that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (John, VIII, 12.) "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light." (I John, I, 5.) "And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." (Matthew, XVII, 2.) "At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me." (Acts, XXVII, 13.) "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lord is the light thereof." (Rev., XXI, 23.) With such overwhelming evidence at hand no argument is

necessary.

Great prominence is also given to the zodiac and the principles deduced therefrom. For instance, at the time of Job's initiation he was asked by the Great Initiator: "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth the Mazzaroth (the 12 signs of the zodiac) in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?" (Job, XXXVIII 31-33.) The definite identification of the sons of Jacob, with the 12 signs of the zodiac by their father has already been mentioned.1

In the New Testament the triune manifestation of the Spiritual Sun in its zodiac is represented by the Father, Son and Holy Ghost focused in' the Sun of Righteousness in the midst of his 12 disciples.2 That these 12 were directly related to the 12 signs of the zodiac is sufficiently shown by their connection with the 12 tribes and the 12 thrones. "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me (i.e., the sun's representative) . . . shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel." (Matthew, XIX, 28.) "That we may eat and drink at my table (the of the zodiac) in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the

1 Page 46.

2 Peter; the twins James and John, sons of Zebedee; Phillip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew, also called Levi; James, son of Alpheus; Thaddeus; Simon the Cananite; Andrew, and Judas Iscariot.

12 tribes of Israel." (Luke, XXII, 30.) That the 12 disciples are to be regarded in the same light as the groups of 12 mentioned in the allegories of other religions and Sun myths, is now generally admitted by the foremost Biblical scholars. As expressed by one authority: "On the face of all the gospels alike, the choosing of the Twelve Apostles is an unhistorical narrative; and in the documents from which all scientific study of Christian origins must proceed-the Epistles of Paul-there is no evidence of the existence of such a body. In only one sentence is it mentioned, and that is demonstrably part of a late interpolation, whatever view we may take of the original authenticity of the Epistles. . . Paul then knew nothing of a 'twelve.' ” 3

"Reference may be made, however, to the twelve zodiacal signs as representatives of the Twelve Apostles of which King Arthur and the Round Table is but another version-as merely a figurative method of typifying the Twelve as a fundamental law of psychic geometry. Hereby is sought to establish the truth that every Circle of Being includes twelve particular points of spiritual radiation or magnetic departures, whereby a change in the involutionary outbreathing becomes a vibratory foil to its polar opposite or evolutionary inbreathing. As an illustration, observe the annual solar polarities: the Sun, though cognate in function with Universal Center, perforce contacts twelve distinct points of coalescence with the cosmic energies in order to complete and individualize the incidents essential to the successive chapters in its revolution. And as Hercules performed his Twelve Labors, so must the steps of initiation include the duodenary.” 4

Being the representative of the Spiritual Sun, the Light Bearer of every age naturally drew around himself 12 representatives through whom his Light could shine forth or be expressed in 12 phases to the peoples to whom He came, just as the Sun is reflected in its 12 disciples or signs of the zodiac.

3 Christianity and Mythology, Robertson, 341-2. 4 The Sun Book, Hazelrigg, 119.

Therefore, no matter what scholarship and scientific research may determine as to the historic actuality of the 12 disciples of Jesus, the symbol is forever true, both cosmicly and in the individual life of every Soul who is striving to manifest the universal Christ-light within the circle of his aura and environment.

In the Pistis Sophia we are told of a mystic transfiguration of Jesus: "It came to pass, therefore, in the 12th year, that the disciples were assembled with the Master on the Mount of Olives. . . when, at sunrise, they beheld a great lightstream pouring over Him . . . and in it the Master soared to heaven... On the 9th hour of the morrow they saw Jesus descending in infinite light. . . He may speak to human kind and reveal all mysteries, but first of all to the Twelve. the Twelve are His order, whom He hath chosen from the beginning... He chose 12 powers, receiving them from the hands of the 12 Saviors of the Light-treasure. . . that through them the whole world might be saved. . . For from the 12 'tribes' He chose 12 disciples, and through them He spoke to every 'tribe.'" 5

For

Even though the 12 Apostles of the Patriarch was a wellknown Jewish institution long before and long after the days of Jesus, we are not therefore to conclude that the 12 disciples are a mythical continuation of that ancient Jewish custom. For the fundamental symbology of number 12—as we have shown in the previous chapters-compels us to seek for a far deeper reason. And it is only by regarding Jesus as another manifestation or incarnation of the Spiritual Sun-the Dot within the circle of a new cycle-that the great discrepancies and contradictions in the gospel narratives can be reconciled and the problem solved.

