Recall that Hercules went out and captured the sacred deer, held it to his heart and then went to sacrifice it to God. Time and time again he repeats this same activity. Part of this is learning to take the instinctual nature and raise it up to the intuitional nature. This is not a one-time occurrence but rather a gradual, continual process.

In the next adventure Hercules goes in search of the lion. He searches for quite some time. It is illusive to him. At times he finds it and at times he looses it. He tracks the lion into the cave where he discovers that the cave has two openings. In order to slay the lion he must seal one of the openings and with his hands he chokes the lion to death. The lion signifies our own individual personalities. The hands represent the way we achieve our purpose in life. Here we are controlling and subduing the personality to where we can begin to get higher insights. The cave in this lesson is the cave of Brahman, located in the brain. There are two ways to precede the right and left hemispheres. One is the concrete, reasoning mind or brain function that helps us to analyze things. The other is that imaginative, creative part that links to our emotions. The key in this particular lesson is to close off that part that goes to the emotional reaction and to take control of the personality vehicle in order that higher insights come in. What we are doing is a two-fold function.

First we calm the emotions so that they are still and quite. Second, we take the mind and put it into a subdued state so that it is receptive to what comes in through the higher (mind). This comes in through the pituitary that is related to the third eye that brings in higher insight. As all of this occurs and we move into Leo, this stage of the return cycle is when we come into individuality in a different way than we have before. As we came into creation as animal man and became individualized human souls we took on individuality in-group context and moved along according to what the group said. This is mass reaction as we see it today when there is a high degree of emotion. It pulls in large numbers of humans who follow that emotive action. The same is true of thought but to a lesser degree presently because most of humanity still deals from its emotional rather than mental body. The individuality spoken of in Leo at this time is individuality that can stand forth with Spirit and move against the tide with that which is of the higher rather than a group nature. Part of that we are learning to close out yet be a part of is the emotional, mental thought forms and astral projections that exist all around learning to stand tall and move forward in that fashion. Leo, the individual that feels it can do anything, must learn to identify with the real spiritual entity that lies behind all forms.

This is what we are striving to do and why we learn to meditate. In meditation we are learning to focus on whatever it is that we are working with and to see how it expresses physically, emotionally and mentally. Then we begin to take it to the higher realms and look for the "spirit" that is behind it by looking for the purpose of the soul essence that is expressing through whatever it is that we are dealing with. Then we ask that soul essence to come through and we begin to experience that (essence). This is where we are moving to and its beginning is in Leo. As we begin to stand and think and emote for ourselves and ultimately subdue both the higher insights come, if only in small flashes, but they do come. Self-protecting instincts give way to unselfishness, subordinating the self to the whole. This is part of what our journey is all about, learning not to look at what the personality wants but to the larger group whole. This is different than the tribal group that is done instinctively. The group whole we move toward now is on a higher plane. It is the Oneness of which all are a part of and that gradually unfolds in us as we move forward to the next stage. As we move forward one of the Divine Teachers, the Buddha comes forth.

When the Buddha walked upon this plane he brought with him the teachings that take us to this stage of Leo and to the next stage. They are the Four Noble Truths which are: That suffering abounds, that it is occasioned by a drive for separate existence and fulfillment, that it can be cured and that means to cure is the Eightfold Path. As we move to the Eightfold Path it gives us the keys to prepare for what happens next to us. The first path is right knowledge and in Buddha’s mind that was the understanding that the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path were the keys to freedom. In a more contemporary way it is the idea and the understanding that we must become a part of the material world, believe that it is real, become totally separate and selfish and enjoy all that is here, experience all that is here, and then the return calls.

