The ferryman says, “Who stands to the pole?” and the Risen One answers, “I will stand to the pole with my attendants, two on either side. You stand by to bear at the steering oar, so that our course remains straight”. The ferryman says, “It is well, for the current is sullen and changeful”.
The Newcomer says, “O ferryman of the boatless ones, I am truly a man justified before all on both sides of the horizon, before Heaven and Earth. I have passed the tests of the examiners and am free to proceed. I am one who can claim passage by virtue of my deeds. Have not men spoken well of me after I departed from their midst, is this not enough? It is the way with Earth, that if men speak of the goodness of an absent one, then he is good indeed. Truly I am a Bright One”.
The ferryman says, “Draw aside your mantle, that I may see your likeness, for this is a good boat which may not be polluted. The path henceforth is hard for those who cannot be faced without revulsion. O Great One, draw your mantle over again, for you are indeed among the brightest of those who pass this way, great will be the rejoicing when you appear among your own kind, the pure of heart”.
“Delay no longer, ferryman. Quickly over the waters to the other side. If you delay further I will name the names of gods to men, that their unreality be exposed. I am not one to be trifled with, I am one who can dispel the clouds of illusion. I am a man of no mean qualities, therefore tarry no more, let us depart”.
CHAPTER SIX
THE SACRED REGISTERS - PART 6
The man who was becomes the Pilgrim. He has crossed the waters, he has passed the Grim Guardian, he waits without the Place of Union and stands firmly. He is not afraid and stands resolute. The Cool Gracious One approaches with three jars of water and refreshes him.
The Pilgrim says, “Behold, O Watcher at the Gate, I have laid up treasure enough in the storehouse of love, therefore allow me to pass. The love of those who have gone before, see is it not a large quantity and sufficient to draw me upward? See the love of those who remain behind, is it not a large quantity and sufficient to draw me upward?” The Watcher hears his words.
The Grim Guardian counts and weighs and says, “Pass”. Then this man passes and goes beyond the Lake of Wisdom, past the Winding Channel of Experiences, over the flooded Field of Reeds, to the Eastern side of the Region of Light where he will be renewed in birth into the Higher Spheres.
The Pilgrim now stands before the Womb of Heaven where those who enter as pure seed are brought forth into union with God. This man passes by to where the attendants help him to assume the Robe of Glory. They welcome him.
“Behold”, they say, “His Kohar has brought this man powers to make him complete. The powers he gave into the keeping of his Kohar during the prayer times on Earth have returned greatly magnified. This man has joined the Joyful Company, he has left his old, discarded body in the Region of Heaviness, to assume another more glorified one in the Region of Light.
The Kohar greets the Pilgrim and says, “I welcome you, my own”. The Kohar says to those about, “This is my own, he has washed in the Lake of Wisdom and passed by the Caverns of Distrust and Doubt. Let us, therefore, enter in peace when the Great Door is opened for the United Being in the East, the door leading to the Place of The One True God above all gods, whose manifestations are secret mysteries”.
Before going further they pass by a side entrance to the Region of Darkness where vile and sorrowful things lurk, the Lost Ones, those who served in the ranks of evil on Earth. O Great Kohar, stop the ears of your own; that he may not hear the mournful waitings of the doomed ones left behind!
They who are the companions of the Pilgrim cry out, “O Kohar, guide your own right, guide him up the Ladder of Life which he must traverse again; strengthen its rungs, support him, so he bears lightly upon them, let not the rungs break beneath his weight. This is the test of deeds long since done, where evil bears down heavily”. “O Kohar, your ownis weak andfalters, yet your arms are strong, therefore lift them to support him, that he may surmount to the heights above. Do this, that he may sit with those who have understanding and perception, that his feet may be welcomed in the Fields of Peace and that he may take his place among the Glorious Ones”. Blessed is the Kohar who safeguards all memories, storing them as men store corn; who retains these for the use of the Reborn Ones; who can recall all that men forget and can draw forth a memory as men draw water from a well. The Kohar is the eternal recorder, Pilgrims become Risen Ones and enter their Kohars as a soul enters a body, and in unity they become Glorious Ones.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE SACRED REGISTERS - PART 7
This is the manner whereby the Aspiring Ones of Earth may cross the dread horizon through residence within the Cavern of Stone. It is thus that men come to know the Truth concerning the Realms of Glory beyond the Western Horizon, but it is a path beset by great dangers and manifold terrors, and many return witless. The Aspiring One is of Earth, he is earthbound. He sits within the cavern before the Cauldron of Rebirth and Regeneration, and inhales the smoke from the brew of release. He rises above himself, flying on wings of five feathers, the names of which are recorded in the Book of Secret Mysteries, wherein are the awful recipes. There it is written that he may ascend like a falcon and cannot go otherwise than as a falcon. He may not go in the manner of any other bird.
He escapes the call of Earth, its fetters fall from him. The Aspiring One leaves his attendants behind, he is not with them, he is not of Earth, neither is he of Heaven. He is at the place where the two meet and intermingle. His body moves without the spirit and partakes of the sour yellow bread of wide vision. The Aspiring One drinks the brew of grey barley and sips long at the wine of harish, eating the cakes of green brown horris. He eats the fruit of the releasing tree and drinks the brew of black fungus, which is in the smoke goblet. Thus, he sleeps and the attendants lay him down in the receptacle called the Womb of Rebirth. He is in the Place of Visions but remains like the masthead bird.
He shall be covered and made so that in his struggles he rise not. His voice is heard speaking in a strange tongue, as he calls on his fathers who have gone before and now preside over affairs beyond the Wide Lake. His body becomes still, as he enters the dazzling chamber which is the doorway to twin vision. Now he must penetrate the Walls of Dry Air which bar his passage, and rise into the rainbow-coloured Clouds of Radiance which are above. High up he looks below him and sees the waters of the Winding Canal of Experience and understands the meaning of all that had befallen him. Now he has four eyes, these being the inner and outer eyes, and rising higher he attains the heights of wide consciousness.