The Temple Menorah (Part 1): Zechariah's Vision

Let's begin our multi-post discussion of the Temple Menorah with another prophecy from the Old Testament Book of the Twelve. This one, recorded by a prophet named Zechariah around 500 BCE, also concerns Zerubbabel and the Second Temple of Jerusalem. In this account, Zechariah actually sees and describes the symbolic Menorah. In the King James translation, his account reads as follows:

Then the Angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. He asked me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

I asked the Angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”

He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I replied.

So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.

“What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.

“Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?”

Then I asked the Angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”

Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”

He replied, “Do you not know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I said.

So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”

Like all Holy Visions, Zechariah’s is riven with symbolism. If we read those symbols literally, we miss the deeper meaning of the message. Let me, therefore, interpret Zechariah's through a mixed bag of etymological archeology and illuminated insight.

Let’s start with the word translated into English as "bowl." The Hebrew word Zechariah recorded was "gullah," which CAN mean "bowl," "reservoir," "spring," or even "the orb atop a column." But these are all SECONDARY definitions of the word.

According to both Strong's and Brown-Driver-Briggs, the FIRST definition of "gullah" is REDEMPTION, including the right and the object of redemption and, by implication, the relationship between the redeemer and the redeemed. And, as it so happens, this more accurate definition of "gullah" is the key to solving the Great Menorah Mystery.

This new understanding affirms that what the Angel of the Presence showed Zechariah wasn't merely a "golden bowl" feeding olive oil into a hollow menorah; it was a symbolic representation of the Chalice of the Atonement. And through that symbolic "vessel," the "two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth" fuel the Temple Menorah's seven lamps or "spirits."

When Zechariah asks what the two trees represent, the Angel answers indirectly. He also frames the answer as God addressing Zerubbabel. To save you scrolling back, the answer he gives is, "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit."

This seemingly amorphous response is actually quite illuminating on more than one level. On the most basic level, the Angel makes known that the Temple will not be finished through physical effort, because it's not an actual building. On a somewhat higher level, he conveys that God has divined that the Spirit of Grace will gently and gradually awaken the Souls dreaming on the earthly plane, rather than ending the dream abruptly through "power" and "might" -- i.e., the immediate application of God's Almighty Will. And on yet another level, he shows Zechariah (and us through him) that the Spirit of Grace will work through TWO partnering forces "anointed" by the True Father to carry out His Great Plan to end the dream of earthly existence gently and gradually.

The two trees or branches are meant to symbolize those two "anointed ones," while the "oils" represent the illusion-dissolving "substances" they dispense to do God's Will.

We can safely presume the two "oils" are the Blood and Water Rays -- the Yod and Mem powers of Elohim. In New Testament vernacular, those two Great Rays are the Blood of Christ and the Living Water -- the "twin" elixirs of redemption Jesus "brought forth" when he became the first earth-assigned Soul to complete his part in the Atonement Plan. As I understand it, a big part of his assignment was to activate God's Plan by opening the communications channel between the awake Christ Mind and its dream-bound brothers.

As Jesus told Sister (now Saint) Faustina in the early 1930s, the Blood Ray restores the Soul's memory of the everlasting life with which God endowed His One Son, while the Water Ray restores the Soul to "righteousness," "right-mindedness," "spiritual sanity," or upright Purusha perception.

And these two Great Rays do indeed grease the whole redemption "machine." But which Holy Power supplies which of these Rays? The answer is staring us right in the face, actually -- but may be blocked from awareness by some of the false beliefs and faulty denials we still cherish and defend.

For me, those blinders weren't so much cherished beliefs as unconscious presumptions. When I started writing this post (several months ago), I knew the Temple Menorah represented the Inner Instrument of the Spiritual Body, but couldn't say for sure what the seven lamps signified. I presumed they represented the Seven Spirits before the throne described in the Book of Revelations -- which is correct, as far as it goes. But I also mistook those Seven Spirits or LAMPS for the Seven Rays much discussed in Theosophy, Esoteric Astrology, and the modern-day wizardry dubbed "Occult Science." And, as I now realize, so have the misguided proponents of those ego-perpetuated teachings.

I might be wrong about this, but I don't think so.

Even as I read, wrote, and rewrote, day after day and week after week, I struggled to see through my egoic blinders. And then, I did see -- but only AFTER I opened my mind to the possibility that my presumptions about certain foundational concepts might be leading me astray. All the while, Jesus kept showing me the image above (which is displayed on candles all over my house). He even guided me to read the diary of Sister Faustina Kowalska, which describes his many appearances and messages to the Polish nun over the course of her 33 years in that blessed persona. The manuscript was, unfortunately, "Catholicized" by a panel of priests prior to its Vatican-endorsed publication. Interestingly, they retained the part where Jesus tells Sister Faustina she will teach the world about the Great Rays in her next life, too. The editors must have assumed he meant her "next life" in Heaven, as an Ascended Saint. What he actually meant, I'm almost certain, is her next life as ME.

Okay, yes ... it's taken me awhile to fulfill my teaching role in that regard, but better late than never, eh? 

Returning to the subject at hand, let me share something from the Course that provides more clues about the two trees flanking the "bowl of redemption" in Zechariah's vision:

My brother, you are part of God and part of me [the Christ]. When you have at last looked at the ego's foundation without shrinking, you will also have looked upon ours. I come to you from our Father, to offer you everything again. Do not refuse it to keep a dark cornerstone hidden, for ITS protection will not save you. I GIVE you the lamp, and I will go with you. You will not take this journey alone. I will lead you to your true Father, Who hath need of you, as I have. Will you not answer the call of love with joy?

In this revealing paragraph, we learn all of the following: 1) We are part of God and part of the Christ; 2) The Christ comes to us from the Father, to give us back the Holy Inheritance we threw away; 3) The Christ gives us the lamp and goes with us on the journey the lamp illuminates; 4) The journey leads back to our True Father -- the Father of the FIRST Covenant, Temple, and/or Trinity; and 5) We begin our journey back to the True Father by answering the Call to Awaken.

What has all this got to do with the two trees -- or the Menorah, for that matter? EVERYTHING, actually. BUT we can't see those trees through the shadows of deception until we open our minds to the possibility that our engrained beliefs about the Holy Trinity might be getting in our way. So, let's begin the "undoing" process on this particular subject by exploring what the Holy Trinity is and  is not.

Christian theology tells us there is one Holy Trinity, which resides in Heaven -- the place "good" Souls go after death. That Trinity consists of a bi-polar Father, who is loving and merciful one moment and wrathful and punishing the next; Jesus Christ, the ONLY Son of God, whose cruel, torturous, and excruciatingly unjust crucifixion was somehow our fault; and the Holy Spirit, a mercurial "dove" who flies around bestowing gifts on the very few Souls that God and Jesus deem worthy of salvation.

Not a pretty picture, is it? Nor is it an accurate one. When evaluated rationally, the "father figure" of the Christian Trinity is a Frankenstein's monster-esque compilation of aspects of the True Father and his would-be and completely insane usurper, the Great Deceiver. True to form, the Ego Mind and its dark agents have waged a distressingly successful campaign since the dawn of time to replace the True Father as the object of human worship.

