The Essenes

From Edmond Szekely’s book From Enoch to the Dead Sea Scrolls, we learn;

“From the remote ages of antiquity a remarkable teaching has existed which is universal in its application and ageless in its wisdom. Fragments of it are found in Sumerian hieroglyphs and on tiles and stones dating back some eight or ten thousand years. Some of the symbols, such as for the sun, moon, air, water and other natural forces, are from an even earlier age preceding the cataclysm that ended the Pleistocene period. How many thousands of years previous to that the teaching existed is unknown. To study and practice this teaching is to reawaken within the heart of every man an intuitive knowledge that can solve his individual problems and the problems of the world. Traces of the teaching have appeared in almost every country and religion. Its fundamental principles were taught in ancient Persia, Egypt, India, Tibet, China, Palestine, Greece and many other countries. But it has been transmitted in its most pure form by the Essenes, that mysterious brotherhood which lived during the last two or three centuries B.C. and the first century of the Christian era at the Dead Sea in Palestine and at Lake Mareotis in Egypt. In Palestine and Syria the members of the brotherhood were known as Essenes and in Egypt as Therapeutae, or healers.

The esoteric part of their teaching is given in The Tree of Life, the Communions, and the Sevenfold Peace. The exoteric or outer teaching appears in The Essene Gospel of Peace, Genesis, an Essene Interpretation, Moses, the Prophet of the Law, and the Sermon on the Mount. The origin of the brotherhood is said to be unknown, and the derivation of the name is uncertain. Some believe it comes from Esnoch or Enoch and claim him to be their founder, their Communion with the angelic world having first been given to him. Others consider the name comes from Esrael, the Elects of the people to whom Moses brought forth the Communions at Mount Sinai where they were revealed to him by the angelic world.

The teaching appears in the Zend Avesta of Zoroaster, who translated in into a way of life that was followed for thousands of years. It contains the fundamental concepts of Brahmanism, the Vedas and the Upanishads; and the Yoga systems of India sprang from the same source. Buddha later gave forth essentially the same basic ideas and his sacred Bodhi tree is correlated with the Essene Tree of Life. The Pythagoreans and Stoics in ancient Greece also followed the Essene principles and much of their way of life. The same teaching was an element of the Adonic culture of the Phoenicians, of the Alexandrian School of Philosophy in Egypt, and contributed greatly to many branches of Western culture, Freemasonry, Gnosticism, the Kabala and Christianity. Jesus interpreted it in its most sublime and beautiful form in the seven Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount.

To the earlier concepts of the Tree, the Essenes added what the ancient writers called Angelology. This science of the Angels was brought forth by the Essenes at their brotherhood in Palestine. Their angels were the forces of the universe. It was known by many of the ancient peoples that these invisible forces were a source of energy and power, and that man’s life was sustained by contact with them. They knew that to the degree man was able to utilize these forces, he would move forward in his individual evolution in body and spirit, and as he put himself in harmony with them, his life would prosper.

Certain of the people not only knew of these forces but had specific methods of contacting and utilizing them. In many lands these forces were considered to be of two kinds, good and evil, and eternally opposed to each other. Zoroaster in his Zend Avesta described the Ahuras and Fravashis as the good forces forever battling with the evil Khrafstras and Devas. The Toltec’s in Mexico and Central American held a world picture in which the good forces were called the Army of Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, and the evil forces were the Army of Tezcatlipoca, the Jaguar. These two armies were shown in the Toltec pictographs as being in continual conflict with each other. In the Zoroastrian and Toltec concepts destructive forces were always fighting the constructive ones.

The concept of the Essenes differed from these and other world pictures in that it recognized only the positive and constructive forces in the universe. The Essene angels corresponds to the good forces of Zoroaster, the Ahuras and Fravashis, and to the good forces of the Toltec’s, the Army of Quetzalcoatl. It was held to be man’s role in the universe to so strengthen the good, positive forces that the evil negative ones would be overcome and disappear from the Earth. The Essene Tree of Life represented fourteen positive forces, seven of them heavenly or cosmic forces and seven earthly or terrestrial forces. The Tree was pictured as having seven roots reaching down into the earth and seven branches extending up toward the heavens, thus symbolizing man’s relationship to both Earth and Heaven. Man was pictured in the center of the tree half way between Heaven and Earth.

