Mysteries of the Great Operas
by Max Heindel
(Part 2)
The Ring of
the Niebelung
VIII. The Rhine 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 the 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 accomplish 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 principle 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 a very slight effect is 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 cumulative 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 whether we are going more
thoroughly than before.
As previously said, all myths are vehicles of spiritual truths veiled under
allegory, symbol, and picture, and, therefore, capable of comprehension
without reason. As fairy stories are a means of enlightenment 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 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 followed 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 contacting 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 manner incomprehensible to the westerner. The soul life of the people among
the fjords and fields of Norway, on the heaths and moors of Scotland, and
the deep recessed 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 gabled realities by feeling
than we who have gone ahead upon the path of aspiration by direct knowledge.
If we recall this feeling and combine it with our knowledge, we shall have
attained an enormous advantage. Let us, therefore, try to assimilate one of
the deepest mystical stories of the 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
established, 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 being 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 and 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 view objects
around us today, but our internal perception of the soul qualities in others
was much keener than it is now.
The individual Spirit feels itself an Ego and designates 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 feeling 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 become 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 ascent 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 who went through the Red Sea to enter the Promised Land, and of
Noah, who left his native place when 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 essential ideas. In the Garden of Eden our first parents did not think
for themselves. They obeyed unquestioningly 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, ung 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 instantly 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 Universal Spirit which is not the exclusive
property of anyone, and Alberich represents the foremost among mankind who
were impelled by the desire to conquer new worlds. They first became
ensouled by the indwelling Spirit and emigrated the the highlands above; but
when once in the clear atmosphere of the current Fifth Epoch, 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 regardless 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 is 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.
By appropriating a part of the Rhinegold, representing the Universal
Spirit and forming it into a ring symbolical of the fact that it (the
Spirit) has neither beginning nor end, the Ego came into existence as a
separate entity. Within the confines of this auric ring it is supreme
ruler, self-sufficient, and resents encroachment upon its domain. Thus, it
placed itself beyond the pale of fellowship. Like the prodigal son, it
wandered far from the Father, but even before it realized that it was
feeding upon the husks of matter, religion stepped in to guide it back to its
eternal home, to free it from the illusion and delusion incidental to
material existence, to redeem it from the death incurred in this phase of the
dense embodiment, and to show it the way to truth and life eternal.
In the Teutonic myth, the warders of religion are represented as gods.
Chief among them is Wotan, who is identical with the Latin Mercury, and
Wotansday or Wednesday, is still named in his honor. Freya, the Venus of
Norway, was goddess of beauty, who fed the other gods on the golden apples
which preserved their youths. Friday is her day. Thor, the Jupiter of the
Norsemen, is said to drive her car over the heavens and the noise then heard
is the thunder, and the lightning sparks that fly from his hammer when he
strikes at his enemies. Loge is the name of the god of Saturday. (Lorday
in Scandinavian, a derivation from lue, the Scandinavian name for flame.)
He is really not one of the gods, but related to the giants or nature
forces. His flame is not alone the physical flame, but is also a symbol of
illusion, and he, himself, is the spirit of deceit, sometimes currying favor
with the gods and betraying the giants, at other times deceiving the gods
and helping the giants to further his own schemes. Like Lucifer, the fiery
Mars Spirit, he is also a spirit of negation, but delights also in obstructing
life like the cold Saturn.
There is in northern mythology a reference to the still earlier cult
wherein the deities of the water were worshiped, but the gods we mentioned
superseded them, and are said to ride to the judgment seat every day over a
rainbow bridge, Bifrost. Thus, we see that this religion dates from the
dawn of the present epoch, when mankind had emerged from the waters of
Atlantis into the clear atmosphere of the Fifth Epoch — in which we are now loving-and
where they saw the rainbow for the first time.
It was said to Noah, when he led primitive mankind out of the Flood that
so long as the sign of the rainbow remained in the clouds, the alternating
cycles of summer and winter, night and day, should not cease, and the northern
myth also shows us the gods gathered at the rainbow bridge in the beginning
of this era. It and the gods remain until the moment when this phase of our
evolution is ended, an event which will be shown to be identical with the
description given in the Christian Apocalypse, which the Scandinavian myth
will materially help to explain.
Truth is universal, and unlimited. It knows no boundaries, but when the
Ego enveloped itself in a ring of separate vehicles which segregated it from
others, this limitation made it incapable of understanding absolute truth.
Therefore a religion embodying the fullness of pure truth would have been
incomprehensible to mankind and unsuited to help them. Hence, as a child
who goes to school and learns a few elementary lessons the first year to
prepare it for more complicated problems later, so humanity were given
religions of the most primitive nature to educate them to something higher
by easy stages.
Thus the warders of religion, the gods, are represented as desirous of
building a walled fortress so that they may entrench themselves behind that
wall and focalize their powers against the other faith. The Spirit cannot
be limited without enmeshing itself in materiality; therefore, the gods, on
the advise of Loge, the spirit of deceit and delusion, make a bargain with
the giants, Fafner, and Fasolt, (representing selfishness), to build the
wall of limitation. When that wall surrounds the gods they have lost the
universal light and knowledge; therefore, the myth tells us that part of
their payment to the builders of Valhal was to be the Sun and Moon.
Furthermore, when religion has thus limited itself behind the wall of
creed, the spirit of decay is introduced; it waxes old as a garment, and,
therefore, it is also said that Wotan (wisdom or reason), agreed to give the
giants, Freya, the goddess of beauty, who fed the gods on her golden apples
to preserve their youth. Thus, by listening to advise from Loge, the spirit
of deceit, the gods have sacrificed their light, their knowledge, and their
hope of eternal youth and usefulness. Still, as already said, this was in a
manner necessary, for mankind could not have grasped truth in its fullness
then; we cannot understand it even now.
The spiritual power of religion is symbolized by the magic wand of Aaron
in the Bible, by the magic spear of Parsifal in the Grail myth, and by the
spear of Wotan in the story of the Niebelung. To bind the bargain with the
giants, magic characters were cut in the handle of the spear, which was thus
weakened, and in that manner it is shown than religion loses in spiritual
power what it gains in material ways when it makes a bargain with the world
rulers and panders to the baser appetites.
According to the teaching of the Norsemen, those only who died in battle
were entitled to be taken to Valhal. Wotan desires none but the strong and
the mighty warriors. Those who died of illness or in peace upon their beds
were condemned to the realm of hell, the underworld. In this also there is a
great lesson, for none but the noble and the fearless who spend their days
fighting the battle of life to the very last breath are worthy of
advancement. The shirkers who love ease and peace, rather than the work of
the world, are not entitled to promotion in the school of life. It does
not matter where we work or what the line of our experience may be, so long
as we faithfully battle with the problems of life as they appear before
us. Neither will it suffice if we do this for a year or two and then lapse
into inactivity; we must keep on working and striving until the day of life
is done.
Thus the old Norse religion teaches the same lesson as Paul taught when
he counseled "patient persistence in well doing." Even if we realize that
we have not all truth, that we are placed under limitations by separateness,
the egoism symbolized by the Ring of Niebelung, and by creed and convention
symbolized by the Ring of the Gods, still if we fill our appointed niche to
the best of our ability throughout our whole life we shall be certain of
advancement in a future age. We shall see more clearly through the veil of
egoism when we willingly live the life where we have been placed, for the
Recording Angles make no mistakes. They have put us in that place where we
we have been given the lessons needed to prepare us for a greater sphere of
usefulness.
From what has been said, it is evident that the creed-bound condition of
the various churches-the insistence on dogma and ritual-are not, unmitigated
evils, as it may have appeared to many, but in reality the necessary outcome
of the limitations incidental to the material existence through the human
Spirit is now passing, as thus each class is being properly taken care of.
