essay the sharp ascent to the Spiritual Heights here shown, and consciously surmount the concluding three degrees.

These first four stages of soul growth, as clearly suggested by the picture, are spent in the mountainous Wilderness-those spiritually barren regions of the unregenerate, inglorious world where man is tossed hither and thither by surging torrents of desire, stumbles into pitfalls of selfish ambitions, wanders in the blind by-paths of the many isms, and is torn by the brambles of materialism, until the resultant suffering and soul dissatisfaction awaken in him that realization of the Prodigal Son which caused him to cry: "I will arise and go to my Father!"

Even in this Wilderness, however, the Light from the Christ Star high in the picture-the Star of Bethlehem-has radiated out to the wanderer through the dense mists of worldly misconception, and glimpses of its ineffable radiance have heartened him in his journey.

These four periods in the Wilderness are identical with the symbolic story of the Children of Israel, who spent forty years (four cycles) in the Wilderness before they reached the Promised Land, i. e., the soul wanders in the Wilderness of Materiality until it learns the lesson of four or the D. Only when man is spiritually strong enough to square up his faults and failures, make his life absolutely four-square with the Divine Law and give all a square deal, is he able to lay the Foundation Stone or Rock upon which his Temple of Character may be erected. He has then reached the first stage of completion, 10, because 4 is the smallest digit that contains the power of 10, viz., 1+2+3+4=10.

This Mystic Stone is that state of tested stability, rectitude and trueness which remains unshaken despite all temptations and adverse conditions. If the Foundation Stone should be weak and defective, the whole superstructure of spiritual attainment and public leadership built upon it must eventually collapse and drag down with it perhaps thousands who had leaned upon it for support.

The Foundation Stone, therefore, is the enduring Rock hewed from the Traveler's experiences in the rocky Wilderness, upon which he must build his Temple of Character if he would not have it washed away when the winds of temptation and the waves of adversity beat against it.

Literally, 4 is the mystic number of the personality, and this Stone is simply the perfected human personality, with all its nor. mal desires, emotions and functions, which deluded builders have for ages rejected and pronounced inherently damned and evil, but which must become "the head-stone of the corner."

We learn from the picture, then, that the aspirant has already passed his forty days in the Wilderness; that he is prepared to

lay the Foundation Stone square and true. as indicated by the squared altar, and that he yearns to enter the Promised Land by ascending the Path to Mastery.

Hereafter he must square his thoughts and acts with painstaking nicety by the aid of square and compass, and also be guided by the Book, which symbols the illumined teachings and counsel of Those who have attained the Heights and are qualified to explain the Laws of Ascent and the dangers of the journey.

The palm tree symbolizes an Oasis, or place of rest, in the barren Wilderness, and represents a Mystic Order or Wayhouse established by the Masters, where the weary wayfarer receives a cheery greeting after his long journey, and where he may rest in the cool shade of its help and encouragement and drink of the pure. refreshing, spiritual waters of life to be found at every such true Oasis.

At this Oasis the Traveler obtains explicit directions and details how best to essay the remainder of the journey, while above hovers the White Dove of Spiritual Wisdom, waiting to descend upon his head and bring to him that Spiritual Peace and Illumination which passeth mere intellectual understanding, and by which God always designates a beloved Son with whom He is well pleased.

Up to this point in his evolution, the aspirant has been linked to the "Wheel of Rebirth," or the reincarnation of the soul again and again in human bodies, as symbolized in the picture by the Wheel with its many spokes of earth lives.

The W..el, or Law, of Reincarnation has brought him back many times into physical embodiment, each another day at school, until the necessary soul lessons were learned and the wisdom acquired to lay the Foundation Stone plumb and true, find the Oasis in the Wilderness, and consciously begin the sharp ascent whereby he strives to quickly attain to Number 7, i. e., that perfection of character and Spiritual Mastery which will release him from all necessity for further rebirths, or days at school, and break forever the link that has bound him to Ezekiel's "Wheel" of Reincarnation.

THE FIFTH GATE

We stand now at the First Gate to the Stairway, which is in reality the Fifth Gate of man's Pilgrimage to Mastery, and we behold a woman supporting a cross, while in her outstretched right hand she holds the key to the Gate. Upon her breast blazes a fivepointed star, and at her feet lies a lamb. She sits in the shade of the palm tree.

During the sojourn in the Wilderness, or man's first four periods of soul evolution, he is concerned chiefly with the Fatherhood of God. Now he must concern himself with the Motherhood of God.