The use of the number seven is an integral part of the Essene tradition which has been transmitted to western cultures in various outer ways, such as the seven days of the week. Each root and branch of the tree represented a different force or power. The roots represented earthly forces and powers, the earthly Mother, the Angel of Earth, the Angel of Life, the Angel of Joy, the Angel of the Sun, the Angel of Water and the Angel of Air. The seven branches represented cosmic powers, the Heavenly Father, and his Angels of Eternal Life, Creative Work, Peace, Power, Love and Wisdom. These were the Essene angels of the visible and invisible worlds. In ancient Hebrew and Medieval literature these heavenly and earthly forces or angels were given names, Michael, Gabriel, and so on; and they were pictured in religious art as human figures with wings and clad in flowing robes, such as in the frescoes of Michelangelo.

The symbolic Tree of Life enabled the Essenes to understand how they were surrounded by forces, or angels, from the visible world of nature and the invisible cosmic world. The Communions show how each of these forces is utilized in man’s body and consciousness. The Communions are said to have been originated by Esnoch or Enoch and were again brought forth by Moses to Esrael, the Elect of the people on the two stone tablets he first brought down from Mt. Sinai. The second set of tablets he brought down contained the Ten Commandments, the outer teaching, which he gave to the rest of the people, Israel. But the small minority, Esrael, or the Essenes, from that time on, held their communion’s morning and evening to the Earthly and Heavenly forces, regulating their lives according to the inspiration received from them.

The Communions have three immediate objectives. The first is to make man conscious of the activities of the different forces and forms of energy which surround him and perpetually flow toward him from nature and the cosmos. The second is to make him aware of the organs and centers within his being which can receive these currents of energy. The third is to establish a connection between the organs and centers and their corresponding forces so as to absorb, control and utilize each current.

The Essenes knew that man has different bodily systems to absorb the different energies from food, air, water, solar radiations and so on; and they knew that each individual must control and utilize these powers for himself through his own conscious efforts, and that no one could do it for him. The Communions were practiced each morning and evening, a different earthly force being meditated upon each morning upon arising, and a different heavenly force each evening before retiring, each day of the week. This made a total of fourteen communions during each seven day period. At each of the Communions the designated force was concentrated upon, contemplated and meditated upon so that its power could be absorbed and consciously utilized in whatever intensity was required.”

Those organs and centers referred to are the chakras – our spiritual power centers. There were two branches of Essenes in Palestine – the Ossaeans and the Nazoreans. The southern Ossaeans were known as the B’nai-Zadok or Children of Zadok. The northern Nazorean were known as the B’nai-Amen or Children of God. The northern group consisted of families and is where Jesus and his family lived – on and around Mount Carmel. The Qumran or Dead Sea B’Nai Zadok were a more ascetic branch.  As is said about Jesus in Matthew 2:23; “He shall be called a Nazorean.” This group brought forth the Chosen Ones. The Nazarenes were a sub-group of the Essenes who were under stricter vows of purity and conduct. The ancient philosopher Pythagoras studied in the B’nai-Amen temple. This was where the prophet Elijah lived.

The Essenes lived near lakes and rivers, away from cities and towns. They had a communal lifestyle and contributed all their goods and income to the community fund. They were expert farmers and supplied all their own needs. They had no servants and condemned slavery. There were no rich or poor in their communities, both conditions were considered by them as deviations of the Law of God. They were considered among the best educated people of their day. They studied astronomy, medicine, prophecy, and the ancient scriptures.

They rose before dawn to greet the sun. To them, the sun was a symbol of God. While outside, they would commune with our Earthly Mother’s angels, praying to a different angel each day. In the evening they would pray to the Heavenly Father and his angels. They meditated on the crescent moon which represented peace within.  They believed that the stars and planets were ensouled – that the Milky Way is the seed ground for souls. They meditated on superior feeling, realizing that every thought and emotion feeds into the World Soul and affects all creation. They understood that there was still a connection to be found between humans and all else. They were vegetarians for that reason. Edmond Szekely said that the purpose of the Communion was to teach the importance of union with the eternal and boundless cosmic ocean of all the superior radiations from all the planets, to make one receptive to these powers, so that one could attain cosmic consciousness.

