Religion

 "Religion from the Latin re-ligare means to bind back or reconnect to God from whom we all come, all of us having the divine spark within."

    Mr. Hodson was brought up within the Anglican Faith and always retained a very great love of the devotional aspects of that Christian upbringing of his childhood. In search of service and deeper penetration into the core of religious meaning he subsequently became first a Theosophist and later also an ordained priest in The Liberal Catholic Church, a church presenting the traditional Christian sacraments within a theosophical framework. As he developed as a scientist of the invisible, he became committed to researching the inner wisdom of the Christian Religion.

  Although deeply appreciative as Mr. Hodson was of the Christian Faith, from his wider perspective, it was impossible for him to be exclusive in his outlook. For, he was also able to observe the benefits of the other Great Religions of the World in bringing people to God as well as fraternal organizations like Freemasonry, which both from his far memory investigations and current observation during the workings, he knew to be the Ancient Egyptian Religion reincarnated. He also found that each religion had been provided with its own mechanism to help its adherents, and there was always an inner, hidden, side to it and especially to valid sacramental ceremonial work. One of these several hidden mechanisms is shown in the “thought forms” that are built up in superphysical matter with the help of angelic helpers during the service or ceremonial working. The astral and mental matter being provided by the human participants whilst special orders of angels construct the form. The illustrations of these "thought forms" shown at the header of this page, were diligently researched by an earlier theosophical clairvoyant researcher, C.W. Leadbeater. In Mr Hodson’s writings there are indications that he also observed these forms himself, with his own independent clairvoyant abilities, but he did not feel the need to repeat the work that had already been so effectively done by his predecessor. These "forms" contain spiritual energies which are distributed to the surrounding district after the celebration is over, and thus act as a benediction and spiritual shower-bath to all evolving life in that area.

    A great many of Mr. Hodson’s religious researches revolve around the work of the angelic hosts in religion, as well as the origin of Christian doctrine, visions of hidden history and deeper interpretation of Scripture. Within his writings one can find interesting and vivid descriptions such as far memories of the life and mission of The Lord Jesus Christ as he preached his doctrine in Palestine. He also interpreted many allegories, parables and scriptural passages from both the Old and the New Testaments in a most profound way showing how the perennial wisdom (Theosophy) can be observed in them. In Judaism he confirmed the validity of The Kabbalistic Tradition and the Tree of Life dating back to Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai in the 3rd Century A.D., which was a consolidation of rabbinical secret wisdom and was intended for the world as a whole, not just for Judaism. He included brief but important keynote studies of World Religions in his School of The Wisdom sessions from 1953-55 which he refined and repeated in many places around the world after that time. Amongst the religious ideas included were The Sacred Language of Allegory and Symbol, The Religion of Ancient Egypt, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, The Religion of Ancient Greece, Hebraism (Judaism), The Neo-Platonists, Christianity and Islam. These ideas may be read in Lecture Notes - The School of the Wisdom (Vol. II ), 1955. Books which deal more specifically with aspects of the Christian Religion and draw upon Mr. Hodson’s clairvoyant and inspired seership perceptions are The Christ Life from Nativity to Ascension, 1975; The Inner Side of Church Worship, 1930, Clairvoyant Investigations of Christian Origins and Ceremonial, 1977; The Priestly Ideal, 1971; Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible, originally in a (4) volume hard backed edition, but due to some repetition the edited, abridged, revised and indexed (2) vol. T.P.H. Quest edition 1993 & 1994 is highly recommended. Other interesting insights are scattered through journal articles and writings e.g. The writing of St. Matthew’s Gospel and the creation of The Kabbalah are referred to in Illuminations of The Mystery Tradition, 1972; further information regarding the creation of the Gospels as well as various insightful comments on the true purpose and unity of religion are to be found in Light of the Sanctuary - The Occult Diary of Geoffrey Hodson, 1988.

 Two examples of many of his researches and commentaries into the deeper truths in The Holy Bible are supplied below from his investigations into higher consciousness, one from the Old and the other from the New Testament:

Moses and the Burning Bush – An Allegory of the Serpent Fire or Kundalini: 

"And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thy standest is holy ground. (Ex. 3:5)"

In this famous verse precise instruction in the manner of advancing from outer darkness to inward light is conveyed. The words “Draw not nigh hither” warn against a premature, unprepared entry into the sanctuary of nature and the human Soul. Grave dangers await the unwary Soul which, lacking the necessary knowledge and therefore the necessary reverence, dares to touch sacred things with hands which are still profane. The sanctuaries of the world were not devised and established out of secretiveness, but as safeguards; for the potency of the powers to which they give access is so great that misused, either witlessly or willfully, it can destroy bodily health and sanity of mind. Knowing this, the inspired authors provide all aspirants to spiritual light, and all would-be magicians with both guidance and warning in the quest of their goal.

            The instruction to remove the shoes, whilst exoterically donating reverence, actually refers to electrical laws of the esoteric cosmos. Full illumination demands bipolarized contact with the source of light. In humans that source is the solar, electrical creative life-force stored in the centre of the Earth, and sheathed in the human sacrum. These two reservoirs remain distinct and without interrelationship. When the way of light is to be entered upon, they must be brought within a common circuit. The soles of the feet, and especially the heels, act as anode and cathode, or positive and negative poles of that organic conductor which is the human body.

