“A Sane Mind, A Soft Heart, A Sound Body” July/August 1997—$5.00 LAWS OF INCARNATION ACCOUNTING FOR PROPHETIC DREAMS THE BAPTISM OF FIRE ICONS AND THE ICON CONTROVERSY A CHRISTIAN ESOTERIC MAGAZINE O r i g i n a l P a i n t i n g b y A Consecration n n i e L a u r o Take my life and let it be Consecrated, Lord to Thee. Take my moments and my days, Let them f low in ceaseless praise. Take my hands and let them move At the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be Swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my voice and let me sing Always only for my King. Take my lips and let them be Filled with messages from Thee Take my silver and my gold, Not a mite would I withhold. Take my intellect and use Every power as Thou shalt choose Take my will and make it Thine, It shall be no longer mine Take my heart, it is Thine own It shall be Thy Royal Throne. Take my love, my Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure store Take myself and I will be Ever, only, all for Thee. —Frances Ridley Havergal Front Cover: Christ Jesus Contemplating Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives; Back Cover: Meditation Walk, Rosicrucian Fellowship, Mount Ecclesia. This Issue... Feature Rosae Crucis (Poem)...E. C. Tucker .....................................................................2 A Editorial Christian Esoteric Making News ........................................................................................................3 Magazine Mystic Light Laws of Incarnation (Part 1)...Emil Bock .............................................................4 Established by Making a Difference...Dwight Johnson ................................................................8 Max Heindel My Tribute to Max Heindel...Corinne Heline.....................................................14 The Real Christ...Lida Elinor West .....................................................................18 June 1913 Max Heindel’s Message Volume 89, No. 4 The Method of Spiritual Cognition.....................................................................22 Readers’ Questions July/August—1997 Prophetic Dreams ................................................................................................24 Western Wisdom Bible Study USPS 471080—ISSN 0744-432X Creation—Part 4...Max Heindel..........................................................................27 Subscription in U.S.: one year, $15.00; two Astrology years, $28.00. Your zip code must contain nine The Fixed Signs—Part 3...Max Heindel .............................................................30 (9) digits (5 + 4). California residents add Astrological Anecdotes: A Good Guesser...Max Heindel ...................................33 applicable sales tax to all orders. Canada, The Baptism of Fire...J.H. ...................................................................................35 Mexico and all other countries: one year, $20.00; two years, $38.00. Prices are in U.S. Religion and Art dollars and include postage. Foreign sub- Icons and the Icon Controversy (Part 1)...C.W...................................................41 scribers: please check current exchange rates for proper amount. Current single copies: $5.00. News Perspectives Second class postage paid at Oceanside, CA, 92049-0713, U.S.A. Postmaster: Send address Messages from Death Row .................................................................................46 change to Rays from the Rose Cross, P.O. Box Book Reviews 713, Oceanside, CA 92049-0713, U.S.A. The Cherubinic Wanderer...C. W.........................................................................48 Writers of published articles are alone responsi- ble for statements made. Manuscripts needed Nutrition and Health for all departments of the Rays. What’s for Dinner?...A Probationer.....................................................................51 Issued bi-monthly. Change of address must reach Healing us by the 1st of month preceding any issue. Address The Hidden Side of Prayer...Max Heindel..........................................................54 ALL correspondence and make ALL remit- tances payable to The Rosicrucian Fellowship. For Children Rex and Zendah in the Land of the Crab...Esme Swainson ...............................57 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP Miscellaneous P.O. Box 713, Oceanside, California Consecration (Poem)...Frances Ridley Havergal........................Inside front cover 92049-0713 U.S.A. The Divine Ladder (Poem)...Ella Wheeler Wilcox...............................................7 2222 Mission Avenue Sowing and Reaping (Poem)...Thomas Hastings................................................11 Oceanside, CA 92054 U.S.A. Christian Initiations (two book excerpts)...Corinne Heline ................................17 