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The Gnostic Church is an ancient and longstanding tradition, far older than any of the physical churches of these times.  The founder of this church is what we call in Greek Krestos, or Christ, which is the sacred light, the clear light, that emerges from the depths of the consciousness.  Christ is the eternal, irradiating force that gives rise to everything that exists. The one cosmic religion from which all religions have sprouted is the Gnostic Church.

"All religious forms are manifestations of the great cosmic, universal, infinite religion latent in every atom of the cosmos." - Samael Aun Weor, The Perfect Matrimony

The sacraments of the Gnostic Church are sacred functions related with the consciousness that provide steps through which the consciousness reaches back to become one again with the clear light of the Ain Soph, the Ain Soph Aur, and the Three Amens of the Supernal Triangle (the top triangle, the triangle of the Logos) that we see on the Tree of Life.

In the previous lectures, we studied a little bit two sacraments that are needed in order to begin this path back towards the light.  Each of these sacraments are present in any religion because they are fundamental steps that are required of any person, of any being, from any place, at any time. These sacraments can be known by a variety of names. In this course, we are discussing them primarily with the Christian terms.

Mayim and SchamayimBaptism is the first sacrament and is the basic requirement to enter into the Path.  Baptism is related with water, and you will recall that we discussed the two waters, the upper and lower Eden, the Mayim and the Shamayim, which are Yesod and Daath. God separates these two waters in Genesis and stretches a firmament between them. Through the Baptism, the aspirant or initiate of any religion receives the blessings of their own sexual water, and begins to transform the element of the Amens, which resides within that water. This is the mystery of Tantra or transmutation, where any person in any religion learns how to work with their own sexual energy in order to achieve moral purity, chastity, sanctity, to purify themselves of lust, of pride, of anger.

So, in that way, the student enters into the process of receiving the help of the Gnostic Church, and once baptized - once performing the practice of transmutation or Tantra - they move into the second sacrament, which is Penance.

In the stage of Penance, the student begins to work with the sacrament of conquering their own desires - conquering the ego.  Penance refers to remorse; it is the process whereby we overcome temptation. Instead of remaining a slave of our desires, fears, anger, and all of that, we instead align ourselves with our Buddhata, our pure consciousness, our Buddha Nature, in order to separate the Buddha Nature from all that is impure.

These two beginning steps are essential, because without them, the soul cannot be redeemed from suffering; it is impossible. That is why we talk about these sacraments in a very rigid and specific order - it is necessary, and no one can develop the soul by skipping or avoiding steps of the path.

So, to repeat, in Baptism we enter into transmutation; in Penance, we enter into transformation.  Penance brings temptation, ordeals, difficulties - and through those difficulties, we define ourselves.  We face the elements that we have within and we make our choices: do we choose to allow the devil within ourselves to be alive?  Or do we choose to conquer that devil, Mara, the temptation that our mind is always presenting to us?

These two sacraments are fairly widely understood in religion, although they may not be called "sacraments."  Most traditions and schools that you study will have some vestige or aspect of these sacraments in their teaching.  So, you can usually see that if they are not taught outwardly, at least the symbols of transmutation will be visible in the tradition, and if not outwardly or publicly taught, at least one can see the symbols of the psychological work, to overcome our own mind through penance or psychological change. The third sacrament, Communion, is also present in all religions, although it has a wide variety of appearances and names.

These three sacraments together form an essential whole - something vital, something necessary for us to understand.

In the previous lecture about penance, you heard about the temptations that the Master Jesus faced when he entered into the wilderness. Master Jesus, in that story, enters into the wilderness - this is symbolic of being in the wilderness of life - and he was working in meditation, working on his mind through penance.  He had already received the baptism, and so at this point in the story he is working directly with his own Lucifer, to conquer that devil within. In the process of the three temptations that he faced, one of the replies that he gave to the tempter, to the accuser, was:

"It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." - Matthew 4:4

This phrase has incredible importance, because it reveals the nature of these three sacraments in a deeply profound way.  We have explained in other lectures, and can read throughout the books of Samael Aun Weor, that bread is symbolic and has levels of meaning.  When we consider the symbol of bread in light of the quote from Jesus, we know that the bread he is discussing is related with the Manna that the Israelites were given by God when they were in the desert in the Old Testament, at the time of Moses.  Moses (Moshe) said to the congregation:

You must safeguard and keep the entire mandate that I am prescribing to you today. You will then survive, flourish, and come to occupy the land that God swore to your fathers.

Remember the entire path along which God your Lord led you these forty years [Jesus was forty days] in the desert. He [through Lucifer] sent hardships to test you, to determine what is in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

He made life difficult for you, letting you go hungry, and then He fed you the Manna [Hebrew: spelled mem-nun; meaning "sustenance from above"], which neither you nor your ancestors had ever experienced. This was to teach you that it is not by bread alone that man lives, but by all that comes out of God's mouth.

The clothing you wore did not become tattered, and your feet did not become bruised these forty years.

You must thus meditate on the fact that just as a man might chastise his child, so God your Lord is chastising you. - Deuteronomy 8:1-8

The Israelites, who were following Moses the prophet, needed food to be sustained in order to develop as a nation, to grow, to survive their ordeals.

There in the desert, the entire Israelite community began to complain against Moses and Aaron.

mannaThe Israelites said to them, 'If only we had died by God's hand in Egypt! There at least we could sit by pots of meat and eat our fill of bread! But you had to bring us out to this desert, to kill the entire community by starvation!'

God said to Moses, 'I will make bread rain down to you from the sky. The people will go out and gather enough for each day. I will test them to see whether or not they will keep My law. - Exodus 16:2-4

And so, through the intercession of the priest Moses, God provides to them a holy form of sustenance ("bread") called Manna [מן]. This bread is none other than Gnosis itself, wisdom, knowledge - it is the teaching.  Specifically, it is the teaching in relation to the first two sacraments.  Manna in Hebrew is:

manna

Moses and his teachings are related to Yesod. The name Moses is actually Moshe, which means ‘born of water and fire'; his teachings are concerned with how to build the soul, how to transmute the sexual energy, how to create the man, from Manas, the Mind.

manna

Jesus says that man cannot live upon this bread alone, this bread of Moses.  In other words, the teaching that Moses gives is vital, it is important, but it is not enough; there is something else.  And that something else is the Word of God, as Jesus says.  But here we have to look deeper than the literal meaning.  Some interpret this passage as meaning that we need the scripture or the Bible in order to have life, but this is only a literal, superficial meaning of the phrase.  The document from which the quote is taken was written in Greek, and in Greek, ‘word' is ‘logos.' If you have studied Kabbalah, you know that the Logos is the top triangle on the Tree of Life; the Solar Logos.

three amens

The first Logos is Kether, the Father; the second Logos is Chokmah, the Son; and the third is Binah, the Holy Spirit.  These are the three Kayas of the Buddha, the three bodies of the Buddha.  These are the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.  In other words, man cannot live by bread alone - the knowledge of Yesod - but by the Word of God, by the Logos, by the Christ.  So he is pointing out a very important mystery that we need to comprehend.

