experiences that seem to shatter us uh actually all that's been happening is that the holy guardian angel bless its heart because it loves us so much or shall we say the higher self is working in with and through us so that we can learn how to build safely and soundly a house of life that has eternal eternal selfhood that has eternal immortal ability and capacity to reach to the highest that is able to expand to the next stages that able to become a vehicle for the work of god and so we are merely learning how to build the proper materials in the proper strains and mixing the proper chemicals so that we don't explode ourselves.

This is all part of it.

Therefore, the intelligence of probation and trial, though it may be called wrath, we show you that really what it is is verification. And I'm sure practically all of you have had at least one experience where you've said, that, ah, now I know I've overcome this particular problem in my life, like, for instance, either I'll never be jealous, or I'll never feel envy, or I'll never fall in love with somebody who has blue eyes, or whatever it is.

And haven't you immediately had an experience where you did exactly the thing that you knew at last you had outgrown?

And haven't you immediately had an experience where you did exactly the thing that you knew at last you had outgrown haven't you how many here have had just that raise your hand see practically everyone those of you who haven't there let us be an object lesson to you and be careful because you see the moment there again the power of the word principle goes through the law or the agency of course we'll take up more of the effect after our intermission goes through the agency or the motion which is actually the law which tests that word or that attitude or that idea that decision that determination or that will because remember will the fence and then your fence gets knocked down you think you've put up a nice little fence and then flat so you build another fence and then that gets knocked down after a while you get real tired and you say oh my and you wonder whether there's anything in occultism at all after all this work you've been doing or uh if you know there's something in occultism you start developing terrible depressions about yourself which is a little foolish because remember here's where we've got to get mirth going we've got to always remember that every appearance and every apparent failure is really the renewing of our strength p15 and then just keep right on with it until we learn how to do whatever we have to do and actually it isn't uh that the test that comes after a pronouncement is so terrible, this is exactly what should occur.

Otherwise, how can we know ourselves and know our powers, know our strengths and know our weaknesses? It's just like, just to give it a, you know, with a little touch of humor, I happen to know how far I can go with my cat and how far my cat can go with me. And when some people have said, well, who's the boss, you or your cat? You see, I wouldn't dream of saying why I'm the boss because my cat would prove to me right now that this isn't true. So I say, naturally, the cat's the boss. That way, everything is comfortable and we avoid any tests and maybe I'm not doing the growing I should I'll grant you that but I figure I have a few other things that are more important at the moment and we'll uh delay the growth for at least in that area for another period but in actuality we always come upon situations within ourselves we go through experiences where we feel we have learned something and then it becomes inevitable that a similar experience will come this again it's part of that whole whirling circle that we've been talking to you about you know we get up to the top to what's the finish and then in actuality it it uh go it whirls itself backwards like a double helix and then starts in again and in a way it's almost like an in-breathing and out-breathing element even just say one thing like some women have uh in this incarnation an astonishing passion for instance they don't know why it's not conscious uh for say falling in love with drunkards and you know can cause tremendous uh problems and they don't they don't understand it and every time they decide uh now at last I've learned usually I've known of two such cases or vice versa and the whole point is that we start learning how to discern you know the discrimination of the previous hierarchy we start learning to perceive things that we couldn't perceive before and it's done through this law of continuous retest and as long as we take it so seriously that we terrify ourselves to death it'll be rough but when we start seeing what the principle really happens to be and we start working with it When we start, in other words, being receptive, as receptivity, one of the attributions of title key number seven, we find that the little testing, the intelligence of probation and trial in the little things, are something different.

They start developing a little charm. In fact, we start becoming grateful for them.

I know someone who, being thrown into a certain commercial situation lately, was just fussing and fussing and fussing. He said, I thought I was through with this. I'd come to understand about the commercial world. I'd been willing to give it up and so on. And this is a very nice aspirant had this particular idea. And I pointed out to him, I said, look, just a short time ago, you were in about the worst hell that anyone could be in. You were in a vacuum, a void. Nothing was happening.

You should be grateful that you're thrown into this problem where you're having to cope with a very unpleasant man a very unpleasant man where there's insecurity involved in the situation so that you're having to use all your various faculties because my god you're you are in action something is happening there's testing there's trying and it's your response to the situation that counts not the the situation itself. This is what we have to see. And the response, remember, Tarot Key Number 9, the Hermit? It's when we respond from that mountaintop that we really start overcoming the things we thought we overcame before, but we overcome them because we realize there's no need to overcome anything. We start to see that the important thing is having a house of life that is solid inviolate receptive to the heavens that knows itself as a child of God and doesn't have to be forever trying to avoid situations but finds the charm there's a fool up there you know involved in everything finds the charm finds the excitement and is grateful for the action that's involved. But of course you see we can't do this until we learn to accept ourselves. And accepting ourselves is something we have to practice and we've been practicing it through this and all the various theories, haven't we?

