“A Sane Mind, A Soft Heart, A Sound Body” September/October 2003—$5.00 THE LETTER TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN PHILADELPHIA AFTER DYING THE VIRGIN MARY AND CHRISTIAN ROSENKREUTZ ANIMALS AND INVISIBLE HELPERS A CHRISTIAN ESOTERIC MAGAZINE A PRAYER My God, who is all about me, in me, and through me, I need not speak unto Thee With the slow, limited speech of men. What could I tell Thee, or what ask Thee That is unknown to Thee, my Lord? Nor need I even think to Thee, Nor with my lame, weak, faltering mind Attempt to turn Thy glorious face to “meward.” Thou canst see within my transparent mind All the thoughts that are or ever were. Ah, but when I come to Thee with desiring Greater than words or thought— With yearning which wrings the very blood From my loving heart, Then am I instantly enfolded Within Thy great, ecstatic bosom— Oh, my Father, Mother, Love, and Life. —S.O. Poole Back cover: Seasons, Corel Professional Photos. Front Cover: Planet Art. Stained glass from Christ Church Cathedral, 1832, Corel. Above: Clouds and Sky, Corel Photos This Issue... Feature Late I Have Loved Thee...St. Augustine ...............................................................2 A Editorial Christian Esoteric The Virgin—Cosmic and Egoic ............................................................................3 Mystic Light Magazine Studies in the Apocalypse—Part 5...Valentin Tomberg ........................................4 The Leaven of Life...Jack L. Burtt........................................................................9 Established by The Dark Night of Mother Teresa...Carol Zaleski. .............................................11 Max Heindel The Virgin Mary and Christian Rosenkreutz...Kwassi Laurent Djondo.............15 June 1913 After Dying (Part 2)...Marcia Malinova-Anthony ..............................................21 The Creation of Heroes—A Myth...Elsa Glover.................................................27 Volume 88 Animals and Invisible Helpers...Amber Tuttle ...................................................28 From Max Heindel’s Writings No. 3 Immortality of the Soul .......................................................................................33 Readers’ Questions May/June Who Are the Manichees? ....................................................................................35 1996 The Cross and Roses Meditation ........................................................................36 Western Wisdom Bible Study USPS 47080 The Vicarious Atonement...A Student.................................................................37 ISSN 0744-432X Astrology Subscription in U.S.: one year, $15.00; two Toward Freedom...Elizabeth Ray........................................................................39 years, $28.00. California residents add applica- The Wisdom of the Stars...Bessie Leo.................................................................44 ble sales tax to all orders. Canada, Mexico and all other countries: one year, $20.00; two years, God’s Message Through Virgo...Rosicrucian Fellowship Staff Members..........47 $38.00. Prices are in U.S. dollars and include News Perspectives postage. Foreign subscribers: please check cur- Microcosmic Music.............................................................................................50 rent exchange rates for proper amount. Current single copies: $3.00. Second class postage paid Book Reviews at Oceanside, California, 92049-0713, U.S.A. Emanuel Swedenborg—Seeker, Scientist, Seer...C.W. .......................................52 Postmaster: Send address change to Rays from the Rose Cross, P.O. Box 713, Oceanside, CA Nutrition and Health 92049-0713, U.S.A. Cosmic Illumination, A Story of Healing...Edna Tradewell .................................56 Writers of published articles are alone responsi- ble for statements made. Manuscripts needed Healing for all departments of the Rays. That Perilous Stuff...............................................................................................59 Issued bi-monthly. Change of address must For Children reach us by the 1st of month preceding any Fairies...Max Heindel ..........................................................................................60 issue. Address ALL correspondence and make ALL remittances payable to The Rosicrucian Miscellaneous Fellowship. A Prayer...S.O. Poole.....................................................................inside front cover Rest is Harmonious Action...Max Heindel .........................................................26 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY Librans—A Brief Profile...Isabel Hickey............................................................43 THE ROSICRUCIAN FELLOWSHIP Emanuel Swedenborg (poem)...Jorge Luis Borges .............................................54 P.O. Box 713, Oceanside, California September/October 2003 Ephemerides..........................................................61-62 92049-0713 U.S.A. 2222 Mission Avenue Oceanside, CA 92054 U.S.A. “A Sane Mind, A Soft Heart, Telephone: (619) 757-6600 Modem (BBS): (619) 721-1828 A Sound Body” Fax: (619) 721-3806 © 2003 The Rosicrucian Fellowship FEATURE Photo:Lee Marton ate have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved Thee: for behold Thou wert within me, and I outside; and I sought Thee outside, and in my Lunloveliness fell upon those lovely things that Thou hast made. Thou wert with me, and I was not with Thee. I was kept from Thee by those things, yet had they not been in Thee, they would not have been at all. Thou didst call and cry to me to break open my deafness: and Thou didst send forth Thy beams and shine upon me and chase away my blindness: Thou didst breathe fragrance upon me, and I drew in my breath and do now pant for Thee: I tasted Thee, and now hunger and thirst for Thee: Thou didst touch me, and I have burned for Thy peace. —St. Augustine 2 RAYS 03 EDITORIAL Cosmic The Virgin: and Egoic V OR those who tread Spirits of Earth, preparing for the irgin of the Lilies (detail), William Bouguereau, private collection the path of faith and birth of the Christ within our- devotion, the Church selves, which parallels her histor- is conceived to be the ical role in preparing for His womb of faith in which ingress into the Earth. The forma- Fthe sinner is made ready, that the tion of the Christ within, “putting Christ may be formed in us. For millions Mary is Him on,” is the objective of every Christian man identified with the Church. Through her many and and woman, every true spiritual aspirant. varied appearances, she has nurtured that faith, Mary has appeared to numerous individuals and deepening the piety of religious believers. groups of people, many of these apparitions occur- In Corinne Heline's The Blessed Virgin we read ring in the 20th century, increasing in number from that it is Mary, as the eternal Madonna, that "St. previous centuries, as though a critical time is John saw in his sublime vision....the Woman clothed nearing. She appears differently to different people in the Sun with the Moon at her feet, and crowned and comes to be known by a special name and with the glory of the twelve stars representing the visage associated with each appearance. celestial circle of the zodiacal hierarchies." In Thomas Petrisko's Call of Ages, one visionary In the age of Pisces, the age of Faith, Christ maintains that Mary "will be the Queen for the Jesus is seen as He who died on the Cross of Coming Age. The Queen will be white for the matter, that we might live in spirit consciousness. white people, black for the black people, and yel- Mary, the mother of Jesus, is represented by the low for the people with yellowish complexion." opposite sign of Virgo, the sign of the "Immaculate There is much in the Marian apparitions that Conception," which mediates the birth of Christ. In seems to speak of the coming Age of Aquarius, of scripture Mary responds to the Angel Gabriel, Universal Brotherhood, which, according to Max "Behold the handmaid of the Lord," exemplifying Heindel, will be in full sway in about 500 years. perfect submission of the earthly self to the divine The messages received from Mary warn against Identity. Heline writes, "The feminine typifies an the work of the Evil One in the world, Lucifer, the awakened and illumined soul, and the Christ con- fallen angel, and his agents, who influence us sciousness can be born only in one so attained." through our debased passions, our lusts, and nega- It is through purification of our vehicles and tive lower emotions. A second class of spirits, selfless service to others that we build the Golden briefly referred to in the Bible, cloud our mind Wedding Garment, enabling us to become brides against spiritual reality and our true Identity. of Christ, the Life Spirit. Whether in any incarna- In her communications, Mary is repeatedly call- tion the Ego is male or female, the divine feminine, ing us to repent, to change our thinking, to repudi- the heart element of impersonal love, must be ele- ate the fallen ways of the world, and to pray for vated if we are to become spiritually whole, holy. peace. There is a message here for all of us, as we Mary, that high initiate and mother of Christ strive for a life of purity and selfless service, both Jesus, performs a special service to the Virgin keywords of Virgo, the Virgin. ❐ RAYS 03 3 MYSTIC LIGHT Letter to the Angel of the Church in Sardis Conclusion Letter to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia Part 1 HE INTRODUCTION of the personal into the sphere of the objective