Western European stream·The Great Initiates·Moses: The Mission of Israel

Source context

Theme

Moses as vehicle of the Yahweh-impulse and the particular spiritual mission assigned to the Hebrew people

Soul-faculty

Intellectual Soul

Steiner

• GA 123, 1910-09-04Steiner treats Abraham and the line leading to Moses as a cosmic preparation, tracing how the Yahweh-impulse was channelled through a specific bloodline and folk-soul to serve the larger preparation for the Christ-event.
• GA 53, 1905-03-16Steiner states that great initiates spoke to each people in a manner fitted to that people's stage of development, a principle directly applicable to Moses as initiate-leader of Israel.

Cross-tradition

• Kabbalistic traditionKabbalistic literature designates Moses as the greatest of the prophets on the basis of direct, unmediated divine speech — a structural parallel to Schuré's portrayal of Moses as uniquely initiated into the inner name of the deity.
• Vedantic concept of avatāra and ṛṣi lineageThe Vedantic distinction between an avatāra (direct divine descent) and a ṛṣi (seer-initiate shaped by a cosmic mission) offers cross-tradition congruence with Schuré's framing of Moses as a national initiate bearing a universally significant impulse.

Moses: The Mission of Israel

The Mission of Israel

"There was nothing that was veiled for him, and he covered with a veil the essence of everything he had seen." —Inscription beneath the Statue of Phtahmer, high priest of Memphis, in the Louvre.

"The most difficult and most obscure of the sacred books, Genesis, contains as many secrets as words, and each word conceals several others." —Saint Jerome

"Child of the past and bearer of the future, this book (the first ten chapters of Genesis), heir of all the knowledge of the Egyptians, bears seeds of the future sciences. It possesses what nature possesses that is deepest and most mysterious, what the mind can conceive of miracles, and what the spirit contains that is most sublime."

—Fabre d'Olivet, The Hebraic Tongue Restored.

19Monotheistic Tradition and the Patriarchs of the Desert
Revelation is as ancient as conscious humanity. The fruit of inspiration, it arises out of the night of time. If one examines carefully the sacred books of Iran, India and Egypt, one will assure oneself that the basic ideas of esoteric teaching form its hidden but deep foundation. In esoteric teaching is found the invisible soul and the generating element of these great religions. All powerful initiators have perceived in one moment of their lives the radiance of central truth, but the light which they drew from it was refracted and colored according to their genius, their mission, their particular time and place. We have experienced the Aryan initiation with Rama, the Brahmanic with Krishna and that of Isis and Osiris with the priests of Thebes. After all this, shall we deny that the non-material element of the Supreme God, which constitutes the basic tenet of monotheism and the unity of nature, was known to the Brahmans and priests of Ammon-Ra? Doubtless they did not picture the world as born in an instantaneous act, by a whim of Divinity, as do some theologians. But wisely and gradually, by way of emanation and evolution, they traced the visible from the invisible, the universe from the unfathomable depths of God. Male and female dualism came from primitive oneness, the living trinity of man and the universe from creative dualism, and so forth. The holy numbers made up the eternal work, the rhythm and tool of Divinity. Contemplated with more or less clarity and power, they evoked in the soul of the initiate the internal structure of the world through his being just as the exact note obtained by means of a bow from a glass covered with sand traces in miniature the harmonious forms of vibrations which fill the vast kingdom of the air with their sonorous waves. But the esoteric monotheism of Egypt never passed outside the sanctuaries. Its sacred science remained limited to a small minority. The enemies from outside began to break in upon this ancient rampart of civilization. During the period we have come to, the 12th century B.C., Asia was sinking into the cult of matter. Already India was moving with rapid strides toward her decadence. A great empire had arisen on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. Babylon, that colossal and mighty city, astonished the nomadic peoples who roamed about it. The rulers of Assyria proclaimed themselves lords of the four kingdoms of the world and strove to establish the boundaries of their dominions at the very ends of the earth itself. They crushed peoples, deported them in hordes, conscripted them and pitted them against one another. Neither the rights of men, human respect, nor religious principle, but personal, unbridled desire was the law of the followers of Ninus and Semiramis. The knowledge of the Chaldean priests was profound, but much less pure, less lofty and less efficacious than that of the Egyptian priests. In Egypt, authority was given to science. The priesthood always exercised a moderating influence upon royalty. The Pharaohs remained pupils of the priests and never became hateful despots, as did the rulers of Babylon. In Babylon, on the contrary, the priesthood from the beginning was merely a tool of tyranny. In a bas-relief of Nineveh, Nimrod, a stocky giant, is seen strangling with his muscular arm a young lion which he holds pressed against his chest. Here is a self-explanatory symbol. This is how the monarchs of Assyria strangled the Iranian lion, the heroic people of Zoroaster, assassinating their pontiffs, ruining the schools of the Magi, holding their kings for ransom. If the Rishis of India and the priests of Egypt caused Providence to reign on earth by their wisdom, at least to a certain degree, it can be said that the reign of Babylon was one of Fate, that is, of blind and brutal force. Babylon thus became the tyrannical center of universal anarchy, the inflexible eye of the social hurricane which enveloped Asia, the terrible eye of Fate, forever open, lying in wait for nations, in order to devour them. What could Egypt do against this invading flood? Already the Hyksos had almost swallowed her up. She withstood them bravely, but could not resist forever. Six more centuries, and the Persian cyclone, following the Babylonian tornado, would sweep away Egypt's temples and Pharaohs. Moreover, Egypt, which possessed the genius of initiation and conservation in the highest degree, never sought expansion or exercised propaganda. Must the accumulated treasures of its science be lost? Indeed the greatest part was buried, and when the Alexandrians came they could find only fragments. Two peoples of different genius, nevertheless, lighted their torches in Egypt's sanctuaries, -- torches with different rays, with which one people illumined the heights of heaven, and the other enlightened and transfigured the earth: Israel and Greece. The importance of the people of Israel in the history of humanity is readily apparent from the very beginning, for two reasons. First, it represents monotheism; second, it gave birth to Christianity. But the providential aim of the mission of Israel appears only to one who uncovers the symbols of the Old and New Testaments and perceives that they conceal the entire esoteric tradition of the past, though under a form often altered -- especially as regards the Old Testament -- by the numerous editors and translators, the majority of whom did not know the original meaning of the texts. The role of Israel becomes clear when one discovers that these people form the indispensable link between the old and the new cycle, between the East and the West. A result of the monotheistic idea is the unification of humanity under the same God and under a single law. But as long as theologians make a childish idea of God, and as long as men of science simply ignore Him or deny Him, the moral, social and religious unity of our planet will be only a pious desire or a postulate of religion and science, which are powerless to effect it. On the other hand this organic unity appears possible when one recognizes esoterically and scientifically in the divine principle the key to the world and to life, to the evolution of man and society. Finally, Christianity, that is to say, the religion of Christ, appears in its exalted and universal nature only as it unveils to us its esoteric essence. Only then does it reveal itself as the result of all that preceded it, in that it contains the principles, the goals and the means leading to the complete regeneration of mankind. Only in revealing to us its ultimate mysteries will Christianity become what it truly is: the religion of promise and fulfillment, that is, of universal initiation. Moses, the Egyptian initiate and priest of Osiris, was indisputably the organizer of monotheism. Through him this principle, until then hidden beneath the threefold veil of the Mysteries, came out of the depths of the temple and entered the course of history. Moses had the courage to establish the highest principle of initiation as the sole dogma of a national religion, and the prudence to reveal its consequences to only a small number of initiates while imposing it upon the masses through fear. In so doing, the prophet of Sinai evidently had before him distant vistas which extended far beyond the destinies of his people. The establishment of the universal religion of mankind is the true mission of Israel, which few Jews other than its greatest prophets have understood. In order for this mission to be fulfilled, the swallowing up of the people who championed it was implied. The Jewish nation was dispersed and annihilated. The idea of Moses and the Prophets has lived and increased. Enlarged and transfigured by Christianity, taken up by Islam, although on a lower plane, it was to make inroads upon the barbaric West and was to influence Asia herself once again. Henceforth it would be useless for mankind to rebel and struggle against itself in convulsive efforts; mankind was to revolve around this major idea like the nebula around the sun which organizes it. This was the tremendous work of Moses. For this undertaking, the most colossal since the prehistoric migration of the Aryans, Moses found an already prepared instrument in the tribes of the Hebrews, particularly in those settled in Egypt in the valley of Goshen, living there in servitude under the name of Beni-Jacob. In the founding of a monotheistic religion he had as forerunners those nomadic and peaceful rulers whom the Bible presents to us in the figures of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Let us look at these Hebrew patriarchs. We shall then try to separate the figure of their great prophet from the mirages of the desert and the dark nights of Sinai, where the thunder of the legendary Jehovah rumbles. These Ibrim," these untiring nomads, these everlasting exiles were known for centuries, even for thousands of years. Brothers of the Arabs, the Hebrews like all Semites, were the result of an ancient mixture of the white with the black race. They had been seen traveling back and forth through northern Africa under the name of Bodons, those men without shelter and without bed, who pitched their tents in the vast deserts between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, between the Euphrates and Palestine. Ammonites, Elamites or Edomites, these nomads all looked alike. For transportation, the ass or the camel; for a house, the tent; their only property, wandering herds like themselves, forever feeding on foreign soil. Like their ancestors the Ghiborim, like the first Celts, these restless people hated carved monuments, the fortified city, forced labor and the temple of stone. Nevertheless, the mighty cities of Babylon and Nineveh with their gigantic palaces, their Mysteries and their debauchery, worked an invincible charm upon these semi-savage peoples. Lured into these prison- houses of stone, captured by the soldiers of the kings of Assyria, conscripted into their armies, they sometimes wallowed in the orgies of Babylon. At other times the Israelites allowed themselves to be seduced by the Moabite women, those bold enticers with dark skin and shining eyes. The latter drew them into the adoration of stone and wood idols and the frightful worship of Moloch. But suddenly the thirst for the desert again seized them, and they fled. Returning to the rugged valleys where only the roaring of wild beasts is heard, to the vast plains where one is guided only by the lights of the heavenly constellations, beneath the cold gaze of those stars their ancestors had worshipped, they were ashamed of themselves. If then a patriarch, an inspired man, spoke to them of the one God, of Elelion, of the Elohim, of Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, Who sees all and punishes the guilty, these over-grown, wild children bowed their heads and, kneeling in prayer, allowed themselves to be led like lambs. Little by little this idea of the great Elohim, of the one all-powerful God filled their souls, as in the Padan-Harran twilight blends everything in the landscape into the infinite line of the horizon, drowning colors and distances in the splendid evenness of the firmament and transforming the universe into a single mass of shadows arched over by a scintillating dome of stars. What were the patriarchs like? Abram, Abraham, or Father Orham, was a king of Ur, a Chaldean city near Babylon. The Assyrians, according to tradition, pictured him sitting in an armchair, with a kindly manner. This very old individual who has figured in the mythological history of all peoples, since Ovid mentions him, is the same as the man the Bible represents as migrating from the land of Ur into the land of Canaan, at the command of the Eternal: "The Everlasting appeared to him and said unto him: I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect . . . I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee" (Genesis 17: 1, 7). This passage, translated into modern language, means that a very old Semitic leader named Abraham who probably had received the Chaldean initiation, felt compelled by an inner voice to lead his tribe toward the West, and imposed upon it the cult of the Elohim. The name Isaac, according to the prefix Js, seems to indicate an Egyptian initiation, while that of Jacob and Joseph reveals a Phoenician background. Be that as it may, it is probable that the three patriarchs were the three leaders of different peoples who lived in different eras. Long after the time of Moses Israelite tradition grouped them into a single family. Isaac became the son of Abraham, and Jacob, the son of Isaac. This manner of representing intellectual paternity by physical paternity was frequently used in ancient priesthoods. From this traditional genealogy a major fact stands out: The presence of the monotheistic cult among the patriarch-initiates of the desert. The fact that these men had inner experience of spiritual revelations in the form of dreams or visions even in the waking state, is in no way contrary to esoteric science, nor to that universal psychic law which rules souls and worlds. In the Bible narrative these facts have assumed the naive form of visits from angels to the patriarchs in their tents. Did these patriarchs have a clear understanding of the spirituality of God and the religious goals of mankind? Without doubt they did. Inferior in positive science to the Magi of Chaldea as well as to the Egyptian priests, they probably surpassed them in moral stature and that breadth of soul which is brought about by a free, nomadic life. For them the sublime order that the Elohim cause to hold sway in the universe is translated into the social order of family worship, respect for their wives, passionate love for their sons, protection for the entire tribe, hospitality toward strangers. In short, these great fathers are natural arbiters between families and tribes. Their patriarchal staff is a scepter of equity. They exercise a civilizing authority and breathe gentleness and peace. Here and there, esoteric thought can be seen penetrating into the patriarchal tradition. Thus, when at Bethel Jacob sees in a dream a ladder with the Elohim at the top and angels ascending and descending upon it, one recognizes a popular form, a Judaic adaptation of the vision of Hermes and the doctrine of the descending and ascending evolution of souls. An historical fact of greatest importance concerning the age of the patriarchs appears to us in two revealing verses. It concerns a meeting of Abraham with a brother initiate. Having made war on the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham goes to pay homage to Melchizedek. This king lives in the fortress which later will be Jerusalem. "Melchizedek, King of Salem, had wine and bread brought forth. For he was the priest of Elohim, the Most High God. And he blessed Abram, saying: Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth.'" (Genesis 14:18, 19.) Here then is a king of Salem who is a high-priest of the same God as Abraham. The latter treats him as a superior, as a master, and communes with him in the elements of bread and wine, in the name of Elohim, which in ancient Egypt was a sign of communion between initiates. There was therefore a fraternal link, a sign of recognition and a common goal between the worshippers of Elohim from the border of Chaldea as far west as Palestine and perhaps even extending to a few sanctuaries of Egypt. This monotheistic pattern needed only an organizer. Thus, between the winged bull of Assyria and the sphinx of Egypt, which from a distance observe the desert between the crushing tyranny and impenetrable mystery of initiation, advance the chosen tribes of the Abramites, Jacobites and the Ben-Israel. They flee the shameless festivals of Babylon; they avert their heads as they pass by the orgies of Moab, the horrors of Sodom and Gomorrah and the monstrous cult of Baal. Under the protection of the patriarch, the caravan follows its rugged route, sprinkled with oases, marked with rare springs and slender palm trees. Like a long ribbon it fades away in the immensity of the desert beneath the scorching heat of the day, beneath the deep red of the setting sun and the cloak of darkness, ruled over by the Elohim. Neither herds, women nor old men know the goal of this eternal journey. But they move forward, accompanying the painful, resigned tread of the camels. Where are they going? The patriarchs know; Moses will tell the people. Notes for this chapter:

