Skip to main content

Glorian averages 100 donors a month. Are you one of the few who keep Glorian going? Donate now.


It has been stated throughout the Alchemical tradition that the entire basis of Alchemy is Mercury, and that without Mercury there could be no Alchemy. We have saved this topic about Mercury until now [the end of the course], because it is not easy to understand. We wanted to first give you a basic introduction to the concept and the practice of Alchemy, so that you get a sense of what Alchemy is and what it means, because without that, you cannot understand what Mercury is.

Mercury is the foundation of the temple, but you cannot understand what the foundation is unless you see what the temple is first. If you saw the foundation alone, it would not make any sense. So first we showed you the temple; the temple is yourself, your Being, the full development of ultimately what you should be. Mercury is what makes that possible, and that is why Samael Aun Weor stated:

“The wings of Mercury elevate us to the world of gods.”

So let us study Mercury and understand what it means.

Today we are going to conclude our talks about Alchemy, and pull together the series of lectures that we have given. In the previous lectures about Alchemy we established a broad overview of the basic concepts and structures of practice in Alchemy, not the history and not the theories, but the actual material, energy, and consciousness involved in the process of Alchemy: what it means to transmute matter, energy and consciousness, to transform it completely. Alchemy is a science of transmutation; that means that it is a science of “thorough change,” which is what transmutation means.

Transmutation is not just in relation to matter, such as sexual matter or any other physical matter like metals or chemicals, but rather, transmutation refers to the entirety of a given thing. Alchemy is about transforming ourselves. That is the real secret of Alchemy.

So let us study Mercury and understand what it means.

Hermes

This first image shows an ancient painting of the god Hermes.

Hermes Mercury

The Greeks called him Hermes; the Romans called him Mercury. The Alchemical tradition talks about Mercury, and used Latin to hide many of the secrets of Alchemy, but really, the word Mercury comes from the Greek Hermes. So we need to study the Greek.

In the Greek tradition, Hermes is the messenger of the gods, the one who conveys all the knowledge and wisdom of the gods to the other gods and to human kind, and even into hell. 

"Zeus who masses the clouds made answer... turned to his dear son Hermes: ‘Hermes, you are always our messenger.’" - Homer, Odyssey (8th century B.C.) 

"Glorious Hermes, the herald of the deathless gods (keryx athanaton)..." - Hesiod, Theogony (8th or 7th century B.C.)

Hermes is also a symbol of that force of divinity that guides those who have died; he guides the dead to their next residence. He also guides souls out of the lower realms.

"Zeus himself... commanded that glorious Hermes... should be the appointed messenger to Haides...” - Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes (7th to 4th century B.C.)

"The winged Herald [Hermes] visits Tartarus as ordered [by Zeus, to recover Persephone from Haides], returns quicker than hope...” - Ovid, Fasti (1st century B.C. to C1st A.D.) 

All of us here, who are suffering in the lower worlds, need the help of Hermes Mercury if we are to get out. 

Of course, in this tradition we always study these symbols for what they are: symbols, myths that hide a truth. The symbol of Mercury hides something in ourselves. 

The dead warrior on this vase does not represent a literal dead warrior; it represents a warrior of consciousness. It represents someone who is dying mystically, psychologically, someone who is sacrificing himself, and destroying and removing all that is impure and animal in order to be reborn as something new. Mercury, Hermes is the one who facilitates that process of thorough change.

Hermes Mercury

These two images show typical representations of Hermes, Mercury. Hermes Mercury is always shown with his heralds staff, which nowadays is called a caduceus. He also has wings on his head and on his feet. 

When we look at this image, which is from a Greek vase, on the left we see that he is pouring something into a fire. The figure on the other side of this vase is the goddess Athena / Nike, the goddess of victory, the goddess of war and wisdom.

The image on the right is a typical Latin or Roman style Mercury with his magic helmet and his caduceus and again he is with the cubic stone under his feet.

Hermes and his mother Maia

Here we see Mercury, Hermes with his mother Maia. This is significant because as we have explained in many lectures the syllable “ma” is always related with the mother. So in the Greek mysteries we see that Hermes, Mercury is the outcome or a product of Ma, the letter “M”. This is very significant, as you will soon see.

Here in this image he has his panpipes, one of his inventions, gifts to humanity. The panpipes are a series of seven cylindrical tubes through which he plays music, notes. Those seven tubes or seven passageways also have esoteric significance, and correspond to the flute of Krishna, and The Magic Flute of Mozart.

Hermes Mercury

Here we see again typical representations of Hermes. He is accompanied by a goat, a ram, or a lamb, and also a rooster. These are symbols that represent Hermes, which are very similar in modern times to the symbols that are used to represent Christ. Christ is represented by a lamb and also by a rooster.

On the right we see the caduceus. The caduceus nowadays is wrongly applied to the medical tradition. This was a mistake that was introduced into our culture about one hundred years ago by a single man who applied that symbol wrongly to the military medical tradition in North America. The actual medical symbol is a different symbol. It is a single serpent on a staff. The caduceus has two serpents on a rod, and there are many variations of this symbol.

These drawings here are the most modern versions, but if you look at the Greek they look quite different. In any case they all represent something significant, a single straight staff with two winding serpents on the sides and on the top wings. All of this represents something spiritual but in relation with ourselves, in relation with our inner physiology and psychology. 

Facts about Hermes

The name Hermes comes from ερμενηυς Hermeneus, which means “the interpreter.” In Greek mythology, the job of Hermes was to be the messenger of the gods. In Greek mythology, Hermes was famous and known for his quality of speech, was a powerful speaker and could convince people. In other words, Hermes is related with the Word, or what in Greek is called λόγος, the Logos.

“In the beginning was λόγος (Logos, the Word), and λόγος (Logos, the Word) was with θεός (Theos, God), and λόγος (Logos, the Word) was θεός (Theos, God).” - John 1:1

The Logos is related with the superior trinity on the Tree of Life; Kether, Chokmah, Binah. This is the first, second, and third logoi, or the logos as a trinity. Hermes is the messenger of that trinity, the one who conveys the Word. As such, Hermes is able to travel anywhere in the cosmos. He is one of the few in Greek mythology that could enter and leave hell at will. This is a very significant symbol. 

Logos

Furthermore, the Greeks said that Hermes invented fire. In this sense, he is exactly the same as Prometheus, who delivered fire to mankind. 

He also invented the lyre, the instrument that Orpheus and Apollo play. A lyre is a seven stringed musical instrument much like a harp. He invented the pan pipes, the alphabet, numbers, astronomy, music, fighting arts and many other factors. All of which represent one thing: Kabbalah, the mathematics of existence.

Kabbalah is a science of numbers. It is a science in which we analyze letters and numbers and hidden meaning and structures that are hidden in all things. All of these inventions of Hermes boil down to that. Hermes is a symbol or a patron of knowledge, learning, books, writing, speech. All of this is significant. 

Again, we are not just describing a so-called, supposed “god” from ancient times that no one believes is real. Hermes Mercury represents an aspect of ourselves, an aspect of the Being, of divinity, a living, vibrating, actual force in nature that the Alchemist learns to work with. Hermes Mercury is inside of us.

The sacred number of Hermes is the number four.

Hermes Criophorus

We see in this image one of the typical interpretations of Hermes amongst the Greeks. He was known as Hermes Criophorus, the lamb bearer. So you will see many different paintings and drawings of Hermes carrying a ram, lamb, or a goat.

Hermes was the god of sacrifices. He would be the one to bring the lamb, the goat or the ram to the sacrifice to the gods. This is also very significant., as we will soon see.

The Herm

I am presenting all of these facts so that we can understand the actual nature of Hermes. 

On thing that you won’t often encounter is that the name of Hermes actually comes from the Greek word ἑρμῆς herma, which refers to a rectangular or square stone with a very interesting structure. A herma is a small pillar with a human head on top, and directly in the center is an erect masculine sexual organ. 

herm

Students are not taught these facts when learning about Greek mythology, yet this is the most significant symbol of Hermes, the most important. 

The Hermai were placed at crossroads all over Greece. A cross roads is a cross, an intersection of four directions. The cross is not merely a Christian symbol; it is universal. So we already can see a very strong connection between Hermes and the Christ of the Christians: the cross, the number four, the ram, the lamb, the rooster, being born from the mother Maia, Maria, Mary.

As a symbol of protection and a divine blessing, the herm were placed at crossroads, temples, borders, boundaries, and many other places.

herm

The Greeks would make offerings to these stones. The hermai were considered so sacred that even in times of war invaders would not damage the Hermai of their enemies. They would destroy everything else, but not the Hermai. That is how sacred they where considered to be, and with good reason. This symbol hides everything about the most sacred heart of the Greek mysteries, and Alchemy, Gnosis, Christianity, Egyptian mysticism, Asian mysticism. It is all hidden in that simple symbol.

The head represents the divinity, the perfected man, the primordial Adam who comes out of the stone, who is perfected, sculpted, crafted out of the philosophical stone, the philosophical earth. 

The method to create a perfect being is through a refined use of the same energy we use to create any other being: the erect masculine sexual organ, through sexual energy. A perfect being is created through the upright, proper use of sex, with mindfulness of the Divine, the source of sexual power.

So this symbol from the Eleusinian mysteries is the heart and soul of the Greek mythology. These are mysteries that were never communicated to humanity openly and publicly, until now. There are many who claim to know all its secrets, but truly, very few do, because those secrets are only conveyed through the internal worlds to those who are awakened. The real secrets, the highest knowledge, is not given physically.

The herm hides the secrets of Alchemy. Yet, the herm is not just Greek; it appears in every religion, in different ways. It is also hidden in the Bible.

Jacob’s Herm

Jacob worshipped using a herma. 

In the book of Genesis, Jacob slept and had a dream of a ladder in which he saw angels ascending and descending, and he heard in his dream the messenger of God telling him about the promise that God made to Abraham. Then,

“And Jacob awaked out of his sleep [that is, his consciousness was awakened in the internal worlds], and he said, Surely יהוה [Jehovah] is in this place; and I knew [it] not.