This is as true in Hinduism as it is in Christianity -- with one notable proviso. Hindus don't worship Brahma, despite his designation as "the creator" and his puzzling inclusion in the Trimuti. Hindus also recognize two "trinities" -- the Trimurti and the Tridevi -- neither of which is the True Trinity headed by Param-Brahman. Based on what I've read and currently understand, the Trimurti (Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu) operates within the dream in partnership with the Tridevi (Sarasvati, Parvati, and Lakshmi). This model is partly right and partly erroneous.

What, then, are the two Trinities? And what role does each play in the salvation process? Let's explore those questions, starting with the First Trinity -- the True Trinity, which dwells eternally in Heaven proper, the formless and timeless realm of Perfect Creation. That Trinity consists of  the Holy Powers variously identified as 1) the God Mind, God the Father, the Uncreated Creator, the Causeless Cause, the Almighty Absolute, or Param-Brahman; 2) the Christ Mind, God the Son, the Created Effect, Creation, or Param-Shiva; and 3) the Creative Force of Agape, Holy Creative Spirit, or Param-Shakti.

As Hinduism correctly espouses, the Absolute God of the First or True Trinity -- Param-Brahman -- plays no part in anything going on inside Brahma's Egg. He doesn't even know Brahma's Egg exists. He only senses a logjam of sorts in the Wholeness of His Infinitely Extending Being, which He "wills" to remove.

As Hinduism also gets right, Param-Shiva doesn't act directly within Brahma's Egg, either. He does, however, work inside our egg-bound consciousness NOW through his emanated "agent," the Primordial Shiva. That "primordial" or "time-born" agent, emanation, or "spirit" of Param-Shiva is the "sacred dancer" whose choreographed movements destroy the illusion of duality. Rightly perceived, that "sacred dancer" is the Purusha Consciousness or "Holy Spirit" of the awake Christ Mind. That "spirit" works inside the dream-realm to urge us to choose God's Plan for us over the world's allurements. Rightly perceived, that "dancing" Purusha Consciousness is the Spiritual Light, Life, and Truth that both underlays and dissolves the illusion of form. In the celestial chain-of-command, Primordial Shiva ranks above and also directs the Second Trinity powers.

Primordial Shiva, the upright Purusha dancing inside Brahma's Egg

The Second or Atonement Trinity works exclusively in the dream-realm to make our return to Heaven possible, as well as to encourage us to "choose right" by answering God's Call to Awaken. Manifested by Elohim (rather than God), this dream-ending triune force consists of the Aleph, Lamed, and Hey "aspects" of the Creative Force of Grace. In Hinduism, those three "devas" are typically personified as Indra (Aleph), Sadashiva and/or Krishna (Lamed), and Vishnu (Hey). BUT, as stated earlier, Hinduism assigns many different personas to the various invisible forces present in the universe. These Second Trinity powers are, therefore, known by various other names as well.

The images below show a few recognizable personifications of the Lamed power of the Second Trinity.

Sadashiva, whose five heads represent either the Holy Powers of Elohim
or the five attributes the Soul must reclaim to awaken (as per Judaism).

Krishna, whose flute sounds the Call to Awaken in the lower waters of perception

Jesus as "the good shepherd," the Risen Son of God watching over his desert-wandering flock

Okay, so ... a couple of paragraphs back, I stated that Param-Shiva -- the True Christ of the First Trinity -- works inside the dream-realm NOW through his emanated "agent," the Primordial Shiva. Before the ascension of Jesus, Elohim (the Spirit of God) governed the divine aspects of the dream-realm from the "Throne of God" on the Seventh Plane. Afterward, Primordial Shiva (the Spirit of Christ) assumed the reins of power from his posting on the Sixth Plane.

Stated another way, the Spirit of Grace or God (Elohim) directed the yet-to-be-activated Salvation Plan until the Primordial Christ's scheduled succession. This is what Jesus means when he says (in the Course), "I am in charge of the process of Atonement, which I undertook to begin." 

This is also what he tries to convey in John 14 by stating: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me."

Or, as he clarifies in the URText:

"No man cometh to the Father but by me" is among the most misunderstood statements in the Bible. It DOES NOT mean that I am in anyway separate (or different) from you, EXCEPT IN TIME. Now, we know that time does not exist. Actually, the statement is much more meaningful if it is considered on a vertical rather than a horizontal axis. Regarded along the vertical, man stands below me, and I stand below God. In the process of "rising up," I AM higher. This is because without me the distance between God and man is too great for man to encompass. I bridge the distance as an Elder Brother to man, on the one hand, and a Son of God on the other. My devotion to my brothers has placed me in charge of the Sonship, which I can render complete only to the extent I can SHARE it.

This appears to contradict another statement: "I and my Father are one." It doesn't. There are still separate parts in the statement, in recognition of the fact that the Father is GREATER. Actually, the original statement was "are of one KIND."

Let me rephrase what he says in simpler language: On the return journey to Heaven proper, we must join minds with the Primordial Shiva on the Sixth Plane of Consciousness (Miraculous or True Perception, in Course terms) before "graduating" to the Seventh Plane of Grace Consciousness. And it is from that "peak" or "capstone" of the upright Purusha Triangle that God reaches across the "tiny gap" between the Pure Grace Consciousness needed for Perfect Atonement (the Second Covenant between Father and Son) and the Pure Agape Consciousness required for Perfect Creation (the First Covenant between the Creator and His Creation).

The Primordial Christ in the form of Lord Shiva

The Primordial Shiva in the form of Jesus Christ

In the Course, Jesus refers to the Primordial Christ as our "Appointed Friend." In a section of the URText devoted to this God-appointed "amigo," he says:

Lead not your little lives in solitude, with one illusion as your only friend. This is no friendship worthy of God's Son, nor one with which he could remain content. But God has given him a better Friend, in whom all power in earth and Heaven rests. The one illusion that you THINK is friend obscures HIS grace and majesty from you, and keeps his friendship and forgiveness from your welcoming embrace. Without him you are friendless. Seek not another friend to take his place. There IS no other friend. What God appointed HAS no substitute, and what illusion CAN replace the truth?

Who dwells with shadows is alone indeed, and loneliness is NOT the Will of God. Would you allow one shadow to usurp the throne that God appointed for your Friend, if you but realized ITS emptiness has left YOURS empty and unoccupied? Make NO illusion friend, for if you do, it CAN but take the place of him whom God has called your Friend. And it is he who is your ONLY Friend in truth. He brings you gifts that are not of this world, and only he to whom they have been given, CAN make sure that you receive them. He will place them on YOUR throne, when you make room for him on his.

To clarify:

The Appointed Friend = the Primordial Shiva =
the "Holy Spirit" of Param-Shiva devoted to our awakening

Got it? Good, because this can be quite confusing. And part of the reason it is so confusing is that Jesus aimed the Course at disenchanted Christians. To make the teachings relatable, he presents them through the distorted lens of one hybrid Holy Trinity, which doesn't really work.  And that's why I'm bringing Hinduism and Judaism into the picture in these discussions. While neither is 100 percent accurate, they both acknowledge aspects of the "elephant" of Spiritual Truth missed, ignored, or denied by Christianity's ego-inspired blinders.

Before we move on, let's briefly review the chain of events discussed in earlier posts. The dream started with the Great Projection -- the thrusting outward of our Creative Will to be independent from God. For some time thereafter, we still saw the Inner Light of God in ourselves and others and still heard the Father's vibratory communications. We shut out those two memory sustaining "feeds" by projecting them outward as physically manifested fire and ice. Agreeing something must be done to repair the incommunicado split this caused, the First Trinity projected the Creative Force of Agape (dialed down to "Grace") into the void to repurpose the dream, construct the at-one-ment infrastructure, and share the Great Plan with a select few human prophets and scribes.

