MOTHER MARY

In the early days of Atlantis, Mary, the embodiment of the Mother Ray, served in the Temple of Truth where, as priestess of the Most High God, she tended the emerald fires of the fifth ray.

Serving under the Masters of Truth, Mary, together with other temple virgins, studied the healing arts and submitted to the disciplines required of every soul who desires to magnify the Consciousness of the Lord.

Working with the laws governing the flow of God's energy from the planes of Spirit to the planes of Matter, she learned that all disease, decay, and death are caused by an arresting of the flow of Light at some point in the four lower bodies of man and that this clogging of energy results from his misuse of the Sacred Fire with its attendant karma.

She learned that the cure for disease is the harmonization of the flow through the Light-centers in the lower bodies, whereas the reversal of the processes of death and decay is effected by the initiation of spirals of the resurrection flame within the chalice of the heart.

Her mentors showed her how, once ignited, these spirals are expanded to include the entire being and consciousness until man becomes a pulsating sphere of white fire, the victor over hell and death, the Incorruptible One.

Thus long ago in the Temple of Truth, where religion and science stood as pillars of Alpha and Omega, Mary experimented with the laws of flow that also govern the science of precipitation.

Did she then know that in another life she would be chosen to bear the Son of God who would demonstrate these laws in the changing of the water into wine, the healing of the withered hand, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and many other so-called miracles by which he would introduce to the world the supreme methodology of the Sacred Science?

In all of her incarnations Mary worked closely with her twin flame, the Archangel Raphael. He remained in heaven (the plane of Spirit) to focus the energies of Alpha while she made her abode on earth (the plane of Matter), there to focus the energies of Omega.

Thus together they fulfilled the law of their God-identity, their Sphere of Being, proving that As Is Above, So IS Below God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent.

With each life opportunity Mary developed greater concentration upon the Image Most Holy of the Father who appeared to her as the I AM Presence.

Her consecration to the immaculate concept of the Son became intensified with each passing day while she perfected her four lower bodies as vehicles for her soul's expression of the Holy Spirit. Her face shone with its inner Light and her garments flowed to the rhythm of the Flame.

It was her magnification of the Christ Light and of the Mother Flame that actually sustained the healing focus in the Temple of Truth, and it was through her daily devotions that its emanations were expanded throughout Atlantis.

One with the Cosmic Virgin, she remained a temple virgin during her entire embodiment and left a focus and a flame that shall rise again in the New Atlantis to enshrine the fundamentals of healing mastery in the hearts of those who under the aegis of the Law would be the true healers of the race.

In the days of the prophet Samuel, Mary was called of the Lord to be the wife of Jesse and the mother of his eight sons. Ever fulfilling her role as the Mother Ray, Mary, in this incarnation of her soul on earth, magnified the Light of the seven rays of the Christ in the first seven sons of Jesse.

But in the youngest, David, she glorified not only the full complement of virtues from the prism of the Lord, but also the majesty and mastery of the eighth ray, which David exemplified in his reign and extolled in his psalms.

The Birth of the Mother of Jesus

In her final embodiment, "the Blessed and Ever Glorious Virgin Mary, sprung from the royal race and family of David, was born in the city of Nazareth and educated at Jerusalem in the temple of the Lord.

Her father's name was Joachim and her mother's Anna. The family of her father was of Galilee and the city of Nazareth. The family of her mother was of Bethlehem. Their lives were plain and right in the sight of the Lord, pious and faultless before men." So reads the Gospel of the Birth of Mary attributed to Saint Matthew, a work received as authentic by early Christians and included in the library of Jerome.

Anna and Joachim were initiates of the Brotherhood and followed many of the teachings of the Essene community. Among other spiritual disciplines, they followed a strict dietary regime and practiced certain temple rituals corresponding to the mystical teachings of Christ given in the retreats of the Masters. To them prayer and fasting was a way of life.

Mary was born to Anna and Joachim because they gave their lives to the fulfillment of the plan of God. They were chosen to serve because they chose to serve, and their commitment was one which spanned the centuries of their previous existence both on earth and in heaven.

Therefore, in keeping with heavenly protocol, the angel of the Lord appeared to them to announce the birth of the Virgin and told them that their daughter as a virgin would bear the Son of God who would prove before the multitudes of Judea the laws of the Divine Alchemy and the ability of the Christed man or woman to become the master of sin, disease, and death.

