Excerpt r, for the awakening of the latent powers in man, so that all may be guided safely through the danger-zone and be as well fitted as possible to use these new faculties. Effort is made to blend the love without which Paul declared a knowledge of all mysteries worthless, with a mystic knowledge rooted and grounded in love, so that the pupils of this school may become living exponents of this blended soul-science of the Western Wisdom School, and gradually educate humanity at large in the virtues necessary to make the possession of higher powers safe. Note: -- Pages 19 to 26 inclusive, describing Mt. Ecclesia, have been transferred to the back of the book. (Transcriber's Note: They are pages 191 through 200.) CHAPTER II. THE PROBLEM OF LIFE AND ITS SOLUTION THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. Among all the vicissitudes of life, which vary in each individual's experience, there is one event which so

It is a matter of common knowledge among mystics that the evolutionary career of mankind is indissolubly bound up with the divine hierarchies who rule the planets and the signs of the Zodiac, and that the passage of the Sun and the planets through the twelve signs of the Zodiac marks man's progress in time and in space. Therefore, it is not to be wondered at, that in the course of their investigations into the spiritual development of mankind, the writers have also encountered much that deals with the Zodiac, which is the boundary of our evolutionary sphere at the present time. So much has been perceived in the memory of nature that sheds light upon obscure passages of the Bible, that notes have been made from time to time of different points, but how to collect and collate these dissociated writings into a united whole has been a great problem for a long time. Even now, the writers know and feel that what they are bringing forth is only a very, very weak attempt to set before the students that great body of facts which have come to them through the memory of nature. They feel, however, that this will give a 3 4 THE MESSAGE OF THE STARS new and more profound meaning to the old symbols, and that by passing on what has been found they put themselves in line to receive more light. Concerning the future evolution of planets, The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception teaches, on page 256, that "when the beings upon the planet have evolved to a sufficient degree, the planet becomes a Sun, the fixed center of the Solar System. When the beings there have evolved to a still greater degree, and consequently it has reached its maximum of brilliancy, it breaks up into a Zodiac and becomes, so to speak, the womb of a new Solar System. Thus the Great hosts of Divine beings who, until then, were confined upon that Sun gain freedom of action upon a great number of stars whence they can affect, in different ways, the system which grows up within their sphere of influence. The planets or man-bearing worlds within the Zodiac are constantly being worked upon by these forces but in various ways according to the stage they have reached in evolution. Our Sun could not have become a sun until it set out from itself all the beings who were not sufficiently evolved to endure the high rate of vibration and the great luminosity of the beings who were qualified for that evolution. All the beings upon the different planets would have been consumed had they remained in the Sun. This visible Sun, however, though it is a place of evolution for beings vastly above man, is not by any means the Father of the other planets, as EVOLUTION AS SHOWN IN THE ZODIAC 5 material science supposes. On the contrary, it is itself an emanation from the central Sun, which is the invisible source of all that IS in our solar system."

The Rosiprucian Cosmo-conceptipion is not dogmatic, neither does it appeal to any other authority than the reason of the student. It is: not controversial, but is; sent forth in the, hope- that it may help to clear some of the difficulties which have beset the minds of students of the deeper philosophies in the past. In order to avoid serious misunderstanding, it should be firmly, impressed upon the mind of the student, however, that there is no infallible revelation of this complicated subject, which includes everything under the sun and above it also. An infallible exposition would predicate omniscience upon the part of the writer, and even the Elder Brothers tell us that they are sometimes at fault in their judgment, so a book which shall say the last word on the World-Mystery is out of the question, and the writer of the present work does not pretend to give aught but the most elementary teachings of the Rosicrucians. The Rosicrucian Brotherhood has the most far-reaching, the most logical conception of the World-Mystery of which the writer has gained any knowledge during the many years he has devoted exclusively to the study of this subject So far as he has been able to investigate, their teachings have been found in accordance with facts as he knows them. Yet he is convinced that the Rosicrucian Cosmo-conception is far from being the last word on the subject; that as we advance greater vistas of truth will open to us and make clear many things which we now "see through a glass, darkly." At the same time he firmly believes that all other philosophies of the future will follow the same main lines, for they appear to be absolutely true.