Generations
by Nema
THE PRIESTHOOD
PARAMETERS
AND RESPONSIBILITIES
By Nema
The Priesthood is
a
condition of a soul on fire with love. The Priesthood is a way of life
demanded by a certain level of spiritual responsibility, a way of life
that focuses action and non-action toward
universal enlightenment.
Like any other course of action and
non-action, the Priesthood deals with the many aspects of illusion, or
Maya. However, a Priest lives to eliminate the veils of illusion for
him/herself and others, to ever strive for a better approximation to
truth.
In the dawning of our species, each
human being was his/her own Priest, participating in the immanence of
Intelligence and in the balance of nature. The Divine was
ever-present in the physical world, evident in analogies of the human
experience perceived in natural events. The earth, as both ocean and
dry land, was Mother; living things come from Her, as children are born
to woman.
The Sun was the Father; plants hidden
from His light became sickly and died. Thunder and lightning, volcanos,
floods and hurricanes were the play or the anger of the gods. Animals,
trees, stones, and places had spirits animating them.
The main emphasis at history’s
beginning was the Earth Mother—symbol of fertility and provision, love
and nurturing, death and return. At this stage, the Divine, the Human
and the Natural were an organic whole. There was enough space and food
for all; with the bounty of the Mother providing the necessities of
life, the rich inner life of family, tribe and clan added spiritual
development without the need of a special priesthood. Some
individuals assumed the responsibility of Shaman, calling particular
forces to assist them in finding game, healing and fertility; rituals
and feasts were tribal.
When population pressure forced
tribes to move, there developed the image of the Divine as Sky-Father.
Since man creates gods in his own image and likeness, the patriarchal,
jealous and angry Father helped rationalize and even bless aggressive
behavior.
No matter that the Canaanites were
there first; the Israelites were on a mission from God to take the land
as promised in the Covenant. No matter that the Dravidian peoples
inhabited the Indian subcontinent; the Aryans conquered in the names of
Indra and Varuna, gods of the sky. With Christianity and Islam,
conversion at sword-point added new refinements to conquest.
The Sky-Father religions developed
the separate Priesthood.
We are in a new Aeon of Priesthood, a
double Aeon of the Son and the Daughter. Today’s Priesthood is a
vocation to the work of unity. For some individuals, this vocation is
evident from childhood as a growing natural interest in matters of the
spirit. For others, like Saul of Tarsus, the call comes in a blinding
moment of revelation. Perhaps, for the large number of the spiritually
aware, the call to Priesthood manifests as a course of action arising
from one’s own developing wisdom gained from progress along the
Initiatory path.
No matter what method, the Priesthood
arises, for its practitioners, as a choice beyond choices, a natural
inevitability that cannot be denied. To investigate the nature of this
condition, it’s necessary to trace its evolution within the individual
soul.
Some western Mystery schools or
Orders have grades or degrees of attainment that are ranked into a
number of divisions. There appear to be three major stages of
individual development: Initiate, Adept and Priest. These stages are
cumulative rather than serial.
Initiation means beginning. In the
specialized sense that’s intended here, the process of Initiation
begins with a profound dissatisfaction with conventional wisdom and the
exoteric doctrines of established religions. There are too many
unanswered questions and inadequate answers in the major western
religions, philosophies, and life-ways. The Initiate seeks knowledge,
and through knowledge, understanding, wisdom, and transformation.
Knowledge proceeds from the known to
the unknown, so each of us begins with the basic facts of our own
existence and experience. We know we were born into a line of ancestry
that recedes into prehistory. We are also aware of society around us,
large numbers of our own species, each of whom has a unique world-view
and personality.
We know that at some point in our
life we will die, and what happens beyond death is a mystery. We know
that we experience intangible events and facts. We can observe our own
mentation and reactions; we accept the reality of such abstractions
such as love, beauty, truth and spirit.
Our sense of art declares that our
abilities and achievements should not be linked with our physical
bodies in such a way as to share its destruction at death. We live a
spiritual as well as a physical life. It is impossible to conceive of
one’s own extinction, even though we remember nothing prior to our
early childhood. We accept a time without our presence before we were
born—but once having come into being, how can we not-be?