The Essenes were highly regarded by their neighbors due to their righteousness and their healing skills. Pliny the Roman naturalist, Philo the Alexandrian philosopher, Josephus the Jewish historian and others spoke of the Essenes; “As a race by themselves, more remarkable than any other in the world.” “The oldest of the initiates, receiving their teaching from Central Asia.” “Teaching perpetuated through an immense space of ages.” “Constant and unalterable holiness.” Szekely remarks that because of its antiquity and persistence through the ages, it was evident the teaching could not have been the concept of any individual or any people, but, “…is the interpretation, by a succession of great teachers, of the Law of the Universe, the basic Law, eternal and unchanging as the stars in their courses, the same now as two or ten thousand years ago, and as applicable today as then.” According to him; “The teaching explains the law, shows how man’s deviations from it are the cause of all his troubles, and gives the method by which he can find his way out of his dilemma.”

When Jesus talked about the Law of God, it was this universal law he was referring to. Jesus knew that the only way the world would be changed would be through humankind’s knowledge of, and obedience to, these natural laws of God.   The Essenes were scrupulous followers of the Law. However, they claimed that Moses law in the Old Testament had been corrupted. This corrupted law is the same one in the Bible’s Old Testament today – corrupted by the Deuteronomists. The Essenes claimed that the law they practiced was the law pre-written in the inner being of man. One author likened it to a person’s sense of right and wrong. This law was the Law of Love and the unity of all life in the One-Family of the All-Parent. The Essenes religion was the mystical teaching of the Kaballah. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Essenes refer to themselves as Judah, which is appropriate, because they –  and we – are the ‘true’ Jews. Regardless of what race we are in our current incarnation.

In the book Mysteries of the Bridechamber, the author says that in the Kabbalah the seven Archangels that inhabit the planets are together known as Exousia. The sun is the head of the Exousia and considered the home of the Heavenly Messiah.  The Essenes – who were incarnated angels – and knew it, designated their hierarchy with the names of the Archangels. Therefore, the highest in the hierarchy, was named the Michael, regardless of their birth name. The second position was the Gabriel, then Sariel.

Mark Pinkham, author of World Gnosis, says that the esoteric scholar Manly Palmer Hall maintained that the Essene Kabbalistic tradition was, “First taught by God to a school of His angels, and then the angel Raziel was dispatched from heaven to instruct Adam in the mysteries of the Kabbala.”  Mark notes that the Angel Raziel’s name denotes ‘Keeper of Secrets’ and ‘Angel of Mysteries’. Raziel was an aspect of the Divine Mind known in the Kabbalah as St. Michael. He says that Michael’s heavenly and earthly manifestations are manifold. Included in those manifestations are Metatron, which is the angelic name for the prophet Enoch. He is known from the Bible where it is said of him that he never died, but ascended bodily into Heaven. Michael is also the ‘Outer Yahweh’ as well as the supreme monarch of the universe, King Melchizedek. It was Michael who would later give Moses a fresh dispensation of the Kabbalistic mysteries on the summit of Mt. Sinai.

According to the website Essene.org

“Several hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the Essene Teacher of Righteousness had a vision. An angel told him that a great Avatar, the Mashiakh (Christ Messiah) would come to Earth through the Essenes. But for this to occur, according to the angel, the Essenes must follow certain disciplines in order to create a physical body capable of withstanding the powerful vibrations of the Christ Spirit, as well as a group energy powerful enough to open an ‘energy vortex’ or ‘doorway’ into this space-time dimension through which the Christ would enter. The prescribed disciplines were called the Essene Halakoth.”

The Essenes prepared for almost three hundred years to become pure enough to be the vehicles these higher spirits could incarnate into.

I have mentioned in previous posts that we are the Elect. The following gives more insight into this facet of our story. The author of The Essene Odyssey Compares the Dead Sea Scrolls with the, “phraseology, terminology, concepts and ideas of the Qumran community with the early Nazorean-Christian community and the communities founded by Paul as evidenced in the New Testament.” He found the following correlations; The Essenes of Qumran called themselves ‘the Elect’ or ‘the Elect of God’. He compares this with Titus 1:1 “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s Elect’; or I Peter 1.1: ‘Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the Elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion.”