To get the ball rolling, the Spirit of God's Grace (Elohim) produced the first two "aspects" of the Second Trinity and the Temple Menorah/Inner Instrument. Like the Great Plan itself, these devices existed only in principle until Jesus's ascension reopened the channel between the awake and sleeping portions of the Christ Mind. Once the channel reopened, the Primordial Christ entered the dreamscape (as planned all along) to finish the job Elohim started.

Speaking as the Primordial Christ or "Christ Presence" (in Course terms), Jesus explains what he did (and still does) in the following excerpt from the URText:

You WERE in darkness until God's Will was done completely by any part of the Sonship. When it was, it was perfectly accomplished by ALL. How else could it BE perfectly accomplished? My mission was simply to UNITE the Will of the Sonship WITH the Will of the Father by being aware of the Father's Will myself. This is the awareness I came to give YOU, and YOUR problem in accepting it IS the problem of this world. Dispelling it is salvation, and in this sense I AM the salvation of the world.

Remember this, because (as you'll see) it's the key to unlocking the Great Menorah Mystery.

Pop Quiz question: Which of the two Trinities do we see here?

Most Christians would probably identify the figures above as the First Trinity. They are, in fact, neither the First nor Second, in their entirety. The dove in this image represents Elohim, whose first two "atonement" emanations were Lamed (depicted as Jesus) and Aleph (depicted as God). This is suggested by the two beams radiating from the "Spirit of God," as well as by the upright triangle of Purusha Consciousness behind the Aleph figure's head.

Interpreted correctly, the image depicts Elohim on the Seventh Plane of Grace Consciousness, extending the Blood and Water Rays down to the Sixth Plane of Christ Consciousness, where they "live and reign" as the Lamed and Aleph powers. The absent Hey Power, meanwhile, operates just below them, from the Fifth Plane of Soul Consciousness. From that position, the Hey Power extends the Great Rays into the lower-waters of Ego Consciousness (via the Inner Instrument), more or less as illustrated below./div>

The seven beams radiating from the "capstone" of the upright Purusha Triangle are the seven emanations of those two Rays. And these are the "spirits" that light the lamps of the Temple Menorah (as seen and described by John the Elder in the New Testament Book of Revelations).

It took me ages to figure out what these seven emanations represent -- and to finally discard, once and for all, the various esoteric teachings about the Seven Rays. As I now conceive them, these seven "spirits" are divided into two groups of three "teaching" powers and one "pupil," which moves upward as it advances through the Atonement Academy's seven grade levels (the seven planes of perception represented by the chakras).

The three lamps on the right represent the Father's Will for our return, which calls to us (magnetically) from the EAST side of the Menorah. The three lamps on the left represent the Son's Will -- or, more accurately, the CHOICES we must make to align our will with the Father's, with the help of the Holy Spirit of Primordial Shiva. The lamp in the middle represents the Divine Spark or Soul, whose learning goal is to UNITE the powers on both sides of the Menorah within its Self.

While drifting in the lower waters of perception, our Souls hang upside-down in the dark cocoon of Prakriti ignorance, unaware of their True Identity. To "undo" the sticky layers of that ego-spun chrysalis, the Seven Rays "teach" the Buddhi or Witness Consciousness to "see reason" -- i.e., see things God's way -- on the four levels of "ignorance" the lower-water "chakras" represent. Once the Soul sheds those layers, it "graduates" to the Spiritual Triad, where the Second Trinity powers take over as its teachers.

Right-mindedly interpreted, the Menorah is a blueprint for the atonement mechanism in the "lower-water" half of the Dharmachakra -- the "wheel" or "single-eye" through which we perceive the Light of God in all things.

In the Hindu Vedas, the Dharmachakra is associated with Surya, the god of the Spiritual Sun and its maya-melting Holy Rays (as we'll discuss later on). Like Elohim, Lord Surya sits on his "Chariot Throne" atop this single "wheel," disc, or chakra. In the Vedas, the Dharmachakra is described as "the eye of the world" that illuminates and perceives the world. That "wheel" or "eye" belongs to Mitra -- an early Vedic personification of the Blood Ray.

In Buddhism, the Dharmachakra is commonly associated with the Bhavacakra -- the Wheel of Earthly Existence or Samsara. A pictorial representation of the Buddhist worldview, the Bhavacakra is displayed on or near the entrances of most (if not all) Buddhist Temples. 

Known in esoteric and occult circles as Ezekiel's Wheel, the Dharmachakra is depicted, along with various other intriguing symbols, on THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE card in the Rider-Waite Tarot.

The process through which the seven "spirits" or "lamps" work together through the Menorah might look something like the image below, which I borrowed from Rick Ireton's interesting-but-not-altogether-accurate book, Chakra Key: A Key for Humanity. Mr. Ireton is correct that the Menorah and the chakras play pivotal roles in the ego-undoing process. He errs by confusing the lamps with the chakras and by accepting the "prevailing wisdom" that the spiritual and physical bodies operate on the same plane of perception. They are both, in fact, manifestations arising from two wholly SEPARATE minds, only one of which is REAL.

We'll talk more about Mr. Ireton's ideas, the Dharmachakra, and the WHEEL OF FORTUNE card in future posts. For now, just know that the lamps across the top are NOT the chakras. They represent the Holy Powers working through the Temple Menorah to help unblock the four "epicenters of perception" that run up the "spine" or "stem" of the lampstand, in the manner shown below.

We've jumped too far ahead, so let's circle back to the two "anointing oils" that grease the whole Atonement Machine. As Jesus implies, those two "oils" represent the "twin" aspects of the WILL shared by the True Father (Param-Brahman) and the True Son (Param-Shiva) to end the dream of separation, whilst still honoring the Sonship's free and freely given Creative Will. 

The Blood Ray represents both the Light and Life of God within us AND the Father's Will to wake us up, while the Water Ray represents both the inner Christ-Self AND the Son's will to be awakened in accordance with the Second Covenant. That "covenant" between Father and Son was forged in Heaven long ago, but is yet to be fully realized on earth. This "contract" was, however, "signed" by Jesus, while his Soul yet dwelled in the realm of earthly existence. And by signing that contract HERE, he opened the door back into Heaven for the rest of us.

If we add the Menorah to Mr. Ireton's illustration, we can see the push-pull dynamic of the undoing process in action. The God-Will part of the Blood Ray calls us to awaken from the EAST side of the Menorah. As Jesus says, that Call to Awaken is not only powerfully magnetic; it's also IRRESISTIBLE to the Soul. As stated earlier, the Soul or Divine Spark is (I believe) BOTH the part of us that's God, and an atonement device programmed to respond to its Creator's Call at the appointed time (with our prior unconscious consent).

Thus, the Blood Ray is the source of BOTH the Call to Awaken and the internal Divine Spark of Eternal Light and Life that answers the Call at a pre-determined time. We answer the Call by inviting the Holy Spirit (of the Christ-Self) to show us a better way to perceive the world and its occupants.

