Four Beasts—Four-and-Twenty Elders

Four Beasts — Four-and-Twenty Elders 

YouTube  Audio

July 9, 1953  Class

We have been meditating on the basic theme of Heavenly Magic, the magic of living, and we can feel the pattern of that magic beginning to work in and through you. You have begun to have a true realization of the reality of Shekinah; and as the Shekinah Cloud of Glory is allowed to penetrate into the pneumaplasmic substance of your body, in that sphere you begin to be One—One with that which is of the Inner Reality of Being. Allowing this to take place you are in position to let the Light that Glows begin to have meaning in your mind, not merely an intellectual process as we ordinarily think of it but a process of illumination. And with illumination, with the correct acceptance of the truth by the mind and the illuminating process in the current of resurrection, the Fire that Burns begins to be a constant and continued reality in your heart—it begins to be the manifestation of the Fire that never goes out; it is a constant flame. Those who live and move and have their Being in God have this constant flame upon the Altar in the heart, in the Temple of the body. You are beginning to realize that your body individually is a Temple, and that all of us collectively have a part to play in the formation of the larger Temple—the Temple not made with hands. Your body was not made with hands; likewise the larger Temple of many members is not made with hands.

Yesterday, in our patterns of meditation together, we gave some attention to the secrets of sex as they relate to the Shekinah Pattern of Being [greatcosmicstory.blogspot.com/2022/01/shekinah-and-sexhere-i-am-lord.html] and our relationship in reality with God. Today, continuing in this cycle that has been opened to you, I would like to draw your attention to the record as taken from the 4th chapter of the Book of Magic, and we will begin with the 1st verse. Perhaps we will go back just a little to get connected up—we gave meditation to the message to Laodicea [Chapter 3, Verse 14]:

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God [that is, Shekinah]; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” In our meditations here we recognize that we can use patterns of response and patterns of opposition, but lukewarmness is something which we cannot use, it is something which we must ignore or work around. Only where there is response in the sense of yielding or response in the sense of opposition can we utilize the factors present. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire [the Shekinah Fire], that thou mayest be rich.” And can we hope to find any true riches in being if we ignore this Fire, the gold tried in the fire? Gold is the symbol of what? Love. Love tried in the Fire, “that thou mayest be rich”—the riches of heaven on earth at hand.

“I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed…” And what is the clothing? The Light that Glows, that relates to the reality of illumination and the function of the mind. “… and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear…” What is it that clears away the shame of nakedness? The white raiment, the Light that Glows. “… and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Now here in this particular pattern we have the emphasis placed upon seeing—"anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” The clothing, the Light that Glows, and the Cloud of Glory are so closely interrelated here in the pattern of symbolism that we see them really together in their oneness. The outer manifestation of the white raiment is of course the Cloud of Glory, but the Cloud of Glory has meaning and provides the raiment, the white raiment, because of the Light that Glows. And when we have our eyes anointed with eyesalve, that we may see, we begin to see the Cloud of Glory by reason of the Light that Glows.

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten…” Did you ever notice how I love you? “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” With my Father—not only the One Who Dwells but the Shekinah Pattern of Reality. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” Have you ever known the experience of hearing the Voice inviting you, “Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter”?

“And immediately I was in the spirit…” There is one of the great significant keys. We noticed it briefly earlier in this Book of Magic, where we find the statement, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet… And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw.” And here we have the Word, the invitation, “Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter,” things which must take form, things which are to appear on earth. “And immediately I was in the spirit.” Now when you begin to hear the Voice that speaks with you, what are you in? Are you simply a human being in the flesh? Or are you just in your mind trying to intellectually comprehend that which the Voice is speaking? Or are you in some place far away, some place of the past or some place somewhere else on the globe? Are we all together individually, with one accord in one place—body, mind, heart and spirit, in alignment, in one place? And where is the centering of you? In the flesh? In the mind? In the heart? Let it be in the spirit, for when you begin to hear the voice you should immediately be in the spirit.

“… and, behold, a throne was set in heaven…” And where is heaven? In some far-off sky? It is at hand, here, now. “… and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold”—Crowns of God's Love. And they had on their heads the Crowns of God's Love. “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.” We have been introduced to these Seven Spirits before. “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.”