This is all in relation with the letter Nun.  As you recall from the beginning of this course, we presented to you the understanding of the Three Amens.  The Three Amens are the three upper spheres on the Tree of Life, and Amen [אמן] is a word with a great deal of depth and significance.  The Hebrew letters that constitute it are Aleph, Mem and Nun.

amen

nunNun [נ and ן] is the Hebrew letter related with the fish, which has two Iods connected by a vertical pole - or two dots, two short dashes, connected by a vertical pole.  In other words, we see in the character Nun the two Heavens, the two Edens: the superior and inferior waters with the space between them.  We see Mayim and Shamayim separated. In the character and structure of this, we find the mystery of Communion, and the importance of it.

The letter נ Nun represents the fish, and is the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  But as a character related with Amen, it is the force of the Christ, which is placed through the Tree of Life into Yesod, in our sexual organs, in our sexual waters. It is the element of Christ or the Living Water, the life that vibrates within the sexual waters that we all have within. When we work with the forces of Yesod, the forces of sex, what we are really doing is working with the forces of Christ or Nun, which swim within those waters in ourselves. In the physical level, Nun are the sperm and the ovum of the male and female physical bodies.  But within that Nun - that power of God which resides within the sex - there is a great deal of power that we do not suspect.

When you look at the phrase of Jesus in this way, to understand that to work with the word of God is to work with the Three Amens - Aleph, Mem and Nun - and that those Three Amens are within us (physically, psychologically, spiritually), you understand that mere intellectual study of the Word is insufficient. You can demonstrate that for yourself quite easily when you observe those who have memorized the scriptures of their religion, who can quote at length from all of the great prophets and masters of their tradition, and yet who remain angry, lustful, envious, fearful, and subject to karma, disease, and death.  In other words, the intellectual study is not sufficient. We need to study; we need to understand our tradition, but the word taken literally in that way is not enough.  We need a superior way of working with the word.

Even if we go beyond mere study and we practice, this alone is not enough. In this tradition, we teach the transmutation of the sexual energy, and we teach the sacrament of penance, but those two are not sufficient, and this is what Jesus is stating.  The bread of Moses, or the knowledge of transmutation, is not enough; we need more help than that - more help than just from Tantra.  We need more help than just transmutation, and more help than just penance. This is because, as we are, we are our own Tree of Life; we do have Nun within, and we have the atom of Christ, Nous, within, but we are still overwhelmed by our own negativity.  We are suffocated by our desires, by our memories, by the many obstacles that exist in our mind, such that we cannot see reality - we see only through the filter of our distorted lens, and as such we suffer and we cause suffering.  We can transmute our sexual energy and we can work with the sacrament of penance, but these alone cannot radically transform our situation - they are a start, they are a beginning, but they cannot complete the work on their own.  Every beginning student in this tradition - or any tradition - will discover this for themselves: that transmutation alone does not save us from suffering, and that transmutation and psychological work together also cannot save us from suffering; we need more help than these two can provide. Thus, we need the third sacrament: Communion.  This is the importance of it.

If you look at the character נ Nun, you can see the importance here.  Imagine that the base of the character Nun (which is a iod) rests in Yesod, and the top of the character Nun (which is another iod) is in Christ.  And when you draw a connection between the two iods right down the center of the Tree of Life, down the central column, you can see the character Nun.  Thus, here we can see how the Word proceeds from the mouth of God. The Word (Christ: the Aleph) comes through the Gnostic Church (mem), and provides us with what we truly need: help to conquer the causes of suffering, which is the ego within us.

The letter Nun and the Waters

Communion is the process whereby the initiate (Tipereth) opens a channel between the congregation and Christ to receive the Word of God, to receive what is called the "transubstantiation," which means the transformation of one substance into another.

Religion is Magic

How can we bring the Word, the Logos, down?  How do we call that force down to aid us?  We use a process called "invocation" - to invoke means to entreat, to call, to beg, to plead for assistance and aid.  There is a form of prayer or a form of ritual that we use to accomplish this act.

Now you can understand why every religion has rituals. In their base, every religion is a form of magic - without exception.  Eliphas Levi said, "Religion is magic sanctioned by authority," and it is true.

Amongst the Christians, they have their magic: they have a Mass, they have exorcisms and invocations, and they have many different types of practices and rituals, such as baptism.  All of these are magical procedures, but they do not call it "magic" because their authority has sanctioned it, and so they call it "religion."

Amongst the Buddhists, we find the same essential fact: amongst the Tantric Buddhist schools there are many rituals, and in these rituals they perform the essential function of every other form of ritual in the world, which is to invoke superior forces for assistance; to call for aid, to call for help in order to aid the congregation.

The important thing to point out about this is that in every case, the intercession is performed by a priest, by a leader, by a prophet, by a lama.  And such a person has been consecrated, has been initiated, blessed.  The consecration and initiation of a priest is something that we will deal with later in the course, but what I want to point out to you is that between us as a person in the congregation of whatever church or temple we attend, and on the other side is that force of Avalokitesvara, the Cosmic Christ - between is the intercessor, the mediator, who is here in the middle of this tree: Tiphereth. This is the priest who performs the ritual, the officiant who performs the ritual.

We know in Gnosticism and Kabbalah that the real priest, the real magician, the real lama, is the Inner Buddha, who is related with the Monad - this is the real theurgist, the one who performs the magic of high theurgy and is capable of working directly with the forces of Christ to channel those energies down for the benefit of the congregation.

"The Internal God of every Human Being is, indeed, the legitimate and authentic Theurgist." - Samael Aun Weor

In a real priest or magi, it is the Inner Being (Chesed) who works through his Human Soul (Tiperheth) and performs the priesthood.

You find the essential function of the priest or theurgist in every religion, all across the world, but the forms are slightly different.  In its base, the high priest calls down the Three Amens - those three forces of the Solar Logos or the Word - and pulls those atoms, those forces, into some element which is then distributed to the congregation.

In many rituals and practices of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the congregation receives tsog, which is food that receives the blessing, the energies, from the ritual, and then the congregation consumes that food (manna) in order to take those elements into their bodies as a blessing, as help.

You find the same thing in the Catholic and Christian traditions in the West, and this is called the Eucharist or Unction. Every week (sometimes every day), the penitents of that tradition assemble in a church and receive the blessed elements so they can take those atoms into their bodies as assistance for their work.

You find these traditions everywhere, in every religion, because it is important; it is essential.  Ritual or magic is important for this cause, because we are stuck in darkness, and we need the help of superior forces -this is why we have a priest or a lama or a teacher or a prophet who intercedes, to call those forces to aid us.

The tradition we are teaching you, as I stated in the beginning, is ancient - it does not belong to any religion of these times; in fact, they all came from this tradition.  Every religion has its own variation, but they all come from the same source, and this is the Gnostic Church, which, as you remember, is situated in Daath, towards the top of the Tree of Life, just below the Three Amens.  Daath is the mouth of God, that creative, mysterious sphere from which the light is distributed.

Elohim said [through the throat, Daath], 'There shall be light,' and light came into existence. - Genesis 1:3

This is where Communion emerges from: Christ. The Eucharist, the blessed food, is the gift of Christ for the benefit of others.

The Beginning of the Eucharist

Unfortunately, many people in these times believe mistakenly that Communion (the Eucharist or reception of Christ through the physical elements of bread and wine) was an invention of Jesus and is unique to the Christian church. This is a false belief. The Bible states very clearly that the distribution of the bread and the wine were not instituted amongst the Christians first.  In fact, the distribution of bread and wine as a blessing, as help, occurs first in the Old Testament in the books of Moses, in the Book of Genesis - the first book of the Bible.