29Ibrim means "those of the other side, those beyond, those who have passed the river." -- Renan,
Hist. du peuple d Israel.

20The Initiation of Moses in Egypt -- His Flight to Jethro
Rameses II was one of the great rulers of Egypt. His son was named Menephtah. In accordance with Egyptian custom the latter received his instruction from the priests in the temple of Ammon-Ra at Memphis, for then the royal art was considered a branch of priestly art. Menephtah was a shy young man, curious and of average intelligence. He had a misdirected love for the esoteric sciences, which later made him the prey of inferior magicians and astrologers. As a student companion he had a young man of remarkable genius and of strange, withdrawn character. Hosarsiph*° was Menephtah's cousin, son of the royal princess, sister of Rameses II. Was he an adopted or a natural son? This has never been known. Above all, Hosarsiph was the son of the temple, for he had grown up in the shadow of its columns. Dedicated to Isis and Osiris by his mother, already in adolescence he had been seen acting as a Levite at the crowning of the Pharaoh and in the priestly processions of the great festivals, carrying the ephod, chalice or censers. Inside the temple he stood, grave and attentive, listening to the sacred orchestras, the hymns and the teaching of the priests. Hosarsiph was of short stature. He had a humble and thoughtful look, a forehead like that of a ram and piercing black eyes with the gaze of an eagle and a disturbing intensity. He had been called "the silent one," so intense and almost always quiet was he. Often he stammered while speaking, as though groping for words or as if he feared to express his thoughts. He appeared shy, but suddenly, like a sharp thunderbolt, a terrible idea would burst forth in a single word, leaving behind it a trail of light. It was then understood that if ever "the silent one" decided to act, he would be frighteningly rash. Already between his eyebrows the fatal crease of men predestined to difficult tasks began to form, and upon his forehead hovered a threatening cloud. Women feared the gaze of this young Levite, a glance as unfathomable as the tomb, while his face was as impassive as the door of the temple of Isis. One would have said that they had a foreboding of an enemy of the feminine sex in this future representative of the male religious principle in its most absolute and intractable form. Nevertheless his mother, the royal princess, dreamed of the throne of the Pharaohs for her son. Hosarsiph was more intelligent than Menephtah; he could hope for a usurpation with the support of the priesthood. The Pharaohs, it is true, designated their successors among their sons, but sometimes the priests broke the designation of the prince after the Pharaoh's death. This was done in the interest of the state, for more than once they kept the unworthy or weak from the throne in order to give the scepter to a royal initiate. Already Menephtah was jealous of his cousin; Rameses also kept his eye on him, for he feared the taciturn Levite. One day Hosarsiph's mother met her son in the Serapeum of Memphis, an immense plaza dotted with obelisks, mausoleums, small and large temples, victory pylons, -- a sort of open air museum of national glories, which was reached by passing through an avenue of six hundred sphinxes. The Levite bowed before his royal mother, touching the earth and, as was the custom, waited for her to speak to him. "You are about to enter the Mysteries of Isis and Osiris," she told him. "I shall not see you for a long time, O my son! But do not forget that you are of the blood of Pharaohs, and that I am your mother. Look around you.... If you wish, one day ... all this will belong to you!" And with a broad gesture she pointed to the obelisks, temples, Memphis and the entire horizon. A smile of disdain passed over Hosarsiph's face, which usually was smooth and unmoving like a mask of bronze. "Then," said he, "you wish me to rule these people who worship gods with heads of jackals, ibis and hyenas? In a few centuries what will remain of all these idols?" Hosarsiph stooped, took some fine sand in his hand, letting it trickle to earth between his thin fingers before the eyes of his astonished mother. "As much as that," he said. "Then you scorn the religion of our fathers and the science of our priests?" "On the contrary! I am striving for them, but the pyramid is motionless; it must start to walk. I shall not be a Pharaoh, for my country is far from here; it is out there -- in the desert!" "Hosarsiph!" said the princess reproachfully, "Why do you utter blasphemies? A wind of fire brought you into my womb and I will see that a storm will carry you away! I brought you into the world, but I do not know you! In the name of Osiris, who are you then? What are you going to do?" "Do I myself know? Osiris alone knows; he will tell me perhaps. But give me your blessing, O my mother, so that Isis may protect me and the land of Egypt be kind to me!" Hosarsiph knelt before his mother, respectfully crossed his hands upon his chest and bowed his head. Taking from her head the lotus flower which she wore according to the custom of the women of the temple, she gave it to him to smell. Realizing that the thoughts of her son would remain an eternal mystery for her, she walked away, whispering a prayer. Hosarsiph passed the initiation of Isis victoriously. With soul of steel and will of iron, he enjoyed the tests. Of mathematical and universal mind, he displayed a giant's strength in his intelligence and handling of the sacred numbers, whose fecund symbolism and applications were almost infinite. His mind, disdainful of things which are but illusion, and of individuals who pass away, breathed with ease only in the unchangeable elements. From that height he penetrated and mastered everything quietly and surely, without showing desire, rebellion or curiosity. For his teachers as well as for his mother, Hosarsiph remained an enigma. What frightened them most was that he was solid and inflexible, like a principle. One felt that he could neither be bent nor sidetracked. He followed his secret path like a celestial body in its invisible orbit. The pontiff, Membra wondered to what height this concentrated ambition would climb. And he wished to know. One day Hosarsiph with three other priests of Osiris had borne the golden ark which preceded the priest in great ceremonies. This ark contained the ten most secret books of the temple, dealing with magic and theurgy. Returning to the sanctuary with Hosarsiph, Membra said to him, "You are of royal blood. Your strength and knowledge are beyond your age. What do you wish?" "Nothing but this." And Hosarsiph placed his hand on the holy ark that golden sparrow hawks covered with their shining wings. "Then you want to become a pontiff of Ammon Ra and prophet of Egypt?" "No! Only to know what is in these books!" "How can you know, since no one but a priest can know them?" "Osiris speaks as he wishes, when he wishes, to whom he wishes. What is enclosed in this ark is but the dead letter. If the living Spirit wishes to speak to me, he will speak to me!" "To hear the Spirit, what do you intend to do?" "Wait and obey." When these answers were brought to Rameses II, they intensified his fear. He was afraid that Hosarsiph aspired to be Pharaoh at the expense of Rameses' son, Menephtah. Consequently the Pharaoh ordered that his sister's son be made a sacred scribe in the temple of Osiris. This important function included a knowledge of symbolism in all its forms, cosmography and astronomy, but it kept him away from the throne. The princess' son applied himself with zeal and perfect submission to his duties as priestly scribe, which included the task of inspector of various nomas, or provinces of Egypt. Did Hosarsiph really possess the pride attributed to him? Yes, if it is because of pride that the imprisoned lion raises its head and looks at the horizon beyond the bars of his cage, without even seeing the passersby staring at him. Yes, if it is because of pride that the eagle, held captive by a chain, sometimes trembles through his entire body, and with neck bent and wings spread, gazes at the sun. Like all strong ones who are destined for a great work, Hosarsiph did not believe he was subjected to blind Fate; he felt a mysterious Providence watching over him, leading him to his goals. While he was a priestly scribe, Hosarsiph was sent on an inspection tour of the Delta. The Hebrews, tributaries of Egypt, who then lived in the valley of Goshen, were subjected to disagreeable tasks. Rameses II was connecting Pelusium and Heliopolis by a chain of forts. All the nomas of Egypt were to supply their contingent of laborers for this gigantic work. The Beni-Israel were burdened with the heaviest tasks. Above all, they were hewers of stone and makers of brick. Independent and proud, they did not bow as easily as did the natives under the cudgels of the Egyptian overseers, but stood up again muttering and sometimes returning the blows. The priest of Osiris could not curb a secret sympathy for these uncompromising unmanageables, these stiff-necks, whose elders, faithful to the Abrahamic tradition, worshipped the one God; who revered their leaders, their hags and their zakens, but who kicked back beneath the yoke and protested against injustice. One day he saw an Egyptian guard strike down a defenseless Hebrew with heavy blows. His heart pounded; he flung himself upon the Egyptian, tore his weapons from him and killed him. This act, carried out in a moment of unselfish indignation, determined his life. Priests of Osiris who committed murder were severely judged by the priestly college. Already the Pharaoh suspected a usurper in his sister's son. The life of the scribe hung by only a thread. He preferred voluntary exile, and to impose his expiation upon himself. Everything urged him to the solitude of the desert, into the vast unknown, -- his desire, the presentiment of his mission, and over and above all, that inner, mysterious, yet irresistible voice, which at certain times said, "Go! This is your destiny!" Beyond the Red Sea and the Sinai Peninsula, in the land of Madian, was a temple which was not under the control of the Egyptian priesthood. This region extended like a green band between the Elamitic Gulf and the desert of Arabia. In the distance, beyond the arm of the sea, one could see the somber mass of Sinai, with its bare peaks. This isolated country, hemmed in between the desert and the Red Sea, protected by a volcanic mass, was sheltered from invasions. The temple there was dedicated to Osiris, but the Almighty God named Elohim, was also worshipped. For this sanctuary of Ethiopian origin served as a religious center for Arabs, Semites and men of the black race who were seeking initiation. Thus, for centuries Sinai and Horeb had been the mystical center of a monotheistic cult. The bare, wild grandeur of the mountain rising up in isolation between Egypt and Arabia, awakened the idea of a single God. Many Semites went there on pilgrimages to worship Elohim. There they would remain for several days, fasting and praying in the caves and passages carved in the sides of Sinai. Before this, they would go to purify themselves and to receive instruction in the temple of Madian. Here Hosarsiph took refuge. The high priest of Madian or the Raguel (the watchman of God) at that time was named Jethro. He was a man of black skin." He belonged to the purest type of the ancient Ethiopian race which had ruled Egypt four or five thousand years before Rameses, and had not lost its traditions which date back to the oldest races of the globe. Jethro was neither an inspired man nor a man of action, but was a great sage. The treasures of science were accumulated in his memory and in the stone libraries of his temple, and he was also the protector of men of the desert. Libyans, Arabs, nomadic Semites, eternal wanderers, forever the same with their dim seeking after the one God, represented something changeless in the midst of ephemeral cults and crumbling civilizations. In them one felt as if in the presence of the Everlasting; one found in them the memorial of bygone ages, the great silence of Elohim. Jethro was the spiritual father of these unconquered people, these wanderers, these free men. He knew their soul, he had a foreboding of their destiny. When Hosarsiph came and asked him for shelter in the name of Osiris-Elohim, he received him with open arms. Perhaps he sensed at once that in this fugitive before him was the man predestined to become the prophet of banished men, the leader of the people of God. Hosarsiph wanted first of all to submit himself to the expiations the law of the initiates imposed upon murderers. When a priest of Osiris had committed even an unpremeditated murder, he was supposed to lose the benefit of his anticipated resurrection "in the light of Osiris," a privilege he had obtained through the tests of initiation, and which placed him far above the masses. In order to expiate his crime and to find his inner light once again, he had to submit himself to further cruel tests and once more to expose himself to death. After a long fast and with the aid of certain potions the atoning one was plunged into a deep sleep; then he was placed in a cave beneath the temple. He remained there for days, sometimes for weeks.** During this time he was to undertake a journey into the other world, into Erebus or the region of Amentis, where float the souls of the dead who are not yet detached from the terrestrial atmosphere. There he had to search for his victim, to undergo the latter's anguish, obtain his pardon and help him to find his way to the light. Only then was he considered to have expiated the murder; only then was his astral body washed of the black stains which the poisoned breath and the curses of his victim had soiled. But from this real or imaginary journey, the guilty one very well might not return, and often when the priests went to awaken the expiator from his sleep, they found nothing but a corpse. Hosarsiph did not hesitate to undergo this test, and others as well.** Under the impress of the murder he had committed, he had understood the unchangeable nature of certain laws of the moral order and the deep disturbance that violating them leaves in the depth of the conscience. With complete abnegation he offered his being in a holocaust to Osiris, asking for the strength (if he returned to the earthly light) to reveal the law of justice. When Hosarsiph emerged from the dreadful sleep in the crypt of the temple of Madian, he felt himself a transformed man. His past was as though detached from him; Egypt had ceased to be his homeland, and the immensity of the desert with its wandering nomads stretched before him as a new field of action. He looked at the mountain of Elohim on the horizon, and for the first time, like a vision of a storm in the clouds of Sinai, the idea of his mission passed before his eyes: From these moving tribes he was to mold a fighting people who would represent the law of the supreme God amidst the idolatry of cults and the anarchy of nations -- a people who would bring to future centuries truth, sealed in the golden ark of initiation. On that day in order to mark the new era which had begun in his life, Hosarsiph took the name Moses, which means, The Saved One. Notes for this chapter:

30Moses' Egyptian first name (Manethon, quoted by Philo).

31The Biblical account (Exodus 2:1-10) makes Moses a Jew of the tribe of Levi, found by
Pharaoh's daughter among the bulrushes of the Nile, where his nurse had placed him in order to touch the princess' heart and save the child from a persecution similar to that of Herod. By contrast, Manethon, an Egyptian priest to whom we owe the most precise information on the dynasties of the Pharaohs, -- information confirmed today by the inscriptions on monuments, -- states that Moses was a priest of Osiris. Strabo, who obtained his information from the same source, that is, from the Egyptian priests, also confirms this. The Egyptian source has more validity here than the Jewish source, for the priests of Egypt had no interest in making Greeks or Romans believe that Moses was one of them, while the national vanity of the Jews caused them to make the founder of their nation a man of their own blood. The Biblical account recognizes, moreover, that Moses was raised in Egypt and was sent by his government as inspector of the Jews of Goshen. This is the important, major fact which establishes the secret relation between the Mosaic religion and Egyptian initiation. Clement of Alexandria believed that Moses was deeply initiated into the science of Egypt, and, in effect, the work of the creator of Israel would be incomprehensible without this.

32Later (Numbers 3:1) after the Exodus, Aaron and Miriam, Moses' brother and sister, according to
the Bible, reproached him for having married an Ethiopian. Jethro, Sephora's father, therefore was of this race.

33Travelers of recent times report that Hindu fakirs have themselves buried after being plunged
into a cataleptic sleep, indicating the exact day when they must be disinterred. One of them, after three weeks of burial, was found alive, safe and sound.

34The seven daughters of Jethro, of whom the Bible speaks (Exodus 2:16-20), evidently have a
symbolic meaning, like this entire account which has come to us in a legendary and completely popularized form: It is very unlikely that the priestly ruler of a great temple would make his daughters feed his herds or reduce an Egyptian priest to the role of shepherd. The seven daughters of Jethro symbolize seven virtues that the initiate was forced to acquire in order to open the Well of Truth. In the story of Agar and Ishmael, this well is called "The Well of the Living One Who sees me."