Our span of incarnation is finite,
but our spirit is infinite. The sense of infinity creates the call to
Initiation; answering that call is an act of joy.
We feel a growing certainty that
there’s more to life than meets the eye, more to living than we’re
taught in school, at home or in church. Determining to seek the Unknown
is the first step of Initiation. Instinct leads us to books written by
Initiates. We need to get a tangible entrance to our Path.
Initiated writings vary in their
content and style. Some are complex and obscure, others are simple and
lucid. Some books are written for the neophyte, others are more
advanced. One’s intuition should be trusted in the selection of such
reading material.
The beginner on the Path usually is
attracted to a particular school or method, which he/she pursues to the
point of self-development where other methods are studied for
comparison and contrast. Initiates often become eclectic in search of
those universal truths that underlie all effective schools,
approaches, and methods.
The flow of the Magickal Current
sometimes causes one to meet with living Initiates who are further
along the path than one is. When one meets the correct Initiate, a
learning situation occurs, with benefits in both directions. The elder
Brother or Sister shares the fruits of experience, the younger shares
a fresh point of view.
If the Current brings solitude at the
beginning, one develops into a voracious reader, tracking down leads
and references to further information. One searches out and finds
occult shops, bookstores and groups of Initiates in the local
environment.
It’s not unusual for there to be
peer-group blocs of Initiates in certain cities at certain times, who
often find each other through occult shops. By peer-group bloc is meant
a group of friends and acquaintances who share an interest in the
occult sciences. These blocs often formalize their relationship or
gestalt as a Coven, a Lodge, an Order, etc., for the purpose of sharing
knowledge and performing group rituals.
(Author’s note: Currently it’s
much easier to find like minds and interests online. Often there are
mailing lists available through web sites.)
Individuality is in no way
compromised in the bloc; indeed, Initiates are usually rugged
individualists in the extreme, and the unity of the Great Work doesn’t
preclude lively debate.
It’s recommended that Initiates who
work solitary balance solitude with personal participation in the
brotherhood of Initiates. It’s always a good idea to check one’s work
with one’s peers. At any level of Initiation one can become unbalanced
in one’s development. The love of the brotherhood demands truth in all
dealings. An opinion honestly asked is honestly given, courageously
listened to, impartially judged, and if correct, applied.
Conversely, Initiates whose work is
mainly with a group should balance this activity with solitude in
Temple, or better still, in the woods, fields, rivers, and mountains.
In working with a group, we often
operate in the state of no-mind, but more often in Samadhi, a state of
blissful non-personhood. We become involved in the situations and
problems of our Sisters and Brothers, inasmuch as we’re asked for, and
give, advice. Sometimes this involvement can occupy all of our
attention, and we lose sight of ourselves.
This is not a desirable loss, since
our aim is to use everything we have and are in the Great Work.
Self-awareness is necessary for the Will to control the self, to make
sure all faculties, abilities, and strengths are at optimum operating
levels. Time spent in solitary meditation
and contemplation aids self-awareness.
The Initiate’s search for truth
usually leads through a series of Ordeals, or learning experiences. An
Ordeal is an event or condition that often involves pain, distress or
tedium. The intensity of these factors depends on how strongly our
behavior is contradicting our Will, on the time it takes for us to
notice the contradiction and on the accuracy of our corrective action.
A wise Initiate learns to anticipate Ordeals and make the needed
self-corrections before the learning experience occurs.
There is no virtue in prolonged pain.
One method of speeding the initiation
process is through practice of various disciplines and rituals,
celebrating the Wheel of the Year and achieving an understanding of the
principles
underlying the practices.
When an Initiate achieves sufficient
understanding through study and practice for generating his or her own
rites, the level of Adept has been attained.
