What is the significance of a baptism being performed on an individual? At one level, it signifies membership to an exclusive club. At another level, it apparently saves a soul from utter damnation should they die in the next few hours, even if they are an infant. Original Sin seems to cast a long shadow.
Religious institutions use ceremonies similar to baptism to signify acceptance to an office. What do they signify? Arthur Powell laid out in detail how the Catholics went about anointing their clerics. The value of the person being anointed lies in the progressive expansion of communications between the triad centres on each plane of matter/consciousness. The ordination to the degree of Sub-Deacon does not confer powers but helps prepare for ordination to the degree of Deacon, the lowest of the three Major Orders in the Church. During the ordination of a deacon, the connection between the person’s soul and their vehicles is widened to become a channel, and the higher manas [M] is linked with the corresponding principle of Christ, as represented by the cross in the circle.
In some cases, Buddhi [B1] may also be awakened and connected with the higher manas. These effects are indicated in the Diagram. These are similar to the pilgrim’s initial steps on their path to enlightenment. It is easy to fixate on the Antahkarana’s central role in the initiation process. Still, these diagrams indicate that it is not just the connection between the lower and higher manas that the disciple is building. Connections and channels further along the path begin to activate as well.
Nevertheless, the widening of the Antahkarana is a significant departure from ordinary life and can only be done in stages. The first step towards it, in the ordination of a deacon, can be considered as a sort of psychic surgical operation. At least, it could be if this is what was actually occurring during such religious ceremonies rather than an elaborate pantomime.
The threefold influence, of which a bishop is especially the custodian (as we shall see presently), is strongly manifested and poured forth. What does the bishop represent in our context? The initiator. In esoteric tradition, this would be the master. We know today that the process is more group-focused. Each member of the group still needs to work on their own channels of communication. By resonating with the corresponding principles of the ordinand cleric, the bishop stirs the centres in the priest into sympathetic vibration. As a result, these centres have become much more active and receptive than before.
At the conclusion of the ordination ceremony, the bishop makes a final cross with the express purpose of strengthening the connection between the soul and the personality, hardening them and holding them more firmly in their new form. It’s as if a framework is erected within, creating a lining to prevent the widened channel from contracting. The disciple could think of a similar process occurring in the benedictions they receive from their masters. Indeed, such ceremonies were probably performed in Atlantian temples and did carry considerable psychic energy in their execution. The Church is a hierarchical structure, and to rise in the ranks, you need to be sponsored by senior clerics. Discipleship and the relationship between the guru and the chela is the template the Church copied. After the departure of the Hierarchy over 12 thousand years ago, the active powers of the ceremonies the priests of Atlantis carried out no longer wielded the power they once did. Still, the memories lingered, and humanity, in most religions, tried to mimic these ceremonies in some way.
Establishing the link between the deacon and the Christ enables the higher manas of the Christ to influence the deacon, stirring it into beneficent activity. However, it’s not guaranteed that it will have this effect; it depends on the deacon. Nonetheless, the communication is established, and it’s up to the deacon to make the most of it.
In the ordination of the priest, the connection is taken a stage further, and several important developments occur. During the first imposition of the hands, the priest’s Atma and Buddhi are made to glow intensely through sympathetic vibration, in harmony with the corresponding principles in the Christ. The glow is usually faint in Atma but more pronounced in Buddhi. The energy flows into the priest’s Atma, Buddhi, and Manas envelopes from the corresponding principles of the bishop. Additionally, a connection between Atma and Buddhi is established, while the existing link between Buddhi and higher manas is strengthened. The channel between higher manas and the lower vehicles is also widened.
During the second imposition of the hands, the previously dormant principle of Buddhi is activated and linked with that of the Christ. At the same time, the connection between it and higher manas is reinforced. The link between the priest’s Atma, Buddhi, and Manas is further opened to allow more energy flow. This process enables the priest to become, in a very real sense, an outpost of the consciousness of the Christ, making him “His man”—in essence, the representative of the Christ in a specific parish. That is the theory, anyway! These three stages occur in one ceremony for a priest. In reality, for the disciple, the process is gradual and over an extended period of time.