21The Sepher Bereshith
Moses married Zipporah, daughter of Jethro, and sojourned many years with the wise man of Madian. Thanks to the Ethiopian and Chaldean traditions which he found in this temple, Moses was able to complete and master what he had learned in the Egyptian sanctuaries, to study the most ancient cycles of humanity and by the process of induction to plunge into the distant horizons of the future. It was at the home of Jethro that he found two books on cosmogony mentioned in Genesis: The Wars of Jehovah and The Generations of Adam. He studied them with great care. It was necessary to gird his loins well for the work he was considering. Before him Rama, Krishna, Hermes, Zoroaster and Fo-Hi had created religions of the people; Moses wished to create a people for the everlasting religion. A strong foundation was necessary for such a courageous, new, gigantic undertaking. For this reason Moses wrote his Sepher Bereshith, his Book of Beginnings, a concentrated synthesis of the science of the past and a framework for the science of the future, a key to the Mysteries, a torch of the initiates, a rallying-point for the entire nation. Let us try to see what Genesis was, according to Moses' way of thinking. Certainly in his thought Genesis radiated a different light, it embraced worlds which were much more vast than the naive conception of the tiny earth which appears in the Greek translation of the Septuagint, or in St. Jerome's Latin translation! The Biblical exegesis of the nineteenth century made fashionable the idea that Genesis is not the work of Moses, that this prophet may not even have existed, and that he may have been merely an entirely legendary character invented four or five centuries later by the Jewish priesthood in order to give itself a divine origin. Modern criticism bases this opinion on the fact that Genesis is composed of various fragments (Elohistic and Jehovistic) pieced together, and that its present editing is posterior by at least four hundred years to the time when Israel left Egypt. The facts established by modern criticism as regards the time of editing the texts that we possess today are accurate; the conclusions it draws from them are arbitrary and illogical. It does not follow from the fact that the Elohist and Jehovist wrote four hundred years after the Exodus, that they were the inventors of Genesis and that they did riot work on an earlier document, perhaps poorly understood. From the fact that the Pentateuch gives us a traditional account of the life of Moses, it does not follow that it contains nothing true. The mission of the prophet is explained when he is seen in his native environment, the solar temple of Memphis. Finally, the depths of Genesis are revealed only in the light of torches snatched from the initiation of Isis and Osiris. A religion is not formed without an initiator. The judges, the prophets, all the history of Israel, give proof of Moses; Jesus himself cannot be conceived of without him. Moreover, Genesis contains the essence of the Mosaic tradition. Whatever changes it has undergone, beneath the dust of centuries and priestly wrappings the venerable mummy must contain the basic idea, the living thought, the testament of the prophet of Israel. Israel gravitates around Moses as surely, as inevitably as the earth turns around the sun. But once this is established, it is something else to know what the basic ideas of Genesis were, what Moses wanted to will to posterity in this secret testament of the Sepher Bereshith. The problem can be resolved only from an esoteric point of view, and is as follows: In his role as an Egyptian initiate, the intellectuality of Moses had to be on a par with Egyptian science which, like ours, accepted the permanence of the laws of the universe, the development of worlds by gradual evolution, and in addition had extensive, exact and rational ideas about the soul and invisible nature. If such was Moses' science -- and how could a priest of Osiris not have had it? -- how can one reconcile this with the naive ideas of Genesis concerning the creation of the world and the origin of man? Might not this story of creation which, when taken literally, makes a modern schoolboy laugh, conceal a profound symbolic meaning? Is there a way to unlock the latter? What is this deep meaning? Where can one find the key to it? That key is to be found: 1. in Egyptian symbolism, 2. in the symbolism of all the religions of the ancient cycle, 3. in the synthesis of esoteric teaching from Vedic India to the Christian initiates of the early centuries. The Greek authors relate that the priests of Egypt had three ways of expressing their thoughts. "The first was clear and simple; the second, symbolic and figurative; the third, sacred and hieroglyphic. At their wish, the same work assumed a literal, a figurative or a transcendent meaning. This was the genius of their language. Heraclitus expressed the differences perfectly in designating them as speaking, signifying and concealing." In the theogonic and cosmogonic sciences the Egyptian priests always used the third mode of writing. Their hieroglyphs had three distinct meanings. The last two could not be understood without a key. This enigmatic, concentrated style of writing was related to a fundamental tenet of Hermes' doctrine, according to which one and the same law rules the natural world, the human world and the divine world. This language of extraordinary conciseness, unintelligible to the common man, had a singular eloquence for the adept, for, by means of a single sign it evoked the principles, causes and effects radiating from divinity into blind nature, into the human consciousness and into the world of pure spirits. Thanks to this writing, the initiate embraced the three worlds in a single glance. Considering Moses' education, there is no doubt that he wrote Genesis in Egyptian hieroglyphs with three meanings. He entrusted the keys and oral explanation to his successors. When, in Solomon's time, Genesis was transliterated into Phoenician characters, when, after the Babylonian Captivity, Esdras edited it in Chaldaic-Aramaic characters, the Jewish priesthood could make but very imperfect use of these keys. At last, when the Greek translators of the Bible appeared, they had no more than a vague idea of the esoteric meaning of the texts. Despite his serious intentions and his great mind, when St. Jerome prepared his Latin translation from the Hebrew text, he could not fathom the basic meaning, and could he have done so, it was right that he remained silent. Therefore, when we read Genesis in our translations, we have only the elementary, inferior meaning. Whether they will or no, the exegetes and theologians themselves, orthodox or free thinkers, see the Hebrew text only through the Vulgate. The comparative and superlative meaning, which is the profound and true sense of Genesis, escapes them. It remains no less mysteriously hidden in the Hebrew text, which by its roots dips down into the sacred language of the temples, remolded by Moses. This sacred language is one in which each vowel and each consonant has a universal meaning in harmony with the acoustic value of the letter and the state of consciousness of the man who produced it. For the intuitive this profound meaning sometimes bursts forth like a spark from the text; for the seer it shines in the phonetic structure of the words adopted or created by Moses: magic syllables, where the initiate of Osiris let his thought flow like sonorous metal into a perfect mold. Through the study of this phonetic alphabet which bears the impress of the holy language of the ancient temples, by means of the keys which the Kabbala provides, some of which date back to Moses, finally through comparative esoterism, today we are allowed to penetrate into and rediscover the real Genesis. Thus the thought of Moses emerges, shining like gold from the furnace of the centuries, from the scoria of a primitive theology and the ashes of negative criticism. Two examples will shed broad light upon what the sacred language of the ancient temples was, and how the three meanings in the symbols of Egypt and those of Genesis correspond to one another. On a great many Egyptian monuments one sees a woman wearing a crown, holding in one hand the crux ansata, the symbol of everlasting life; in the other hand she holds a scepter in the form of a lotus flower, the symbol of initiation. This is the goddess ISIS. Now Isis has three different meanings. Literally, she personifies Woman, and from this the universal feminine gender. Comparatively, she personifies the fullness of terrestrial nature, with all its reproductive powers. In the superlative, she symbolizes celestial and invisible nature, itself the element of souls and spirits, spiritual light, intelligible in itself, which initiation alone confers. The symbol which corresponds to Isis in the Genesis text and in the Judeo-Christian mind is EVE, Heva, the Eternal Feminine. This Eve is not only Adam's wife, she is also the wife of God. She constitutes three-quarters of His being. For the name of the Eternal IEVE of which we have incorrectly made Jehovah and Javeh, is composed of the prefix / and the name Eve. The high priest of Jerusalem pronounced the divine name once a year, enunciating it letter by letter in the following manner: Yod, he, vau, he. The first expressed the divine thought and the theogonic sciences; the three letters of Eve's name expressed the three orders of nature, the three worlds in which this thought is realized, and then the cosmogonic, psychic and physical sciences which correspond to them.~" The Ineffable encloses deep within Itself the Eternal Masculine and the Eternal Feminine. Their indissoluble union make for His power and mystery. This is what Moses, sworn enemy of all images of divinity, did not tell the people, but recorded figuratively in the structure of the Divine Name when he explained it to his adepts. Thus in the Judaic cult an esoteric nature is hidden in the very Name of God. The wife of Adam, strange, guilty, charming woman, reveals to us her profound affinities with the terrestrial, divine Isis, the mother of the gods, who manifests through her deep womb the turbulence of souls and stars. Another example: A character which plays a great role in the story of Adam and Eve is the Serpent. Genesis calls it Nahdash. Now what did the serpent mean in the ancient temples? The mysteries of India, Egypt and Greece reply with a single voice: The serpent arranged in a circle means universal life, whose magic agent is starlight. In a still deeper sense, Nahddsh means the power which puts life in motion, the attraction of self for self. In the latter meaning Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire saw the basis for universal gravity. The Greeks called it Eros, Love, or Desire. -- Now apply these two meanings to the story of Adam, Eve and the Serpent, and you will see that the Fall of the first couple, the celebrated original sin, suddenly becomes the vast revealing of divine and universal nature with its kingdoms, its classes and its species, in the tremendous, ineluctable cycle of life. These two examples have enabled us to glance for the first time into the depths of the Mosaic Genesis. We already see in part what cosmogony was for an ancient initiate, and what distinguished it from cosmogony in the modern sense. For modern science, cosmogony is reduced to a cosmography. One will find in it the description of a portion of the visible universe included in a study dealing with the chain of physical causes and effects in a given area. For example, it will be Laplace's 'system of the world where the formation of our solar system is hypothesized only on the basis of its present functioning and from matter in movement. It will also be the history of the earth, whose irrefutable evidences are the various strata of the soil. Ancient science was not unaware of this development of the visible universe, and if it had less accurate ideas on it than has modern science, nevertheless intuitively it had formulated the general laws. But for the sages of India and Egypt this was merely the outer aspect of the world, its reflex movement. They sought the explanation of the world in its inner aspect, in its direct and original movement. They found in it another order of laws which reveals itself to our intelligence. For ancient science, the limitless universe was not dead matter governed by mechanical laws, but was a living whole, endowed with intelligence, soul and will. This