Lessons for the Participants of Cognitive-Cultic Work 1906–1924

GA 265a — 12 December 1906, Munich

Making a Home in the Lodge

Munich, December 12, 1906

Notes by Alice Kinkel

Every object that can be seen in the lodge has its meaning; every word that is spoken, every ritual that is practiced has its meaning, which suggests a process in the evolution of the world.

The four elementary natures that permeate space are called:

1. Gnomes, who live in the earth.
2. Undines, who embody themselves in water.
3. Sylphs, who we have to think of as living in the air, and
4. Salamanders, who we have to think of as living in fire.

The three candlesticks that stand here indicate: Jupiter, Venus and Vulcan. In occult language, the candlesticks are always called “angels” or “shining beings.” In the Apocalypse, too, the angels are described as candlesticks.

The second Master Legend tells us of Seth, the son of Adam, who is initiated as a priestly sage, allowed to enter Paradise again, from where he takes three seeds, places them in the mouth of his father Adam when he had died, and from which the fresh bush then grows. The rod with which Moses performs his miracles is made from its wood; it is the burning bush in which the Lord appears to Moses! The gate of Solomon's Temple is made from its wood, two columns with the beam above them, which were thrown into the pool of Bethesda, producing its healing power. This wood was laid over the Kidron Valley, which Christ crossed after the betrayal on the Mount of Olives. And from these beams, Christ's cross was then made.

The red blood and the blue blood represent the Pillar of Wisdom and the Pillar of Strength; a person must be able to stand on these two columns. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge were entwined in paradise to form one tree. And the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge become one tree again for the wise, for the initiate; it had to be separated into two trees for the human being. The hammer represents the primal sound of nature: Tao. Through the combustion process, through the precipitation of ash, spirit came to earth. Through the precipitation of salt, wisdom came to earth: both must be washed again by the waters of life.

The place of the Master is in the East (Jupiter - wisdom). In the South stands glory, piety, beauty - Venus. In the West is Vulcan - strength.

Let us look at the rose cross: the wood of the cross is death; the roses are the life that springs from it. The carpet you see there is the world plan; the squares are the fields of black and white rays in it. The chessboard and the chess game are the remnants of occult knowledge in secular life.

The Book of [Thot] of the Egyptians consisted of 78 cards containing the secrets of the world. This was well known in the Egyptian initiation. The cards for the card game come from this. The terms “king”, “knight”, “rook”, “general” are occult terms. The writing that appeared to Moses in the burning bush: Ejeh - Asher - Ejeh, translates as: I Am that I Am. I was that I will be! Man has bought his knowledge with birth and death. The angel Gabriel is the one who guards the threshold of paradise with the fiery sword as the guardian of the threshold of paradise. —

The Lodge itself is the Temple of the World.

With our prayer (Brothers of the Past), we show that with our work we are connecting with the Brothers of the Past, the Brothers of the Present, and the Brothers of the Future, the Mahatmas.