Introduction- The Cross
a- Cross and crucified, Universal symbols
The Cross and the Crucified are symbols which come down to us from prehistoric ages, and are to be found depicted on the ruined monuments, temples, and sarcophagi of all nations, – Coptic, Ethiopian, Hindu, Mexican, Tartar.
b- A Symbol of Initiation
In the rites of all these peoples, and especially in the ceremonials of initiation held in the Lodges of their Mysteries, the Cross had a prominent place. And this symbolism has been adopted by and incorporated into the Christian theosophy, not, however, through a tradition merely imitative, but because the Crucifixion is an essential element in the career of the Christ.
c- Cross symbol of equinoxes and solstices and has many microcosmic correspondences reflecting the macrocosm
The Cross of Christ is made by the sun’s equinoctial passage across the line of the Ecliptic, which indicates the axis of Heaven and Earth. It is present in nature as the magnetic forces of the earth, ice-crystals, snow flakes, the human form. It evokes the Tree of Life; the Mystery of the Dual Nature, male and female; the Symbol of. Humanity perfected, and of the Apotheosis of Suffering.
d- Fourfold Meaning, the Divine Marriage
Fourfold in meaning, having four points, and making four angles, dividing the circle into four equal parts, the cross portrays the perfect union, balance, equality, and at-one-ment on all four planes, and in all four worlds – phenomenal, intellectual, psychic, and celestial – of the Man and the Woman, the Spirit and the Bride. It is supremely, transcendently, and excellently, the symbol of the Divine Marriage; that is, the Sign of the Son of Man IN HEAVEN. For the Divine Marriage is consummated only when the Regenerate Man enters the Kingdom of the Celestial, which is within. When the Without is as the Within, and the Twain are as One in Christ Jesus.
The Fourfold Meaning of the Crucifixion
1- The natural and actual sense, the Crucifixion of the Man of God by the world
2- The intellectual and philosophical sense; the Crucifixion in man of the lower nature
3- The personal and sacrificial sense, the Passion and Oblation of the Redeemer
4- The celestial and creative sense, the Oblation
of God for the Universe
1- The natural and actual sense, the Crucifixion of the Man of God by the world
a- Scorn of the world
First in order, from without inwards, the Crucifixion of the Man of God implies that persistent attitude of scorn, distrust, and menace with which the Ideal and Substantial is always met by the worldly and superficial, and to the malignant expression of which ill-will the Idealist is always exposed
b- Via Dolorosa
And thus every great and merciful deed, every noble life, every grand and holy name, is stamped with the hall-mark of the Cross. Scorn and contumely and the cries of an angry crowd surround that altar on which the Son of God makes oblation of himself; and cross after cross strews the long Via Dolorosa of the narrow path that leadeth unto Life.
a- Victory over the old Adam of the earth
Yes, by blood and tears and suffering, and that not of the body only; for the Son of God, to attain that Sonship, must have first crucified in himself the old Adam of the earth. This is the second meaning of the Cross; it sets forth that interior process of pain which precedes regeneration; that combat with and victory over the tempter, through which all the Christs alike have passed; the throes of travail which usher in the New-Born.
b- Five wounds, five senses
And the crucified, regenerate Man, having made At-one-ment throughout his own fourfold nature, and with the Father through Christ, bears about in himself the “marks” of the Lord, – the five wounds of the five senses overcome, the “stigmata” of the saints. This crucifixion is the death of the body; the rending of the veil of the flesh; the uniting of the human will with the Divine Will; or, as it is sometimes called, the Reconciliation – which is but another word for the At-one-ment.
