Archetypal Structure of the Heavenly Jerusalem-III

Initiations at the Cardinal Points of the Zodiac-Mandala

The four cardinal points of the Zodiac-Mandala mark the changes of the spiritual seasons. The initiations at these points are of crucial importance. Each one of them reveals a different picture of the Universe and initiates a new phase in the evolution of human beings. Seen in this light, the initiations at the cardinal points are the main cosmic Gates – Southern, Western, Northern, and Eastern – to the spiritual reality of the Holy City. We can compare the Mandala of the Heavenly Jerusalem with a gigantic cosmic-spiritual Zodiac with the CREATOR as the spiritual Sun at its Centre and the four cardinal points marking the change of the seasons. Then, analogous to the astrological symbolism, we can envisaged twelve signs of the Spiritual Zodiac which will be determined by the type of correlation between spirit and matter, light and darkness, objectivity and subjectivity – i.e. all the categories which constitute the spiritual seasons and affect the evolution of human beings.

I am using the astrological symbolism only as an analogy which helps to explain some main ideas of the presentеd Zodiac. The precise structuring of the cosmic-spiritual Zodiac, with its four cardinal points, twelve signs, etc., is an extremely subtle and delicate task. Obviously, we can envisage, in addition to the initiations at the cardinal points, initiations at the rest of the eight signs and at many other important points on the Zodiac – i.e., in the middle of the signs, around the cardinal points and so on. In fact, all points of the inner circle of the Zodiac-Mandala (their number will be a function of the introduced structure of the spiritual Zodiac) are important and mark either specific initiations, or at least significant aspects of some of the main initiations.

The Messianic Line of the new Heavenly-Jerusalem cosmic cycle is activated by the New Comings of the Divine Masters from the outgoing Indo-European cycle. All of them can be considered as an emanations of Metatron, radiating from the Centre of the Mandala, from G-d. Each one of the Divine Masters has a Feminine Counterpart who plays a very important role in his initiation. In fact, his initiation is completed only when the aspirant harmonizes both the masculine and feminine aspects in it. At this early stage, however, I will discuss mainly the masculine aspects of the initiations at the four cardinal points of the Zodiac-Mandala.

In a preliminary manner, I could suggest (based on my metaphysical and mystical experiences), the initiations at the cardinal points of the Zodiac-Mandala to be identified with the initiations of the Lord Krishna (personified in our epoch by the Hindu Masters Ramakrishna, Babaji and others), the Enlightened Buddha, the Son of G-d Jesus Christ, the World Teacher Beinsa Douno, and the Holy Spirit as an integrative emanation from Metatron. Of course, this choice is a very delicate and subtle question, which I will clarify and develop further in the following Posts. Now I will give a short explanation of the Centre of the Zodiac-Mandala of the Heavenly Jerusalem and the initiations at the four cardinal points of the suggested Zodiac-Mandala. Later on, in separate Posts, I will describe each one of them in much greater details.

The Centre of the Zodiac-Mandala

At the Centre of the Zodiac-Mandala of the Heavenly Jerusalem is the great Cosmic-spiritual Sun, which never sets. In Kabbalistic terms, it could be described by the highest three Sefiroth in the World of Creation – Kether-Hokhmah-Binah. They, in absolute unity, emanate from G-d, from Tifereth of the transcendent World of Emanation. They form the three Heavens of Heavens and manifest the triple immediate principles of creation: Shekhinah-metatron-avir. The great Kabbalist Leo Schaya explains:

“The shekhinah, or real presence of kether, wraps itself in metatron, its active and spiritual manifestation (which is the immanence of hokhmah), and in avir, its cosmic and substantial receptivity, the ether, which is the emanation of binah. The shekhinah then unites the spiritual radiation of metatron with the subtle manifestation of avir, and by this forms the heavens (i.e., the seven heavens of construction – L.M)… In reality, hokhmah and binah are indivisible and inseparable aspects of kether, the One.” (Leo Schaya, The Universal Meaning of the Kabbalah,  UNWIN paperbacks, London, 1989,  p. 75).