It receives as much truth as it can comprehend, and as is good for its
present development. There is not need of worrying about anyone. No one
can or will be lost, for, as in God we live, and move, and have our being,
so, if one were lost, a part of the Divine Author of our system would be
missing, an unthinkable proposition.
But while a great majority of mankind are thus being taken care of by the
orthodox religions, there always a few pioneers-some whose faculty of
intuition tells them of greater heights unscaled, who see the sunlight of
truth beyond the wall of creed. Their souls are starving on the husks of
dogmas, and they long ardently for the apples of youth, and love sold by the
gods to the giants. Even the gods are growing old rapidly, for no religion
which is devoid of love can ever hope to hold mankind for any length of time.
Therefore, the gods were forced to seek again the advice of Loge, the spirit
of deceit, hoping through his wiles to extricate themselves from the
dilemma. Loge tells then how Alberich, the Niebelung, has succeeded in
hoarding up an immense treasure by enslaving his brothers. With the consent
of the gods, he uses deceitful means to capture Alberich and forces him to
disgorge all his treasures. He then plays upon the avaricious nature of the
giants and finally succeeds in ransoming Freya.
Thus the curse of the Ring (egoism and selfishness) has tainted even the
gods. For the sake of the Ring (power), Alberich, the Niebelung, forswore
love. He oppressed his brothers and ruled them with an iron rod. Religion,
on its side, forswore love by the sale of Freya. It also stooped to deceit
to force the rulers of the world to pay tribute and when the Ring of the
Niebelung passed into the hands of the giants the evil fate followed it, for
one brother slays the other that he may be the sole possessor of the wealth
of the world.
The gods have indeed regained Freya, but she is no longer the pure
goddess of love. She has been prostituted; hence; she is but the semblance
of her former self and fails to satisfy those whose intuition sees deeper
than the surface; such are called Walsungs in the Scandinavian myth. The
first syllable is the derivation of the German word, walhlen, to choose or
the Scandinavian, vaelge. The last syllable means children. They are
children of desire for free will and choice, who want to choose their own
path and who seek to follow their own divine instinct.
"The Valkuerie" is the name of the second part of Wagner's great musical
drama, founded upon the northern myth of the Niegelungs, and the bearers of
the name were children of Wotan, as were also the Walsungs.
The appropriateness of this name will be at once apparent when we
understand that the mission of the Valuerie was to go to battles whether
fought between two or more, take the slain upon their horses, and carry
them to Valhal. Therefore, a battle field or a place of combat was called
Valplads, the place where Wotan, the god, chose the valiant ones who died
fighting the battle for truth (as they saw it), to be his companions in the
realm of bliss (as they conceived it). Brunhilde, the spirit of truth, was
therefore chief among the Valkueries, the leader of her sisters, the other
virtues. She was the favorite daughter of the god Wotan.
But when the gods had limited themselves and shut away the universality
of truth by the Ring of Creed and dogma — symbolized by Valhal — the Walsungs,
who are truth seekers first and foremost, rebelled. They manifest under
different aspects as shown by the names given them in the northern myth.
The root of their name is sieg, a German word which means victory, and it is
highly appropriate, for no matter what odds are against it, truths will win
in the end.
Siegmund, the courageous one, who is impelled to seek truth no matter
what the consequences, may be slain as the result of his audacity. We shall
hear how and why, presently. Sieglinda, his sister and later his wife, who
has the same inward urge but dares not openly follow it, may die in despair.
She transmits the hunger for the truth to their offspring Siegfried, he, who
through victory gains peace, so that what one generation of truth seekers
fails to accomplish, will eventually be achieved by their descendants, and
in the end truth will triumph over creed and stand supreme.
We are taking time by the forelock when relating or hinting at events
which will be unfolded in the beautiful tale before us, but we cannot
refrain from iterating and reiterating that glorious thought, "For now we see
through a glass darkly." Though the walls and limitations of physical
existence are about us in every direction, the time is coming when "we shall
see and know even as we are known."
When Siegmund, impelled by the uncontrollable desire for truth, leaves
Valhal, Wotan is enraged and in order to put a check on the independent
spirit of the Walsungs, he orders the marriage of Sieglinda to Hunding, who
is the spirit of convention. She swoons despairingly in his arms, for she
has not the courage to leave her ancestors as her brother had done. Thus
she is a fit symbol of those who, though they rebel in their innermost
natures, are married tot he conventions of the world and are afraid to make a
radical change from the established code of the church, for fear of what
people will think of them. Thus, though outraged in their innermost nature
and thwarted in their holiest ambitions, they continue to bear the yoke of
conventionality and go through the established church services for the sake
of appearance.
In the course of time, Siegmund comes by chance to the house of Hunding
and finds his sister whom at first he does not know, but when they have
recognized each other, he induces her to flee with him. They bout know
that this acts of theirs, this outrage against Hunding, the spirit of
convention, will not be condoned by the gods, and to fortify themselves in
the battle which they know is before them, they take with them a magical
sword called Nothung. Noth is need or distress, and ung, as we have already
seen, means child. Thus the sword is the child of distress, the courage
of despair. This sword had been buried to the hilt in Yggdrasil by no less a
person than Wotan, himself, against just such an emergency as this. In
order that we may thoroughly understand this beautiful symbol and the
seemingly paradoxical conduct of Wotan, it will be necessary to
elucidate the meaning of Yggdrasil, the World Ash, the tree of life and
being, as explained in the Scandinavian mythology.
According to their concept, this wonderful tree reached from Earth to
heaven. One of its roots was in the underworld with Hel, a terrible hag who
ruled over those who had died of disease and were not, therefore, qualified
to dwell with Wotan in Valhal. They represent the class of people who are
indolent and neglect to fight the battle of life to the last. Hel has three
children, who are closely akin to her and are always fighting the gods. who
have the welfare of man at heart. They are symbols of the elements which
make up the material world where death alone reigns. One is the Midgaard
Serpent, a prodigious monster encircling the Earth and biting its own tail:
it is the ocean. The other is the wolf Fenris, which is so subtle, yet so
strong, that nothing can hold him: He represents the atmosphere surrounding
the Earth and the winds which cannot be controlled. Loge, with whom we have
already become acquainted, is the spirit of fire, deceit, and illusion. The
other root of Yggdrasil is with the Forest Giants in chaos, whence this
whole universe originated. The third root is with the gods.
Under the root, which is with Hel, the Serpent, Nidhog, lies gnawing. It
is the spirit of envy and malice which is subversive of good: Nid means envy, and hog, to fell. Because Yggdrasil, the tree of life in
manifestation, lives by love, envy and malice would fell the tree and bring
it down to death and Hel. But under the root that is with the gods, is the
fountain, fountain, Urd, whence the three Norns, or Fates, fetch the
water of life — the spiritual impetus wherewith to water the tree and keep its
leaves fresh and green. The names of these three Norns are Urd, Skuld,
and Verdande. Urd is from the German, ur, the past, primordial, or virgin
state in relation to man and the universe. She spins upon her wheel the
thread of fate generated by us in the past; and Skuld, a name signifying debt,
is the second Norn, who represents the present. To her, Urd delivers the
thread of fate of past lives which we must expiate in this embodiment. It
is then given to Verdande, the third Norn, whose name is a derivation of
Werdende, the German word for becoming. She represents the future, and
when the thread of fate symbolizing the debt paid at the present time is
handed to her, she breaks it off piece by piece. Thus this wonderful
symbol tells just that when the causation generated in past lives has worked
itself into effects in this life, the debt is canceled for all time to come.
The northern mythology further tells us that besides these three chief
Norms, there were many others, and that one officiated at each birth and
took charge of the destiny of the child then born. We are also told that
these Norns, or Fates, did not work according to their own will but were
subject to the dictates of the invisible Orlog. The name is a corruption of
the word ur, meaning primordial, and log, law. Thus we see the northern
symbol teaches that the Norns were not subject to the gods, and that our
destiny is not ruled by caprice but by an inexorable law of Nature, the Law
of Cause and Effect.
