The intimate and profound experience of the divine, understood as mysticism, has presented several nuances throughout the ancestry of our humanity under construction. Since Egyptian antiquity, priests symbolically marked this process, making the aspirant go through the four trials corresponding to the 4 elements that framed creation understood until then. This was also the case in Eleusis, a region of Greece close to present-day Athens, where the celebrations of its ancient Mysteries, linked to the cult of Demeter, reproduced these trials in a process marked by silence, not because of secrecy itself but because of the great difficulty of explaining them to those who had not experienced them. These symbolic elements were integrated into religious dress and professions, even in Christianity.
The ancient Esoteric Orders regarded these ceremonies as superfluous. They believed it was useless to repeat them visibly since only those prepared for them could participate, but always in the astral worlds.
These trials, associated with the four elements, earth, air, water, and fire, integrate the first part of the Golden Ceremonial and refer to the four trails that must be overcome for the candidate to reach the doors of the Temple, where he will be consecrated Guardian of Eternity.
The four trials are symbolized by the four Knights who guard the entrance to the superior planes. They are similar to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the specter of the threshold of Zanoni, and the terrible beasts that guard the entrance in the Scandinavian Edda. They are those elemental principles that maintain, impel, govern, and destroy physical life: passion, doubt, fear, and separativity.
The first trial, that of the earth, corresponds to the revival of passions. The aspirant almost forgot about them. Sometimes, years go by without showing signs of life. But one day, suddenly, they jumped out and, this time, transformed into terrible beasts. This return of the passions to the being, an inevitable law of consequences that the flesh owes to the material deposit that formed it, seems to put to sleep the seekers of the path. Like little domestic animals, instincts escape the rays of first knowledge, first glimpses, and initial victories.
If he is already accustomed to the astral planes, the seeker must pass through the great and terrible astral swamp! The foot, insecure foot sinks with each step; Horrible monsters swarm there, as if anxiously waiting to devour the Wayfarer. But if the Masters have allowed these travelers to reach this point, they know they can cross safely. Disgust for matter in its astral form—free of all veils—destroys the passions one by one. Once the travelers reach the opposite shore, instinct will never again dominate them.
The second trial is the one of the air. To reach the Temple, these seekers must scale the invisible stairs that lead to it. Their astral bodies must become accustomed to the fourth dimension. Suddenly, terrifyingly, their bodies assume immense dimensions, quickly shrinking as if to nothing. Moreover, the mystical stairs appear like hanging ropes with no support. The uncertainty is terrifying. It continually seems as if they are going to fall into the abyss. They remain suspended there until they realize that there is no void. A hurricane breaks loose while they are climbing. It is the image of the passage from one astral state to another, a higher one.
The third trial is the trial of water, the trial of fear. Before reaching the Sacred Mountain, the candidates must cross the surrounding lake. Swimming achieves nothing here because courage is the very effort to swim. When the imposing nature of the mountain seizes these souls, they are overwhelmed by fear. The astral body feels like it is sinking into water that does not drown but freezes and paralyzes all perceptions instead. Masters and invisible Protectors always accompany the candidates during these trials; otherwise, it would be difficult for even the most advanced to pass through them. Fear is the mortal enemy of human beings, and until it is completely vanquished, they cannot think of going very far.
The trial of fire is the fourth trial of this first part of the Golden Ceremony. Think of a moment when one has reached the threshold of achieving an ideal that one has dreamed of one’s whole life. Only then can one understand that it will be definitively achieved through death. The Temple is surrounded by inextinguishable flames. No Knight or Dame will pass through them uninjured; only “The Knight” or “The Dame.” Their search for realization was useless. Realization is beyond personality. All sense of separativity must be erased if they wish to pass through that fire that destroys everything and consumes everything except the Spirit, the Unity.
The ancient Esoteric Orders regarded these ceremonies as superfluous. They believed it was useless to repeat them visibly since only those prepared for them could participate, but always in the astral worlds.
These trials, associated with the four elements, earth, air, water, and fire, integrate the first part of the Golden Ceremonial and refer to the four trails that must be overcome for the candidate to reach the doors of the Temple, where he will be consecrated Guardian of Eternity.
The four trials are symbolized by the four Knights who guard the entrance to the superior planes. They are similar to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the specter of the threshold of Zanoni, and the terrible beasts that guard the entrance in the Scandinavian Edda. They are those elemental principles that maintain, impel, govern, and destroy physical life: passion, doubt, fear, and separativity.
The first trial, that of the earth, corresponds to the revival of passions. The aspirant almost forgot about them. Sometimes, years go by without showing signs of life. But one day, suddenly, they jumped out and, this time, transformed into terrible beasts. This return of the passions to the being, an inevitable law of consequences that the flesh owes to the material deposit that formed it, seems to put to sleep the seekers of the path. Like little domestic animals, instincts escape the rays of first knowledge, first glimpses, and initial victories.
If he is already accustomed to the astral planes, the seeker must pass through the great and terrible astral swamp! The foot, insecure foot sinks with each step; Horrible monsters swarm there, as if anxiously waiting to devour the Wayfarer. But if the Masters have allowed these travelers to reach this point, they know they can cross safely. Disgust for matter in its astral form—free of all veils—destroys the passions one by one. Once the travelers reach the opposite shore, instinct will never again dominate them.
The second trial is the one of the air. To reach the Temple, these seekers must scale the invisible stairs that lead to it. Their astral bodies must become accustomed to the fourth dimension. Suddenly, terrifyingly, their bodies assume immense dimensions, quickly shrinking as if to nothing. Moreover, the mystical stairs appear like hanging ropes with no support. The uncertainty is terrifying. It continually seems as if they are going to fall into the abyss. They remain suspended there until they realize that there is no void. A hurricane breaks loose while they are climbing. It is the image of the passage from one astral state to another, a higher one.
The third trial is the trial of water, the trial of fear. Before reaching the Sacred Mountain, the candidates must cross the surrounding lake. Swimming achieves nothing here because courage is the very effort to swim. When the imposing nature of the mountain seizes these souls, they are overwhelmed by fear. The astral body feels like it is sinking into water that does not drown but freezes and paralyzes all perceptions instead. Masters and invisible Protectors always accompany the candidates during these trials; otherwise, it would be difficult for even the most advanced to pass through them. Fear is the mortal enemy of human beings, and until it is completely vanquished, they cannot think of going very far.
The trial of fire is the fourth trial of this first part of the Golden Ceremony. Think of a moment when one has reached the threshold of achieving an ideal that one has dreamed of one’s whole life. Only then can one understand that it will be definitively achieved through death. The Temple is surrounded by inextinguishable flames. No Knight or Dame will pass through them uninjured; only “The Knight” or “The Dame.” Their search for realization was useless. Realization is beyond personality. All sense of separativity must be erased if they wish to pass through that fire that destroys everything and consumes everything except the Spirit, the Unity.