”Four beasts full of eyes.” I wonder what vision that conjures up in your mind, in your imagination? Don't be too quick to picture these beasts that are full of eyes before and behind. “And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.”

Here we see the four primary focalizations in the pattern of the relatedness of heaven and earth—four of the seven, the four of the firm foundation of reality in Being, the four which correlate with the four forces. And the first beast, the high point of focalization, was like a lion. We recognize there the focalization of the LORD of Lords and KING of Kings. And the second beast like a calf. And the calf is what? A young bullock. And the ox or the bullock symbolizes the mind, the self-active, lumbering mind of man; but the calf symbolizes the childlike mind that is supposed to manifest in those who are responding, the mind that is willing to learn, willing to be led along the way. And so the calf aspect here, the calf beast, symbolizes the second focalization working from within outward, the mental level or the Lord of—what? The Lord of Life. Now what did we learn about the reality of the three primary aspects of spirit? That life is the child of love and truth. There must be the union of love and truth in order for life to be born. And the reality of life takes on meaning in relationship to the mind or intelligence; and so at the point of the calf we have the mental level and the manifestation of the Lord of Life, just as at the focalization of the beast like a lion we have the presence of the Lord of Love in the focalization of the reality of love. And then the third one mentioned is the first, speaking from the level of human beings looking upward, and this first, who is the third in the pattern, had a face as a man—a beast with a face as a man. Now how many beasts are there in the world with a face as a man? Quite a few I would say. Immediately we see that it relates to the human pattern of being, the formation of the one body of mankind in the Divine Design—the face as a man, the One Body, the Christ Body, the body of mankind. However we may put it, you are supposed to be a part of this beast with a face as a man. You are called to be a means by which this beast may take form on earth.

”And the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.” Now we go back to our Inner Trinity Pattern and we find here the third point, from the outward moving inward, and this is the position of the Lord of Truth. The union of love and truth allows the birth of life; and love and truth and life must manifest in the body of the man, or the form that has the face as a man. Here then we begin to see the nature of the symbolism: the flying eagle. Is it by chance that the eagle is used as one of the symbols of the United States of America? It is not by chance. But here we have the flying eagle, and that is the symbol of the Lord of Truth. When we begin to be acquainted with the reality of truth, what do we find? There is the ability to move in the air of the spirit: the flying eagle—not something that is earthbound, not something that is limited to one little point here or there. And what is the nature of the eagle? The eagle is called the king of birds; the eagle carries a very positive pattern. Did you ever see an eagle? Did you ever look at one, even one in a cage? It is a pitiful sight to see an eagle in a cage. But the nature of an eagle—perhaps you have seen pictures—the bearing of an eagle, what it suggests in relationship to the positive expression of Being. [A diagram was placed here showing a double triangle with “HEAVEN” in the top triangle and “EARTH” in the bottom (inverted) triangle. The apex was labeled “LOVE (Lion),” the ends of the common side “TRUTH (Eagle)” and “LIFE (Calf)” and the bottom (inverted) apex “CHRIST BODY (Man).”]

So here we have the four points of the creative field, recognizing the blending of two creative fields to make one. The points of the eagle and the points of the calf function both from an inner and an outer standpoint. The point of the lion functions from an inner standpoint, and we have the Inner Creative Triangle. And then extending outward in this square, the city foursquare, the creative field foursquare in relationship to the four forces, we have the fourth point, which is the first or the third, depending upon the patterns of relatedness, which has the face as a man, the formation of the body of mankind as the Christ Body or the Body of God on earth. And you are called to be a part of that Body.

Now these beasts were spoken of, or are spoken of here, as being full of eyes. It will be easier for you to see this in relationship to the Body that has the face as a man; for this Body has many members, and you are to be one of those members—many members—and each one has two physical eyes, to say nothing of the eye of the heart, the eye of the mind, the ability to see, to perceive, and to recognize. And so the Body that has the face as a man is certainly full of eyes before and behind, and all the way through.

Now let us note something of the peculiar nature of these four beasts. “And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him…” Six wings. Now, like a flying eagle, but an eagle in the ordinary sense has two wings. But the four beasts had each of them six wings. That would make twenty-four wings, wouldn't it? “…six wings about him; And they were full of eyes within…” Now first, the four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And here we note they were full of eyes within. 