When we study this book there is a long section about Abram, or Abraham, and if you have studied religions you know that Abraham is the patriarch of three of the greatest religions in the world. Abraham is considered the patriarch of the Jewish tradition, the Christian tradition, and the Muslim tradition.  So, at the base of all of them we find Abraham, or Abram.

Melchisedeck.png In the Book of Genesis there is a story about Abram, who goes through a series of problems, of sufferings, of ordeals related with penance, and when he completes that, when he is successful in his battle to overcome the enemy, he is approached by a king whose name is Melchizedek:

Malkhi-tzedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine. He was a priest to God, the Most High.

He blessed [Abram], and said, 'Blessed be Abram to God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth.

And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your enemies into your hand.' [Abram then] gave him a tenth of everything. - Genesis / Bereishit 14:18-20

Melchizedek brought forth bread and wine.  This is the first appearance of the Eucharist in the Hebrew and Christian traditions; it was not instituted first by Jesus, it was instituted by Melchizedek.

Abram, the patriarch of the Jewish, Christian and Hebrew traditions, bowed at the feet of Melchizedek; in other words, all of those traditions owe their existence not to Abram but to Melchizedek, because he is the high priest.  So this is a very interesting thing for us to study.

Melchizedek represents something very important for us to understand: that there are levels of the church.  Melchizedek is a high priest; Abram (Abraham) is a priest as well, but he bows at the feet of Melchizedek.

The priest has the sacred duty to bring forth "the bread and wine," or these elements which will house the forces of Christ (the Logos) so that the congregation can receive those forces.

The Three Chambers

All of the aspirants of the world's churches or temples go to the house of God, or the church or temple, in order to receive this benefit.  Traditionally, in every religion and every tradition throughout the world, this is why the church or temple is always organized into groups.

Public or Exoteric

You always have a public group, where the church or temple will have public teachings, or a ministry, or a missionary function in which they present the teaching or the intellectual aspect of that tradition. The priest, rabbi, or lama will speak publicly in order to bring more people into that group. This is the public or exoteric level of any tradition. Amongst the Egyptian tradition, this level was called ‘apprentices,' and this was adopted by the Masons, so if you have studied either tradition you will know what I am speaking of.  This is also what in the Western traditions is called the layperson - even in the Buddhist tradition - lay practitioners.  These are beginners or people who are in the first antechamber or the foyer of the church.  So, in this level, the priest performs his duty to give the teachings, to provide the intellectual information and descriptions of what their particular religion is about.

Private or Mesoteric

Once someone becomes serious about the given religion, becomes devoted and is seriously working and participating in that religion, the priest will initiate that person into the next level. In every church and every religion, you find this initiation; in the Christian tradition it is called First Communion; but in every religion you find something similar, where the person, usually young, is initiated into the mesoteric level (middle level), which is private and not open to the general public.

All of the ancient Christian traditions - and in fact, in some of the churches nowadays - held their rituals in secret and only for the initiated.  They invited the public to come and attend the first part of their services- the sermon and other prayers and songs, things like that - but then people who have not been initiated have to leave, and then only those that are initiated members of that group can remain in order to receive the additional rituals or practices that are performed in that particular tradition. Again, we find this essential structure in all religions around the world.

Secret or Esoteric

masonic levels Amongst the mesoteric or initiated congregation - this first level or first degree of initiates - the priest will always be watching for those who are even more serious, who are beyond just being a part of this second group, and the priest will then look to initiate them into the secret level, or the esoteric level.

Amongst the Egyptians and the Masons, these three levels are called

  1. Apprentices
  2. Journeymen or Craftsmen
  3. Masters

The third group is called Masters because they have arrived at a certain level of ability to work with the teachings.  It does not necessarily mean that they have arrived at the initiatic degree of mastery, which is another thing.  The term ‘master' in this case is more like an honorific title or a term of respect for someone who has achieved some facility with the practices or teachings of that tradition.

In the Gnostic Church, these three levels are maintained, because, of course, the Gnostic Church is the root of such a system - this is where these three levels emerged from in ancient times. All of the modern religions base their structure upon the root one, which is from the Gnostic Church. In the Gnostic church, these three levels or degrees of receiving help are called "chambers."  We will talk about that more in a moment.

The important thing to understand here is that each of these levels is managed and maintained by consecrated priests.  It is a properly authorized and responsible priest who manages the exoteric level and gives talks; it is the priest who invites the member of the congregation into the middle or private level; and it is the priest who also determines the suitability of a person to enter into the secret level of the teaching.

So, again, in every religion you find these three levels of instruction, and they are all important.  In each level, the student is provided with more and more help, more and more assistance for their work.  These levels were organized by the Gnostic Church because all of us have different needs at different times.  Thus, every religion is able to provide for the needs of its members at the appropriate time by the intercession of a priest who observes the congregation and guides the congregation through those levels according to what each one needs, and when.

We find this written about a little bit in the Bible - the very important responsibility that a priest has, or a lama, a teacher.  In the Book of Hebrews, Paul wrote about this responsibility and the importance of it in the tradition:

For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:

Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.

And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.

And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.

So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.

As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. - Hebrews 5:1-6

This is the important thing: Jesus from the Gospel was a priest from the order of Melchizedek, not the other way around.  Melchizedek was the one who established the priesthood, and was the one who all the subsequent prophets and priests and great avatars and messengers belonged to the order of Melchizedek, not the other way around.

[Jesus] Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing.

For when for the time ye ought to be teachers [priests], ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full [spiritual] age, even those who by reason of use have their [inner] senses exercised [awakened] to discern both good and evil. - Hebrews 5:7-14

What he is pointing out here is that Jesus passed through all of his penance and his difficulties in order to be worthy to earn the right to belong to the Order of Melchizedek.  This emphasizes the sacred nature of priesthood and the duties of that priesthood, which are to manage and maintain these three chambers, these three levels of initiation which exist in every religion.  So, later in the Book of Hebrews, Paul states directly that Jesus was made a high priest in the Order of Melchizedek.

Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. - Hebrews 6:20

Who is this Melchizedek, and why is this so important?  The name Melchizedek is, of course, Hebrew, and it means ‘king of justice,' or ‘king of righteousness' or ‘virtue.'  Melchizedek is a very advanced initiate and high priest.  Later in Hebrews, Paul describes him, and this is a fascinating description to really contemplate deeply.

For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;

To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually.

Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. - Hebrews 7:1-4

Every planetary body that exists is the creation of an initiate, of some great being.  When we study the hierarchies of the cosmos - we have studied many times, for example, the Seven Spirits before the throne, or the Seven Rays, which are related with the seven fundamental planets of this solar system, and each of those planets is a physical creation belonging to the head of that Ray.  So our physical sun, Sol, the heart of our solar system, belongs to Michael, the angel of the sun, the solar light.

A cosmic or planetary temple - the abode of the Genie or regent of that sphere - is found in the center of every planet.

Any master of the White Lodge can visit - in his astral body - the heart temple of the planet Earth.

The genie of the Earth is ChamGam, the King of the World, he is the same Melchizedek mentioned in the Bible.

