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Chapter IV
CHAPTER III
THE UNIVERSAL CRYSTALLINE SPHERE
There is little doubt of the possibility of developing the
power to "see things" of an unusual and unlooked for
nature, if a certain course of action is persisted in. The
drunkard proves this possibility beyond shadow of doubt. But as
to the value of what is then perceived, and even the value of
what we may perceive as a result of our concentrated attention on
the crystal, that requires further consideration, and a careful
decision on the part of the would-be seer, as to what he is
prepared to accept as truth, and what he is willing to reject as
valueless, despite -- perhaps -- its fascinating appearance.
Here we find ourselves in much deeper waters, but it will be
well worth while to give the matter careful consideration, for it
is written: "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul?"
We cannot afford to take any chances of exchanging The Soul --
our Greater Crystalline Sphere -- for any lesser consideration
that may fascinate us by means of reflection in our Glass Globe
or Lesser Crystalline Sphere.
Mr. Melville, while pointing out in his little book that the
ancient and more elaborate methods of using the Crystal involve a
great deal more preparation, and possibly more danger on account
of the fact that in olden times the Seers did not use the Crystal
so much as a means to personal clairvoyance, as in order to
compel the actual presence of certain genii or spirits in the
crystal, and to obtain therefrom answers to such questions as
might be propounded by the querent rather discounts the value of
the more practical application therein implied.
He says "That as the ordinary experimenter of today has
no desire to compel the presence of a spiritual being in the
crystal, it is quite unnecessary for him or her to draw magic
circles, or to go to the trouble and expense of acquiring and
using special or costly apparatus, with the exception of the
crystal itself." But, after all, let us pay a little
attention to what we are doing, before we accept too readily the
statement that a certain degree of trouble and expense are
unnecessary and the assurance that we can place reliance on the
results obtained by the simple method of gazing into the crystal
and taking a chance as to what we see presented to our inner
vision. The Ancients, generally speaking, were not half so easily
deceived as many moderns who dabble in arts and sciences with
very little real knowledge as to what they are undertaking or
expect as a result.
I can do no better than quote a brief article which appeared
in an American Magazine, written by The Master Therion, on:
THE OUIJA BOARD.
"Suppose a perfect stranger came into your office
and proceeded to give orders to your staff. Suppose a strange
woman walked into your drawing room and insisted on being
hostess. You would be troubled by this. Yet, people sit down and
offer the use of their brains and hands (which are, after all,
more important than offices and drawing rooms) to any stray
intelligences that may be wandering about. People use the Ouija
Board without taking the slightest precautions.
"The establishment of the identity of a spirit by
ordinary methods is a very difficult problem, but the majority of
people who play at Occultism do not even worry about this, They
get something, and it does not seem to matter what! Every
inanity, every stupidity, every piece of rubbish, is taken not
only on its face value, but at an utterly exaggerated value. The
most appallingly bad poetry will pass for Shelly, if only its
authentication be that of a planchette! There is, however a good
way of using this instrument to get what you want, and that is to
perform the whole operation in a consecrated circle, so that
undesirable aliens cannot interfere with it. You should then
employ the proper magical invocation in order to get into your
circle the one spirit that you want. It is comparatively easy to
do this. A few simple instructions are all that is necessary, and
I shall be pleased to give these, free of charge, to anyone who
cares to apply.
"It is not particularly easy to get the spirit of a dead
man, because the human soul, being divine, is not amenable to the
control of other human souls; and it is further not legitimate or
desirable to do it. But what can be done is to pick up the astral
remains of the dead man from the Akasha and to build them up into
a concrete mind. This operation, again, is not, particularly
profitable. The only legitimate work in this line is to get into
touch with the really high intelligences, such as we call Gods,
Archangels, and the like. These can give real information as to
what is most necessary for our progress. And it is written in the
Oracles of Zoroaster that unto the Persevering Mortal the Blessed
Immortals are swift."