c- Transmutation, water into wine, Blood of Christ, inward purification by means of love
To live the Divine Life is to be partaker in the blood of Christ and to drink of Christ’s cup. It is to know the love of Christ which “passeth understanding,” the love which is Life, or God, and whose characteristic symbol is the blood-red ray of the solar prism. By this: mystical blood we are saved, – this blood, which is no other than the secret of the Christs, whereby man is transmuted from the material to the spiritual plane, the secret of inward purification by means of Love. For this “blood,” which, throughout the sacred writings is spoken of as the essential principle of the “Life,” is the spiritual Blood of the spiritual Life
3- The personal and sacrificial sense, the Passion and Oblation of the Redeemer
a- Wisdom and Love
This third aspect of the Cross is in itself two-fold, because Wisdom and Love, though one in essence are twain in application, since Love cannot give without receiving, nor receive without giving. We have, therefore, in this double mystery both the oblation and lifting-up of the Christ in Man, and the Passion and Sacrifice for others of the Man in whom Christ is manifest. For even as Christ is one in us are we one with Christ, because as Christ loves and gives himself for us, we also, who are in Christ, give ourselves for others.
b- Salvation and transmutation by one’s own efforts
For that whereby a man is “saved” is his own re-birth and At-one-ment in a sense transcending the phenomenal. And this process is altogether interior to the man, and incapable of being performed from without or by another; a process requiring to be enacted anew in each individual, and impossible of fulfillment by proxy in the person of another.
c- Life of Jesus symbolizes the universal path of spiritual regeneration
True, the new spiritual Man thus born of Water and the Spirit, or of the Pure Heart and the Divine Life; the Man making oblation on the cross, overcoming Death and ascending to Heaven is named Christ-Jesus, the Only Begotten, the Virgin-born, coming forth from God to seek and to save the lost; but this is no other than the description of the man himself after transmutation into the Divine Image. It is the picture of the regenerate man, made “alive in Christ,” and “like unto him
d- Iesous, Issa, universal symbol of all Sons of God
For the Christos or Anointed, the Chrestos or Best, are but titles signifying Man Perfect; and the name of Jesus, at which every knee must bow, is the ancient and ever Divine Name of all the Sons of God – Iesous or Yesha, he who shall save, and Issa the Illuminated, or Initiate of Isis.
For this name Isis, originally Ish-Ish, was Egyptian for Light-Light; that is, light doubled, the known and the knowing made one, and reflecting each other. Similarly our affirmatives is and yes; because God is the supreme Affirmative and Positive of the universe, enlightening every soul with truth and life and power. God is the Sun of the soul, whereof the physical sun is the hieroglyph, as the physical man is of the true eternal spiritual Man. . But the negation of God is “Nay,” the Night, the Destroyer and the devil. The name therefore of Antichrist is Denial, or Unbelief, the spirit of Materialism and of Death.
e- Renunciation
Christ Jesus, then, is no other than the hidden and true man of the Spirit, the Perfect Humanity, the Express Image of the Divine Glory. And it is possible to man, by the renunciation – which mystically is the crucifixion – of his outer and lower self, to rise wholly into his inner and higher self, and, becoming suffused or anointed of the Spirit, to “put on Christ,” propitiate God, and redeem the earthly and material.
f- Christs redeem by giving their life to teach the path of spiritual redemption
And that which they who, in the outer manifestation, are emphatically called Christs – whether of Palestine, of India, of Egypt or of Persia, – have done for man, is but to teach him what man is able to be in himself by bearing, each for himself, that Cross of renunciation which they have borne. And inasmuch as these have ministered to the salvation of the world thereby, they are truly said to be saviors of souls, whose doctrine and love and example have redeemed men from death and made them heirs of eternal life. The Wisdom they attained, they kept not secret, but freely gave as they had freely received. And that which thus they gave was their own life, and they gave it knowing that the children of darkness would turn on them and rend them because of the gift.
g- The unreserved giving of the Love mystically called the Blood of Christ
The Christ gives and dies in giving, because Love constrains him and no fear withholds. And as the At-on-ment accomplished in and by the Christs, is the result of the unreserved adoption of the Divine Life, and of the unreserved giving of the Love mystically called the Blood of Christ, those who adopt that Life according to their teaching, and who aspire to be one with God, are truly said to be saved by the Precious Blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
h- Lamb of God, the spiritual sun in Aries
For the Lamb of God is the spiritual Sun in Aries, the spring-tide glory of ascending Light, the symbol of the Pure Heart and the Righteous Life, by which humanity is redeemed. It is Iesous Chrestos, the Perfect Yes of God who is symbolized by this white Lamb, and who, like his sign in heaven, was lifted up on the Cross of Manifestation from the foundation of the world.
