Passover signifies "passing over" from one place to another, from one state into another; a deliverance from bondage, irrespective as to whether this be of body or of spirit (Soul).

It denotes a change; a spiritual transition from a lower to higher estate. This may be a change of mind, or a transmutation of the material self. It begins with the mind and ends with the Soul.

The Passover, from a spiritual viewpoint, contemplates the purification and flight of the Soul from past errors and ends in identification with what we know as God, through the awakening and Individualization of the personal Soul.

This "work" or process, is symbolized in the August Fraternity of the Rosy Cross as the Winged Globe, the Soul free and in flight heavenward. The Globe, the Soul must be made strong by truth and through purification and exaltation that it may be able to support and poise its wings, free itself from past errors and begin its future enlightenment. This will be the Illumination - its flight in Light; this is the Passover from the crude and carnal to the refined and spiritual. Thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, your staff in your hands; and ye shall eat it in haste; it is the Lord's Passover.

"For I will pass through all the land of Egypt this night, and I will smite all the first born in the land of Egypt, I will execute judgment, I am the Lord."

"Your loins girded" and "your staff in your hands" is an Occult-Sex Arcanum and cannot be entered here except that it represents the process of Regeneration and has direct reference to Moses having lifted up his staff in the wilderness so that the children in the wilderness might be saved.

"For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night." This is the spirit or Light giving Light in dark places. The Lord is the spiritual or Soul Light; Egypt at that period was a land of darkness, symbolizing the body, wherein the Soul is hidden, shrouded in darkness. It is necessary to smite the firstborn; this firstborn being the thoughts and desires that hold the whole better self in bondage during the first or earlier years in life. There must be a change and when this change is made there will be "wailing and gnashing of teeth" by the strong physical desires and appetites.

Firstborn: The thoughts and desires native to the mortal man and both naturally and normally a part of the physical man during the first period of life - i.e., directly following adolescence and into second manhood. This is the period of life that is in almost total darkness because there is but one thought and all of life is governed by this one thought. The Lord must come - enlightenment and understanding, and this is followed by the "smiting of the first born," the changing of these earthly, "evil" thoughts and desires and their "slaying" by means of changing them, or the method of transmutation; the old self, the firstborn, is then as dead; after which "Egypt" as a land of darkness, is left behind, for the Soul has come into the Light; this is indeed the Passover.

All, without exception, of those striving to attain the At-one-ness or becoming Christos Conscious must eat (undergo) this Passover. There is not, cannot be, any other way to Conscious Individuality.

The first stage is that of preparation. The loins, symbolic of the lower, sex or carnal nature, must be girded with strength. Strength is necessary if unnatural or carnal use is not to be made of the Divine Creative nature.

The entire body, Egypt, the land (sphere) of those held in bondage (the Divine Spark within) must be illuminated by the Light which is from God, the Soul made Conscious.

"With shoes on your feet."

The Work or "journey" from the land of Egypt, bondage to self, must be undertaken with firmness and man must be well prepared for a long journey - a long period of effort - and to cope with the rock-strewn and mountainous roads to be traveled, "Thy sandals shall be of iron and of brass, not of velvet slippers."

"We must eat in haste."

There must be no thought of the morrow, and no allowance for the world to hinder us by its opinions and judgment. Delay means loss. Procrastination, in this as in all else, is the thief of time and only too frequently of opportunity. This is the Lord's Passover. It is the change from carnality and degradation to exaltation and of the regeneration of the entire being; the whole being must be made "holy."

The knowledge, the finding of "the way," often comes to us when the night is darkest, "when night is over Egypt." When the cares and sorrows of life most heavily beset us; when the Lord is passing through; when the Soul is beginning to awaken from the "tomb" or grave of ignorance, then all the firstborn (all that is carnal) in the land (within ourselves) will die (be changed, transmuted, "pass over") and the new life in a new land (regenerated body) begins.

The "firstborn" is likewise symbolic of the birth of the Soul in the house of clay. This material shell or vehicle, being of the earth, therefore earthly, is naturally governed by mundane and carnal desires that will for a time have the strength to drag the Soul through degradation - a period of darkness. The firstborn, the material entity, covering or prison of the Soul, must be transmuted; passed over; it must, in a sense, die. A conversion must take place. On the day this process is completed, will the Passover from the material to the spiritual or Soulful, from the mortal into the Immortal, have taken place.