great divine being had innumerable organs, corresponding to its infinite faculties. As in the human body movements result from the thinking mind and the acting will, so in the eyes of ancient science the visible order of the universe was but the reflection of an invisible order, that is, of cosmogonic forces and spiritual monads, kingdoms, classes and species, which through their perpetual involution into matter produced the evolution of life. Whereas modern science considers only the external, the surface of the universe, the science of the ancient temples had the task to reveal the internal, to discover hidden movements. It did not conclude that intelligence derives from matter, but matter from intelligence. It did not describe the universe as born of the blind dance of atoms, but it generated atoms through the vibrations of the universal soul. In short, it moved in concentric circles, from the universal to the particular, from the Invisible to the visible, from Pure Spirit to organized substance, from God to man. This descending order of powers and spirits in inverse proportion to the ascending order of life and bodies, was the ontology of science, of intelligible principles, and formed the basis of cosmogony. All the great initiations in India, Egypt, Judea and Greece, those of Krishna, Hermes, Moses and Orpheus knew in varied forms this order of elements, powers, souls and generations which descend from the First Cause, from the Ineffable Father. The descending order of incarnations is simultaneous with the ascending order of lives, and this alone makes it understandable. Involution produces evolution and explains it. In Greece the male, or Doric temples, those of Jupiter and Apollo (especially that at Delphi), were the only ones which possessed the essential knowledge of the descending order. The Ionic, or feminine temples had but imperfect knowledge of it. The entire Greek civilization being Ionic, science and the Doric order became more and more veiled. Nevertheless, it is incontestable that its great initiators, its heros and philosophers, from Orpheus to Pythagoras to Plato and from the latter to the Alexandrians, depend upon that order. All recognized Hermes as their master. Let us return to Genesis. According to Moses, that other son of Hermes, the first ten chapters of Genesis constituted a real ontology, based upon the order and relationship of beginnings. All that begins must end. Genesis simultaneously described evolution in time and creation in Eternity; the only creating worthy of God. In the section on Pythagoras I shall give a picture of theogony and esoteric cosmogony in a less abstract setting than that of Moses, and closer to the modern mind. In spite of the polytheistic form, in spite of the extreme diversity of symbols, the meaning of this Pythagorean cosmogony, on the basis of Orphic initiation and the sanctuaries of Apollo, will be basically identical with that of the prophet of Israel. In Pythagoras the latter will be as though lighted by its natural complement, the doctrine of the soul and its evolution. The latter was taught in the Greek sanctuaries by means of the symbols of the myth of Persephone. It was also called The Earthly and Heavenly Story of Psyche. This narrative, corresponding to what Christianity calls redemption, is entirely absent from the Old Testament. This is not because Moses and the prophets did not know about it, but because they considered it too difficult for popular teaching, reserving it for the oral tradition of the initiates. The divine Psyche was hidden for a long time beneath the hermetic symbols of Israel, only that it might be personified in the ethereal, luminous appearance of Christ. As for the cosmogony of Moses, it unites the incisive brevity of Semitic aptitude with the mathematical precision of Egyptian genius. The style of the narrative reminds one of the forms which decorate the interior of the kings' tombs; erect, cold, severe, they conceal an impenetrable mystery in their sharp bareness. The general effect makes one think of a Cyclopean building, but here and there, like lava flowing between the giant blocks, the thought of Moses bursts forth with the impetuosity of an initiate fire between the trembling verses of the translators. In the first chapters of incomparable grandeur, one feels the breath of Elohim pass by, turning the heavy pages of the universe one by one. Before leaving them, let us look again at some of the mighty hieroglyphs composed by the prophet of Sinai. Like the door of an underground temple each of them opens upon a gallery of esoteric truths which, with their unflickering lamps, light the succession of worlds and ages. Let us attempt to enter it with the keys of initiation. Let us try to see these strange symbols, these magic formulas in their evocative power as the initiate of Osiris saw them, as they emerged in letters of fire from the furnace of his thought. In the crypt of Jethro's temple Moses is meditating alone, sitting upon a sarcophagus. About him the walls and pilasters are covered with hieroglyphs and paintings, representing the names and forms of the gods as conceived by all peoples of the earth. These symbols summarize the history of vanished cycles and foretell future ones. A lamp placed upon the ground dimly lights these signs, each of which speaks its language to him. But already he no longer sees anything of the external world; he is seeking within himself the word of his book, the form of his work, the Word which will be Action. The lamp has gone out, but before his inner eye in the night of the crypt flames the name: IEVE The first letter, 7, has the white color of light; the three others shine like a changing fire, in which all the colors of the rainbow revolve. And what a strange life is in these characters! In the initial letter Moses perceives the masculine principle, Osiris, Creative Spirit par excellence. -- In Eve he observes reproductive power and the Celestial Isis who is a part of it. Thus the divine faculties which contain all the worlds in their power, unfurl and become regulated in the Heart of God. Through their perfect union, the Father and the ineffable Mother form the Son, the Living Word, which creates the universe. This is the Mystery of Mysteries, hidden from the senses but speaking through the sign of the Everlasting as Spirit speaks to Spirit. And the sacred Tetragrammaton shines with an ever more intense light. Moses sees the three worlds, all the kingdoms of nature and the sublime order of the sciences burst forth in a tremendous effulgence. Then his glowing eye centers upon the masculine sign of the Creative Spirit. It is this that he calls upon so that he may pass through the orders of creation, and draw from the Supreme Will the strength to accomplish his own work after having viewed the work of the Everlasting. Now in the shadows of the crypt shines another divine name: ELOHIM For the initiate this means, "He, the Gods, the God of Gods."** It is no longer the Being retiring within itself, dwelling in the Absolute, but the Lord of Worlds, Whose thought spreads out into millions of stars, moving spheres of floating universes. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." But at first these heavens were only the thought of endless time and infinite space, filled with emptiness and silence. "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep."?? What will come forth from Him first? A sun? An earth? A cloud? -- Any substance whatever of this visible world? No! What was born from Him first was A ur, light. But that light is not physical light, it is intelligible light, born of the trembling of celestial Isis in Infinity's womb; that universal soul, that starry light, that substance which makes souls, from which they blossom in an ethereal fluid; that subtle element by which thought is transmitted to infinite distances; that divine light which is anterior and posterior to that of all suns. At first it spreads into infinity, for it is the powerful respir of God, then it returns to itself in a movement of love, the deep aspir of the Everlasting. Upon the waves of the divine ether the astral forms of worlds and beings throb as though covered by a translucent veil. And all this is summarized for the magi-seer in the words he pronounces, and which light up in the darkness in shining characters: RUA ELOHIM A UR" "Let there be light, and there was light." -- The breath of Elohim is light! From the heart of that first non-material light burst the first six days of creation, that is, the seeds, the principles, the forms, the life-soul of everything. It is the Universe existing in power before the letter and according to the Spirit. And what is the last word of Creation, the formula which summarizes Being in action, the Living Word in which appears the first and last thought of the Absolute Being? It is ADAM — EVE The Man-Woman. In no way does this symbol represent (as is taught in our churches and as our exegetes believe) the first human couple of our earth, but God in action in the universe and human kind personified; it represents universal Humanity through all the heavens. "God created man in his own image; male and female created he him." This divine couple is the universal Word, for which Ieve reveals His true nature in the worlds. The sphere it originally inhabits and which Moses embraces with powerful thought is not the Garden of Eden, the legendary terrestrial paradise, but the limitless, temporal sphere of Zoroaster, the higher earth of Plato, the universal celestial kingdom, Heden, Hadama, the substance of all lands. But what will the evolution of mankind be in time and space? Moses views it in a disguised form in the story of the Fall. In Genesis, Psyche, the human soul, is called Aisha, another name for Eve. Her homeland is Shamaim, heaven. She lives there happily in the divine ether, but without knowledge of herself. She enjoys heaven without understanding it. For in order to understand it, it is necessary first to have forgotten it and then to remember it; it is necessary to have lost it and to have found it again. She will know only by suffering; she will understand only by falling. And what a deep and tragic fall, quite different from that of the childish Biblical account of which we read! Drawn to the dark gulf by desire for knowledge, Aisha lets herself fall . . . She ceases being pure soul, having only a sidereal body and living in the divine ether. She is clothed in a material body and enters the circle of births. And her incarnations are not one, but one hundred, one thousand, in bodies which are more and more crude, depending upon the bodies she inhabits. She descends from world to world .. . She descends and forgets . . . A black veil covers her inner eye; in the thick tissue of matter, drowned is the divine consciousness, darkened is the memory of heaven. Pale as a lost hope, a weak recollection of her former happiness shines within her! With this spark she must be born again and must regenerate herself! Yes, Aisha still lives in the naked couple who find themselves defenseless upon a wild earth under a hostile sky where thunder roars. Is Paradise lost? The vastness of the veiled heaven stretches behind and before her! Moses thus views the generations of Adam in the universe." Next he considers the destinies of man on earth. He sees the past and present cycles. In earthly Aisha -- in the soul of humanity -- the consciousness of God once had shone with the fire of Agni in the land of Cush on the slopes of the Himalayas. But now it is about to be extinguished in idolatry, in infernal passions beneath Assyrian tyranny amidst foreign peoples and alien gods who consume one another. Moses pledges himself to rekindle it by establishing the cult of Elohim. Mankind as a whole, like man as an individual, ought to be the image of /eve. But where are the people to be found who will embody Him, and who will be the living word of humanity? Then Moses, having imagined his book and his work, having probed the darkness of the human soul, declares war on terrestrial, weak-natured, corrupt Eve. In order to fight her and reform her he calls upon the Spirit, the original, all-powerful Fire, Jeve , to whose source he wishes to return. He feels that its effluvia are setting him afire and are tempering him like steel. Its name is the Will. And in the dark silence of the crypt, Moses hears a voice. It comes from the depths of his consciousness, it flickers like a light, saying, "Go to the mountain of God, to Horeb!" Notes for this chapter:

