Many words may be spoken. Many voices call for attention. The listener must remain conscious and awake, not to fall victim to these influences.
There are aspects of the personality that are not well known. The vibrations of words, music, ideas, images, and desires affect these dark, unconscious parts. The danger does not come so much from the Divine Word: It calls, but does not compel. There is freedom in the Divine Word. Possibilities are or are not offered. It becomes different when people start using the Word. Influencing the masses, stirring up fear, manipulation, and advertising are examples of the binding power of the laws of vibration. Magic is very real, and every human being deals with it, consciously or unconsciously.
Mysterious experience
Amidst this raging ocean of energetic waves in this chaos of vibrations, a moment of openness, clarity, and insight sometimes unexpectedly appears, like a bolt of lightning splitting the dark sky.
During World War I, a British officer experienced something strange. One evening, while out walking, he was overcome by a mysterious experience lasting 30 seconds. Harmonious echoes seemed to come from the sky. “That’s the harmony of the spheres,” thought the officer. Then he saw celestial bodies that produced both light and music. “I stood still on the towpath and thought: How wondrous it would be to die at this moment,”.[1]
A truly remarkable experience. It is also understandable why the officer contemplated death at that moment, as he was familiar with the concept of ‘the harmony of the spheres’. This concept dates back to Pythagoras, whose sublime spirituality, combined with his scientific mind, led to his comprehensive view of the cosmos and man. It is said that Pythagoras heard heavenly chords, and that the ears of his soul were attuned to the sounds and vibrations of the planets and stars.
Coherence and Proportion
What stands out strongly in Pythagoras’ vision is the harmony of the universe, the coherence and proportions between things. Whole numbers from one to ten express spiritual realities and mutual relationships. He conducted experiments with strings and discovered the cosmic principles underlying what is called harmony or disharmony. Why is experience considered harmonious or disharmonious?
A person experiences something as harmonious when it corresponds and resonates with their inner being. It is about correspondence. In Universal Teaching, the universe is referred to as a system of seven spheres, seven fields of life, also known as seven cosmic realms. As earthly beings with a time-space consciousness, this is hard to imagine. That says more about human beings than about the universe. Our I-centered consciousness is not in harmony with the whole of creation.
Nevertheless, both Pythagoras and the British officer experienced the harmony of the spheres. One permanently, the other for a brief moment. How can this be explained? It is only possible if the sevenfold nature of the universe is also fundamentally and structurally anchored in the human being as a whole. There is a structural harmony between the human being as a microcosm and the universe as a macrocosm.
And Jesus said, Whatever God, the One, has made is good, and like the great first Cause, the seven Spirits all are good, and everything that comes from their creative hands is good. Now, all created things have colours, tones, and forms of their own; but certain tones when mixed, though good and pure in themselves, produce inharmonies, discordant tones.[2]
Disharmony
Both humans as microcosms and the universe are creations of the seven spirits and are therefore good. However, when observing the destruction and chaos of the planet, something is not right. There is disharmony. The tones have been mixed disharmoniously.
Humans face a dual problem that is essentially the same. First, being out of harmony with the universe; second, disharmonious within and suffering from inner division.
Within our inner being, there is disharmony between our head, heart, and hands. In other words, the primary functions of thinking, feeling, and willing are chaotic. Spiritually speaking, the harmony and coherence between spirit, soul, and body have been broken. Being unaware of the spiritual structure of our microcosm leaves the soul adrift and causes it to mix all kinds of sounds and vibrations experimentally. The result manifests itself in the body and hands.
Psychologists have noticed this inner anarchy and have tried to bring some order to it. This is possible to a certain extent with earthly means and therapies. The personality, which is useful in social life, can be stabilized. However, the fundamental disharmony of I-consciousness cannot be overcome in this way: the harmony of the spheres will not reach the inner ear.
Why not? The I-centered consciousness sees itself as a separate being and pursues personal interests. How could such a consciousness hear the totality of the harmony of the spheres? How could a dissonant note resonate in the heavenly symphonies?
Death and rebirth
A profound and structural transformation is necessary to hear the harmony of the spheres. It is a process that can be described as dying and being reborn, whereby both processes are seen as inner transformations.
The story of the British officer has interesting characteristics. It is war. The collective result of all I-centered people. Struggle, pain, hatred, misery, and grief. The I-consciousness undergoes the hopelessness of its existence and falls silent. It ceases its activity. The officer thinks, ‘how wondrous it would be to die at this moment’. Inwardly, he had died for a moment. The timeline became a dot, a focal point of eternity. He stood in the harmony of the spheres. He became aware of the heavenly light and sound that is eternal and omnipresent. Pythagoras, with his enlightened soul and his personality attuned to it, permanently experienced the harmony of the spheres. His I-centered consciousness had definitively died and been replaced by a spiritual soul consciousness. After a brief moment, the British officer’s I-consciousness resumed its old position of power. It was war again.
Order and place
Harmony deals with the connection between different elements, in the right place and order. When looking at the solar system, the Sun is at the center, and the planets orbit around it. The planets relate to the Sun and each other in a certain way. There is harmony, order, and rhythm.
