Ring of the Nibelungen Explained, a

Free Online Course

Discover the meaning of the

esoteric mysteries and spiritual symbols hidden in The Ring
of the Nibelungen, the famous set of operas by Richard
Wagner, based on the Nordic mythology.

“It is evident by all means and with complete meridian clarity

that Wagner was a great Initiate [of the secret knowledge],
an insightful esotericist, an authentic Illuminated One… [...] It
seems that he had scrutinized very ancient religious
scriptures…” - Samael Aun Weor, Parsifal Unveiled

We strongly recommend that you watch the entire Ring

cycle before you study this course, and do your best to see
one that is authentic to Wagner’s directions. There are
regular performances all around the world, and seeing these
operas live is a special experience to have in life. If this is not
possible for you, there are numerous recordings available on
DVD that you can purchase or rent, or even borrow from a
local library.

This course was originally given live and unscripted on

Gnostic Radio.
 1.

Away down in the translucent depths of the Rhine, three beautiful

nymphs, Woglinde, Wellgunde, and Flosshilde, daughters of the river-god,
dart in and out among the jagged rocks. They have been stationed there
to guard the Rhinegold, the priceless treasure of the deep, whence comes
all the warm golden light which illumines the utmost recesses of their dark
and damp abode.

The nymphs suddenly pause in their merry game, for the wily
dwarf Alberich has emerged from one of the sombre chasms.
He is a Nibelung, a spirit of night and darkness, and slowly
gropes his way to one of the upper ridges, whence he can see
the graceful forms of the nymphs, watch their merry
evolutions, and overhear them repeatedly admonish each
other to keep watch over the gleaming treasure, which their
father, the Rhinegod, has intrusted to their keeping, warning
them that just such a dark and misshapen creature as the
dwarf would try to wrest it from their grasp:--

   'Guard the gold!

    Father said
    That such was the foe.'

But all Alberich's senses are fascinated by the water-

nymphs' beauty, and he soon falls madly in love with them, and makes
almost superhuman efforts to overtake the mocking fair. Hotly he pursues
them from ridge to ridge, yielding to the blandishments of one after
another, and is beside himself with rage as they deftly escape from his
clasp just as he fancies he has at last caught them. The fair nymphs, who
know they have nothing to fear from so infatuated a lover, swim hither and
thither, tantalising him by their nearness, and lure him up and down the
rocky river-bed.

They have just exhausted his patience, and driven him wild with impotent
rage, when the green waters are suddenly illumined by the
phosphorescent glow of the Rhinegold, the treasure whose presence they
hail with a rapturous outburst of song, and whose secret power they
extol:--
   'The realm of the world
    By him shall be won
    Who from the Rhinegold
    Hath wrought the ring
    Imparting measureless power.'[2]

The dwarf, attracted by the brilliant light, hears their words at first without
paying any attention to them; but when they repeat that he who is willing
to forego love can fashion a ring from this gold which will make him
master of all the world, he starts with surprise. Fascinated at last by the
glow of the treasure, and forgetting all thoughts of love in greed, he
suddenly grasps the carelessly guarded gold and plunges with it down into
the depths, leaving the three nymphs to bewail its loss in utter darkness.

Little by little the gloom lightens, however, and instead of the river bed the
scene represents the green valley through which the Rhine is flowing. In
the gray dawn one can descry the high hills on either side, and as the light
increases Wotan and Fricka, the principal deities of Northern mythology,
are seen lying on the flowery slopes.

As they gently awaken from their peaceful slumbers, the morning mists
entirely disappear, revealing in the background the fairy-like beauty of a
wondrous palace which has just been completed for their abode. This sight
startles Fricka, for she knows that the assembled gods have promised that
Fasolt and Fafnir, the gigantic builders, should have sun and moon and the
fair Freya as fee. To lose the bright luminaries of the world were bad
enough, but Fricka's dismay is still greater at the prospect of parting
forever with the fair goddess of beauty and youth. In her sorrow she
bitterly regrets that the promise has been made and rendered inviolable
by being inscribed on her husband's spear, and reproves him for the joy he
shows in viewing the completion of his future abode:--

   'In delight thou revel'st

    When I am alarmed?
    Thou 'rt glad of the fortress,
    For Freya I fear.
    Bethink thee, thou thoughtless god,
    Of the guerdon now to be given!
    The castle is finished,
    And forfeit the pledge.
    Forgettest thou what is engaged?'

Thus suddenly brought to his senses, Wotan, king of the Northern gods,
protests that he never really intended to part with the beauty, light, and
sweetness of life, and seeks to excuse himself by urging that Loge, the
god of fire and the arch-deceiver, overpersuaded him by promising to find
some way of escape from the fatal bargain:--

   'He whom I hearkened to swore

    To find a safety for Freya;
    On him my hope have I set.'

