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e-PentagramElectronic Bulletin of the Lectorium Rosicrucianum

The Lectorium Rosicrucianum

Contact Information

Public Activities

What is Philosophy?

The Wisdom of the Druids and Bards

September 2011

e-Pentagram

Contents

The Lectorium Rosicrucianum

Contact Information

Public Activities

What is Philosophy?

The Wisdom of the Druids

and Bards

Volume 5.8

September 2011

Websites

goldenrosycross.org

canada.golden-rosycross.org

Facebook

facebook.com/group.php?gid=82105172849

Twitter

twitter.com/lectoriumusa

twitter.com/lectoriumcanada

Meetup Groups

New York, NY: meetup.com/goldenrosycross-NYC

Albany, NY: meetup.com/goldenrosycross-albany

St. Albans, VT: meetup.com/Lectorium-Rosicrucianum-Vermont

Oakland, CA: http://www.meetup.com/Lectorium-Rosicrucianum

Toronto, ON: meetup.com/The-Spiritual-School-of-the-Golden-Rosycross

Cork, Ireland: http://www.meetup.com/goldenrosycross-ireland

* The text of this issue is from

Pentagram magazine articles

published by the Lectorium

Rosicrucianum.

There exists a golden thread, which leads out of thelabyrinth of our broken reality and towards the Truth.The Lectorium Rosicrucianum, or International School

of the Golden Rosycross, aims to help seekers find and form aliving connection with this shining filament, which is wovenof love, wisdom, knowledge (gnosis) and action.

Most importantly, this goldenthread is a Path that can actual-ly be walked, a Path shown byall religions in their originalform. No Master or Initiate cangive the Truth to another. Itcan only be approached by ourown efforts, and by perseveringthroughout all the obstructionsand difficulties we encounteron the way. And it can only bereached through an innerprocess of transformation called'soul-rebirth', or 'transfigura-tion'. A bonafide School pointsout the Path of transfigurationand teaches its pupils how tofollow it.

It is not the I-central self, or personality, that profits from theprocess of transfiguration as meant here, but the inner, divineSelf, which is awakened and enabled to become increasinglyactive. This has tremendous results for the personality: he orshe becomes an instrument, a servant, of another Order, theDivine Order, the 'kingdom not of this world', and in thatstate is able to stand right in the midst of the world in theservice of every human being.

The Lectorium Rosicrucianum is a modern organization in thesense that its message is adapted to the strongly individualizedconsciousness of twenty-first century humanity. However, ithas deep roots in the past, for it is part of the long and ancienttradition of Mystery Schools, and is a development of earlierimpulses of spiritual awakening such as those of the gnostics,Cathars and classical Rosicrucians of the 17th century.

LECTORIUM ROSICRUCIANUM

USA

California2430 19th St.Bakersfield, California, USA 93301Tel: 661-327-2827Email: [email protected]: goldenrosycross.org

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CANADA

Quebec2520 rue La Fontaine Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2K 2A5Tel: 514-522-6604Email: [email protected]: canada.rose-croix-d-or.org

OntarioRR#1Inverary, Ontario, Canada K0H 1X0Tel: 613-353-7444Email: [email protected]: canada.golden-rosycross.org

CONTACT INFORMATION

AUSTRALIA

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MALTA

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CONTACT INFORMATION

SEPTEMBER PUBLIC ACTIVITIES

USA

Sep 1 - 7:00 pmThe Gnosis in Modern Times—an Open Dialogue

Tel: 605-715-4920 Access code: 389552

Sep 3 - 7:00 pmContemplative Reading in the Temple

21 Bushnell AveChatham, NY

Tel: 518-392-2799 | [email protected]

Sep 7 - 3:30 pmThe Nuctemeron of Apollonius

6 Fairfield Hill RoadSt. Albans, VT





Sep 17 - 12:00 pmJourney through the DesertTRS Professional Services

44 East 32nd St. 11th FloorNew York, NY


Sep 20 - 6:30 pmChatham Round Table Discussion Series

21 Bushnell AveChatham, NY





Sep 24 - 1-4 pmOpen House






CANADA(see e-Pentagramme for French presentations)

Sep 6 - 7:00 pmExplorations into the Nature of our Consciousness

North York Central Library5120 Yonge Street

North York, Ontario, Canada


AUSTRALIA

Sep 11 - 5:30 pmContemplative Meeting

P O Box 664Berwick, VIC 3806, Australia

Tel: 03 56299110 | [email protected]

MALTA

Sep 25Check website for title and time

Vallettas, [email protected]

goldenrosycross.org.mt

What is philosophy?