“And he was in awe, and said, How awesome [is] this place! this [is] none other but בית אלהים [the house of Elohim], and this [is] the שער [gate] of שמים shamayim [the fiery waters of Daath, the Upper Eden].”

“And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put [for] his pillows, and set it up [for] a pillar [herm], and poured שמן [semen] upon the top of it.”

genesis28-jacobs-stone

“And he called the name of that place בית–אל [Bethel, house of El]: but the name of that city was first לוז [Luz, almond tree].”

“And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If אלהים Elohim will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,

“So that I come again to my בית אבי [father's house] in peace; then shall יהוה be my ים Elohim:

“And this אבן 'eben [stone], which I have set [for] a pillar, shall be בית אלהים [the house of Elohim]...” - Genesis 28

We have indicated several Hebrew words here, which are not coincidental.

In particular:

Eben אבן: stone (the herm)

  • Aleph א is the first Hebrew letter. Aleph is a trinity of three Iod’s that represent the first three sephiroth on the Tree of Life, the three Logoi mentioned by John. Aleph is the air, spirit, breath—the intelligence and wisdom that is delivered by the Words of God.
  • The letter beth ב is feminine and represents a mouth. From the letter beth emerges the Word of God. That is why the first letter in the Bible is ב Beth. 
  • The letter נ nun represents a fish. The fish is the main symbol of the early Christians. It represents the mystery of Jonah and the power of Christ (the miracle of the fishes), both of which hide the power of creation hidden in the sperm, the fish that swims in the waters of life (semen).

Jacob anoints the herm with שמן semen. This Hebrew word is translated as “oil,” and is a symbol of how the initates retain and transform their sexual energy, by “anointing their stone.” That is, the sexual matter is not expelled from the body, but is transformed inside, to be carried up the spinal column - the pillar of stone - to the head, house of God, the שמים shamayim [the fiery waters of Daath, the Upper Eden].

Oil in the Bible represents transmuted sexual energy. The anointing of oil is a symbol of transmutation. 

When the Greeks would visit the hermai, when they would approach a cross roads or a border of a territory, they would always anoint the hermai with flowers, oil, and other substances. That is what this image shows: the Greeks making offerings to Hermes. Of course, this is symbolic. All offerings are symbolic. God does not need physical flowers from us. God needs our purity and refinement.

Herm

What is the most precious element that we have access to, the most sacred element that we can acquire, that has the most power? It is sexual energy. It is the energy that we can use to create life. It is the power of a god. No power anywhere compares. So to offer that energy to god is the most profound sacrifice you can make. That is why the Greeks did it with these hermai, and why Jacob did it in Genesis. 

That offering is not literal physical oil. It represents energy, forces that are sacrificed in order to perfect that stone, to realize the god that is hidden in that stone.

The Stone in Freemasonry

The herma represents the power of Mercury that is trapped in the stone, the power of the messenger of the gods. That is why the Freemasons utilized the stone as the most fundamental symbol of masonry. What is a real mason but someone who knows how to work with stone? This tradition comes from far before Egyptian times.

Here we see images from the tradition of Masonry.

George Washington, Freemason

 

George Washington was one of the founders of the United States. George Washington was a Freemason who knew these mysteries. We see in this image two pillars. They look like hermai or the stone of Jacob. The stone on the left is imperfect, crude, rough. It has not been worked, it is raw. The stone on the right is a perfect cube. It has been crafted, it is finished. 

These two stones are the most basic and important symbols of Masonry. At one time centuries ago, Freemasonry was protecting this knowledge for humanity. Nowadays, amongst the Masons this tradition has been lost, but the symbols are still visible. 

masonic emblems1874b

This image shows the same thing with the stones on the opposite’s sides from the first image. The perfected stone is on the left and the rough stone on the right. 

These symbols of the rough stone and the perfect stone are in all traditions, but hidden. They are never given openly. This is the most open that you can find this symbol of the rough stone and the perfected stone. 

The Three Pillars of the Temple

Here we see again an image from the Masonic tradition.

masonic pillars

In the back we see the rough stone and the perfected stone, we also see the ladder of Jacob. So clearly the Masons knew exactly what I am explaining to you here. This is the ladder to and from Heaven.

The next image shows these same three pillars but represented in Tibetan Buddhism.

yogi003-small

This image is from the Dalai Lama’s secret temple in Lhasa which was only recently opened to the public. Those three pillars are not literal physical pillars in a temple in the physical world. They are pillars in your body; they are pillars in your vital body, your astral body, your mental body. They are spiritual pillars, energetic pillars that are only semi material in the sense that they are matter but not all physical, they are in other dimensions.

This is how three pillars how they are represented in Kabbalah. They are the pillars of the Tree of Life. 

tree-of-life-body

The central pillar is our spinal column. The two pillars on the sides are Jachin and Boaz from the Bible, from the temple of Solomon. They are Ida and Pingala. In Kabbalah they are called Od and Obd. In Genesis they are called Adam and Eve. They are the two serpents on the caduceus. 

caduceus-spine-vav

These are the three pillars. The caduceus of Mercury shows us the three pillars of our temple but developed, awakened. That is why the wings are there. Remember, Mercury gives us the wings to take us to the gods. Those wings are not physical, they are spiritual.

In this image (center, above) from Hindu Tantra, the central column of the temple is the spinal column. The two side pillars are Ida and Pingala, the two nadis or channels of energy that balance solar and lunar forces in us; physically, energetically, and consciously. All of this is in our spinal column, and in Hebrew that is represented by the letter ו Vav. 

Our spinal column is the central column of our temple. It is what holds our body up not only physically but consciously. Our spiritual body is held upright by the forces that flow through the spinal column. 

On the physical level the spinal column is filled with a fluid. That fluid allows forces and energies to move up and down the spine through the nervous systems. That fluid is directly related with the fluid through which the brain floats. That fluid is directly related with the sexual energy. Chemically, sexual energy and the fluid in the spinal column and around the brain are almost identical, they are very similar. They are a kind of salty fluid through which energies, forces move. 

The waters in sex, the spine, and the mind are ruled by Mercury. They are Mercurial. In Alchemy, they are symbolized by Mercury.

If you think about it, this makes sense. The caduceus of Mercury is the staff of the herald. It is through this staff, our spinal column, that the gods can speak to us and can hear us. We communicate through the forces that flow through our nervous system. The power of speech is driven by the nervous system, the power of thought, the power of emotion, the power of sensations, the power of perception on every level flows through our nervous systems. Our nervous systems all are united in the spinal column, in the brain, and in the sexual energy.

herm

The sexual energy is what enlivens our nervous system. The sexual energy is what produces the electric shock of the orgasm, which shocks the entire nervous system, which delivers a sensation throughout the entire nervous system. That is why become addicted to it, without realizing that that electric shock is destroying the organism. That is why the more people become addicted to it they have to start taking pills, chemicals, they get addicted to more extreme stimulants in order to feel that energy because it is destroying the nervous system and the brain and the sexual organs. 

The Burden of the Word

vav-spineThe Hebrew letter ו Vav represents the spinal column. The spinal column rests upon its foundation, which in Kabbalah is the sephirah Yesod.

That is why in the book of Zachariah we read:

“The burden of the Word of יהוה for Israel, saith יהוה, which stretcheth forth שמים shamayim, and layeth יסד yesod [the foundation] of ארץ erets [earth], and formeth the Ruach of Adam within him.” - Zechariah 12

This phrase might appear cryptic if you do not know Kabbalah, but if you know Kabbalah, the meaning is immediately clear. 

Remember that hermai, the pillar of stone, is the foundation of the temple. You build a temple on stone, otherwise it will not be strong.

“And the king [Solomon] commanded, and they brought great אבנים stones, costly stones, [and] hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the בית [house; the temple of Solomon].” - 1 Kings 5

This is what Christ instructed in the Christian gospel of Luke:

“Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation [Yesod] on a πέτρα petra [rock]: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a πέτρα petra [petra is PTR, Peter, the Apostle who represents sexual transmutation].

“But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth [a common physical body, without sexual transmutation]; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”

The strong foundation in Hebrew is Yesod, spelled יסד. Yesod means “foundation” but it also means “element.” 

yesod-body-cropped

In these lectures so far we have been talking about five elements: 

  • Akash or space
  • air
  • fire
  • water
  • earth

We can call all of those "Yesod," element. They are elements, but they are all powerless without Mercury Hermes. In us, the elements are raw, uncrafted. We need them to be organized, crafted, shaped. We need a master artisan to make us into perfect beings. This is what Hermes-Mercury-Prometheus does.

So this phrase says, 

“The burden of the Word of יהוה for Israel...” - Zechariah 12

Many poorly educated people interpret יהוה as Yahweh or Jehovah and think this refers to an old man with a beard up in the clouds. That sort of thinking is very shallow and very inaccurate. In reality, these four letters have meaning that is far deeper and more meaningful than people realize. 

The Tetragrammaton (four-letted name) of God refers to the upper trinity Kether, Chokmah, Binah, along with the Ain Soph. So it refers to the holy gods at the highest levels, the archetypes of existence, the blueprints of the perfect being. This is the world of Atziluth, the world of archetypes; that is, this is a world of potentiality that has not yet been made manifest.

The perfect being should be made into the image of יהוה. [We, by the way, are no where near being the image of יהוה . We are just suffering in the wilderness until we are born again, after all that is impure in us dies].

The image [tzalem], the blueprint of the perfect being, is in us, in Yesod, but it is undeveloped. It is the rough stone, the brute stone. It is the plans, but not made. It is the sketch of the temple, but it has not been crafted yet. That is the burden of the word. 

So to continue with that passage,

“...saith יהוה, which stretcheth forth שמים shamayim, and layeth יסד yesod [the foundation] of ארץ erets [earth], and formeth the רוח Ruach....” - Zechariah 12

The רוח Ruach is the sephirah Chesed, the spirit, the Innermost, our Monad, our inner God. That is the face that emerges on the herm of the one who is perfecting their stone.  

Ruach emerges out of the foundation of the earth. The earth is the sephirah Malkuth, our physicality. We told you in other lectures that the earth is ourselves. We are made from the dust of the earth. We are the impure Adam who needs to be perfected. We are made from eretz, from the earth, from the dust, and yet our perfection, the perfect Adam, is made from our earth, when we know the path.