Under the third root, which was with the Frost Giants, was the well of
Mime. The Frost Giants, or nature forces, had existed prior to the
establishment of the Earth. They had helped its formation and, therefore,
knew many things which were hidden from the gods. Therefore, even Wotan, the
god of wisdom, was wont to go to the well of Mime to drink therefore, that
he might receive a knowledge of the past. He also had to drink from the
fountain of Urd that he might renew his life.
Thus we see that the Hierarchies, who help us to evolve, are themselves
living to learn; and the very fact that they are learning shows their
liability to err, and, also the reason why Wotan, their chief, should provide
the sword, Nothung — the courage of despair — so that in an emergency those
against whom he erred might have a weapon wherewith to defend themselves.
Much more might be said about this wonderful World Ash, the Yggsdrasil, but
the student has now sufficient information to enable him to understand the
relation of the sword to that which follows.
When Siegmund and Sieglinda, fortified with the magic sword — the courage
of despair — leave the house of Hunding, the spirit of convention, to seek
truth in the wide world, the outraged Hunding needs not the command of Wotan
to pursue them with intent to kill. Wotan bids Brunhilde, the Valuerie, to
be invisibly present at the expected battle and fight for Hunding, the
spirit of conventionality. But the spirit of truth cannot fight against the
truth seeker, so Brunhilde sorrowfully refuses to comply with Wotan's
orders. When Siegmund meets Hunding in deadly combat and is about to vanquish
him, Wotan interposes his spear, and upon that the sword, Nothung, is
shattered and Siegmund, defenseless, is killed by a blow from Hunding.
Thus truth is ever upon the side of the truth seeker in his battle
against the conventionalities of the church and social customs. But when
the power of religion, which furnished him the courage of despair necessary
to stand up for his convictions, is pitted against the power of creed
symbolized by the spear of Wotan, many an earnest soul has been
vanquished, though not convinced. Siegmund may die, and Sieglinda may follow
him to the grave, broken-hearted, when, assisted by Brunhilde she has given
birth to Siegfried, the victor; for, as already said, the thirst for truth
once felt can never be quenched until it has gained satisfaction.
In the meantime, Wotan powerless to abandon Valhal, the Ring of Creed, is
forced to put away from himself Brunhilde, the spirit of truth, who has
disobeyed him; for it is a condition of creed that it be autocratic and
brook no gainsaying. But as all religions are inherently imbued by a spirit
of love and a sincere desire to benefit and uplift mankind, Wotan feels
an overwhelming sorrow at the step which is necessary for the continuance
of the policy he had adopted, and which he adheres to despite the heart-
rending pleadings of Brunhilde. It is a terrible thing to part company with
truth, and both feel this more keenly than words can express, when the poor
creed bound Wotan must perforce put Brunhilde to sleep, as he says: "Never to be wakened, until one shall come who is more free than I."
And in that saying he discloses the principal requirement in the quest of
truth. "Unless a man leave father and mother," said Christ, "He cannot
become my disciple." All limitations must have been swept away before we can
hope for success in the quest of truth.
We have seen that it is necessary to set aside all limitations of
religion, family, environment, and whatever else hinders in order to be able
to grasp truth, but there is still another great requirement, or one which
perhaps is comprehended in the first. We cling to our religion, our
friends, and our families through fear of standing alone. We obey
conventions because we fear to follow the dictates of the inner voice that
urges us on toward the higher things which are incomprehensible to the
majority; and therefore in reality, fear is the chief obstacle which prevents
us from getting at truth and living it.
This is also shown in the Ring of the Niebelung. Wotan decrees that
Brunhilde, the spirit of truth, is to be put to sleep, because he fears the
loss of his power if he retains her after she has rebelled against his
limitations and refuses to shield Hunding, the spirit of convention. He
pronounces her doom in sorrow, saying that she must remain asleep until one
more free than he, the god, shall waken her. "Perfect love casteth out all
fear," and only the fearless are free to love and to live truth. Therefore,
Brunhilde is put to sleep on a desolate rock, and around her burns forever a
circle of flame kindled by loge, the spirit of delusion. No one but the
free — the unfettered and fearless soul — can ever hope to penetrate that
circle of hallucination (conventionality) and live to love the reawakened
spirit of truth, ever lovely and young.
Thus the second part of the mystic drama ends with the abandonment of
truth, and the triumph of convention. Creed is firmly established on Earth.
Siegmund, the truth seeker, lies vanquished and dead. His sister-wife,
Sieglinda, also has paid with her life for entering the quest and it would
seem as if Brunhilde must sleep forever. Now the Walsungs have only one
representative, the orphan child Siegfried, who was left in the cave of
Mime, the Niebelung, by the dying mother, Sieglinda.
In time, however, the child grows up in youthful vigor, developing the
strength of a giant. Beautiful as a god, he is a strange contrast to Mime,
the ugly Niebelung, a dwarf who claims to be his father. This Siegfried can
scarcely believe, for when he looks about him in the forest, he sees that
the nestlings resemble their parents, that the young of all animals have the
same characteristics which are found in their parents. He alone is different
from the one who claims him as a son.
When with prodigious strength he has caught a bear, and leads it into the
cave of Mime, the latter is almost paralyzed with fear, an emotion utterly
unknown to Siegfried. Mime, one of the most cunning smiths among the
Niebelung, has forged sword after sword for the use of this young giant, but
each in turn has been shattered by the powerful arm that wielded it. Mime
has indeed tried to weld the sword Nothung, the child of distress, which was
shattered upon the spear of Wotan in the fatal fray between Siegmund and
Hunding. The fragments of this sword were brought by Sieglinda to the cave
of Mime, but no one who is a coward can either forge or wield the sword,
Nothung, the courage of despair; therefore, Mime, despite all his skill, has
failed every time he has tried. One day when Siegfried taunts him because
of his inability to make a sword that will stand, Mime brings out the
fragments of Nothung, and tells him that if he can weld it, it will serve
him well. Possessing that cardinal qualification of the trust seeker,
fearlessness, Siegfried accomplishes with unskilled hand what Mime has failed
to do. He forges anew the magic sword and is thus prepared for the quest of
truth and knowledge.
Though ages have passed since Alberich, the Niebelung, was forced to part
with the Ring as ransom to the gods, neither he nor his tribe have forgotten
the power wielded by its possessor. And the longing to regain the lost
treasure is still rife among all of them. For mankind, being inherently
spiritual and free, will never be reconciled to the loss of individuality
insisted upon under the regime of the church. Though, like Mime, they may
be imbued with an uncontrollable fear; though they may cringe and fawn
before the higher powers, as Alberich fawned before Wotan, they always,
whether subconsciously or otherwise, remember their spiritual heritage and
seek to recover their estate as free agents, unbound by creed or other
limitations.
To this end they scheme and plot in the most subtle manner, as symbolized
by the aid Mime gives Siegfried to forge anew the sword once shattered by
Wotan. He sees that the young truth seeker is fearless. He knows that
Fafner, one of the giants, who obtained the Ring from the gods, broods over
his treasure in the form of a huge dragon, awe inspiring in the extreme. He
can scarcely believe it possible for anyone to vanquish this monster, but he
believes that if it can be done, this fearless young giant, Siegfried, is
the only one able to accomplish the feat. It has, indeed, been said that
the one who forges Nothung, will slay him; and Mime trusts to his cunning
and hopes that if Siegfried kills the dragon, he, Mime, may be able to
obtain possession of the Ring of the Niebelung and become the master of the
world.
There is a very deep spiritual significance in this tale, namely, that of
the lower nature, plotting to use the higher self or its own vile purposes.
