Chapter VIII

THE KHINE MAIDENS

REPETITION is the keynote of the vital body and
the extract of the vital body is the intellectual
soul, which is the pabulum of the life spirit, the true
Christ principle in man. As it is the particular work
of the western world to evolve this Christ principle,
to form the Christ within that it may shine through
the material darkness of present time, reiteration of
ideas is absolutely essential. Unconsciously the whole
world is obeying this law.

When newspapers start out to inculcate certain
ideas into the public mind, they do not expect to ac-
complish this by a single editorial, no matter how
powerfully written, but by articles of daily recurrence
they gradually create the desired sentiment in the
public mind. The Bible has been preaching the prin-
ciple of love for two thousand years, Sunday after
Sunday, day by day, from hundreds of thousands of
pulpits. War has not yet been abolished, but the
sentiment in favor of universal peace is growing
stronger as time passes. These sermons have had but

72 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

a very slight effect in so far as the world at large
is concerned, no matter how powerfully a particular
audience might be moved for the time being; for the
desire body is that part of the composite man which
was impressed at the time and was stirred thereby.

The desire body is a later acquisition than the vital
body, hence not so crystallized, and, therefore, more
impressionable. Because it is of a finer texture than
the vital body, it is less retentive, and the emotions so
easily generated are also easily dissipated. A very
small impact is made upon the vital body when ideas
and ideals filter into it through the auric envelope, but
whatever it gets from study, sermons, lectures, or
reading is of a more lasting nature, and many impacts
in the same direction create impressions which are
powerful for good or for ill according to their nature.

In order that we may benefit by this law of cumula-
tive impacts, we take up for study, another of the great
soul myths which throws light upon the mystery of
life and being from a different angle, so that we may
learn whence we have come, why we are here, and
whither we are going more thoroughly than before.

As previously said, all myths are vehicles of spir-
itual truths veiled under allegory, symbol, and pic-
ture, and, therefore, capable of comprehension with-
out reason. As fairy stories are a means of enlight-
enment to children, so these great myths were used
to convey spiritual truth to infant humanity.

The group spirit works upon animals through their
desire bodies, calling up pictures which give to the

THE RHINE MAIDENS 73

animal a feeling and a suggestion of what it must do.
Likewise, the allegorical pictures, which are contained
in myths, laid the foundation in man for his present
and future development. Subconsciously these myths
worked upon him and brought him to the stage where
he is today. Without that preparation he would have
been unable to accomplish that work which he is now
doing.

Today these myths are yet working to prepare us for
the future, but some are more under their spell than
others. The path of empire and civilization has fol-
lowed the sun's course from east to west, and in the
etheric atmosphere of the Pacific coast these mythical
pictures have almost faded away, and man is con-
tacting spiritual realities more directly. Further east,
particularly in Europe, we find still the atmosphere
of mysticism brooding over the land. There, people
love the ancient myths which speak to them in a man-
ner incomprehensible to the westerner. The soul life
of the people among the fjords and f jelds of Norway,
on the heaths and moors of Scotland, in the deep re-
cesses of the Black Forest of Germany, and among the
Alpine Glaciers, is as deep and mystical today as a
thousand years ago. They are in closer touch with
nature spirits and other fabled realities by feeling
than we who have gone ahead upon the path of aspira-
tion by direct knowledge. If we recall this feeling
and combine it with our knowledge, we shall have at-
tained an enormous advantage. Let us, therefore, try
to assimilate one of the deepest mystical stories of the

74 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

past, The Ring of the Niebelung, the great epic poem
of northern Europe. It relates the story of man, from
the time when he dwelt in Atlantis, until this world
shall have come to an end by a great conflagration
and the Kingdom of the Heavens shall have been es-
tablished, as foretold in the Bible.

The Bible tells us of the Garden of Eden where our
first parents dwelt in close touch with God, pure and
innocent as children. It tells us how that state of be-
ing was abrogated and how sorrow, sin, and death
came into the world. In ancient myths, like The Ring
of the Niebelung, we are also introduced to mankind
living under similar conditions of childlike innocence.
The opening scene in this drama of Wagner represents
life under the waters of the Rhine where the Rhine
maidens swim about with rhythmic motion and a song
upon their lips, imitating the undulating swell of the
dancing waves. The waters are lighted by a great
lump of lustrous gold and around this the Rhine
daughters circle as planets move about the central
sun ; for we have here the microcosmic replica of the
macrocosm where the heavenly bodies move around
the Central Light-giver in a majestic circle dance.

