CHAPTER XXXVIII. The Number 19. THE NUMber of the SUN. "The Nineteenth Path is the Intelligence of all the activities of the spiritual beings, and is so called because of the affluence diffused by it from the most high blessing and most exalted sublime glory."— Sepher Yetzirah, 30. "Everyone who has any idea of the ancient Egyptian exoteric faith is quite aware that for the multitudes Osiris was the Sun in Heaven, 'the Heavenly King'... that by the Greeks the Sun was called the Eye of Jupiter,' as for the modern orthodox Parsi he is the 'Eye of Ormuzd'; that the Sun, moreover, was addressed as the 'All-seeing God."" -The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, iii, 278. Number 19 is the number of Ultimate Attainment both as 19 and as 1+9=10. As number 19 it is associated in all mythology and legends with the Sun. And every nation of antiquity which has in any way represented this number has connected it with the Great Spiritual Sun, while in the Mysteries, number 18 brings the Candidate to the Mastery of the Sun, i. e., the vital energies and magnetic forces which in nature are focused in the physical Sun. In the spiritual life of the Initiate the step symbolized by 19 is nothing less than the understanding of, correlating with, and complete mastery and control of the corresponding forces from the Spiritual Sun acting in himself and the world. Here the Initiate must stand firm and strong in the full knowledge of his elevation and the powers he has attained. Here in perfect yet not abject humility he must prepare for a still higher climb. As 19 equals 1+9=10, it of course represents the completion of a great cycle of the One Life which now has been tried and tested and which finds its culmination in the great Sun (fire) Initiation. One who has attained to number 19 becomes a Sun Initiate, a Great Light ready to accomplish for the world and humanity on the inner planes that which is comparable to the work which the Sun accom plishes for the earth, i. e., give light, warmth (love) and inspiration; to quicken the seeds of good that they may grow in mankind and bring forth fruit; to quicken the process of fermentation, and by the fire of intense love and purity transmute the evil emanations of corruption and putrefaction, the disintegration of evil, into higher and constructive manifestations of life; to bring to mankind the vital energy of spiritual life, ultimate peace, harmony, happiness and fruitfulness; in fact, to bring good out of evil. Although throughout the ages many have reached this point, comparatively few have been able to withstand its awful temptations. Those who conquer become the Masters of the Great White Lodge, while those who fail become the Masters of the black or Left-hand Path-the Brothers of the Shadow being far below this point-for ere this point is reached each must deliberately have chosen his Path as Super-man. Here they find awaiting them that residue of the unredeemed Karma of past lives which up to this point they have not had the power to redeem. And often they return and perhaps spend incarnation after incarnation before this Gate until they finally conquer. Then they reach number 19, at which step they perfect the lessons learned by all the experiences passed through. Hence there are but few in each Age who reach 19. It is therefore rightly called the Fruit of Ages. It is said that when one Soul reaches this step the whole earth thrills with joy, and henceforth he is one of the Twice-born. "Behold the mellow light that floods the Eastern sky. In signs of praise both heaven and earth unite. And from the four-fold manifested Powers a chant of love ariseth, both from the flaming Fire and flowing Water, and from sweet-smelling Earth and rushing Wind. . . All Nature's wordless voice in thousand tones ariseth to proclaim. Joy unto Ye. . . A Pilgrim hath returned back from the other shore. A new Arhan is born." 1 1 The Voice of the Silence, Blavatsky, 76-77. The following are the various interpretations of number 19, Master of the Sun; Wisdom; Great Light; Vital Energy; Magnetism; Joy; Happiness; Strength; Success; Honor; Elevation and Attainment. We also find much mystic lore and so-called superstition connected with the number 19. Among the many trinkets found in Egyptian tombs there is a chain with 19 links completed by an oval amulet or vignette of Osiris, the links being composed of 19 scarabs. Osiris was both the Sun God and the God of the Nether World, in reality the Sun when it has sunk below the horizon, yet still a god and in no way dimmed in his glory, while Ra is the Sun in the day time. Therefore the Egyptians always associated Osiris with Initiation. He was the Great Initiate into whose care the departing Soul was given and who later was to become identified with him; for every Soul who passed the Initiation or completed number 19 was called Osiris. There is a cycle of nineteen years called the "Metonic Cycle" which even by modern astronomers is considered of