Siegfried (he, who through victory gains peace), is the higher self at that
stage of its pilgrimage where it has been left all alone, without kith or
kin, where it sees that the shape of clay symbolized by Mime is not part of
it, but of an entirely different race and breed, where it is ready to
continue its search for truth, attempted in previous lives as did Siegmund
and Sieglinda, from whom the indomitable courage, that knows neither fear
nor defeat, has been inherited.
But though the seeking soul may forsake the world, as did Hertzleide, the
mother of Parsifal, who gave birth to the truth seeker in a dense forest,
and as Sieglinda who bore the child, Siegfried, in the cave of Mime, the
lower nature follows, scheming to use the power of spirit for worldly ends.
Alas! how many have left the churches in despair because of creed, as
Siegmund left Wotan; who have gained a certain knowledge of the higher
things and have then misused their heavenly powers of hypnotism and mental
suggestion, to attract to themselves the goods of this world, seeking rather
the things of Earth which fetter than the treasures of heaven which free the
soul.
There has never been an age on Earth when this part of the great myth was
so generally enacted as it is today. There are many thousands of people who
represent in themselves, Siegfried and Mime — Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde. They
are roused to a greater or lesser realization of the powers of the spirit,
of their divine nature and attributes as Siegfried was, but the lower phase
of their nature, Mime, keeps on scheming for material benefit.
And whether we call this use of the divine powers, Christian, or by an
other name, it is not the science of the soul. We should be honest with
ourselves and recognize the fact, that He, who had not a place whereon to
lay His head, and who was the very embodiment of the attracting Christ
power, refused to use that power for His own benefit. Even at the point of
death He refrained, and it was said of Him that others He saved, but
Himself, He could not (would not) save because the Law of Sacrifice is
greater than the law of Self-preservation: "For what shall it profit a man,
though he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?"
The moment we set out upon the path in earnest, the lower nature is
doomed despite all its efforts of cunning to save itself. And when Mime
plans to send Siegfried against the dragon, Fafner, the spirit of desire, he
has in fact sealed his own fate; for when the soul has conquered the desire
for worldly possessions, we are dead to the world, even though we may still
live here and perform our work in the world. We are then in the world, but
not of it.
Led by Mime, Siegfried finds the giant Fafner guarding the cave where he
has hidden the hoard of the Niebelungs. The lower nature always urges the
higher to seek the material wealth of the world, seeking, thereby, to obtain
standing and power in society. It is, alas, all too common, this desire and
thirst for wealth and power! We are all like Mime, ready to risk our lives
in the quest of gold. And though Mime quakes at the very thought of being
near the dreadful dragon, he keeps on plotting, for he knows that when the
Ego, represented by the Ring of the Niebelung, is so enmeshed in the snares
of materiality that the body may be said to own it, when all its energies
are directed by the lower nature, there is no limit to the power it may
attain. But Siegfried, the fearless truth seeker, when he has vanquished the
dragon, representing the desire nature, also slays Mime who is emblematic of
the dense body.
Freed from the mortal coil, the Spirit is able to understand the language
of Nature. Intuitively it senses where truth, represented by Brunhilde, the
Valkuerie, is hidden, and following this intuition, represented in the myth
by a bird, he starts for the fire girt rock, to wake and to woo the sleeping
beauty. But though we may, by laying aside the physical body, enter the
realm where truth is to be found, the pathway is not by any means clear; for
Wotan, the warder of creed, stretches his spear across the path of
Siegfried, endeavoring to the last to dissuade or discourage the independent
searcher for truth. However, the power of creed, represented by the spear
of Wotan, was weakened when he bargained with the giants; in other words
when it appealed to the lower side of man's nature. And in token of this
weakening, magic characters were cut upon the shaft of the spear. This is
therefore, easily broken in twain at the first blow from Nothung, the courage
of despair.
When the truth seeker has come to the point here described, he will no
longer allow himself to be thwarted in his quest, whether the opposing power
be devils like Fafner or gods like Wotan. Every obstacle he removes with
ruthless hand for he has only one desire in the world, an overweaning craving
to know truth. Therefore, after shattering the spear of Wotan, he
presses onward, led by the bird of intuition, until he comes to he circle of
flame hiding Brunhilde, the sleeping spirit of truth. Neither is he daunted
at sight of loge's flames of illusion and hallucination. He plunges boldly
through, and behold! there lies that for which he has panted during many
lives. He stoops, gathers Brunhilde in his strong, yet tender arms, and
with a fervent kiss he awakens the spirit of truth from her age long sleep.
There are no words adequate to convey a conception of what the soul feels
when it stands in that presence, far above this world (where the veil of
flesh hides the living realities under a mask) also, beyond the world of
desire and illusion where fantastic and illusory shapes mislead us into
believing that they are something very different from what they are in
reality. Only in the Region of Concrete Thought, where the archetypes of
all things unite in that grand celestial choir which Pythagoras spoke of as
"the harmony of the spheres," do we find truth revealed in all its beauty.
But the Spirit cannot stay there forever. This truth and reality — so
ardently desired by everyone who has been driven to enter the quest by an
inward urge stronger than the ties of friendship, relationship, or any other
consideration — is but a means to an end. Truth must be brought down to this realm of physical form, in order that it may be of real value in the world's work. Therefore Siegfried, the truth seeker, must of a necessity leave the
rock of Brunhilde, return through the fire of illusion and re-enter the
material world to be tempted and tried, to prove whether he will be true to
the vows of love which pass between himself and the re-awakened Valkuerie.
It is a hard battle that is before him. The world is not ready for
truth, and however vehemently it may protest its desire in that direction,
it schemes and plots, by all means within its great power, to down anyone
who brings the truth to its doors; for there are few institutions that can
bear the dazzling brightness of its light.
Not even the gods can endure it, as Brunhilde knows to her sorrow, for
was she not exiled by Wotan, because she refused to use her power on the
side of convention! Any anyone who steps upon conventionalities, to uphold
truth, will find that the whole world is against him and that he must stand
alone. Wotan was her father and he professed to love her dearly. Yes, he
did love her in his way, but he loved the power symbolized by Valhal more.
The Ring of Creed, whereby he dominated humanity, was more desirable, in his
eyes, than Brunhilde, the spirit of truth; so he put her to sleep behind the
circle flame of illusion.
If such be the attitude of the gods, what then may be expected from men
who do not profess such high and noble ideals as th gods, the keepers of
religion, were supposed to inculcate into them? All this and more than we can
put into words — much that it will do the student good to meditate
upon — flashed upon the mind of Brunhilde in the moment of her parting from
Siegfried, and, in order to give him at least a chance in the battle of
life, she magnetizes, as it were, his whole body to make him invulnerable.
Every place is thus protected save one point on the back between the
shoulders. Here we have a case analogous to that of Achilles, whose body
was made invulnerable in all places save one of his heels. Thee is a great
significance in this fact; for as long as the soldier of truth wears
this armor, of which Paul speaks, in the battle of life, and boldly faces
his enemies, it is certain that, however hard he is beset, eventually he
will win. Because, by facing the world and baring his breast to the arrows
of antagonism, calumny, and slander, he shows that he has the courage of
his convictions, and a power higher than he, the power that is always
working for good, protects him no matter how great the onslaught he faces.
But woe be unto him, if at any time he turns his back! Then, when he is not
watching the onslaught of the enemies of truth, they will find the
vulnerable spot be it in the heel or 'twixt the shoulders. Therefore, it
behooves us and everyone else who loves truth, to take a lesson from this
wonderful symbology, and to realize our responsibility to always love truth above everything. Friendship, relationship, and all other considerations
should have no weight with us compared with this one great work with truth
and for truth. Christ, who was the very embodiment of truth, said to His
disciples, "They have hated me, and they will hate you."