A seeking human being is continuously hovering between hope and fear, between

certainty and intense doubt, between firm denial and positive endorsing. We are

inclined to think that this situation keeps the consciousness sharp and alert,

critical and inquisitive. We can also imagine that a seeker never begins anything

because of this state of consciousness. After all, we do not know where any

beginning development will end; things may turn out quite unexpectedly.

What should a human being’s point of departure be, if he, on his way to gaininginner consciousness, wants to achieve certain results? Should he switch off his criticalmind? Do his life’s happiness and the salvation of his soul depend on hazarding tofollow a teacher, an organisation or a faith, or some movement?

Is it possible for the seeking element in this human being to become an important,acquired property, which stays with the seeker during his entire path? Is it a powerthat turns from ‘seeking’ into pure ‘intuition’ and ensures that the human being says‘yes’ or, at critical moments, knows inwardly not to continue on the chosen path?

Philosophers of all times have occupied themselves with these matters. In theirquest for the truth, they go deeply into the certainties people believe they possess.They also speak about the powers that control the human being and about the smallmargin between his struggle for life and the longing of the soul.They point out thepitfalls ofour (lower) consciousness, themany limitations imposed by nature,but alsothe liberating possibilities of the soul, because we are often seeking with our head, butfind with our heart.

This is the first of two issues of thePentagram, inwhich your attention is drawn tosome of these thinkers or philosophical systems. Many of them found the truth. Inthis process, the seeking element became a property of the heart, which unfailinglyseparates what is true fromwhat is false and what is genuine fromwhat is fake.

The wisdomof the druids and bards

The ancient Celtic peoples, led and taught by the druids, possessed a culture, society and

consciousness that was totally different from ours. In her bookTheFlaming Door, Eleanor

C. Merry described in general terms the conditions on being able to approach their way of

thinking:

‘If we neither possessed modern science,logic, our arrogant opinions or the bewil-derment about death, and had no otherconscience than the powerful, visibleresults of our deeds; if sleeping were likean awakening; if our personal memoryonly came to us through the repeated andsolemn expression of the handwriting ofthe stars; if ‘‘history’’were like reading inthe blood of our forebears that streamsthrough our veins; if our head felt like amodel of the whole earth that we carry on

our shoulders in the rhythmic balance ofour movements; if our heart were animage of the sun and our lungs the wingsof the moon that protect it... yes, then thewhole universe would be a powerfulgesture of the spirit; then we would movearound in the dreams and visions of thegods, and the earth would be our tableinto which we would carve, in stone andwood, our everlasting deeds.’1

But this is only an approximation.Thevisions that the bards and druids expe-

Derreenataggart

(Derrintaggart).

Rainbow above a

stone circle near

Castletownbere

on theVeara

Peninsula, Kerry

County, South-

west Ireland.The

Irish namemeans

‘(Place of the) oak

of the priest’.�

Pentagram.

rienced during theirworship are not easilyaccessible to us. In thistime, however, in whicheverything is documen-ted, we are able to clearly

place the universal principles of thewisdom of their mysteries before us.

The wisdom of the ancient druidicmysteries partly symbolised achieving in-dividual independence and becomingconscious of matter in the material,external field of life.This developmentwas the central issue in the centuriesbefore Christ, while in our time, demate-rialisation and detaching from the links tothe external world are emphasised.

Confronted with each other, we re-

cognise a development that makes thehuman being conscious of the materialworld in which he lives, and a develop-ment that tries to pull him out of it.Thefirst one is considered to be the ancient,descending or incarnating development,guided by the druidic mysteries.Thesecond one is the modern impulse todetach from this same matter again. It isone aspect of the universal principle offlowing out and returning, of exhalingwhat is eternal and returning to thesource, which applies to all planes of life.