The performance of classical or
traditional rituals is vital to the attainment of Adeptship. Just as
painting students copy the works of the masters in order to place
themselves in a creative condition similar to that of the masters, and
to learn the secrets of the masters’ techniques, so also does the
Initiate re-create traditional rituals in order to place him/herself in
a creative condition similar to that of the Adepts who generated and
perfected the rituals, and to learn the secrets of those Adepts’
techniques. Upon grasping the underlying principles of Magickal ritual,
the Adept is enabled to create new and timely rites which are effective
and efficient.
In a broad sense, Initiation deals
with theory and knowledge, and Adeptship deals with practice. Of
course, theory and practice are mutually assisting. An Initiate
practices and an Adept theorizes; the distinction is one of emphasis.
Aleister Crowley states that Magick
unearthed is not Magick at all. When one realizes the true nature of
the universe, the Self, and change, it is a natural progression to put
this realization to use in “causing change to occur in conformity with
Will.”
The Initiate’s Will is to learn; the
Adept’s Will is to do. One can only cease learning by adopting a
blindness to events and their meaning. One can only cease doing by
rendering one’s actions chaotic and scattered.
There are dangers in Initiation and
Adeptship.
A misplaced ego or domineering
intellect can convince the Initiate that he/she has attained the
perfection of Art and need strive for excellence no longer. The
uncontrolled force of emotion can cause either Initiate or Adept to act
in ways contrary to his/her ethical realizations.
For the new Initiate-Adept, there is
the danger of relying too heavily on the information or advice of the
elder Brother or Sister. At times it is possible for one to begin
following a person rather than the Path, and fall into the trap of a
“cult of personality.” We see this often in the disciples of famous
gurus. The disciples become a means of support, both financial and
emotional, for the guru, and the guru becomes a substitute for
self-responsibility. There is little difference between a follower of a
living guru and a devotee of established religions with established
priesthoods.
For those who are in the position of
imparting information, there is the danger of becoming attached to the
devotion of one’s listeners. Respect and admiration from others is a
slow poison,
dangerous in the extreme.
It would seem obvious that those in a
teaching position should be free of all attachments. One’s
responsibility toward one’s listeners and to truth is too great to give
any place
for the ego’s wrongful manifestation.
It matters not about the status of
teacher or listener. In Initiated communication, the only two factors
that count are the truth of the matter being communicated, and the fact
of communication itself. The latter is one major means of
Intelligence’s interlinking with itself. Communicating, therefore, is a
holy act,
never to be profaned.
The Initiate, should he/she persevere
in Initiation, eventually comes to live in a state of awe and reverence
for the essential holiness of the universe. This holiness includes the
Initiate; one’s ethics derive from the truth of one’s perceptions. One
never blasphemes or degrades what one sees to be sacred.
The Adept operates from this awe as a
wise Taoist. Increasingly, the Adept perceives his/her will and work as
aligning with, and therefore becoming, the flow of things, the Magickal
Current, the Tao. Action becomes easier as one approximates the natural
course of events. One begins to perceive the natural course of events
being diverted or delayed by those whose blindness to larger patterns
causes them to act for short-term goals and local benefits.
Increasingly, the Adept’s main
function becomes that of removing obstacles to the manifestation
of Tao-Teh. It seems to be that the only species capable of acting
contrary to the flow of things is humanity—at least on this planet.
Even demons follow natural law.
When the Initiate-Adept realizes that
one’s function consists of removing obstacles to Intelligence’s reunion
with itself, when one perceives that opening the ways to Tao is
necessary, sufficient and inevitable, then the Initiate-Adept arrives
at the point of Priesthood.
A Priest is one who undertakes the
responsibility of working in all possible ways for universal awakening,
not ceasing until the reunion of Intelligence is completed. This same
concept is phrased in the Boddhisattvic Vow: “I shall not cease from
existence until
every sentient being in the Universe is enlightened.”
One presumes that anyone taking this
Vow has attained to a certain level of enlightenment. Before a task can
be undertaken, the need for the task must be perceived. Until we
directly experience the unity of Intelligence, we are acting on faith
and hope.
Virtues such as faith and hope are
helpful to the Initiate in the beginning stages—for then we see through
a glass, darkly; upon perceiving the necessity of the Vow, the Priest
sees face to face. “Heaven” does not have to wait for death, but can be
experienced in the flesh.