So let us not deceive ourselves: The path of principle is a rugged road,
and strenuous is the labor of climbing. On the way we shall probably lose
caste with everyone near and dear to us. Though the world now professes to
grant religious freedom, the day of persecution has not yet ended. Creed
and dogmatism are still in power, ready to prosecute and persecute anyone
who does not go along the conventional lines. But so long as we face them
and pursue our path regardless of criticism truth will always come out
unscathed from the battle. It is only when we show ourselves to be cowards
and cravens, that these inimical forces can give us our death blow through
this vulnerable spot.
Another point: when Siegfried starts out from the rock of the Valkuerie
to re-enter the world, he gives to Brunhilde the Ring of the Niebelung.
this Ring, as you remember, was formed from the Rhinegold, representing the
Universal Spirit, by Alberich the Niebelung. And we also remember that he
could not shape this nugget until he had forsworn love; for friendship and
love ceased when the Universal Spirit was surrounded by the ring of egoism.
From that time the battle of life has been waged in all its fierceness: every
man's hand being against his brother because of his egoism, which impels each
to seek his own, regardless of the welfare of others.
But when the Spirit has found truth and has come in contact with the
divine realities, when it has entered the Region of Concrete Thought, which is
heaven, an has seen that one great verity — that all things are one and that
though they may seem separate here, there is an invisible thread uniting
each with all, when the Spirit has thus regained universality and love, it
cannot be separate any longer. So, when it leaves the realm of truth, it
leaves behind the feeling of separateness and self, symbolized by the Ring.
Thus it becomes universal in its nature. It knows neither kin nor country,
but feels like the much misunderstood Thomas Paine, when he said, "The world
is my country; to do good is my religion." This attitude of mind is
allegorically represented when Siegfried gives to Brunhilde the Ring of
the Niebelung.
As you will remember, the Valkueries were daughters of Wotan, the chief
god of the Norse mythology. They rode through the air on horses at great
speed, to any place where deadly combat, whether between two or a greater
number, was in progress. As soon as a warrior fell dead they lifted him
tenderly to their saddles and carried him to Valhal, and abode of th gods,
where he was resuscitated and lived in bliss forever after. You remember,
also, that the name Valkuerie was interpreted as — chosen by acclamation.
those who fought the battle of life to the very end were chosen by
acclamation to be the companions of the gods.
Brunhilde as chief of these daughters of Wotan, and her horse Grane, was
the swiftest of the steeds. This animal, which had thus faithfully carried
the spirit of truth, she gave to her husband; for truth may ever be considered the bride of the one who has found it. The horse, therefore, is
symbolical of the swiftness and decision wherewith one who has married truth
is able to choose aright and discern truth from error — only, provided he remains faithful.
Thus with the love of truth in his heart, and mounted upon the steed of
discernment, Siegfried starts out to fight the battle of truth and bring the
world captive to the feet of Brunhilde. Heaven and Earth hang in the
balance, for he may revolutionize the world if he is faithful and
courageous; but if he forgets his mission and becomes enmeshed in the sphere
of illusion, the last hope of redeeming the world is gone. The twilight of the gods is close at hand, when the present order of things shall be done
away, when the heavens shall melt in the fiery heat so that out of the travail
of Nature a New Heaven and a New Earth may be born, wherein righteousness as
a garment shall clothe all and everything.
Let us now turn our eyes from heaven, from Siegfried and Brunhilde, to
Earth, where the world, which the truth is to set free, waits for the coming
hero. The northern myth introduces us to the court of Gunther, a king honest
and upright according to the standards of the world. Gutrune, his sister,
is the highest lady in the land, her brother being unmarried. Among the
courtiers there is Hagen, a name which means hook, signifying inherent
selfishness. He is scion of the Niebelungs, related to Alberich who formed
the fatal Ring. Ever since the days when that Ring passed out of their
possession, the Niebelungs have kept close watch upon its possessors:
first, Wotan, who tricked Alberich and robbed him of the Ring, then Fafner
and Fasolt, the giants who had built Valhal for Wotan, and who forced him to
give them the Ring in part payment to ransom Freya, the goddess of love and
youth, whom Wotan had prostituted and sold for the sake of power: then when
Fafner slew Fasolt, the Niebelungs watched closed the cave where Fafner lay
concealed, brooding over the hoard of the Niebelung as a huge dragon. And
Mime, the foster father of Siegfried, paid with his life for scheming to
obtain possession of the coveted treasure. Nor was Siegfried safe from their
vigilant watch, save when he was at the rock of the Valkuerie; for no
Niebelung, nor one who is a cur or coward, can ever penetrate beyond the
circle flame of illusion into the realm of truth. Therefore, the Niebelungs
do not know what has become of the Ring when Siegfried emerges anew into the
world, though, of course, they surmise that it has been left with Brunhilde,
and instantly commence plotting how to obtain it.
The court of Gunther lies directly in the path of Siegfried, and Alberich
speeds ahead and informs Hagen that the last known possessor of the Ring is
coming. Together, they scheme how to find out its whereabouts and obtain
possession, but each in his black heart, also plots how to outwit the other
and obtain the treasure for himself alone; for there is no honor in the
battle of the separate self; each is against all others regardless of who
they are. Though in the world we find co-operation for a common purpose,
the question that is uppermost in the mind of every one who participates is:
What can I get out of it? Unless this is plain and a personal reward is in
sight, the great majority of mankind are unwilling to work. The apostle
tells us, "not to be concerned with the things for self alone, but also, to be mindful of the things of others." And we have given intellectual assent
in the Christian countries, but, alas! How few are willing to live up to the
ideal of unselfish service.
"Birth is but a sleep and a forgetting.
The soul that rises with us, our life's star,
Has elsewhere had its setting,
And cometh from afar." — Wordsworth.
When Siegfried leaves the rock of the Valkuerie and reaches the worldly
court of Gunther, he is given a drink calculated to make him forget all
about his past life and Brunhilde, the spirit of truth, whom he had won for
his very own.
It is usually supposed that the doctrine of rebirth is taught only in the
ancient religions of the Orient, but a study of the Scandinavian mythology
will soon rout that misconception. Indeed, they believed in both rebirth
and the Law of Cause and Effect as applied to moral conduct, until
Christianity clouded these doctrines, for reasons given in The
Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception (p. 167). And it is curious to read of the
confusion caused when the ancient religion of Wotan was being superseded by
Christianity. Men believed in rebirth in their hearts, but repudiated it
outwardly, as the following story told of Saint Olaf, King of Norway, one of
the earliest and most zealous converts to Christianity, will show; when
Asta, the Queen of King Harold, was in labor but could not bring to birth, a
man came to the court with some jewels, of which he gave the following
account: King Olaf Geirstad, who had reigned in Norway many years before and
was the direct ancestor of Harold, had appeared to him in a dream and
directed him to open the great earth-mound in which his body lay, and having
severed it from the head with a sword, to convey certain jewels, which he
would find in the coffin, to the queen, whose pains would then cease. The
jewels were taken into the queen's chamber, and soon after she was delivered
of a male child, whom they named Olaf. It was generally believed that the
Spirit of Olaf Geirstad had passed into the body of the child, who was named
after him.
Many years after, when Olaf had become King of Norway, and had embraced
Christianity, he rode one day, as he often did, by the mound where his
ancestor lay, and a courtier, who was with him at the time asked,
"Is it true, my lord, that you once lay in this mound?"
"Never," replied the king, "has my Spirit inhabited two bodies."
"Yet, it has been reported that you have been heard to say, on passing this
mound, 'Here was I. Here I lived.'"
"I have never so said," returned the king, "and never will I say so."
He was much discomfited, and rode hastily away, presumably to avoid
discussion of an inward conviction which all the dogmas of the new faith
could not eradicate.