Yesod, the foundation, is related with our sexual organs. Yesod, sex, is the foundation of life. Sex creates life, whether physically or spiritually.

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” - John 3

“...saith יהוה, which stretcheth forth שמים shamayim...” - Zechariah 12

So where is schamayim? Schamayim in the bible is translated as “heaven,” but that is not the actual meaning of the word schamyim. When you analyze the Hebrew word, you see that its letters hide a lot of knowledge. 

Shin ש (fire) + מים Mem Iod Mem (mayim: water)

The letter ש shin is fire. The letter shin is one of the three mother letters. It represents divine fire, the fire of god, the fire of the upper trinity, the fire of lod-hei-vav-hei. The letter shin has three flames, that is the trinity. In the heavens, the pure realms, that fire (shin, the trinity) is in the water, mayim. 

In Hebrew, מים mayim means “water.” It has two forms of the letter mem: the regular Mem and the final Mem. These represent two aspects of water: the upper waters and the lower waters that god separates and establishes a boundary between. The letter iod is between the two mems. This is the letter iod from יהוה iod-Hei-Vav-Hei. 

Schamayim literally means “fiery water.” That is the sephirah daath. How do we know that? Because Solomon told us. 

“She is a עץ־חיים (tree of lives) for those who hold to her, and those who draw near to her are אשר (Asher). By חכמה Chokmah (wisdom) יהוה Jehovah founded ארץ (erets), by תבונה (Tabuwn, knowledge from experience) established שמים shamayim. With His דעת Da'ath the abysses are split, and the clouds drip טל dew...” - Proverbs 3

Mayim is related with the sephirah Yesod. If we work with the fire of sexuality, we can make our mayim into schamayim. This is the secret knowledge of Alchemy.

Sodi

hermetic-sealThe Hebrew letters hide many mysteries. Each letter is a number and a symbol. Additionally, the letters can be arranged in different ways to reveal different meanings. In Hebrew, unlike other languages, two words spelled with the same letters would be considered related.

The Hebrew word יסוד Yesod means “foundation.” It begins with the letter iod, the first letter of the name of God. To protect the teachings and respect God, let us put that Iod at the end of the word. Now it spells סודי sodi, “secret.” The actual nature of Yesod, the foundation of the temple, has always been kept secret because we have not been prepared to use it wisely. 

This is where we get the phrase “hermetically sealed.” The secret of Yesod has always been kept silent, secret, private.

Nowadays we use the phrase “hermetically sealed” to refer to a vessel, a jar that nothing can exit or enter, not even air. Hermetically comes from Hermes, Mercury. Gnosis is a hermetic tradition. We are from the tradition of Hermes, Mercury.

When you work with Hermes Mercury, your vessel must be perfectly sealed.  

“Hermetically sealed” refers to our Yesod. Hermetically sealed means we let no energy escape. We retain the sexual energy, the forces of Yesod, the foundation, so that that energy can be used to build our temple. That is the secret, the sodi, of all religions, and that is the secret that has caused the downfall of many when they have abused it.

“And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” - Luke 20

This is an Alchemical engraving that shows Hermes. Do you see his caduceus is different? It is a menorah. What is a menorah? It is a series of seven pipes, the pan-pipes that Hermes invented. These seven pipes conduct oil in their vessels in order to illuminate, to bring light so that the fire can radiate. Do you see all the elements involved? The oil [shemen] of Jacob, the oil on the herm which brings the fire that Hermes invented, the fire of shin, the fire that emerges on the seven chakras in the seven bodies...

We have told you already that the tradition of Alchemy is hidden in the bible and that the greatest books of Alchemy are the books of Genesis and Revelation. If you have studied the Alchemical tradition, you may have discovered that the Alchemists occasionally quote the bible, but rarely at length, and they never expose its meanings, ever. Instead, they veiled all their knowledge in very cryptic and contradictory symbols, because the symbols that were hidden in the bible were considered too sacred and profound to reveal. Nonetheless Mercury-Hermes is hidden throughout the bible.

Mercury-Hermes in the Bible

We already explained that Mercury-Hermes is very strongly related with the symbols of Christ: the lamb, the Ram, the goat, the mother, and many other ways. When we look at the bible, we discover that Mercury is there but it is hidden. So I am going to give you one example today. I rushed through the beginning of this lecture so that we would have time to focus on this symbol, because this is not easy to explain. That is why I saved it until now, but it is important. 

In the Hebrew, the word Mercury is written כוכב kowkab. In order to understand that word, we need to analyze the letters a little bit. If you have studied our course on the Hebrew letters and you remember what you studied, you will already see the hidden meanings here.

The letter Kaf represents the palm of your hand and the sole of your foot. Kaf is the eleventh letter, and comes after iod. 

Iod is the first letter of the holy name of God, the Tetragrammaton. Iod relates to the sephirah Kether. It also relates to Malkuth. It symbolizes God in heaven and it also symbolizes a human being. Iod is the tenth letter. We have ten fingers and ten toes. Kaf is the eleventh letter, it represents the soles of your feet and the palms of your hands. How do you live? How do you survive? How do you work? How do you worship? How do you eat? How do you drink? How do you pray? With your hands, with your feet. They are the vessels, the vehicles, the tools that you need to survive. So in the Hebrew word כוכב (Mercury), there are two kafs. 

Between the kafs is a letter Vav. The letter Vav is a iod, extended. The letter iod is related with the sephirah Kether at the top of the Tree of Life, and also with the sephirah Malkuth at the bottom. If that iod at the top (Kether) extends itself down into you, it forms a letter Vav. That Vav is your spine. In your spine, in your nervous system you receive all the forces of the universe constantly, as energies that you utilise to live your life, and your harness those forces through your hands and feet. Do you see what this means?

Furthermore, all of this happens sealed with the letter Beth. The letter Beth is the second Hebrew letter, and it means “house,” but not just a house on a street were you live and die. It means the house of god. Temples in the Jewish tradition are called Beth: Beth Israel, the house of Israel, the house of god, the house of the congregation of god. Beth is a temple. 

“And this אבן 'eben [stone], which I have set [for] a pillar, shall be בית אלהים [the beth of Elohim]...” - Genesis 28

So: כ our hands, our feet + ו our spinal column + ב in the house of god. All of these letters together spell כוכב kowkab: Mercury Hermes. 

Unfortunately, in the translations of the Bible this was not made clear, and this word כוכב has been translated as another meaning, which is also accurate, but not what is intended.  It says in the bible, stars instead of Mercury. Kowkab means "stars" or "Mercury." Of course, we know in Alchemy that the stars that we see in the sky are the light of realized beings. That light reflects from the Mercury of those beings. We know that stars are not just matter suspended in empty space. 

“That in blessing I will bless thee, and in רבה rabah [virgin, maiden] I will רבה rabah  thy semen as the כוכב kowkab [Mercury Hermes] of שמים shamayim...” - Genesis 22:17

All things have three fundamental aspect. All things have matter, all things have energy, all things have consciousness. A star is a sun that conveys enormous quantities of solar Christic light. A sun is a great being. It is a physical manifestation, a creation of a god, to project life, to give life. A planet is a star in gestation, in development, and a galaxy is a star that has advanced and given birth to many stars. So there are levels and levels. These are all beings. So, כוכב is accurate both ways, as stars and as Mercury, but from our point of view, we need to know it as Mercury first. 

mercury-hebrew

Now it may be incidental, accidental, circumstantial, it might just be me, but in this particular painting of Mercury Hermes I see all the letters of Kalkad. I find it very interesting. Do you see the shape of the letter Kaf? He is making it with his arm and with his feet, with his arm and leg. We can see Kaf, Vav on the body, Kaf and Beth. Again it might just be me reading to much into it. I thought that was interesting. Some of these painters knew these mysteries, so it might be true.

Seven Days of Genesis

To understand כוכב kowkab, we need to understand something about the Bible. In the book of Genesis, chapter one, we find the most important treatise of Alchemy. The first chapter of Genesis explains the entire process of Alchemy, but cryptic, hidden. We do not have time to explain it all today. I merely want to point out to you what is hidden there about Mercury. 

In that chapter we see explained to us the seven days of Genesis. Most people read that chapter literally and think those seven days refer to literal days of the week in which God created the universe. The real meaning, the important meaning, is how the forces of divinity create the perfect Adam, which is a self-realized being, which is another god. It is how the highest levels—those archetypes hidden in the highest regions—take form and become a god. So in that section of the bible it says:

“And אלהים Elohim said, Let there be מארת ma'owroth [lights] in the firmament of שמים shamayim to divide the day from ליל layil [night]...” - Genesis 1:14

Most people have read this and interpreted it to mean literally how god made the physical day and night and put the sun and moon into the sky. That is not meaning we need to see here. 

Firstly, we need to understand what Elohim is. This word Elohim does not mean “god.” Elohim is plural. That ים iod, Mem at the end of אלהים indicates this is a plural word. 

The first part אל is Hebrew for “god.” That is how you say god in Hebrew, “El,” and that is the same “El” or “Al” of “Al-chemy.” 

If to אל you add the letter ה Hei it becomes Eloah, which means “goddess.” 

So אלהים Elohim is a plural word that means “god and goddess” or “gods and goddesses.” The word Elohim unites masculine and feminine into one. Elohim is plural and singular at the same time. 

Elohim relates to those archetypes that are trying to come into being, that are trying “to become.” In order for that to happen, the Elohim said:

“And אלהים Elohim said, Let there be מארת ma'owroth [lights]...”

Usually in Hebrew when you say “light” you say אור aur. The simple aur is inside of this other word for light, מאור ma'owr, which is made plural with the tav. There are two ways to make words plural in Hebrew: ים for masculine and ת for feminine.

The strange thing is, in Genesis 1:14 in the Bible, ma'owroth is mispelled. On purpose. Intentionally. The letter ו Vav is missing. 

