of dissolution and death being the result of the consuming force of the Fire, as in the case of the ordinary man-death resulting from too much life instead of a lack of it-a constant renewal of the body takes place as this corruption puts on incorruption. This is facing boldly the Angel with the Flaming Sword (the fiery lives) which guards the gates of Eden, Eden being the immortalized and perfected state in which only a spiritualized body can dwell.

The thing to bear in mind is that from the sixth seven-year period on to the tenth (from 42 to 70) the activity of the fiery lives ordinarily destroys the temple. But man must sometime attain to the knowledge expressed by Jesus when, referring to these fiery lives, He said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," 5 i.e., three divine periods (3) or nine. On the tenth or perfect day the Christ-man will have attained victory over the forces of the body, will in fact have built up a fire body (Nirmanakaya) or one in which the fiery lives, manifesting now only as "cold flame," dwell as creators because there is nothing more that requires destruction. Life is a manifestation of Fire which is "divine substance" and in its essence is always creative. It becomes destructive only when it meets with resistance or opposition to its manifestation.

Immortality in the flesh is therefore a physical as well as a metaphysical possibility, but its attainment does not mean that one who has attained it will have to live on earth forever. But it does mean that such an one can live on earth in such a body as long as his work requires a vehicle on the physical plane. When this is no longer necessary the vibratory keynote of such a body can be raised until it disappears from the physical and manifests on any higher plane desired. This is the "spiritual body" referred to by St. Paul and which, through lack of understanding, the Christian church teaches can be attained only in "heaven" after the death of the

physical body. But it cannot be attained merely by passing through the gates of physical death. Only when, like Jesus, we have become one with the Father (Higher Self) and can leave the personality to die upon the cross of matter and can say, "It is finished," can we attain this spiritual body.

As we said in number one this spiritual or Nirmanakaya body is not a ready-made body which we will inhabit after we leave our poor worn out and decayed physical body, but it is a fire-body that is builded slowly and gradually, cell by cell, within the physical throughout all our incarnations. It is like gold in a crucible, the fire separates the gold from the dross. If there be enough gold there need be no death, for the fire will find only a little dross to consume as it refines the gold.

This process of transmutation begins from within and works outward from the heart center of the inner man. From there it sends out radiations or lines of force which gradually set up new sub-centers of radiation in various parts, just as does a degenerate and destructive manifestation of life, as seen in the cancer, send out its filaments and cells to distant parts of the body to form new centers of cancerous growth or cell metastases. And just as the cancer sends out slender radiating tentacles which insinuate themselves into surrounding tissues and organs to destroy them, so the fiery lives of the Christforce, when directed by the consciousness of the enlightened number 11 man, manifest in an analogous way, but in a diametrically opposite and constructive manner; for cancer is but the force of evil (devil) incarnated in the flesh instead of the Christ. In fact while the fiery lives are the vehicles of the Christ-life, yet just as the Christ is a positive consuming fire, so does its opposite expression become the negative consuming fires of hell. When we see the devil working in the body as the destroyer we know it is but the negative pole or Deus inversus. Hence when we correlate with the positive pole

7 See The Key to the Universe, Curtiss, 61.

(life-construction-integration) we know that it is naturally stronger than the negative pole (death-destruction-disintegration). This is what is meant by the saying "Death is swallowed up in victory."

We must always remember, however-lest we condemn another, and thus work with the forces of death instead of lifethat the individual who is suffering from an organic disease, even a cancer, is possibly helping to bear a part of the mighty Karma of mankind rather than exclusively an individual Karma. Yet such a method of helping to bear the Race Karma is not a wise one to choose. We can help lift the awful pall of death and suffering from humanity far more surely and effectually by lifting up the Christ in our hearts and lives that all our cells and atoms may be drawn unto Him, than by being nailed to the cross of suffering and letting the Christ be crucified in our flesh.