As a matter of fact, all ancient people, whether in the East or in the
West, knew much about birth and death which has been forgotten in modern
times, because second sight was more prevalent then. To this day, for
instance, many peasants in Norway assert ability to see the Spirit passing
out of the body at death, as a long narrow white cloud, which is, of course,
the vital body; and the Rosicrucian teaching — that the deceased hover around
their earthly abode for some time after death, that they assume a luminous
body and are sorely afflicted by the grief of dear ones — was common
knowledge among the ancient Northmen. When the deceased King Helge of
Denmark materialized to assuage the grief of his widow, and she exclaimed in
anguish "The dew of death has bathed his warrior body,' he answered:
" 'Tis thou, Sigruna,
Art cause alone,
That Helge is bathed
With dew of sorrow.
Thou wilt not cease thy grief,
Nor dry the bitter tears.
Each bloody tear
Falls on my breast,
Icy cold. They will not let me rest."
Students, when they realize the fact of rebirth, generally wonder why the
memory of past lives is blotted out, and many are filled with an almost
overpowering desire to know the past. They cannot understand the benefit
derived from the lethal drink of forgetfulness, and they look with envy at
people who claim to know their past lives — when they claim to have been
kings, queens, philosophers, priests, et cetera. there is, however, a most
beneficent purpose in this forgetfulness, for no experience is of value in
life except for the impress which it leaves by the purgatorial or heavenly
post-mortem experience. This impress then acts in such a manner that at the
proper time it directs, warns, or urges a certain line of action, and this
warning, or urge, though dissociated from the experience, or rather for the
reason that it is dissociated from the experience wherefrom it was
extracted, acts with a quickness greater than that of thought.
To make this point clear we may perhaps liken this record, graven upon
our subtler vehicles, to a phonograph record, which playing, will cause a
battery of tuning forks placed near it to vibrate as each note is struck.
From the outward point of view there seems to be no reason why a certain
indentation on a phonographic record should correspond to a certain one on the
tuning fork, and when the needle falls into that indentation, a definite
sound should be produced which sets the tuning fork vibrating. But whether
we understand it or not, demonstration shows that there is a tie of tone
between that little indentation and the tuning fork. And this does not depend
upon a knowledge of how the impress came to be imprinted on the record, or
what caused the tuning fork to respond to that vibration. It is there,
whether we know all the facts about it, or not.
Similarly, when we have had a certain experience in life, be it joyful or
the reverse, it is condensed in the post-mortem experience, leaving an
impress upon the soul to warn, if the experience is purgatorial; to urge, if
heavenly. And in a later life, when an experience comes up similar to the
one which caused the impress, the vibration is sensed by the soul, it awakens
the tone of pain or pleasure, as the case may be, in the record of the past
life, far more speedily and accurately than if the experience itself were
called up before our mind's eye. For we might not, even at the present time,
be able to see the experience in its true light while we are hampered by the
veil of flesh, but the fruit of the experience, gathered in heaven or hell,
tells us unerringly whether to emulate our past, or shun it.
Moreover, supposing we did know our past lives: that by our present
endeavors to live well and worthily we had acquired that faculty. Supposing
that we had lived lives of debauchery, cruelty, crime, and selfishness! If
people now despised us accordingly, we would then hold that they ought not
to judge us by the past — that they were wrong in ostracizing us. We would
contend that our present life of worthy endeavor should be made the basis of
judgment, to the exclusion of former conditions, and in this we should be
perfectly right. But then, for the same reason, why should we claim honor
in the present life, adulation or admiration, because in the past life we
were kings and queens? Even if it were true that we had held such
positions, why should we lay ourselves open to the ridicule of skeptics by
telling such stories? So, whether we have memory of our past lives or not,
it is better to concentrate our efforts upon the highest possibilities of
today.
There is no doubt, that one who is able to search the Memory of Nature,
and who does so for the sake of investigation in connection with the
progress and evolution of man, will, at some time or other, come into touch
with glimpses of his or her own past. But a true servant who really feels
himself to be a laborer in the vineyard of Christ, will never allow himself
to swerve from the path of service and follow the trail of curiosity. The
Disciple who receives instructions from the Elder Brothers, is warned at the
first Initiation never to use his power to gratify curiosity, and on all
subsequent visits to the Temple this idea is dinned into his ears.
The distinctions between the legitimate and illegitimate use of spiritual
powers are so fine and so subtle, that, as one grows, the restrictions
whereby one seems beset, multiply to such an extent, that were the tale
told to others, ninety out of a hundred would say: "But what is the use
then of having spiritual sight or of being able to leave the body? When you
are so restricted, it seems that the possibility of trespassing is
multiplied to such an extent, that there is scarcely any use of having these
faculties." Nevertheless, they are of great value, and the responsibility
is only the natural result of added growth.
An animal takes freely anything that it wishes: it commits no sin and is
not held responsible for its action, because it knows no better. But as
soon as the idea of "mine" and "thine" has been imprinted upon our
consciousness, then also the responsibility comes. As our knowledge grows,
so does our responsibility; and the finer the soul qualities, the finer
the distinctions between right and wrong. This we observe in our daily
lives, that the standards of the permissible or non-permissible vary
according to the quality of each individual.
And when we aspire to that power whereby we may know the past, we shall
find that we are no more justified in using this power for aggrandizement,
than we would be justified in using it to obtain worldly wealth or power.
So the life, or the lives, we have led are hidden from us for a purpose, until
we know how to unlock the door; and when we have the key we shall probably
not want to use it.
For that reason, then, Siegfried is given the lethal drink the moment he
enters the court of Gunther, and straightway he forgets about his past life
with Mime, the dwarf, who claimed him as a son. He forgets how he forged
the magic sword, "the courage of despair," which stood him in such good
stead in the fight with Fafner, the spirit of passion and desire. He
forgets that he had thus won the Ring of the Niebelung, the emblem of
egoism, whereby he gained knowledge of his true spiritual identity and slew
Mime, the personality, who wrongfully claimed to be his progenitor. He
forgets how, as a free Spirit undaunted by fear, he broke the spear of
Wotan, the warder of creed, and followed the bird of intuition to the
abode of the sleeping spirit of truth. The forgets his marriage to her
and the vow of unselfishness, implied when he gave her the ring.
But each and every one of these important events has left its impress
upon his soul, and now it is to be tested: whether that impress has been
deep or superficial. Temptation comes to us, life after life, until the
treasure laid up in heaven has been tested and tried by temptation on
Earth — whether or not it will withstand the moth of corruption. After the
Baptism, when the Spirit of Christ had descended into the fleshy body of
Jesus, it was taken into the wilderness of temptation to prove its weakness
or its strength. And, similarly, after each heavenly experience we must
expect to be brought back to Earth, that it may be learned whether we shall
stand or fall in the furnace of affliction.
When Siegfried reaches the court of Gunther, Gutrune, the fair sister of
the king hands him the magic cup of forgetfulness. Forthwith, he loses
memory of the past and of Brunhilde, the spirit of truth, and stands a naked
soul ready to fight the battle of life. But he is armed with the sublimated
essence of former experience. The sword of Nothung, the courage of despair,
wherewith he fought greed and creed symbolized by Fafner, the dragon, and
Wotan the god, is still with him; also Tarncap, or the helmet of illusion,
which is an apt symbol of what we in modern times call hypnotic power, for
whoever put this magic cap on his head appeared to others in whatever shape
he desired; and he has Brunhilde's horse Grane, discernment, whereby he,
himself, might always perceive truth and distinguish it from error and
illusion. He still has powers which he may use for good or evil according
to choice.
As we have said previously, our idea of what truth is changes as we
progress. We are gradually climbing the mountain trial of evolution, and as
we do phases of truth appear which we never before perceived; and what is
right at one stage, is wrong at another. Though, whenever we are in the
flesh we see through the veil of illusion symbolized by Loge's flame which
encircles the rock of Brunhilde, her swift charger Grane, discernment is
also with us; and is we only give him free rein, the material brain mind,
which is charged with the lethal drink of forgetfulness, can never gain the
ascendancy over the Spirit.
