AMORC

Sanctum Ritual number 1 for Plane 4

1971

Salutes in omnibus punctis trianguli!

Beloved Members of the Esoteric Hierarchy:
 
It seems appropriate at this juncture in our studies that we come to have an
intimate feeling of what we have studied so far. It is not sufficient to understand
what we have read. It must, if possible, also become an intimate part of our self.
Particularly must it be a part of our psychic and emotional selves. We must feel in
sensation and in sentiment the meaning of the different principles that have been
presented to us.
May we use a simple analogy to convey this idea. Let us take the word charity. We
all know the definition of the word and can give a comprehensive explanation of it
to another, but how different it is to actually experience knowing a person who is
desperately in need of charitable and humanitarian help! Perhaps it might be an
impoverished family or a seriously ill child for whom a parent cannot afford
proper treatment. Or again, it might be a deserted and forgotten elderly person. In
such instances we are sympathetically and emotionally experiencing what charity
really means far more than the word itself can ever convey to our consciousness.
So, on this occasion we have prepared a simple sanctum ritual which we believe
will quicken the psychic consciousness in relation to specific principles that you
have studied. Especially will this ritual be concerned with the mystical, the
metaphysical, and the philosophical meaning of life.
You will gain much inspiration and insight from the performance of this ritual;
therefore it should not just be read but actually participated in.
 
 
Preparation:
 
There are certain simple things you will need and will have to do to prepare for
this ritual. So please carefully read the following and set aside a definite time for
the performing of the ritual.
A. Enclosed is a small Crux Ansata, the Egyptian looped cross. Please paste this
cross on a cardboard so that it will be rigid when upright. Then cut around the
edges of the cross so that the cardboard does not show.
B. Take a small block of wood or any small object so as to form a base to which the
cross may be fastened so that it will stand erect, as shown in the illustrations. The
base, of course, is to be behind the cross.

C. Obtain two pieces of rigid cardboard of any thickness. Each is to be about six
inches square.
One cardboard should be colored black. You could do this by pasting black paper
over Illustration one side or by coloring it with black crayola or black watercolor.
However, it must be black.
The other cardboard should be white and of the same size.
Each cardboard should be fastened to some kind of base so as to hold it erect as
shown in the illustration below. Thumbtacks may be used to fasten the cardboard
to any wood object that forms the base.
D. Use only one of your Rosicrucian candles. It is to be ignited at the proper time
as explained in the ritual.
E. Attached to this ritual is a page of separate words. Detach just this page from
the ritual. Cut out the words so that each word appears on a separate slip of paper.
Next, shuffle the words about so that they are mixed and not in their original order.
Turn all of them face down with the blank side of the paper up.
F. If you have a Rosicrucian recording of meditative music, or any other similar
music that you can play in your sanctum, be prepared to do so. However, this is not
necessary if you do not have such facilities.
 
 
Sanctum Arrangement:
 
When you have the articles prepared as suggested and it is the time that you have
decided to perform the ritual, then arrange your sanctum as follows:
A. Place the one candle in the center of your sanctum altar. Remove all other
objects. (Do not light the candle until instructed to do so in the ritual but have
matches ready to light it.)
B. Place the gold Crux Ansata (looped cross) just in front of the candle as is shown
in the illustration below.
C. Place the black cardboard, standing erect, to the left of the candle and slightly
in front of it, but not concealing it or the cross.
Place the white cardboard on the right of the candle and in line with the black one.
D. The slips of paper with the names upon them should be placed in a little pile,
face down, in front of the candle. See the illustration below for the arrangement of
these things on your sanctum altar.
 
