The initiates of the flame

by Manly P. Hall

Every individual by his daily actions is expressing more plainly than by words his ideals, his desires, and his attitude towards this great work.

In the brain of man, between the wings of the kneeling cherubim, is the mercy seat, and there man speaks with his God as the priest of the tabernacle spoke to the spirit of the Lord hovering between the wings of the Angels. Man is again the Ark, and within him are the three principles, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—the tablets of the law, the pot of manna, and the rod that budded.

When the individual crystallizes and excludes various sidelights from his mind, he excludes the life force which was flowing to him.

The m The Ark of the Covenant student will find that it is true, and when he allies himself with the powers of light, when he becomes a channel for its expression, and when he radiates it from himself to all who need it, then indeed will the Light protect him and he shall become a Sun of God.

The tjoly Grail: See in this cup your own body within which is the life blood of the Sun Spirit of the Universe. Each day that we live we perpetuate the Last Supper, and in all that we do we drink again the blood of Christ, the life power of the Cosmos.

The Stone and the Sword: WHOEVER CAN DRAW THIS SWORD FROM THIS STONE IS THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE.

Such a truth is the legend of the Round Table, given to King Arthur as a wedding gift. All true students know what wedding that was. Not of earth but the wedding of the Spiritual and Intellectual within the Initiate himself, when the spirit and the body are united eternally, each swearing to honor and protect the other. Of such a marriage was the union of Arthur and Guinevere in the legend of the King.

The cube stone is the body; it has been so symbolized for centuries, and today among the Masons the Ashler is the symbol of Man. Experience is the anvil, and it is upon this anvil that the sword is tempered. The sword is spirit, and he who would be King in the true spiritual sense of the word must first show his divine power by freeing the Sword of Spirit from the casings of the lower man and the world.

Sir Galahad had the strength of ten because his heart was pure, and the Knight of today must follow in the same path.

This is the spear of Passion that pierces the side of the Christ, the higher principle in man. But when in the hand of the pure of heart this power can heal the very wound it caused.

Within the cup is the blood of Christ, that force which is transmuting the

body into soul, fast or slowly as we give it greater or lesser opportunity.