Builders of the Adytum New Zealand

Zenith News Notes No 95, March 2012

Most of our members live in Commonwealth countries, but

whether a royalist or not sincerest congratulations to Queen

Elizabeth II for attained her Diamond Jubilee.

We l l i n g t o n

B.O.T.A. Headquarters NZ, Cnr Treadwell & Naenae Rds, Lower Hutt

Enquiries: Phone 04 567 5751 or Fax 04 567 5757

Qabalistic Healing Service: Every Sunday morning at 10.30 am

Class Work: 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Tuesday of each month at 7.30 pm

Pronaos: 1st Tuesday at 7.30 pm (initiated members only)

A u c k l a n d

Higher Thought Temple, Union Street, Central City

Enquiries: Phone 09 273 3046 - Frater Michael Sutcliffe

Qabalistic Healing Service:

1st Sunday morning of the month at 10.30 am

Healing Colour and Sound Ritual:

2nd Wednesday of each month at 7.30 pm

Tarot Key Discussion: 3rd Wednesday at 7.30 pm

Tree of Life Meditation and Chanting: 4

th Wednesday at 7:30pm

D u n e d i n Enquiries: Phone 03 472 7274 - Soror Jan Faris

Qabalistic Healing Service :

1st and 3

rd Sundays at 10.30am

Vibratory Attunement Healing Service :

2nd

Sunday at 10.30am

Class Work : 4th Sunday at 10.30am and 1

st Tuesday at 7:00pm

Meditation Meeting :

5th Sunday at 10:30am

M e l b o u r n e

Study Group: 4th Sunday of the month

Enquiries: Frater Ross & Soror Tania Giles 03 5967 1502

Soror Ellen Green 03 9569 6720

A d e l a i d e

Study Group: 3rd Sunday of each month.

Enquiries: Phone 8362 4016 - John Latore or 0404 804016

Phone 8362 3986 - Felice Arlotta

S y d n e y Class Work: 1st Tuesday of each month at 7.00 pm

Pronaos: 3rd Tuesday at 7.30 pm (initiated members only)

Unitarian Church, 15A Francis Street, Sydney

Enquiries: Phone: 02 9953 4613 – Suzie Farrow or 0450 090 422

BOTA Meetings

March 2012

1

B.O.T.A ADELAIDE RETREAT

JUNE 2012

In 2009, BOTA members from various parts of Australia met for a

weekend retreat in a monastery in the Adelaide Hills. This was a

successful event, and it was enjoyed by all those who attended.

We are pleased to invite members to another retreat to be held at the same

venue in Adelaide. It is scheduled for the weekend of 22, 23 and 24th

June,

2012. At this stage, all that is required is for those who are interested in

attending, to be aware of these scheduled dates for next year. There will be

an information update with more details.

How and Why by Paul Foster Case Reprinted from The Wheel of Life,

Autumnal Equinox, 1937

Everywhere we look we see things happening which make us wonder why

they happen; but before we may hope to find out why, we must first be

patient enough to find out how. The things to be aimed at in the study of

practical occultism is not so much the discovery of the hidden motivates

animating the Infinite Life-Power as it is the comprehension of the

sequence of cause and effect which shall enable us to enter consciously

into cooperation with the self expression of that power.

Our finite minds seem to be unable to get at the "why" of the Infinite. Is it

not because, not being infinite ourselves, we cannot adopt the Infinite's

point of view? We have a better chance to learn the "how," because in that

direction our quest is concerned with the way the Life-power works out its

:finite manifestations.

Our search, then, is for the true sequence of cause and effect. It is a waste

of time to bother our heads with unanswerable questions as to why that

Zenith News Notes No 95

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particular sequence, and not some other, was selected by the Life-power as

its method of going to work. If we bear this in mind, it is even possible

that we shall so expand our consciousness that we shall leave behind the

limitations of our present personality and arrive at a stage of realization

where we shall be able to look at some things as the Infinite sees them.

There is a tremendous volume of evidence in support of this position. In

the sacred books of the world we find great seers asserting that they have

found a Way which has led them to a place where they can look at the

world with the Eye of God. All these Knowers of Reality agree that to

arrive at this stage of consciousness is to find perfectly satisfactory

answers to many of the "whys" that disturb the minds of so many of us.

They all insist, moreover, that an indispensable condition for reaching this

happy state is to desist from asking why, and from accepting various

opinions concerning this same why. The way to find out the "why," they

tell us, is to concentrate our whole attention on the discovery of the "how."

Then we must live the life which makes thought, word and action

correspond to what we know concerning the "how."

The better we succeed in doing this, the nearer we approach to the point-

of-view of the Infinite Consciousness. Ultimately we reach that goal

which is symbolized in occult parlance by the terms "the Stone of the

Wise," or "the Quintessence." Then, and not until then, we know at least

some part of the "why."