We have been told that the genie of the Earth has a physical body similar to ours, yet eternal, immortal. Some Tibetan lamas have had the great joy of personally meeting ChamGam.

The Genie of the Earth lives in Agartha, a subterranean kingdom, with the surviving initiates of Lemuria and Atlantis.

The races from Agartha are waiting for the degenerate Aryan race - present root race of the Earth - to perish by fire. When all of us, the perverse ones of this root race have perished, then the survivors of Lemuria and Atlantis, will repopulate the Earth and will mix with some selected survivors of our present Aryan root race and will fashion the future sixth root race.

Within the interior of the Earth physically exists Lemurian and Atlantean survivors; these races possess all the atomic scientific inventions of ancient times.

The King of the World works intensively, helped by the Goros, those great beings who govern life and death on all planes of cosmic consciousness.

The Earth is a living organism that rotates around the sun; the planetary Genie keeps it firmly on its path.

The Genie of the planet Earth is a member of the great cosmic family of this solar system of Ors. So, all the sidereal bodies near to the Earth (that is governed by Melchizedek, King of Fire) form part of this complex family. - Samael Aun Weor

Melchizedek is the intelligence, the consciousness, of this planet.  This physical Earth was created, crafted and overseen by a great intelligence; it is not an accident, it is not a happenstance, it is not merely by the accumulation of rocks and fire - it is brought together by design, and the designer is Melchizedek.  And that is why all of the prophets, all of the priests, all of the lamas, all of the avatars, all of the messengers who have entered into this planet must enter in according to the Order of Melchizedek, because he is in charge.  That is why he is so old, "abides forever," and his priesthood is permanent - because it manages the forces of this planet.  Melchizedek, of course, is part of the Gnostic Church, and he oversees how the messages of Christ are transmitted onto this planet.  All of the religions, all of the teachings, all of the scriptures - everything that is done in order to instruct this terrestrial humanity about the nature of reality must come through his approval, through his guidance.

The three levels of instruction are his domain. In the Gnostic Church, we call these three stages of study the ‘Three Chambers.'

The Three Chambers of the Gnostic Church

The First Chamber is the public level.  In First Chamber you find all of the books of Samael Aun Weor, the Bible, the Quran, the Sutras, the Tantras, the Vinaya, the Gita, the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Shastras - all of the great scriptures from every religion that are publicly available belong to First Chamber, and are important resources of study and reflection for all of the students of the Gnostic Church.

While learning in the First Chamber, humanity has the opportunity to define themselves - to discover the baptism, to discover the penance, to discover communion, and in that way, they can decide how they want to live: to continue perpetuating suffering, or to conquer it.  You cannot have both; you have to pick one or the other.  You cannot simultaneously create suffering and conquer it - this is like trying to ride a bicycle in two directions at the same time; you cannot, it is impossible - you have to choose one and go.

In the Gnostic Church, First Chamber is where all of the teachings are given publicly. The priests, who are in charge of the chambers, will always watch the congregation in order to determine who is ready to enter Second Chamber - when the time comes for a given student to advance into another level of instruction.  So in the Gnostic Church, Second Chamber and Third Chamber are maintained; but these chambers are private.  In other words, anyone who is endeavoring to become a member of the Gnostic Church begins by attending lectures and the functions of First Chamber, and when the priest determines that someone is ready to move to Second Chamber, they are invited privately.  Then, if they accept the invitation, those students are initiated into the Mesoteric congregation, or Second Chamber.

Second Chamber is private, precisely because it is an additional level of help that the public level is not ready for.  To enter into the additional level of help, a person needs preparation in order to understand, in order to receive the elements without obstacles or confusion. We often compare this to our experience in school: a second-grade student will not benefit from a college level math class; in fact, it will only confuse them, and they will be a distraction for everyone else. The Chambers are similar to this; it is not that it is private or secret in order to hide things that might be bad: it is in order to give the students the opportunity to receive the help of Christ without the interference of the ego.

Thereafter, from Second Chamber, there is Third Chamber, which is considered even more secret, but specifically because there are few who are capable of keeping up with it.

We will discuss these a little more deeply, so you can understand the differences.

The Three Chambers are related with the three brains:

  1. First Chamber is the intellectual study
  2. Second Chamber is related with the heart, it is related with developing emotion
  3. Third Chamber is practical, it is related with the motor-instinctive-sexual brain.

Just because you may belong to First Chamber or Second Chamber or even Third does not mean that anyone is better than anyone else, just the same as someone who is thirty is not better than someone who is twenty; it is exactly the same thing.  Any soul, any student who develops themselves, will very naturally enter into these other levels.  No one enters into higher levels in any religion because they are so-called ‘better' - all that happens is that they become a little more mature, but maturity is a matter of development, not superiority or inferiority.  This has to be very clearly understood, because unfortunately in many religions, the membership in private or secret levels becomes very egotistical, and people use it to punish other people - ‘Oh, well, I am in the advanced group,' or, ‘Oh, well, I am in the secret group and you are not, so I cannot discuss that,' etc.  This is a form of cruelty and pride and cannot be tolerated. Those who are in the advanced levels should be more compassionate, considerate, and caring of those who are working to join them.

No matter what religion, group, tradition or school we study, these three chambers must be present, otherwise the tradition does not belong to the Gnostic Church - period, end of story, there is no debate.  The Three Chambers were instituted by Melchizedek, who is an embodiment of Christ; thus, any religion, temple, church or tradition which exists on the face of the Earth must have three chambers, and if they do not, they do not have the teachings of Christ - simple as that.

When Master Samael Aun Weor established our particular Gnostic movement, he worked very hard to establish the Three Chambers in his schools.  He said,

In order to form the Gnostic Movement, I have fought very much here in Mexico during the eighteen years of a continuous journey towards a permanent diffusion of the Gnostic teachings.

Thus, after this rigorous work, I have achieved the preparation of a group of paladins who are ready to make a gigantic movement that will extend from border to border and from one sea to the other; in other words, from the border of Guatemala to the border of the United States and from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific ocean.

All of this has been a matter of intense work, of an unwearied battle.  Now, we have various organized groups, so the basis for the gigantic work that awaits us is established, thus in a short time, the Gnostic Movement here in Mexico will be powerful and organized according to the law [of Christ].

We have many people in the First Chamber; yes, many aspirants attend the different groups of First Chamber.  However, the aspirants within the Second Chamber are fewer, and this is because they require better preparation. Concerning this stage of the teachings (Second Chamber) I am more careful; thus, in order to pass a student into the Second Chamber, I have to be very sure that such an aspirant is completely defined, since it is clear that in the Second Chamber many esoteric aspects of great responsibility enter into action, and it is clear that a great deal of veneration, respect, and responsibility is demanded from the student. The student must enter into the Second Chamber duly prepared in order to appreciate the esoteric value of this chamber. - Gnostic Paladins

He goes on to describe how he waits for years to determine if someone is prepared to enter into Second Chamber.

Then he said,

Now the students of Third Chamber, indeed, are very few, because these have to be very well defined.  So, the Third Chamber is active here in Mexico in a very special place.  I want you to emphatically know that the Third Chamber has only one objective: the awakening of the consciousness.  Here, we, with effective and practical methods which I already taught, dedicate ourselves as a group to the awakening of the consciousness.