35The true restorer of Moses' cosmogony is a man of genius almost forgotten today, to whom
France will do justice when esoteric science, which is integral and religious science, is reconstructed on its own indestructible foundations. Fabre d'Olivet could not be understood by his contemporaries, for he was at least a hundred years ahead of his time. His universal outlook encompassed in equal degree three faculties whose union creates transcendental intellects: intuition, analysis and synthesis. Born at Ganges (Hérault) in 1767, he undertook the study of mystical doctrines of the Orient after having acquired an extensive understanding of the sciences, philosophies and literatures of the Occident. Count de Gébelin, through his Primitive World opened for him the first vistas of the symbolic meaning of the myths of antiquity and the sacred language of the temples. In order to become initiated in the doctrines of the Orient, he learned Chinese, Sanskrit, Arabic and Hebrew. In

1815he published his major book, The Hebraic Tongue Restored. This book includes: 1. An
introductory dissertation on the origin of speech; 2. A Hebrew grammar, based on new principles; 3. Hebrew roots viewed according to etymological science; 4. A preliminary discourse; 5. A French and English translation of the first ten chapters of Genesis, which contain the cosmogony of Moses. This translation is accompanied by a commentary of the greatest interest. I can only summarize here the principles and substance of this very revealing book. It is permeated with the deepest esoteric spirit and is constructed according to the most rigorous scientific method. The method Fabre d'Olivet uses to fathom the secret meaning of the Hebrew text of Genesis is a comparison of Hebrew with Arabic, Syriac, Aramaic and Chaldean from the point of view of basic common roots, of which he furnishes us an admirable lexicon supported by examples taken from all the languages, a lexicon which can serve as a key for sacred names among all peoples. Of all esoteric books on the Old Testament, Fabre d'Olivet's gives the surest keys. In addition, he gives an enlightening account of the history of the Bible and the apparent reasons why its hidden meaning was lost, and even today is utterly unknown to science and official theology. I shall say a few words about another, more recent work. This is The Mission of the Jews, by Saint- Yves d'Alveydre (1884). Saint-Yves owes his philosophical initiation to Fabre dOlivet's books. His interpretation of Genesis is essentially that of the latter's book, The Hebraic Tongue Restored; his metaphysics, that of The Golden Verses of Pythagoras; his philosophy of history and the general setting of his work are taken from The Philosophical History of the Human Race. (These works of Fabre d'Olivet published by Putnam's, N.Y. 1921-9.) From these basic ideas, adding his own materials and shaping them to his liking, he constructed a new building of great richness. His purpose is twofold: to prove that the science and religion of Moses were the necessary result of religious movements which preceded them in Asia and Egypt, which Fabre d'Olivet had already brought to light in his brilliant works; next, to prove that the ternary government by arbitration, composed of three powers, economic, judiciary and religious or scientific, was in every age a corollary of the doctrine of the initiates and a constituent part of religions long before Greece. Such is Saint-Yves' own idea, a pregnant idea worthy of the highest consideration. He calls it synarchy, or government according to principles; he finds in it the social, organic law, the sole salvation of the future. It is not our task here to discuss to what extent the author has historically proved his thesis. Saint-Yves does not like to quote his sources, but his book, of unusual value, based upon a vast knowledge of esoteric science, abounds in pages of great inspiration, in great descriptions and in many new ideas. My views differ from his on many points, especially in regard to the concept of Moses to which, in my opinion, Saint-Yves has given too great and legendary proportions. However, beyond this I wish to point to the great value of this extraordinary book, to which I owe much. I would refer the reader also to his Mission of the Sovereigns and True France, where Saint-Yves did justice, though a bit late, and in spite of himself, to his teacher, Fabre d'Olivet.

36Spinoza' natura naturans.

37This is how Fabre d'Olivet explains the name JEVE: "This name, first of all, incorporates the sign
indicative of life when doubled and forming the basically productive root EE. This root is never employed as a noun, and is the only one which has this prerogative. From its formation, it is not only a verb, but a unique verb from which the others are only derivatives: In short, the verb EVE, to be, being. Here (as can be seen, and as I took care to explain in my grammar) the intelligible sign VAU (V) is in the middle of the root of life. Moses, taking this verb par excellence to form from it the proper noun of the Being of beings, adds to it the sign of potential manifestation and of Eternity Z and obtains JEVE, in which the facultative being is placed between a past without origin, and a future without end. This marvelous name, therefore, means exactly The Being who is, was and is to be. (For further details, see Fabre d'Olivet, The Hebraic Tongue Restored, trnsl. by Redfield, Putnam's, New York, 1921 -- Ed.)

38"Elohim is the plural of E/o, a name given to the Supreme Being by the Hebrews and Chaldeans,
and itself derived from the root El, which pictures elevation, strength and expansive power, and which means in a universal sense, God. Hoa, that is, He, is one of the sacred names for divinity in Hebrew, Chaldaic, Syriac, Ethiopian, Arabic." -- Fabre d'Olivet, The Hebraic Tongue Restored, N.Y. 1921.

39"Ruah Elohim: The Breath of God, figuratively indicates a movement of expansion, dilation. In a
hieroglyphic sense it is the force opposed to that of darkness. Thus, if the word darkness characterizes a compressing power, the word ruah characterizes an expanding power. One will find in both words that eternal system of two opposing forces which the wise men and scientists of all ages from Parmenides and Pythagoras to Descartes and Newton saw in nature and called by different names." -- Fabre d Olivet, Hebrew Tongue Restored.

40Breath . . . Elohim, Light. These three names are the hieroglyphic resumé of the second and third
verses of Genesis. The following is the transliteration of the Hebrew text of the third verse: Wa- iaomer Aelohim iehi-aour, wa iehi aour. This is the literal translation Fabre d'Olivet gives: "And-he- said (declaring his will) HE-The-Being-of-beings: There-shall-be light; and-there-(shall be)-became light (intellectual elementizing)." The word ROUA, meaning breath, is found in the second verse. The word AOUR, which means light, is the word ROUA in reverse. The divine Breath, returning back upon itself, created intelligible Light.

41Genesis 2:23. Aisha, the Soul, here resembling Woman, is the wife of Aish, the Intellect
resembling Man. She is taken from him, she constitutes his inseparable half, his volitional faculty. The same relationship exists between Dionysus and Persephone in the Orphic Mysteries.

42In the Samaritan version of the Bible, the adjective universal, infinite, is added to Adam's name.
Therefore this name is a matter of the human species, of the rule of man in all the heavens.

22The Vision of Sinai
A dark mass of granite stands so bare beneath the splendor of the sun that one would think it had been furrowed by lightning and carved by thunder. "This is the summit of Sinai, the Throne of Elohim," say the children of the desert. Facing it is a lower mountain, the rocks of Serbal, also steep and wild. In its sides are copper mines and caverns. Between the two mountains is a dark valley, a chaos of rocks which the Arabs call Horeb, the Ereb of Semitic legend. This valley of desolation is gloomy indeed when night falls upon it along with the shadow of Sinai. It is even more gloomy when the mountain is crowned with a mantle of clouds, from which sinister flashes of light dart forth. Then a terrible wind blows down the narrow valley. It is said that here Elohim overthrows those who try to fight Him, casting them into the abyss where torrents of rain pour. The Midianites say that here wander the evil ghosts of giants, the Refaim, tumbling the rocks upon those who try to climb the sacred cliffs. Popular tradition still has it that sometimes in the flashing fire the God of Sinai appears in the form of a Medusa head with eagle's wings. Woe to those who see His face! To see Him is to die! This is what the nomads related in the evening, sitting in their tents, when the camels and the women were asleep. In reality only the boldest of Jethro's initiates climbed to the cavern of Serval and spent several days there in fasting and prayer. It was a place dedicated from time immemorial to supernatural visions, to Elohim, or to luminous spirits. No priest, no hunter would have consented to lead a pilgrim there. Fearlessly Moses had climbed up past the ravine of Horeb. Courageously he had crossed the valley of death with its chaos of rocks. Like every human effort, initiation has its phases of humility and pride. In climbing the mountain Moses had reached the summit of pride, for he was approaching the summit of human power. Already he felt himself at one with the Supreme Being. The burning red sun hung low over the volcanic massive form of Sinai and purple shadows were lying in the valleys below, when Moses found himself before a cavern where a few terebinths protected the entrance. He prepared to enter, but suddenly he was blinded by a light which enveloped him. It seemed to him that the sun burned about him, that the granite mountains had changed into a sea of flames. At the entrance to the grotto a blinding light shone upon him. An angel with drawn sword blocked his way. Thunderstruck, Moses fell prone upon the ground. All his pride had been broken. The angel's gaze had pierced him with its light. And then, with that deep sense of things which is awakened in the visionary state, he understood that this being was about to impose serious tasks upon him. He would have liked to escape his mission and creep into the earth like a miserable worm. But a voice said, "Moses! Moses!" And he answered: "Here am I." "Come no closer; take off your shoes. For the place where you are standing is holy ground!" Moses hid his face in his hands. He was afraid to look at the angel again, to face his gaze. And the angel said to him, "You who seek Elohim, why do you tremble before me?" "Who are you?" "A ray of Elohim, a solar angel, a messenger of the One Who is and Who will be." "What do you command?" "You shall say to the children of Israel: The Everlasting, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob sent me to you, to lead you out of the land of slavery." "Who am J," asked Moses, "that I should lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt?" "Go," said the angel, "for I shall be with you. I shall put the fire of Elohim in your heart, and His word upon your lips. For forty years you have been calling upon Him. Your voice has reached Him. Here I seize you in his name! Son of Elohim, you belong to me forever!" And Moses cried out boldly, "Show me Elohim, that I may see His living fire!" He raised his head. But the sea of flames had vanished; the angel had fled like lightning. The sun had descended upon the extinguished volcanoes of Sinai; a silence of death spread over the vale of Horeb, and a voice which seemed to roll in the blue, losing itself in infinity, said: "I am, that I am!" Moses came out of this vision as though dumbfounded. He thought for a moment that his body had been consumed by the fire of ether. But his spirit was stronger. When he went down to Jethro's temple again, he was ready for his task. His living idea walked before him like the angel, armed with the sword of fire.