Practicing accepting these various elements in ourselves. And then we'll show you another little way to learn to accept ourselves even more fully with the final result both in terms of what is cosmic consciousness which we can't explain in words of course but to try to give you at least a feeling of the inspiration and what the feeling is when we've been going through the whirling cycles uh in a more positive manner so now we'll take a little five minute break get our blood circulating and when we're done we'll finish the class The thing we want to bear in mind in this tableau is that the testing and trying actually actually, is in terms, really, of knocking down all the fences that do not belong.

And the fences that do belong there remain firm. Now, the fences that do not belong there, I'm sure we must realize by now, the old habit patterns, the bigotries, knowing the things that aren't so, the inferiority complexes, or so-called superiority complexes, the insecurities, the hanging on to patterns of the past which keep us frozen in mold.

These are the senses we have which the testing and trying of the Holy Guardian Angel knocks down.

But meanwhile the senses which are true are those which we have forged you might say for ourselves as our true house of life our true being are that power to keep our center of consciousness inviolate now then let's go on to tarot key number 21 which is the seventh stage of spiritual unfoldment and see it in certain several ways first let's look at the attribution for a moment the consciousness assigned to this is the let's see it means dominion split my mind a moment administrating intelligence the administrative intelligence this is very important administrative intelligence. Now, the Hebrew letter itself, Kabbalistically, is attributed to the cross or the mark. And you've heard the saying, somebody leaves his mark on the world or on anything else. It's even come into our language, considering that we're dealing with speech as the principle here, even in our everyday language, this whole expression, the thought, somebody who really accomplishes something leaves his mark and the cross or the mark is there and remember how up until quite recently there are the those who couldn't write and most people couldn't would make a cross or a mark they this was their signature so it's also instance and I say leaving your signature and your signature is you it's unique it's individual another Another element in the attributions here, which is most important, is the fact that this is a sign to cosmic consciousness and to the pair of opposites, dominion and slavery.

Again, taking us back to the administrative intelligence. Now this, mind you, the seventh stage of spiritual unfoldment. All right, first let's look at it then in terms of everyday problems.

When we have overcome a problem, we've gained dominion over it, haven't we?

Then we become the boss. There's our administrative intelligence. Whether it has to do with a special job or with a special relationship, we have won out because it has balanced itself or developed into that which we've been working towards. So there we have it in the everyday occurrences. However, remember, we're also thinking in terms of aspiration, of attaining the spiritual level. And the thing we point out to you continuously is that you cannot separate attainment of spiritual levels and spiritual consciousness from your continuous testing and trying and accomplishing in your everyday here and now livingness. That is your signature that is your indication that is your immediate field or the sensed out area within which you are working at the moment for the development of whatever it is you're trying to accomplish now dominion or slavery of course shows us that where we are still slaves to a situation and we'll have to explain that inevitably what's going to happen we have to go right back around and we go through the whole process of the seven stages we may not go through it immediately according to our conscious point of view but we are we just don't happen to see it only all of us have no doubt noticed that we have certain repeat patterns and then there are other elements that enter into it and this also goes into various incarnations.

As you heard us say before, that in the ordinary course of events, just overcoming, say, one immature element in the nature, which means growing one truly positive aspect in the character for the control, where you become the administrative intelligence for that part of your being, usually takes something like three incarnations. However when we reach the stage of true aspiration and we are guided to a process of intensification where we can work with the forces more intensively by then it becomes possible to attain to the administrative intelligence for example in many areas of our character or personality in one incarnation. And, of course, with a few, though there are very few, we've reached a point where a certain recapitulation is possible to attain to what is called cosmic consciousness. Now, even there, we make a mistake if we think that that means finished. A goal is accomplished. It's accomplished in one specific area or one specific cycle but then there's more and more if you are a weary soul don't let it discourage you the weariness is very temporary and some people have in this incarnation undertaken so many transmutations but they do feel quite weary and they get terrified at the idea that that they may have to go through a whole group of other types of, shall we say, testings and tryings for the development of further dominions.

But remember, what was difficult for you in one stage becomes easy. We look at a child who weeps because he cannot accomplish a certain thing, and we smile from our adult point of view, remembering how once we were that way, and we know that that weeping is not necessary, that the child isn't seeing it properly, and we know that the child will develop an ability in whatever area it is that's causing the tears, or even the freedom that the child wants, which it may think of in a different way once it gets it, So that the continuance of growth or evolution or expansion certainly isn't in continuing in the same world or cycle. We go on to other things, like the Master once said. He said, why, we just have bigger and better problems.