When we have had all that we need on the material realm, we begin to seek the interior realm that actually created this outer realm. Right aspiration, determination to transcend our separateness and identify ourselves with the welfare of all. We do this in small increments, first in the family unit we learn how to give and take, support and build. In this experience we learn to work with the whole and we expand out. Buddha said that right speech and right action are both critical. Right speech becomes more important as we expand because it offers us the opportunity to learn. We see this in the dream state, in the astral. Luckily there are safeguards that keep it from manifesting into the physical until we are prepared to deal with it. Right livelihood simply means that whatever we do in life is harmless to humanity and hopefully benefits humanity. Right effort, the continuous constant effort that takes us where we want to go. Right thought, where all begins as the words and actions will follow. As Christ and Buddha agreed what one thinks in ones mind is as critical as what one manifests in ones life. Right absorption is the right way to meditate and go with in to experience the Creator.

The Buddha came to take intelligence and move it into wisdom. The second part of his mission was to make way for the Christ because the two work on the higher planes to help all of us evolve. They are like older brothers who show us the way and hold the way open so that we can expand and grow. Buddha brought us three things, detachment, dispassion and discrimination. Detachment is the withdrawal of interest and consciousness from the senses and the call of the lower nature, to begin to learn how to reach Divinity. Dispassion is removing attention from secondary things and the non-essentials and centering it upon the higher reality. Discrimination is when the mind learns to select the good, the beautiful and the true. As we begin to train the mind so that it focuses as a clear and even channel, it not only manifests quicker, but it will manifest what we desire and ultimately what we aspire to be, and finally what we are and always have been.

The next transition comes with the next lesson of Hercules in Virgo where he goes to retrieve the sacred girdle. He confronts the warrior queen and kills her. He experiences a sorrow over his action. Another failure was met because the warrior queen symbolized virgin matter, material life, and the girdle stands for unity, love, sacrifice and faith. Because he took a life that should not have been taken, he was given another opportunity to save a damsel in distress. Remember that this vehicle of matter that we have been given is necessary for the soul to express just as the soul is a vehicle for spirit to express. We need it. Here we have the Trinity - Spirit expressing through the soul expressing through the personality or matter. As we move through this sign we move to the Christ and the first initiation. The savior story and all of the patterns given in the Christ story were told many times before and the story is always the same. First there is the journey, then the birth, experiencing life, service to life, death, resurrection and then expanded service.

All of life has the same pattern as it moves through cycles. We have the period where we start anew and we are excited, where we go through adolescence and we do not know quite what to do, where we are adults and we take responsible parts, where we reach old age and we begin to teach and take responsibility for what we have learned, then death and it starts all over again. The Christ came to transmute the emotional body to love and the Christ overshadowed and indwelled Jesus. It came forth to teach us what we are here to do just as the savior gods before had done. He came teaching that the individual is of value and that what affects one affects all in the scheme of things. He came for initiation and offered the first initiation that all move through on the return trek to becoming totally aware of who and what we are.

As we move into the first initiation the sacral and throat chakra are critical. The Christ is born into the heart chakra of each individual. It has been lying dormant throughout eons of time, waiting to be awakened. The throat chakra is activated to work with and counter balance the sacral chakra. The higher center begins to rule and overcompensate the lower nature so we no longer work through the lower nature. Sex and physical creativity move up to artistic creativity. That is where we move as we move through the first initiation. The soul has control of the physical vehicle at this point in time and it is consecrated up to serving the higher nature of the soul. It will at times go back to the primitive instincts that we held, but this will wane over time. The truths revealed are worked out in our daily lives. We go into that quiet cave within our hearts and the initiation is given to us the personality by the first initiator that we work with, our own soul. As we have that experience everything changes.

Many times this first initiation is taken at birth of a new incarnation, but it can happen during a lifetime itself. Generally those who have taken the first initiation have no idea that it has been taken and have no idea what it is about. The signs of the first initiation are goodwill and loving understanding. After the first initiation here is a part within the heart that wants to do for others instead of the self. There is still selfishness, still lack of emotional and mental control, but goodwill is the key. Initiation is an expansion of consciousness and the tests and trials that follow to see if we can express what has been given to us. The next test is to see how this personality vehicle will unfold this new consciousness in its everyday life.