23Exodus — The Desert — Magic and Theurgy
Moses' plan was one of the most extraordinary and courageous that man has ever conceived. He was to tear a people from the yoke of a nation as powerful as Egypt, to take it to the conquest of a country occupied by hostile and better-armed inhabitants, to lead it for ten, twenty, forty years in the desert, to consume it with thirst, to weaken it with hunger, to torment it like a blood-horse under the arrows of the Hittites and Amalakites, ready to cut it to pieces, to isolate it with its Tabernacle of the Lord in the midst of these idolatrous nations, to impose monotheism upon it with a rod of fire and to instill in it such a fear and veneration of this One God that He would become incarnate in its flesh, that He would become its national symbol, the goal of all its aspirations and its reason for being. -- Such was the amazing work of Moses. The Exodus was coordinated and preparations made well in advance by the prophet, the chief Israelite leaders, and Jethro. To put his plan into effect, Moses took advantage of a moment when Menephtah, his former study-companion, now Pharaoh, had to repel the mighty invasion of Mermaiu, king of the Lybians. The entire Egyptian army was occupied on the western borders of the country and could not stop the Hebrews. Thus the mass emigration occurred peacefully. Now we see the Beni-Israel on the march. The long file of caravans, with tents carried on camels' backs and followed by great herds, prepares to go around the Red Sea. They still number only a few thousand men. Later the emigration will grow larger "with all kinds of men," as the Bible says. They will include Canaanites, Edomites, Arabs, Semites of all kinds, attracted and fascinated by the desert prophet, who calls them from all directions and shapes them to his liking. The nucleus of his people is formed of the Beni-Israel, straightforward men, but rough, obstinate and rebellious. Their hags or their leaders have taught them the cult of the One God. This religion constitutes a high patriarchal tradition among them. But in those primitive and violent natures, monotheism is still only a better and intermittent consciousness. As soon as their evil passions reawaken, the instinct toward polytheism, so natural for man, takes the upper hand. Then they fall back into the superstitions, witchcraft and idolatrous practices of the neighboring peoples of Egypt and Phoenicia. Moses will fight this with Draconian laws. Around the prophet who leads this people is a group of priests presided over by Aaron, Moses' initiate brother, and by the prophetess Miriam, who already represents feminine initiation in Israel. This group constitutes the priesthood. With them, seventy elected leaders or lay initiates press around the prophet of Jeve. Moses will entrust to them his secret doctrine and his oral tradition, will transmit to them a part of his powers and sometimes will make them sharers in his inspirations and visions. In the midst of this group is carried the golden Ark. Moses borrowed this idea from the Egyptian temples where it served as the secret place for the theurgic books, but he refashioned it in line with his personal plans. The Ark of Israel is surrounded by four cherubim in gold, similar to sphinxes and resembling the four symbolic animals of Ezekiel's vision. One cherubim has the head of a lion, another, of a bull, the third, of an eagle and the fourth, of a man. These personify the four elements of the universe: earth, water, air and fire, as well as the four worlds represented by the letters of the sacred Tetragrammaton. With their wings the cherubim cover the mercy seat, the throne of God. This Ark will be the means of producing electrifying and splendid phenomena. The latter will be brought about by the magic of the priest of Osiris. These phenomena, exaggerated by legend, will produce the Biblical accounts. In addition, the golden Ark enclosed the Sepher Bereshith, or Book of Cosmogony, written by Moses in Egyptian hieroglyphics, and the magic wand of the prophet, called the rod by the Bible. Later it will also contain the Book of the Covenant, or the law of Sinai. Moses will call the Ark the throne of Elohim, for in it rests sacred tradition, -- the mission of Israel, the idea of leve. What political constitution did Moses give to his people? Here it is necessary to refer to one of the strange passages of Exodus. This passage appears older and all the more authentic just because it shows us Moses' weak side, his tendency to priestly pride and theocratic tyranny, being reprimanded by his Ethiopian initiator. . .. On the morrow, Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, "What is this thing that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto evening? And Moses said unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to inquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws. And Moses' father-in-law said unto him, the thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Hearken now Unto my voice. I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. It is clear from this passage that in Israel's constitution, established by Moses, the executive power was considered an emanation of judicial power and placed under the control of priestly authority. Such was the government willed by Moses to his successors, at the wise advice of Jethro. It remained the same under the Judges from Joshua to Samuel, until the usurpation by Saul. Under the kings, the disparaged priesthood began to lose the real tradition of Moses, which survived only in the prophets. We have said that Moses was not a patriot, but a civilizer of peoples, having before him the destinies of all humanity. Israel was but a means for him, -- universal religion was his goal, and far above and beyond the nomads his thought went out to future ages. From the departure from Egypt until Moses' death, the history of Israel was but one long struggle between the prophet and his people. Moses first led the tribes of Israel to Sinai in the barren desert, before the mountain dedicated to Elohim by all the Semites, where he himself had had his revelation. There where his Genius seized the prophet, the latter wanted to take possession of his people and engrave the seal of Jeve upon their forehead. This seal was the Ten Commandments, the mighty summary of the moral law, the complement of transcendent truth, enclosed in the hermetic book of the Ark. Nothing is more tragic than this first dialogue between the prophet and his people. Strange, bloody, terrible scenes took place, which left, as it were, the imprint of a hot iron in Israel's mortified flesh. Beneath the amplifications of Biblical legend one divines the possible reality of the facts. The elite of the tribes camped on the plateau of Pharan, at the entrance to a wild gorge which leads to the rocks of Serbal. The threatening summit of Sinai overlooks this stony, volcanic, rough terrain. Before the entire assembly Moses solemnly announces that he is going to go to the mountain to consult Elohim, and that he will bring back the Law, written upon a stone tablet. He commands the people to watch and fast, to wait in chastity and prayer. He leaves the Ark, hidden by the tent of the Tabernacle, under the watch of the seventy Elders. Then he disappears into the gorge, taking with him only his faithful disciple, Joshua. Days pass; Moses does not return. The people are anxious at first, then they murmur, "Why did he lead us into this terrible desert and expose us to the arrows of the Amalakites? Moses promised to lead us to the land of Canaan where milk and honey flow, and here we are dying in the desert! Slavery in Egypt was better than this miserable life! Would to God that we still had the food that we ate back there! If the God of Moses is the true God, let him prove it; let all his enemies be scattered, and let us immediately enter the Promised Land." These complaints increase; the people rebel; even the leaders become involved. Here comes a group of women who are whispering and murmuring among themselves. They are the daughters of Moab, dark-skinned with supple bodies and full figures, the concubines or servants of several Edomite leaders allied with Israel. They recall that they were priestesses of Astaroth, that they celebrated orgies of the goddess in the sacred forests of their native land. They feel that the time has come to reclaim their empire. They are adorned with gold and wear transparent garments; with a smile on their lips they resemble beautiful serpents coming out of the earth in order to display their sinuous forms and glittering reflections in the sun. They mix with the rebels, captivate them with their shining eyes, encircle them with their arms, resounding with copper bracelets, seducing them with their golden speech: "After all, who is this priest from Egypt, and his God? He will die on Sinai. The Refaim have probably thrown him in the abyss. It is not he who will lead the tribes into Canaan! But let the Children of Israel call upon the gods of Moab: Belphegor and Astaroth! They are gods that can be seen, and who perform miracles! They will lead Israel to the land of Canaan!" The mutineers listen to the Moabite women. They incite one another, and the shout goes up from the multitude: "Aaron, fashion gods for us who will walk before us; as for Moses who made us come up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!" In vain Aaron tries to calm the crowd. The daughters of Moab call upon the Phoenician priests who have arrived with a caravan. The latter bring wooden statues of Astaroth and raise them upon an altar of stone. Under threat of death the rebels force Aaron to cast a golden calf, one of the forms of Belphegor. The bulls and goats are sacrificed to the foreign gods; the people begin to drink and eat, and, led by the daughters of Moab, the lewd dances begin around the idols to the sound of nebels, kinnors and tambourines. The seventy Elders chosen by Moses for the care of the Ark have tried to stop the disorder, but in vain. Now they are sitting on the ground, their heads covered with sackcloth and ashes. Grouped around the Tabernacle of the Ark, with consternation they hear the savage cries, the voluptuous songs, the invocations to the cursed gods, demons of lust and cruelty. With horror they view this people deep in debauchery and in rebellion against its God. What is to become of the Ark and the Book of Israel if Moses does not return? But Moses does return. From his long meditation, from his solitude on the mountain of Elohim he brings back the Law, carved upon tablets of stone." Entering the camp