Even then we can't tell anybody else. The secret is not captured in the net

of thought. It may not be put into words. Those who know point out the

Way so that others, by learning "how," may finally find out "why" for

themselves.

The great seers agree also that the only approach to a reasonable

explanation of the "why" of the universe is a development of this idea:

Spirit enters into manifestation in order to realize its infinite

possibilities.

In the course of the age-long process which, to the Infinite, is but the pause

between the out-breathing and in-breathing of the Great Breath, man,

comes into existence. Man, through whom the Supreme Spirit goes back

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to Itself, discovers Itself, realizes Itself. For Man is the Word made flesh;

Man is that whose beginning is the Open Door of the Great Mother,

sending forth the Breath of Life; Man is that whose final destiny is union

with the Great White Head, the Primal Will, whose shining symbol is the

sun of life and light.

In its youth the soul is always looking ahead, always expecting something

from the future, always gazing toward the Beyond.

When the soul has gained experience, it looks the

other way. The old soul amongst human beings

may be recognized by this. It knows that the goal

may be found by retracing one's steps. This is the

doctrine of return expounded by the Chinese sage,

Lao-tze. This is the meaning of that wise saying

that the mind of Man makes recoveries only, not

discoveries. This is the path of Man, ascending

from the multiplicity of outer appearance to the

singleness of the One Source and learning, as he

ascends, that all the powers and possessions he

sought so eagerly, outside himself, were all the time

already his, actual states of his own essential nature.

Occultists know that the very noun Adam, the Hebrew generic term for

Man, mystically proclaims the ultimate redemption of all humanity. Thus

Jesus, whose own name means, "The nature of Reality is to liberate," was

distinguished from other teachers by his clear understanding of the dignity

and power of the human spirit - the Life-power of Man. He called himself

the Son of Man, and declared explicitly that his own powers and

attainments were the direct consequence of his being the Son of Man.

To effect the liberation of humanity is the purpose of the Great Work. We

who call ourselves Builders are convinced that we must begin with

ourselves. The goal we seek is the attainment of True Wisdom and Perfect

Happiness. The method whereby we approach this goal is the doing of the

Word, which is in our mouths and in our hearts. To do the Word, we must

know it. To know it we must learn the sequence of cause and effect

which constitutes the Law of the Word's work of self-expression.

The revelation of that Law, through the science of correspondences, is one

purpose of our curriculum. Yet we are never to forget that neither

Zenith News Notes No 95

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teachers, nor books, neither Tarot nor any other device or training, can

give us this revelation. These are but various devices for bringing forth the

Gnosis of the Great Deep of Wisdom, and that Great Deep is within us.

Nor can our understanding of the Law ever be complete unless we do what

we know now. We are not mere metaphysicians, not mere occult

philosophers. We are practical occultists, and the measure of our

attainment is neither thinking nor talking, but doing.

Because even a slight acquaintance with the Law shows that the tendency

of the current of Life is toward self-expression, we seek to apply

knowledge of particular phases of the Law to effecting our release from

the bondage of circumstances. We deliberately employ occult powers to

gain our liberty.

If we can't set ourselves free, how shall we do

anything toward liberating the world? So long as

we ourselves remain in bondage, all grandiose talk

about our share in the Great Work is a

megalomaniac waste of breath.

Some of us have taken solemn obligations to use

occult power for naught but good. Occasionally

somebody rises to tell us that to use occult power to

help oneself is to use that power for evil ends.

This is nonsense. Who can believe that the Law is

so ill-arranged that we are to be tantalized by

knowing a way out of suffering and sorrow, which

is, nevertheless, a way we are forbidden to follow? No, the Word is in our

mouths and in our hearts that we may do it. Permitting our occult

knowledge to remain inoperative is the very worst of errors. Let us be

doers of the Word, and its power shall make us radiant centers of the Light

that lighteth every man.

March 2012

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The Brotherhood of Man

The essence of the Brotherhood of Man is the central theme told by all true

religions and philosophies. We are told in The Great Work that it is the

accomplishment in continuous submission of all personal acts to the rule

of the Higher Self where the personality expresses the qualities of the Ego

in every moment of our daily lives. It is the ability to distinguish the I

within the centre, away from our instruments and look upon their activities

with an objectivity that permits the real Self to gain control allowing a

freer expression of love and compassion to be more helpful to all other

humans and creatures.

The Ego or Higher Self referred to is represented on the Tree of Life in the

sixth Sephirah of Tiphareth or Beauty also referred to as the Christ

consciousness. To enter into this state you must first have established

Selfless love in Netzach the seventh Sephirah and mental comprehension

and practicality in Hod the eighth Sephirah.