Or, as Jesus explains in his usual lyrical way:

The Holy Spirit is the light in which Christ stands revealed. And all who would behold Him can see Him, for they have ASKED for light. Nor will they see Him ALONE, for He is no more alone than THEY are. Because they SAW the son, they have risen IN HIM to the Father. And all this will they understand, because they looked within, and saw, beyond the darkness, the Christ in them, and RECOGNIZED Him. In the sanity of His vision, they looked upon themselves with love, seeing themselves as the Holy Spirit sees them. And WITH this vision of truth in THEM, came all the beauty of the world to shine upon them.

As the Blood Ray pulls on its own Holy Seed from the East, the Water Ray gently "pushes" us from the West to "choose right." One of the ways the Water Ray applies this gentle pressure is by presenting us with cyclical "forgiveness lessons." Those lessons, Jesus tells us, grow more painful each time we ignore them, thereby ensuring our eventual submission. Or, as stated in the Course's introduction, "Free will does not mean that you can establish the curriculum. It means only that you can elect what you want to take at a given time."

We can, in other words, choose not to learn the lessons presented to us, but only until our self-inflicted suffering grows so unbearable we FINALLY turn to God for help. But why put ourselves through all that unnecessary pain and anguish when we can answer the Call right now?

Elsewhere in the Course, Jesus makes clear that free will isn't the carte-blanche hall-pass we might presume it to be. God, who created free will, also placed limits on how much and how long we can abuse this "gift" on the earthly plane. As Masters Pursah and Arten told Gary Renard (in The Disappearance of the Universe), the dream is a "closed system," meaning we can only push the boundaries so far before built-in restrictions come into play.

And yes, I've veered off-topic again, so let's swing all the way back to Zechariah's vision of the Menorah. In that vision, the prophet saw two pipes filling a golden bowl with "oils." On either side of the bowl stood two olive trees symbolizing the source of those oils.

In my usual circuitous and meandering way, I have solved the mystery of what those symbols represent. In case I lost you along the way, the symbols and their meanings are these:

The Menorah = the Inner Instrument through which we navigate our way back to Heaven or Superconsciousness

The Golden Bowl = the Chalice of the Atonement

The Two Oils = the Blood and Water Rays

The Two Trees = the shared will of Param-Brahma and Param-Shiva at work in the dream-realm through Elohim (the Holy Spirit of God) and the Primordial Shiva (the Holy Spirit of Christ)

Okay so ... this concludes the first segment of our discussion of the Temple Menorah, BUT there is much more to share and discuss, so do come back for my next post -- whenever that might be.

Until we meet again outside the Golden Circle,

Namaste and God Bless 

Restoring the Temple

Just as THE HANGED MAN represents our predicament in the Dream of Separation, the THREE OF PENTACLES illustrates the "restoration of the Temple" discussed at length in the Bible and the Course. In the image above, the craftsman has been laboring on the Temple's INTERIOR. We see him pausing his work to consult with two monks or priests, who have the blueprints for the restoration project. Those two clerics represent, in Christian terminology, Christ and the Holy Spirit, who know the whole plan (according to Jesus). The Lamed and Hey powers of Elohim, Christ and the Holy Spirit are "the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth” (Elohim). That quote comes from a Biblical prophecy recorded around 500 B.C. The two "anointed ones" referenced are NOT, as often presumed, the two men credited with restoring the Temple of Jerusalem.

A huge part of Jewish lore and identity, the First and Second Temples are discussed at length in the Old Testament, and also mentioned in the New Testament and the Course. Were those temples actual buildings? Or, like most things in the scriptures, did they symbolize more elevated ideas? In this post, we'll explore what those two temples -- and the narratives surrounding their rise and fall -- are intended to teach us.

Before we get to all that, let's finish our discussion of the image on the THREE OF PENTACLES. Above the three figures is an arch displaying three pentacles, just below which is a rosette. Those three encircled stars represent the Spiritual Triad, where we complete the atonement process with the help of the Trinity Rays. The rosette, I believe, symbolizes God's Perfect Love, through which we forgive our brothers for our inverted perceptions about the purpose of our relationships. To my mind, the rosette also represents the Heart Chakra or Sacred Heart of Jesus, where we complete the majority of our "undoing," "restoration," or "at-one-ment" work.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's explore what the Old Testament says about the temple. In various narratives, we are told that the First Temple or First House of the Sanctum (in the original Hebrew) was built in Jerusalem in the 10th Century BCE, by order of King Solomon. In 2 Kings and the Book of Chronicles, we learn that Solomon placed ten lampstands or menorahs in the temple's main chamber. Those lampstands, we also learn, were fashioned according to detailed instructions given to Solomon by King David.

Other Biblical narratives reveal that the First Temple's Inner-Sanctum or "Holy of Holies" housed several sacred treasures, including the Ark of the Covenant containing the Stone Tablets upon which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. .The Book of Jeremiah tells us the ten lampstands, the Ark, and several other cherished relics were stolen around 600 BCE by the king of the Babylonian Empire. King Nebuchadnezzar II also reportedly destroyed Solomon's Temple and most of the city, and replaced the dynastic King of Judah with his own nephew.

The monarch Nebuchadnezzar displaced was King Jeconiah of the Davidic Dynasty (as were Solomon and Jesus). Not only was King Jeconiah dethroned, he was also taken captive, along with his court, his family, and many of his loyal subjects. Those captives were held in Babylon for several decades before being freed by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire. By the time King Cyrus overthrew Nebuchadnezzar, Jeconiah was dead and his eldest son, Shealtiel, was the king-in-exile. Had the Davidic line been restored to the throne of Judah, Shealtiel's eldest son, Zerubbabel, would have been next in line. But, owing to an alleged Holy Curse, that was never to be.

Rather than race back to Judah en masse, the freed Jewish captives sort of trickled back to their homeland (Zion) in small groups. The first of these bands of repatriates was led by Zerubbabel. With them, King Cyrus sent back some of the sacred "vessels" stolen by Nebuchadnezzar, as well as permission to rebuild the city and temple.

Not recovered -- then or ever -- were the Ark of the Covenant, the Tablets of Stone, the Urim and Thummim, the Holy Oil, the Sacred Fire, and the jar of manna that was placed before the vessels containing the Urim and Thummim. Also unrecovered were Solomon's lampstands. What became of these treasures is never disclosed.

Okay so ... don't worry if you don't know what some of these objects are, because very few people do. A little later, we'll discuss their symbolic significance. For now, let's continue the story of Zerubbabel's arrival in Jerusalem. Technically, he didn't RETURN because he was born and raised in Babylon. His name, in fact, means "born in captivity in Babylon (or Babel)." 

According to various Old Testament accounts, Zerubbabel quickly began reinforcing the city’s crumbling walls and laying a foundation for the new temple. Begrudging his authority (and his decree that only Jewish hands could do the work), some of the Samaritan residents of the city hatched a plot to halt construction. By this time, Cyrus was dead and his son, Cambyses II, ruled the empire. So, the conspirators wrote to Cambyses, claiming (untruthfully) that the Jews were planning to rebel against the crown.

Cambyses ordered Zerubbabel to stop building until he decided what to do. Fourteen years later, the construction was still on hold – and the indecisive Cambyses was dead. Enter his successor, Darius the Great, who received a letter early in his reign demanding a decision. After digging up the original decree by Cyrus, Darius not only green-lighted the stalled construction, he also made Zerubbabel governor of the province. Unfortunately, Zerubbabel wasn't able to complete the work and the Second Temple remained unfinished for at least another century. In the middle of the First Century CE, it, too, was destroyed and looted -- this time by Romans.