When one experiences the unity of
Intelligence, one sees that the fragments of Intelligence, which
manifest as individual beings of all kinds, are already/still united
with each other. Intelligence is integral. Even though most
individuals are not consciously aware of this unity, it nevertheless
provides the ground of being for all, and all things participate in it.
It might be questioned concerning the
need or desirability of universal enlightenment: if all things already
do participate in the unity, why bother with the conscious awareness of
unity?
The conscious awareness is part of
the makeup of a sentient being. If that being does not hold the
knowledge and experience of unity in its consciousness, that being is
incomplete, imbalanced. Where the consciousness is ignorant of unity,
difficulties and internal strife arise; action does not meet ethics,
self-destructive behavior occurs, entire nations can be slaughtered,
and general evil abounds.
It is impossible to cause
enlightenment for another shard of universal Intelligence. The
individual must reach the experience of unity on his/her own, although
it is possible to offer hints and clues, to point to the direction in
which this experience lies. The Priest assists others in preparing for
this experience, but in no way can the Priest give the experience to
another. Each individual is his/her own Messiah;
“salvation” can be earned, but not granted.
The truth of existence is
ever-present; our perception and awareness of truth grows with the
passage of time. It is possible to see truth whenever one has the
capacity to do so: that capacity of sight is achieved by the removal of
the veils of illusion. One simple exercise in the removal of veils is
this: try to locate yourself. Are you your name, or your position in
the community? Are you your ancestry, your material possessions, your
talents, skills, faults, defects or deeds? Are you your physical body,
your mind, your emotions, your intuition, or your creativity? (The
onion layers we wear are being peeled away rapidly.) Are you your
thoughts, your responses, your inspirations? Are you an awareness, a
point-of-view, a non-dimensional point? Can the eye see itself?
At the core of our individuality is
the Nothing from which we came. In the words of the East, Atman, the
core of the self, is Brahman, about which nothing true can be said and
from which all things came.
We are Intelligence.
Consider this proposal: all
that is lives; all that lives is intelligent. We recognize exoterically
several levels of life: animal, vegetable, protozoan, bacterial, viral.
Would it not be possible for there to be mineral intelligence, thinking
extremely slowly via crystal pressure-charges? Would it not be possible
for there to be solar life, thinking by means of the plasma’s
convection currents? Would it not be possible for there to be subatomic
life, thinking by means of the spins, charges, quantum-band shifts and
traversing the matter-energy distinction?
Although Terran Priesthood is
concerned with the evolution of Homo sapiens to Homo veritas, it aids
the Work to become aware of the life/Intelligence of the universe and
our place in it as individual and species. We have many new friends to
learn from and to teach, once we have achieved the condition of Homo
veritas, unified Mankind, the Racial Unconscious expanded into Race
Consciousness. Priestly responsibility is a joyful task as we live and
work in total dedication to this transformation of humanity.
Intellectual agreement with the
concept of the Priest’s responsibility for universal enlightenment is
not sufficient to sustain a lifetime of work and dedication. The vision
of the unity of Intelligence must be experienced first-hand. This
experience is attained by means of hard work and perseverance in the
task of removing obstacles to the vision.
Mysticism and Magick are not
contradictory; rather, they are two aspects of a single process. These
aspects intertwine and reinforce each other, with no detailed pattern
of order on an individual basis. The various schools of hidden
teachings out a common broad order of progress or evolution, but in
practice, the steps and stages vary widely.
In brief review: the individual
begins by experiencing a yearning for God, a desire for a more
comprehensive understanding of the self, the universe, the way things
work. The exoteric philosophies of tradition and established religions
prove incapable of satisfying this yearning.
The individual seeks out sources of
information: libraries, bookstores, accessible groups whose names imply
knowledge of the hidden teachings. After a certain period of
information intake, one begins to put the information into practice
through various disciplines and rituals. The practices yield results.