Ideas of distinction and discernment are attributed to Tiphareth even

though it is related to union with the One Ego. Its yellow colour suggest

discrimination through Mercury. Its path is the Mediating Intelligence

which suggest a certain distinguishing of one thing from another-this is the

ability to distinguish the I from the personality and physical vehicle-the

discrimination is essentially in differentiating truth from falsehood where

we must bring in feelings of love when hate and resentment start to rise, by

remembering the joy of givingness in situations where selfishness has been

our habit, by recalling our Oneness with others when we are tempted to

criticize-these are all habits that keep us separate, this is all part of the

transforming work shown in Key 14 that leads us into Tiphareth.

As we apply these expressions repeatedly we change the structures and

organs in our physical vehicle enabling us to be continuously receptive to

the guidance from Beauty. Yeheshua is another important name attributed

to Tiphareth as it signifies a human being who has been through the

disciplines and has built in these controls, where Higher Consciousness

has unfolded enough to allow Superconscious energies to enter the field of

personality.

A longing for peace and rest from strife is often behind our search in this

Zenith News Notes No 95

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work that leads us to unfoldment of Divinity through a human personality.

I can attest to this being my initial impulse but as we continue to work our

first impulse becomes modified by deeper goals, the result is a changing

focus of desire and imagination. When we become aware of our wonderful

possibilities within human consciousness it changes a desire for peace into

desire for spiritual unfoldment. As we gradually unfold we start to

experience inspirations and revelations in our meditations, we learn to

direct the reproductive energies toward awakening inner centres of

awareness. The knowledge and love we receive from the Inner School

Adepts becomes more and more intelligible to our mind. This is the Christ

within gaining dominion over the personality. Our subconscious responses

have to be transformed before this new way of life is possible through a

state of expanded awareness of freedom and of inner harmony that may

take us several lifetimes to perfect. What we are given in our work is a

Master plan and the linkage with the Inner School. Through patience,

persistence and pursuing the way of life outlined in our work we are told

that the fullness of Adeptship will surely unfold, there must be an

outpouring of spiritual love and energy to be moved to compassion by the

suffering and errors of the unenlightened, this shows the mark of spiritual

development, where one becomes helpful and inspirational as practical

occultism is essentially expressed through action in our daily lives. It

requires actual contact with the affairs of the world. Our knowledge must

be tested in practice. True Adeptship does not end with personal liberation-

this is where true brotherhood happens, where we become a light giver, a

centre of illumination for all those who come within our circle of

influence, the only restriction is that light can only be received by those

who put themselves in a position to do so.

Our love nature must expand until it embraces everything and everyone in

a caring and givingness that is effective because it is intelligent. Intelligent

love more than anything else unfolds that higher discrimination that is able

to separate the errors in our personality responses and expressions from the

gold of pure truth.

When we are helping we must also take care that in our loving and

helpfulness that we do it with true humility and not with the need to be

admired and looked up to which becomes separative pride. When the I Am

becomes the One desire then we can see how a personality really

March 2012

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dominated by love and unity would act. Tenderness, compassion, patience

and self restraint are the seal of our order.

When we are prepared to face errors in our personal acts and then deny

them expression we are clearing away the destructions that keep us from

enjoying continuous linkage with our Higher Self. The Higher Self that is

One in all of humanity, it cannot get through until our treatment of others

shows that we understand this. When we can stand and face thoughts like

resentment, pride, criticism of others and the pain we have caused through

past separative ignorance, we begin to know what purification is.

Development really happens when we learn to still the mind. The voice of

the Higher Self cannot be heard by a restless mind that flits aimlessly.

Whenever we love unselfishly or seek earnestly for truth or yearn deeply

to banish sorrow from life it is the Self acting through us. When we start to

recognise this Divine influence there emerges and entirely new image of

our Self.

To bring ourselves to perfection is the goal of human work, our I

consciousness centred in Tiphareth is the link through which

Superconscious forces are transmitted to our subconscious levels, this is

the rightful goal for humanity at this moment, to unfold awareness of the

Higher Self, of its unity, in order to bring about the Brotherhood.

The centre of Tiphareth is the point of Self awareness in which the

indivisible I Am of Kether diversifies itself into us the individualised

facets. It is the quality of aspiration, lovingness and patience that make us

open to receive illumination from above, we must be able to give out what

we receive in practical ways to the needs of physical existence, this is the

quality of the human spirit that has become the beautiful one, a true

brother.

Perfection is learnt through our trial and error as we see in key 14 leading

into Beauty. Becoming an adept is the great art of life. Initiation is not a

natural process, it is an accelerated unfoldment learned by trial and error. It

requires active conscious participation, it is in the end a refocusing of

desire that the qualities of love and compassion are unfolded and extended.

