until a late date.) The great Christian type of the
Mystery School is that of the Christ with His
twelve Apostles. The Rosicrucian Order is also
composed of twelve Brothers and an esoteric thir-
teenth, the revered Founder, symbolically desig-
nated Christian Rose Cross, after the
work he came to do for the world.
The seven Schools of the Lesser
Mysteries and the five Schools of the
Greater Mysteries are grouped under
a central Intelligence, called (again in
the Greek fashion) the Liberator—
a title anciently conferred upon
Dionysus, but in Christian times
related to the Risen Christ (or to
the thirteenth Hierophant in a
Mystery School). The mystic thir-
teenth is always the head of an Order,
and the twelve heads are in turn
grouped about that thirteenth whom
Christians call the Christ, although
He is known by other names in other
lands and among other peoples.
In addition to the sacred numbers
twelve and thirteen, we observe the
recurrence of seven and five, corre-
sponding to the five planets, Sun, and
Moon of the Ptolemaic system. In
some Schools the Initiations are
arranged differently, so that the illu-
minative process is covered in seven
Degrees instead of nine ; but the work
done is the same in substance. The
generally accepted Temple aspirant is
a novice of one of the Lesser Mystery
Schools, and of very early Degrees of
that School. Few have advanced in
spiritual work beyond the first seven
of the Temple Rites. The remaining
two Degrees (in the ninefold sys-
tem) rise above the realms of this
mortal plane, giving companionship with celestial
hosts past discerning or describing by mere mor-
tality.
From all of which is readily understood why the
number seven is sacred to occultists. It has been
said that “whoever passes over these seven steps
and degrees comes to such a marvelous place
where he sees much mystery and attains the trans-
mutation of all natural things.” The seven Schools
of the Lesser Mysteries, also the seven Degrees of
the sevenfold system, relate biblically to the mys-
tic ladder which Jacob saw in his
vision. The whole of the initiatory
scheme is symbolized in the wind-
ing stairway of Solomon’s Temple
which led to the inner chamber
where a successful candidate was
given the “wages of a master.”
The five Schools which teach the
four Greater Mysteries are almost
wholly unknown, even to the eso-
teric world. Rarely does any soul
pass their sacred portals. The
Hierophants through whom this sub-
lime work is administered are the
fewest and highest of Earth’s Initiates,
and their pupils are also few.
As a human being possesses an
aura which surrounds and interpene-
trates his physical body, so also is
the Earth planet clothed about with
subtle matter. The physical sphere is
familiar ground to everyone, but not
so the spheres that lie above it.
These include the etheric, the astral,
the mental, the spiritual, and the
higher spiritual. In the nine Lesser
Mysteries of the Rose Cross (or
seven Mysteries of certain other
Schools), the candidate ascends
s u c c e s s f u l l y t h r o u g h t h e s e
envelopes of the Earth planet by
expansion of consciousness. He also
recapitulates, in full conscious-
ness, the entire evolution of the
Earth and its humanity, both spiri-
tually and physically. This recapit-
ulation has the effect of awakening in him all the
dormant faculties and powers which the race pos-
sessed in past Epochs, so making available to him
the sum total of the race experience. What this
means is seen in the marvelous instincts of animals
and plants, instincts which man has lost since he