According to sources that were notrecorded until the beginning of theChristian era, but are considered reliableby most experts, theDruids experiencedthe cosmic Christ in a clairvoyant and vi-

The Celtic world

sionary way.They referred to him as ‘theLord of the Elements.’All who havestudied the history of the Celts and theirspiritual teachers agree about one point:the Roman sources of our knowledge oftheCelts were oftenprejudiced, because itwas the history of the victors. Victors arealways right ^ until authentic sourcessurface that qualify their story.Theyusually tell an entirely different story,certainly concerning the Celts.

One of these sources is Bardass, a ma-nuscript that was once recorded from themouth of Welsh bards. Like all ancientsources of wisdom, this was only passedon orally for centuries. Not until the firstcenturies AD, there were bards who,together with monks, put these traditionsin writing.The copies we nowadayspossess are adaptations of those firstwritten versions. In some places, thecontent was Christianised, but this doesnot detract from the ‘primordial wisdom’that we can sense in it.

Bardass relates the story of Menw orManu as ‘the Son of the three cries’. Hehad a vision of the creative word, inwhichhe heard the name of God: ‘WhenGodspokeHis name, the light and the life ori-ginated with the word, because beforethere was no life except for God himself.His name was spoken, and by speaking it,the light and the power of life were createdas well as the human being and everyother living thing. AndMenw beheld theemanation, the form and appearance ofthe light in the three pillars and itsmusicalexpression in the rays of the light, because

hearing and seeing were one, united inone form and sound. And united withform and sound was life, and united withthese three was the power whichwasGodtheFather. And because each of themwasunited into one, Menw understood thatany voice, any hearing and life and being,any vision and seeing was one withGod,even the tiniest creature is none otherthanGod.’2

Two things strike us in this text: theunity that flows out into a number ofqualities.This is encountered in manytraditions of wisdom: it is also called theemanation, the flowing out of all beings,all forms and phenomena from onesource. In theWelsh tradition, perceptionand hearing appeared simultaneously,followed by their use in letters andsymbols; then came the understanding ofsound and speech, and the music of songand poetry. In brief, it was an ever-conti-nuing differentiation without loss ofunity. No break occurs anywhere increation, ‘even the tiniest creature is noneother thanGod.’

The second central issue is the imageof the three pillars.Upon hearing the pri-mordial sound, Menw heard three tonesand he saw three letters. He also beheldthe symbols that belonged to it: ‘ThesymbolO was given to the first pillar, thesymbol I to the second or middle pillar,and the symbolW belongs to the thirdpillar.This forms the wordOIW.3 Thismeans: through this word,God reveals hiscreation: life, power, eternity, universa-lity. It was at the same time the manifesta-

Top, left page: Celticgods were oftenrepresented ingroups of three,triads, just as theirteachings were alsopassed on in triads.Because of thebread and the linenin their lap, thisrelief of themothergoddess in threefigures symbolisesthe abundance oflife.�UlsterMuseum.

Above, right andleft: Dolmen andstone circle in themegalithic complexof Carrowmore,Sligo County,Ireland.

Above, centre: Poul-nabrone Dolmen atThe Burren,ClareCounty,WesternIreland.This is a so-called portal tomb,and the best-knowndolmen of Ireland.According to theancient Irish legendThe runningawayofDiarmuid and Grainne(‘Grain goddess’),this dolmenwastheir sleeping-placeduring their flightfrom themythicalhero Finn Mac Cool.� Pentagram.

tion of his love, because at that momentthe whole universe was vivified like a flashof lightning. It was one simultaneoussounding and jubilation with the spokenname of God, in one song of ecstasy andlove.’4

In this splendid primordial image, thepillars rise up, which also appear assymbols in other traditions. Just think, forexample, of the pillars of power andwisdom from the Jewish tradition that

stood next to the entrance of the Temple.In the Celtic tradition, the two pillarswere called ‘Art’ and ‘Knowledge.’ Theycontained the entire wisdom of theancient mysteries.This wisdomwas also‘carved on two pillars’ byHermes, thegreat sage from ancient Egypt.