The Earth also has its place and task. The problem with I-consciousness is that neither the place nor the task of its earthly existence can be determined. It sees itself as being at the center; it dreams itself to be the Sun. The I-centered consciousness, the leading factor of the personality, moves outside its orbit. In this way, the relationships become disrupted, resulting in chaos and struggle.
Just as the solar system has a central source of life, so too does the divine universe have a central Sun. Jesus spoke of the ‘great first Cause and the seven spirits.’ Everything that comes from their hands is good.
The spiritual Sun and the seven spirits are immaterial. It is a mistake to regard matter as the essential, as the I-consciousness does. We pay a high price for this lack of understanding because it is confusing. The macrocosm and solar system, as well as the microcosm and atom, have a sevenfold structure. The microcosm also has a spiritually centered Sun. It is the spiritual idea of the true human being of whom it can be said, “God created man in His own image.”[3]
Mixing
Influences and rays emanate from the inner spiritual Sun. The material self cannot process these influences properly because it lacks the appropriate vehicle, the necessary intermediary. Nevertheless, these influences work in a hidden and distorted way in the astral body of a human being. This leads to mixing. An example: when the inner Sun emits a radiation described as ‘love’, the physical person translates this radiation to his level. He seeks a partner with whom to share his love. Spiritual and material influences are mixed, converting spiritual radiation into earthly desires. If the spiritual center emanates rays that have to do with truth and wisdom, then science prevails
The true goal hidden in the spiritual rays remains unattainable in this way. As material beings, the wrong answer is given. One continues to search, run, and strive.
Catharose de Petri writes:
Certainly, it is not only evil that is being absorbed into the human system. That was never the point. As a nature-born being, he demonstrates a mixture of good and evil. These twin forces are present in his life as an inextricable tangle resulting in great fatigue, misunderstanding, sickness, crystallisation and death.[4]
Matter has its laws. Atoms are bound together in forms and then dissolved again into atoms. Beginning and end; end and beginning. True spiritual ideas, eternal harmonious creations, cannot be realized in matter.
Higher octave
Nevertheless, both the microcosm and the atom contain the structural possibilities for the regeneration of spiritual life. The microcosm in its totality consists of seven fields of life, and the material manifestation is only a fraction of the whole. It is a matter of putting things in their proper place, of seeing the right proportions.
Consider the image of the solar system: the Sun, the planets, and the moon. It is important to penetrate the spiritual meaning of both the outer and inner universe.
The central spiritual Sun is the source of power, wisdom, love, and life. There is a distance between human beings on Earth and the Sun. It is more a difference in vibration than in kilometers. The planets function as intermediate stations, as transformers of spiritual radiation. They radiate forces that can be assimilated and used as building stones for the soul. Planets can therefore be considered in their higher, spiritual octave.
To be clear, there is no reference to the influences described in astrological systems. Astrology analyzes the workings of the planets in their lower, time-space octaves. Spiritual teachings and astrology both have their place, and it is important to understand the difference. Astrology describes how planetary influences happen through the energetic threads of karma, how the past works itself out in the present, and determines destiny. The spider web of the past, which is present as a personal auric sphere, forms a birth chart. This auric sphere determines how the universe is experienced.
The higher, spiritual octaves of the planets seek to destroy the auric web of the past, so that the planetary forces can be reached directly and in their pure state. Direct and pure means, not distorted and transformed into time-space forces. Astrology is about understanding the past, but true spirituality is about liberation from the past. When attuned to spiritual forces, freedom from the Earth and a new universe will be opened. Experiencing the harmony of the spheres means perceiving the higher spiritual octaves of the solar system.
New consciousness
To build a new consciousness, a soul is reborn by using the wisdom and knowledge of Mercury, the love of Venus, the vigor of Mars, the revelations of Jupiter, and finally by passing through the gate of Saturn.[5] This soul can directly assimilate the rays of the spiritual Sun. Then there is harmony of the spirit, soul, and body. Everything is in its right place.
This coherence gives the impression of the harmony of the spheres. Heavenly symphonies and planets singing in their orbits can be heard.
Through the structural similarity between the cosmos and the microcosmos, the Earth, planetary spheres, and the spiritual Sun exist within us. If the new soul can connect directly with a spiritually centered heart, then the door to the inner temple is opened. The veil is torn, and there appears the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is kept.
And in the Ark, the magic wand of prophecy lies waiting for your hand; it is the key to all the hidden meanings of the present, future, and past. And then, behold, the manna there, the hidden bread of life; and he who eats shall never die.[6]
The ‘magic wand of prophecy’ symbolizing the renewed serpent fire lies in wait, which means that the sounds of the harmony of the spheres can also be used. It is a power that brings harmony and peace. He who possesses this inner prophet’s staff speaks the Word. He speaks and acts through the totality of the sevenfold universe. The seven primordial sounds resound in him and through him. The harmony of the spheres reveals itself on Earth as healing streams of etheric forces. It is the Word that carries the harmony of the spheres within itself.
[1] Alister Hardy, The Spiritual Nature of Man, Oxford 1979. (Quoted from this article)
[2] The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, 39:11-12
[3] Genesis 1:27
[4] The Living Word, chapter ‘The Secret of Gnostic Magic’
[5] See “Dei Gloria Intacta”
[6] The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, 40:22-23