“…and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever; The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne [and cast their crowns of gold, of love, before the throne], saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

“And for thy pleasure they are and were created.” How much pleasure has man given to God in recent millennia? Not much. But these things on earth are supposed to give God pleasure. Now can we imagine God having pleasure without sharing pleasure? I cannot. I cannot imagine God having pleasure without sharing pleasure and giving pleasure. “And for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Now that includes you. You were created for God's pleasure. If you so function that you give pleasure to God, do you think you will have pleasure? Do you think you will receive pleasure? And to what extent will this pleasure be limited? Just for a few minutes of meditation, with this little experience or that? Or will we begin to share God's pleasure all the time?

We remember that just before the betrayal and the mockery of the trial, all the things to which our Master was subjected on earth, He gave a great prayer, a prayer that you might well meditate upon, how many times? Ten times? A hundred times? Would that reveal all of its significance to you? It might pay to do it a hundred and one times, or even more. But in any case, there He emphasized the reality of oneness; He mentioned His joy, He mentioned extending His joy to others, His joy by reason of oneness, by reason of union with the Father: the inner and the outer, one; and the inner and the outer together, one with a higher pattern of focalization. And He said that He was going to leave His joy with us, give it to us. In another place He said, “Fear not, little flock”—little flock; it doesn't have to be a big one to begin with; even a little flock like this. “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom,” the Kingdom made manifest on earth, in body and mind and heart.

Wherever we turn, the patterns of oneness, the patterns of union, the reality of blending—not in the limited sense which human beings ordinarily think of, not just two bodies blended, but the bodies of all, blended in the reality of God's Love, blended in the pattern of love response to the KING, with the crowns of gold cast before the Throne. And we begin to sense something of what it means to be with one accord in one place; for there is that spirit of blending now. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” And there is the Spirit of Love, the Voice of Love; and there is the Voice of Truth, the Spirit of Truth; and there is the Voice of Life, the Spirit of Life. Projected where? Into the Body that has the face as a man. All of these things, in their aspects and in their blended form, projected into the Body that has a face as a man. Again, you; again that blending. And what is the result?

“And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” How much pleasure do you give to God day by day? How much pleasure do you give to God? The pleasure you give to God is the measure by which you receive the pleasure which God would give to you.

Let us go back a bit now. What about these six wings round about? There are six wings, there are four beasts; there are therefore twenty-four wings, and there are likewise twenty-four elders. A wing is that which is necessary to the bird to fly in the air; but a bird with one wing is rather handicapped. It takes a pair of wings, and generally speaking those creatures which fly have two wings. There are creatures on earth which have four wings: one set to be as the wings of an airplane, fixed in a projected form, and the other set to work as a propeller, to carry the creature through the air. So the principle by which man finally built the airplane was used in the insect world long ago—fixed or stable wings, and the moving wings. But here we have the four beasts with six wings, and the wing is something to move in the air, and the air is the symbol of the spirit. And there are four and twenty elders and there are four and twenty wings. But the wings need to work in pairs. Let us note carefully: "And the four beasts had each of them six wings ABOUT him." Now the reader might not be alert enough to see the difference. It did not say that each beast had six wings, did it? It said each beast had six wings about him. There is a difference. I have seen people try to portray what they imagined these four beasts to be, and they had eyes stuck all over them in a peculiar fashion and they tried to work it out so that there would be six wings attached to each beast--peculiar-looking creatures. Try putting six wings on a lion, and try putting six wings on an eagle that already has two wings. And eyes before and behind and within. And each beast had six wings about him. It does not say, as some have supposed, that each beast had six wings. Now where are the four beasts? Let us go back.

“And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.”

One could very easily suspect that the four beasts were the Throne. And there was One sitting on the Throne. We begin to see a pyramid: four beasts, four corners, and a point extending upward to an apex, a pyramid. And the pyramid touches what? The next higher focalization of deity, the next higher level. You do not need to be too concerned about that at the moment, but there we have the connection with the next higher level of deity. But here we have something we can begin to see in relationship to the oneness, in relationship to the reality of Being which we are to share, and the functions in that state of Being.