The third pillar, the pillar in themiddle, is the pillar of love. While thewhole of creation is supported by the twopillars on the left and the right, sound and

light, art and knowledge, power andwisdom etcetera, love arises in the middleand ignites everything in great harmonyunto a great fusion of light.This can alsobe found in the Judeo-Christian tradition:Christ, as the manifestation of this powerof love, does not come to abolish the(Jewish) law, but to fulfil it, as he explains.Wisdom and power are unitedin love.

‘The realisation of theinherent truth in thisancient story is theheart and the essenceof any study ofCeltic mythology ^or rather of allsecrets of life.Thereis a triad everywhere.The human being, asthe third one, can asso-ciate in any relationship tothe other two.’5

The human task is to combine the arts,science and religion within himself.When he realises this unity, it will radiatein society and in culture.That it concernsmore than just the reconciliation betweenthe two extremes of the arts and science, isshown by another source fromCeltic my-thology.This refers to the story of‘Annwns’ Take,’ (also called ‘TheDepth’).This story is attributed to the bardTaliesin, whose name means ‘radiantbrow’, symbolising an enlightenedperson.The poem deals with a journey ina ship through seven enclosed spaces,circles, or sanctuaries (called ‘Caers’ inthe text).The ship’s crew consists oftwelve people, with the thirteenth one inthe middle: Arthur.This isn’t just theimage of the legendaryRoundTable, butalso and above all a representation of thezodiac with the sun in its centre. In thepoem, the seven planetary spheres are‘visited’ by the twelve signs of the zodiac.

The path of the bards and druids pur-

portedly had three stages: from the fixedconstellations through the planetaryspheres to the world of the elements. Atrue bard could say, just like Taliesin, the‘Radiant One’, that he was thrice-born:‘Three times I was born. I know how tocontemplate. It is sad that people do notseek all knowledge of the world that is

gathered in my bosom. For Iknow all that ever was andall that will be.’ Everynight, while asleep, adruid ^ someone whohad accomplished athreefold initiation ^consciously travelledthrough the threespheres (elements,planets and stars) andbefore awakening, in

reverse order.To him,sleeping was, therefore, an

awakening and death did notfrighten him.

The druid or bard whowas initiated inthe mysteries and had become a seer, felthimself to be a miniature model of theuniverse. From great heights, he lookeddown at the great ‘cosmic instrument’ inits twelvefold and sevenfold order. Fromthis also emerged, for the druids in parti-cular, the knowledge of all the realmslying below it.Thus hebecame acquaintedwith the secrets of, for example, earthlymagnetism, but also with the reflection ofinfluences emanating from the constella-tions and planets in the human body andin the planetary world.On this basis, hedeveloped a form of medicine.The bardheard the melodies and the harmonies ofthe higher worlds. But it was not his lowerpersonality that had this heavenly musicat his disposal, but his self.The name ofthis self, which was united with divinity,was IAU, also called ‘theYounger’.

This is alsouniversal. We find a similarname in the Stanzas of Dzyan (that were

Left: Gaul fighteron an armour beltfrom Slovenia; 4th

century BC.

Above:We knowmany examples ofrichly-workedshields, like thisbronze, open-work shield fromthe Chariot tombat Cuperly,Marne, France.

later translated for theWest byH PBla-vatsky): ‘Behold, oh Lanoo, the radiantchild of the two, the unparalleled reful-gent glory, bright space, son of dark space,which emerges from the depths of thegreat dark waters! It is Oeaohoo theyounger. He shines forth as the son. He isthe blazing divine dragon of wisdom.’6

In our time, the perspective has turned

around. Wehave now reached the nadir ofmaterialism and crystallisation, and theway back or upward leads via the fourelements or building stones (interpretedallegorically) through the planetaryspheres to the world of the fixed stars, tothe zodiac. If this path of initiation iswalked, the ancient glory of the micro-cosmic human being is restored.

Parade helmet ofbronze and iron,gold and coralfrom Agris(Charente),approx. 400 BC,Muse¤ e de laSocie¤ te¤ Arche¤ o-logique et Histo-rique de laCharente, Angou-le“ me, France.