Thus, in the Third Chamber we have individuals that are already working in the Jinn state, who work perfectly in the fourth dimension; some of these students have gone to Tibet with their body of bones and flesh in the Jinn state.  Of course, these are people of Third Chamber that work intensely with concentration, meditation, and Samadhi, etc.  So, the students of Third Chamber are awakening very fast because they are increasingly working in a practical way, i.e. with astral projection, in the Jinn state, in ecstasy; thus, I am not content until they become totally awakened.

Here in Mexico, I have told the students of Third Chamber that the moment will arrive in which we will only reunite in the Jinn state; therefore those who are not prepared to attend with their body in the Jinn state will remain out of the Third Chamber. - Gnostic Paladins

So, you can see that these chambers are very serious.  This is not a game.  And you can see why the Church is organized in this way. Each student needs to work at their own level, and there is no need for comparisons. Each chamber is important because it provides elements to aid the one who is working hard on themselves.  The First Chamber is the opportunity to learn the doctrine, to prepare oneself, to become serious, to develop responsibility, veneration and respect as he described.  Then, the priest will determine and aid the student in their entrance into the additional levels.

All of these chambers have as their purpose the complete development of the human being; that is the only purpose.  And that complete development comes by conquering suffering, by conquering the ego which resides within us. The way we do that is by working with the Three Amens, with the Christ; this is the only way.

As I was describing in the beginning, we need bread, the Manna of the desert, which is the knowledge of the teaching that we receive in the beginning.  As you recall, Moses intercedes for the congregation and then God brings the Manna, which are the teachings related with the development of the soul - Manna, Manas, the man, how to create the Man.  Moses symbolizes that level of our instruction, where we start to work with baptism and penance and start to develop the Man within us.  But Jesus said that we cannot live by bread alone - that bread of the desert - we need another, superior form of help, and that form of help is, of course, these chambers, and more.

We receive this help, the Word that Jesus describes, through the intercession of priests (Tiphereth).  First we receive it through the First Chamber.  The priests intercede, they teach, they provide the elements that the students need.  They give lectures, they provide books, they provide whatever the forms of instruction the students need in order to grasp the nature of the teaching - this is in First Chamber.  But of course, the instructors know that that bread is not enough, that we need more.  And so Jesus describes this in the Book of John 6.

Superior Bread

This passage occurs after the miracle of the loaves and the fish, which is when Jesus gave a teaching to some five thousand men, women and children, and fed them with only a few loaves of bread and fish.  So he performed a miracle related with Yesod, or Eden, the fourth dimension. How can this be? It is easy to understand when you understand how Christ (aleph) is related with the Manna (bread) and the Fish (nun).

And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.

And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him, and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed:Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.

He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?

He saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes.

And he commanded them to make all sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves [knowledge of the first five Initiations] and the two fishes [male and female], he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake [the secrecy of] the loaves [of knowledge], and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.

Jesus and the Miracle of the Bread and Fish

And they did all eat, and were filled [with light]. And they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men. - Mark 6:34-44

After this he left, and the people looked for him; this passage describes what happens next.

When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, "Rabbi, when camest thou hither?"

Jesus answered them and said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled." - John 6:24-26

In other words, they received the doctrine and were filled, were fed spiritually, and need more.

"Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man [the Priest] shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed."

Then said they unto him, "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?"

Jesus answered and said unto them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent."

They said therefore unto him, "What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat."

Then Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses [Yesod] gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he [Christ] which cometh down from heaven [schamayim, the superior waters], and giveth life unto the world." - John 6:27-33

The bread of God is not the bread of Moses.  The bread of Moses is in Yesod; it is the lower portion of this letter Nun from the Amens.  And the bread from God, from Christ, is the top one, which comes from Daath - it is the Three Amens (Aleph) through Daath, the upper Eden.  So you see the two waters, Mayim and Shamayim - these two levels that we need to differentiate between.  What he is saying is very explicit and very clear: man cannot live on bread alone - the lower bread, the bread from Moses, the teachings that we initially receive about transmutation and working with the ego.  That bread alone is not enough - that is the start, but it does not give everlasting life; only Christ does.  Christ (Aleph) is that bread from heaven, which comes from above.

Then said they unto him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread."

And Jesus said unto them, "I [as Christ] am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father [the first Logos] giveth me shall come to me [through Daath]; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven [schamayim], not to do mine own will, but the will of him [the Word] that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." - John 6:34-40

So now, of course, "the Jews" get upset. The Jews here symbolize all those who consider themselves initiates, who believe they already know the doctrine, who believe they already know the teaching and believe they already have everything.  And so they get offended. These are all of those people in the tradition who are believers, and they only see the physical side, so they do not believe, they do not see the spiritual, they do not see the reality.

The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? how is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?"

Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, "Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead." - John 6:41-49

There are many religions, priests, lamas, monks, who are very respectable, with old traditions, with a lot of members in their temples and churches and groups - and I am including the Gnostics - who believe very strongly in their tradition, and believe very firmly in their faith, but who reject Christ.  In fact, sometimes, they have the bread from the desert, they have the manna of Moses - they know about transmutation, they know about how important it is to work on the ego.  So they know about the first two sacraments: baptism and penance.  But they reject Christ.  That is what he says: "Your fathers did eat that bread from Moses, and are dead, because they do not have Christ."

Why?  This is the important thing.  He says,

"I am that bread of life.  Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.  This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.  I am the living bread with came down from heaven: if any son of man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

"I [Christ] am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give [through the Eucharist] is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." - John 6:48-51

So, of course, the religious authorities - called "the Jews" in the story - get even more angry.

The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

Then Jesus said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." - John 6:52-58

So, now, everybody in the temple is upset in the story, and even the disciples start murmuring.

Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?"

When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, "Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you that believe not." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said, "Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father."

From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.

When Jesus reveals the nature of the sacred ritual, the need to consume Christ through bread and wine - which, in Christianity, is called Eucharist, or Unction, or Communion, and in other traditions have many other names - why do the disciples leave?  Why do so many become offended and outraged?  This is a great mystery, but it happens everywhere. This "eating of flesh and blood" is symbolic; the eating of flesh and blood is symbolic of fire and air - these elements related to the Ruach, related to Christ; atoms that are needed in order to give us strength and force. In other words, they are related to Aleph: and when we invoke and consume the the Aleph that is hidden in the bread and wine, which are the manna, we then have a complete Amen, a "superior bread."

eucharist

Jesus reveals the nature of the sacred ritual, the Eucharist, or Unction, or Communion, in Pistis Sophia as follows:

Jesus, -- that is Aberamentho, -- said unto his disciples, “Amen, I say unto you: I have brought nothing into the world when I came, save this fire, this water, this wine and this blood. I have brought the water and the fire out of the region of the Light of the lights of the Treasury of the Light; and I have brought the wine and the blood out of the region of Barbelo. And after a little while my father sent me the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove.

"And the fire, the water and the wine are for the purification of all the sins of the world. The blood on the other hand was for a sign unto me because of the human body which I received in the region of Barbelo, the great power of the invisible god. The breath (aleph) on the other hand advanceth towards all souls and leadeth them unto the region of the Light."

The same explained from former sayings

"For this cause have I said unto you: ‘I am come to cast fire on the earth,’ -- that is: I am come to purify the sins of the world with fire.