The physical, emotional and mental permanent atoms are critical in having a life that moves from one cycle to another, from one incarnation to another. Everything is recorded in those permanent atoms. One of the things we have is something called "the past understood experience", which means that we have earned the right to do what it is that we do naturally. If that experience was a complete understanding it was stored to the soul itself. Within the Lotus created by the last group of angels who worked with man as we descended from the etheric during the Lemurian times are twelve petals.

The first set of petals that are on the outside of this Lotus are called knowledge petals, the second level are love petals and the third are called sacrifice petals. The inner set of petals protects the soul itself. Within each series of petals are one knowledge petal, one love petal and one sacrifice petal. Within the next level, the love petal, again are one knowledge petal, one love petal and one sacrifice petal. Within the sacrificial petals are one knowledge petal, one love petal and one sacrifice petal. As we experience and learn and gain knowledge the knowledge petals open, as we gain love and wisdom the love petals open and as we learn to sacrifice the sacrificial petals open. We think of sacrifice as something to be avoided. Sacrifice is a joy; it is what we are here for. True sacrifice simply means giving up the lower nature to the higher.

This was begun in the first initiation. The first set of love petals have to do with the physical as does the first initiation. As the first part of that love petal begins to open up and have experiences and begin to learn about love in the physical. The second part has to do with emotional love, passion, commitment, caring, joy, sharing etc. Whenever we have an emotional experience that love petal expands. The third love petal is about love of a higher ideal, the Buddha, Christ. As we work with these energies the third petal begins to expand. The knowledge petals are called wisdom petals because they hold the key understandings that we have. As we gain knowledge about the physical plane the first petal opens, as we learn about the astral the second petal opens and as we gain knowledge about sacrifice the third petal opens.

Remember these understandings that are stored in the soul are complete understandings such as the knowledge of learning how to die and be reborn, the Eight Noble Truths, the Hermetic Principles. Moving now to the sacrifice petals, let us reiterate what sacrifice means. Sacrifice means the outer manifestation of inner divinity that exists within a person and the whole of nature. The manifestation of divinity is always accomplished by sacrificial action, sacrificial emotion and sacrificial thought. All who help the human family, all who lead humanity into better relations with all the kingdoms of nature have beautifully unfolded petals of sacrifice. We look at it on all levels, physical, emotional and mental. On the physical level when you give something to someone else it involves a sacrifice. On an emotional level as we expand and give ourselves to anything that helps humanity or helps the other kingdoms, we are beginning to learn what sacrifice is. The key is being able to give without thought of reward or notice by others for what has been given.

In the next lesson Hercules captures the boar and brings it down the hill holding it by both hind legs and tames it so that it will do what he asks. What we are looking at here is beginning to gain balance and the first parts of controlling the emotional body. It cannot be done by good thoughts or physical strength. The Buddha talked about a balanced life as the key. That is what Libra has to teach us to balance in the world of duality. Then we are working with the higher duality, personality and soul and we are looking for a balance for the soul to express through the physical world as spirit expresses through the soul. Spiritual change happens within and manifests in the outer. In this scheme there is a spirit essence that comes down and expresses through a soul essence, and that soul essence comes down and creates everything that exists in this realm through the levels. It begins in the mental, moves to the emotional then etheric and finally into the physical.

We live in all of these levels and are learning to balance in each that takes place in the sign of Libra. Part of what we are learning is emotional control as one of the steps in moving towards the second initiation. As we move towards the second initiation is preparing us for a new expansion of consciousness. The first initiation is the beginning of awakening of the divine consciousness that we are spirit and control of the physical body desires under the command of the soul essence itself. The second initiation moves toward gaining control of our desire body, our emotional body. It may be complete or partial control depending on the individual. The second initiation works with the heart center itself.

The love petals relate directly to the heart chakra. We are learning to let the heart center take control over where the desire body had control. We are giving up personal desires for group consciousness. We are beginning to think about what is highest and best for the whole group. What will let us all feel more love, gain more knowledge, sacrifice freely for that which is unfolding. Every time we do an act of love those petals begin to vibrate and the aroma from them increases and at times you may catch a whiff even though it is not a physical odor. It is magical and the more the petals expand the more it takes place. The initiate must demonstrate emotional control; the astral body no longer rules everything that happens in our life. We begin to look at what Spirit wants instead of what the little me wants.