The 12 was a symbol necessarily used by every Light Bearer, not to copy some older expression of cosmic truth but to illustrate the 12 aspects of the cycle through which both the

5 Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, Mead, 459-61, 202,

physical Sun manifests in nature and the Spiritual Sun manifests in humanity; also to indicate the 12 mighty zodiacal Hierarchies or Rays of Understanding, the 12 mighty expressions of cosmic Truth; 12 avenues through which the Sun of Righteousness-the incarnate Word-can shine forth to illuminate the hearts and minds of all classes and conditions of humanity. They also represent the 12 Gates to the New Jerusalem, that inner Temple of Truth in which each type of humanity (disciple) can receive the illumination of the inner mysteries face to face and heart to heart through his own special avenue of thought and teaching; that inner shrine where the one Light reveals those inner truths which cannot be given directly to the uncomprehending multitude, but which are the basis of the outer shining forth of every true disciple of the Christ.

The zodiac also represents the Last Supper or the round table on which the Bread of Life is placed, the food which sustains the universe; while the life-force (blood) of the Sun, which vitalizes all the signs, is the Wine of Life or the mystical blood of the Cosmic Christ of which all must partake. While all partake of this mystic bread and wine around the Sun's table, only those who are truly disciples and who recognize their Lord of Light, can consciously partake “in remembrance of Him" with a full understanding of what is taking place. These have no fear of the betrayer's kiss or of any so-called malign planetary influences.

Jesus fed the multitude with 5 loaves and 2 small fishes," and of the fragments remaining they gathered up 12 baskets full. In other words, the Light Bearer brings to mankind the forces of the 5 exoteric planets and the 2 esoteric planets hidden behind the Sun and Moon, and these must be recognized and assimilated ere he can fill his baskets with the forces of those planets expressed through the 12 signs. From an

6 St. John, VI, 53.

7 Tradition tells us that Jesus was one of a family of 5 boys and 2 girls. Sec St. Matthew, xiii, 55-6.

other standpoint man must be fed by all the forces cognized by his 5 senses on all planes, supplemented by the 2 smallbecause hidden and undeveloped-senses ere he can receive the return of a basket full from each of the 12 signs.

The age of the boy Jesus when found by his mother in the temple expounding the law to the elders also has reference to the relation of the evolution of the Soul to the forces of the zodiac. That this incident is but another step in the manifestation of the Spiritual Sun is evidenced by corresponding accounts found elsewhere. "Strauss points out the extraScriptural stories of Moses leaving his father's house at twelve to play the part of an inspired teacher, and of Samuel beginning to prophesy at that age. . . In Strabo's account of Judea, after the recital of the Greek version of the Moses myth... the parents went to Delphi, 'anxious to learn whether the child which had been exposed [as was the infant Moses] was still living,' while the child itself 'had gone to the temple of Apollo.' The detail of the Christ-child prophesying in the temple, however, compares further with . . . the fact that in one part of the Egyptian ritual Isis figured as wailing for the loss of her child, the boy Horus," who was afterward found in the Temple of the Sun teaching the priests.

...

For according to the Sun Myth at the age of 12 the incarnated Sun God or Savior has passed around and completed the circle of the zodiac and altho but a child has attained the Light of Wisdom which enables him to consort with the Masters in the temple, for he has demonstrated his ability to rule all 12 influences of the zodiac.

Another significance of the Light Bearer prophesying and teaching at the age of 12 is that when the Soul-the individualized Sun-god of its cycle-has really correlated with the influences exerted through the 12 signs, he is mystically 12 years old; that is, at the age of 12 the Soul has fully incarnated. In Oriental countries a boy has reached his majority at 12

8 Christianity and Mythology, Robertson, 310-11.