i- Creation by Evolution and Redemption Involution
For, as man is a Microcosm, and comprises within all that is without, the processes of Creation by Evolution, and of Redemption by Involution, occur in the Man as in the Universe, and thereby in the Personal as in the General, in the One as in the Many.
j- Salvation, Symbols of Inner Transformation
That from which he seeks to be saved is truly the Devil, who through the sin of the Adam has power over him; that whereby he is saved is the precious blood of the Christ, the Onlybegotten, whose mother is the immaculate ever-virgin Maria. And that to which, by means of this divine oblation, he attains is the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal Life
k- Process: 1 Fall, 2 the Exile, 3 the Incarnation, 4 the Passion, 5 the Crucifixion, 6 the Resurrection, 7 the Ascension, and 8 the coming of the Holy Spirit is symbolic.
For, such of us as know and live the inner life, are saved, but by the Christ-Jesus, the God with us, the Immanuel of the heart, born, working mighty works, and offering oblation in our own lives, redeeming us from the world, and making us sons of God and heirs of everlasting life.
l- Redeeming evil in the world
But, if we are thus saved by the love of Christ, it is by love also that we manifest Christ to others. If we have received freely, we also give freely, shining in the midst of night, that is, in the darkness of the world. For so long as this darkness prevails over the earth, Love hangs on his cross; because the darkness is the working of a will at variance with the Divine Will, doing continual violence to the Law of Love.
m- Wounded Heart of Christ
The wrongs of others wound the Son of God, and the stripes of others fall on his flesh. He is smitten with the pains of all creatures, and his heart is pierced with their wounds. There is no offence done and he suffers not, nor any wrong and he is not hurt thereby. For his heart is in the breast of every creature, and his blood in the veins of all flesh. For to know perfectly is to love perfectly, and so to love is to be partaker in the pain of the beloved.
n- Ministering to the sorrows of the poor and oppressed
But, if he love perfectly, he shall be able to redeem; for strong Love is a Net which shall draw all souls unto him. Because unto Love is given all power, both in heaven and on earth; Seeing that the will of him who loves perfectly is one with the Will of God: And unto God and Love, all things are possible.
a- Pantheism
The celestial Olympus – Mount of Oracles – is ever creating; God never ceases giving of the Divine Self alike for Creation and for Redemption. God is in all things, whether personal or impersonal, and in God they live and move and have being. And that stage of purification through which the Cosmos is now passing, is God’s Crucifixion; the process of Transmutation and Redemption of Spirit from Matter, of Being from Existence, of Substance from Phenomenon, which is to culminate in the final At-one-ment of the ultimate Sabbath of Rest awaiting God’s redeemed universe at the end of the Kalpa.
In the Man Crucified, we have, therefore, the type and symbol of the continual Crucifixion of God manifest in the flesh, God suffering in the creature, the Invisible made Visible, the Volatile Fixed, the Divine Incarnate, which manifestation, suffering, and crucifixion are the causes of purification and therefore of Redemption.
b- Six days of Creation – Passion Week – Decaying of matter
Thus, in the spiritual Sense, the six days of creation are always Passion Week, in that they represent the process of painful experience, travail, and passing through, whereby the Spirit accomplishes the redemption of the Body; or the return of Matter into Substance.
c- Eucharist – Bread and Wine, Spirit and Matter
For the Bread which is broken and divided for the children of the Kingdom is the Divine Substance, which with the Wine of the Spirit, constitute the holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, the Communion of the Divine and the Terrene, the Oblation of Deity in Creation.
d- Love of God, Image of God
We also beholding the glory of God with open face; may be transformed into the same Image, from glory to glory by the power of the Spirit.
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