 

 
Ritual
 
ILLUMINATUS: (Throughout the ritual you will be referred to as the Illuminatus.
The word Master, where used, will allude to your Ritual Master-as though you·
were in one of our Rosicrucian Temples where such a Master is functioning.
Lighting: The lights in your sanctum chamber should be low, or extinguished,
except for a necessary light to read this ritual. Low lighting is more conducive to a
restful, meditative mood.
Music: If you have a recording of music suitable for meditation as, for example,
one of the Rosicrucian records or tapes or any other, use same for a preliminary
period of not longer than four or five minutes; however, this is not absolutely
necessary.
ILLUMINATUS: (Be comfortably seated facing the sanctum and read):
MASTER: Beloved Illuminatus, Life, in the physical sense, is vitality, energy, and
activity. I, therefore, direct that the flambeau (candle) upon your sanctum altar be
ignited to so symbolize this physical aspect of life.
ILLUMINATUS: (You will now arise, go to your sanctum altar, and light the single
flambeau (candle). Then return to your seat and continue with the reading and the
instruction of the ritual.)
MASTER: The flame and the light that it emits have been one of the oldest sources
of exciting man's thought about the mysteries of life and about himself. The light
expels darkness and with it many of the superstitions and fears which darkness had
cloaked.
The flame and light have also depicted human zeal and fervor as the inner emotions
and motivating drives of man. It is for this reason that fire became symbolically
important and that candles have played such a prominent part in all religions
throughout history to the present day. It is also why fire, the flame, and light have
been used symbolically by mystics and philosophical orders to portray certain
spiritual and abstract values of the Cosmic and of man himself.
Beloved Illuminatus, meditate upon this thought a few moments.
ILLUMINATUS: (Either with eyes open or closed, reflect for three or four minutes
upon what has been said; then, resume reading the Master's words):
MASTER: Beloved Illuminatus, observe the Crux Ansata. This was a revered
symbol of the ancient Egyptians. It is one of the earliest forms of the cross known
to man and the first to which a mystical and philosophical significance has been
assigned. It depicts immortality, the eternal life of the soul personality and of all
those qualities that man, in his various beliefs, has come to associate with it.
Beloved Illuminatus, life is, however, more than physical. It is more than the
mobility of the body or the reproduction of its kind. Each thing that lives has its
function. This function is the manner in which it uses and expresses its animation.
In most forms of life this function is an involuntary compulsion. The living
organism is compelled by its nature to do what it does.
MASTER CONTINUES: Beloved Illuminatus, man differs from these many other
forms of life in one important way. Cosmically, man has been endowed with Will,
the ability, the faculty of choosing preferred desires. He may have life serve him.
He may have life provide specific values to himself. Where other animate things
may just live, man may live to achieve an objective.
ILLUMINATUS: (Reflect a few moments upon this distinctive quality of human life,
as has been related by the Master; then continue to read again.)
MASTER: Alas, Beloved Illuminatus, man's choice of values in life has not always
been judicious or in harmony with cosmic law and his own nature.
Some of the things to which man attributes values are inharmonious and
detrimental to his own ultimate welfare and to those of other human beings.
Therefore, some values which men pursue are of the realm of darkness. They are
forbidding and harmful. Others are of light--that which is constructive and
beneficent.
ILLUMINATUS: (Dwell a moment or two in thought upon the values man
attributes to life. Then, again continue reading the Master's remarks.)
MASTER: Beloved Illuminatus, before you is a symbol of darkness, the black
square. It depicts obscurity, ignorance, fear, and the torments that befall men
therefrom. It is not because it is black but because of the concepts and behavior that
men have associated with darkness.
Also before you is the opposite polarity, a white square, symbolizing illumination,
unfoldment, and cosmic harmony.
Beloved Illuminatus, thou shalt now give thought to the personal values which you
attribute to life.
Before you on the sanctum altar, lying before the lighted flambeau and the symbol
of life, the Crux Ansata, are written words which have long represented life's values
to men. Some of these values have led men astray. They have aroused all-
consuming passions and in the end destroyed them physically and psychically.
However, still others have borne men aloft to a life of noble and spiritual
attainment.
MASTER CONTINUES: Beloved Illuminatus, arise and proceed to the sanctum
altar. There, pick up the papers upon which the words have been written. Select one
at a time and read it.
Then, while holding each, gaze for a moment or two at the lighted candle that
symbolizes Life Force. In this manner the meaning of the word may be fully
impressed upon your consciousness.
Thence, having read one word at a time, ask yourself, Has it a value in life that I
accept as good, or has it one that is false and misleading? If you consider it good,
place it before the white square. If you think it otherwise, place it before
the black one.
ILLUMINATUS: (Proceed as you have been directed. Do so deliberately, with
solemnity, realizing the importance and significance of your acts. By this you are
evaluating life to yourself. When you have made the selection, pick up the papers
you have placed before the white square-just these. Return with them to your seat.
Then, for the next few minutes study each of these words separately.)
(Are you pursuing the values which they represent and which you have to yourself
designated as being good? Are you really using your life so as to realize them?)
MASTER: Beloved Illuminatus, proceed to the altar as before. When there, place
your left hand over your heart, and the right over your left. Stand thus for a few
moments gazing at the Crux Ansata, the symbol that represents Cosmic Life
Eternal. Finally, extinguish the lighted candle.
So mote it be!
ILLUMINATUS: (Kindly do as you have been instructed. This concludes the
Ritual.)
Your report on this ritual ceremony and any experiences which you may have had
in connection with it would be appreciated.
Sincerely and fraternally,
YOUR CLASS MASTER
 