The weaknesses, the desires and the thoughts that have enslaved us and turned us away from the truth and enlightenment, the evil or destructive things we have loved so long and clung to, these are the firstborn within us, in our Egypt.

"And against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment."

These are the material things of life and the senses of pleasure out of which we have made gods and idols. The glitter and glamour and illusions of the sense-being must be judged according to their real values, must be recognized for what they actually are and must either be transmuted or eliminated from the consciousness. It is not sufficient that they be given up; the desire itself must become a thing of the past.

The gods of desire are both the strongest and the most subtle. The sensual and material mind loves these more than any other gods. It glorifies in debaucheries; but in the evening, the night of realization, these must be slain (transmuted) so as to permit the Soul to "pass over" from the darkness of death to the Light which is life.

The Passover, instituted amongst the Jews by Moses, is a symbolization of this inner change that must take place in every human being if salvation of Soul, Soul Consciousness and Illumination are to be made possible.

The Jews of slavery times had little or no conception of the one true God, of the One Law and man's destiny, until Moses tried to teach and guide them. The Jews, due to centuries of slavery during which all enlightenment was denied them, were in most instances a stunted, material, sensual race who sought nothing more than freedom from material shackles.

Moses, born of an Egyptian mother and a Jewish father, was given all the advantages offered Egyptian sons of the highborn and trained in all that the schools of Egypt had to offer. His unconscious Soul was in sympathy with the Jews. As a result, restlessness which nothing could ease was always with him and continued throughout his entire training in Egypt.

It was only after he entered the Coptic Priesthood for further training that he became conscious of the cause for the restlessness and that he was destined not only to lead the Jews out of the bondage of slavery but likewise to show them how to overcome the bondages of the flesh and become the chosen people.

All of those who later became great philosophers and saviors of the world up to the time of the beginning of the so-called Christian age were taken into Egypt and received their instruction from the then reigning Priesthood. Joseph, Moses, Aaron and finally the Nazarene were commanded to go into Egypt for a sufficient number of years during which they might be taught the Law and become developed far beyond any of the others of their people.

Moses, with the help of Aaron, became the leader of the Jews and the greatest of all lawgivers of that or any other age. Christianity, with all its "heavenly selected" hosts, has been unable to formulate a single edict of greater importance or more vital to the benefits of the people than those annunciated by Moses.

The Nazarene, coming out of Egypt at the early age of twelve, astounded the doctors and lawyers in the synagogue by His advanced knowledge and understanding of subjects which they thought they alone had mastered. All this clearly and undeniably points to the fact that Egypt, though symbolizing darkness, nevertheless was the center of all culture, knowledge and enlightenment, just as the mortal body imprisons the Soul in which is contained and retained all the wisdom man has ever been able to gather into one fountain of knowledge.

Moses, due to the alertness and subterfuge of his Egyptian mother, was accepted by the Egyptians as an Egyptian and the doors of all learning and the temples of all Initiation, spiritual and Magian, of the Egyptian Initiates were open to him.

All this is written in the book of Exodus and was written before the Passover. All in this text is also symbolic of the esoteric knowledge necessary to each and every one who seeks to become Soul Conscious and attain Individualization, one thing essential to the Passover.

This Passover must be celebrated by the Soul as the "Sabbath of the Lord, in all your dwellings." "In all your dwellings" means that whatever we do must be done as though it were an act of worship. The poor laborer may only be digging a ditch to lay a sewer pipe, but if he does it cheerfully and with good will, he is not only doing a useful job, but he is more certainly worshipping in "all his dwellings" - in all he does - than is the rich man who attends church on Sunday because it is the respectable thing to do, keeps him in good standing with local society and is therefore good for his business. To worship "the Lord, in all our dwellings," is to love the thing we do or at least to perform it willingly. This also is "worshiping the Lord in all our days," that is, every day, and every day is a Sabbath day of the Lord. How many will remember this and act accordingly? Whether they will or not, it is the only right manner of worship.

