AN ESOTERI C READI NG OF BIBLI CAL SYMBOLISM AN ES OT ERI C READ ING O F BI BL I CAL SYM BO L IS M HARRI ET TUTTLE BARTLETT SA N FRA NCI SCO PHILO POLIS PRESS 1 9 1 6 3 5 5 34 COPY RI GHT 1 91 6 BY HARRI ET TUTTLE BARTLETT AUG23 "3MA4 37 7 30 T F NT NT ABLE O CO E S . FOREWORD INTRODUCTION P LATE EXP LAN ATION OF P LATE HAP K Y OF TH E B C TER I . E NOTE BI LE M CHAP TER II . YSTERIES P OF THE CHAP TER III . META HYSICAL IDEAS ANCIENT HEBREWS TH E F CHAP TER IV . STORY O CREATION H P S N OF TH E OF C A TER V . IGNIFICA CE GENEALOGY S HEM AND TH E WORK OF ABRAHAM AND LOT H VI AND TH E C AP TER . NOAH FLOOD H VI I TH E S F TH E TW O E C AP TER . IGNIFICANCE O COV N ANTS OF ABRAHAM M CHAP TER VIII . OSES H P I " IN TH E C A TER . REINCARNATION BIBLE P AN BE E I N H CHA TER " . C JESUS IDENTIFI D OT ER LIVES ? H " RE R OF C AP TER I . A THESE SOME INCA NATIONS OUR BLESSED CHRIST ? " I THE F E zEKIEL CHAP TER I . VISIONS O H P " EH OVAH N O C A TER III . J COMMANDED BLOODY SACRIFICES 1 51 H P " I V ON P 1 57 C A TER . LIGHT THROWN OBSCURE ASSAGES GLOSSARY OF SYMBOLS AND OBSOLETE WORDS 1 61 F REW RD O O . I send this little book out into the w orld as an humble tribute ru to the cause of t th , with heartfelt gratitude to the Master Jesus for the patient guidance and illuminations that have been given me during the years that I have been pondering over the pages r a h of the Scriptures of the A y n race , realizing fully that I ave sensed bu t a very small part of the wonders that lie hidden beneath the wonderful symbolic utterances of that marvelous Mystic Book , but full of joy that I have found enough to reveal ’ to me something of the wondrous beauty of God s plan for the evolution of man . m Mistakes , there are any, no doubt , that better scholarship , or s m greater piritual perceptions may reveal, as ti e goes on , but I m have tried to give it exactly as it was presented to y mind , and what mistakes there are , are the result of undeveloped faculties i a m m try ng to grasp ideas too gre t for the to co prehend . These t me fac s , however , came to with such illuminative force , that I cannot but hope that they may prove equally helpful to others who are struggling in the bonds of mistaken conceptions of what the Bible really teaches . ' We are standing upon but the threshold of the Temple of wi Truth , and can but glimpse the glories lying thin , but each step we take forward brings us nearer to the vision celestial ; and “ fior m no e t made with the right otive will be lost . Knowing this first , that no prophecy of Scripture is of special interpretation . For no prophecy eve r came by the will of man : but man spake m l ” H . 2 0 2 1 from God being oved by the o y Spirit II Peter , I, and . s m Here we are ju tified in searching out the hidden inner eaning, m “ as , indeed we are in any passages that refer to the Mysteries of Jesus . Occultists tell us that all Scripture has s even diff erent mean ings intended to assist man at each of the seven difierent planes m of his evolution , and this see s to be true . At each step that we AN ESOTERIC READING OF BIBLICAL SYMBOLISM is take , we find that the tale told just what we most need to direct r us along the path . To the w iter they have ever spoken in no uncertain tone . ns These illuminations have brought to me such u peakable joy , e and peac , such conviction and strength of inspiration , that to those at the same stage of progress I feel sure that they mus t of m . e necessity co e as a blessing To thos farther along upon the path , they will perhaps seem crude , while to those not so far advanced m they may in so e cases be unintelligible . They are sent out to those who need them , to those to whom they appeal . May the Master bless them as they start upon their long journey to hunt the m m hearts that need them ; may they in so e small way, help to ake as s straight the way of the Great M ter Chri t , when He again - ol ma comes to this sin sick d world ; and y they help , at least a few earnest souls to gain the token by which they may know Him when He appears . H ARRIET TUTTLE BARTLETT . INTRODUCTION It may be well to explain in a few words , something of the m t s ethod by which hese conclu ions have been arrived at . The Bible read in the literal way that is customary with the s c purely orthodox , fail to stand the test of histori and scientific m research , because of the erroneous assu ptions of the translators , who were misled by lack of the information that is now coming in such abundance to us . It is gratifying to see that the recent translators have discarded the foolish chronology which has caused m so uch trouble , and while it is somewhat disconcerting to think of the many reckonings that are thrown into confusion as to time s by this step , yet it was positively necessary to understand thing as they are . Scientific inves tigation has done much In giving us data upon — which to calculate, in a general way, but to Oriental research , especially through philological lines , do we owe much of the information that is proving a golden key by which we may unl ock the storehouses of ancient wisdom that throw light upon the obscure portions of our Sacred Book . To state it briefly, these investigations have brought out the fact that the most ancient s m Sacred MSS . gave out the a e great fundamental truths upon which our own religion is based . Many great natural laws are explained and about the same ethical standard is upheld as w e have been accustomed to connect with the teachings of our own ff faith ; the di erence being , if any, rather in favor of the superi ori ty of the standard upheld by the ancients as being attainable . “ Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father in heaven is per ” m m a fect was to the an attainable ideal, while to us it see s m monstrous assu ption . As we study, we see that the weakness in our own system lies in the fact that the Christian Mysteries have been temporarily lost , due to the political aspirations of the church from the fourth century, but abundant evidence exists that they were a part of 3 AN ESOTERIC READING OF BIBLICAL SYMBOLISM the Apostolic Church , and that the early Church Fathers owed their unusual spiritual strength to the influence of this special training . We find there are certain symbols that are universal , to which the hidden truths have been confided during the ages , and that s s m the m m the e y bols tell sa e tale , no atter where they may be ma h found, no matter what the language of the people y be . T en we look and find these same symbols telling the same story in our own Bible . The Hebrew language lent itself with unusual felicity to the veiled work of the Mysteries , as it was a purely consonantal language , each letter having a numerical value , and each number n ot s having an esoteric significance . It is surpri ing that the has m m message re ained hidden under the circu stances . It was m perfectly safe until the ti e was ripe for its disclosure . Evidently ’ ‘ ’ u ntil man s the Master s will controlled the situation . Not intui him tion develops will the secrets of the ages be revealed to . Th e translation of the personal nouns and geographical names , often gives the key to an allegory, but , in this line of work , one is often hindered by the fact that the meaning of the word has o . been l st in the course of the ages By taking the root , however , m tracing it back as nearly as possible to its other tongue , one may often get a meaning that clearly dovetails with the obvious m ean ing of the text in such a way as to justify the inference that the right one has been found, or at least something very near to it . In studying the allegorical meaning of the Bible the writer finds that it is wise to stick to the s piritual meaning consistently w a all the y through , not read one passage allegorically and the next literally which causes the garbled result so Often Obtained by Biblical scholars . m m This line of study , however , de onstrates that the lower ind TO m alone cannot give satisfactory results .