* * *
Here, for the case of the Ouija Board applies equally to the
Crystal, we find a masterly common-sense explanation of why the
ancient and modern adepts resort to more careful, if more
elaborate, methods to insure proper results. The danger lies in
failure to adopt them, rather than the reverse.
But, after all, we have been considering the crystal chiefly
as an aid to the development of our Inner Self, rather than the
possibility of Divination by its means. In this course we should
persist for the present.
In Melville's work we find a Plate showing the operator seated
before his table with his gaze fixed upon the crystal (which
being on a stand is nearly at the level of his eyes), while the
rays of magnetism, following the line of vision focussed in the
eyes, spread out slightly till they reach the crystal, then
widely diverge as representing the Universal attraction of the
Crystal itself. In other words, The Universal forces and the
Human forces meet at the point of the Crystal and thus produce
the vision.
Up to this point we had only taken into consideration the
Lesser Crystalline Sphere, and the Greater one, or The Soul of
Man, but had left out of account the Corresponding Sphere of a
Universal Nature. This will be dealt with more fully in its
proper place, meanwhile a few words may be said on the modus
operandi of bringing the enquirer into direct contact with
the crystal, and through its medium, with the unseen world.
Melville suggests:
"(1) By Concentration in the Crystal of the greatest
possible influx of celestial or terrestrial magnetism, or both.
"(2) By Concentration in the Body of the operator of
unalloyed magnetism, through the purity of the amatory functions.
"(3) By Concentration of the Mind, through the mental
faculty of "Concentrativeness," acting through the
Phrenolegical Brain "centre" located in the superior
portion of the First Occipital convolution of the Cerebrum."
All the above, it will be seen, imply CONCENTRATION, and this
is all focussed in the Crystal.
The real key to the reference to our "amatory
functions" is that we must "fall in love with the
object of our work" for Love is the tendency of any two
things to become one, thus losing themselves in a third idea,
different from either of them. When the experimenter has so
concentrated his attention on the crystal that no other
idea enters his mind, the SEER and the SEEN, as it were, rush
together and blend into a vision of a more Universal Order. Self
and the Crystal are both forgotten when this
"marriage" takes place.
Now comes an interesting question. Is it necessary that the crystal
or other magical link or material basis be within
sight of the operator at all? Again, may the concentration of
the mind of the operator on a point within his own being
produce similar, perhaps better results? In other words, is the crystal
but a means towards CONCENTRATION OF MIND, which when
accomplished may be better transferred to some other centre or
focal point.
In regard to the question of the magical link the
author may quote one of his own early experiences which may be of
interest to some other students.
On May 28th, 1914 between 10:10 and 10:35 P. M. his Magical
Record shows that in accordance with instructions received from
the great Order of which he was then a Neophyte, he was
attempting to answer the following Examination Question from a
series of practical questions forming part of the task of his
Grade.
"Discover by means of Astral Visions the nature of the
Alchemical principles Sulphur, Mercury, and Salt. How do they
differ from the Three Gunas and from the Elements Fire, Water and
Air?"
Without going into the means of Astral Vision (not the
crystal) or the early part of the visions, we may quote the
following entry from his record:
"Thirdly, I considered "Salt" and there came a
vision of a ship upon the sea, this ship presently struck a rock
and was sucked down into the depths of, the ocean, to rise no
more. And I meditated upon this, as the action of Tamas, sloth.
Once strike the "Earth" and its "Waters" (or
Tamas) will draw you down and hold you fast, more surely than
either the energy of Sulphur or the calm of Mercury."
"May 29th, 1914. Last night, after entering diary about
11:5 P. M. I felt very cold indeed, and went over to the next
camp to fetch R. I was still shivering when I went to bed. This
morning, at the Railway Station, I heard of the sinking of 'The
Empress of Ireland'.
"It was not until after my arrival at the office that I
remembered the vision I obtained last night, when it suddenly
flashed across my mind as a strange coincidence. On further
thought I noticed the time (10:15 to 10:30 P. M. Vancouver
British Columbia.) exactly corresponded to 2:30 A. M. at Quebec
where the time is 4 hours different. The "Empress" went
down at 2:30 A. M."