The Passover must be attained by the individual. It is not possible for humanity to "en masse" Pass over. The "Red Sea" must be crossed by all men. This is merely to say that the "passions of the body" must be "dried up" or parted, transmuted from their carnal inclinations to exalting emotions, so that the Soul will be released from the bondage of the passions - the same passions that held the Jews of Egypt in bondage and for whom the first Passover was instituted.

When the Israelites again ate of "the old corn of the land," the day following the Passover, and in conjunction with the unleavened bread they were supposed to eat, the manna from heaven ceased. This is simply to say that when they indulged in their unholy and forbidden practices, the "old corn," and at the same time attempted to follow the spiritual behests or ate the "unleavened bread," they again were in darkness and were no longer able to receive enlightenment from heaven - from within the Soul.

Men of today continue to be guilty of this identical error. It is in this that the church has failed in its ministry. Most people attend church, not for the enlightenment they may receive and by practice become free from the evils that govern them, but with the idea of obtaining forgiveness for their sins without any thought of "paying to the last farthing" as all honest men should and truly honest men would.

Spiritual enlightenment will not permit the Soul to remain blind to the illusions and carnal demands of the flesh. Intemperance is not only of one thing. Overindulgence of desires by the material man, or indulgence without a constructive aim, in any form, is intemperance and intemperance is a sin because it is a waste of force, power and life itself.

Humanity in toto continues blindly striving after those things that satisfy the body for a moment but are no more than husks to the Soul. Humanity fails to offer to the Spiritual self the "waters of Life" so easily obtained if there is a willingness to obey the Law which is Life.

When we drink of the material waters, those that satisfy mind, body and its passions, we thirst again and again. Doing this there can be no lasting satisfaction, neither peace nor rest. It is like the drunkard who time and again returns to his wine, each time a little less a man. The seeker after pleasure is on a constant hunt for variety, gradually unable to find satisfaction in any but those forbidden by moral and spiritual Law. Like the butterfly, he flits from practice to practice, "drinking" here and "sipping" there, never at ease or at peace.

Finally, worn out and world weary the thought may come: "Where is peace and rest to be found?" At last he begins to realize that it is not found among those where he must laugh and be merry if he would be accepted, even though, like the Spartan boy, "the fire under his vest is eating out his heart."

The world demands all we possess and all we can give, but offers little of value in return. When we fall or fail, it bestows its favors elsewhere with never a regret, and leaves us to starve and thirst with nothing but the dregs remaining to us.

It does not pay any man to starve his Soul; "what profit it a man though he gained the whole world and lose his own Soul?"

The Soul is of infinitely greater importance than the body. This in no wise indicates that the actual requirements of the body are to be denied or that we should live ascetic lives; nor is the mental and physical being to be starved or abused.

Spirituality alone is life, but life even of the Conscious Soul requires a vehicle through which to function and manifest in order to perform its services. "Honor thy father and thy mother" is the Divine command; therefore render unto Caesar (the body) that which belongs to the body and unto the Lord (the Soul) that which belongs to the Soul, that which is necessary to the Soul in order that it may become as it should be.

You must carefully "mark" your dwelling place (the body) with the signs of enlightenment (right living) and understanding (health and strength as obedience to the Law), for the body reflects the truth (the Soul) within it.

Let the Holy Fire (Ghost) enter; let it find a fit resting place upon the throne of God which is within and where the Soul is; and all the gods of darkness will be destroyed, transmuted by the Fires of the holy spirit.

Thoughts and desires must and will become purified; evil vibrations will pass over, be changed into the fires of life and dwell within you: "Before the throne of God, and serve him [and you] day and night in his temple [your regenerated body], and you shall hunger no more and thirst no more for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne [the Soul] shall feed you [be as food - Spiritual - to you] and lead you unto the living fountain of water [Wisdom]."

It is written that at the well of Sychar, the Nazarene made the statement to those present: "he that drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst."

He who awakens to the desirability of attaining Individuality and Soul Consciousness, the fountain from which all wisdom flows, need to seek no further, for therein - in the Conscious Soul - is found all that has been, now is, or ever shall be. "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven - these things within - and all other things shall be added unto you," is paramount to commanding "Seek thy Soul, awaken it, build it into Consciousness, attain Individualization and all this shall be yours; you have indeed become as one of us - the gods."

