6.
The Rituals

QUARTERLY MEETING

Challenge of the Hierarch

Leader

The Solar Hierarch stands within

The temple of the Brotherhood;

He grants assignments to the Masters.

How much longer dwell ye in externals

And tolerate the pretensions of the idle?

Hasten to those despoiled of their heritage;

Hasten to those cast off from above;

Rescue those enslaved to illusion;

Nourish those who starve within;

Awaken the sleeping ones;

Assure the starving ones;

Take these from the ministry of spinners of words!

The masses know not, and will not understand,

But drift along in darkness;

The mighty on the earth are concerned with trifles!

I have said, ye are priests

And all of you offspring of the Word;

Why die ye like men

For gain of princely trappings?

Arise, O inner flame, and go forth

To ensoul the nations!

Ceremonies of recognition

Welcoming Address

Leader

By simple virtue of the fact that you are seeking illumination, full illumination shall be yours. You have, by taking the first step, committed yourself irrevocably to the journey. And to begin the journey assures you that you will arrive at the goal, as inevitably as anything that is impelled by spirit and so is subject no longer to the lesser necessities of a purely transient reality. Difficulties may encompass you, but you will surmount them. Delays may hinder you, but time will dissolve into nothingness. Other calls on you and all the pressing demands of outer and material life may seem to interrupt your progress, but such interruptions will be so only in the realm of seeming. From now and henceforth you are destined to press on in the daytime and by night, consciously and unconsciously, in summer and in winter, and never for one moment turning aside from your progress to the end. You have wished to become an initiate, and an accepted candidate you are now and from the first moment of your conception of initiation. And in the realm of potentials you truly are illuminated already. Day by day your consciousness will expand, for initiation is nothing else but an expansion of consciousness, and though for a long time to come you yourself may not recognize your status it yet exists. You are superman now, and in seeking less than the greatest of goals you are untrue to yourself. So think magnificently, for in the realm of thought your destiny is established, and talk modestly, for in the realm of men your temptations arise. In the enduring things of reality you will be more and more alone, since your sustenance and strengthening in matters of eternity are not to be defined or made known in conceptions of this world. But in your aloneness you will find the greater companionship of those who are stimulating without exactions, or of those who are too filled with divinity to have room for petty considerations. Prepare to take your place with the immortals. Hail, initiate of tomorrow!

Discourse on Achievement

Leader

Now that you have stood consciously within the Temple of the Mysteries, you have gained for yourself an office in the world. At this stage of your growth you have been sent back into the realm of everyday, there to translate appreciation into experience and desire into achievement. You have become a personage! Authority that is certified by the golden seal of the Illuminated Ones now placed on your heart, and always to be seen by the inward vision in quiet hours of meditation, may be demonstrated by you at will in the presence of men and through every vortex of affairs. Your voice has been given a spiritual resonance that will resound to all ears, if you will give it utterance. The world however will make but empty response to any claims you may make of divine authority, for the reason that there is nothing spiritual in word alone, and if you yield to the temptation to speak aloud of these experiences of the spirit you will only destroy the realities of the Temple in your consciousness. Then the Mysteries may fade away within your memory, and you may find yourself again beyond the outer portal and under necessity to start once more from the beginning. Therefore you are not sent into the world to make the idle claims of those who have no surety within themselves, but are returned for a season in order that you may stamp your name on the tablets of time. At this stage in your growth your spiritual identity is as yet withheld from you, for the reason that you still must discharge your stewardship of the physical heritage entrusted to you through your flesh-and-blood parents. As you bring credit to this outer citizenship, you will be qualified to bring glory to the ultimate mystery name to be found only in the Book of Aspiration. Because you have passed beyond the possibility of more than temporary failure in your spiritual being, you will continue to be a member of the Assembly, but your spiritual stature is yet to be determined. You may stand as tall or short as you wish, since this stature is established entirely by deeds in the world. Hail initiate of today!

Inspirational program

Discourse on Inspiration

Leader

Because you have entered the Temple of the Mysteries, you stand now in the presence of a mighty company. No matter how small or how large your part in these spiritual things may be, you have at this moment been given the right hand of fellowship. The interior of this Temple may be dark to your eyes, and to your ears there may be neither sound nor stir of life, but it is possible for you to see and to hear and to awaken all your senses in their higher functioning. This is a simple expansion of consciousness that shortly will be yours. For an awakening to a realization of the friendly assembly of workers who surround you, and bathe you in the effulgence of a light you do not see and greet you with words you cannot hear, it is only necessary that you enter into the laya center that has cradled this company. As you have of your own volition crossed the threshold of the Temple, so may you by your own desire both see and hear. This is a mighty company because it is established through no relationship of personality, and through no desire for personal power. Here are those who have caught the challenge of the new heaven and earth. They are the quiet and silent workers who have held the needs and problems of humanity in consciousness for many thousands of years. Here is a fellowship of high initiates, and its ranks are made up in the largest part by those who have served life after life. Who knows but that you may have been a member of this group in the past, and require only the first flash of enlightenment to restore you to your exalted status? But if this be your first hesitant step toward illumination, you are equally welcome. Binding these souls together is the challenge of a work to be done. For the opening of your eyes and your ears it is necessary that you participate in this challenge. Is there not something you can see to do? Is your world of everyday any better for your living? Do your friends flourish because of your near presence? Does everyone everywhere smile and feel lighter of heart when you pass by? Remember that the gaining of inspiration can result only from the giving of inspiration. Hail, inspired one!

Discourse on Stewardship

Leader

You have returned to the world and now you have found, in the light of the higher understanding developed within you, that the world is far from the narrow and bitter place you had thought it to be. You have learned the great truth that the Temple of the Mysteries is situated in the domain of everyday, and is concealed only from the idly curious and the coldly self-seeking. You have stood within the Temple consciously, and there you have been welcomed into the presence of the mighty company of immortal ones. And at last you have realized that this journey has been wholly a matter of consciousness. You stand as you always have stood, in the world of men, but you are transformed. No longer does the dull and utterly drab aspect of life face you, since your eyes have achieved a new dimension of appreciation and your heart has expanded in a new range of sympathy. Your steps may take you down the same streets in the shadow of the same buildings, and past the same faces and their evidence of the blind and often hopeless rush of human kind. But now the streets are Mystery Streets. They are lined with spiritual gold, and decorated with the precious stones of inner understanding. The sound of confusion in your ears has become the cosmic melody of eternal spheres. The closeness of humanity conjures up in your nostrils the alluring perfume of a very essence of fellowship. Children of God are these, all of them, and if they be hard or unwashed it is because no greater soul has bent to lead them to the light. Into your heart wells the incorruptible understanding of the Elder Brothers, with whom your lot now is cast, and everywhere you find yourself the steward of eternal values. You discover that illness is no longer yours, except as you may accept the disruptive substance of in harmony for its transmutation. Poverty is no longer yours, whether of soul or material things, for you are custodian of illimitable wealth and you dwell as a Prince of Spirit should. Unhappiness you will never know again, since forever now your pain is joy. Hail, ambassador of the hierarchies!

Testimony and discussion period

Prayer to the Fullness of the Year

Leader

For our lack of gratitude we beg Thy indulgence,

Giver of Richest Gifts!

For our lack of accomplishment we ask Thy forgetfulness,

O Source of Sustainment Everlasting!

For our lack of inner faith we entreat Thy understanding,

Sublime Revelation of Power!

And for our willingness to try again and again

We seek Thy blessing, Father of All in All!