And the difference between ourselves and you is that what you consider problems we consider just the foolish clumsiness of a child and we remember when we were that way and we know you'll eventually outgrow it although you certainly need some help as every child does and this is what you're getting. So keeping that in mind, let's consider dominion and slavery. And just what it is we want to make sure we free ourselves from in terms of slavery. What we want essentially to do, of course, is to stop being slave to circumstances, to stop being the slave of environment, to stop being the slave of our past attitude, to stop feeling frustrated.

This is essentially what we want.

And of course, all of us want to know consciously what it is to experience God.

Some of us feel we've had it, a touch here, a touch there. Some of us don't feel we have had it at all. Nevertheless, essentially, this is what we want. And the point is this. If we can learn, and we can, to stop placing the emphasis in the wrong areas, if we can learn to start using the principles outlined in these seven lessons and to apply them to the different situations that occur, we will find that we will whirl ourselves out of the various situations that seem to have us enslaved far more rapidly.

Furthermore, we will stop having the same attitudes that we had before. The thing that keeps us more enslaved than anything else, incidentally, is taking it too seriously.

Now you'll say well but then what about aspiration isn't it supposed to be serious yes our aspiration is supposed to be very serious but aren't you getting a little mixed up if you mix your aspiration with whatever is occurring in terms of the stages of your outlook or reaction of the moment or the time period or the year this is where you see you get confused and where you bewilder yourself. Why do we have to stop taking it so seriously?

Well, actually, he who takes God seriously, really seriously, he who learns, and this is what Tarot is teaching us to do, he who learns to say to himself, that holy guardian angel, there's the law of the agency, lives me.

All right. The job belongs to it. You see, it's working. Notice it's pouring fire on water and water on fire in this way the lion is a symbol of fire and water is being poured on it and the eagle is a symbol of water and fire is being poured on it and that's making steam and do you remember what I said about be grateful that you are in an uproar of steaming because nothing is more horrible than being put in the void of boredom of nothingness this is real hell and to recognize that the fact that activity is going on, the fact that you are aspiring, the fact that you are reaching for a realization, the fact that you are trying to train your consciousness to be able to say in the face of all things, the higher self is living me, is testing its vehicle, is testing its perception, testing the strength of the materials, how easily does this vehicle and its emotions, how easily does it react to the mass propagandas or not, how easily does it react to hurt feelings or not, because you know that is one of the real tests.

When we get our feelings hurt very readily, remember, don't look now, your consciousness is showing. We're indicating that we are having such an extraordinary insecurity that we feel it is necessary for everybody to feed our ego in order to keep us happy. So some people in fact an extraordinary number of people a part of the consciousness is always hunting it's in a continuous scanning going on the scanning is going on to see is this one appreciating me properly is that one insulting me is the other one training his or her back on me is this or that an insult and so on we're taking our personality too seriously Obviously, the personality is the facade. You are not your personality.

Your personality is the house. There's the principal there.

And the house is not you. You are the builder of that house.

And the more you work with the tarot at changing your identification to being at one with the builder, the more you will start seeing all these experiences from this other point of view in other words you will let go and let god a very lovely expression and although it's easy to say it really isn't easy to do that's why we have the tarot you know we need these aids that we give you every bit of them and we give you as many as we can because we are doing something remarkable and we are doing something extraordinary. We are really individualizing ourselves out from the influence, the house of influence of the mass mind, the lower level, into becoming a strong and continuous channel for the higher level.

And this takes doing. That's why we need each other. You've heard me say, it takes a group to pull us out from being stuck in these mass reactions.

And along with that, it takes a continuous practice, going on every day, or as often as you can think of it, to start seeing who and what we are, even if it's only intellectual at first, to start seeing who and what we are and who it is that's doing all of this, in order to be able to start chuckling at the little bits of nonsense that go on in the personality as to what is so important and what isn't important. If you think of eternity, you, eternal immortal child of God, can you imagine what a blink of an eye it is to your true self, an incarnation like this, for example? And if you could imaginatively put yourself up on special goose or arcturus, That's a real high mountain top. And just sort of look down onto what has occurred as a whole vista of past.

Do you realize that your consciousness could see in a speeding, in a type of speeding up manner, your consciousness would see that, just as it is said that a second is as a thousand years and a thousand years is a second of perhaps a day, isn't it? And the eyes of God, but the eyes of God are no different than your higher self, which is one with that higher self, that God, and is an individualized evolving expression of that God. Therefore, we can afford, if we keep remembering what we really are, we can afford to start training ourselves not to become too overwhelmed with the situations as they come, this testing and trying of key 14 and then we will recognize the wings of the angel holding us with love and really guiding us magic becomes a part of daily life and then what do we discover freedom is this tarot key the world assigned to cosmic consciousness is also assigned to the sphere of saturn and those of you who know astrology know that saturn is said to be the limiting influence. And notice that in this whole series of three, we have shown you a limiting influence, and yet we're saying this is cosmic consciousness first stage. I hope you're starting to realize then that your reaction to the limiting influence is what gives you your cosmic consciousness.

