Chapter IV

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SELLING His SOUL TO SATAN

THE FAUST myth presents a curious situation in
the meeting of the hero, who is the seeking soul,
with different classes of spirits. The spirit of Faust,
inherently good, feels drawn to the higher orders; it
feels akin to the benevolent Earth Spirit, and bemoans
the inability to detain it and learn from it. Face to
face with the Spirit of Negation, who is only too will-
ing to teach and to serve, he finds himself master in a
certain sense, because that spirit cannot leave, over
the symbol of the five pointed star in the position it
is placed upon the floor. But both his inability to
detain the Earth Spirit and obtain tuition from that
exalted Being, and his mastery over the Spirit of
Negation, are due to the fact that he has come into
contact with them by chance and not by soul power
evolved from within.

When Parsifal, the hero of another of these great
soul myths, first visited the Castle of the Grail, he
was asked how he had come there, and he answered
"I know not." He just happened to enter the holy

SORROWS OF THE SEEEKING SOUL 27

place as a soul sometimes gets a glimpse of the celes-
tial realms in a vision ; but he could not stay in Mount
Salvat. He was forced to go out into the world again
and learn his lessons. Many years later he returned
to the Castle of the Grail, weary and worn with the
quest, and the same query again was asked: "How
did you come here?" But this time his answer was
different, for he said, ' ' Through search and suffering
I came."

That is the cardinal point which marks the great
difference between persons who happen to come
in contact with spirits from superphysical realms by
chance or stumble upon the solution of a law of na-
ture, and those, who by diligent research and particu-
larly by living the life, attain to conscious Initiation
into the secrets of nature. The former do not know
how to use this power intelligently and are therefore
helpless. The latter are always masters of the force*
they wield, while the others are the sport of anyone
who wishes to take advantage of them.

Faust is the symbol of man, 'and humanity was first
led by the Lucifer spirits and the angels of Jehovah
We are now looking to the Christ Spirit within the
earth as the Saviour to emancipate us from their sel-
fish and negative influence.

Paul gives us a glimpse of the further evolution de-
signed for us, when he says, that after Christ has es^
tablished the kingdom, He will turn it over to the
Father, who will then be all in all.

28 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

Faust, however, first seeks communication with the
macrocosm, who is the Father. Like the heavenly
centaur, Sagittarius, he aims his bow at the highest
stars. He is not satisfied to begin at the bottom and
work his way up gradually. When spurned by that
sublime Being, he comes down one step in the scale
and seeks communion with the Earth Spirit who also
scorns him, for he cannot become the pupil of the
good forces until he has conformed to their rules, so
that he may enter the path of Initiation by the true
door. Therefore, when he finds that the pentagram
at the door holds the evil spirit, he sees a chance to
drive a bargain. He is ready to sell his soul to Satan.

As said before, however, he is too ignorant to suc-
cessfully retain the mastery, and spirit power quickly
clears away the obstructions and leaves Lucifer free.
But though he departs from the chamber of Faust, he
soon returns ready to barter for the seeking soul. He
paints before Faust 's eyes glowing pictures of Kow he
may live his life over, how he may gratify his pas-
sions and desires. Faust, knowing that Lucifer is not
disinterested, inquires what compensation he re-
quires. To this, Lucifer answers:

"I pledge myself to be thy servant here,
At every beck and call alert to be ;
But when we meet in yonder sphere,
Then shalt thou do the same for me. ' '

SELLING His SOUL TO SATAN .29

Faust himself, adds a seemingly singular condition,
regarding the time when the service of Lucifer shall
terminate and his own earth life come to an end.

Strange as it seems, we have in the agreement of
Lucifer and the clause proposed by Faust basic laws
of evolution. By the law of attraction we are drawn
into contact with kindred spirits both here and here-
after. If we serve the good forces here and labor to
lift ourselves, we find similarly minded company in
this world and in the next, but if we love darkness
rather than light, we find ourselves associated with
the underworld here and hereafter also. There is no
escape from this.

