Paper VII

My Lesson in Spiritual Cosmogony and Astronomy

“In the name of God, the most Merciful and Compassionate.”
“Praised be His Holy, Holy, Holy Name.”

The more one looks, the more one sees that all things obey one Law. In fact nothing can be a Law unless it is universal. If it is not universal, it is not a law. When mystics speak of “night and day” and of the sun moving northward, they are not speaking vague fancies but realities, great Truths. If the soul did not obey Cosmic Law, then there could be no science of Astrology, but Astrology has not found its First Principle, its Summum Genus, and will not until the Astrologer looks first within for the Cause of Causes. Then he will grasp all the laws within a very short time.

The day and night of the Soul are realities. Every child is born, as it were, under the sign Virgo, the season of fruit, whether that fruit be of the vegetable, animal or human  kingdom. After Virgo comes Libra, “Twilight.” So each child is born as late in the afternoon, while the sun is still out. If we understand this, we should have the secret to child prodigies; we could find what each child brought to this world from God, Heaven and Fairyland and preserve that knowledge.

(The writer always pictured God as a white sky when an infant, and as he grew older the sky gradually disappeared, in proportion as his elders put ideas about God into his head; I learned the alphabet in 5 minutes; I read before I was 3; I read the Bible at six; I read the history of the United States while an infant, before I was 4 I would turn pages of music, always at the right time. I knew cards not long after I could talk. I read the Bible diligently and 3 times until I was 9½, and believed, then. I had many dreams I remember that came true afterwards. I also remembered some things about my former home. Death was not real, even when my grandfather died. All these with no encouragement save a little from my grandmother. Whence the urge?)

The universe might be described as a sphere with the sun shining so there would be perpetual darkness in the south and perpetual light at the north pole, with the soul going south the first seven years of his life (to the equator), (continuing Southward) and sometimes never coming back very far; night and day being of different lengths according to the latitude. Then the southern hemisphere was what the Egyptians called “Kham” or darkness, and the northern was what the Egyptians called “Khebt” or light. The children of Israel traveled from Kham northward.

Or we may regard the soul as being always in the northern hemisphere, born under the sign of Virgo. At 7 the sun would enter Libra and then twilight. Then the stars would come out. Later we have the moon rising, but often the soul journeys not through many of the signs and death comes before light. So it can be understood that Joshua could bid the sun and moon to stand still and with many, they do.

At Christmas time the soul is in darkness and seeks the light, journeying toward the goal. Christmas time is Tauba time, repentance, and the gate to the Path. The soul (Israel) is in bondage to the body, etc. (Nufs, Egypt) and though they love not the soul they would hold it. Hence the ten plagues, which are the scourges of Nafs. In the Awarifu it says “The blamable qualities of Nafs are ten.” Each plague scourged Nufs of one of them, but Nufs is still unconquered. Then the soul finds the path and journeys onward until springtime or daylight.

At the Spring Equinox, the sun crosses the equator. This is the beginning of the daylight of the soul. The soul now can see God, and as Isaiah says, “The sun shall not shine by day nor the moon by night…, etc.” Then comes the passing of the Red Sea, or the crossing of the equator. The Egyptians are drowned, the body is crucified, and the soul rises towards peace and bliss.

Before the Israelites left Egypt, they borrowed the jewels, etc, of the Egyptians and took them. So though Nufs is conquered, he is not destroyed, but turned into a servant. In the daytime, the stars do not shine, but the moon does. But in the daytime we can see that the moon is only reflecting the light of the sun. If we never saw day, we would think the moon was the source of its own light. So body and mind become the servants of the soul. When Siegfried killed the dragon, some of its blood fell on his lips and thus he learned the language of the birds. When Hercules overcame the old man of the sea, the old man helped him; when Ulysses overcame Circe, she became one of his best aids. So it is with Nufs and its instruments. God gave us a mind and a body for a purpose. The body is the temple of God. In this temple are an altar (the heart)) windows (the eyes, physical and others, indeed all senses), pillars (the breath), doors (the centers), a congregation (the mind), a minister (God).

It is therefore to us to live in this temple and use it in accordance with God’s laws. If we should listen to God, we could keep it properly. Listening to Nafs and the Mind is like having all the congregation preach and making the soul listen. But if the congregation (mind-thoughts) listen, then they can carry the message to the world.

All the above can be seen in the Bible stories of Samson and Delilah and Solomon. Samson is the sun, the sun of the soul; the Philistines are the attractions of the world, thoughts, stars. Delilah is the moon (mind). When Samson was blinded, came his Initiation. Deprived of his outward senses, he used his inward and as his strength grew, he controlled the pillars of the temple (the breath) and destroyed the Philistines. Samson was the Judge of Israel. You are Israel and your soul Samson.

So does Solomon stand for soul and sun. His vessels were ivory and gold; he had many wives. These refer to the sun—Solomon and Krishna both had many consorts, just as the sun has rays or God has rays (souls). Solomon also stands for Peace. He dwelt in Jerusalem, the city of Peace, the heart, and ruled all Israel; only he could build and dedicate a temple to God. Other kings helped him. This means that when the soul controls the mind, the mind is both a willing and excellent servant.

“Know ye that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit.” The temple is within, God is within, the city is within. “Seek and ye shall find, ask and it shall be added unto you.” To him that overcometh shall be given a seat in the temple of God and he shall go forth no more.