Hugh Schonfeld, the author of The Essene Odyssey, says that when one studies the legacy of the Essenes, “…we are able to appreciate what they were seeking to transmit. It was for the high purpose of redeeming the Elect and finally the Earth itself, and incorporating the faithful in the Messianic personality, that the Heavenly Man in whose image man had been created had incarnated in the True Teacher in the End Time.” Schonfeld says that Jesus was the manifestation of the True Teacher of the Last Times.

There is a remarkable text called The Gospel of the Holy Twelve, which was translated from Aramaic fragments discovered in a Buddhist monastery in Tibet by the Edenite Society. It was first published in 1881 by an Englishman, Reverend G.J. Ouseley. Critics believe it was a text devised by him from the original gospels and that aspects of it reflect Ouseley’s beliefs not Jesus’. The text shows a side of Jesus that I know to be absolutely true. That is, he is firmly against the eating of meat. The truth is that when Constantine made Christianity the state religion the reforms he made at that time removed this part of Jesus’ teaching as Constantine himself didn’t want to follow it. Jesus also gives a lot of advice on homeopathic medical treatments in the book. The very word ‘Essene’ means ‘healer’.  I believe the book is the original text compiled by the twelve apostles after the death of Jesus. One finds the familiar Bible stories in it, but they are much more developed and give the impression of being first-hand accounts. Fragments of the old Gospel have come to light to support this text. They are called the Logins or Agraphas. Many parts of them match word for word. The text is available for free on the internet. You will find that there are many more words of Jesus there than in the current canon. This is the story of the conception and birth of Jesus from that text;

“And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David and the virgin’s name was Mary. Now Joseph was a just and rational mind and he was skilled in all manner of work in wood and in stone. And Mary was a tender and discerning soul and she wrought veils for the temple. And they were both pure before God, and of them both was Iesu-Maria who is called the Christ.  And the angel came in unto her and said, ‘Hail, Mary, thou that art highly favored, for the Mother of God is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed be the fruit of thy womb.’

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, ‘Fear not Mary, for thou hast found favor with God and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a child and he shall be great and shalt be called a son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, ‘How shall this be seeing I know not a man?’ And the angel answered and said unto her ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon Joseph thy spouse, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Christ, the child of God and his name on Earth shalt be called Iesu-Maria for he shall save the people from their sins, whosoever shall repent and obey his Law. Therefore ye shall eat no flesh nor drink strong drink, for the child shall be consecrated unto God from its mother’s womb and neither flesh nor strong drink shall he take nor shall razor touch his head. And behold thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.’ And the angel departed from her.

And in the same day the angel Gabriel appeared unto Joseph in a dream and said unto him, ‘Hail Joseph, thou that art highly favored for the fatherhood of God is with thee. Blessed art thou among men and blessed be the fruit of thy loins.’ And as Joseph thought upon these words, he was troubled and the angel of the Lord said unto him, ‘Fear not Joseph thou son of David, for thou hast found favor with God, and behold thou shalt beget a child and thou shalt call his name Iesu-Maria for he shall save his people from their sins.’ Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was written in the prophets saying, ‘Behold a maiden shall conceive and be with child and shall bring forth a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted, is God within us.’ Then Joseph, being raised from sleep did as the angel had bidden him and went in unto Mary his espoused bride and she conceived in her womb the Holy One.”

When Edgar Cayce was asked to describe the selection and training of the young girls who were set aside to be the channels through whom the Messiah might be born, he said;

“When there were the activities in which there were to be the cleansings through which bodies were to become channels for the new race, or the new preparation, these then, were restricted, of course, as to certain associations, developments in associations, activities and the like. We are speaking here of the twelve women you see – and all the women from the very beginning who were dedicated as channels for the new race. Hence the group we refer to here as the Essenes which was the outgrowth of the periods of preparations from the teachings of Melchizedek, as propagated by Elijah and Elisha and Samuel. These were set aside for preserving themselves in direct line or choice for the offering of themselves as channels through which there might come the new or divine origin, see?”  Edgar Cayce’s Story of Jesus

Do you find Mr. Cayce’s statement regarding the “channels for the new race”, and “channels through which there might come the new or divine origin” as intriguing as I do? In a later post, I  will discuss my belief that I am a descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene and the DNA evidence I have to go with that. I believe the descendants of Jesus or of the wider Desposyni group, were meant to be the channels for the new race. I believe there are millions of descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene at this time in history and multi-millions of Desposyni. The Desposyni are said to be those related to Jesus’ family.  I have believed that it is from among these descendants that the remnant would have come who would have been the survivors of our current humanity. I can’t tell you how happy I am that that scenario didn’t play out! Nevertheless, there has been a large bloodline group kept fairly intact throughout several thousand years for this purpose.