The second initiation of Hercules is the Hydra with nine heads. The second initiation of the Christ was baptism. As the Christ moved through this experience he was tempted three times. Doubt precedes all initiations and we find many reasons not to continue forward. Christ was asked to turn stone into bread, a temptation to misuse emotional knowledge. The second temptation questions if we truly love God or our lower nature. The third temptation is use of power for good or evil. Both white and dark magicians can fully function through the second initiation. This temptation is very real, to use power for selfish purposes. Not all pass this initiation. The devil is the tempting part of the lower personality, the selfish little self. The great illusion is the utilization of the personality for selfish ends.

Once we perceive that the personality is a vehicle of the soul and let that higher essence of the Divine Lotus express, we no longer need to worry about the desire needs we have had up to that point. We will be tested, but once we are asked to give something up, it is because we no longer need it. Once we give it up it is either ours again, or we are given something greater. The world disciple in this test is sinking to his knees in humility and raising the monster, the Hydra of all his accumulated evil, mistakes failures of his long past into the air of Spirit where the Hydra cannot live.

Hercules had to see the Hydra as one monster for as long as he severed the heads one by one he failed. When he dealt with it as a unit he was successful. This was the formula for his success and it is the same formula that we use to do the same thing. As we move through the second initiation our challenge is to take that Hydra which is all those old parts of self that we have accumulated throughout our existence, our samskara incomplete lessons or partial truths recorded in the permanent atom, not in the petals that surround the soul essence and where divine truth is stored and that which we keep growing and adding to. The keys needed are to recognize the Hydra through discrimination. The monster wreaks havoc in our daily lives by causing us to act in ways not aligned with our higher self. Then we have to patiently discover its lair and through humility go to our knees and bring the monster to the surface and expose it to the light of wisdom.

The Hydra has nine heads and each of those heads represents a temptation, a desire, a part of ourselves with which we are being faced.

The first one has to do with sex. Two things that have been given to deal with sex were to completely suppress it. That is not healthy. The other is to go into an over-drive mode. It is a situation of balance, more importantly it is learning to take that creative energy and use it in other ways, to be able to create and manifest. Comfort-is this what drives our lives? Money-it is very valuable as an exchange of energy when used properly can manifest and be as divinely inspired as anything else. When our focus is on acquiring more and more as in the first two heads, we loose sight of who and what we are. There is never enough money, comfort, or sex.

Fear is the fourth head. Fear on the emotional or astral level can be used for power and control. One of the ways we deal with fear is to run away, but when we least expect it there it is for us to face. The second way to deal with fear is to find the courage in your heart to move through the fear. Hatred is the next head. When we focus on what we hate, the personality is in total control. The soul does not hate nor dislike anything. It is here to seek and gain experience that leads to knowledge, love and sacrifice. Power, is the next head. If used to move to the third initiation, it is given up to the soul. If used to go down the left hand path, it is devoted to darker means, evil. Evil is anything that is counter evolutionary. Pride and arrogance, when we think we know it all and are better than other people. Separativeness and cruelty are the last two heads. Our challenge is to move in a way that we pass them by using the daily review. Every initiate uses some form of a daily review to bring these heads into the light and transform them. Then there is only one head, the immortal head used to maintain the life of the Hydra. That head will be used for Divine purposes, but first it must be brought to the light.

Aeptha: "In response, what I am sensing with the class. There will come a time, it may not be in this lifetime, it may not be in 200 hundred lifetimes, when your personality is destined to become the body of light, the seamless garment. Everything that has lead you to that moment will be in that moment, including this moment right now. There will not be a sense that you will have to harness this ego, but rather that you will know and see and be all. What you call your ego is a sense of separation, a veil that tells you that your body consciousness, your emotional consciousness is something other than Spirit. Because you believe that, it manifests as so. What you call your ego will be in its true reflection, Kether and Malkuth. Your consciousness has created such a sense of duality and conflict. I introduce this concept to you so that you will see a sense of the flow instead of the sense of separation. These are potent lessons in the understanding of the initiatory path. It is neither unattainable nor outside yourself".