The account of the childhood of Mary is one of the tenderness of God enfolding the Queen of Angels incarnate. She who was to become the bride of the Holy Spirit was presented at the temple at the age of three. It is said that her parents placed her upon the first of the fifteen stairs symbolizing the initiations of the psalms of degrees (Psalms 120 through 134).

The child ascended the stairs one after another "without the help of any to lead or lift her," showing that she had passed these initiations in other lives and was spiritually prepared to fulfill her mission.

"Thus," comments Matthew, "the Lord did, in the infancy of His Virgin, work this extraordinary work and evidence by this miracle how great she was like to be hereafter." Therefore Mary was left with other virgins in the apartments of the temple to be brought up there; and her parents, having offered up their sacrifice according to the custom of the law and perfected their vow, returned home.

For those who know the beauty of the soul of Mary, Matthew's account of her daily communion with the heavenly Hierarchy is precious. "The Virgin of the Lord, as she advanced in years, increased also in perfections; and according to the saying of the Psalmist, her father and mother forsook her but the Lord took care of her.

For she every day had the conversation of angels and every day received visitors from God which preserved her from all sorts of evil and caused her to abound with all good things; so that when at length she arrived to her fourteenth year, as the wicked could not lay anything to her charge worthy of reproof, so all good persons who were acquainted with her admired her life and conversation."

According to Matthew, when Mary was fourteen years old the high priest made a public order that all temple virgins "as they were now of a proper maturity should according to the custom of their country endeavor to be married. To which command, though all the other virgins readily yielded obedience, Mary the Virgin of the Lord alone answered that she could not comply with it.

Assigning these reasons, that both she and her parents had devoted her to the service of the Lord and besides that she had vowed virginity to the Lord, which vow she was resolved never to break." The priest, being perplexed, commanded "that at the approaching feast all the principal persons both of Jerusalem and the neighboring places should meet together that he might have their advice, how he had best proceed in so difficult a case. When they were accordingly met, they unanimously agreed to seek the Lord and ask counsel from Him on this matter. And when they were all engaged in prayer, the high priest, according to the usual way, went to consult God.

"And immediately there was a voice from the ark and the mercy seat which all present heard, that it must be inquired or sought out by a prophecy of Isaiah to whom the Virgin should be given and be betrothed; for Isaiah saith, there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a flower shall spring out of its root, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Knowledge and Piety, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord shall fill him.

"Then, according to this prophecy, he appointed that all the men of the house and family of David who were marriageable and not married should bring their several rods to the altar, and out of whatsoever person's rod after it was brought a flower should bud forth and on the top of it the Spirit of the Lord should sit in the appearance of a dove, he should be the man to whom the Virgin should be given and be betrothed."

But, Matthew tells us, Joseph, being advanced in years, "drew back his rod when every one besides presented his. So that when nothing appeared agreeable to the heavenly voice, the high priest judged it proper to consult God again, who answered that he to whom the Virgin was to be betrothed was the only person of those who were brought together who had not brought his rod. Joseph therefore was betrayed. For when he did bring his rod and a dove coming from Heaven pitched upon the top of it, every one plainly saw that the Virgin was to be betrothed to him."

Thus Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Matthew's version is that Joseph returned to Bethlehem to make ready for the marriage and Mary, accompanied by seven virgins, returned to her parents' house in Galilee, whereas James says that Joseph took Mary to his house and then went to mind his trade of building, leaving her alone.

James, in the Protevangelion, says that while she was yet betrothed, Mary was one of several virgins chosen to spin the new veil for the temple and that as she was spinning the true purple, "she took a pot and went out to draw water and heard a voice saying unto her, Hail, thou who art full of grace, the Lord is with thee; thou art blessed among women." This, then, is his account of Archangel Gabriel's annunciation of Mary's conception of the Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost:

"And she looked round to the right and to the left to see when that voice came, and then trembling went into her house; and laying down the water pot, she took the purple and sat down in her seat to work it. And behold the angel of the Lord stood by her and said, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor in the sight of God; which when she heard, she reasoned with herself what that sort of salutation meant.

"And the angel said unto her, The Lord is with thee, and thou shalt conceive: to which she replied, What! shall I conceive by the living God and bring forth as all other women do? But the angel returned answer, Not so, O Mary, but the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; wherefore that which shall be born of thee shall be holy and shall be called the Son of the Living God, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age. And this now is the sixth month with her, who was called barren; for nothing is impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; Let it be unto me according to thy word."