In the book The Return of the Serpents of Wisdom, the author interviews a Mandean woman who lives in California. The Mandeans were forced to flee their home in lower Iraq after the Americans removed Saddam Hussein from power. Under his rule there was religious tolerance. Afterwards, the Christian’s and Mandeans were the first to be persecuted by their neighbors. The Mandeans were the ‘Marsh Arabs’ mentioned in an earlier post. This woman said that before they were in Palestine, the Mandean people were in Egypt, but had originally come from Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is said to have been the highest point in Lemuria and has remained above water. So this agrees with the historians Josephus and Philo, quoted previously, who said that the Essenes came from Asia. The lines between Lemuria and Atlantis get a little blurred, because when Lemuria sank first, the Lemurians traveled in all directions, including Atlantis, the Americas, Asia and Africa. Helena Blavatsky made mention of “Lantans of Sri Lanka”, which may signify that some of the Atlantean’s migrated to Sri Lanka too.

This Mandean woman said that before Sri Lanka, the Mandeans came from another planet called Alma Benhura – the world of goodness!  She stated; “The original Mandai came and married women of Earth and taught mankind.” She also said that the Mandeans were part of the Jews until Moses died, and were remains of Sumerians from India and Sri Lanka. She explained that the Aramaic people came to Iraq and mixed with the Sumerians to form the Mandai. This would explain the Aramaic language Jesus and his family spoke.  Nasurai and Mandai both mean ‘knowledge’ – or more likely, ‘Gnosis’.

Lady Ethel Stefana Drower was an author and cultural anthropologist who was an expert on the people of the Middle East. She was considered the primary specialist on the Mandeans and the chief collector of Mandean manuscripts. Mrs. Drower didn’t do research from her home in England, she lived with the Mandeans for an extended period. She wrote that the most enlightened of the Mandeans were the Nasurai/Nazoreans. She said the name Nasurai was related to the word ‘Naas’ and the Hebrew ‘Nahash’, both of which mean ‘serpent’. In the Nazorean Wisdom teachings, their Serpent on the Tree was called Jnana Pandita, which is a name that came with the Mandeans from Sri Lanka. ‘Jnana’ later morphed into ‘John’. Mrs. Drower related that the Mandean/Essenes had the power to heal, walk through fire and raise the dead. One of the Mandeans titles or appellations was Snia d dnia d Ardban, which meant “skilled in religious matters and white magic.”

Lady Drower talked about their spiritual practices which were ‘alchemical’ in nature. This is a subject that I don’t have much understanding of, but I believe it’s all related to the ‘inner technologies’ we humans have that were designed to facilitate consciousness with our higher, i.e. angelic selves. If I am not mistaken, these glands function through hormones and in the ascension process they interact with the Light energy we are absorbing.

To the Mandeans, Jesus was a traitor who gave their secrets to outsiders. They said he didn’t baptize the Mandai but baptized others. They said he wanted to make the Mandai religion easier and made changes to it. Jesus ate with non-Mandai and ate without washing his hands. He also did not forbid some food that the Mandeans were forbidden to eat. The Mandai said Jesus created a new religion. All of this is absolutely true. Just about everyone wanted Jesus dead because he made changes to their religion or were horrified that he wanted to bring their secret traditions to the masses. Jesus made the statement that the priests held the keys to the Kingdom and they did not enter, nor would they let others enter. Jesus died because he wanted everyone to be able to understand the truth about this world and have the chance to fulfill their greatest potential, which is constant consciousness with God. With Jesus ‘Way’ a person could avoid endless incarnations.  He brought a new method called the Gnosis of the Heart. All traditional yogic methods started with the lowest chakra and worked their way up. The problem with these methods was that no one could get past the three lower chakras that have to do with sexuality and basic survival. Jesus method started with the heart chakra. It used the power of love to open that chakra.