            When, with ceremonial intent and under conditions established by a hierophant, the right and left foot are placed in contact with earth a current of fohatic (Fohat – a Tibetan term for cosmic electricity) energy leaps from the fiery reservoir at its centre. This enters the body via the feet and awakens into activity the previous sleeping fohatic fire at the base of the spine. The currents cross and wind around the spinal cord, the electric sap ascends the trunk of the microcosmic tree of life and the brain receives the charge, to become both enfired from below and illumined from above. This electric shock must be applied very gradually to every neophyte, and he or she must advance one foot at a time to the place of light, and in an ordered manner, according to unchanging rules. Eventually, with both feet bare and in utmost reverence with the fohatic energy at its maximum – in full self-consciousness – the neophyte reaches the light.

            Moses received illumination in just this way. It also happens to every person in whom there awakens the desire to bring humanity to deliverance, and the determination to realize the power of a deliverer."

Hidden Wisdom in the Holy Bible Volume II, T.P.H. Quest Edition, Wheaton, U.S.A. 1994 (orig. 1967), pp199-200

N.B. The above explanation will have more meaning to those who have been involved in the lesser mystery traditions such as Freemasonry. Ed.

A new explanation of one of the Beatitudes:

 "Matt. 5:2. And he opened his mouth, and taught them saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their’s is the kingdom of heaven." 

These remarkable aphorisms may be regarded as descriptive of the way to full illumination and the attitude toward life of those who have followed it to its end. The word blessed indicates an interior state of consciousness attained as a result of the deliberate self-denudation of self. This is achieved either as a result of natural development or brought about by the practice of the science of yoga, particularly the attainment of complete dispassion born of realized unity with the spirit-essence of the universe. It does not, therefore, solely imply the receipt of blessings from above or without, but also the elevated state of blessedness, immortality or liberation from earthly restrictions, the condition of those who have become fully illumined and perfect, and so immortal.

            The words poor in spirit refer to the complete absence of either egoism or pride, and to the perfectly natural humility and modesty with which these have been replaced. Indeed, the sense of existing as a separate being has been entirely transcended, leaving only realization of oneness with universal Life. An exaggerated sense of self-existence as a named individuality which appears to give riches, inevitably prevents the attainment of universalized consciousness. But here the normal human attributes, which arise from belief in a separate self, no longer exist.

            The second phrase indicates the result of this emergence from the chrysalis of egoism. Complete freedom within universal existence is attained, like the butterfly which is free in the air – the totality and the infinity of being. For man in the chrysalis-state, with its temporary advantages as well as its limitations has been lost, but these are replaced by the larger, if impersonally enjoyed, freedom of a higher state of existence. In this verse this state of consciousness is described as the kingdom of heaven.”

The Christ Life from Nativity to Ascension, T.P.H. Quest Books, Wheaton, U.S.A. 1975. p.130

  One of the most wonderful things about such passages, that one first came across in primary (elementary) school, is that later on in life they are found to have a deeper, more profound, and perennial meaning which rings true when you hear it explained. This can produce a certain type of spiritual exaltation - of course without the inspired seership of someone like Mr. Hodson to untangle the allegory and symbolism, it is doubtful that one would ever have been able to stumble across this deeper meaning. In my own opinion this is a major opportunity for theological exegesis to bridge the gap to the intuitional worlds, and it would be timely to take advantage of it since many serious and more deeply aspiring students are not able to see the relevance of Scripture as it applies in the 21st Century and in consequence many churches are not getting enough candidates offering themselves for training as priests or pastors, as all the talent tends to go towards the Scientific or Business world. This should not be, because rightly understood Religion can make major inroads into truth and understanding as Mr. Hodson’s own life demonstrated. Viewed in this context a priest or pastor who is self-illumined is pursuing one of the very highest callings available to humanity.

  Mr. Hodson understood World Religion as part of the Lesser Mystery Tradition which trains humanity in moral and ethical precepts, thereby making individuals eligible for more advanced stages inherent in the Greater Mysteries and Yoga. He did not wish in any way to harm people’s devout belief in their faith and was therefore always very gentle in his approach, but inevitably part of his work involved shedding light upon some of the man-made accretions which had crept into religion, thereby holding it back in certain aspects. Nevertheless, the surprising thing he found was how much of religion has a genuine validity when investigated from the point of view of higher consciousness, this not only applies to the hidden side of religious rituals and ceremonial but also to the Scriptures themselves which are often wrapped in allegory and symbolism containing the highest wisdom. It was therefore always Mr. Hodson’s aspiration to do what he could to reveal the deeper aspects of religion so that people would not just be dependent on sincere faith alone. He believed that purified and enlightened religion was a major pathway to God and he was definitely no iconoclast, as some philosophers have become in the realm of religion. The essence of religion and the perfection of it are found in The Mysteries and in Yoga which are dealt with in the section: Spiritual Disciplines.