Can you see why? It is because in us, the Vav is not developed. Genesis describes how the lights emerge, but are not yet developed in us. The Vav is the spinal column in us. It is imperfect. It is a rough stone. It has not been drawn out of the stone. 

King Arthur who draws a sword from a stone. Do you know how you represent a sword in Hebrew? With the letter ז Zayin, which is identical to ו Vav, except that in the ז the descending line is in the center. The sword that Arthur draws from the stone is the Kundalini, the energy that rises up the Vav (spine). When you unite the Vav and the Zayin together, the spine and the sword, the result is the letter ח Chet, which is how you spell the Hebrew word for life: חי chai, spiritual life.

We need to establish our temple on the foundation stone, then raise the energy upwards to enflame schamayim, our inner heavens.

So:

“And אלהים Elohim said, Let there be מארת ma'owroth [lights] in the firmament of שמים shamayim to divide the day from ליל layil [night]...” - Genesis 1:14

Schamaim are the fiery waters in the superior level, from which life emerges, and this light is established there to separate the day from the night. 

In Hebrew the day is יום yam. Day represents the when the light of Christ (the Solar Divinity, Amun Ra, the Cosmic Christ) shines in our spiritual life. The night is ליל lalil or in other words Lilith, Delilah, the tempting serpent, the tempting woman, who is inside of us. 

Then it says in 1:15;

“And let them be מאורת ma'owroth in the firmament of שמים shamayim to give איר owr [light] upon ארץ erets...” - Genesis 1:15

Eretz is the earth, ourselves. We need light in order to craft our stone. 

I explained to you that schamayim is related to the sephirah Daath. In proverbs Solomon wrote:

“She is a עץ־חיים (tree of lives) for those who hold to her, and those who draw near to her are אשר (Asher). By חכמה Chokmah (wisdom) יהוה Jehovah founded ארץ (erets), by תבונה (Tabuwn, knowledge from experience) established שמים shamayim. With His דעת Da'ath the abysses are split, and the clouds drip טל dew...” - Proverbs 3

Solomon is revealing what we just explained from Genesis. The tree of lives, etz chaim, is represented in this symbol. 

The Tree of Life is yourself, but our tree is not grown yet. We are just a seed of a tree. We need the seed to grow. For that, we need to be born again. That is, the seed must die for the tree to emerge.

“...those who draw near to her are אשר (Asher).”

In the Bible, Moses symbolizes the man in Yesod-Malkuth, who rises to the sephirah Daath, where the divinity said to Moses, “Eheieh Asher Eheieh,” which the Bible translates as “I am what I am.” Eheieh means “he who is.” This is why God told Moses: “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, “Eheieh” hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14). Subsequently, “Asher” is the Holy Spirit. At the same time, Asher is your head. Why? Rosh means head (Resh, Aleph, Shin). The word Asher is written with Aleph, Shin and Reish, which is head, “rosh,” backwards. Thus “Asher” implies your head; it implies the Holy Spirit, which is the manifestation of the Holy Trinity in your pineal gland, in your head. “Those who draw near to her are asher” because by the power of their pineal gland in the head they control sex, and devote it to God, not their self-will.  That is how those archetypes in the world of Atziluth “become” (Eheieh) through the process of perfecting the stone of Hermes, of Mercury. 

Continuing,

By חכמה Chokmah (wisdom) יהוה Jehovah founded ארץ (erets), by תבונה (Tabuwn, knowledge from experience) established שמים shamayim...” - Proverbs 3

tree-of-life-twelve-bodies-s

This word תבונה Tabuwn, knowledge from experience, hides the sephirah בינה Binah within it. Binah is the Holy Spirit, Shiva, the Nirmanakaya (body of formation)—all of this relates to how the divinity of the world of archetypes causes those archetypes to enter creation. Binah does it. Binah splits in two. Binah is how the three in one becomes Elohim: god and goddess, sexual creation. That is Daath: knowledge of creation.

Daath in Hebrew means “knowledge,” but not book knowledge. It means knowledge of Mercury, knowledge of the forces of ma'owroth, the lights that are hidden in the schamayim, the fiery waters. Those fiery waters are firstly the waters of the upper Eden that descend in creation to give life to the earth, eretz which is in us. 

Now it is our duty to harness that light and work with it in order to perfect ourselves. That is what Solomon is telling us to do. That is what allows the abysses to be split, to cleave them, to separate them from the Tree of Life.

In this image, the abysses are represented below Malkuth. The abysses are sheol, hell. The abysses are our mind, our animalism, pride, lust, envy, greed, gluttony, fear, arrogance, anger, hate, jealousy. None of that can be in the perfected stone. None of that can go to heaven. It has to be separated; it has to be purged and purified. That is what Alchemy means: to transform lead into gold. The lead is our ego. Lead is our desire. It is a base, heavy, impure metal that sinks into hell.

To be liberated from hell, you have to liberate the energy that is trapped there. That energy is sexual energy, emotional energy, intellectual energy, psychological energy that is trapped in our addictions, attachments, resistances, fears, the things we avoid, such as the truth. 

Those abysses are split with knowledge, daath. That is knowledge of ourselves, that is knowledge empowered by Mercury. 

Hermes Mercury conveys the dead to the abyss. He leads the heroes back to heaven. 

Hermes Mercury can go anywhere in any of the worlds. He is the carrier of the fire, of the secrets of all the worlds. Hermes Mercury is the power of creation hidden in our sexual organs.

Without Mercury, this work is impossible. It cannot be done. Someone who ignores the secret of Alchemy or does not know the secret of Mercury can never liberate themselves from the abyss. For such people, liberation from suffering can only arrive mechanically, but never consciously. (Mechanically means to suffer through being purged by the hell realms. Not a good idea.)

To consciously liberate yourself from the abyss, you need to know this secret, this sodi. 

So Genesis continues and says:

“And אלהים Elohim made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: the כוכבים kowkabim [Mercuries] also.” - Genesis 1:16

The Tree of Life shows two great regions: the heavens and the hells. Those are these lights, the greater light and the lesser light. Those lights are in us. We can talk about heavens and hells all day long, but it means nothing unless we experience it. So we need to start from what we can experience here and now. Heaven and hell are psychological states, here and now. Hell is a state in which we are addicted to desire, in which we are suffering in the wilderness, where we lack experience of God, we are afflicted with experiencing the effects of our previous actions (which were selfish), we are powerless to change anything fundamental. The only changes we can make are very superficial and ultimately meaningless without the power of God, without the power of Mercury. We can move from one city to another, change, jobs, change wives, change husbands, but our suffering remains intense. Our spiritual knowledge remains empty, lacking. To have fundamental, real change we need to understand this trinity of forces, expressed in this chapter of Genesis: the greater light, the lesser light, and the Mercuries.

The Greater Light, the Lesser Light and the Mercuries

The greater light is the light that shines in schamayim through daath, the upper trinity on the Tree of Life. That is the light in nirvana. That is the light in our consciousness, but we cannot see it if we are trapped in our ego. This is why we learn to meditate: to take the consciousness out of the ego in order to experience the light, the divine light, the true light, the clear light what in Tibetan Buddhism is called rigpa.

We do not see reality. We only know the lesser light, and that is the light that has been conditioned, that has been trapped in the lowest levels of the cosmos, which is our mind, our psyche. 

Everything we see physically, we see because of light physically, but that is not our most important type of vision. How we see psychologically is billions of times more important. 

We all know that two people can experience the same event or be present at the same event and experience it in two completely, different, separate ways. They saw the same things, they were in the same place, but their experience was completely different, because of how the light was filtered through their perception. One of them may have been filtering that light through their pride, and one through their shame or anger or lust; one through greed, fear, attachment, another through jealousy, anger.

All of us are victims of this; we do not see the light as it is. We see the light filtered through desire, thus we do not see. 

“...For now we see through a glass, darkly...” - 1 Corinthians 13

To resolve this difference, to split these realms, to cleave the abyss, to bring real light through the abyss, we need the Mercury, the kowkabim, which here is plural because really there is not just one Mercury, Hermes, there are many types.

The secret is in learning about שמים schamayim, the fiery waters. The waters are in our spinal column, in our sexual energy, and in our brain. If we look at the Hebrew letters, we can see the meaning. 

 schamayim-spine

The letter shin represents the fire of Christ, the fire of the upper trinity, divine fire. 

The two Mems relate to the waters in our body: the waters of the brain and the spinal column, and the waters of sexuality. The iod is related with the Being, with the presence of god in our temple, which is our heart.

So observed in this way, schamayim shows us what we need to do. We need to bring the fires of the shin out of the waters. It is hidden there already. How do we know that is true? Where do a man and a woman experience fire? Intensity, heat, temperature? Remember, I explained in the first lecture of this series that the elements of alchemy are not literal, physical elements; they hide psychological states, ways that energy, matter, and consciousness move. Fire relates to temperature. Where do we experience temperature, not physically, but psychologically? Naturally, in emotion, but where do we first most profoundly experience that? Through sex.

The most intense “fire” that you can feel is sexual fire. That letter shin, that creative power of God, is hidden in the sexual waters. It is also hidden in your brain, the creative potential; the fire of inspiration is in the brain and the liquid that the brain is suspended in, and that fire is moving up and down the spinal column as electricity, as the energy that enlivens all of our perceptions. 

We need that fire in our heart, but unfortunately, with most people, they have never felt the fire of the divine in their heart. Nowadays, our hearts have become very cold.

The fire emerges through the power of the letter iod. The letter iod is the root of the power of the letter shin, because you see, shin is three iods connected. Those three iods are in our three brains; mind, heart, and sex. They are in our glands; they are in our atoms, cells, molecules, organs, everywhere. In other words, in our inner mayim, the waters inside of us, is hidden the schamayim, the archetypes.

Let us look at this from another angle. People say that we were created in the image of God, in the likeness of God. This is true only out of politeness. God is not animal like us. The divine is pure. We are made in the image of God in the sense that we can become that. We can become Asher, as Solomon said. For that, we need to be perfected. But the potential is there. 

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” - Matthew 5

Remember the hermai with the face of a god on top. The whole body of the god is hidden in the stone, but it is not carved out yet. We are that. We can be a Buddha, an angel, a master, if we perfect ourselves, if we destroy the animal in our minds, hearts, and bodies. 