he sees the dances, the bacchanal of his people before the idols of Astaroth and Belphegor. Catching sight of the priest of Osiris, the prophet of Elohim, the dancers stop, the alien priests flee, the rebels hesitate. Anger seethes in Moses like a consuming fire. He breaks the tablets of stone, and one feels that in this way he would break this entire people. One knows that God possesses him. Israel trembles, but the rebels dart looks of hatred and fear toward Moses. One word, one gesture of hesitation on the part of the leader-prophet and the hydra of idolatrous anarchy will lift its thousand heads against him and sink the holy Ark, the prophet, and his idea beneath a storm of stones. But Moses is there, and behind him are the invisible Powers which protect him. He understands that above all it is necessary to build up the spirit of the seventy elect to their rightful stature once again, and through them all the people. He calls upon Elohim-/eve, Male Spirit, the Fire-Principle, in his own heart and in the heights of heaven. "Let the seventy come to me!" cries Moses. "Let them take the Ark and climb with me to the mountain of God! As for this people, let them wait and tremble! I shall return with the judgment of Elohim upon them!" The Levites take the golden Ark, covered with its wings, from the tent, and the procession of the seventy disappears with the prophet into the narrow passes of Sinai. One cannot tell who trembles the more, the Levites at what they are going to see, or the people at the punishment Moses leaves hanging over their heads like an invisible sword. O if only they could free themselves from the terrible grip of this priest of Osiris, this prophet of evil! This is the wish of the rebels. And hastily half of the camp folds the tents, harnesses the camels, and prepares to flee. But a strange twilight, a veil of dust spreads over the sky; a sharp breeze blows over the Red Sea, the desert assumes a wild, red appearance and behind Sinai huge clouds pile up. Finally the sky becomes dark. Gusts of wind bring waves of sand, and lightning causes the whirlwind of clouds enveloping Sinai to burst in torrents of rain. Soon the flashes of lightning and the voice of thunder reverberating through all the gorges of the mountain mass bursts upon the plain in successive reports with a fearful din. The people have no doubt that this is the anger of Elohim, invoked by Moses. The daughters of Moab have disappeared. The idols are overturned, the leaders kneel, the children and women hide under the camels. All night and all day this continues. Lightning strikes tents, killing men and beasts, and thunder continues to rumble. Toward evening the tempest subsides, but the clouds continue to roll over Sinai, and the sky is still black. At the entrance to the camp the seventy now reappear, with Moses at their head. And in the dim twilight the faces of the prophet and his elect shine with a supernatural light, as if they have brought with them the reflection of a shimmering and sublime vision. Over the golden Ark, over the cherubim with wings of fire, quivers an electrical ray, like a phosphorescent pillar. At this extraordinary spectacle, the Elders and the people, men and women, kneel at a distance. "Let those who are for the Lord come to me," commanded Moses. Three-quarters of the leaders of Israel group themselves around Moses; the rebels remain hidden in their tents. Then the prophet moves forward and orders his faithful to put their swords through the instigators of the revolt and the priestesses of Astaroth, so that Israel may tremble forever before Elohim. He orders this so that Israel may remember the law of Sinai and its first commandment, "I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth." By means of this mixture of terror and mystery, Moses imposed his law and his cult upon his people. It was necessary to impress the idea of /eve on their soul in letters of fire, and without these inexorable measures, monotheism would never have triumphed over the invading polytheism of Phoenicia and Babylon. But what had the seventy seen on Sinai? Deuteronomy 33:2 speaks of a tremendous vision, of thousands of saints appearing in the midst of the storm on Sinai, in the light of /eve. Did the wise men of the ancient Cycle, the ancient initiates of the Aryas, of India, Persia, and Egypt, all the noble sons of Asia, the land of God, come to assist Moses in his task of exercising a decisive pressure upon the consciousness of his associates? The spiritual Powers who watch over humanity are always present, but the veil separating us from them is rent only at decisive moments and for the few chosen ones. Moses caused the divine fire and energy of his own will to enter the seventy. They were the first temple before that of Solomon; they were the living temple, the temple on the march, the heart of Israel, the royal light of God. By means of the visions of Sinai, through the mass execution of the rebels, Moses acquired an authority over the nomadic Semites, whom he held in his iron grip. But similar events, followed by new manifestations of power, had to take place during the journey toward the land of Canaan. Like Mohammed, Moses had to manifest simultaneously the genius of a prophet, of a man of war, and of a social organizer. He had to fight against lassitude, calumny and conspiracies. After the revolt of the people he had to level the pride of the Levite priests who wanted to make their role equal to his, to have themselves considered, like him, as men directly inspired by leve. On the other hand, Moses had to face the more dangerous conspiracies of a few ambitious leaders like Core, Datan and Abiram, who fomented insurrection in order to overthrow the prophet and proclaim a king, as the Israelites did later with Saul, despite the resistance of Samuel. In this struggle, Moses experiences alternations of indignation and pity, the tenderness of a father and the roarings of a lion against the people who fight among themselves, but who, in spite of all, will submit to him. We find the echo of this in the Biblical dialogues between the prophet and his God, dialogues which seem to reveal what took place in the depths of his consciousness. In the Pentateuch, Moses triumphs over all obstacles because of miracles which are excessively unrealistic. Jehovah, conceived of as a personal God, is always at his call. He appears above the Tabernacle like a shining cloud, which is called The Glory of the Lord. Moses alone can enter the Tabernacle; the impure who approach it are struck dead. In the Biblical account the Tabernacle of the congregation, which houses the Ark, plays the role of a gigantic electric battery which once charged with the fire of Jehovah, strikes the masses of the people with lightning. First the sons of Aaron, then two hundred fifty followers of Core and Datan, and finally fourteen thousand people are killed by its discharges. Moreover, at a set hour, Moses brings about an earthquake, which swallows up the three rebel leaders along with their tents and their families. This last account is related in wonderful, grandiose poetry. But it is marked by such exaggeration, by such an obviously legendary character, that it would be childish to discuss its reality. A particularly unreal quality is given to these accounts by the role Jehovah plays as an irascible, changeable God. He is always ready to strike and destroy, while Moses represents mercy and wisdom. Such a childish, contradictory concept of Divinity is no less strange to the consciousness of the initiate of Osiris than to that of a Jesus. Nevertheless these fantastic exaggerations seem to stem from certain phenomena resulting from Moses' magic powers, and are not without analogy in the tradition of the ancient temples. Here it is possible to express one's thoughts regarding the so-called miracles of Moses in the light of a rational theosophy and esotericism. The production of various forms of electric phenomena at the will of powerful initiates is not only attributed to Moses by antiquity. Chaldean tradition attributed it to the Magi, Greek and Latin traditions, to certain priests of Jupiter and Apollo." In similar cases the phenomena are indeed of an electric nature. But the electricity of the earthly atmosphere would be put in motion by a more subtle and universal force active everywhere, and which the great initiates agreed to attract, to concentrate and to project. This force is called akasa by the Brahmans, the fire element by the Magi of Chaldea, the great magic agent by the Kabbalists of the Middle Ages. From the point of view of modern science it can be called etheric force. One can either attract it directly or invoke it through the intermediary of invisible agents, conscious or semi-conscious, of which the earthly atmosphere is full, and which the will of the Magi knows how to control. This theory is in no way contrary to a rational concept of the universe, and it is even indispensable in explaining a large body of phenomena which would remain incomprehensible without it. It is necessary only to add that these phenomena are governed by changeless laws which are always proportioned to the intellectual, moral and magnetic strength of the initiate. An anti-rational and anti-philosophical event would be the setting in motion of the First Cause of God by any being whatsoever (or the direct activation of this cause by Him), which would amount to an identification of the individual with God. Man only relatively rises to Him through thought or prayer, through action or ecstasy. God exercises His activity in the universe only indirectly, through the Hierarchies, by means of universal and unchangeable laws which express His thought, as it were, through earthly and divine humanity, who partially and proportionately represent Him in the world of space and time. In harmony with these points of view we think it perfectly possible that Moses, sustained by the spiritual Powers who protected him, and manipulating the etheric force with consummate art, could have used the Ark as a sort of receptacle, a magnetic concentrator for the production of electric phenomena of a lethal nature. He isolated himself, his priests and his trusted friends by clothing of linen and by aromatics, which protected them from the discharges of etheric fire. But these phenomena could only be rare and limited. Priestly tradition tends to exaggerate them. Doubtless for Moses' purposes it was necessary to destroy only a few rebel leaders or a few disobedient Levites by means of the projection of fluid, in order to terrorize and subdue all the people. Notes for this chapter:

43In antiquity, words inscribed on stone were considered the most sacred of all. The hierophant of
Eleusis read to the initiates from tablets of stone, things which they swore not to repeat to anyone, and which were written nowhere else.

44Twice an attack on the temple of Delphi was repelled in the same circumstances. In 480 B.C. the
troops of Xerxes attacked it and withdrew, frightened by a storm accompanied by flames coming from the sun and the fall of great blocks of rock. -- Herodotus. In 279 B.C. the temple was again attacked by an invasion of Gauls and Cymri. Delphi was defended by only a small group of Phoceans. The barbarians attacked, but at the moment they were about to enter the temple, a storm broke out and the Phoceans routed the Gauls. (See the excellent account in The History of the Gauls by Amedee Thierry, Book II.)

24The Death of Moses
When Moses had led his people to the borders of Canaan, he felt that his task was fulfilled. What was Jeve-Elohim for the seer of Sinai? It was divine order, coming from above, passing downward through all the spheres of the universe, and realized on the visible earth in the image of the celestial Hierarchies and eternal truth. No, it was not in vain that he had viewed the face of the Lord, reflected in all worlds. The Book was in the Ark and the Ark, kept by a strong people, was a living temple of the Lord. The worship of the One God was established upon earth; the name of Jeve shone in flaming letters in the consciousness of Israel; centuries would pass over the changing soul of humanity, but no longer could they erase the name of the Eternal. Realizing these things, Moses called upon the Angel of Death. He placed his hands upon Joshua as his successor before the Tabernacle of the assembly, so that the spirit of God might pass upon him. Then he blessed all mankind through the twelve tribes of Israel, and ascended Mount Nebo, followed only by Joshua and two Levites. Already Aaron had been "welcomed to his fathers," and the prophetess Miriam had taken the same road. Moses' turn had come. What were the thoughts of the centenarian prophet when he saw the camp of Israel disappear, and climbed into the great solitude of Elohim? What did he feel upon letting his eyes pass over the Promised Land, from Gilead to Jericho, city of palms? A true poet, Alfred de Vigny, describing Moses' state of soul at this moment, makes him utter the cry: O Lord, I have lived, strong and solitary, Let me fall asleep with the sleep of earth! These beautiful lines say more about the soul of Moses than the commentaries of a hundred theologians. This soul resembles the great pyramid of Gizeh, -- massive, bare on the outside, but enclosing great mysteries, bearing in its very center a sarcophagus called by the initiates the Sarcophagus of Resurrection. From that point, through an ascending corridor one perceived the North Star. In similar manner, from its center the impenetrable spirit of Moses looked at the final end of all things. Indeed, all mighty men have known the solitude that creates greatness; but Moses was more alone than others because his principle was more absolute, more transcendent. His God was the male principle par excellence. It was pure Spirit. In order to inculcate it into men, he had to declare war on the feminine principle, on the Goddess Natura, on Heve, the Eternal Feminine, who lives in the heart of the earth and in the heart of Man. Unceasingly and mercilessly he had to fight it, not in order to destroy it, but to subdue, to master it. Is it then surprising if nature and Woman, between whom reigns a mysterious pact, trembled before him? Is it then so astonishing if they rejoiced at Moses' departure and waited in order to lift their heads until his shadow had ceased to cast on them the feeling of death? Such things doubtless were present in the thoughts of the seer as he climbed the arid slopes of Mount Nebo. Men could not love him, for he had loved only God. Would his work continue to live? Would his people remain faithful to their mission? Alas! The fatal spiritual insight of the dying, the tragic gift of the prophets, lifts all veils in the final hour! As the spirit of Moses became detached from the earth, he saw the terrible reality of the future; he saw the betrayals of Israel, anarchy rearing its head, royalty following the Judges, the crimes of kings staining the temple of the Lord; his book mutilated, not understood; his thought misinterpreted and disparaged by unenlightened or hypocritical priests; the apostasies of kings; the adultery between Judah and idolatrous nations; the pure tradition, the sacred doctrine, stifled, and the prophets, possessors of the Living Word, persecuted to the farthest reaches of the desert. Sitting in a cave on Mount Nebo, Moses saw all this within himself. But already Death had spread its wings over his forehead and had placed its cold hand upon his heart. Then this lion heart tried to roar once more. Angered by his people, Moses called down the wrath of Elohim upon the race of Judah. He lifted his heavy arm. Joshua and the Levites helped him and heard with horror these words from the mouth of the dying prophet: "Israel has betrayed its God; let it be scattered to the four winds of the heaven!" With terror the Levites and Joshua looked at their master, who no longer gave any sign of life. His last word had been a curse. Had he breathed his last breath with it? But Moses opened his eyes just once more, and said, "Return to Israel. When the time is come, the Lord will raise up a prophet like myself from among your brothers, and He will place His Word in his mouth. And this prophet will tell you all that the Lord commands. And it shall come to pass that whoever will not harken to the words which he shall speak to you, the Lord will require it of him!" (Deuteronomy 18: 18, 19) After these prophetic words Moses surrendered his spirit. The solar angel with the sword of fire who first appeared to him on Sinai, was waiting for him. He led him into the deep heart of the celestial Isis, upon the waves of that Light which is the Wife of God. Far from the earthly regions they crossed circles of souls of ever-increasing splendor. Finally the angel of the Lord showed him a Spirit of wondrous beauty and celestial sweetness, but of such radiance and of a brightness so overpowering that his own was but a shadow in comparison. The Spirit did not carry the sword of punishment, but the palm of sacrifice and victory. Then Moses understood that this Spirit would accomplish his work, and would lead men back to the Father through the power of the Eternal Feminine, through Divine Grace and Perfect Love. Then the Law-giver knelt before the Redeemer; Moses worshipped Jesus Christ.

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