The early Atlantean Epoch, when mankind lived as guileless "Children of
the Mist" (Niebelung) in the foggy basins of the Earth, is represented in
the Rhinegold The later Atlantean time is an age of savagery, where mankind
has forsworn love, as Alberich did, and forms "the Ring" of egoism, where it
devotes its energies to material acquisitions symbolized by "the hoard" of
the Niebelung, over which giants, gods, and men fight with savage brutality
and low cunning, as set forth in the "The Valkuerie."
The early Fifth Epoch marks the birth of the idealist, symbolized as the
"Walsungs" (Siegmund, Sieglinda, and Siegfried), a new humanity which aspires
with a sacred ardor to new and higher things — valorous knights who had the
courage of their convictions and were ever ready to fight for truth as they
saw it, and to give their lives as forfeit to uphold their heartfelt
convictions. Thus the age of realistic savagery gave place to an era of
idealistic chivalry.
We are now in the latter part of the current Fifth Epoch. The truth seekers of
the past have again left the fire girt rock of Brunhilde. We have again
assumed the veil of flesh and partaken of the lethal drink, and we are today
actually playing the last part of the great epic drama, "The Twilight of the
Gods," which is identical in its import with our Christian Apocalypse. "The
gospel of the Kingdom" has been preached to us, "the Way, the Truth, and the
Life" has been opened to us, as it was to Siegfried; and we are on trial
now, as he was at Gunther's court, to see if we will live as "married to
truth," or whether we will drag her from her retreat and prostitute her, as
Siegfried did. In order to gain the hand of Gutrune, he wrested the emblem
of egoism, the Ring of the Niebelung, from Brunhilde's hand and put it on
his finger again; he bound her and carried her to Gunther to be his wife; he
prostituted her, and himself committed adultery with Gutrune — for having
once married truth, it is spiritual adultery to seek the honors of the
world.
Heaven and Earth are outraged at this colossal betrayal of truth. The
great World-Ash, the tree of life and being, shakes at its root, where Urd,
Skuld, and Verdande, the past, present, and future, spin the thread of fate.
It grows dark on Earth; Hagen's spear finds the only vulnerable point in
Siegfried's body — his life is the forfeit, and as the highest ideal of the
age has failed, there is no use in perpetuating the existing order of
things. Therefore, Heimdal, the heavenly watchman, souls his trumpet, and
the gods ride in solemn procession over the rainbow bridge for the last
time, to meet the giants in final battle involving the destruction of heaven
and Earth.
This is a very significant point: At the opening of the drama we find
the Niebelungen "at the bottom of the river." Alberich later forges "the
Ring" in fire, which can only burn in the clear atmosphere such as we have
in the Fifth, post-Atlantean age. During this age the gods also hold their sacred councils
at the rainbow-bridge, which is the reflection of the heavenly fire. When
noah brought the original Semites through "the Flood," he kindled the fire.
"The bow" was then set in the cloud to remain for the age and during that
time it was covenanted that the alternating cycles, summer and winter, day
and night, et cetera, should not cease. In the Apocalypse (IV:3), John is
offered instruction concerning "things which must be hereafter," by "One
having a rainbow around Him"; and later (X:160, a mighty Angel with a rainbow
on its head solemnly proclaims the end of time. Thus it is plain from the
northern myth and the Christina teaching, that the epoch began when the bow
was set in the cloud; when the bow is removed the epoch will end and a new
condition of things physical and spiritual, will be ushered in.
The other phenomenon attending this time of trouble is set forth in the
ancient myth. Loge, the spirit of illusion, has three children: the
Midgaard Serpent which encircles the Earth, biting its own tail, is the
ocean which refracts and distorts every object immersed therein. Men fear
the treacherous element; their cheeks have always paled at the thought of
what it may do when unleashed. The wolf Fenris, the atmosphere, is also a
child of illusion (optical), and the dread roar of the tempest may strike
fear into the stoutest heart. Hel, death, is the third of loge's children,
and the "queen of terrors." Before man entered concrete existence, as
described in the beginning of the great myth and in Genesis, his consciousness
was focused in the spiritual worlds where the illusive elements, Loge
(fire), Fenris (air), and the Serpent (water), are nonexistent; hence, death
also was an unknown quantity. But during the present epoch when the
constitution of the human body is subject to the action of the elements,
death also holds sway.
At the sound of the trumpet of Heimdal, all the factors of destruction
press forward to the plain Vigrid, the counterpart of Armageddon, where the
gods of creed and their sworn supporters have assembled to make a last
stand. The sons of Muspel (physical fire), press forward from the south,
demolishing the rainbow bridge. The Frost Giants advance from the north.
With an awful roar, Fenris, the tempest-driven atmosphere, rushes upon the
Earth. So terrific is its velocity that the friction generates fire, hence
it is said that its lower jaw is upon the Earth, its upper reaches the Sun,
and fire streams from its nostrils. It swallows Wotan, the god in charge of
the age of air, when the bow was in the cloud. The Midgaard Serpent or
watery element is vanquished by Thor, the god of thunder and lightning, but
when the electrical discharges have finally disposed of the element, water,
there can be no thunder and lightning, hence the northern myth informs us
that Thor dies of the fumes from the Serpent. In our Christian Apocalypse
we also hear of thunders and lightnings, and are told that finally "there
shall be no more sea."
But as the Phoenix arises rejuvenated and beautiful from its ashes, so
also a New Earth, fairer and more ethereal, was seen by the ancient prophetess
to arise from the great conflagration where "the elements melt with fervent
heat" — "Gimle," she called it. Nor was it without population, for while
the great conflagration was in progress a man and a woman called Life and
Liftharaser (life means life) were saved and from them springs a new humanity
which lives in peace and close to God.
"A hall I see,
More brilliant than the sun,
Roofed with gold.
On the summit of Gimle,
There shall live
A virtuous race,
An enjoy blessedness
To eternity.
"Thither cometh the Mighty One — all — Father,
To the council of the gods,
In His strength from above.
He who thinketh for all,
Issueth judgments;
He causeth strife to cease,
And establisheth peace
To endure forever."
Thus the ancient northern myth teaches, but from a different angle, the
same truths as found in greater fullness in the Christian Scriptures from
Genesis to the Apocalypse, and it is important that we should realize the
truth of these tales. There are, alas, too many in the class described by
Peter as saying: "Where is the promise of His coming? For since the
fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were in the beginning."
There are few who realize the import of the statement in the second chapter
of Genesis, that "a mist went up from the ground and watered the earth
before it rained," and that thus the children of the mist must have been
physiologically different from the man of today who breathes air since "the
Flood," when the mist condensed and became the sea. But just as sure as
these changes happened in the past, so there is now another change
impending. True, it may not come in our time — "that hour knoweth no man,
neither the Angels, neither the Son," and repeatedly the warning of Noah is
held up before us in this connection. In that day they ate and drank,
married and were given in marriage, but suddenly the waters engulfed them
and all who had not evolved the physiological requisites, lungs, necessary
to live in the new condition perished. The Ark carried the pioneers safely
through the catastrophe.
To make the next change safely, a Wedding Garment is required, and it is
of utmost importance that we should work upon it. The soma psuchicon or
"soul body" which Paul mentions (I Cor. XI :44), is an etheric vehicle of
paramount importance; for when the present elements have been dissolved in
the impending change, how shall we survive if we can function only in a
dense body as now!
It is exactly the mission of the Rosicrucian Order working through the Rosicrucian Fellowship, to promulgate a scientific method of development suited particularly to the Western people whereby this Wedding Garment may be wrought, so that we may hasten the day of the Lord.
In this drama we deal again with one of the ancient legends. It was
given to humanity by the divine Hierarchies who guided us along the path of
progress by pictorial terms so that mankind might subconsciously absorb the
ideals for which, in later lives, they were to strive.
