When the student has perfected his body and mind, and has been able to pass through the door into nature’s consciousness, he becomes aware of the powers and properties which exist within her keeping. In full consciousness he works through the lower levels into the higher spheres of intelligence and, if he is worthy, he comes rapidly into the presence of these higher intelligences.
The wise men of the past have mapped out these higher divisions and have handed down secretly from generation to generation the scientific application of the power, by the use of will and imagination, to contact these different divisions of intelligence. If the student aspires for Truth, and for the light which is within him, he will, when worthy, receive recognition from these overlords of nature, and be given instruction by them. As he develops there will be placed a mark of approval upon him, for when he aspires to the Lord God of Truth within, the infinite and great Reality, he becomes conscious that there exist, in these inner worlds, beings who are evolving into the consciousness of the Reality, and who are regents of the great law of Truth.
Dwelling in a region of light they make themselves known to the student by clothing themselves in elemental matter and appearing to him, just as in the same way the more highly evolved souls can be perceived by the higher clairvoyants clothing themselves in mind stuff matter, so that we can register their appearance.
The same being can show himself as a youth, or an old man, but they generally show themselves in a costume which registers eternity to our minds. A Yogi once showed me a vision of three ancient avatars under whom he was working on tracing his descent. The student is instructed in the use and construction of a symbol, and if its operation is perfect, its higher counterpart is returned to him as a living elemental ensouled entity, of the sphere of intelligence that the symbol represents. If the student is seeking the higher knowledge which is within the keeping of those beings who stand in the presence of the light, he listens in to receive the illumination period of instruction, which is poured into him from this sphere of splendor and brightness.
This science of the use of symbols may be called an absolute science, but knowledge of the practical operation of nature’s forces can be given only to the seeker for light. The symbol of the “winged globe” over the doorways of the Egyptian temples contained in its essence all that man needs to know. When we approach nature and study, for instance, the oak tree, we realize why the ancients dedicated this tree to Jupiter, and when man studies it, its atmosphere and character of expression, he gains the courage to face the world and stand upright. It symbolizes much to the seer, for in one way it is a “half-way house to God.”
If we look upon virgin gold, its character appears to the student entirely different from gold as seen from the commercial point of view. The student never looks upon it as a commodity. He meditates upon it for the essence of the spirit which it contains. In the vegetable kingdom we look upon the oak tree as having something of the nature of the higher counterpart of gold. The Druids of old recognized this, and with the Greeks, approached it with the greatest reverence, and they also worshipped the mistletoe, which came into its keeping.
At the equinox, when the sun passes into Capricorn, new life passes into the sap and it begins to flow upward in the oak tree. At this time the sacred mistletoe was reverently cut with the golden sickle of the priest and caught on a linen sheet. It was too holy to be touched by the human hand, and from its atmosphere came the prophecies for the New Year.
Men who live among oak trees assimilate their atmosphere of strength, courage, and protection, and take it out into their world. The nation that worships and protects its oak trees becomes like the character of the tree, and is never defeated.
In some future day, scientists will study the type of people which nature’s environment produces, and they will recall what has happened to the races which cut down and despoiled their trees. Those nations which have cultivated the oak have withstood the toil and struggle longest. When a country destroys its oak trees, great strength departs from the land.
There are certain shrubs and trees in nature whose atmosphere forms a universal flux, which is allowed to pass through the atmosphere of other trees. They have a power and speed which other trees lack and, when directed by thought, they become messengers of the gods. The hazel rod, the wand of the magician in nature, has an atmosphere similar to the serpent fire in man, and is allied to the third power in nature, the hidden power of which we have spoken, which in man is found below the navel. It is that hidden power which the adepts in judo use to overcome an attack. Judo practice is the power, on the physical plane, of overcoming one’s enemy by softness. It is that which is gentleness and that which is strength and, when developed, it is unconquerable in man or nature.