great importance. In it according to Metonic cycles there are 235 lunations (2+3+5=10) embracing approximately 6939 (6+9+3+9=27=9) days. Modern astronomical computations of the 19 solar years also make it approximately 6939 days. But all agree as to the importance of this 19 year cycle. Since the fifth century B. C. it has been noted by astronomers that an eclipse of the Sun occurs in the same longitude at intervals of 19 years, these eclipses being looked upon as of great value in predicting physical phenomena. The term Hyperborean Land or White Island was a term applied to the continent occupied by the Second or Hyperborean Race which was situated in what is now the polar regions. Later this term was applied to England (including Ireland and Wales) which was also known as Albion-meaning white-because of the sacred college of Druids or Sun Initiates established there. Thus Druidic terms and names are often confused with the names in the ancient legends of the Sun, such as the Story of Latona, the mother of Apollo the Sun. Latona represents the polar region and the night, and is said to have been born in the Hyberborean land (now applied to the north polar regions but once an inhabitated land) wherein all the inhabitants were priests of Apollo. These priests celebrated the descent of Apollo the Sun to their country every 19 years. This would coincide with an eclipse of the Sun. But Latona represented the Hyperborean or White Island from which the Sun or the illumination of spiritual understanding was given to the Race. The legend relates that Latona, after giving birth to her son, was driven out of her country under punishment of the gods, and the only place of refuge she could find was on the Island of Delos which was chained to the bottom of the sea until Jove in pity permitted it to rise above the waters. This points to its true symbology, for the true Wisdom Religion, symbolized by the Sun-worship before it became degraded, was given to the Second Race, hence the son of Latona was born in the Hyperborean land, although not where the North Pole is today. That which they called "the punishment of the gods" by which Latona was driven out of her country, was the change in the axis of the earth after which the polar regions became the uninhabitable land of the frozen North. Delos, the island chained to the bottom of the sea, points to a land that was formed at first by small islands rising out of the ocean. The meaning of Delos is "Island of Delight," the esoteric meaning of which is the spiritual ecstasy which is always chained or imprisoned in the depths of the sea of humanity until Jove-the Light of Sun Initiation-sets it free and it rises to the surface in the consciousness of the Initiate. Physically and geographically at the time of the sinking of Atlantis, "The island of Delos, the Asteria of Greek Mythology, was never in Greece, for this country in that day was not yet in existence, not even in its molecular form. Several writers have shown that it repre sented a country or an island far greater than the small dots of land which became Greece." 2 Pythagoras considers 19 as the denary or the 10 and the triad multiplied by itself (3X3=9+10=19). Having considered the meaning of 10 and also considered 9 as 3X3=9, we can well agree with the Pythagorian interpretation that 19 represents Wisdom in its application to the Absolute. We can also agree with Eliphas Lévi when he attributes 19 to the Great Work by building a highway from the Infinite to the Absolute; in fact, Lévi makes of number 19 the Philosopher's Stone. We again agree, considering the Philosopher's Stone not in its literal but in its symbolical aspect. For 19 is the strong stone or Rock of Wisdom (Petros) upon which Rock the Church of God must be built. Like the Philosopher's Stone it is both one and many. In its analysis it is a powder and in its synthesis a stone; for it is the true God-given Wisdom which includes intuition and illumination and which manifests in the heart and life of the Sun Initiate yet is all summed up in the Absolute Wisdom of Divine Truth. Like a fine powder it covers every phase of life, yet when gathered by the sage and synthesized it becomes a great Rock of Truth against which the waves of ignorance, superstition and bigotry beat in vain. Says Eliphas Lévi: "The Philosopher's Stone, say the Masters, must not be exposed to the air, nor to the eyes of the profane; it must be kept in concealment and preserved carefully in the most secret receptacle of the laboratory. . . He who possesses the great arcanum is truly King and is above any King, for he is inaccessible to all fears and to all vain hopes. In any malady of soul or body, a single fragment broken from the precious stone, a single grain of the divine power, are more than sufficient for their cure." 4 All the chemical elements composing the Philosopher's Stone found in the universe, are also to be found in the body of man, 2 The Secret Doctrine, Blavatsky, II, 817. |