The Rhine maidens represent primitive humanity
during the time when we dwelt at the bottom of the
ocean in the dense, foggy atmosphere of Atlantis. The
gold, which lighted the scene as the sun illuminates
the solar universe, is a representation of the Universal
Spirit which then brooded over mankind. We did not
then see everything in clear, sharp contours as we

THE RHINE MAIDENS 75

view objects around us today, but our internal per-
ception of the soul qualities in others was much
keener than it is now.

The individual spirit feels itself an ego and desig-
nates itself "I" in sharp contradistinction to all
others, but this separative principle had not entered
into the child men of early Atlantis. We had no feel-
ing of ''me" and "thee"; we felt ourselves as one
great family, as children of the divine Father. Neither
were we troubled about what we should eat or drink
any more than children now-a-days are burdened with
the material necessities of life. Time was to us one
grand play and frolic.

But this state could not continue, or there would
have been no evolution. As the child grows up to be-
come a man or woman to take its part in the battle of
life, so also primitive mankind was destined to leave
its natal home in the lowlands and ascend through
the waters of Atlantis, when they condensed and
flooded the basins of the earth. Evolving humanity
then entered the aerial conditions in which we live
today as told of the ancient Israelites wno went
through the Red Sea to enter the Promised Land, and
of Noah, who left his native place when the flood
waters descended.

The northern myth tells us the story in another
way, but though the angle of vision is different the
main points of the narrative bring out the same es-
sential ideas. In the Garden of Eden our first parents
did not think for themselves. They obeyed unques-

76 MYSTERIES OF THE GREAT OPERAS

tioniiigly whatever commands were given them by
their divine leaders, much as a child in early years
does as its parents wish because it has no sense of self.
It lacks individuality. This, according to the Bible
story, was gained when Lucifer imbued them with the
idea that they might become like the gods and know
good and evil.

In the Teutonic myth we are told that Alberich,
one of these children of the Mist (Niebel is mist,
un g is child — they were thus called because they lived
in the foggy atmosphere of Atlantis), coveted the
gold which shone with such luster in the Rhine. He
had heard that whoever obtained the gold and formed
it into a ring would thereby be enabled to conquer the
world and master all others who did not possess the
treasure. Accordingly, he swam up to the great rock
where the gold lay, seized it and swam rapidly towards
the surface, pursued by the Rhine daughters who were
in great distress at the loss of this treasure.

When Alberich, the thief, had reached the surface of
the water he heard a voice telling him that no one could
form the gold into a ring as required to master the
world, save by forswearing love; this he did in-
stantly and forthwith commenced to rob the earth of
its treasure and gratify his desire for wealth and
power.

As said before, the gold, as it lay in its unformed
state upon the rock of the Rhine, represents the uni-
versal spirit which is not the exclusive property of
anyone, and Alberich represents the foremost among

THE RHINE MAIDENS 77

mankind who were impelled by the desire to conquer
new worlds. They first became ensouled by the in-
dwelling spirit and emigrated to the highlands above ;
but when once in the clear atmosphere of Aryana, the
world as we know it, they saw themselves clearly and
distinctly as separate entities. Each realized that his
interests were different from those of others ; that to
succeed and to win the world for himself, he must
stand alone, he must look after his own interests re-
gardless of others. Thus the spirit drew a ring about
itself and all inside that ring was "me" and "mine,"
a conception which made him antagonistic to others.
Hence in order to form this ring and keep a separate
center it was necessary for him to forswear love. Thus,
and thus only, could he disregard the interests of
others that he might thrive and master the world.

Alberich is not alone in his desire to draw a ring
around himself for the purpose of gaining power,
however. "As above so below" and vice versa, says
the Hermetic axiom. The gods are also evolving.
They also have aspirations for power — a desire to
draw a ring around themselves — for there is war in
heaven as well as upon earth. Different cults seek
to master the souls of men and their limitations are
also symbolized by rings.

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