"And for this cause have I said to the Samaritan woman: ‘If thou knewest of the gift of God, and who it is who saith unto thee: Give me to drink, -- thou wouldst ask, and he would give thee living water, and there would be in thee a spring which welleth up for everlasting life.’

"And for this cause I took also a cup of wine, blessed it and give it unto you and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which will be poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins.’

"And for this cause they have also thrust the spear into my side, and there came forth water and blood.

"And these are the mysteries of the Light which forgive sins; that is to say, these are the namings and the names of the Light." Pistis Sophia

In the Bible, a little bit later in the story, Jesus performs a ritual which many people call "the Last Supper." This is a form of blood pact, a form of ritual that Jesus performed with his disciples - but he did not invent it.  As I mentioned in the beginning, the bringing forth of bread and wine was instituted in the Bible by Melchizedek, in the book of Genesis, when Melchizedek blessed Abram.  So, this practice of utilizing bread and wine in the Jewish and in the Christian traditions is very ancient.

In the Buddhist tradition, they use different elements - rice, barley. The Aztecs and Mayans used corn.  So you always find a different fruit and a different grain to symbolize these forces of Christ, to harness and hold the invoked elements.  In all of these traditions, the priest will take the offerings of the congregation, and perform the ritual, the invocation to bless the food.  The rituals are performed, the food is blessed, and then the congregation consumes that food in order to receive the forces of Christ.  This is a universal practice.

The Sacrifice of Passover

What is interesting, though, is that Jesus institutes the Eucharist for his disciples at the Passover. Passover is the event that precipitated the Israelites escaping from Egypt.

God said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt: "This month shall be the head month to you. It shall be the first month of the year. Speak to the entire community of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month, every man must take a lamb [a symbol of Christ] for each extended family, a lamb for each household [of man and woman]. If the household is too small for a lamb, then he and a close neighbor can obtain a [lamb together], as long as it is for specifically designated individuals. Individuals shall be designated for a lamb according to how much each one will eat. You must have a flawless young animal, a one-year-old male. You can take it from the sheep or from the goats. Hold it in safekeeping until the fourteenth day of this month. The entire community of Israel shall then slaughter [their sacrifices] in the afternoon.

They must take the blood and place it on the two doorposts and on the beam above the door of the houses in which they will eat [the sacrifice].

Eat the [sacrificial] meat during the night, roasted over fire. Eat it with matzah [unleavened bread] and bitter herbs.

Do not eat it raw or cooked in water, but only roasted over fire [Shin: Christ], including its head, its legs, and its internal organs.

Do not leave any of it over until morning. Anything that is left over until morning must be burned in fire. You must eat it with your waist belted [in chastity], your [marriage] shoes on your feet, and your staff [spine: willpower] in your hand, and you must eat it in haste. It is the Passover (Pesach) offering to God.

The Passover offering symbolizes how the married couple transforms the sexual forces and returns them to God, who can then use those forces to free the couple from bondage to suffering.

I will pass through Egypt [the forces that enslave my disciples] on that night, and [with the energy from the sacrifice] I will kill every first-born in Egypt [egotistical elements], man and beast. I will perform acts of judgment [Geburah: Samael] against all the gods [idols] of Egypt [your mind]. I [alone] am God.

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are staying. I will see the blood and pass you by (pasach). There will not be any deadly plague among you [the soul] when I strike Egypt [the ego].

This day must be one that you will remember. You must keep it as a festival to God for all generations. It is a law for all time that you must celebrate it.

Eat matzahs [unleavened bread: pure knowledge] for seven [initiatic] days. By the first day [first initiation], you must have your homes [minds] cleared of all leaven [theories and beliefs]. Whoever eats leaven [impure theories and doctrines] from the first day until the seventh day will have his soul cut off from Israel [the congregation of the Gnostic Church].

The first day shall be a sacred holiday, and the seventh day shall [also] be a sacred holiday. No work may be done on these [days]. The only [work] that you may do is that which is needed so that everyone will be able to eat.

Be careful regarding the matzahs [bread of wisdom], for on this very day I will have brought your masses out of Egypt. You must carefully keep this day for all generations; it is a law for all times. - Exodus 12:1-17

At Passover, all of the initiates who belong to the congregation have to mark their front door with the blood of a lamb in order to prevent the Angel of Death from entering their house to take away their firstborn son.  This is a deeply symbolic representation.  The blood of the lamb is what Jesus is describing in the Gospel - Christ is the lamb, and that blood is the life force that the lamb sacrifices in order to save his disciples.  You see it in the Passover and you see it in the Eucharist.  The blood and the flesh of the lamb are sacrificed in order to save the disciples.  Why?  Because of karma, Geburah, the justice of God.  Now maybe you can start to grasp the significance of why Jesus says that man shall not live by bread alone.  The bread of the manna, the doctrine of transmutation and work on the ego is not sufficient to protect us from the Angel of Death, from karma - from the karma that afflicts all those who do not have the protection and assistance of Christ.  We need to be in the house of Christ, protected by Christ, in order to have a safe and clean opportunity to do the work.  Our minds are so filthy, our karma is so heavy, we cannot do it alone - we need help.  And this is the symbol here.

Passover is celebrated in the Jewish tradition by consuming bread and wine.

So, in the Gospels, when we study the Eucharist and how Jesus instituted it, we also see the importance of this ritual that he instituted, for he elevates the Passover into the new era by bringing more help into the ritual.  He teaches how to integrate Christ into the ritual of the  bread and wine.

To be in the house of Christ means that we need to build the soul; we need to build our own house, our own temple.  But to build the soul, we only need the teachings of baptism and penance, and that is really all.  We need to know about transmutation and the work on the ego.  But people who rely only on these two aspects of the work do not have protection from harmful forces, including their own mind. This is why some may develop a certain degree of spiritual insight and then become false prophets - because their own ego confuses them, their own submerged elements.  They do not have enough positive forces protecting them and working for them, to help them advance without obstacle.  This is the value of the blood of the lamb that marks the door.  That house is our own psychological house, our own soul that we have to build.  When we build that temple - our own soul - it becomes a part of the Gnostic Church.  It becomes a part of that celestial body.

The Last Supper

In Matthew 26, there is a description of the Last Supper.  And to remind you, this happens at the end of many problems and struggles.  At this stage of the story, the chief priests - the heads of the traditional religion - want to kill Jesus.  This is extremely significant for us, symbolically.

Recorded in Matthew 26:

And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, "Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."

Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety, and kill him. But they said, "Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people."

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, "To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor."

When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, "Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her."

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, "What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver." And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, "Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?"

And he said, "Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with my disciples." And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover.

Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, "Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me."

And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, "Lord, is it I?"

And he answered and said, "He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born."

Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, "Master, is it I?"

He said unto him, "Thou hast said."

last supper

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body."

And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."

And at the beginning of this chapter, a woman comes to anoint Jesus with oil. The disciples become upset, but he tells him that she is anointing him for death.  This symbol is clearly related with baptism, but in another octave.  And then, Judas betrays him right after the anointing.  And immediately after Judas betrays him, Jesus performs the Eucharist.  So we see three symbols back to back, which are deeply related with each other:

  1. Baptism is the woman anointing him with oil
  2. Penance is Judas, the demon of desire, who betrays us, who tempts us, and who we have to overcome with charity and love
  3. Communion between Jesus and the congregation

What is interesting to contemplate is that in the very act of instituting the Eucharist for his disciples, Jesus was betrayed.  So was Samael Aun Weor.