As we recognize the Unity of Life and act upon it we are bringing about

the Brotherhood of Man.

Zenith News Notes No 95

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The Meditation on Zain

1 I AM the sword,

The sword which is understanding,

Dividing between the darkenss and the light

At creation’s dawn.

2 Not by addition

Doth the multiplicity of creatures

Come into existence,

For I, the source of all, am one,

One and alone,

Even as it is written,

“Beside me there is nothing.”

Verily the beginning of all things

Is division, as Moses saith.

“In the beginning the Elohim cut apart

The heaven and the earth.”

3 That, therefore, which to purblind eyes

Seemeth to be another than myself,

That which to the deluded

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Appeareth as somewhat fashioned by my hand,

Into which I enter not,

The wise know as a portion of mine own being

Set apart for my regard

By mine unfathomable power of self-reflection.

This power the Secret Wisdom calleth the Mother.

It is the power of Understanding,

The power also of the Elohim,

For in BINAH are the Elohim enthroned,

And their Thrones are set in Her.

Mine are the Thrones,

Mine the powers of the Elohim,

And I, whom men adore as Father,

Am known also to the wise as the Great Mother

In whose name are hid

The names of the Father and the Son.

4 This name is the sharp sword

Whereby the One that I am

Divideth itself into the Many.

From BINAH this sharp sword proceedeth,

And by its separative force

I cleave asunder mine own unity,

Dividing myself into Two,

The Father and the Mother.

This thou mayest discern in ZAIN,

Whose beginning is the sword of separation,

Whose middle is the paternal YOD,

And whose end referreth by numeration

To the Gates of the Mother.

Here, too, shalt thou perceive

The Elohim (for they are Seven),

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And the Lights of Emanation (for they are Ten),

And the Gates of Understanding (for they are Fifty).

Thus in ZAIN, the Sword,

Is shown a figure of all things that have been,

That are, and that shall be in time to come.

5 And the sword flasheth forth

From the heart of the Mother

Into the heart of the Son,

And its course is the path of the Disposing Intelligence.

This path is called

The Foundation of Beauty in the place of the Supernals.

And why is it so called?

Because it riseth in BINAH

And proceedeth unto TIPHARETH,

And that same BINAH is thus the Foundation of Beauty;

Yet her place is among the Supernals,

For She is the second emanation from the Crown.

6 After another manner, also,

Is BINAH the Foundation of Beauty,

For she is AIMA, the Mother,

And that same AIMA is by number

One with B N, Ben, the Son, which is TIPHARETH.

This Mother is the Great Sea,

Yet is the power flashing through the path of the Sword a

fiery power,

For the Sea is the sphere of Shabbathai,

Which is the secret abode of FIRE.

The FIRE of the Father

Is shut up in the WATER of the Mother,

And from this FIRE and WATER

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Proceedeth the Airy spirit

Of the path of the Sword.

And this Airy spirit

Is the breath of my angel, Raphael,

He who rightly apportioneth my Word,

And ruleth as lord in the sign of the Twins.

For those of you not familiar with the works, the previous verses are taken

from the “Book of Tokens” by Paul Foster Case and the information and

instructions for drawing the Hebrew letters are taken from “The Hebrew

Letter Workbook”.

Both are available from the Builders of the Adytum head office in Los

Angeles www.bota.org as well as many other books and study materials

pertaining to this work.

Zenith News Notes No 95

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Zain

The letter z Zain also means “weapon” or “sword,” and

this idea fids expression in the shape of the letter itself,

which suggests a sword. Letters of Fire, Rabbi Matityahu Glazerson

… it is no coincidence that the letter z Zain is the

symbolic representative of both sustenance and armament. The

two concepts are related to each other. The letter is shaped like a

spear, indicating that man’s sustenance is obtained by his

struggle. The Wisdom in the Hebrew Alphabet. Rabbi Michael Munk

The form of the z Zain resembles both a golden scepter and the

crown on the head of a king. The Maggid of Mezeritch, the

successor of the Ba’al Shem Tov, teaches that the verse “A

woman of valour is the crown of her husband” (Proverbs 12:4)

alludes to the form of the letter z Zain. The previous letter, w Vav,

portrays the “straight light” descending from God into the worlds.

The z Zain, Whose form is similar to the w Vav, reflects the

“straight light” of the w Vav, through the crown on top as

“returning light.” The Alef-Beit, Rabbi Ginsburgh

Drawing the Zain (Zayin)

Repeat the instructions for drawing the y Yod, only at the centre of

the grid (A to B)

Then, at the centre of the y Yod (C), begin a downward stroke with

the point of the edged pen, flattening the pen as the stroke

descends (D) then closing it at the base of the letter (E).