They are still discussing the matter, and eagerly wondering why Loge does
not appear, when Freya comes rushing wildly upon the stage, with fear-
blanched face and trembling limbs, breathlessly imploring the father of the
gods to save her from the two huge giants in close pursuit. In her terror
she also summons her devoted brothers, Donner and Fro. But, in spite of
the strength of these potent gods of the sunshine and thunder, the giants
boldly advance, boasting aloud of their achievement, and demanding the
fulfilment of the stipulated contract.

The gods are almost at their wits' end with anxiety, when Loge, god of fire,
appears. They loudly clamour to him to keep his word and release them
from the consequences of their rash bargain. In reply to this summons,
Loge declares he has wandered everywhere in search of something more
precious than youth and love, and that he has utterly failed to find it. No
one, he says, is ready to relinquish these blessed gifts,--no one except
Alberich, who has bartered love for the gleaming treasure which he has
just stolen from the Rhine nymphs. Loge concludes his speech by
delivering to Wotan an imploring message from the defrauded maidens,
who summon him to avenge their wrongs and help them to recover the
stolen gold. The description of the gleaming treasure, of the power of the
ring which Alberich has fashioned out of it, and especially of the immense
hoard which he has amassed by the unlimited sway which the ring enables
him to wield over all the underground folk, has so greatly fascinated the
giants, that, after a few moments' consultation, they step forward, offering
to relinquish all claim to the previously promised reward, providing the
hoard is theirs ere nightfall. This said, they bear the shrieking and
reluctant Freya away as a hostage, and vanish in the distance.

As they depart, the light suddenly grows wan and dim. The goddess who
has just departed is the dispenser of the golden apples of perennial youth
according to Wagner, and, as she vanishes, the gods, deprived of the
substance which keeps them ever young, suddenly lose all their vigour
and bloom, and grow visibly old and gray, to their openly expressed
dismay:--

   'Without the apples,

    Old and hoar--
    Hoarse and helpless--
    Worth not a dread to the world,
    The dying gods must grow.'

This sudden change, especially in his beloved wife Fricka, determines

Wotan to secure the gold at any price, and he bids Loge lead the way to
Alberich's realm, following him bravely down through a deep cleft in the
rock, whence rises a dense mist, which soon blots the whole scene from
view.

In the mean while, the dwarf Alberich has conveyed the gleaming
Rhinegold to his underground dwelling, where, mindful of the nymphs'
words, he has forced his brother and slave, the smith Mime, to fashion a
ring. No sooner has Alberich put on this trinket than he finds himself
endowed with unlimited power, which he uses to oppress all his race, and
to pile up a mighty hoard, for the greed of gold has now filled all his
thoughts. Fearful lest any one should wrest the precious ring from him, he
next directs Mime to make a helmet of gold, the magic tarn-helm, which
will render the wearer invisible. Mime is at work at his underground forge,
and has just finished the helmet which he intends to appropriate to his
own use to escape thraldom, when Alberich suddenly appears, snatches it
from his trembling hand, and, placing it upon his head, becomes invisible
to all. The malicious dwarf misuses this power to torture Mime with his
whip, and rushes off to lash the dwarfs in the rear of the cave as Wotan
and Loge suddenly appear. Of course their first impulse is to inquire the
cause of Mime's writhing and bitter cries, and from him they hear how
Alberich has become lord of the Nibelungs by the might of his ring and
magic helmet. In corroboration of this statement, the gods soon behold a
long train of dwarfs toiling across the cave, bending beneath their burdens
of gold and precious stones, and driven incessantly onward by Alberich's
whip, which he plies with merciless vigour. He is visible now, for he has
hung the magic helmet to his belt; but he no sooner becomes aware of the
gods' presence than he strides up to them, and haughtily demands their
name and business. Disarmed a little by Wotan's answer, that they have
heard of his new might and have come to ascertain whether the accounts
were true, Alberich boasts of his power to compel all to bow before his will,
and says he can even change his form, thanks to his magic helmet. At
Loge's urgent request, the dwarf then gives them an exhibition of his
power by changing himself first into a huge loathsome dragon, and next
into a repulsive toad. While in this shape he is made captive by the gods,
deprived of his tarn-helm, and compelled to surrender his hoard as the
price of his liberty. Before departing, Wotan even wrests from his grasp
the golden ring, to which he desperately clings, for he knows that as long
as it remains in his possession he will have the power to collect more gold.
In his rage at being deprived of it, Alberich hurls his curse after the gods,
declaring the ring will ever bring death and destruction to the possessor:--