We also see that Jesus was anointed by his wife; so we see here the three sacraments symbolized.

  1. Baptism is transmutation - to be anointed with water that is transformed into wine or oil.
  2. Penance is transformation - to be tested by the devil, to face betrayal and ordeals, and to conquer the ego; to not hate, but to love the betrayer.
  3. Communion is also called transubstantiation - this is how we receive help from God through special rituals and blessings.

Tarot 14 These three names that I just gave you - transmutation, transformation, and transubstantiation -are the three aspects of the Arcanum 14. Arcanum 14 is related to the fourteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which is Nun, the letter of the Three Amens.  And what else do you see in the Arcanum 14 but the woman mixing two waters - Mayim and Shamayim.  There are very deep mysteries hidden here. The woman depicated in this Arcanum is our Divine Mother. The waters are the waters of Daath and Yesod.

In other words, we need these three sacraments to be working in harmony with one another.  The bread of baptism and penance are not sufficient; we need the bread of the ritual, because the ego is too strong.

When we are in a state of ecstasy during the Transubstantiation, Christic atoms of high voltage descend and give us light within the darkness.  These Christic atoms help us in the battle against the red demons of Seth [the ego]. Thus, we make light within the darkness.  - Tarot and Kabbalah

When Jesus established the Gnostic school, he broke bread and gave wine as a symbol of his own blood.  Through the practice of the Eucharist, we put ourselves into communion with Tum, which is a sacred name of God.  It has three letters - T, U, M - those are the three forces: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Those are the Three Amens: Aleph, Mem, Nun.

The Ritual of the Eucharist

melchisedec Through mantra, through prayer, we open a channel to receive the blessings of Christ through ritual.  This is not belief; it happens.

The mystery of transubstantiation is how the priest, who is conducting a ritual on behalf of the congregation, calls down, invokes the forces of Christ into the elements on the alter.  Jesus demonstrated it using bread and wine - grape juice - and by performing that ritual, he was repeating what he learned, what he followed, from Melchizedek. That practice is where we call the forces of Christ into the bread and the wine.  But, again, this is something that is done in Buddhism, Hinduism, in the Jewish tradition - all over.

Every Gnostic Unction - in whatever cult or belief, sect or religion - is associated, intimately united with the Last Supper of the Adorable one through the blood pact. The Holy Primeval Christian Gnostic Church, to which we have the privilege of belonging, preserves in secrecy the primeval rituals used by the Apostles.  These were the rituals of the Christians that met in the catacombs of Rome during the time of the Caesar Nero. These are the rituals of the Essenes, a humble cast of great initiates to which Jesus the Christ belonged. These are the primeval rituals of the ancient Christians. - The Perfect Matrimony

There are specific requirements for such a ritual to be successful: the previous sacraments must be actualized in the life of the priest who performs it.

And as you know, any student of Gnosis can perform this ritual themselves.  You can do this yourself at home.

Jesus gives the Eucharist When you perform the Eucharist, through your prayer, through your sincerity, you open a channel through your own consciousness - through Tiphereth, your own inner Monad: Chesed, Geburah, Tiphereth - and open a channel inside, a vehicle through which Christ can enter.  This cannot be done mechanically; it cannot be done just by belief.  It is the perfume of the heart that opens up the channel, which means that we must be sincere. When this ritual is performed correctly, what actually happens - not by belief, and not just because it is a tradition -the bread and the wine literally become atoms of Christ.  Literally.  Normally we talk about things being symbolic; well, I am telling you the opposite now.

These rituals have power.  The whole of our secret science of the great Arcanum is contained within them.  When we ritualize, we vocalize certain mantras that have the power to sublimate the sexual energy up to the heart.  The Inner Christ lives in the heart temple. When the sexual energies are sublimated to the heart, they have the immense joy of mixing with the forces of the Inner Christ to enter the Superior Worlds.  Our rituals are repeated in all of the seven great cosmic planes.  The ritual ceremony establishes the secret canal from the physical region, passes through all of the seven great planes to the world of the Solar Logos.  The Christic Atoms of the Solar Logos descend through this canal and thus accumulate in the bread and wine.  That is how the bread and wine really change into the flesh and blood of the Christ through the work of Transubstantiation. Upon eating the bread and drinking the wine, the Christic atoms fuse with our organism and pass to the internal bodies to awaken in us the powers of their Solar Nature. - The Perfect Matrimony

If you perform the Eucharist in your home before an altar - it can be very humble - there are different ways to perform this ritual.  As a single person, you can pray humbly and sincerely the prayer of the Pater Noster - the Our Father.  Samael Aun Weor wrote about this in the book The Seven Words.

Each person can, while alone, pray and persevere in the partaking of the bread and wine.

The most powerful prayer is the Our Father.

The bread and wine should always be placed on a clean and perfumed cloth. The bread and wine can only be brought to the mouth after praying.

Through the bread and wine, billions of Christic atoms, which come to awaken all our Occult Powers, enter our human organism.

Christ, in his capacity as the Cosmic Christ, said:

I am the bread of life, I am the living bread; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live eternally; whoever eats of my flesh and drinks of my blood, he dwells in me and I in him.

Now, with this teaching, every human being will be able to Christify himself by means of Sexual Magic and of the Holy Eucharistic Unction.

All our brethren must always have the bread and wine at hand, and persevere daily in the Holy Unction.

The prayer is always performed on one's knees. - The Seven Words

Learn how to perform the eucharist at home: Eucharist: Spiritual Strength Through Blessed Food and Drink / Video

Have on a clean cloth on an altar, a little bit of bread and a little bit of grape juice; perform the prayer and then ingest those elements with full knowledge that you are ingesting pure Christic atoms that you have invoked and brought down.

A couple can perform something similar by, before they perform the sacred Sahaja Maithuna, they place on their alter, near the bed, the same elements - a little bread, a little wine.

The communion of bread and wine has the power of sublimating the sexual energy to the heart. We can put a piece of bread and a cup of wine (grape juice) next to our bed, praying and blessing the bread and wine after having worked with the Arcanum A.Z.F.   We then eat the bread and drink the wine.  - Tarot and Kabbalah

Alternatively, you can use the Pancatattva ritual, which is the same thing, it just uses, in addition to that, also a little meat and a little fish.  After performing the prayer of Sahaja Maithuna, the practice, the couple then consumes the bread and the wine, and, if they are doing the Pancatattva, the water, the fish, and the meat.

In this way, we ingest pure Christic atoms without any interference from our ego, who are free to operate as secret agents in the depths of our organism and our mind in order to help us, to give us assistance - they work in our blood, through the heart.  Those atoms flow into our heart temple, related to Tiphereth, and they work on our behalf to help redeem us from the forces of darkness within ourselves.  This is why man cannot live by bread alone.  We are 97% trapped in filth.  We need the Eucharist.  This is why Samael Aun Weor stated that it is necessary to do this practice every day, to do it as much as possible.  This is why he taught this practice in The Seven Words and in the Arcanum 14 of Tarot and Kabbalah - because we need it, it is important.