When Mary had completed the spinning of the true purple, she took it to the high priest, who blessed her, saying, "Mary, the Lord God hath magnified thy name, and thou shalt be blessed in all the ages of the world." Like the account in the Gospel of Luke, James's description of Mary's visit to the house of her cousin Elizabeth is punctuated by the leap and the blessing of the fires of John the Baptist. Elizabeth, who was carrying the Messenger of the Lord that would go before the face of Jesus, exclaimed upon her arrival: "Whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come unto me? For lo! as soon as the voice of thy salutation reached my ears, that which is in me leaped and blessed thee."

As Mary became great with child, Joseph was sorely troubled concerning her condition and determined to put her away privately. The angel of the Lord, however, appeared to him, telling him that this was not the work of man, but of the Holy Ghost. James tells us that Annas the scribe then visited Joseph and, seeing Mary with child, informed the high priest that Joseph had privately married her.

"Upon this both she and Joseph were brought to their trial, and the priest said unto her, Mary, what hast thou done? Why has thou debased thy soul and forgot thy God, seeing thou wast brought up in the Holy of Holies and didst receive thy food from the hands of angels and heardest their songs? Why hast thou done this? To which with a flood of tears she answered, As the Lord my God liveth, I am innocent in his sight, seeing I know no man. Then the priest said to Joseph, Why hast thou done this? And Joseph answered, As the Lord my God liveth, I have not been concerned wit her.

"But the priest said, Lie not, but declare the truth; thou hast privately married her and not discovered it to the children of Israel and humbled thyself under the mighty hand of God that thy seed might be blessed. And Joseph was silent. Then said the priest to Joseph, You must restore to the temple of the Lord the Virgin which you took thence.

"But he wept bitterly, and the priest added, I will cause you both to drink the water of the Lord, which is for trial, and so your iniquity shall be laid open before you. Then the priest took the water and made Joseph drink and sent him to a mountainous place. And he returned perfectly well, and all the people wondered that his guilt was not discovered. So the priest said, Since the Lord hath not made your sins evident, neither do I condemn you. So he sent them away. Then Joseph took Mary and went to his house, rejoicing and praising the God of Israel."

Birth of Jesus

The accepted version of the events surrounding the birth of our Lord are well known. The following sequence, which the early fathers did not include in the New Testament, is thought to be from the Gospel of Thomas:

"In the three hundred and ninth year of the era of Alexander, Augustus published a decree that all persons should go to be taxed in their own country. Joseph therefore arose, and with Mary his spouse he went to Jerusalem and then came to Bethlehem, that he and his family might be taxed in the city of his fathers. And when they came by the cave, Mary confessed to Joseph that her time of bringing forth was come, and she could not go on to the city and said, Let us go into this cave. At that time the sun was very near going down.

"But Joseph hastened away that he might fetch her a midwife; and when he saw an old Hebrew woman who was of Jerusalem, he said to her, Pray come hither, good woman, and go into that cave, and you will there see a woman just ready to bring forth. It was after sunset when the old woman and Joseph with her reached the cave, and they both went into it. And behold, it was all filled with lights greater than the light of lamps and candles and greater than the light of the sun itself. The infant was then wrapped up in swaddling clothes and sucking the breasts of his mother Saint Mary.

"When they both saw this light, they were surprised; the old woman asked Saint Mary, Art thou the mother of this child? Saint Mary replied she was. On which the old woman said, Thou art very different from all other women. Saint Mary answered, "As there is not any child like to my son, so neither is there any woman like to his mother. The old woman answered and said, O my Lady, I am come hither that I may obtain an everlasting reward. Then our Lady, Saint Mary, said to her, Lay thine hands upon the infant; which, when she had done, she became whole. And as she was going forth, she said, From henceforth, all the days of my life, I will attend upon and be a servant of this infant."

"After this, when the shepherds came and had made a fire and they were exceedingly rejoicing, the heavenly host appeared to them, praising and adoring the supreme God. And as the shepherds were engaged in the same employment, the cave at that time seemed like a glorious temple, because both the tongues of angels and men united to adore and magnify God on account of the birth of the Lord Christ. But when the old Hebrew woman saw all these evident miracles, she gave praises to God and said, I thank thee, O God, Thou God of Israel, for that mine eyes have seen the birth of the Savior of the world."