Why am I dragging up all this ancient and complicated Biblical history? Because, like most things in the scriptures, these accounts are largely allegorical. Perhaps the characters and events described have some historical foundation, but they are primarily meant to serve as instructive symbols.

Like The Wizard of Oz, the Biblical narratives concerning the two temples recount the story of how the separation came about and how God will heal the split over the course of time. As I see it, the symbols are as follows:

Kings Solomon and David = ELOHIM, God's chief representative in the dream 

Judah or Zion = Kingdom of Heaven

Jerusalem = Right-Mindedness

Babylon = Material Perception

King Jeconiah = Son of God or Prince of Heaven before and after the separation

Nebuchadnezzar = Ego Mind (which destroyed our temple and stole our Holy Treasures)

Cyrus the Great = Holy Spirit or YAHWEH (who enables the temple's reconstruction)

Zerubbabel = Messiah or Christ-as-Savior (who laid the cornerstone for the temple's reconstruction)

 
Makes perfect sense, right? The only character I can't assign a role is Darius the Great, who probably represents someone in the dream-future who will strengthen Christ's authority on earth and accelerate the Atonement Plan, as part of the Celestial Speed-up. This person or Holy Power may or may not be related to the Course.

Before we move on, let me just say that composing this post was a BEAST. Getting it right took a great deal of research and revision -- and it still might not be 100% accurate in terms of dates and such. I also had to unpublish and split the post after making elucidating new discoveries about the Temple Menorah. Needless to say, I learned a lot in the process, including the fact that, like Solomon, Jeconiah and Zerubbabel were reportedly chosen by God to serve as "signets" or "signet rings" (depending on the translation).

We talked a little about what that means in my post on the Seal of Solomon, but I want to revisit the concept herein because I've learned a few things since then. One of those things is that the Hebrew word translated into "signet" or "signet ring" was k'owtham, whose primary definition is "seal." According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a "seal" is an identifying insignia or mark by which its bearer confirms, ratifies, or makes secure a promise.

What the Bible tells us, then, is that the Holy Spirit (Yahweh) would use King Solomon, King Jeconiah, and Zerubbabel to SEAL God's Solemn Promise to free us from captivity in metaphoric "Babylon."

In meditation the other night, I asked for more clarity on this subject: "Why were these three identified as seals, and what did each represent?" Within a few moments, I "knew" that Jeconiah and Zerubbabel symbolize the two triangles in the Seal of Solomon,. And those two triangles, in turn, represent the First and Second Temples discussed in the Old Testament. More specifically, King Jeconiah represents the First Temple or triangle slowly turning upside-down, while Zerubbabel symbolizes that inverted triangle being "restored" to its upright position.

Rightly understood, the two overlapping triangles in Solomon's Seal symbolize the two Temples. And those two Temples, in turn, represent the TWO COVENANTS between God and the Sonship. The First Temple or upright triangle represents the First or Old Covenant, which governs how we were meant to communicate and create with God, while the Second Temple or inverted triangle stands for God's Promise to save us from upside-down suspension in the dream of perception.

Makes sense, right? If not, it SHOULD after we discuss what the New and Old Testaments ACTUALLY communicate about these Holy Sanctums, as well as what Jesus says in the Course.

My research also revealed that the "signet ring" or "seal" is mentioned in what's variously known as the "Song of Songs," "Canticle of Canticles," or "Song of Solomon" -- one of the Five Scrolls or Megillot found in the Ketuvim (Writings) of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Those Five Scrolls are the Song of Songs, the Book of Ruth, the Book of Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and the Book of Esther.

In the Song of Solomon, the lines pertaining to the "signet ring" or "seal" read as follows:

Wear me as a signet ring (seal) on your heart, as a ring on your hand. Love is as overpowering as death. Devotion is as unyielding as the grave. Love's flames are flames of fire, flames that come from the LORD.

Framed as a dialogue between two "lovers," the Song of Solomon is said to be both erotic and allegorical. Those who interpret this beautiful and sacred love song to God as a celebration of sexual intimacy have the wrong end of the stick. What the Song of Songs describes is the intensity of devotion we must express toward God before we can, to quote Jesus, "open the Inner-Altar to accept the Atonement." That intensity of devotion characterizes the original Holy Relationship we share with our Creator. To return to God, we must restore that FIRST TEMPLE or FIRST COVENANT from the bottom up, by reestablishing our Holy Relationship with the Spiritual Being or Purusha in everything and everyone God created.

Rightly understood, the Holy Spirit in everyone and everything God created is what the Biblical scribes call the Living God -- the aspect of God that LIVES and DWELLS forever within the Temple or Spiritual Body of all the Father's Holy Creations.

St. Paul tells us as much in 2 Corinthians 6:14, when he says, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

Being part of the three-as-one TRINITY, that indwelling Spirit of God connects us first to each other, then to the Christ Mind, and finally to the God Mind. This is, more or less, what Jesus attempts to explain in the following powerful (and rather lengthy) excerpt from the URText:

Think but how holy you must be, from whom the Voice for God calls lovingly unto your brother, that you may awake in him the Voice that answers to YOUR call. And think how holy HE must be, when in him sleeps your OWN salvation, with HIS freedom joined. However much you wish he be condemned, God is in him. And never will you know He is in YOU as well, while you attack His chosen home, and battle with His host. Regard him gently. Look with loving eyes on him who carries Christ within him, that you may behold His glory, and rejoice that Heaven is NOT separate from you.

Is it too much to ask a little trust for him who carries Christ to you, that you may be forgiven ALL your sins, and left without a single one you cherish still. Forget not that a shadow held between your brother and yourself obscures the Face of Christ and memory of God. And would you trade Them for an ancient hate? The ground whereon you stand is holy ground BECAUSE of Them Who, standing there with you, have blessed it with THEIR innocence and peace. The blood of hatred fades, to let the grass grow green again, and let the flowers be all white and sparkling in the summer sun. What was a place of death has now become a living temple in a world of light.

Because of Them. It is Their Presence Which has lifted holiness again to take its ancient place upon an ancient throne. Because of Them have miracles sprung up as grass and flowers on the barren ground which hate had scorched and rendered desolate. What hate has wrought have They undone. And now you stand on ground so holy Heaven leans to join with it, and make it like Itself. The shadow of an ancient hate has gone, and all the blight and withering have passed forever from the land where They have come.

What is a hundred or a thousand years to Them, or tens of thousands? When They come, time's purpose is fulfilled. What never WAS passes to nothingness when They have come. What hatred claimed is given up to love, and freedom lights up every living thing and lifts it into Heaven, where the lights grow ever brighter as each one comes home. The incomplete is made complete again, and Heaven's joy has been increased because what is its own has been restored to it. The bloodied earth is cleansed, and the insane have shed their garments of insanity, to join Them on the ground whereon you stand.

Heaven is grateful for this gift of what has been withheld so long. For They have come to gather in Their Own. What has been blocked is opened; what was held APART from light is given up, that light may shine on it, and leave no space or distance lingering between the light of Heaven and the world. The holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a present love. And They come quickly to the living temple, where a home for Them has been set up. There is no place in Heaven holier. And They HAVE come to dwell within the temple offered them, to be THEIR resting place as well as YOURS.