It is necessary for every Initiate to pray daily to God. Every prayer must be accompanied by a cup of wine and a piece of bread. "Do this in remembrance of me," said our Divine Savior. - The Seven Words

Some, unfortunately, have rejected the practice.  There are many who call themselves Gnostic who claim the Eucharist is bad, is harmful, and they have "banned" it. This is a great tragedy for them and their students, who in this act reject Christ. They reject the help of the entire Gnostic Church by this act.

There are also certain traditions who call themselves Gnostics who also perform certain masses or rituals, but the priests are homosexual, or commit adultery or sexually abuse children, or are, in other ways, rejecting the authority and requirements of the Gnostic Church and instead are perpetuating the causes of suffering. Some have public events where they perform different kinds of ceremonies or rituals which are not authorized by the Gnostic Church.  So, it is important for us to be educated, to understand the importance and true nature of the Eucharist, of Communion, and the importance of Christ.

Sexual energy is like electricity.  It is found everywhere.  It is a force that is within electrons.  This force flows in the nucleus of each atom and in the center of each nebula.  Without this force the worlds in infinite space would not exist.  This is the creative energy of the Third Logos.  White and black magicians work with this force.  White magicians work with white rituals.  Black magicians work with black rituals.  The Last Supper of the Beloved Savior of the World has an extremely ancient tradition that is lost in the eternal night.  Black mass and all of the black ceremonies of tenebrous ones come from a very ancient lunar past.  In every epoch, two rituals have always existed: one of light and one of darkness.  Ritual is practical magic.  Black magicians mortally hate the Holy Eucharist.  Magicians of darkness justify their hatred for the rituals of bread and wine in many different ways.  Sometimes they give the gospels the most whimsical interpretations based on their fantasy.  Their own subconsciousness betrays them.  They try to do away with the Last Supper in any way possible.  They hate the Last Supper of the Adorable One.  Our disciples must be alert and vigilant for these types of dangerous subjects.  Anyone who hates the rituals of the Last Supper is a black magician.  Anyone who rejects the bread and wine of the Gnostic Unction, rejects the flesh and blood of the Christ.  These types of people are black magicians. - The Perfect Matrimony

Every Gnostic student can perform the Eucharist at home - can perform this communion and can receive the help of Christ.  What you see is that, by humbly invoking those forces, we receive a superior form of bread, which nourishes the soul.  And this is all tied up into the mystery of Nun - these two aspects.  Little by little, we receive that help, those Christic atoms, and they aid us in our development.  It is only through the intercession of Christ that we can be redeemed and enter into the light.  Remember: the Eucharist was established by Melchizedek, was perpetuated by Jesus, and was returned to the light of the public by Samael Aun Weor.

Questions and Answers

Q: What is the ritual that uses the water, fish and meat instead of the bread and wine?

A: It is called in Sanskrit ‘Pancatattva' - that means five tattvas, or five vibrations.  Pancatattva is a ritual from tantra, and is written about most primarily in the Mahanirvana Tantra.  This is an old Tantric document from India, which explains the nature of how to enter into Tantra, the higher Yoga. Through the consumption of five special elements, the initiate receives these Christic atoms, special forms of help to help develop the soul. Master Samael Aun Weor wrote about that ritual and taught it for the aid of the souls.  And it is something that anyone can use, single or in a couple - of course, the couple will draw more forces, but it can be used by anyone.  It is written about in the book The Mystery of the Golden Blossom.

Q: Can the Eucharist be done every night, or can it only be done once a week?

A: The Master Samael Aun Weor explained that you can practice the Eucharist daily.

Q: What is the difference between the Eucharist that you practice daily and one that is practiced in the secret chambers of the Gnostic Church?

A: Well, it has to be understood that there are different levels of these practices.  When we observe, for example, a great master or a great lama, such a person is able to channel tremendous amount of force.  So, we have cited as an example Melchizedek.  Melchizedek blessed Abram. Abraham is the founder of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, so obviously Abram is a great patriarch - but he bowed to Melchizedek.  And Melchizedek, the high priest, performed the ceremony of the bread and the wine to bless Abram.  And this shows the great power of this type of ritual - but again, it has levels.  Obviously, if you are doing this yourself, at home, it will not have the same potency as if you have an experience in, say, for example, the internal worlds in the Gnostic Church, receiving the unction - which does happen, weekly.  Every week, the unction is performed in the Gnostic Church in the internal worlds, and anyone can attend who gains entrance into the Gnostic Church - any soul.

The Gnostic Church is the authentic Church of our Lord the Christ.  It is the Temple of Initiations and it is situated within the Astral Plane.  Our Lord the Christ and the Holy Masters officiate there.

Whosoever reads our books and practices sexual magic will be internally connected with this temple.  The disciple can also go there with his body of flesh and bones any time he wishes to do so.  This can be done by practicing the procedure that I teach in chapter five, "Humans and Lands in Jinn State."

On Fridays and Sundays, the disciple can assist the "Pretor" in order to receive the Holy Unction of bread and wine and in order to be cured of any sicknesses. -  Esoteric Medicine and Practical Magic

So, this is a beautiful form of help that we can all receive, but we have to earn that.  As I stated, the priests who are in charge of helping humanity are the ones who are always trying to encourage us to enter into those levels.  No priest is trying to keep humanity out.  Every real priest is trying to help humanity grow to such a point that we are ready to receive more help.  And that is why the chambers were initiated, a long, long time ago.  The chambers are precisely where the Cosmic Christ works with each soul according to their capacity, according to their maturity, and the priests are the ones who guide the souls through those chambers. As I stated, the second and third chambers are private and secret, so it is not helpful to discuss them in detail until the student is prepared.  And then, when the student is prepared, we discuss them, we introduce them, we initiate people into them, and then they are capable of receiving more powerful forms of assistance.

Q: When you say that we use the bread and wine when we do the Eucharist at home, can we use any kind of grain bread and any kind of grape juice, or do we have to make the bread and the grape juice?

A: When you perform the Eucharist at your home, the best thing to do - you can really use whatever bread you want, but you will find that if you can get a whole grain or something with the whole wheat kernel, it has more force, because the seed is there to harness those forces, to hold them.  And the same is true of the grape juice.  Let me be clear: when we say wine, we do not mean alcoholic wine; we mean grape juice.  And that is because the grape has a significance related with the element of air.  So, again, if you can only find grape juice at the store and want to use that, that is fine, there is nothing wrong with that.  But if you can go and grow or buy grapes with seeds and you can make your own juice and bread, it will be better.

Q: So, let's say that people have a hard time buying grapes with seeds, that is the case-

A: Yes, it's hard to find them.

Q: Can they use seedless grapes?

A: Sure.

Q: If so, will it be less effective?

A: The key to remember here is that what makes the practice most effective is the sincerity of our heart.  It is the sincerity of the ritual we perform.  Naturally, if you can find the seeded grapes, that helps - but it means nothing if we are doing this ritual mechanically, or if we are doing it with ego or pride, or a variety of other ways that we can corrupt it.  The important thing is to do it as a prayer, as a sacrament, as a ritual that is very sacred and very ancient - that is how we receive the help.  The wine, or the juice, and the bread, act as vehicles - they are just intercessors.  So it is good to get the pure ones if you can find them, but do not obsess over it.