The process of transmuting and purifying goes on throughout every incarnation. In each life some grains of pure gold are produced, and these are never lost but are added to life after life, i.e., every cell which the Christ-life has redeemed becomes immortal and at the next earth life is built into the new body around the sacred centers, so that little by little we inhabit a more and more perfect body, until in some life we find it possible to complete the purification and perfection of all our interblending bodies, mental, astral and physical. During our long pilgrimage not one grain of gold is lost, for like Jesus we must be able to say, "That of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." It is these atoms which at the death of the physical the Angels or the Shining Ones gather up and manipulate under the karmic law into the final glorified body in which there is no death, because each molecule and cell has been purified in the Fire of the Christ and redeemed forevermore. This is the "Nirmanakaya's humble robe." "Behold I show you a mystery."

8 St. John, VI, 39.

CHAPTER IV

The Number II. INTRODUCTION TO THE HEBREW LETTERS

"The twenty-two letters which are the foundation of all things, He arranged upon a sphere with 231 gates, and the sphere may be rotated forward or backward, whether for good or evil. From the good comes true pleasure, from the evil naught but torment."-Sepher Yetzirah, 18.

"It is generally conceded that the ten numbers and the twenty-two letters are the centers of reflection through which the emanations of Unity operate in the lower worlds, and that these ten numbers and twenty-two letters are the fundamental principles which make up or mark out the 32 Paths of Wisdom."-Numbers and Letters, PEEKE.

The Hebrew alphabet represents the foundation of all things, each letter being at the same time a number. By various means of constructing the letters, i.e., by differences in the shape and size of a letter, its position in a word and by the addition of dots or Massoretic points, both the meaning and the numerical value of the letter are modified. A full explanation of these modifications would require a large volume on the Kabala. But since this is not a book on the Hebrew alphabet but on numbers, the meaning of the letter and the Tarot card corresponding to each number is but briefly given for the sake of completeness.

Briefly then we may say that the twenty-two letters are all derived from the one letter Yod. This has the numerical value of both one and ten and is called the Divine Number. It is the equivalent of the English I. From this source spring three Mother Letters, Aleph, Mem and Shin, symbolizing air, water and fire or, considered as three aspects of the one, they stand for heat, which contains fire, electricity, which contains water and light which contains air. These Mother Letters, like the elements they symbolize, are the bringers forth of the manifested universe, yet each brings forth in its own peculiar way.

For instance, without the Sun-force nothing would grow; without moisture nothing would germinate, and without air neither fire nor water could bring forth.

Aleph (air) brings forth her children through the atmosphere which gives life to all nature through the breath which animates all forms of life, and preeminently through the Spirit which is the Breath of Life breathed into the nostrils of man when he became a living Soul and was given dominion over all the beasts of the field.

Mem (water) brings forth her children through moisture, dew, rain and tears, water being as essential as air to all forms of life.

Shin (fire) is an expression of that Spiritual Fire which is the basis of all life.

The trinity formed by these Three Mothers brings the One Life into manifestation on the physical plane (1+3=4) to form the foundation of all life, for without air, water and fire no life can manifest on earth. The Sepher Yetzirah1 says of them: "The heavens were produced from Fire; the earth from Water; and the Air from the Spirit is as a reconciler between the Fire and the Water . . . . from the fire was made heat, from the waters was made cold, and from the air was produced the temperate state, again a mediator between them."

From these three Mother Letters come forth the seven double letters,2 each embodying the characteristics of one of the seven sacred planets. And just as the planets each have a double aspect and influence, a beneficent and a malign, so these double letters have two aspects or their hard and soft sounds, which modify the meaning of the words in which they are used.

There are also twelve simple letters which are associated with the twelve signs of the zodiac. These letters give special force to the words in which they are used, modified by the

1 Page 19.

2 Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Kaph, Pé, Resh and Tau.

3 They are Héh, Vau, Zain Cheth, Teth, Yod, Lamed, Nun, Samech, Oin, Tzaddi, and Qoph.