“Coincidences” manifest in the individual’s life, results desired and
unsuspected follow rituals, new and appropriate pieces of information
become available. Proof of the reality of Magick presents itself in
unmistakable ways. In addition to interesting phenomena, rituals and
disciplines open new levels of perception through which further
Initiations can occur.
As the individual progresses as an
Initiate, he/she comes to recognize the universal laws governing
effective Magickal practice, and eventually becomes able to design and
perform new rites that work efficiently for him/herself and obliging
colleagues. Sometimes the ideas for new rites and practices arrive in
the mind as channelings, as though a higher intelligence is giving the
ideas to the Adept. The identity of the source of ideas is irrelevant.
The point is: do the ideas work when put into practice or not?
The subject matter of ritual practice
evolves with the practitioner. In the beginning, much of one’s
practical Temple-work involves boons and blessings upon individuals or
on the world community at large. One does rituals for healing and
health, for employment and financial well-being, for harmonious
personal relationships, for peace, justice, famine relief, etc.
Eventually one adds invocation and evocation, astral travel and rising
on the planes.
Invocation is the calling upon of
a godform to indwell in the caller, an effort to experience the
nature of a particular god and to acquire from this a divine
perspective as well as the particular powers of that god. Evocation is
the calling upon of lower spirit—be it demon, elemental, or denizen of
darkness—in order to understand its nature and to put the lower entity
under the scrutiny and control of the mind and will.
Astral travel is a journey through
Inner Space to realms inaccessible to the conscious mind and physical
body, for the purpose of gaining information and control of events
occurring at a distance or of events still in potentiality. One can
encounter various types of astral entities during such travels. Any
information gained from them should be thoroughly tested before being
accepted as true.
Rising on the planes is the practice
of putting one’s point-of-view in states of increasing lucidity and
comprehension. One can rise on the planes rapidly or slowly, depending
on one’s own capacities and development. A good tool for this process
is the Qabbalistic Tree of Life, a pattern of the microcosm and the
macrocosm consisting of various Spheres and the Paths connecting them.
With an intellectual grasp of the Tree, it’s possible to create a
spiritual environment conducive to the experience of a particular
Sphere or Path.
All of these practices contribute to
the growth of the individual’s development,
leading to the realization of Priesthood.
The Priest functions in a number of
ways. Perhaps the most important function is that of the Priest as
living talisman of the entire human race. The vow of responsibility
forges a Magickal Link between the Priest and the rest of the species.
This link, based on profound love, enhances the influence of the Priest
upon other people.
As he/she lives and grows, so grows
the spirituality of others. In a sense, the Priest is a pioneer, an
explorer, a trailblazer. By accomplishing change within him/herself,
the Priest opens the way for others to duplicate his/her
accomplishments. Essentially, the opening of the way is achieved
through direct talismanic action: i.e., doing something once, for the
first time, makes it easier for it to be done again. Repeated
accomplishment, especially if duplicated ay other Priests, brings about
the “hundredth monkey effect’ in the species at large.
At the present writing, the human
race does participate in the universal Intelligence through the “Racial
Unconscious” as postulated by Jung. The talismanic link of the
Priesthood operates through this Racial Unconscious as well as through
the higher realms of pure spirit. Because of the deeper vision and
greater power of the Priest, he/she has the ability to influence large
numbers of his/her fellows. The influential flow from the mass of
humanity to the Priest is of a lesser order, but is also real. There is
a danger of falling back into a narrower and more primitive condition
of reality should the Priest neglect his or her responsibilities of
constant awareness and unflagging work.
The talismanic function obliges the
Priest to strive for personal perfection at all times: the fate of the
species depends on it. This does not mean, though, that the Priest
should ever regard him/herself as a kind of Messiah or Savior, for such
self-regard would reverse the effect of the Priestly work.
Many if not all writings on the
hidden teachings emphasize the dangers of Ego, and speak of the need of
undergoing “Ego death” as a requirement for higher realms of
consciousness. This death is not destruction of the Ego as the sense of
self, but a transformation and reordering of the Ego as part of the
whole self. The virtue of humility is not a blind abasement of the self
before a superior or supreme being; rather, humility is the vision of
one’s proper function in the universe, a correct judgment of one’s
successes and failures in fulfilling that function.
