49. The Fifth Degree of Initiation

©2001 Athene Bitting All Rights Reserved

XLIX

The Fifth Degree of Initiation:

From Adept to Master

Lecture based Questions:

1. Draw or describe one of your helpers.

This might be an appropriate moment to think about a Master who has improved the quality of your life with gifts of wisdom.

2. Which episodes of Jesus’ life represents this initiation?

The Resurrection illustrates the skill needed to experience the Fifth Degree of Initiation. The Initiate has learned how to control the powers of life and death in the physical dimension. This seems magical or miraculous to us, but it is really about knowledge, good judgment, and discipline of mind. So, during the initiation, the body dies and remains so for three days. Then the body comes back to life and the 5DI continues the incarnation for an apparently normal lifespan.

Many people have done this in historical and metaphorical accounts. We have two very early “myths” just after the Ice Age.

•Gilgamesh goes to the Underworld to speak with Utanapishtim (Noah) about the meaning of life.

•Inanna hangs for three days on a hook as a corpse in her sister Ereshkigal's underworld kingdom; her son rescues her.

You can check out the 3 Pure Ones and the 8 Chinese Immortals, too.

3. What is the most dramatic change that takes place during this initiation?

The Mental Body dies amid much celebration. After this, the sixth dimension becomes home turf—the world of the Soul Body. It’s a great place to hang out in. There is no negativity whatsoever. There is only good vibrations and beautiful things. It’s like having Christmas (the way it ought to feel) every day.

4. What are the keys of accomplishment that must be gathered for the Fifth Degree of Initiation to take place?

-Mastery over all the arts, sciences, skills, and disciplines.

-Understanding the forces of physical life and death.

-Acquisition of all the virtues.

-Successfully bringing many protogeés to 4DI.

-Well-developed awareness of how events react to actions.

5. How can we recognize a Fifth Degree Initiate?

When one addresses you, it is like having your favorite uncle or aunt giving you a big hug. They give you a sense of security, safety, dependability, logic, and authority.

To meet one is to be permanently changed.

6. What is required of a Fifth Degree Initiate?

It takes as much effort, energy, and experience to move through the 4DI to the 5DI as it did from the very beginning to the 4DI. So you can see that it is a wonderful time of quality learning and spiritual development.

The personal power points required for this initiation are immense compared to what most of us have collected in our positions. To reiterate from lesson 36 on Personal Power, we can view the comparative amount of points like this. A 1DI (metaphorically) needs 1,000 PP; a 2DI needs 250,000 PP; a 3DI needs 1,500,000 PP a 4DI needs 500,000,000 PP, a 5DI needs 150,000,000,000 PP. That’s a lot of wisdom and experience.

More importantly, there is no more temptation to be stupid, meddling, or selfish. There have been so many incarnations and lessons learned already that the truth is clear and the correct way is always apparent.

The Soul Mate of the Initiate is required to be at an equal level of development for this change. One may not take the passage without the other. If one half of the couple is less developed, then it becomes the work of the more mature partner to help the other complete all the spiritual work for joint Initiation.

7. Meditation Exercise: Divine Nourishment/Energy Breathing

Whenever asked, the flows and currents of endless energy and rejuvenation are at hand. There is no need to be tired or vulnerable to negative energy. Following is one technique that you may use to establish a strong connection with the Infinite Source of Life.

• Cleanse and harmonize the chakras.

• Envision the world around you immersed in Golden Light that activates all the life forms and physical organisms in every dimension.

• Turn your mind to yourself in your body. Be aware of the breath flowing in and out of you. As you breathe in, observe the tiny cells in all areas of your body becoming excited and stimulated.

• Now, envision yourself immersed in an ocean of Golden Light. As you breathe in, Golden Light enters your body through your lungs and also through all your chakras and your hands and feet. Every time you breathe in, your body absorbs more Golden Light until you are entirely golden. Keep breathing. It may help to say, “I am Golden” or “Golden Light.”

• If your shadow tries to distract you by injecting other thoughts into your mind, do not berate yourself. Simply turn your mind back to breathing in the Golden Light and feeling the energizing effects of this blessing. This is an advanced exercise which requires focus and determination. Your shadow will resist it. Do not resist the shadow but persist in the exercise.

• Envision your Astral Body immersed in this Light and becoming golden.

• Envision your Mental Body immersed in this Light and becoming golden. Your higher bodies may respond faster than the physical body.

• Give thanks to the Divine Creator for this endless supply of life.

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When the Light Becomes Home

All children are designed to reach adulthood. Now we find in the physical example the inexorable truth of the Soul. The first four Initiations were preparation for the fifth, which indicates spiritual autonomy and responsibility. One could liken this Initiation to high school graduation. The exams are passed, the dances are danced, and the time has come to join the work force. One is expected to earn one’s own livelihood and to establish a social and family milieu. The greatest impression that a younger soul receives when encountering a Master is not just authority, but ease in all skills and wisdoms.