This means that schamyim as an archetype is hidden inside of us. We just need to know the secret to work with it. That secret is with retention of energy, transformation of ourselves, and in that we find the power of shin, Christ. 

This is why Hermes is called the lamb bearer, Hermes Kriophoros: “Hermes, lamb-bearer.” The lamb is a symbol of Christ.  We have all seen images of Jesus carrying the lamb. Jesus is called “the Shepherd,” yet so is Hermes. 

hermes-kriophorus

As a matter of fact, many spiritual masters have been represented as caretakers of animals. All were shepherds, caretakers of animals: us. We are animals. We are not “meek sheep.” Look at our behavior: we are pigs, dogs, filthy animals. We are not innocent. All of us have the potential if not the actual action of killing, lying, cheating, stealing, fornicating, adulterating. All of us have committed these crimes, and many of us commit them everyday in complete ignorance of doing it. We have not reached the state of “being made into the image of God.” Nonetheless, Hermes Christ can help us do it.

The hermai has been represented in all these traditions in different ways. In Alchemy, we see it as the athanor, the oven. We also see it as the well, a stone structure that hides the water. The water is heated with fire and from that emerges a purified substance. 

hermes-alchemy

Here, that purified substance is represented in a hermetically sealed vessel, within which is Mercury. In this case, his caduceus has many serpents. We will talk about that later. All that is illuminated by Ma’owroth, the lights of schamayim, the letter shin. This symbol hides perfectly everything that we have explained. 

This one also from Alchemy also does the same. Through the union of the two forces, Adam and Eve in the waters of sex with chastity, the pillar of the hermai is perfected and made into the image of God.

Here it is again represented in Alchemy. This is the second key of Basil Valentine. In this key we see Mercury-Hermes uniting with goddess of love. Her name is Venus or Aphrodite. When Hermes and Aphrodite unite they form Hermaphrodite, male-female. What is that? A hermaphrodite really, truly has nothing to do with what people nowadays say it is. A hermaphrodite, the union between Mercury and Venus (hermes-aphrodite), is Elohim, god and goddess, a perfect being, a perfect balance and union between masculine and feminine, united as one. When we enter the sexual act, we mimic that. We enter into a sacred temple, the union of polarities to form a unity, but we corrupt it with our lust, jealousy, pride, arrogance, with animal desire. We do not have a clean, pure temple; our inner temple has been made into a brothel.

Three Types of Mercury

This symbol represents the goal of Alchemy, the union of these forces. 

hermes-elohim

Here we see in the bottom a Cherub holding a hermetically sealed vessel. 

“And אלהים Elohim [the gods] made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: the כוכבים kowkabim [Mercuries] also.” - Genesis 1:16

Kowkabim means multiple types of Mercury. There are many forms of Mercury. We study three primary forms, but these are not the only three. These represent the three aspects of Mercury that we need to know about if we want to perform this work.

1: The Raw Mercury

All of us have the first type, the brute or raw Mercury. This is the imperfect stone, the raw energy of sexuality. That energy is flowing in our bodies right now. It may not be so strong that it is producing physical sensations such as the erection or the humidity of the women, but that force is always in motion in us; it affects our three brains continually. That energy is always involved with our psychological processes. It is always moving. It is Mercury, quicksilver. It is not static, it is very kinetic, it is very fast. It is always seeking a way to express itself, whether in the mind, heart or body, constantly. It is never just sitting still, waiting for you to use it. It is a highly dynamic energy that is constantly in motion.

If you learn this science, if you learn to moment to moment transform your perceptions of all things, inside and outside, then you are learning to transmute energy; psychological energy, spiritual energy, physical energy. That transmutation is at many levels. The ability of a beginner to transmute energy is very different from someone who has a lot of experience transmuting energy. The process is different, the results are different. Nonetheless, someone who succeeds in consciously transforming an event, not being identified but being cognizant in remembrance of God, liberates energy. That can be through perceptions in the eyes, the ears, the tongue, the nose, the skin, the mind.

2: The Metallic Soul of the Mercury

That transmuted energy without the influence of lust or pride or envy or fear or gluttony or greed etc is the metallic soul of the Mercury, the second type. It is clean energy. I know in these times we are all talking about “clean energy” to power our houses and cars. This is not the clean energy we are talking about. You cannot buy this kind of Mercury. You cannot make it in a laboratory physically. You have to make it in your inner laboratory, psychologically. That is through a process of conscious transformation of impressions.

The transformation of impressions is a continual process, from moment to moment, in all things, at all places, at all times. Whether you are physically active or physically sleeping. It should never stop. 

The transformation of impressions has a significant peak, a moment in which there is more potential to transform energy. The potential to transform energy is there all day and all night, to be transmuting energy all the time, but there is a particular moment when we can access more energy than any other time, and that is when you engage in the sexual act. If you engage in that act in the same way that we have been describing—conscious, cognizant, awake, aware, remembering God—then you are connecting directly to the power of schamayim. 

If you can maintain self-cognizance and separate yourself from your animal desire, and instead not only maintain remembrance of god but genuine and sincere love for your partner, then you can access the greatest power in the universe. That is the power of the letter shin, the power of god, that is hidden in sexuality. It is the power of the Elohim. That is the power that the Elohim use to create worlds, but they do it at their level. At our level, we also us it to create worlds but psychological worlds, worlds of fantasy, worlds of illusion. We create worlds, to but our worlds are made of lies that we tell ourselves that have no basis in reality.

If you awaken consciousness, if you harness the energy of sex, you can transmute (“change thoroughly”) the brute Mercury into the metallic soul of Mercury. That awakened energy begins the process of creation, but not physically. In the animal way of sexuality you use that energy to create psychological worlds, and you might create a physical world: a child, a baby. That is a world, too. On the other hand, if you harness that energy psychologically, consciously, you can also create the soul. That is a child, but spiritual. It is not your child. It is a child of your Innermost, a child of your Divine Mother.

“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” - John 3

3: Fertilized Mercury

That child is created by the process of the fertilized Mercury. How that Mercury is ultimately established. The fertilized Mercury is the most refined perfected aspect of the Mercury. It is the perfect stone. It is the Mercury fully developed. It is the Mercury of a master. We do not have that.

mercuries

This image from Alchemy shows these types of Mercury. We see the battle of energies, and in the middle, we see Hermes with two caduceuses. Many people look at this image and say that there are two Mercurys, because you see the sun, the moon and he is holding two caduceuses, yet there are three Mercurys. There are three there, not two. Do you see the third one? 

First, the two obvious ones are the brute Mercury and the metallic soul of the Mercury. 

The brute Mercury is the blind man with a sword. We are blind, and we are hiding our faces from the truth, just as he is. We do not want to give up animal sexuality. We do not want to give up our pride, anger, envy, etc.

On the left, we see a man who is beginning to awaken his eyes, who is restraining his left hand behind his back. The left hand is the left side of the Tree of Life, the domain of Lilith, the domain of desire. He is, with willpower, restraining Eve, the left side, and holding in his right the spinal column with the serpent of brass that Moses raised to heal the Israelites. So, that represents the metallic soul of the Mercury. 

These are the caduceus’s of these two sides. Where is the third Mercury? It is Hermes himself. Hermes the god is the fertilized Mercury, the perfected Mercury. He is, as you see, his symbol above his head. That crown is the letter shin, with three points. 

So, that symbol of the crown represents the three forces of the crown, the sephirah Kether, which in Hebrew means “crown.” Above him is the sign of Mercury. You see that the sign of Mercury is made by adding horns to the sign of Venus. Who else has horns? Moses. Mercury and Moses are the same thing. Moses was born from the waters. Moshe means “born from the waters,” the waters of Mercury.

The Patriarch Abraham

So all of this is hidden in the bible. I am only now starting to get to the part that is so complicated that I want to explain to you. This has all been the preface for this. All of this is hidden in the story of Abraham in the bible. 

Let me remind you that the bible is symbolic, not literal. When we read about Abraham, yes there was a man named Abraham, and we respect him, and we owe a lot to him, but we are not here to talk about him. We are here to talk about what he represents. Abraham in the bible represents our Innermost, our Being.

You see Abraham is the father of the tradition, the patriarch of the religions that we follow. In other words, he represents our inner Father, our own inner patriarch.

In the bible we see that Abraham had two wives. Many use this as an excuse to justify their adultery, but this is a symbolic, Kabbalistic stor, not literal. 

The two significant chapters that I want to talk about today are Genesis twenty-one and two. I suggest you read them and meditate on them. We do not have time to go into all the details. They are very beautiful, especially when you study them in light of what we are teaching today. 

“And Sarah saw the son of הגר Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, [even] with Isaac.” - Genesis 21

Abraham has to exile his wife הגר Hagar. She is symbolized as a slave women and has a son named Ishmael. 

abraham-hagar

“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of מים mayim [water], and gave [it] unto Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.”

This sounds like the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve leaving for the wilderness, and it is similar, symbolically. 

The place called באר שבע Beersheba sounds like בת שבע Bathsheba, the wife of David; again, they are related. Sheba means “seven,” while Bath means “daughter,” and Bar means “well (to draw water from),” while in Aramaic it means “son.” We will come back to this.

“And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.

“And she went, and sat her down over against [him] a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against [him], and lift up her voice, and wept.

“And אלהים Elohim [the gods] heard the voice of the lad; and the מלאך mal'ak [messenger] of אלהים Elohim [the gods] called to Hagar out of שמים shamayim, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for אלהים Elohim [the gods] hath heard the voice of the lad where he [is].”

hagar

Most people read this and think that it was just some random angel that came out of heaven to talk to her. No. The messenger of the gods is Mercury. 

"Father Zeus sent his quick messenger Maia's son [Hermes] on outspread wings." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca (5th century A.D.) 

Mercury is the one who always travels up and down the Tree of Life to deliver the messages of the gods. Mercury speaks on behalf of the gods. 

If you want to talk to the gods, you need to talk through Mercury, and Mercury is in yourself. Do you want to know why you have never heard from God or been able to know that God heard you? It is because your Mercury is not capable of reflecting the image, the message. If you work with your Mercury, and make it pure and clean (the metallic soul of Mercury) talking with God becomes normal.