The Priest is not a Messiah or
Savior; his or her function is not one of redemption or salvation, but
of realization and evolution. A priest is a human among humans,
motivated by enlightened self-interest. The sooner universal
enlightenment is complete, the sooner the Priest will be free of the
obligation of individual continuity and can resolve into pure
undifferentiated Intelligence.
A second function of Priesthood is
that of information sharing. As mentioned earlier, the elder Brothers
and Sisters share wisdom with the younger, and the younger Brothers and
Sisters share new points-of-view. At our present stage of evolution,
the Priest shares information in ways suitable to his/her partners in
dialogue.
Through his/her own experiments and
experiences in self-knowledge, the Priest becomes ever more accurate at
assessing the spiritual level of development of another person. From
this assessment the Priest fashions and uses the most appropriate
persona or Mask, through which he/she communicates with the other
person. The Priest seems familiar, compatible, comfortable; the other
person relaxes
and opens in receptivity.
When dealing with colleagues, there
is no need of a Mask other than one’s usual, everyday persona. At
certain stages, Initiates may require one to use a Mask of extreme
subtlety and power. (“Ye must teach, but ye may make severe the
ordeals.”) Sometimes Masks are used for play among Adepts and Priests.
The only caveat for this is the power of the Mask to convince the
wearer of the Mask’s reality. The more skillfully crafted the Mask, the
greater its power of conviction, especially if its reality is being
reinforced through its relationships with other Masks in this play of
Adepts.
It’s a different matter when dancing
the Mask with an uninitiate. Here one is employing a professional
tool in a serious task: waking up a sleeper from his/her nightmares of
fragmentation, dispersion and self-destruction. The concentration of
the Priest’s will upon the task at hand keeps the Mask under control. A
Mask is an artificial Ego created for the purpose of facilitating
communication. In a sense it does have a life of its own because it is
created and sustained from the Priest’s own substance. At the core of
each Mask is a point of identity, identical with the Priest’s own
point. The Priest is responsible for everything he/she creates or
destroys.
Information-sharing can also occur
through the practice of art. One virtue of art as a tool in the Great
Work is its ability to move and change the audience through bypassing
the verbal censors of the unbalanced Ego. Art evokes response from the
beholder. A good artist knows precisely which responses he/she wants to
evoke, in what order and/or combination. He/she also has the skill to
present the proper stimuli to accomplish it. Each medium of art has its
particular strengths and weaknesses. Music can evoke emotional and
spiritual responses. It communicates directly with our chakras. The
precision and power of music’s influence depends directly on the
composers’ and performers’ genius. In the most sublime music, such as
that of Bach and Beethoven, the evocation is of Intelligence itself and
the ecstasy of the rapt listener.
Dance and mime evoke sympathy and
relational openness from the audience. It also evokes admiration and
awe of the human form in motion. As a species, we take pleasure in
beauty, skill, grace, power and heart, all essential ingredients for
the action arts.
Graphic art, architecture and
sculpture can evoke the entire spectrum of human response. The same
holds true for still photography and motion pictures.
No matter what the medium, a talented
Priest can communicate the great fact of our unity without preaching of
didacticism. Art shows rather than tells. All great artists function as
Priests, whether or not they think of themselves as Priests.
In addition to the talismanic and
information-sharing functions, the Priest performs Temple work as a
ritualist in order to augment sensitivity to the flow of the Magickal
Current, to add all the power and energy he/she is capable of
channeling to the Current.
The Priest and the rest of the race
participate in the actual generation of the Magickal Current. The
collective electromagnetic energy of the human nervous system imparts a
particular signature-signal on the carrier wave on the flow of time and
universal energy. The force of our human signal returns amplified
by its circuit of intergalactic space. Upon returning to Earth, the
signal is received by all those with any degree of psychic sensitivity.
The evolved signal is very attractive to those with clear vision. The
sensitives begin to put the signal into practice, and the next pulse of
the human signal is much stronger going in. Our physical/ technological
history grows exponentially, and so does the force of the evolved
signal.