During years of my research into our family history, I have on occasion, purchased from yard sales or swap meets religious art that pertain to my research. Most of the time I had no idea they would mean anything to my research, but would come to find out later that they did. One of these is a picture that is probably from the 1930’s. In it, Jesus is standing and holding one hand in what I can only describe as a Freemasons hand sign. His other hand is pointing to his chest where there is a red ‘valentine’ heart. Keep in mind that in the 1930’s, there were very few people outside the Far East who were talking about the heart chakra. In the picture, Jesus gaze is piercing. He is telling me that his ‘Way’ is through the heart, and that awakening the heart chakra is the Way to do it. I have used this picture at the beginning of this post. In the book World Gnosis, the author wrote; “Charity naturally opens the heart, the seat of gnosis, and leads to unconditional love for all life.” He also says; “Teach children they are incarnations of the Infinite Spirit – not sinners, and that to know thy self as I am unlimited, I am Spirit, is the true goal of life.” I couldn’t agree with him more.

According to the website Essene.net, the ancient text the Pistis Sophia is a priest and priestess text that explains the inner-workings of the Nazorean Way. It was written in the Aramaic language that Jesus and his family spoke. Some scholars attribute the text to Valentinus, a gnostic Christian, but I believe the Nazoreans were the source of the text. Valentinus himself may have been a Nazorean. Because it’s a training tool for priests and priestesses, there would be much in it that an uninitiated person wouldn’t understand. This, and all the Nag Hammadi texts and Dead Sea scrolls are available for free online for those interested in reading them. One can also find glossaries of gnostic terms online that are essential to have when going through these texts.

That website also says that Yeshua (Jesus) main work in the material universe is to reveal the Mysteries so that humankind might be saved. Baptism is a part of those Mysteries as is Communion, Confirmation and other rites. The meanings of all these rites have been all but lost.

The author tells us that; “The peoples descended from this original genetic family (Noah’s) inherited a certain degree of gnosis from their forbearers. Over time this evolved into various distinct branches of Gnosis. Some of the more note-worthy being the Gnostic branches of Palestine, the Zurvanite branch of Persia, and the Bonpo Buddhist branch of Central Asia. He goes on to say that by Miryai’s (Mary Magdalene’s) time the three branches were merging so that the Gnosticism of Miryai’s era, “…was a mixture of the indigenous gnosis of Syria mingled with the Magi teachings of the Zurvan-Zarathustrians and the Dzogchen teachings of the Himalayas.” He goes on to say that the Syrian Gnosticism of Miryai’s homeland, “spread eastward and revitalized Central Asian Buddhism.” He calls the Order Miryai belonged to the “Bnei-Aumen Order – was also called the ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ in New Testament writings.”  He describes that order as “the advanced level of the Nazorean Covenant which brought forth the ‘Chosen Ones’ through special pure and undefiled marriages, and is that advanced level of truth which Yeshu and Miryai have again sought to restore to the Earth as a means of bringing in advanced spiritual souls, incarnate angels and apostles, who can again bring peace and purity to the domain of the Earthly Mother.”

He is speaking about us!

The author of The Messianic Legacy  relates the sad truth about our ancestors, the Essenes. That is, they were the true practitioners of the Jewish ‘Old Religion’ and were the originators of Christianity. In a very short time though, the truths of both religions was lost and the people who tried to perpetuate them were shunted aside or hunted and exterminated. Jesus foresaw this happening. He said that in the end, the truth will win out. I believe that day of truth is upon us.

Christians will be familiar with this verse in Mark 3:21 that refers to Jesus; “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, he is out of his mind.” I believe Jesus family said this because he didn’t follow the Essene religion as it came down to him. The point has been made too, that Jesus didn’t pick his disciples from among the Essenes, which is for the most part true – but two of his disciples had been John the Baptist’s disciples and came to Jesus when John died. Also Jesus brothers were his disciples and Essenes as well. The Essenes were extremely strict in their practices. They were supposed to be a people free from the law, but their manner of living showed a self-imposed life under the law. No doubt Jesus found many of their purity rituals to be meaningless.