Furthermore, we are all " temple builders" work-
ing under the direction of God and His ministers, the
divine Hierarchies. If we shirk the task set us in
life, we are placed under conditions which will force
us to learn. There is no rest nor peace upon the path
of evolution and if we seek pleasure and joy to the ex-
clusion of the work of life, the death knell soon comes.
If ever we come to a point where we are ready to bid
the passing hour stay, where we are so contented with
conditions that we cease our efforts to progress, our
existence is quickly terminated. It is a matter of
observation, that people who retire from business to
live only for the enjoyment of that which they have
accumulated, soon pass out; while the man who
changes his vocation for an avocation generally lives
longer. Nothing is so apt to end an existence as in-

30 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

activity. Therefore, as has been said, the laws of
nature are enunciated in the bargain of Lucifer and
the condition added by Faust :

"If e'er I be content in sloth or leisure,

Then be that hour the last I see.

When thou with flattery canst cajole me

Till self -complaisant I shall be;

When thou with pleasure canst befool me.

Be that the final day for me.

Whenever to the passing hour

I say, ' Oh stay, thou art so fair ! '

Then unto thee I give the power

To drag me down to deep despair.

Then let my knell no longer linger,

Then from my service thou art free ,r

Fall from the clock the index finger.

Be time all over then for me."

Lucifer requests Faust to sign with a drop of
blood. And when asked the reason, he says cunningly,
"Blood is a most peculiar essence." The Bible says it
is the seat of the soul.

When the earth was in process of condensation the
invisible aura surrounding Mars, Mercury and \renus
penetrated the earth and the spirits of these planets
were in peculiar and close relation with humanity.
Iron is a Mars metal, and by the admixture of iron

SELLING His SOUL TO SATAN 31

with the blood, oxidation is made possible; thus the
inner heat required for the manifestation of an in-
dwelling spirit was obtained through the agency of
the Lucifer spirits from Mars. They are therefore
responsible for the conditions under which the ego is
immured in the physical body.

When blood is extracted from the human body and
coagulates, every particle is of a peculiar form not
duplicated by the particles of any other human being.
Therefore, the one who has blood of a certain person
has a connecting link with the spirit that built the
blood particles. He has power over that person if he
knows how to use this knowledge. That is the reason
why Lucifer required the signature in Faust's blood,
for with the name of his victim thus written in blood,
he could hold the soul in bondage according to the
laws involved.

Yes, indeed ! Blood is a very peculiar essence, as
important in white magic as in black. All knowledge
in whatever direction used, must necessarily feed on
life which is primarily derived from the extracts of the
vital body : that is to say, the sex force and the blood.
All knowledge that is not thus fed and nurtured, is
as dead and as powerless as the philosophy Faust ex-
tracted from his books. No books are of themselves
sufficient. Only in the measure that we take that
knowledge into our lives and nourish it and live it, is
it of real value.

But there is this great difference : that while the as-
pirant in the schools of the Sacred Science feeds his

32 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

soul on his own sex force and the lower passions in his
own blood which he thus transmutes and cleanses, the
adherents of the black school live as vampires on the
sex force of others and the impure blood drawn from
the veins of victims. In the Castle of the Grail we see
the pure and cleansing blood working wonders upon
those who were chaste and aspired to high deeds, but
in the Castle of Herod, the personification of voluptu-
ousness Salome causes the passion filled blood to race
riotously through the veins of the participants, and
the blood dripping from the head of the martyred
Baptist served to give them the power they were too
cowardly to acquire through suffering, by cleansing
themselves of impurities.

Faust aims to acquire power quickly by the aid of
others, hence he contacts the danger point, just as
everyone does today, who runs after self-styled
" adepts " or " masters," who are ready to pander to
the lowest appetites of their dupes — for a considera-
tion— as Lucifer offers to serve Faust. But they can
give no soul powers no matter what they claim. That
comes from within, by patient persistence in well-
doing, a fact which cannot be too often reiterated.

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