What hatred has released to love becomes the brightest light in Heaven's radiance. And all the lights in Heaven brighter grow in gratitude for what has been restored. Around you angels hover lovingly, to keep away all darkened thoughts of sin, and KEEP the light where it has entered in. Your footprints lighten up the world, for where you walk forgiveness goes with you. No-one on earth but offers thanks to one who has restored his home, and sheltered him from bitter winter and the freezing cold. And shall the Lord of Heaven and His Son give LESS in gratitude for so much MORE?

Now is the temple of the Living God rebuilt as host again to Him by Whom it was created. Where He dwells, His Son dwells with Him, NEVER separate. And They give thanks that They are welcome made at last. Where stood a cross stands now the risen Christ, and ancient scars are healed within His sight. An ancient miracle has come to bless and to REPLACE an ancient enmity that came to kill. In gentle gratitude do God the Father AND the Son return to what is Theirs, and will forever be. Now is the Holy Spirit's purpose done. For They have come! For They have come at last!

Jesus is trying to explain that we restore our Right or Holy Relationship with God by first restoring our Right or Holy Relationship with the Living God in each other. When we (insanely) chose "specialness" over "sameness" we forgot we were ONE WHOLE and WHOLLY LOVING co-creative "unit" or "body."

This is, incidentally, the "Body of Christ" to which Jesus refers in the New Testament. The bread he breaks at the Last Supper represents this unified Creative Body or Whole Christ-Self -- NOT his own physical body. When referring to his physical body, he uses the phrase "Son of Man." When Christ's true meaning is understood, the concept of "transubstantiation" becomes not only absurd, but also disturbingly cannibalistic. If you're unfamiliar with the term, "transubstantiation" is the foundational Catholic belief that the bread and wine offered and consumed during Holy Communion literally transforms into the flesh and ichor of Jesus Christ. Before you snicker at the Catholics, know that the so-called "saner" Protestant creed that the wafer and wine ONLY symbolize the flesh and blood of Christ's physical body is equally off-base.

Rightly understood, the wafer symbolizes the part of the "Body of Christ" we are in Divine Reality, while the wine represents the Blood of Christ,  which restores our minds to that True State of Wholeness or Yechinda. Technically, the wine symbolizes BOTH the Yod and Mem powers, because wine in the time of Jesus was always cut with water.

Got it? Good. 

Okay, so ... to return to Wholeness, we have to DISOWN the desire for specialness and REOWN the Sameness through which the unified "Body of Christ" co-creates in loving partnership with God. And it is through the Wholeness or Shared Intention of that all-inclusive Holy Relationship with God and Creation that we extend the Fullness of our Being to perform miracles on earth and enact Perfect Creation in Heaven.

Rightly understood, our Holy and Wholly Loving Relationship with God is the First Commandment (as described by Jesus in Mark 12:30-31), as well as the First Covenant and the First Temple. Jesus presents this idea in many different ways throughout the Course. In the URText, under the very apropos heading "The Holy Spirit's Temple," he makes this often-overlooked pre-requisite for awakening crystal clear. He leads off with this insightful explanation:

The meaning of the Son of God lies solely in his relationship with his Creator. If it were elsewhere, it would rest upon contingency, but there IS nothing else. And this is wholly loving and forever. Yet has the Son of God invented an unholy relationship between him and his Father. His real relationship is one of perfect union, and unbroken continuity. The one he made is partial, self-centered, broken into fragments and full of fear. The one created by his Father is wholly self-encompassing and self-extending. The one he made is wholly self-destructive and self-LIMITING.

A few paragraphs later, he says:

The holy relationship reflects the true relationship the Son of God has with his Father in reality. The Holy Spirit rests within it, in the certainty it will endure forever. Its firm foundation is eternally upheld by truth, and love shines on it with the gentle smile and tender blessing it offers to its own. Here the unholy instant is exchanged in gladness for the holy one of safe return. Here is the way to true relationships held gently open, through which you walk together, leaving the body thankfully behind, and resting in the Everlasting Arms. Love's arms are open to receive you, and give you peace forever.

I could say more on this critical subject, but I won't for the time being. As important as these teachings are, most people aren't ready to hear that they must give up or "transform" ALL their unholy or "special" ego-body relationships before waking up from the dream. But Jesus does, in fact, say this on page after page, the full meaning of which I've only recently come to understand. All ego-body relationships are FALSE IDOLS, he tells us, which defile the Inner-Altar, locking it against the Atonement. And those unholy relationships especially include the family, friends, and romantic partners the Great Deceiver brainwashes us into believing we can't live without. In TRUTH, these relationships (and our longing for them) shackle us to the false self-concept that holds us captive in Babylon.

And on that provocative note, let's move on to the Sacred Treasures allegedly stolen from Solomon's Temple by King Nebuchadnezzar. The Old Testament scribes don't exactly inventory the objects taken. To discern what was lost, we must compare the reported contents of the two Sanctums. Through this exercise, we learn that the following objects, formerly housed in the First Temple's Holy of Holies, were NOT restored to the Second Temple:

–The Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Tablets of Stone
–The Urim and Thummim
–The Holy Oil
–The Sacred Fire

Like everything else in the Bible, these relics are SYMBOLS. So let’s explore the DIVINE IDEA they represent, starting with the Ark of the Covenant. The Hebrew word translated as “ark” was tovah, which CAN mean “container” or “vessel,” but also means “word” or, more precisely, “written word.” The Ark, therefore, represents the "Word" God spoke to create the Sonship. In so doing, He wrote that "Word" across our hearts to seal the First Covenant. That "Word" is Agape -- the only form of LOVE that actually exists (as Jesus explains in Workbook Lesson 127: There is no love but God's).

Note how uncannily this idea echoes the lines shared earlier from the Song of Solomon:

Wear me as a signet ring (seal) on your heart, as a ring on your hand.

As explained in my post on how Perfect Creation works, Agape is the Force of Divine Will through which the Christ Mind and the God Mind co-create through EXTENSION. That Holy Word is the only sound the God Mind emits and the only sound or "song" heard in Heaven. Broadcasting that "song" is how God communicated with the whole Christ Mind before parts of the Sonship blocked the Father's Holy Transmissions. That sound is the Song of Heaven discussed at length in the Course. When all of us join in that song, Jesus tells us, the dream of earthly existence will end. And when that day comes, the ego-projected world and universe will simply vanish into thin air.

So the Word of the Covenant was missing from the Second Temple because (as explained earlier) God couldn't extend Pure Agape into our dreaming minds without amending the laws of Perfect Creation. We blocked God's "Voice," "Wind," "Song," "Echo," or Ruach -- and all conscious memory of its existence -- when we "invented the unholy relationship" to experience "specialness." To experience specialness, we had to perceive our brothers as separate beings in bodies, rather than as part of the same Higher Self, Higher Mind, or unified Creative Body. To recover the Word of the Covenant, therefore, we have to let the Holy Spirit unblock the channel through which God "sings" the Word of the Covenant to us.

Makes sense, right?

Just so we're clear, the Ark of the Covenant never was a golden box with magical face-melting powers. If such a box ever existed, it was crafted by human hands to symbolize the Power, Grace, and Majesty of God's Holy Word. 

