Just finished reading this very short book. It's in three parts ... wish I could give a quick synopsis -- perhaps it's best to check out the glowing reviews on amazon.com. I highlighted and underlined quite a bit -- a bit too much to print out the interesting parts here.
The first part is an introduction in defense of the fact that all religions, east and west, have "fire" or "light" as their fundamental deity -- sometimes appearances to the contrary -- but Manly P. Hall is quick to point out that this "fire" is not necessarily physical or material fire, but the fire known as "akasa" or "the astral light" or, several other names, basically it is the "ethereal fire" that is one (Hall says the highest) of the four elements of the ancients.
The content of the second part of "Melchizidek" is a little harder to pin down. It's title "Man, Grand Symbol of the Mysteries" is the same as the title of another entire book by Hall. The chapter is necessarily less detailed, touching mainly on the idea introduced previously that there really are three aspects of the "fire" worshiped by all races, corresponding to the three aspects of man's constitution -- heart (heaven), body (hell), mind (earth, or the middle ground). In the first part he calls these Will (heart, heaven), Action or Friction (earth), and Wisdom or Intelligence (mind, meeting between heaven and earth). I may be a little off on the correspondences, but they're never very clear in occult writings, and when they are, they're often contradicted in other writings.
In any case, the second part also involves a defense of the argument made at the book's outset, namely that almost all, if not all, religious lore, writings, symbolism, processions, rituals, even architecture pertain to certain secret, i.e. occult, knowledge of man's true, spiritual, constitution as well as to the means of achieving spiritual regeneration -- resulting in membership of the highest mystery school on Earth -- according to him -- the order of Melchizidek.
The third part of the book explores the phenomenon of the kundalini energy, the chakra/nadi system as well as the role played by both the pituitary (the mother gland, Isis) and the pineal gland (Osiris?) in achieving spiritual regeneration.
I am perhaps cheating the reader of this review of the many quotable quotes from this short, enjoyable and highly readable book. Compare Hall's easy-reading writing style to a mentor of both his and mine -- the venerable H.P. Blavatsky, whose writing (cf. the Secret Doctrine) is often very difficult reading.
Quotes from Melchizidek (this is not representative of the numerous passages I found interesting in the book, but here are a few).
"The auric body of a snake is one of the most remarkable sights that the clairvoyant will ever see, and the secrets concealed within this aura demonstrate why the serpent is the symbol of wisdom among so many nations."
"The golden ornaments upon the altars of Christian churches should remind the philosophical observer that gold is the sacred metal of the sun, because, according to alchemists, the sun ray itself crystallized in the earth, thus forming this precious metal, which, incidentally is still being made."
"The initiates view the blood as a mysterious liquid, somewhat gaseous in nature, which served as a medium for manifesting the fire of man's spiritual nature. This fire, coursing through the system, animated and vitalized all parts of the form, thus keeping the spiritual nature in touch with all of its physical extremities."
"The Egyptians considered the juice of the grape to be more nearly like human blood than any other substance. In fact, they believed that the grape secured its life from the blood of the dead who had been buried in the earth."
"The highest of each kingdom in Nature was considered symbolic of the sun. Hence, the scarab beetle, being the most intelligent of all insects, the eagle the most aspiring of all birds, and the lion the strongest of all beasts were considered fitly symbolic of the solar disc."
No comments:
Post a Comment