These are the words that you are to cut out separately as instructed in the Ritual:
FAME POWER
AMBITION KNOWLEDGE
TOLERANCE WEALTH
HEALTH UNDERSTANDING
LONGEVITY SERVICE
INSIGHT UNFOLDMENT
BROTHERHOOD RECOGNITION
SECURITY PEACE
 AMORC
Sanctum Ritual number 2 for Plane 4

1971

Salutes in omnibus punctis trianguli!

Beloved Members of the Esoteric Hierarchy:
We are pleased to send to you at this time another Sanctum Ritual-Exercise to be
performed in your Sanctum. This Ritual-Exercise is definitely related to the subject
matter, that is, the principles and factual matter of the monographs which you have
recently been receiving in Plane Four.
We believe the importance of these subjects will be better realized by the intimacy
of such exercises as these. This is because it constitutes a direct personal
experience by you. Consequently, every effort should be made by you to perform
this Sanctum Ritual-Exercise.
 
 
Accouterment:
 
Before proceeding, it is necessary that certain simple arrangements be made.
Please read this carefully. Note the simple objects required:
1. Attached is a list of words and symbols designated "A." The ritual will tell you
how and when this should be used.
2. A long blotter or sheet of paper that will cover the column of words on Sheet "A"
should be obtained and used when requested to do so in this ritual.
3. Attached is another list of words designated "B." You will be instructed when to
use this during the ritual.
4. A jet-black unshiny cloth of any material, approximately 14 inches square. Have
thumbtacks to attach the stretched cloth against the wall or door at the height of
your eye level when you are seated.
5. Two plain white candles and your sanctum candle holders. (Any other
candleholders will suffice.)
6. A mirror not less than one foot square, such as may be on any dressing table, is
essential.
 
 
Sanctum Arrangement:
 
1. Your usual sanctum table, or telesterion (sanctum altar).
2. The two candles placed on the altar on either side, unlighted until required in
these instructions.
 