The ritualistic function of the
Priesthood is as important as the other
functions.
A Priest’s ritual technique differs from that of the Adept in that it
is minimalist and often
done in motionless silence.
A Priest gives advice when sincerely
asked to do so, and has the right to intervene and comment whenever
he/she sees fit. A Priest doesn’t debate, argue, convince, or prove. A
Priest speaks truth in the most appropriate way possible, but doesn’t
try to sell his/her statements to anyone. Accepting or rejecting truth
when it’s presented is the responsibility of the listener.
The Priest functions as spiritual
counselor, healer of souls, and speaker of truth. He/she is an explorer
who returns to tell of high adventure ad wondrous visions, then works
to help al interested listeners to befit themselves for the journey.
The Priest has experienced humanity’s next step in evolution, and from
this experience works wholeheartedly for the rest of the race to take
the step also.
The Priest functions as a warrior who
battles restrictive dogmas in all their many guises. When appropriate,
the Priest participates in and encourages the Outer political
processes, doing whatever is possible to restructure the forms of
society to better reflect the unity of Intelligence
in the legislative process.
When our transformation is complete
as a species, there will be no need for legislation, the state,
national boundaries, or artificial control of the flow of goods and
services. There will be no need for armies, police, or prisons. The
concept of wealth will be redefined; churches, corporations, charities
and clubs based on exclusivity will be greatly changed or will
disappear entirely.
In the meantime, the Priest exercises
wisdom and creativity in using existing channels to assist the great
leap humanity is facing. Parameters of Priesthood vary with the
situation and the individuals involved in it. To better enable oneself
to work efficiently at all times, the Priest practices and continues to
grow in knowledge, understanding, wisdom and silence. Any situation is
best handled from the plane(s) above the plane in which it is
occurring. This provides an overview from which to see the situation in
context, thus permitting the optimum resolution to be perceived.
By operating from the vantage of the
Supernals (the Spheres of understanding, wisdom and silence), the
Priest perceives and acts from the highest possible overview. Through
habitual exercise, the Supernal view is maintained at all times—as an
ideal situation. In practice, prevailing social attitudes insinuate
themselves into any individual’s thought processes, almost by osmosis,
due to the sheer number of uninitiates in the world and the strength of
their combined psychic fields. In order to combat the situation, it’s
helpful to design one’s personal environment to remind one of the
Supernal view, to engage in daily practice that reinforces the view, to
carry on one’s person an amulet or talisman
to remind one of the Priestly office.
There is no such thing as resting on
one’s laurels or retirement in the Priesthood. It’s truly a life’s
work, and more. Death itself is merely a short vacation—or
sabbatical—that permits one to obtain a fresh and energetic vehicle
through which to operate. An individual who has developed enough to see
and embrace the Priesthood has also developed the strength of personal
integration sufficient to survive intact through any number of deaths
and births. To those who see personal survival as the antithesis of our
course of returning to the Nothingness from whence we came, it might be
said that personal dissolution cannot be complete until all are able to
release their hold on illusion. The unity of Intelligence
prevents selective dissolution.
The Priesthood’s task is to make the
unity of Intelligence obvious to the whole of the human race, so that
this unity can also prevent the nightmare of nuclear annihilation. We
live in a crucial time. Each individual is responsible for our
continuity and development. The Priesthood is the cadre of those who
have fully accepted this responsibility.
Every facet of life participates in
the work of the Priest. No ordinary motivation could inspire total
dedication to such an enormous task. Only the experience of the unity
of Intelligence, the experience of participating the in universal
pattern of consciousness can enable one to actually love one’s neighbor
as oneself. Our neighbor is ourself is in the unity of Intelligence,
and much of ourself is in pain through ignorance of this fact. There is
nothing that is not of us. All that is we embrace in joyful recognition
o our essential unity and identity.
The Priesthood is a condition of a
soul on fire with love.
“For
I am divided for love’s sake, for the chance of union.”
-Liber Al vel Legis Ch. I
First published by Black Moon Publishing
6/16/85 Cincinnati, Ohio
Nema