Here, we see Hagar had that ability. Even though she is a slave in the wilderness (like us), a bond woman, she receives communications from the gods. 

“And אלהים Elohiym [the gods] opened her eyes, and she saw באר bar [a well] of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.

“And אלהים Elohiym was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became רבה rabbi.”

Who know why, but the translators interpreted רבה rabah to mean “archer,” when in fact it clearly says רבה rabbi, master.

According to some Kabbalists, a deeper reading of the Hebrew in this passage can be interpreted as: 

“...he fulfilled דבר dabhar (the Word).”

Right after that in this same chapter, Abraham builds a well. It appears to be completely unrelated to what happened to his wife. He builds a well and he sets seven lambs there and says,

abrahams-well

“For [these] seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.

“Wherefore he called that place Beersheba...”

If you read this as though it was a literal event, it makes no sense. If you read it in order, as though it was literal, physical events, his wife goes into the desert to a place called Beersheba, and the messenger shows her a well and she gives water to her son and he lives. Then somewhere else Abraham builds a well and names it Beersheba and has a bunch of lambs there. Why would a literal event like that be written in the bible? Why would that be important? As a literal, physical event, there is no meaning. But symbolically, spiritually, this is very important. To understand this, let us read on.

“And it came to pass after these things, that אלהים Elohiym [the gods] did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, [here] I [am].

“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which אלהים Elohiym [the gods] had told him.” - Genesis 22

abraham and isaac  image 9 sjpg361

“And they came to the place which אלהים Elohiym [the gods] had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

“And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

“And the מלאך mal'ak [messenger] of יהוה called unto him out of שמים shamayim, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here [am] I.

“And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest אלהים Elohiym [the gods], seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son] from me. 

“And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind [him] an איל 'ayil [ram] caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.” - Genesis 22

Do you see that all of this is related with Mercury? 

A well is a stone structure (a herm) that reaches into the earth (the body) to get water (of life). The water is what keeps us alive in the desert (the wilderness, since we have been cast out of Eden). 

Issac was to be sacrificed on a herm, a stone pillar, yet the messenger, Mercury, says to sacrifice the ram instead. A ram is a male sheep, a grown lamb, in other words. 

HermesGoat

Here in this image we see Mercury, Hermes bringing the ram for the sacrifice. This mystery is beautifully represented in all religions: Judaiam, Christianity and the Greek mysteries. Esoterically, there are no differences in these traditions. The differences appear because of our inability to see the truth. 

This tree or bush where the ram was trapped is the same tree or bush that Ishmael was put under when he was dying. It is the same tree or bush that Moses saw burning in the wilderness. The burning of the altar, the burning of the sacrifice, all of these symbols are all showing the same essential story. 

The sacrifice that we have to make is related with the lights. 

abraham-kabbalah

Abraham relates to our Innermost, to the sephirah Chesed. 

His wife Sarah who gives birth to Isaac is related to the sephirah Daath. She is the “ma” of ma’owroth, the Divine Mother. Sarah [serai] relates to the Divine Mother, where all of the archetypes are hidden. She is the mother of God. She is Maia, the mother of Hermes. She is Miriam, Maria, Mary, the mother of Jesus

Hagar represents our physicality; Yesod and Malkuth. She is the Nukva.

Ishmael, the son who goes into the wilderness, is the impure Adam: you and me, at our current spiritual and psychological level. We are dying in the wilderness because of thirst for knowledge, thirst for the truth, thirst for the waters of mayim that we have been wasting through our abuse of sexual energy, through our abuse of psychological energy, our abuse of the sacred waters of Eden.

Mercury can fix all of that: Mercury tells Hagar, “open your eyes.” Those eyes are not physical, they are psychological, conscious. Open your eyes means “awaken.” The well is right in front of us, we just do not see it. The well is your body. The waters that you need for spiritual life are hidden in Yesod, the foundation stone, which is in your sexual organs. The foundation of the temple is the well. 

jesus-samaritan-woman

“There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

“Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

“The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

“The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

“Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. [You see: the secret of the well is sexual. In order to draw the water, she needs her sexual partner].

“The woman answered and said, I have no husband. 

“Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.” - John 4

The mayim is hidden here in Yesod. That is why Yesod is also called the lower Eden. In that region we find the waters of life, the rivers of Eden.

If we learn to listen to the advice of Mercury, the messenger, and open our eyes, we can see the water is in us. We can see that it is our sexual water, which is not just physical, it is emotional, mental, spiritual and psychological; these are the forces in us that we need to harness.

If we do that, we can create the soul. We can raise Abraham, our Innermost, in the eyes of God, meaning that Abraham will then have to sacrifice his other son Isaac, who his related with our soul. Isaac is born of Sarah, Serai. Isaac represents the creation of the soul, the immortal bodies. Even then, Abraham has to give that to God, and say, “I do not own this it is yours,” to not take any pride or any possession of anything, to not have any attachment, even to the soul. God does not kill Isaac, God kills Ishmael.

So this is all hidden here. When Abraham succeeds in his ordeal and sacrifices the ram, then the messenger calls to Abraham out of Schamayim the second time and said;

“And the messenger [Mercury] of יהוה called unto Abraham out of שמים shamayim the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith יהוה, for because thou hast fulfilled דבר dabar, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son]: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in רבה rabah I will רבה rabah thy זרע zera [semen, seed] as the mercury [ כוכב kowkab] of שמים shamayim, and as the sand which [is] upon the sea shore; and thy  זרע zera shall possess the entrance [ שער she`ar] to איב oyeb...” - Genesis 22

This is where Abraham receives the famous promise or covenant that everyone talks about. Many people literally, physically claim this statement gives them the right to commit crimes because they are the so-called “children of Israel” or the so-called “children of Abraham.” Yet even Jesus corrected them. The child of Abraham does as Abraham did. 

The messenger Mercury calls out of Schamayim. Remember, schamayim is not somewhere up in heaven, it is here and now, inside of us. Abraham, our Innermost, hears from God through our inner schamayim, the fiery waters in us, and says,

“...because thou has fulfilled Dabar...”

Dabar means “the word”. Mercury is the god of eloquence, speech. He delivers the Word, the Logos, Dabar. He measures the Word. 

“...and hast not withheld thy son, thine only [son]...”

Well, Abraham had two “sons.” Yet, the divinity does not consider Ishmael, the slave child, to be important. Who is Ishmael? Our physical life. People often wonder why when we pray about our job, our pay check, our car, God does not answer. God does not care for petty things. The only real son is the soul. God only cares about our spirituality. So the messenger says,

“...in blessing I will bless thee, and in רבה rabah I will רבה rabah thy זרע zera [semen, seed]...”

Zera means “seed.” What is the seed of the human being? Sexual energy, semen, the egg, the sperm.

What is Rabah? Rabah is difficult to translate to English accurately, because it has levels of meaning that are all important. In the English bible, it is translated as “multiply,” and there is some accuracy in that. But the deeper, more important meanings is that  רבה rabah means Rabbi, Master, and it also means “virgin, maiden.” A real master of the White Lodge is virginal, pure, clean of filth. When you open your mind to think that all of these meanings are equally true at the same time, then you can start to grasp the actual meaning that is hidden here. Especially when you consider the letters that are involved; Resh is related to the head, Beth is the house of God, and Hei is the womb of the goddess, the divine mother.

That maiden or virgin inside every Master is called Neshemah. Neshemah is one aspect of the soul in Kabbalah which is called the Divine Soul, and was represented by the Greeks as Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world. She is our pure, unadulterated consciousness, but unfortunately, she is now trapped in hell. She is now trapped in Troy, kept prisoner, suffering.

So from schamayim, the messenger Mercury says,

I will רבה rabah thy זרע zera [semen, seed] as the mercury [ כוכב kowkab] of שמים shamayim...”

So: Mercury will perfect your semen to be like the Mercury of Schamayim. This is to make your Mercury into the fertilized Mercury, the highest kind of Mercury.

Then, 

“...thy  זרע zera shall possess the entrance [ שער she`ar] to איב oyeb...”

This part is also very difficult to translate accurately. In the English bibles it says,

“And you will possess the gate of your enemies”.

That has some accuracy when you understand the psychological component here, because our enemies, the enemies of God, are our egos. The gate of the enemies are our senses; sight, taste, touch, smell, hearing. The ego uses our senses to trap the consciousness and to fight against God. The ego uses our body, our heart, our mind to seduce us with our pride, fear, envy, gluttony, greed.

This passage is saying that the Mercury of divinity, if we are faithful to the Word, to the covenant, will raise our Mercury to be like the Mercury of schamyim, perfect. In that way we will gain entrance to conquering our enemies. We will control the gate, the senses. 

Furthermore, what is the most profound gate that the ego uses to manipulate us? The gateway of the sexual organs.

The other way to translate this word, שער she`ar, instead of “entrance,” it can also mean “price.” So in other words, we will have paid the price. We will have the dharma, the coin to purchase our freedom. 

Curiously, this word  איב oyeb hides something that is rather odd. That word is actually the name of a place in Syria, and if you say the name in English, it is pronounced “Eve.” It is not spelled like it is in Hebrew, which is Chavah, but it is pronounced that way, which is very interesting. So hidden here is another meaning: 

“...thy זרע zera shall possess the entrance to Eve...”

or:

“...thy זרע zera shall possess the price for Eve...”

In other words, we can pay our debts and be restored with Eve in Eden (“bliss”), and leave the wilderness of suffering, to return to paradise.

Beersheba

So after that blessing,

“So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.”

Hagar was in the desert with her son in Beersheba. Abraham built a well in the wilderness and called it Beersheba. After he is given the promise, he goes to live in Beersheba.

So Beersheba appears repeatedly throughout these two chapters. What does that mean?

In Hebrew, the word באר bar (Beth, Aleph, Resh) means “well,” a well in the earth to get water. Shebah שבע means “seven.” 