The lamb or ram is the age-old and uni

and the Christos within him step forth from the tomb.

We learn, therefore, that the feminine or Spiritual Nature of man (denoted in the picture by the woman) must be so anchored and attuned to this Divine Perfective Power that the onsweeping current shall carry him to Number 7, Perfection. For this same Constructive Principle that evolves the majestic oak and the beauteous lily out of the crude elements of the earth can likewise evolve a Master or Christ Man out of your crude personality if you but rest in its vivifying stream and cooperate with the Constructive Law.

At this Sixth Period of his evolution the student must therefore consciously collaborate with the Urge to Perfection that he finds animating Nature and himself. He must make of his organism a wholesome, healthy, responsive channel for its expression, being ever mindful, however, that he mast control this Divine Fructifying Principle of the One Life as it manifests through his body as the Urge to Create. The power to create is God Power, and man must at the Sixth Gate learn to use it only as such.

The hand is the instrument by which man accomplishes his works in the world. The open hand beside the Sixth Gate therefore symbolizes the Law of Use by which all soul attainment must be tested.

Hence this sixth period is one of intense activity, during which the aspirant must manifest all that he has attained spiritually. He must use for the benefit of humanity all the spiritual insight he has acquired. He must become the servant and minister to mar in accordance with the Law of Service.

His intellect has now been illumined by the Light of Truth, and he must let his light so shine before men that they may joyously glorify the Source of all Light. He must teach and do many good works, thus offsetting his indifferent labors of the preceding five periods. All this must be done in preparation for the Seventh Period, the Day of Rest, when he hopes to survey his achievements and pronounce them good.

Since 6 is the number of industry and mutuality of service, it is worth while to note that bees and ants, which are the supreme example of industry and communal service. are six-legged and six-structured (mandibles, head, wings, legs, and two abdominal segments). According to legend, they came to earth from Venus, which rules Friday, the sixth day of the week. And in the sixth verse of the sixth chapter of Proverbs Solomon says: "Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise."

THE SEVENTH GATE-PERFECTION

At the last. or Seventh Gate, we are shown the little child. for in addition to all man's experience, intellectual powers, and acquired wisdom, he must manifest the simplicity

purity, and open-mindedness of a little child before he can enter the ranks of the Perfected Ones who abide on the Heights.

Number 7 is the smallest digit that can express physical and spiritual perfection fused into one, because it is the first number that includes within itself the four of the squared personality, or Foundation Stone, and the three of the Spiritual Principle in man, which is threefold because it is a Ray from and reflects the Triune Deity.

Perfection is always a definite step in Completion (10) and Number 4 expresses the first stage of perfection in man-the perfection of the personality-for four includes in itself the powers of ten, as earlier shown.

Number 7 expresses perfection in both a spiritual and personal sense, because it is composed of the physical four and the spiritual three, and likewise contains the potency of ten, or Completion, thus: 1+2+3+4+5+6 +7=28=10.

Throughout all nature, as well as in allegory, seven expresses some definite state of ten, or Completion. Illustrations are innumerable, for example: There are seven divisions of the human body (head, thorax, abdomen, two arms, two legs); seven vital organs, seven layers to the skin, seven divisions of the eve; seven divisions of the ear. seven compartments of the heart, seven divisions of the brain, etc. Other instances are the seven sacred planets, the seven Churches of St. John, the seven days of Creation, the seven basic tones of the musical scale, etc. These are all expressions of Completion.

Gestatory periods are primarily based on seven-pigeon eggs hatch on the fourteenth dav, chicken eggs on the twenty-first day, duck eggs on the twenty-eighth day, etc.

Most marvelously confirmatory of all is the fact that the human fetus, highest of all the animal kingdom, normally requires for its perfection and birth a period of 280 davs, or a multiplication of all the three numbers of Completion. 4. 7 and 10, viz.: 4 X 7 X 10= 28010, Completion.

Just as perfected light-white light-is the harmonious union and expression of the seven colors which compose it, so must Per fected Man contain and express seven aspects or senses, instead of only five, as in the average person.

The sixth sense, regarding which a few vague ideas have become public, must not only be fully developed, but a seventh as well; for only by the aid of these higher senses can man fittingly express physical and spiritual perfection and actually bring down to the earth plane and adequately manifest the full powers of his Divine Self.

Literally. then, man's mission on earth is to perfectly unite and blend within himself both the human and the Divine. In him, Spirit (3) and matter (4) must meet in perfected expression (7). Man then becomes a God-Man or Christ, because he has become a