The Tablets of Stone allegedly housed within that symbolic "Ark" are presumed to be the Ten Commandments given to Moses by the GREAT I AM. In a way, they are; but, in a greater symbolic sense, the tablets represent Divine Law and Order or Rti (in Sanskrit), which the Creative Force of Agape protects inside the God Mind Bubble. When we chose perception (Prakrti) over Knowledge (Rti), we upset the Perfect Creation apple-cart, so to speak. We lost or, more accurately, threw away God's Word and Laws. Consequently, we (seemingly) broke the First Covenant or First Commandment, thereby "destroying" the First Temple, forfeiting our Holy Inheritance, and (perceptually) binding ourselves in servitude to Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.

The Urim and Thummim are described by some sources as “mysterious and still undefined substances” that helped determine God’s Will. Translated into English, Urim means “lights,” while Thummim means “perfections.” The Heavenly versions of Soma and Amrita (the healing elixirs provided by the Blood and Water Rays), the Urim and Thummim represent (in Course terms) the Eternal Light, Life, Purity, Perfection, and Knowledge with which God endowed the Sonship "in the beginning." The divination stones of the same name later used by the High Priests of Judaism are NOT the TRUE Urim and Thummim.

In shorthand:

Urim and Thummim = the Divine Attributes bequeathed to us in the Creation of the Sonship through God's extension of Pure Agape

Soma and Amrita = the Divine Corrective Powers bequeathed to us to restore the oneness of the Sonship through God's projection of Saving Grace (a modified form of Agape that heals the separation while preserving free will up to a point)

This brings us to the Holy Oil with which God fuels the Sacred Fire of His Divine Presence in everything He created. That fire still burns within everyone's Holy of Holies or Inner-Altar, but is no longer felt or remembered by most of us.

That Sacred Fire or Everlasting Flame is what Jesus calls "the Presence" in the Course. It's also the flame referenced in the Song of Solomon. To "open the Inner-Altar to receive the Atonement," we must  FEEL that Sacred Fire burning deep in our hearts again. We then must allow that smoldering Presence to "light" the seven lamps on the Temple Menorah -- the symbolic meaning of which we'll discuss in my next post.

To check the accuracy of my interpretations thus far, let’s consult the Babylonian Talmud, the most complete and authoritative source of Jewish law and theology. In that ancient sacred text we are told that the Second Temple lacked the Shekhinah (the Presence of God) and the Ruach HaKodesh (God's transmission of the Agape "song"), both of which were present in the First Temple.

Am I making this overly complicated? If so, let me boil it down to essentials:

First Temple = The Holy Relationship, Covenant, or unbreakable bond through which the Christ Body lovingly co-creates in WHOLENESS with God (through the extension of Agape)

Second Temple = The Inner-Instrument through which the Holy Spirit restores our original Holy Relationship, Covenant, or At-one-ment with God, by FIRST restoring our Holy Relationship, Covenant, or At-one-ment with the Living God in each other

Makes sense, right?

In Exodus 26:33, we learn that a "Sacred Veil" or "Curtain" separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy, screening from view (i.e., blocking from conscious awareness) the Ark/Word of the Covenant and the Cherubim or Chariot Throne. Contrary to common depiction, the Cherubim are NOT chubby babies with wings. They are the Four Living Creatures, Beings, or Hayyot (in Hebrew) described in the Old Testament Books of Ezekiel and Zechariah, as well as in the New Testament Book of Revelations. References to these mysterious winged Beings also recur in the Second Temple, Zohar, and Merkabah or Chariot literature of Jewish mysticism. The Cherubim are, therefore, pretty important in the Temple-restoration process, despite having faded into near-obscurity in modern Judeo-Christian consciousness. 

In a future post, we'll explore these four "temple guardians" and their function in more depth. For now, just know that the Cherubim have four symbolic heads, at least as many wings, and drive the metaphorical "chariots" whose "wheels" are the chakras. Rightly understood, the chakras are the "windows" through which the Spiritual Eye peeks through the Dark Veil into the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit's Temple. Those "wheels," incidentally, are represented in Hinduism as Vishnu's Sudarshan Chakra.

As an aside, Vishnu's chakra is NOT, as commonly depicted in egotized iconography, a weapon this helpful deity flings at his enemies like a Ninja Star!

The image above shows the Tabernacle, a tent-like structure that, according to Jewish lore, pre-dated the Temple of Solomon. Despite its earlier provenance, the image accurately depicts the layout of the later Temple's Sanctuary (Holy Place) and Inner-Sanctum (Most Holy Place or Holy of Holies). The drawing also shows the location of the two curtains or veils. The one dividing the sanctuary from the outdoors is the Dark Veil, while the curtain separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies is the Sacred Veil identified in Exodus. In descriptions of the Tabernacle, that Sacred Veil was said to be blue and purple with scarlet threads and images of the Cherubim embroidered in gold.

From all this symbolism we can ascertain that the Cherubim stand guard between the Holy Place or Temple Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies or Inner-Altar. They in fact form the "curtain" that separates the Sanctuary from the Inner-Sanctum. Stated another way, they are "the powers before the throne." The Book of Revelations tells us there are seven such powers. As I understand it, the Cherubim are four of those powers, while the three Graces make up the difference. As I also understand all this, the "curtain" is what Jesus calls the "gate" or "narrow gate" in the Course and the Bible. The Cherubim and Graces stand at that metaphoric "gate" and, according to Jesus, "sing their song of gratitude and praise." According to John of Patmos, who scribed the Book of Revelations, the lyrics to that song are these:

Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!

In the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, we are told the Seraphim or "Burning Ones" recite a similar mantra all day long. Thus, what Isaiah identifies as the Seraphim are probably either the Graces or the same beings Ezekial and John identify as Cherubim. I might be wrong about this, but I don't think so, given that Ezekial also describes the Cherubim as "like burning coals" in appearance.

Okay, so ... in the Course, Jesus calls those same Spirits, Creatures, or Beings the Great Rays and/or the Lights of Heaven. He also says these Holy Powers "sing" to us from the Inner-Altar within the Holy Spirit's Temple. More specifically, he says:

Where sin once was perceived will rise a world which will become an altar to the truth. And YOU will join the lights of Heaven there, and sing their song of gratitude and praise.

For as they come to YOU to be complete, so will you go with them. For no-one hears the song of Heaven, and remains without a voice that adds its power to the song, and makes it sweeter still. And each one joins the singing at the altar which was raised within the tiny spot that sin proclaimed to be its own. And what WAS tiny then has soared into a magnitude of song, in which the universe has joined with but a single voice. This tiny spot of sin that stands between you still is holding back the happy opening of Heaven's gate. How LITTLE is the hindrance which withholds the wealth of Heaven from you. And how GREAT will be the joy in Heaven when you join the mighty chorus to the Love of God.

Fascinating, right? And in case it's still unclear, he's speaking of the Aum vibration, which we "sing" with the Great Rays simply by listening to their Cosmic Choir. Hearing that inner "song" or "hum" is, therefore, absolutely critical to the awakening process. Even five minutes spent listening in the stillness, Jesus tells us, can shave thousands of years off the dream of separation.

Let's get back to the Cherubim-embroidered curtain described in Exodus. Until Zerubbabel (as Jesus) completed his part in the Atonement Plan, that "curtain" somehow prevented the Blood and Water Rays from "singing their song" in the lower waters of consciousness. Rightly understood, that "song" is the source of the Holy Oil we use to light the Temple Menorah. That sacred and symbolic menorah is the Lamp of God referenced in the Bible and the Course. And the "Holy Oil" that fuels its seven Holy Lights is what Christians call the "Living Water" and "Blood of Christ," Jews know as "Manna," and Hindus understand to be the elixir of immortality.