The Nazarene was a strict observer of the Laws of man and God; He recognized as few do the Laws of Hermes, the Thrice Wise: "As in the inner, so in the outer," and for that reason not only kept the Passover as instituted by man (the outer) but also a perpetual (a spiritual) Passover; thus it is again written: "Two days before one of the feasts where all his disciples were to partake of food and wine in commemoration of his own inner awakening, he told them: After two days will be the feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified."

Why was the betrayal to take place at the time of the Passover; why was the crucifixion to follow the betrayal?

"He took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, saying: Take, eat, this is my body, and he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it."

This was in representation of the final Passover or change, the transmutation of all that was mortal; of the mental, physical and mortal into the spiritual, the Immortal.

The Nazarene made constant effort to instruct His personal followers in the mysteries of life; He constantly dealt with the methods for the transmutation of all that is carnal, gross and temporal into that which is refined, exalted and of continued existence. Jesus inculcated a life without death. The doctrine of the Passover is the tenet of continual change upward, everlasting action, action being life.

There were certain Greeks among those who came to worship at the feast and these requested to see the Nazarene. Apparently these had some proposition to offer, for it is written that He explained: "Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour [from those weaknesses and self-interests which would induce acceptance] but for this cause came I unto this hour." To be tested and not found wanting (to possess the strength to refuse a proposition offering great personal benefits, advantages or honor) requires the greatest spiritual insight and courage. The Nazarene had been well taught and the Light of His Soul was armor proof against all temptations.

The Law confronted the Nazarene just as it does all of us. We unfortunately side-step it whenever we can and as long as we can. We are foolish enough to believe that we may with immunity and impunity defy the Laws that existed before man and that by some means or other than honesty we can evade punishment, as by faith in a personality. No man has as yet been able to do this, and will never be able to do so as long as God's Law is in operation.

The crucifixion is the preparation for the awakening and indwelling of the Conscious Soul. The Passover is the purification and cleansing of the body, the denial or changing of the senses and their gross desires. But for the Passover there could be no crucifixion and missing the crucifixion there can be no arising from the dead (freedom from weakness and carnality) and no Illumination.

Paul, the great apostle, gives his own version in these words: "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our passover, is sacrificed for us."

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Not by holding unto the old thoughts of malice and wickedness, but in the new life of love and compassion, kindness and helpfulness. These thoughts and emotions build the Soul and in this manner do we keep the feast - worship God. Thoughts are always the inducing cause of our actions; they bring about our downfall or our Passover. Desires are the incentives. The purified mind lifts up the body and brings the Soul into action unto life everlasting.

The Passover must be rigidly kept, not with great pomp and ceremonies as though an earthly king were being crowned, not by feasting and killing of helpless animals, not by gorging dissipation, but by the transmutation and crucifixion of the desires that are a part of the carnal self.

In this manner is lifted up the Soul that it may pass into at-one-ment, into unity and Sonship with the Father.

This is the reason for the command to all who would taste of the blood of Life. "As often as ye do this thus ye do it in remembrance of me."

Every moment that we keep ourselves free from harmful, destructive, lustful thoughts and desires, we lift up our vibratory forces and in doing so, "we eat of the Passover" in remembrance of Him who gave us the way of life and showed us the way; moreover this is as food - spiritual substance - to the Soul that it may "wax strong" and be "exceedingly active in well doing." As we seek that which exalts, we purge ourselves from the evils which are sin.

Men cannot do that which does not enter the mind, the thought realm.

Every act is the outer reflection of the mind in action, of the thoughts harbored by the mind, of the desires born by thought-action. The body is the dwelling place of both mind and Soul. What the mind is we know by its action; what the Soul shall be depends upon the thoughts we permit to live and become strong.

Only when we quaff the wine of the fruit and partake of the unleavened bread of purification will we be able to pass into the temple beautiful, wherein the Lamb (reborn Soul) sits in the midst of the throne, and in the midst of the host (raised - transmuted - desires - longings). The mysteries of the ancient prophets of God become simple in the Light shed by the Illuminated Soul.
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