I thought this of sufficient interest from a scientific point
of view (although the vision had come to me merely as a Symbol of
the Element, Water) to take a little trouble to prove that I had
recorded the vision before I could possibly have heard of
the accident and within 10 minutes of the actual event the other
side of the Continent, so I got a friend to fetch my diary from
home and to witness the fact of the entry.
Was the thought form produced by the occurrence transmitted to
me while in a receptive state of mind; and had the shivering
anything to do with the condition?
Now comes the interesting point. All the above may have been
coincidence, but I was interested, some months later, to receive
a letter marked "RECOVERED BY DIVERS FROM THE WRECK OF THE
EMPRESS OF IRELAND" and returned with the Government stamp
to that effect thereon. This letter turned out to be the one I
had written to Fra. 0. M. on May 21st INFORMING HIM THAT I WAS
ABOUT TO COMMENCE THIS SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS." (See Figures
II and III.)
In the above instance the LETTER containing the magnetism of
the writer, seems to have been a sufficient link, at a distance
of thousands of miles, to produce a SYMBOLIC VISION of the nature
sometimes seen in Crystals.
But it must be remembered that the mind of the Seer chanced at
that time to be CONCENTRATED, not on the lesser crystal but
within His Greater Crystalline Sphere, the Astral portion of his
Sphere of Sensation, or MAGIC MIRROR OF THE UNIVERSE.
This, in the properly trained Seer, becomes of far greater
importance than the exterior crystal globe, for although
it but reflects the Higher Visions, it does so directly
not by relays. Also it is more like a Hollow Sphere at
the CENTRE of which is the CONSCIOUSNESS of the OPERATOR.
We may now consider how the Ancients looked upon the Universe
as to its formation. Their plan does not tally with modern
scientific ideas, but it was probably the result of their own experience
of Higher Planes, and as before stated, however perfect the
Vision it to not true when brought down to this plane.
According to the anonymous author of "The Canon,"
the cosmos of the Christians, according to late writers, but
presumably derived from the tradition of the ancient church,
consisted of three principal divisions: First, there were the
three circles of the empyreum, secondly, the sphere of the fixed
stars, together with the seven planets; and, lastly the
sublunary, or elementary world.
The accompanying diagram and description will make the matter
clear. At the Centre of their conception is the Earth, or
Elementary Kingdom, around which circled the Moon. Outside this,
is a series of concentric spheres of the Planetary Influences.
First Mercury, then Venus, The Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn,
beyond which great sphere is to be found that of the Zodiac or
Star Universe. BUT OUTSIDE THAT AGAIN is what they conceived as
THE CRYSTALLINE SPHERE, as it were the Magic Mirror of Heaven
about which was the Primum Mobile or Whirling Motion and Finally
the Great Unknown Empyreum. (See Figure IV.)
If we can get but a faint conception of this UNIVERSAL
CRYSTALLINE SPHERE, we shall be well repaid for the trouble and
pains we may be at to accomplish this. In order that we may
attain to that Perfect Clear Vision, known to the Adepts, we must
learn to receive the Light of this Universal Sphere in the
Crystal Soul of our own being, thus obtaining true Knowledge of
the Higher Self, and finally of God and The Universe.
We may well stand in awe before the greatness of this
conception, as compared - perhaps - with the aims we set out to
accomplish at the beginning of our practice. Yet "The soul
of man is immortal, and its future Is the future of a thing whose
growth and splendour have no limit. The principle that gives life
dwells In us, and without us, is undying and eternally
beneficent, is not heard or seen or felt, but is perceived by the
man who desires perception. Each man is his own absolute
law-giver, the dispenser of glory or gloom to himself, the
decreer of his life, his reward, his punishment." (Idyll of
the White Lotus.)
And we, each and every one, must choose for him or herself,
whether we linger on the way, or with untiring effort press
onward to the true goal of Clear Vision.
Table of
Contents Chapter II
Chapter IV
