The Esoteric Mysteries of the Christ

This month, as the year comes to an end and we celebrate the Solstices and the birth of the Master Yeheshua, it is important to reflect upon the meaning of these events as they have been understood by initiates throughout the centuries. In the northern hemisphere, where the Master was born, the sun is born again and begins its growth toward greater radiance. In the southern hemisphere, the sun reaches its greatest radiance, and begins its decline again. Both of these transitions are relevant to the mysteries as they are symbolically portrayed by the birth and death of Yeheshua.

In esoteric tradition, the force known as Christ is a potential that lives within each created human. It is the divine son of the Supernal parents, the perfected reflection of the Limitless One, and the higher self who seeks to guide and direct its vehicle, the personality.  Through the life story of the great Master, we have an opportunity to understand the processes involved in the evolution from natural to spiritual human.

The Master Yeheshua was born to a very special human women following a powerful and miraculous conception. This conception is itself a veiled teaching of a great mystery. The esoteric tradition of the west states that Mother Mary was a great priestess who was raised within an Essene community. As such she studied the mysteries, and lived a pure and natural life. Her devotion to absolute union with God culminates in an ecstatic revelation from the Archangel Gabriel that she carries within her body the seed of a Divine being, the Son of God. Gabriel advises her that her cousin Elizabeth, an older Essene priestess, also carries a Divine being within her womb, even though she is beyond child-bearing age. Mary is led to visit Elizabeth, who confirms all that Mary has been told by the divine messenger. The archangel Gabriel advises Mary to name the child Yeheshua, a Hebrew name of great importance to initiates of the mysteries.

This portion of the story reveals that through devotion and a life committed to natural living, we may fertilize the latent seed of divine being that resides within us, and receive the Word of God through visitations and revelations from angelic beings. Elizabeth's role, very important in other ways as well, here highlights that age is no barrier to this spiritual attainment. The name given to the divine child is formed by the Hebrew letters of the Tetragrammaton, the four-letters signifying material creation, interjected by the holy letter, Shin. This name - Yod-Heh-Shin-Vav-Heh - gives the formula by which the initiates perform the great work of spiritual fusion.

All of humanity operates upon the basic formula of creation, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, meaning, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. This is the pathway or method of evolution, by which the masses slowly progress from human to divine. The initiates, however, take another path, which is represented by the formula, Yod-Heh-Shin-Vav-Heh. This name signifies the four elements of creation moderated and infused by Spirit. The letter, Shin, is also called the triple flame, and is the sign of the Holy Spirit.  By choosing this name, Gabriel shows the way to attainment of divine life. This is also the reason Gabriel states to Mary, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you.

Elizabeth's child, John, was born first. His name means prophet, and he who prepares the way. This is the precursor to divine life, the aspect of ourselves that is frustrated by the erroneous and limited ways of the personality, foresees that greater expansion of consciousness is possible, and renounces material life in order to seek the ways of the divine. John's life also symbolizes the time of disciplined practices, solitude, and dietary changes that all who seek the higher life must go through. He proclaimed the coming forth of a truly powerful divine state for all who would undergo baptism by water, referring to the purification of the body, mind, and emotions in preparation for greater initiations. Thus John is called the Voice of one crying in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. The next divine being to be born in this ancient story is the Christ, and as His story begins, so the story of John declines. This affirms the teachings of the initiatory tradition that state that as we give up identification with the personality, the seeker, our true self is born and begins its reign.

Mary's child was born in a manger, surrounded by animals and the natural world. This foreshadows his teachings as an adult, which point to simplicity and natural life as the ways to divine attainment. An unusual star was seen in the heavens at the time of his birth, showing again the perfect alignment of spirit and body, heaven and earth that he had come to teach. From this time forward, his followers were ordinary people, shepherds and fishermen. This is another aspect of his important message and revelation - that the Kingdom of God is not found in books, among scholars and priests, or in temples made of stone, but in the sincere heart of all who are willing to leave the outer world and begin the journey toward the Christ within.

The simultaneous birth and death of the sun at the winter and summer solstices provide the same symbolic message as does the birth, life, and death of the great Master. As we are born to the true self that is the spirit, we must die to the old identification with the personality. The Master's teachings are filled with stories and admonishments encouraging us to leave all attachments of the personal level of being, and join with him in absolute surrender to the Will of the One. He demonstrated this truth himself many times during his life and service, and especially through his willingness to sacrifice even his physical body in order to attain the ascended body of light.

This time of year reminds the initiate that all of life is based upon change after endless change. Transitions and transformations symbolically represented by birth, growth, decline, and death in the natural world are the key to attainment of divine eternal life. It is through such transitions that our ever-expanding consciousness breaks free of all barriers and limitations, and ultimately achieves union with God. By the strength of this union, we become initiates. We are no longer content with the passing illusions of the material world or the ways of the personality. We cry out in the wilderness for the coming of the true self, the Christ, who will take us beyond this cycle of life and death into eternal peace and immortality.

This Christ is the force that waits silently within, that never leaves or forsakes us, and that sustains us through all of the circumstances of life. Residing within the bodies of the beloved Masters Mother Mary and Yeheshua, and within each of us, this Christ is the perfected, concentrated force of the One God. Their stories symbolically show us the way to absolute union with this force, with God. Their lives serve as models for our lives, and never has the world so needed these examples of divine life as it does today.

During this holy season in which we witness the increasing and decreasing radiance of the sun, and remember the birth of the Christ into the bodies and lives of all devoted initiates, take time to reflect upon the true esoteric meaning of this season, and renew your commitment to the goal of divine union.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.