“And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal…” The sea of glass—before the Throne there was the sea of glass. The sea suggests that it extends out quite a ways from the Throne, that it is not limited to a spot just near the Throne as such. And we have recognized that the sea of glass is the pneumaplasmic substance of the physical realm of creation. “…and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him.”

“Now there were likewise four and twenty elders, four and twenty wings. We have recognized that the four and twenty elders are made up of positive and negative aspects of being, forming the twelve—back again to the twelve segments of humanity, the twelve in the pattern of formation, creation, the cycles of twelve in creative patterns. In other words we have within each cycle of twelve three cycles of four, and we have three-phased beings—three-phased beings—and there are three cycles of four to make twelve, and the cycle of four relates to the four forces. But if there be four forces there are four focalizations of force, four points of being to provide meaning, direction, control, with respect to the four forces. And so the four beasts, full of eyes before and behind and within, each had about him six wings. There are, then, the pairs of wings relating to the four and twenty elders—the pairs of wings. Each of the four and twenty has one wing.

The four and twenty elders are round about the Throne. And the Throne itself has within it the formation of the four beasts, and there are six wings around each beast, at each corner of the Throne. There are four groupings, then, of the four and twenty; and the four and twenty would make the twelve; three pairs of wings make six; so at four points there are six elders, making three pairs. Now the significance of all of that you will not grasp in a moment, but it begins to give you an understanding of some of the fundamental, basic principles relating to the expression of the divine into the world of man. But in order for this fulfilment to take place there must be the manifestation of the fourth beast, which has the face as of a man, and this fourth beast is the One Christ Body.

Our Master came into the world to begin the manifestation of that Body, but He could not remain here to be all by Himself the reality of that Body. How did He receive the power of God into the world to do the things which He did? By providing a Body with a face as a man. That Body, with its face as a man, was called, or is ordinarily called, Jesus. But that was supposed to be the beginning point for the formation of a Body with many members. And so this Body of many members is to be the Body with a face as a man, full of eyes before and behind and within. The eye is the pattern of perception.

Is the reality of truth, or the Spirit of Truth, limited to one point of Being? There is the focalization point of Being, the Lord of Truth, but that spirit works in all beings who yield to truth, who are honest enough to be true. And so all beings, having eyes within—what eyes do you have within? The eye of the heart, the eye of the mind. They all become one eye but there are aspects of these eyes, the means of perception, of seeing. So individually you have eyes before and eyes within, and if there is someone standing behind you in the form, there are eyes behind you too—not that you as an individual must have a set of eyes grow in the back of your head. You are not supposed to be the whole thing all by yourself; you are supposed to be a part of the whole thing. So there are eyes before and within and behind. And whether we consider it from the standpoint of the pattern of truth or the pattern of love or the pattern of life, the same is true.

The patterns of perception. The patterns of perception must be of great importance, of great use. People take their eyes, their physical eyes, for granted and often abuse them. But if anyone has lost the use of the physical eyes there is the realization that, while one may live a full life in many respects, something important to the physical organism is gone: the reality of the eyes to see, to perceive. When we stop to think about it, what priceless treasures we have in our eyes. And we learn to see the importance of perceiving, alertness. I mentioned in the earlier class this morning something about the development of seeing, the development of alertness, of recognizing that which is to be seen.

“And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever.”

Now here we begin to see the working of the pattern of response: The outmoving from the apex of the pyramid out through the base and into the surrounding pattern is obvious. But there is the One at the Apex, there are the Four at the Base of the Throne, or of the pyramid; and when the four beasts are giving response to the Apex of Deity immediately present in the creative field, then the four and twenty elders follow suit, and those who are attuned to the four and twenty elders follow them, and there is the cycle of response to the Apex of the creative triangle. For if there is a creative field at the base of the triangle, made up of two triangles, we also have the four triangles forming the faces, the four faces of the pyramid, so the pyramid has six triangles. Does not every pyramid have six triangles? Two in the base; four on the sides. Let me use a little illustration here. We look at the base first; that is, looking down upon it. [A diagram was placed here, showing a double pyramid (i.e. two pyramids with the same base, one upright, one inverted).]