It seems strange does it not? So much of the story of Abraham, the founder of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, three of the most important religions in the world, all of it revolving about this place Beersheba, and no one has ever said anything about it. Yet, it is right here, hidden in Alchemy.

hermes-alchemy-well

Here is the well. Here are the seven bodies of the soul under the three forces of the shin, united in Daath, in the well of the seven. In the middle here of the seven that are in the earth eretz, our earth, hidden as archetypes, we see Apollo, the god of the sun, Christ, and he is playing a lyre, the instrument that Mercury invented. That instrument that has seven strings. Those seven figures represent the bodies of the being, the immortal soul, the solar bodies.

We see here Mercury flying in schamayim directing seven currents of forces into a well that is filled with fire. In the center of that fire is the united six pointed star of David, the symbol of Daath, between the two trees of the garden of Eden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge (Daath). All of that is one hundred percent Alchemy, drawn straight out of the bible, but never explained.

All of that is happening because of the elements, and because of the two great lights, the ma’owroth, the lights of the day and the lights of the night. Alchemy is hiding all that. 

The seven lambs are the seven serpents that the Buddha has raised. They are the seven pipes of the panpipes through which the oil creates the fire of shin. They are the seven lamps of the menorah. They are the seven bodies on the Tree of Life. 

  • Chesed, Abraham, Atman, is the Atmic body. From his point of view, it is the first. 
  • The Buddhic body, the divine soul, is Neshemah, Helen of Troy. 
  • Causal body, Tiphereth, Arjuna amongst the Hindus. Isaac.
  • Mental body; one of the two young men accompanying Abraham.
  • Astral body; one of the two young men accompanying Abraham. 
  • Vital body and physical body, Hagar.

These are the seven bodies of the being, the seven stages of Alchemy, the seven steps to the completed temple, the seven steps taken by the newborn Buddha.

When these seven steps have been taken, Atman, the Being, Abraham, receives the promise, the covenant from God. This is how Isaac through this process is developed and grows. 

The ram is sacrificed. The ram must die, the ram is our animal mind, our animal heart, our animal desire. It all must die. It has to be purged and be purified so that the purity of God can shine in us. That is why Samael Aun Weor said;

“Whosoever possesses the Mercury of the wise will attain Final Liberation. To attain the Philosophical Stone would be impossible if one does not first of all get to know oneself.” - Samael Aun Weor, The Revolution of the Dialectic

The philosophical stone or that stone of the philosophers is what has been hidden in all the Alchemical treatises. It is the stone of Mercury. It is Yesod, the foundation: exual energy made pure and made clean, made divine, and that is how we gain entrance into heaven.

Questions and Answers

Audience: How come sometimes in some of the paintings sun is where Yesod would be? Is it just because the Christic force is there were the Mercury is in the water?

Instructor: Is it in a particular painting?

Audience: Not in this one but it is the one where there is a guy standing and he has got a crown and the sun is over the sexual organs.

Instructor: Where in us can we find that god is able to create through us? It is through sex.

Audience: So it is involved in the heart but also here…

Instructor: The fire of god is in every atom. It is in everything. It is in all of our cells, and that is what gives us life, but our life now is very superficial and shallow. So we can say that Christ is in all of us already. We have Shin here already, but that Shin is not awake, it is not fully developed. It is not able to act through us, because we are so full of impediments, and we do not have the vehicles capable of transmitting that light.

That is why when we study the scriptures we always see this process of purification and perfection. We have to “clean the brass” as it says. The brass is that menorah. It is the brass serpent. We have to clean it. It is a symbol of how these bodies which represent our psyche have to be not only created, but perfected, and made capable of transmitting the light of Christ. We are not there yet. 

Quite simply, if the full light of Christ (ma’owroth) radiating in Schamayim were to enter into us right now, we would be completely obliterated, because we do not have the ability to transmit that energy. We simply cannot convey it. It would completely vaporize us, even physically. Christ won’t do that to us. Christ is the force of love. Christ needs a vessel through which it can be expressed, and the vessel has to be capable, and that is why the soul, the solar bodies, needs to be created. 

That is represented in the bible in the story of Daniel, when the men who refused to renounce the worship of God were put into the furnace. That furnace is the fire of the letter Shin which purifies the base metals, and it purges everything that is impure. Those men were not burned in the furnace. Those men represent the bodies of the soul. We have to go through that purging fire in order for the Christic fire to express perfectly. 

The fire of Christ is in all of these levels. The fire is even in hell. The ma’owroth, the lesser light, even illuminates the regions of Lilith, and Hermes can go into those levels and transmit information. But that is not the same as being awakened and self realised. So, you will see the sun, the light, all over the place.

Audience: The Rabah is the same word here as, be fruitful and Rabah?

Instructor: Yes, the word there is Rabah. “Be fruitful and multiply” is what it says in English, but it in Hebrew it says Rabah. The translation could be read in different ways. It could be fruitful spiritually and be a master, a Rabbi. It could also be “Grow, and be pure [virginal],” which really we need to recover that virginal state to return to Eden, to be naked and not ashamed like Adam and Eve were before the abuse of the tree of knowledge. That is not naked physically, it is naked psychologically, tho have nothing to hide, no shame in the presence of God. Can you image that? To be that clean. If you really sit and meditate and imagine being in the presence of God, and be aware of all the dumb things you have done, all the crimes you have committed, all your jealousy, envy, and lust, it is horrible, and then when it actually happens to you, when you are in the presence of a divinity, and you become in remembrance of your impurity, it is a horrible feeling. We are not there yet. We are not Rabah. We need to become pure like little children in order to enter heaven.

Audience: Does hermetically sealed relate to the three vehicles of Buddhism and esoteric discipline?

Instructor: The phrase “hermetically sealed” refers to how we manage energy, and it refers primarily to sexual energy, but also emotional and mental energy. 

The vehicles of Buddhism relate to the trikaya: Dharmakaya, Nirmanakaya, and Sambogokaya. For those to be developed the mind stream of a person, they would already had to have been hermetically sealed for quite a long period of development, to be purified of all impurities, and after that point, the phrase “hermetically sealed” is no longer valid, because their energy is flowing in its natural state, with no need for modification. It is Hermetic in the sense that it is perfect, and it no longer needs to be restrained in the sense that it is no longer capable of criminal action. So, that energy moves naturally and spontaneously, in a perfect way, as Hermes, through all the regions of the cosmos. So, I think the phrase hermetically sealed, does not apply directly in that context, if I understood the question correctly.

Audience: What do the three nails on the cross mean?

Instructor: The three nails on the cross represent trials that the initiate has to face in relation of the perfection of the soul in order to enter into resurrection. You notice that those nails that are made of iron, the metal of Mars, and they pass through the letter Kaf, in the centre of each hand, and through the feet, which are in the Hebrew word for Mercury כוכב kowkab. Those nails represent very strong ordeals or trials that that initiate has to pass at very high levels of development. This is after the creation of the soul, after the elimination of the ego, before the person is preparing for final resurrection.

Audience: Regarding the Alchemy of changing elements, vegetarianism as my experience has helped me to be peaceful most of my life but when I try to eat meat I see horrible acts. Am I getting these acts due to the flesh I eat? Is eating meat absolutely necessary?

Instructor: There is no question that when food is prepared it receives the energy of its journey before it reaches your mouth. So the growth and development of any plant, of the water, of the air, of the animal through its entire cycle until it comes to you it is bringing all of that experience to you. So if that vegetable or that fruit or that water is filled with chemicals or it was grown in a place that had a very negative presence, a very negative influence, or that animal was treated badly or it suffered enormously, all that energy is in the food. Then you eat it and it affects your consciousness, it affects your mind, it affects your psyche. There is no question about that. That is why we have some lectures on our website called Healthy Spirituality that talk about how to make good food choices so that you can try to bring better elements into yourself, to give yourself a little bit of an advantage. It is incredibly difficult. Food production on this planet is incredibly degenerated. It is hard to get clean pure food. In fact it might be impossible, but we can try, and it makes a difference. 

Do not eat fast food, do not eat processed food, do not eat food out of boxes, do not eat junk, because when you are eating those things, you are eating where it came from. Try to avoid food that is made to make a profit. Restaurants do not want to make you healthy; the grocery stores do not want to make you healthy. They want your money. When you really analyze the conscious substance of the food that you are consuming, you are taking in those values: craving for profit.

One student who was very poor and alone needed to eat one day; as he was in this remote place he had to eat at a pizza place. After that, for two or three days, he was struggling enormously against a huge upsurge of lust, and he could not figure out why. He decided that maybe it was the pizza, and he went back to the pizza place and peeked in the kitchen, and saw that the kitchen wall was filled with images of naked women. The cooks were indulging in their lust as they were preparing the pizza.

This illustrates what I am explaining. How and where your food is prepared affects you. We need to make smarter choices; how to get clean, pure food, not just physically clean with physical chemicals, but the psychological component, too. 

You will be healthier if you cook at home, and if you cook, be aware of what you are cooking. While cooking, chant mantras, pray. That positive energy will go in the food.  Do not cook while angry or thinking about all your problems. If you think about all your problems while cooking, you are investing that energy in the food.

I will tell you another story. A old and retired meditator was meditating as much as he could, and he had a servant to prepare his food for him. He had given his servant strict orders about how to handle the kitchen. So one day the meditator was eating his simple food. It was rice and dal, very simple, humble food. While eating he started to have thoughts about politics, and about the world, and started to feel worried and anxious about everything that is going on, and he stood up and went back to the kitchen, and there was his servant reading the newspaper!  The old man told him, “Never again read the newspaper when you are preparing my food!” All the thoughts of the servant were invested in the food, and affected the one who was eating. 

So what about us? Do we need meat? Should we be vegetarian? That is up to you. Eat what you want. Eat what makes you healthy. If you want to be a vegetarian, be a vegetarian. If you want to eat meat, eat meat. It is not what goes into your mouth that makes you a human being, it is what comes out of it. It is what you say, what you do. That is what Jesus told us. We are not here to make a religion out of the kitchen. 

We recommend for certain stages of the work the consumption of a small quantity of meat, which can provide you with vital elements that are necessary, but not everybody needs meat at all times. Some people need to be vegetarian; it is better for them. I am not in a position to tell you what you should or should not eat.