What brings us to this juncture? The 4DI begins a series of adventures in the meaning of perfection. Before the 5DI can be attained, every art and science must be learned and mastered. The strengths and virtues of all the Seven Rays must be acquired. Creative expression becomes a natural component to the individuality. The powers over life and death become personal knowledge.

A 4DI begins this road by training to master the states of the physical body. She or he may already have studied this type of training to a certain extent, but now it is required to gain control over the microscopic life within each cell of the body and to understand the spiritual and physical regulators that create health in all systems and organs. The higher yogas teach most of these disciplines, as do some secret schools of martial training. By the time that the 4DI has finished this phase of wisdom, he or she will know the meaning of perfect health and seemingly perpetual youth.

The next segment of learning treads the paths of science and art. These are disciplines of creative energy and eventually become acknowledged as such. The Adept learns how to use these skills as tools in the work of creating from the universal fabric.

The virtues comprise the next area of study and mastery. Everyone that we have ever loved gives us something valuable in the course of our many lifetimes. At the point of the 5DI, we have become a conglomerate of all the best qualities of all the souls that have touched us. Each of us becomes a unique blend of strength and beauty and wisdom that we owe to all these people—our friends and loved ones. Our receptive feelings for these people created the opportunity for our virtuous development. Attributes of goodness are more than the building blocks of character. They are reservoirs of personal power, and serve to both store and generate this spiritual wealth. We cannot progress without them and we come to learn the mystical nature of their true meaning.

Perfect balance in The Gifts takes up the remaining sequence of lessons. Each of the Seven Rays holds a key to the castle of mastery. The Adept must give service to each Ray in a series of careers that both teach the Adept the final stages of mastering each quality.

Literal resurrection from physical death marks the completion of the Adept’s training and brings her or him into the fold of The Perfected Ones. Many religions have been founded on the act of physical reanimation. Kronos, Zeus, Inanna, Uhura Mazda, Gilgamesh, Isis, Serapis, Eleusinia, Samothracius, Korn, Stella Maris, Attis, Sabazios, Adonis, Atargatis, Quetzalcoatl, Orpheus, Hercules, Mithras, and Jesus of Nazareth are a few of the people recorded in myth and history who have succeeded in this step (Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language, 2 ed., unabridged, 1952 Springfield, MA., p. 1621, mystery:6). The rest have done it more privately. This is a bit like the final exam. The Adept demonstrates the knowledge and ability to transcend the limitations of physical illusion. This physical phenomenon is characterized by a physical cessation of life for three days and then a revival of the body without medical aids.

Between the physical death and the physical resurrection comes the Mantle of Mastery. The Soul Body blooms like a flower. The Fifth Degree of Initiation is still such a rare event that some dignitaries of the solar system actually come to attend the celebration. A festival on the sixth dimension is a breathtakingly beautiful occasion of color, music, gaiety, and camaraderie. All members of our planetary Hierarchy are present at a 5DI.

This marks the death of the Mental Body. All one’s friends at the fifth dimension congregate and celebrate the graduation. They all know that the separation is short lived, for a Master can communicate with anyone at any time in a very intimate and emotionally satisfying manner. The power generated by the burst of initiatory energy dissolves the Mental Body in a beautiful display of Light and Music.

After the initiation is complete, the new Master manifests new Mental and Astral Bodies for the resurrection to come. The physical body is regenerated and reanimated. One continues in the physical incarnation, albeit in a very changed mode.

Throughout the (sometimes thousands) lifetimes that we traverse to achieve the Fifth Degree of Initiation, we accumulate an impressive cadre of friendships and loved ones. Each of us who has achieved the Fifth Level can gratefully lay claim to a large army of helpers and loving connections. You can imagine that these range in spiritual development from the great Lords to some of the youngest souls just learning to walk on moral ground.

It is this massive network of souls that creates the labor and the direction for the next program of spiritual enhancement. The new Master fulfills several functions while in physical incarnation.

• A physical grounding point of Light.

• An instructor of the schools in the higher Mental Realms.

• Private tutor to those ready for revelation (usually on the 5th dimension).

• Coach to those who are receptive to serving a mission.

• Clan leader to a group of undifferentiated Souls (those who have yet to take the 1DI).

Many 5DIs are assigned geographic areas to supervise. In this capacity, they generate thought forms that stimulate the residents of the location to certain directions of development. Senior Masters are assigned more advanced and complicated tasks and jobs. These would include Annual Master of one of the Seven Rays, Master of a political government, Master of an ethnic people, and Master of Innovative Sciences. These are all rotating offices and are traded throughout the brotherhood with relative frequency.

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May the deep peace of endless life be with you as you wake and dream.