For whatever reasons, he undoubtedly ruffled Essene feathers. Jesus came to reveal a higher truth than the one taught by the Essenes. He wanted to bring a less strict and ascetic religion because he knew that the practices of the Essenes made the majority of people unwilling to consider them. Jesus wanted to bring about a new world religion. How much simpler of a theology can a religion get than love God – and your neighbor as yourself? Do unto others as you would have them do to you! The author of The Hidden Wisdom – Secrets of the Western Esoteric Tradition speaks on this subject. He cites the “libertarian thrust” of Jesus’ New Covenant as having been the basis for the tension that existed within Jesus’ family. The same tension mentioned in John 2:1-4 and Matthew 12:46-50. He says that it is significant that after Jesus death, the new dynastic “Church of the Circumcision” in Jerusalem, led by Jesus’ family members, “was largely to abandon the more radical features of the New Covenant, returning to the traditional social and cultural mores of the past.” He makes the comment that, “Given the subversive nature of his social agenda, it was not surprising that Jesus was executed as an occult teacher from Egypt.”

The author cites the threat to all power structures found in the social agenda of Jesus as the reason the Romans laid waste the Alexandrian Jewish community in 115-117 C.E. The author wrote; “Nonetheless, in the repudiation of an old order of things, in rejecting social structures and norms central to the pagan culture of the day but now outworn or malign, the early Christian movement would find a powerful formula for world success.” The author wrote that, “The embryo (of Egyptian Christianity) would lie underground and survive for centuries in the hidden occult schools of Christianized Europe, germinate in the Italian Renaissance and the French Revolution, grow mightily in the struggles of the Industrial Age, and come into its own in Freemasonry and the birth of American democracy, flowering finally in a trend toward global democratization.”

The author says that Jesus’ mission was aimed at more than the restoration of the Judaic Mysteries to the Jerusalem temple. He says that the wider aim was to bring them into the public domain, “to “rend the veil” of the Holy of Holies and to bring spiritual knowledge into the world at large, to offer a new path of initiation that would be open to all.” He says that the key to Jesus’ teachings was his new ‘Way of the Spiritual Heart’, “An initiation that was to be potentially available to every man and woman who aspired to it.”

I will close this post with a few good quotes;

“The cross on Golgotha is the Mystery cult of antiquity epitomized in an historical fact.” – Rudolf Stiner

“The great peace of the Essenes teaches man how to go back, how to take the final step that unites him with the cosmic ocean of superior radiations of the whole universe and reach complete union with the Heavenly Father, the totality of all Law, the One Law. This was the ultimate aim of all Essenes and governed their every thought, feeling and action. It is the final aim which all mankind will one day achieve.” – Edmund Szekely

“Christ then, is, primarily, not a person, but a process, a doctrine, a system of life and thought, by the observance of which man becomes purified from matter, and transmuted into Spirit. And he is a Christ who, in virtue of his observance of this process to its utmost extent while yet in the body, constitutes a full manifestation of the qualities of Spirit. Thus manifested, he is said to “destroy the works of the devil”, for he destroys that which gives pre-eminence to matter, and so re-establishes the kingdom of Spirit, that is, of God.” – Anna Bonus Kingsford

“We have to allow now what was previously so clearly evident to no more than a relatively few scholars, that the Messianic concepts to which Jesus and others of his time were responsive were far from being confined to biblical sources. They were being shaped by writings and teachings emanating largely from the Essenes, and widely regarded as inspired. Until it became possible in recent times to be fully aware of this, and to have access to much of the literature, the true story of Christian beginnings could not be ascertained. Our perspectives were incorrect and almost inevitable so were our conclusions. The circumstances have not yet been apprehended by the vast majority of Christians.” – The Essene Odyssey

Someone very insightful posted this on Wikipedia;

“Jesus was sent as the Son of the true God, not of one of the lesser gods. His mission was to show humanity that God resides in every human being, and that salvation lies in connecting with this God within. Through embracing the internal God, human beings can return to the imperishable realm.”

And…just so you Light workers have a reason to smile;

In the Similitudes of Enoch, an Essene text, is written; “And the Lord of Spirits (i.e., God) will abide with them (the Elect) and with that Son of Man will they eat and lie down and rise up for ever and ever. And the righteous and Elect will have risen from the Earth (by resurrection), and have ceased to be of downcast countenance, and will have been clothed with robes of glory. And these shall be your garments, garments of life before the Lord of Spirits; and your garments shall not grow old and your glory shall not pass away before the Lord of Spirits.”