Audience: So you mentioned about kowkab and you wrote the Hebrew letters down and you talked about the columns and how that relates to Mercury. Is that one of the reasons we vocalize the vowels and we hold our palms of the hands up to the sun?

Instructor: Yes, there are Runic postures and Yantric postures where we place the hands and feet in certain positions to receive and transmit energy. We also do that all the time when we talk, you know. We raise our hand to stop someone. We also use our hands to call someone towards us. There is a physical movement, but there is also an energetic exchange. The hands and the feet transmit and receive energy.

In this tradition we talk about seven primary chakras related with spiritual development. We talk about seven primary chakras related with organic vitality which are a different seven chakras. Really there are many, many chakras or transformers of energy throughout the body. Anyplace two channels [nadis] cross you can call a chakra, and there are hundreds, thousands, of nadis in the body. A chakra is merely a place where energies cross; there is an exchange, where they meet and separate. There are chakras in your hands and feet, and they are related with different types of energy at different stages of the work, and that is related with stigmata, the piercing of the hands and feet.

So yes, we practice Runic postures and we do different mantras you learn different postures with the hands and feet in order to work with energy. Your hands and feet are powerful transformers of energy. That is all hidden in kowkab.

Audience: In the picture with Hermes in the middle...

Instructor: In spirituality, we talk about the left hand path and the right hand path. Those two paths relate to the sides of the Tree of Life. We talk about the three columns. The column in the centre and the columns of the left and the right. The column on the left is the fallen aspect of the Tree of Life and that column of the left is the domain of Lilith, which is the domain psychologically and spiritually in which the practitioners worship lust, pride, and embody the ego. They seek to work with Mercury, but Mercury conditioned by desire.

So in my interpretation of this image, you do see the solar and lunar aspects, as you have the sun and the moon, but we need to understand that lunar is not always negative. So, for example, we could call the left hand path “the lunar path,” and that is accurate, but we could also say that anyone who is following a traditional path in a traditional religion is on “a lunar path” since traditional religions are lunar, traditional, not solar. Traditional Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, etc. are all lunar paths. They are following ancient traditions; they are not following the new solar current. So we can say they are lunar; they are not negative, but they are not following the new Christic current. The phrase “lunar path” can be positive or negative.

So in my interpretation of this image of Mercury, this gentleman on the right hand side with his head in his elbow is on the lunar path, but he is working with Mercury in order to awaken consciousness. That is represented by the eagle. Do you see on his sword is an eagle? That is the Holy Spirit. If he was awakening through the path of Lilith, that would not be an eagle. It would be a devil, it would be a demon. The Holy Spirit does not aid the devils, the demons.

You are right about the senses, because he has his head hidden under the left arm. The left arm represents the left side of the Tree of Life; we are blinded by that side; Lilith, our own inner Lilith. So you are right, it is lunar, but maybe not demonic. Lunar in the sense that he has not awakened consciousness enough in order to enter into the solar level of the work, which is represented on the other side of the drawing.

Audience: Is Gnosis part of the right hand path?

Instructor: Well, yes and no, and let me clarify that. In the beginning, for us, we enter into gnosis as an aspects of the right hand path. What I mean by that is that we learn the fundamentals or foundations of religion, which are the right hand path. Those fundamentals are ethics (learning to do the right things and to stop doing the wrong things), and we also learn to sacrifice for others. Those are the three factors.

  • Giving birth to virtue
  • Killing impurity
  • Learning to serve

That is the right hand path. So, the tradition of gnosis is that for everyone in the beginning, but really it is not the end of gnosis, it is not the definition of this tradition. 

Genuine Gnosis is the middle path. If you were to be someone who followed your traditional religion, the lunar path, you would be living in your physical body, you would try to do good, you would do all the rituals, you would go to church, you would go to the temple, but you would not awaken consciousness, you would not eliminate the ego, you would just go through life trying your best with your limited resources to be good.

When you enter the right hand path, you start to practice the three factors: eliminating ego, giving birth to virtue, and serving others. The ones who succeed in working with those forces in themselves and work with Mercury start to develop the soul, the solar bodies; they start to awaken. 

The one who reaches the birth of Isaac is someone who has created the causal body. That person has become a Buddha, at the beginning level. The have an aspect of themselves that is immortal, yet they still have ego. They still have pride, they still have problems, but they have awakened the consciousness a certain degree, they have risen the kundalini five times, they have achieved the second birth. That person can continue at that level, and they will be on the right hand path. That is a solar path, in this context.

I am saying that because, at that juncture, the sephirah Tiphereth, that person can make the choice to leave the right hand path and enter the real solar path. Solar is always related with Christ, the sun. The real solar path is the path of the Bodhisattva. It is the path of the middle. It is the path of death. So, the direct path is from Tiphereth, direct, symbolically speaking, to Kether. 

The direct path is very difficult. It is because in that path you have to pay the entirety of your karma from all of your previous lives right now. You have to eliminate the entirety of your ego right now. You cannot postpone it for other lives. You have to serve humanity one hundred percent, right now. In other words you do not get to fulfill any of your desires, they all have to die.

That is represented by the road of Calvary, when Jesus took his cross and began to march up that road, and the crowds were persecuting him, spitting on him, torturing him. That is the path of the bodhisattva. Humanity hates bodhisattvas, because they speak the truth, and humanity always martyrises them, kills them, because the bodhisattvas need it, that is how they pay their karma, that is how they pay what they owe. They serve, they teach, they give the light, and the walkers of the left and right paths hate them. 

The path of the left is the path of the demons. Those are represented by all those who are attached to desire, attached to lust, and believe lust is the way, they believe pride is the way or anger is the way; they hate the walkers of the middle path.

The walkers of the right hand path also hate the bodhisattvas, because they are the scribes, the Pharisees, the people who have all their traditional religions, that want to follow the traditions of there patriarchs. They do not want revolutionize, they want to retain power. They want to attain their power in nirvana, which is related with Tiphereth. They want to be followed, worshipped, loved. They want to shine like stars and be admired. They love themselves too much. They are “selfish gods.”

In Hinduism, this is represented in the Mahabharata. It is a great conflict. On one side, you have all the demonic forces and on the other side you have all the angelic forces, and there is a huge battle, but right in the middle are the bodhisattvas who are caught in the middle, and everybody hates them. Those are the Pandavas, and Krishna. The bodhisattvas are right in the middle of all the problems, and everybody is against them, “the good guys” and “the bad guys.” So that is the path of the Bodhisattva. 

Audience: In the fifth initiation you mentioned still that the person still has ego. Would this initiate necessarily be conscious of that level?

Instructor: To be at the level of having worked in or completed the initiation of Tiphereth, the creation of the solar causal body, this person has awakened consciousness in the sixth dimension; not  completely, but they have to have awakened, meaning that they have developed the kundalini in the physical body which gives certain powers, kundalini in the vital body which gives certain powers, kundalini in the astral body, which gives certain powers, and then in the mental body, and in the causal body. These are levels of the fire awakened in our menorah, and that fire gives light. When you have light, you can see. When you can see, you have knowledge. So a person who is working at those levels has understanding, knowledge, insight, powers, that they did not have before they started the process. The ego is still alive in them, so they are a hasnamuss. They are in a very dangerous position, because they are awakening consciousness, but the ego is still there, capable of taking that light and becoming a real devil; it has happened with many initiates. 

There is a very dangerous juncture there, very dangerous. Here is the issue in simple terms. We say that energy cannot be destroyed. So, spiritual development is constantly in motion. When you really study this, you understand that you have had other life times, you have had other physical bodies, you have had other personalities, you may have worked in these types of studies before. You may have awakened consciousness before. You might have awakened kundalini to some degree before. So if you did that, why do you not have it now? This is always the question that some students have. “Maybe I did the work, maybe I was a great master, maybe I was a Buddhist, maybe I was a Rabbi,” but they do not think, “if I was that, why am I not that now, why am I so asleep? Why do I have so many problems? Why am I suffering? Why am I not awake?” The reason is because of the ego. Let us say for example that in the past you did awaken to some degree. Let us say for example in a previous existence you found the teachings in some group, you learned how to work with Mercury, you awakened Kundalini. Let us say you raised it up through the vital body so you had powers physically and in the fourth dimension. So you were able to meditate, you were able to investigate things, you were awakening, but now you do not have that. Why? Because some ego diverted you. So let us say that now you are recapitulating your process, you are entering back into the studies, you are starting to awaken again and starting to feel, “Yes, I did this before, I know this teaching, it feels right,” but without any awareness, without any recognition that you did it before and you failed before. Will you approach that same juncture and overcome it this time? Or will you repeat the mistake? The tendency of the ego is to repeat.

Audience: So the solar bodies were created?

Instructor: In some people. A few people. Some people already have the solar bodies, but most do not. Some of us have been in these types of studies in different traditions; some in Alchemy, Islam, Christianity and maybe we awakened to some degree. Maybe we created some level of the being, of the soul; it is possible, but if we do not have these powers and abilities now, it says that we have some ego that we need to be very aware of. What is the ego? Is it pride, is it lust, is it anger? What is it? If we had done the work before, what took us out? We need to know that urgently, because when we start recapitulating what we formally had, we will face that ego again, and it will be stronger, because when we failed before, we fed it, we strengthened it, so this time it will not be easier, it will be harder. So, this is the danger. It is difficult. 

This work is not easy. It is not easy because the main obstacle is ourselves. It is not the world. It is not the church, it is not your school, it is not getting the books, it is your own mind that is the problem. 

So my advice to students is: be vigilant. Anything you think, anything you feel, any impulse that arises in you, question it. 

We spend a lot of time investigating the teachings and theorizing about things and studying—and we need to study, we need that—but really the balance, the range of things we need to be involved in, to be focusing our energy on, the bulk of it should be on investigating ourselves. Really questioning, “Why do I think that? Is this way of thinking right or is it going to take me into trouble?”

If we are not awakened now, if we are not done with the work, then we have problems, and unless we identify the problems, we will not be able to fix them. Do not assume you will make it easily up the mountain.