Telephone: (760) 757-6600 Prayer...Gregory of Nyssa ...................................................................................32 Fax: (760) 721-3806 Face the Sun (Poem)...Anonymous.....................................................................34 Modem (BBS): (760) 721-1828 (8N1) INTERNET: E-mail: [email protected] “A Sane Mind, Address: ftp.cts.com A Soft Heart, Path: /pub/rosfshp Home Page on WWW: A Sound Body” http:/ /www.cts.com/~rosfshp/index.html ©1997 The Rosicrucian Fellowship FEATURE ROSAE CRUCIS Stretched on the Cross of the body, Crowned with the Thorns of Fate, Scourged by the Whips of Circumstance And stung by the Goads of hate, The true soul yields to the Father’s Will And strives for the dear Son’s part, And prays that the mystical Roses May cluster around his heart. But only through pain and sorrow, Through shame and the sweat of blood, Only as joys are yielded up And the things which the world holds good, May these mystical blooms of the Spirit Spread softly their petals apart, And the soul be aware that the Roses fair, Are growing around his heart. And lo! in the depths of Being, From the centers of Life and Love, Fanned by the Breath of the Spirit Like warmth and light from above, The first sweet shudder of rapture Thrills to each wounded part, And the soul is sure that the Roses pure Are budding around his heart. The Square swells out to the Circle As the Cross becomes the Crown, And the jewels of its power Are the nails that the flesh held down. And the seven Strengths of the Spirit Are the sins which the soul has bound, Till they become like roses in bloom That girdle the heart around. And one by one the Seven Shall live and bud and grow, As one by one the tasks are done And the toils are left below. And when the radiant garland Is blooming in every part, ã S c a When each dear Rose right softly blows n d i n a And is perfect in every part, v i a P Then the Son shall fulfill the Father’s Will u b l i s h i With the Glory around His Heart. n g H o u s —E. C. Tucker e Detail, The Crucifixion, 104 x 83 cm., 1870, Carl Bloch (1834-1890), Chapel, Fredricksborg Castle, Denmark 2 RAYS 97 EDITORIAL Making News UR PRESENT TIME is being is but fractionally called the “information age,” for good and tangentially reason. Access to what is known or helped by media just occurring has increased expo- developments. nentially as a result of technologies More likely are Othat permit the near-instantaneous transfer of vast they temptations amounts of data to any part of the world. that distract and We are able and urged to subscribe to newspa- divert our ener- pers, magazines, and journals that report on virtu- gies from a con- ally any subject. Telephones are cordless and secrated focus. portable, and those lacking this device can pur- Particularly in chase pagers that “buzz” them anytime, anywhere. computer technol- Television channels via cable networks have so ogy is the medium multiplied that the dedicated viewer tapes one the message, and show while viewing another. And, most noticeably, no amount of computers make possible not only E- (electronic) “access” will sub- Detail, Melozzo da Forli (1438-94), Uffizi, Florence mail, but by combining visual and aural inputs create stantively pro- Angel of the Annunciation what some enthusiasts describe as “virtual reality.” mote our spiritual The explosive growth of “communication” growth or advance matters of the heart. These are capabilities has been generally heralded as a won- qualitative concerns on which information per se has drous achievement. While we concur, we would scant bearing. Rather can more be less by way of also hasten to place these developments in context confusing our priorities and diluting the means we and add some caveats. use to realize them. Any technology is only as valuable as the use It is good to be informed, but mere information made of it. As persons who have elected to live affects us horizontally (as secular interests), while according to spiritual principles, we understand our chosen orientation is vertical (as spiritual aspi- that what we know benefits us and others only to ration). We need less information and more trans- the degree that we implement it. Information, how- formation. We need to be informed by the Holy ever voluminous, has no intrinsic value. Spirit, not the hourly news. How and toward what The electronic revolution is an octave expres- we direct our attention is paramount. We empha- sion of the industrial revolution and has aroused size performing the principles of love and service, the same utopian fantasies. The “good life” that and we practice silence (as internal prayer, listen- any material advance promises cannot be part of its ing, communing) as well as the ensouled word, be package. In fact, that life is discovered