To the druid or bard, the journey toAnnwn’s Take led into the depths. Beforehe finally descended into ‘Gwair’s jail’,his body, everything had to be ‘in goodorder’, that is, in accordance with thecosmic laws. The just person, we canfind in the text that reads like the reportof an initiation, ‘bears the heavy, bluechain’. He is subjected to the inevitableimpurities and the heaviness of physicallife (the blood). He also enters the world,referred to as Vediwid. He has to be wellprepared for his descent. It is the expe-rience of stepping outside himself for thefirst time in order ‘to become acquaintedwith the world,’ of uniting with the worldby experiencing its spiritual reality andnot the illusion of its physical nature.Otherwise, the ‘brightly burning sword’will be lifted against him, and he will notbe able to cross the threshold of spiritualconsciousness.

Charged with the ‘take’, the treasureof experience, Taliesin finally returns tothe higher worlds, but with anothername: Elphin, the ‘Son of Man’. In himlives Taliesin, the immortal spirit, themicrocosm. Elphin may be temporarilyseparated fromTaliesin, but that is onlyappearances. He is ensnared and impri-soned in his earthly destiny. Taliesin re-leases him from it, and Elphin remem-

bers his heavenly destiny again. He turnsto the inner spiritual being again.Finally, Taliesin sings before Elphin’swife, his soul. He enters the hall wherehe will sing, and all twenty-four bardsare silenced by the genius that radiatesthrough his recitation. In the numbertwenty-four, we recognise a universalsymbol again. In the Christian andgnostic tradition, they are called the‘Twenty-four Elders’. They represent thetwo times twelve signs of the zodiac: thefirst time during the descent ^ the oldlights ^ and the second time during theascent, the ‘the way of the stars’ ^ the

Fragments of aCeltic calendarfrom Coligny(Ain), 2nd centuryBC.The Celts hada five-year cycleof 62 months, in acomplex systembased on therhythms of thesun and themoon, and show arefinedunder-standing of thestars and theirmovements.

AGaul godcarries awildboar on his chestand has an extraeye on the side ofhis trunk.Thewild boar was thesymbol of thefighter/king, theeye refers toknowledge of thetwoworlds.�RMN/Man.

new lights on the inner firmament.And then the pre-Christian aspect

miraculously merges with the Christianaspect in his song:

‘John the ProphetI was called byMerddin (Merlin),ultimately every kingwill call me Taliesin.

I was with my Lordin the highest spheres,when Luciferfell into the depths of hell.

I carried the banner for Alexander;I know the names of the starsfrom north to south.

I was on the cross of the horseof Elijah and Enoch.

I hung on the tall crossof the merciful son of God.

I was in Canaanwhen Absalom fell;I was in the hall of Donbefore Gwydion was born(Mercury orHermes).

I was in heavenwithMaryMagdalene.

I received my inspirationfrom the Cauldron of Ceridwen.’

Every human being is a son of man,Elphin. In every human being,Taliesin iswaiting to liberate him.Then Elphinarises from the earthly personality andbecomes the son of God again, who healways was but who was forgotten. Heregains his initiation name: Taliesin.Elphin-Taliesin represents the whole ofhumanity. It is splendidly expressed in thelines of the poem ‘Royal Cadeir’:

‘At the end of our effortsthe tongues will become extinct.The fiery soulwill travel through the cloudswith the children of the Seraphim.Your people will ascendtowards Elphin’s redemption.’

References:

1 Translated from theDutch text of: Eleanor C.

Merry:The Flaming Door.TheMission of the

Celtic Folk-Soul.NewKnowledge Books,

East Grinstead,UK, 1936. Reprinted in 1962,

1983 and 1984 (Harper Collins, London).

2 Ibid.

3 TheW is equal to theUand is pronounced as

U inWelsh, so OIU.

4 Translated from theDutch text of: Eleanor C.

Merry:The Flaming Door.TheMission of the

Celtic Folk-Soul.NewKnowledge Books,

East Grinstead,UK, 1936. Reprinted in 1962,

1983 and 1984 (Harper Collins, London).

5 Ibid.

6 HPBlavatsky,The Secret Doctrine. Stanza

III, verse 7. TheosophicalUniversity Press

Online Edition.

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