 
Sanctum Ritual-Exercise
 
In our recent monographs we have been studying man's conception of the mind. We
have briefly reviewed the various ideas man has had of the phenomenon of mind
from remote antiquity to the present day. These notions embrace the primitive
ideas of mind as being a separate, supernatural entity; a divine infusion; the
neurophysiological approach or mechanistic concept; the psychological; the
psychic and mystical. The latter included the Rosicrucian explanation which
reconciles to an extent the psychological, physiological, and mystical theories and
certain factual knowledge also.
We saw that consciousness was the basic phenomenon of mind. We also learned
that all phenomena of consciousness cannot be classified as humans think of mind.
In other words, every manifestation of consciousness is not the complex state or
function of the human mind. All animate matter--living things--possesses
consciousness; yet we would hesitate to call it mind in the same sense as those
functions which we attribute to the mind of man.
On the other hand, there can be no phenomenon designated as mind devoid of
consciousness. Consequently, complex, highly organized mental phenomena as in
the Homo sapiens (modern man) are but a more fully developed consciousness
which comes into existence as permitted by the more elaborate organism, the brain
and nervous systems through which it functions. It has long been the belief of the
Rosicrucians and so expounded in their teachings that the plethora of
consciousness, its fullness, has not yet been reached in man. In other words, there
is a greater potentiality of power and expansion of consciousness in man which is
innate. Simply, man is capable of a far greater use of consciousness than he now
exercises. The occasional phenomenon categorized psychic, or popularly
as extrasensory perception, is evidence of this latent power.
But notwithstanding all religious, mechanistic, psychic, and mystical explanations
of mind, we can for simple understanding and for practical purposes reduce it to
three broad categories. We may call these, dramatically, "Chambers of the Mind."
You may have heard the ominous phrase, "the dark recesses of the mind." There
are really no dark recesses. The dark is only our ignorance of what exists or what
occurs in these three chambers.
In fact, with more and more research and an intelligent approach devoid of
superstition and mysterious supernaturalism, we find not darkness
but illumination in each chamber of the mind. This illumination is the light of the
special functions of consciousness in each chamber which gives a greater
understanding of ourselves and of the reality of which we are a part.
Now let us take a little exploratory journey into each of these chambers of the
mind. In doing so we will better realize what each contributes to our awareness of
our external and personal existence.
We shall, for ritualistic purposes, from now on refer to you as Postulant. As you
will recall from earlier Rosicrucian Degrees, the word literally means a candidate,
or petitioner. It is that which we are in this Degree also--that is, we are a
candidate for greater knowledge of the Cosmic and ourselves.
POSTULANT: You are now to enter the First Chamber of the Mind, the Objective.
Place List "A" on the table or altar before the two candles. Arrange the long
blotter or strip of paper so as to completely cover just the column of words. The
other half of the sheet which has the symbols or drawings of the peripheral sense
organs is to remain uncovered.
Now be seated and move the paper that covers the sheet so that it reveals just
the first word at the top of the column. To which one of your sense organs is that
word related? For example, is it the eye, the ear, the nose? Look at the symbols,
then look back at the word. Is your realization of it, in your opinion, exclusively the
result of your perception of it by one of these sense organs? In other words, do you
know that idea only through a sense organ?
Next, move the paper down to reveal the second word and follow the same
procedure: Look at the symbols and ask yourself the questions as above. Continue
with each subsequent word.
POSTULANT: Now were some of these words, the ideas of them, not attributable
to the sense organs? In other words, do you feel that some of these ideas that the
words conveyed to you did not directly come to you from anything you saw or
heard, for example. Did they seem to come out of another Chamber of the Mind
rather than the Objective? What is the important role that consciousness plays in
this Chamber of the Mind, that is, the Objective?
MASTER: Reality begins in the Objective Chamber of the Mind. What we perceive
is real because existence depends upon the sensations which we experience and our
interpretation of them. The idea, the realization, is had in consciousness, but it also
has a spatial relationship. In other words, consciousness has realization beyond the
physical organism in which it exists so as to include the sources that act upon it.
Simply, consciousness responds to externality.
Thus, pure energy, vibrations, as we say, are made to assume a form, a substance--
to have identity, to become things to us in the First Chamber of the Mind, the
Objective.
POSTULANT: Now you are to enter the Second Chamber of the Mind, the
Subjective.
Pin the black cloth against the wall or door, stretched tight, as directed. Place the
lighted candles, separated from each other and a few inches in front of the black
cloth. Now select the sheet marked "B" and hold same in your hand while you are
seated before the black cloth. Place the blotter or strip of paper so as to cover the
column of words on Sheet "B." In this Chamber now, you figuratively close the
door of the First Chamber-the outer, the Objective. You prevent consciousness