The Bhagavad-Gita:

There are two paths in relationship with the Tree of Life. One is the path of the Mystic, associated with the devotional energy. The other is the Path of the Knower, associated with the path of the Magician. Many are now being called to unite both of these paths bringing both their mystical as well as their knowing together on the path of Higher Enlightenment. This is what Krishna is addressing in the The Bhagavad-Gita. So much of what we experience as love, as knowledge, as service is still tied into our identification with here (self). This is a very valid place in moving up the Tree. Our challenge is to recognize it as a sense of self and not get caught in the illusion that we have arrived (at Enlightenment). Arjuna is a high level initiate, someone who has completed their second initiation and has the soul-infused personality.

At this level one is no longer identifying with the self and the outer world, rather creating a relationship with the hierarchy, the masters in Chesed on the Tree of Life. Duty is that of mission at this level and is very specific and directed by the hierarchy. The seduction can be pride that perhaps someone else’s mission is greater and the focus is turned from one’s own mission so as to become distorted. Krishna is telling us to fulfill our duty, our mission and not become concerned with that of another. One of the things that the Spiritualist movement brought in is the possibility to live our life in the outer world and simultaneously live our life as spirit. For most it is to be able to balance both, to perform the duties of the world and not become attached to the world. This has many implications.

"You have heard that there is all energy for all things. Your own senses tell you otherwise, that energy is a limited thing, accessible to a point. You find yourself trying to bring in that extra thing, that extra push to bring in expansion, and the energy doesn’t seem to be there. While we have spent many lifetimes having limited access to energy for your own protection, as time went on you have gained more and more access. Your response, however, is habitual, a patterning carried in your nervous system, in your blood to a degree. As you step into the Christ Consciousness there is actually an etherization that occurs in the blood and becomes a different element. You no longer need the veils of sleep to renew and rejuvenate yourself. You no longer need the balance and input of the moon energies. Because you have habitual paradigm, you experience this fatigue, lack of energy.

The movement of your consciousness (to think) otherwise will open that door for you. This will be reinforced through ritual. It is a relationship with "prana" and an ability to carry prana in a different way. The etherizing of the blood is part of that and every one of you has access to the energies of the sun. There is a down pouring that is creating a level of etherizing in the blood. This must be done consciously through medication and ritual. This is where the vehicles are touched and infused with the light of the soul and the flow of energy from the highest source is able to flow through the vehicles of consciousness and there is a level of accessibility to resources. This includes access to physical resources because there is a command over the elemental nature, aspiration the higher level of desire, and higher mental abstract mind. Someone can have great physical stamina as a result of his or her ray make-up, but this has nothing to do with the influx of the Christ. Ritual and meditation takes us beyond the habitual patterning to a possibility of a reality which is available to us."

Tree of Life and the Arthurian Legends:

Different systems will place these (characters) in different ways. In this system Camelot is associated with Malkuth, embodying the potency of all that is to come, the ground. Yesod holds the energies from desire to aspiration. It is the place of the Grail, the Chalice, what inspired the energies of Camelot to go out and quest. The Master Magician, Merlin in Hod uses knowledge to bring forth matter. Ninimue, the Lady of the Lake brings forth the path of love and beauty in Netzach. Lancelot sits in Geburah, to bring about the destruction of Camelot. Some systems place Mordred here with Lancelot. Others see him as much darker and place him at the Qliphoth of Malkuth as a base evil on earth. Guinevere sits in Chesed as the energy of the Empress, the Initiator. She holds the principle of sovereignty, of all potential. Morgan la Fay sits in Binah as the Dark and Bright Mother. She with her three sisters hold the power and potency of the three faces of the Goddess. Chokmah is the symbol of the Round Table, the Zodiac and Avalon, the Magical Island is in Kether.