The great Divine Masters in the history of humankind are radiations from G-d, the Absolute, but personify different principles of Divinity in accordance with the spiritual seasons. In the new Heavenly-Jerusalem cosmic cycle all of them are emanations from Metatron in Beriah. Here by Metatron, I appreciate the three-unity of the highest Sephiroth – Keter-Hokhmah-Binah, in the World of Creation, from where actually the rest of the Seven Sefiroth in the Tree of Life, of Creation itself, unfolds. Obviously, the various emanations from Metatron, during the four cosmic seasons reveal different models of the spiritual Universe and activate different potential in human beings.

The Southern Universal Gate of the Heavenly Jerusalem

According to the presented Zodiac–Mandala, Babaji is a personification of the Lord Krishna – the Life-creating Divine Light which radiates from the Southern Universal Gate of the Heavenly Jerusalem.  He reveals the initiation of the Satya Yuga – the epoch of the last Golden Age and bring us to the new Golden Age when humankind will live under the direct light of G-d, during the coming cosmic-spiritual Summer.  From the time of the Fall, the Hindu culture has preserved the truth of the spiritual essence of Creation and for thousands of years has kept sacred the memory of the Golden Age. The initiation of Babaji, a contemporary personification of the Lord Krishna, reveals again the true reality of Creation as the universal life-creating Divine Light. This initiation leads through the Gate of the ideal-objective universe (i.e. the reality of the Divine Light which is Creation itself) to Union with G-d, with I AM, the Absolute.

The Western Universal Gate of the Heavenly Jerusalem

The Enlightened Buddha personifies the principle of the self-realized universal consciousness. Gautama Buddha’s initiation came in the season of the cosmic-spiritual Autumn, at the point when, in the process of involution, spirit and matter were in balance. Appropriately enough, the state of Nirvana means calmness, serenity, peace and oneness with the undifferentiated universal mind. There is nothing else except the universal consciousness and everyone who dissolves in it, becomes a Buddha (that is, the one who is purified and who has conquered the ignorance). The Buddhist Path of Initiation leads through the Gate of the ‘micro- cosmos‘ of Being.  It is based on dharmas – the smallest ‘quantums’ of consciousness – and from this perspective we can compare the Buddhist approach to the model of ‘quantum mechanics‘ in physics. After entry into this microworld, however, the Buddhist followers experience an immensely rich living Universe of ideal-spiritual essences reflected by their ‘transparent’, reflective consciousness.  Therefore, the Buddhist Initiation can be defined as Mirror of the Light of G-d.  Finally, the Buddhist initiates dissolve into the Great Void (Sünyatä), which is the undifferentiated Absolute Origin of Being.

The Northern Universal Gate of the Heavenly Jerusalem

As an Emanation from Metatron at Keter of Beriah, Jesus Christ,  personifies the ‘Little Yahweh’. G-d created human beings in His own image and likeness and Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, and a Manifestation of Metatron, is the perfect embodiment of this image. Christ is the first born of G-d, the substance and the absolute ‘I-reality’ (ideal-subjective essence) of all living beings. At the lowest point of human involution on Earth, in the coldness and darkness of the cosmic-spiritual Winter, G-d had to send His first-born Son to help humankind. Thus, Jesus Christ turned the wheel of human involution into an evolution and spiritual rebirth – a Divine task which only the Son of God, as an emanation from Metatron (at Kether of Beriah), can fulfil. So, the Christian path of Initiation leads through the Gate of the ideal-subjective Universe – that is the absolute ‘I-reality’ of all living creatures and results in the birth of G-d’s spark within (the essence of the first born from G-d) and joining the universal community of myriads of light beings. Thus, the Cosmic Christ Initiation, in the new cosmic cycle, leads to the complete realization of the greatest mystery – Communion with G-d.