The Lamp of God and the Song of Heaven are, in fact, the vehicles for miracles, as Jesus explains in the following from the URText:

The miracle is the act of a Son of God who has laid aside all false gods, and who calls on his brothers to do likewise. It is an act of faith, because it is the recognition that his brother CAN do it. It is a call to the Holy Spirit in his mind, a call to Him which is strengthened by this joining. Because the miracle-worker has heard Him, he strengthens His Voice in a sick brother by weakening his belief in sickness, which he does NOT share. The power of one mind CAN shine into another, because all the lamps of God were lit by the same spark. It is everywhere, and it is eternal.

In many, only the spark remains, for the great rays are obscured. But God has kept the spark alive, so the rays can never be completely forgotten. If you but see the little spark, you will learn of the greater light, for the rays are there unseen. Perceiving the spark will heal, but knowing the Light will create. Yet in the returning, the little light must be acknowledged first, for the separation was a descent from magnitude to littleness. But the spark is still as pure as the Great Light, because it is the remaining call of Creation. Put all your faith in it, and God Himself will answer you.

Like all Holy Texts, the Course can be vague and esoteric. Also like all such Texts, the Course reveals more of its wisdom as we open our minds to the Great Truths it contains. Every time I re-read it, which is pretty often, it's as if I'm reading it for the first time. That the words posses this illuminating power is, in fact, how I KNOW it came from Jesus Christ himself.

In Matthew 27:50-54, we learn that the Temple Veil was torn in two when Jesus died on the cross. In the King James translation of the New Testament, those critical passages read as follows:

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God."

The splitting of the "Veil of the Temple" is Bible-speak for activating the Atonement Plan. Jesus "sealed" God's Promise by "issuing forth" the Blood and Water Rays, thereby bringing the Holy Spirit, Light of Truth, Song of Heaven, or anointing oils of At-one-ment down to us (in the lower waters of consciousness). Through his resurrection and ascension, Jesus enabled the Holy Spirit to "pierce the veil" by reopening the channel between the Christ or Higher Mind and the Ego or Lower Mind. And it is through that channel that we hear and "sing" the Song of Heaven that "undoes the Separation, and restores the wholeness of the Spirit."

And yes, I did just imply that Zerubbabel and Jesus were the SAME Soul in different incarnations five centuries apart. On what authority do I base this presumption? No lesser authority than Yahweh Sabaoth's -- the Lord of Hosts or Lord Almighty in English translations of the Old Testament -- who hinted as much to two Hebrew prophets back around 500 BCE.

Let's start (and end this post) with what Yahweh Sabaoth said, as recorded in the Book of Haggai within the Old Testament Book of the Twelve (Minor Hebrew Prophets). To save space, I've taken out most of the redundant attribution:

In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of YAWEH came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, son of Jozadak, the high priest:

"These people say, 'The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD's house. Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?

"Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.

"Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored. You expected much, but see it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why? Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house."

Contrary to common interpretation, Yahweh (the Holy Spirit) isn't concerned in these passages with rebuilding an actual temple in Jerusalem. Rather, he's warning Zerubbabel and the other freed captives about the fruitlessness of pursuing worldly goals and comforts. When the Spirit says, "Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house," he doesn't literally mean "go collect wood to build a brick-and-mortar temple." He means "go within to the higher levels of mind, where the Truth of Your Being will be restored to your awareness." This is the same idea symbolized in Hinduism by Shiva meditating on Mount Kalish.

Or, as Jesus unequivocally states in the Course's URText:

Both the Separation AND the fear were MISCREATIONS of the mind, which have to be undone. This is what the Bible means by the "Restoration of the Temple." It DOES NOT mean the restoration of the building, but it DOES mean the opening of the altar to receive the Atonement.

A month or so after Yahweh delivered the first communique, he returned to Haggai with a second message pertaining to the metaphorical temple. In this one, the Spirit of God said: 

You are to speak to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Say this, "Is there anyone left among you who saw this Temple in its former glory? And how does it look to you now? Does it not seem as though there is nothing there? But take courage now, Zerubbabel! Courage, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, high priest! Courage, all you people of the country! To work! I am with you ... and my spirit is present among you. Do not be afraid! A little while now, and I shall shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I shall shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will flow in, and I shall fill this Temple with glory. Mine is the silver, mine the gold! The glory of this new Temple will surpass that of the old ... and in this place, I shall give peace.

A few days later, Yahweh sent a third message to Zerubbabel through Haggai, which reads: 

I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. On that day will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, and will make thee as a signet (seal); for I have chosen thee.

As menacing as this message sounds on the surface, Yahweh is basically telling Zerubbabel (through Haggai) that God’s Salvation Plan will triumph in the end because of what he will do as the Chosen One. When the Spirit says he will one day make of Zerubbabel “a signet,” he means he will use Zerubbabel in a future life to "seal" God's Promise to deliver His Son from the imagined evils, trials, and violence of earthly existence.

Compare this interpretation to what Jesus says in the Course in answer to the question: What is salvation?

Salvation is a promise, made by God, that you would find your way to Him at last. It cannot not be kept. It guarantees that time will have an end, and all the thoughts that have been born in time will end as well. God's Word is given every mind which thinks that it has separate thoughts, and will replace these thoughts of conflict with the Thought of peace.

The Thought of peace was given to God's Son the instant that his mind had thought of war. There was no need for such a Thought before, for peace was given without opposite, and merely was. But when the mind is split there is a need of healing. So the Thought Which has the power to heal the split became a part of every fragment of the mind that still was one, but failed to recognize its oneness. Now it did not know itself, and thought its own identity was lost.

Salvation is undoing in the sense that it does nothing, failing to support the world of dreams and malice. Thus it lets illusions go. By not supporting them, it merely lets them quietly go down to dust. And what they hid is now revealed; an altar to the holy Name of God whereon His Word is written, with the gifts of your forgiveness laid before It, and the memory of God not far behind.

Let us come daily to this holy place, and spend a while together. Here we share our final dream. It is a dream in which there is no sorrow, for it holds a hint of all the glory given us by God. The grass is pushing through the soil, the trees are budding now, and birds have come to live within their branches. Earth is being born again in new perception. Night has gone, and we have come together in the light.

From here we give salvation to the world, for it is here salvation was received. The song of our rejoicing is the call to all the world that freedom is returned, that time is almost over, and God's Son has but an instant more to wait until his Father is remembered, dreams are done, eternity has shined away the world, and only Heaven now exists at all.

Let us hope that, after all I've just explained, you now more clearly comprehend what Jesus means when he uses phrases like the Holy Spirit's Temple, "the song of our rejoicing," the Word of God, and the Holy Place or Holy Meeting Place.

In my next post, we'll continue our discussion of "restoring the temple" by exploring in more depth what the Temple Menorah actually symbolizes. Was in really stolen in 70 CE by "Roman" invaders -- or is that "code" for the systematic destruction of the "gnostic" teachings of Christ by the "Catholic" authorities in Rome around the same time? I, for one, believe it was -- and that the prophesied rebuilding of the third temple is not only underway, but being accelerated. in the present age.