And your reaction is the thing that you're working on, not the thing in itself. Self. What actually does happen or doesn't happen, you will see from that level, is not important. It's what your reaction is that will give you the freedom, because your reaction is what will give you your values. And if your values are firmly embedded in, for instance, materialism, your reaction will be violent in terms of certain material conditions. And if your reactions are are too dreamy, I mean, trying to retire yourself from the physical universe, you will find you can't cope with the physical universe and you'll have problems galore. But when you start seeing that the physical universe is condensed spirit and that it is the freedom of your higher soul that has chosen to condense itself in order to have the magic of the dance. Remember what we told you about the dance in the previous class? The dance is a formal, disciplined thing.

And yet by practicing the discipline, that is, by accepting the limitation, we discover this exhilaration of the freedom. I hope all of you have known the joy of the freedom of the dance, at least when you were children you did, even if you may have lost it. And now you still have it in your mind, in your heart, whether you feel like doing the twist or not. If you do, it's also all right. So you start to see that your freedom isn't something you have to gain.

Your freedom isn't something that you're going to have to struggle for or weep for, basically, unless you just plain want to because you're a masochistic and you like the drama of having to weep a little extra, which is fine, because eventually you get tired of portraying that role to yourself and you go on to a more charming one, at least that of hope.

So you see, your freedom, unison, isn't being a wild, untrammeled nothingness.

Your freedom is in seeing that you are one with that which flings the stars into space, and that this is your power. And flinging the stars out into space is a disciplined thing. It has law and it has order.

And so you start seeing limitation as a glory and a miracle.

And this is what's called accepting the will of God. And he who reigns to accept the will of God finds himself truly free, because then you become co-administrated. With the one by experiencing yourself in and of and with that one and a co-administrator certainly has more freedom than somebody who's working under him hasn't he so they're even there it's a it's a relative degree I mean I've often sat here uh in the temple in the office and uh some of my associates or help find they have a problem with me.

And I start to tease and I say, well, I tell you, you know, you have a problem. Now, ordinarily, if somebody who's working at work didn't get this special job done, I mean, you could fire them, but you're in trouble. You can't fire me because I'm the head.

I said, this is the advantage of being the administrator.

They do try to get it done. But you see, I mentioned this slide. Do you notice the security that's involved?

Alright, now I showed it to you in a supposedly outer thing, but it's the inner thing, not the outer. It's the inner. That is the security. In other words, you can't get fired from the job of being a child of life.

You can't get fired. There's nobody to fire you because you are really the administrative intelligence in and behind itself. And so together we work to attain it consciously, and we stimulate it. And in whatever problem you apply these principles, you'll be more free there, and you'll discover that your real freedom is in loving, in accepting, and in reacting with joy and gratitude to that which others would call sacrifice, tie, and perhaps even slavery. It's all in the point of view, my darlings. Let's look at it with the dancer, by being the dancer, in every way that we can. And maybe some of you will dance this evening, because I think it's time for a question or two, and then to have our party, for that is the reason we're starting for it.

Yes?

You naughty girl.

I was trying to avoid that because I took it up in the meanings of Scorpio. And you see, this has so much in it. And I didn't feel that we should go into that for this particular series. I'll give you a brief, I'll give you a very brief description. The eagle is the symbol for the higher symbol for Scorpio. You know, they say the Scorpio has three symbols. The scorpion, the snake or serpent, and the eagle. And they each have a different aspect involved in terms of the use of the reproductive energy. That is the sex energy, of course, which on the physical plane is used for reproduction. And the lion there, you remember you saw the lion in Tarot Key Number 8. And you remember there you saw the humanized subconsciousness training this lion, which is our animal nature, with love, in order to get it to follow our drives and our instructions instead of our being subject enslaved to it. Well in this key, it's being shown the evolution has taken place so that the angel is directly working with this animal nature. We've been able to give it over at this point and we've been able to do it because also along with it this scorpion energy, the reproductive energy, energy is being used for more highly evolved levels of feeling and thinking.

There is a transmutation. The angel is transmuting and transmuting all that which is us. So that symbolizes both that which we can call our body, our personality, our energy. It involves all of that and more.

And even more. But that, though, is perhaps the most vital one. Any other questions?

In that case, yes, all right, yes, dear? I'm not coming to the area. I can do that. Oh, yes.

Let's see, you come from North El Monte. Does anybody come from North El Monte on Sunday mornings?

Or from that area where you pass North El Monte on Sunday mornings? I can't hear you.

Thank you.