At the priest’s ordination, his soul is more definitively awakened, allowing him to directly influence other souls at the level of the causal envelope. It is this relationship that gives him the power to rectify the distortion caused by deviating from the right path, which, in ecclesiastical terms, is known as the power to “remit sin.” Many have argued that going to confession is a good form of therapy, and so it must be for many people. The main difference compared to normal therapy is that you are not expected to believe in Sigmund Freud as your saviour.
The priest’s hands are anointed with the oil of catechumens, a constructive act that sets them apart for their role and prepares them to transmit the power of Christ. The priest’s hands become specialised instruments capable of conveying blessings. The anointing activates the hands and imbues them with power, allowing the influence to flow out through them. The same ceremony is performed during the coronation of the British monarch. From this anointing, the myth of the King having healing hands derives.
This process is similar to magnetising steel: the anointing enables forces to pass through the hands while also strengthening them to bear and transmit the power safely. In a previous presentation, we mentioned how a disciple was able to bless others in the name of their master once they had achieved “Son-ship”. In other words, they had permanently entered the Atmic envelope of their master.
When the actual consecration words are spoken during a bishop’s consecration, a connection is established between Buddhi [2] and Atma [3], and the channels between Buddhi [2] and Manas are significantly widened, along with the corresponding principles of Christ.
Through Atma, Buddhi is directly connected with the Triple Spirit of the Christ, allowing blessings from that level to flow through him. The Three Aspects are truly one, which explains why the bishop signs the people with a triple cross instead of just one, as the priest does.
The priest receives his blessing through his own principles, Atma, Buddhi, and Manas, and emits it through his causal envelope. Being more spiritually developed, the bishop allows the power to shine through more immediately and strongly.
For the bishop himself, an entirely new connection is opened, linking the bishop’s Buddhi directly with that of Christ, giving him the potential for development far beyond imagination. This Christ force enables him to pass on his powers to others, paving the way for the influence of the amazing development of Buddhi to pour down into the mental and emotional vehicles.
The triple spirit’s reflection in the lower vehicles is intensified during the anointing of the bishop’s head with chrism. This causes the triple spirit Atma. [1], Atma. [2], and Atma. [3] to glow and clear the way for the flow of new forces into the physical brain. This is shown in G. Anointing the Head.
The three lines connecting Atma.[3], Buddhi [2] and Manas indicate that a bishop can draw into the causal envelope and thus emit a blessing, the threefold power of the Triple Spirit. The action of the chrism helps transform the force centre at the top of the head – the brahmarandra or crown chakra – into a rapidly rotating cone projecting upwards from the head. Notice clerks tend to wear pointy hats.
The bishop’s hands are anointed with chrism, which arranges the mechanism for the distribution of the three kinds of force from the Three Aspects of the Trinity. A direct line of communication between Buddhi and the emotional envelope is fully opened, allowing for the immediate flow of any developed Buddhi, or intuition, into its expression in physical life.
The ideal bishop’s development, shown in diagram H, is possible when one takes advantage of every opportunity afforded through the initiatory process and right action in life. All of his principles become responsive channels to the power of the Christ, and he becomes a veritable sun of spiritual energy and blessing.
Let us refer to what we have just discussed back to this earlier diagram of the relationship of the Monad to Atma-Buddhi-Manas. The monad has three primary attributes: Activity, Will and Wisdom. This is the Hylozoic Trinity of Matter, Motion and Consciousness. In the Bishop’s diagram, notice how, by the third panel (H), all the centres are active. The three aspects of the monad flow through Atma (45), but you only have two centres on plane 46. Why? Because there are two active principles on this plane: Love and Wisdom. Three principles cascade down to two and then finally into one in the envelope of Higher Manas. No matter how active your causal envelope is, there is no comparison of what lies above it. It tries to funnel these forces down into the first triad, and when all the channels are working perfectly, what do you end up with? Find out in the next presentation.