In ancient times love was brutal; the bride was bought or stolen or taken
as a prize in war. Possession of the body was all that was desired,
therefore woman was a chattel, prized by man for the pleasure she afforded
him, and for that only. the higher, finer faculties in her nature were
given a chance of expression. This condition had to be altered or human
progress would have stopped. The apple always falls close to the tree.
Anyone born from a union under such brutal conditions must be brutal; and,
if mankind were to be elevated, the standard of love had to be raised.
Tannhauser is an attempt in that direction.
This legend is also called "The Tournament of the Troubadours," for the
minstrels of Europe were the educators of the Middle Ages. They were
wandering knights, gifted with the power of speech and song, who journeyed
from land to land, welcomed and honored in court and castle. They had a
powerful influence in forming the ideas and ideals of the day, and in the
Tournament of Song held in Wartburg Castle, one of the problems of that
day — whether woman had a right to her own body or not, a right to protection
against licentious abuse by her husband, whether she was to be considered a
companion to be loved as soul to soul or as a slave bound to submit to the
dictates of her master — was the question to be decided.
Naturally, at each change there are always those who stand for the old
things against the new, and champions of both sides took part in that battle
of song in Wartburg Castle.
The question is still rife. It is still unsettled with the majority of
mankind, but the principle enunciated is true, and only as we conform to
this principle by elevating the standards of love, can a better humanity be
born. This is particularly essential to one who is aiming to lead a higher
life. Though the principle seems so self-evident it is not even yet agreed
to by all who make high professions. In time everyone will learn that only
as we regard woman as the equal of man can mankind truly be elevated, for
under the Law of Rebirth the soul is reborn alternately in both sexes, and
the oppressors of one age become the oppressed of the next.
The fallacy of a double standard of conduct which favors one sex at the
cost of the other should be at once apparent to anyone who believes in the
succession of lives whereby the soul progresses from impotence to
omnipotence. It has been amply provide that, far from inferior to man, woman
is at least his equal and very often his superior in many of the mental
occupations; though that does not appear plainly for the drama.
The legend tells us that Tannhauser, who represents the soul at a certain
stage of development, has been disappointed in love, because its object,
Elizabeth, was too pure and too young to be even approached with a request
that she yield to him. Yearning with passionate desire, he attracts
something of an identical nature.
Our thoughts are like tuning forks. They awaken echoes in others who are
capable of responding to them, and the passionate thought of Tannhauser
brings him, therefore, to that which is called "the Mountain of Venus."
Like A Midsummer Night's Dream of Shakespeare, this story of how he finds
the Mountain of Venus, of how he is taken in by this lovely goddess, and is
kept in passion's chains by her charms, is not entirely founded upon fancy.
There are Spirits in the air, in the water, and in the fire; and under
certain conditions they are contacted by man. No so much perhaps in the
electric atmosphere of America, but over all of Europe, particularly in
the north, there broods a mystic atmosphere which has somewhat attuned
the people to the seeing of these elementals. The goddess of beauty, or
Venus, here spoken of, is really one of the etheric entities who feed upon
the fumes of low desire, in the gratification of which the creative force
is liberated in copious quantities. Many of the Spirit controls which
take possession of mediums and incite them to laxity of morals and abuses,
who act as their soul lovers and seriously weaken their victims, belong to
this same class which is exceedingly dangerous, to say the least.
Paracelsus mentions them as "incubi" and "succubi."
The opening scene of Tannhauser introduces us to a licentious debauch in
the cave of Venus. Tannhauser is kneeling before the goddess who is
stretched on a couch. He wakens as if from a dream, and his dream has
inculcated a longing to visit the Earth above again. this he tells the
goddess Venus who answers:
"What foolish plaint! Art weary of my love?
By sorrow once thy heart was crushed above.
Up minstrel, seize thy harp and sing of bliss divine,
For love's chief treasure, love's goddess is thine."
Inflamed with new ardor Tannhauser seizes harp and sings her praise:
"All hail to thee! Undying fame attend thee.
Paeans of praise to thee be ever sung.
Each soft delight thy bounty sweet did lend me,
Shall wake my harp while time and love are young;
For love's sweet joy, and satisfaction's pleasure,
My sense did thirst, my heart did crave;
And thou, whose love a God alone can measure,
Gave me thyself, and in this bliss I lave.
But mortal am I, and a love divine,
Too changeless is to mate with mine.
A god can love without cessation,
But under laws of alteration,
Our share of pain as well as pleasure,
We mortals need in changing measure.
Too full of joy, again I long for pain,
So, Queen, I cannot here remain."
When mankind emerged from Atlantis, and came into the air of the current Fifth Epoch, the
rainbow stood for the first time in the sky as the sign of the new age. At
that time it was said that as long as this bow was in the clouds the seasons
would not cease to change; day and night, summer and winter, ebb and flood,
and all the other alternating measures of Nature would follow one another in
unbroken succession. In music there may not always be harmony. Discord
once in a while comes in to give appreciation of the melody which follows.
Thus it is with the question of pain and sorrow, of joy and happiness: they are also measures of alternation. We cannot live in one without craving the
other, any more than we could remain in heaven and gather experiences that
are only to be found upon Earth. And it is this inward urge, this swing of
the pendulum from joy to sorrow and back again, which drives Tannhauser from
the cave of Venus that he may again know the strife and struggle of the
world; that he may there gain the experience which sorrow alone can give and
forget the pleasures which bring to him no soul power. But it is
characteristic of the lower forces, however, that they always seek to
influence the soul against its will; that they always use every endeavor to
keep it away from the path of rectitude; and so Venus who stands as the
representative of these powers in the drama of Tannhauser, warningly and
dissuasively says:
"In dust thy soul will soon be humbled,
Adversity thy pride will fell,
Then crushed in spirit, ardor crumbled,
Thou'lt plead again to feel my spell."
But Tannhauser is firm in his purpose. the urge within him is so strong
that nothing can keep him back, and though he still feels the spell, he
exclaims with great fervor:
"While I have life, but thee my harp will praise,
No meaner theme will e'er my song inspire;
Thou spring of beauty and of gentle grace,
With sweetest songs dost quicken love's desire;
The fire thou kindlest in my heart,
An altar flame will burn alone for thee,
An though in sorrow now from thee I part,
Thy champion I shall ever be.
But I must forth, the life of earth I crave,
Here I must aye remain a slave;
I thirst for freedom though my death it be,
Therefore, O Queen, from thee I flee!"
Thus when Tannhauser leaves the cave of Venus he is the pledged champion
of the low and sensual side of love; and this he goes out into the world to
teach, for that is the nature of mankind; whatever the heart feels, must out.
Knowing the country well, he at once turns his steps toward Wartburg
where a number of minstrels are always staying with the lord and lady of the
manor, who to a very large extent are patrons of minstrelsy always anxious
to be entertained, and always lavish with their gifts.
After awhile he meets a band of minstrels who are walking in the woods,
and these, his former friends, are surprised that they have not seen him for
so long. They ask him where he has been, but Tannhauser, knowing that there
is a general sentiment against being with the lower elemental forces in
Nature, hides his whereabouts during the period of his absence from them, by
giving an evasive answer. He is then told by the minstrels that there is to
be a tournament of the troubadours at the castle and is invited to go with
them.
Hearing that the subject of the song contest is to be love, and
furthermore, that the prize will be given to the winner by the hand of the
beautiful daughter of the lord, namely Elizabeth, (the lady Tannhauser has
loved so ardently and who so inflamed his soul in past days that it drove him
to the cave of Venus) he hopes by the ardor with which he is inspired, to
induce the beautiful maiden to hear his plaint. As we always reap a harvest
of pain whenever we go contrary to the laws of progress, Tannhauser, by this
act, is sowing the seed that will one day bring him the harvest of pain he
coveted in the cave of Venus.
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