Societas Rosicruciana in America
3 June 1938
“As Above – so Below”
In the creative process of our Solar System and Earth, Order evolves from Chaos in a Trinitarian form.
Above, behind and back of all manifestation is that great and all potent mystery, the Absolute; the root of all existence.
From the Absolute proceeded the Great Architect of our Universe, the Supreme Being. And from the Supreme Being came forth the Solar Logos, who chose a certain point in space as the locus of his center of activity for the evolution of what we know as our Solar System.
All potentialities emanate from the head of this Hierarchy, the Absolute, and flow down through the Supreme Being and to the Solar Logos. It is this positive force, the Life Principle, which, acting upon the negative latency of Cosmic Root Substance, gives it life and activity, differentiating it from the chaotic condition of cosmic matter around it.
In like manner the Rosicrucian Fraternity carries out the scheme of Cosmic Order.
First: —It is Threefold, comprised in a Consistory, a Chapter and a College.
Second:—Each of these bodies is Threefold, having an Adept, a Celebrant and a
Suffragan, who are the Bearers of Light within the body of the organization.
Third: —Its work is Threefold: – Physical, Intellectual or Mental, and Spiritual.
Fourth:—Its membership is Threefold: – Associate, Collegiate and those who have
progressed far enough on the Path to undertake personal or secret work of
individual development.
Now the Three Bodies or rather, Four Gradations, of the Fraternity may be allocated to their proper Kabalistic Worlds.
The Neophytes to Assiah, the World of Action
The College to Yetzirah, the World of Formation
The Chapter to Briah, the World of Creation and
The Consistory to Atziluth, the Archetypal World of Emanations
This may be explained, or rather, amplified in this way:
The World of Assiah is considered as composed of the grosser elements of the three higher worlds, the Neophyte therefore, being in a state of unpurified activity.
The World of Yetzirah is one of intelligent beings clothed in Light, and it is in the College that Light is first conferred upon the Neophyte.
The World of Briah is of a purer nature, and free from the admixture of gross matter, so in the Chapter the Aspirant breaks away from his earthly ties and seeks the Path across the Abyss to the realms of Spirit.
The World of Atziluth is called also the Heavenly Man, and being thus a direct emanation from God, is perfect and immutable, so in the Consistory resides our highest connection with Divinity, the Source of all the potencies of our Holy Fraternity.
Brotherhood begins in the invisible and manifests in the visible. The Process of Evolution is maintained. Each World emerges from its parent world and each Kingdom from its parent kingdom. Each Order in the Fraternity emerges from its superior Order.
This is shown in our rituals wherein we acknowledge that the authority in each Grade and Order comes from “The Greatly Honored Chiefs” of the next higher Order.
So the Consistory is the Highest body on the physical plane and the College the lowest. The Chapter therefore should be the principal exemplar of the Middle Way.
All of us who join in the noonday concentration for Healing express the desire that their forces may join with those of all who work under the Rosicrucian Ray. Now nothing has heretofore been said about that Ray. Few seem to have any notion of what it is. But it has been rumored that it is the Green Ray, which is the one we labor under.
Let us take a look at the Solar Spectrum for a moment. The order of the colors as given by a prism is this:- First comes a trio of – Violet, Indigo, Blue; then Green; followed by another trio, Yellow, Orange and Red. The point of especial note is that the Green Ray occupies the precise Middle of the Spectrum, thus emphasizing the Middle Path, the Path that lies between the extremes of Severity and Mercy, between the Black and White Pillars, and passes through the Sephira Tiphareth, the symbol of Beauty.
May we, each and all, therefore, in our progress through the Degrees of this Metropolitan Chapter, endeavor to express in our individual lives the principles of Moderation, Temperance and Equity. Not hiding our Lights under a bushel, but going forth into the world as shining Lights, as Exemplars of the Rosicrucian principles which have come to us through the wisdom of those Masters who trod the Path before us.