from contacting externality. It is to be introverted-that is, turned inward.
Now move the paper so as to reveal the first word on Sheet "B." Is this word a
"thing" to you? Is it something you have perceived, that is, objectively
experienced? Or is it an abstract idea, that is, only a value that you have come to
attribute to experience which you have had?
Gaze at the black cloth for a minute. Then close your eyes and try to find in your
mind the answer to what is the origin of such an idea as the word on Sheet "B" has
conveyed to you. Now there is nothing mysterious in looking at this black cloth.
Here it just symbolizes the shutting out of the external world, blacking it out, as it
were, and turning consciousness inward to the Second Chamber of the Mind, the
Subjective.
Further, ask yourself: Is this idea on Sheet "B" before you a product of reason,
memory, imagination; or is it a combination of such mental processes?
Follow this procedure for each of the words on Sheet "B"; then read the Master's
comments.
MASTER: In the Second Chamber of the Mind which you have just been exploring,
there are what are termed universals. These are certain values and judgments that
all men have in common. However, they are not the same to all men in their
particulars, that is, the details associated with them. These universals are broad
categories that all men share and that go to shape their ideas.
Man's reason, we must state at this point, cannot come forth with an idea that is so
original that it is not in some way related to a previous experience, to something
that was once perceived in the outer chamber of the mind. However, the reason can
arrange the ideas into new patterns associated with different categories, or
universals, of the mind.
What are some of these universals of mind that all men share? The notions of
justice, beauty, good, evil, infinity, causality, order, space, and time are examples.
These notions are not concrete--that is, they do not exist in what we refer to as the
outer or real world as experienced in the Objective First Chamber of the Mind.
Rather, these universals exist as internal qualities of the Second Chamber of the
Mind, the Subjective one.
We adapt our objective experiences to these universals. For example, certain
realities, what we objectively perceive, appear to be in harmony with the universal
of beauty, or perhaps with the universals of order or good, so we accept them as
such. Consequently, the old aphorism that we create our world has a certain degree
of truth. We, of course, do not create the cosmic energy, the vibrations by which
consciousness has an awareness of what we call reality. But the universals of the
Second Chamber of the Mind give them a personal, intimate relationship or value
to us.
As a result, such experiences or ideas become an individual and intimate world to
us. However, the same universals may not be attributed to a similar experience by
others. For analogy, everyone does not see beauty in the same object or justice in
the same situation.
POSTULANT: Now you enter the Third Chamber of the Mind, the Subconscious.
This Chamber is the most intimate in its potentiality, its possible varied
experiences for you. It is likewise the most profound and sometimes the most
difficult to understand. Allegorically, we may say that this Chamber of the Mind
has many alcoves, or recesses. The deeper we penetrate, the more varied are the
manifestations, or expressions, of consciousness. It is for this reason that
psychology, esoteric philosophy, religion, and mysticism, as we have previously
explained throughout the monographs of this Plane , have given various names to
the experiences of consciousness in this Chamber.
We now request that you, Postulant, arrange the black cloth over the mirror of
your sanctum in such a manner that only your eyes and forehead are seen. In other
words, do not cover the whole mirror, but arrange the cloth so that when you are
seated before the mirror only your eyes and forehead are visible. Place the
candles before the mirror in such a relationship that they are the only source of
light and so that you can read this ritual monograph as well as see your reflection
in the mirror.
Now gaze directly into your own eyes. Remember, this exercise is not intended to
induce any trance state or any so-called form of self-hypnosis. Rather, you are
going to reach into the consciousness of this inner chamber. You are going to
contact the psychic aspect of your being the Self. You are going to experience an
awareness of Self and its relationship to the universal consciousness that pervades
the very life force in you.
We have said in previous monographs that consciousness is a stream. It is actually
not subdivided into separate chambers but rather manifests in the different ways
which we have called chambers. But in this final exercise you will reach into the
cosmic source of consciousness, into the life force itself, which is the birthplace of
the idea of Self. It is here where Cosmic Mind, the highest judgment, resides. It is
from here that come the intuitive impressions and the awareness of the psychic
unity of all mankind; it is a phenomenon which science is just now beginning to
investigate.
After gazing into your eyes for two or three minutes, close them for three or four
minutes so as to receive any impressions that come from the plethora (the fullness)
of the Self within.
MASTER: Kindly extinguish your candles and remove the black cloth. This
concludes the Sanctum Ritual and the Exercise concerning the allegorical three
Chambers of the Mind.
Your reports on this Sanctum Ritual and its Exercise will indeed be appreciated.
Sincerely and fraternally,
YOUR CLASS MASTER
Sheet A:
RED
SWEET
FRAGRANT
SAD
HARD
LONG
LOVELY
LOUD
 
Sheet B