So we have two triangles; the focalization in the inner vibration, the focalization in the outer vibration—the lion and the face of the man, the calf and the eagle. So here we have, looking down upon it, the base, two triangles in the base making the four, the city foursquare, the place of abiding. A city is a dwelling place, isn't it? A dwelling place. So the city is the abiding place for the working of the things of God. Human beings have thought about the city foursquare, the new Jerusalem that is to come down from God out of heaven, simply as some golden streets and some houses, a place where they are going to go and live after they are dead. But what is the city? It is an abiding place. “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty,” and the Almighty is at the Apex of the pyramid, always. Wherever we are in the levels of being, the Apex of the pyramid is, for that which relates to the pyramid, the Almighty.

Why is the capstone gone from the Great Pyramid of Gizeh? Because the capstone is invisible, symbolizing something for us—the invisible capstone. Always the focalization point of a pyramid is, for that which is focalized, the Almighty. And so that which is contained within the city foursquare, in the creative fields involved, in the inner sense and the outer sense, is dwelling in the secret place of the Most High and abiding under the shadow, the evidence of the presence, of the Almighty.

The pyramid has its four faces, in the surrounding sense, and the two triangles in the base, making six. We have in this pattern, then, the reality of the inner, the reality of the outer, the patterns of their manifestation and their focalization in that which is higher. And this provides the focalization for that which is lower; for if we saw this from the lower level, instead of seeing the apex up here we would see a similar pyramid projected downward into the lower levels of being, and then there would be twelve, twelve creative triangles in the double pyramid, two pyramids having the same base, one pointing upward, one pointing downward. Now, instead of just looking at the base of the triangle, you are looking at one side of the double pyramid. This is the apex of the pyramid, this is the base of the pyramid, and this is the pyramid pointing downward, because you can only see it from one side at a time.

There is a great deal in that little city foursquare that you may not have explored yet. And where are the golden streets, the streets of love? In the city foursquare? You think they are going to be streets paved with gold? Paved with love, the streets of love in the city. Are there streets of love in that city? If it is manifest you will find there are. And you have to walk the Golden Path, the Golden Path of what? When I talk about the Golden Path that leads to the Tree of Life, what do I mean? The Path of Love that leads to the Tree of Life. And what happens to the Tree of Life? It brings forth twelve manner of fruits, each in its season, one fruit each month. Twelve months—back to the twelve.

There are many twelves. You have not found them all yet. But the twelve, the twelve segments of humanity. Now we begin to see that there are the four and twenty elders, or the twelve; and the twelve provides us with the focalization of the twelve segments of humanity. And twelve has three cycles of four, four relating to the square, the four forces, or the four that are called beasts, points of focalization, and that manifests in relationship to each of the three levels of the Trinity of Being, all of these things being interrelated. You cannot segregate some part and say, “This I'll take away, and I'll have something.” It is an integral thing. It must be an integrated thing to have meaning, all of its parts.

We cannot separate the Lord of Love from the rest and have true meaning—or the Lord of Truth, or the Lord of Life, or man, the manifestation of love and truth and life. The first manifestation is life at the birth of the body, but then we begin to have the evidence of the spirit of love, and as the pattern of intelligence develops there is likewise the beginning of the integrity of truth, and the patterns and designs and control factors begin to manifest. The babe becomes a child, the child becomes a youth, the youth becomes a man.

The growth, the development, the unfolding of the things of the invisible realm into the visible, the revelation of deity through you, the oneness of heaven and earth, the pleasure of that union, the reality of the Divine Design, the interchange of all the forces of Being, oneness. Not something separate and apart, but something that is a part of the whole. We have to have the whole to have wholeness. Would you be whole all by yourself? Then you would be the “allness” and supersede God. You cannot be whole by yourself. I cannot. The Lord of Love Himself cannot be whole all by Himself. In order to have wholeness we must have relatedness to the whole, and the whole is the Cosmic All That Is.

So the patterns of blending, the working of the Law, the secrets of youth, up and down and round about. When we remember that all things on earth were made for the pleasure of God, we do not imagine that He is trying to have pleasure by taking pleasure away from us. God is wise enough to know that if He is to have pleasure in us He must give us pleasure, and that is a secret some people on earth have not yet learned, the secrets of oneness, that we may live and move and have our Being in the Body of God.

© emissaries of divine light