The Eastern Universal Gate of the Heavenly Jerusalem

The Master Beinsa Douno personifies the principle of the World Teacher. The initiation of the Master opens the epoch of the cosmic-spiritual Spring when the Souls blossom and the whole Earth is filled with new spiritual vibrations. During this phase of evolution, the Divine Spirit manifests itself as the World Teacher who leads humankind out of the shadow of material existence in Asiyyah into the light of the celestial realms. In the cosmic Spring, spirit and matter are again in balance (as in the cosmic Autumn), but on an evolutionary basis, i.e. towards the increasing manifestation of the spirit in matter. As a result, metaphorically speaking, the Universe becomes like a ‘blossoming entity’. In this metaphysical season, the initiation of the Master Beinsa Douno traces the Path of the Disciple through the macrocosmic Universal Gate of the Zodiac-Mandala.  It reveals every phenomenon of life as a product of a long evolution in time and thus develops Knowledge of G-d.  If the Buddhist Path, which is on the same horizontal axis of the Zodiac-Mandala, but on the opposite side, operates with the smallest quantoms of consciousness and penetrates through this microworld to the absolute essence of Reality, then the Path of the Master Beinsa Douno initiation deals with macrophenomena and penetrates through the macroworld to the absolute essence of Creation. As a result, the Master’s initiation illuminates many spiritual worlds in Creation and finally reveals the mystery of the Primal Cause – G-d as eternal Love, endless Wisdom, absolute Truth.

The New Golden Age

The Holy Spirit, as an integrative Manifestation of Metatron (i.e., avir in the three-unity of the highest three Sefiroth in the World of Creation; please see the quotation from Leo Schaya above) personifies the ideal-objective substance of all created worlds. If the Cosmic Christ acts in the depths of the metaphysical Winter as the ideal-subjective universal principle coming from G-d, the Holy Spirit has maximum influence on human beings in the epoch of the cosmic Summer when humankind develops in direct contact with G-d, under the dazzling light of the cosmic-spiritual Sun. This epoch represents the return to the Golden Age.  For this reason, both Babaji and the Holy Spirit are at the Southern Universal Gate of the Mandala. The ‘Prodigal Son‘, however, will come back to the Kingdom of God with rich spiritual experiences derived from his long evolution on Earth, with an impulse to put right his mistakes and to transform the whole Earth into a Garden of Paradise. Therefore, the initiations of Babaji and the Holy Spirit have different nuances: the initiation of Babaji is Union with G-d as the Great Divine Light, while the initiation of the Holy Spirit is Co-creation with G-d. It introduces human beings to the Heavenly Jerusalem by building life as a Divine Temple where the Holy Spirit as a dove comes to live forever.  As to the messengers of the initiation of the Holy Spirit, we can expect many male and female initiates to lead human beings to the Kingdom of God through this last, Twelfth, Universal Gate of the Holy City.

As we can see, the initial Zodiac-Mandala of the Heavenly Jerusalem is a typological picture of the whole metahistorical cycle of humankind’s life on Earth since the Fall – the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Paradise – to their return back to the Father’s house. It is a typological picture of the great cosmic-spiritual year in the history of humankind which includes all historical epochs through which humankind had passed during the process of involution (from the Garden of Paradise to the material world) and evolution (from the dark ‘material’ consciousness evolving to the reality of the Heavenly Jerusalem). Now it is a basis for monotheistic interpretation of all spiritual traditions and their integration in the new Heavenly-Jerusalem cosmic cycle, in accordance with their original essence.

I will continue with the description of the archetypal structure of the Zodiac-Mandala of the Heavenly Jerusalem by introducing the initiations of the New Coming of the Divine Masters in the Heavenly-Jerusalem cosmic cycle, comparing them with the initiations of their First Coming in the Indo-European cosmic cycle. Thus, I hope many existing problems and misunderstanding between the world religions could be clarified and resolved!