   'As by curse I found it first,

    A curse rest on the ring!
    Gave its gold
    To me measureless might,
    Now deal its wonder
    Death where it is worn!'
 This curse uttered, he disappears, and
while mist invades the place the scene changes, and Loge and Wotan
stand once more on the grassy slopes, where Fricka, Donner, and Fro
hasten to welcome them, and to inquire concerning the success of their
enterprise. Almost at the same moment, the giants Fasolt and Fafnir also
appear, leading Freya, whom Fricka would fain embrace, but who is
withheld from her longing arms. The grim giants vow that no one shall
even touch their fair captive until they have received a pile of gold as high
as their staffs, which they drive into the ground, and wide enough to
screen the goddess entirely. Thus admonished, Loge and Fro pile up the
gleaming treasure, which is surmounted by the glittering helmet, whose
power the giants do not know. Freya is entirely hidden, and only a chink
remains through which the giants can catch a glimpse of her golden hair.
They insist upon having this chink closed up ere they will relinquish Freya,
so Wotan is forced to give up the magic ring. But he draws it from his
finger only when Erda, the shadowy earth goddess, half rises out of the
ground to command the sacrifice of the treasure which Alberich stole from
the Rhine maidens.
As the stipulated ransom has all been paid, the giants release Freya. She
joyfully embraces her kin, and under her caresses they recover all their
former youth and bloom. In the mean while the giants produce their bags,
but soon begin quarrelling together about the division of the hoard, and
appeal to the gods to decide their dispute. The gods are all too busy to
pay any heed to this request, all except the malicious Loge, who slyly
advises Fafnir to seize the ring and pay no heed to the rest. As the ring is
accursed, Fafnir remorselessly slays his brother to obtain it; then, packing
up all the treasure in his great bag, he triumphantly departs. To disperse
the shadow hovering over Wotan's brow ever since he has been obliged to
sacrifice the ring, Thor now beats the rocks with his magic hammer, and
conjures a brief storm. The long roll of thunder soon dies away, and when
the fitful play of the lightning is ended Thor shows the assembled gods a
glittering rainbow bridge of quivering, changing hues, which stretches
from the valley where they are standing to the beautiful portals of the
wondrous palace Walhalla, the home of the gods!

Fascinated by this sight, Wotan invites the gods to follow him over its
lightly swung arch, and as they trip over the rainbow bridge, the lament of
the Rhine-maidens mourning their treasure falls in slow, pitiful cadences
upon their ears:--

   'Rhinegold!
    Purest gold!
    O would that thy light
    Waved in the waters below!
    Unfailing faith
    Is found in the deep,
    While above, in delight,
    Faintness and falsehood abide!'

2.
Scene 1
The Ring of the Nibelungen is a very famous opera, composed by
Richard Wagner in the mid-to-late nineteenth century. This opera actually
consists of four operas in one, so it is a tetralogy or a story with four major
parts.

This first opera, which we just heard a synopsis of, is called Das
Rheingold. And of course the story, as you heard, is about the Rhinegold.
The Rhine is a river in Germany. When Wagner was compiling the
European mythology in order to construct his mythical vision, he placed
the gold in the Rhine itself, in this famous river, to emphasize the
Germanic roots of the myth.

This story of the Rhinegold is a prologue or a preface; it is the

introduction to the main story. Das Rheingold is the archaic past upon
which the remaining three operas are founded. So it is important for the
audience of Das Rheingold to understand the point of the opera and to
understand the conflicts that are expressed in it. It is these conflicts,
related to Alberich and the Rhinegold and the Gods, that play out over the
course of the remaining three operas.

Of course, The Ring of the Nibelungen is a very famous opera, famous

mostly because of its psychological impact. When Wagner wrote and
prepared this opera he revolutionized drama, music, theater. All these
aspects of creative endeavor changed because of this opera, and people
of the age in which he wrote it were strongly polarized, either for and
against; Wagner was on everyone's lips. In fact, it is related that Karl Marx
complained about this. Marx said, “It is so tiresome that wherever you go,
people always ask you what you think of Wagner.” It is hard for us in this
time to really understand the impact that the operas had, because so
much of what is common now in our music and in our entertainment, in
theater, in movies, is actually based upon the revolution incited by
Wagner. But that is not the intention of these lectures. What we propose
to investigate is the actual meaning of these stories, the actual content.
What inspired them? What are they actually communicating?

I can tell you at the very beginning that as much as we try in this
course to investigate and express the mystical significance of this story
and its elements, we will only be able to penetrate into a very superficial
level. Partly, I can tell you with complete sincerity, that it is due to my own
shortcomings and the limitations of any of us who try to enter into the
study of this type of material. This series of operas illuminates the path to
become a complete Human Being, and that path is organized in levels,
and each of us will comprehend this work in accordance to our level. This
means that as you go deeper in your own psychological work, you can go
deeper into the meanings of this opera. Samael Aun Weor was amazed by
this opera and he stated that it is a great mystery how Wagner was able to
write this colossal work and illuminate very profound aspects of Kabbalah,
of Alchemy, of all the esoteric path, and yet he left no trace as to how he
knew it. And the more you understand about Kabbalah and Alchemy, the
more you will understand about this opera, because it is a work of
Alchemy, it is a work of Kabbalah.

To understand that, the very outset, it is good for us to realize that the
European mythologies, which we call Nordic or Germanic, are very ancient.
We have this idea in Western culture that Greek mythology is the oldest,
but it is not. The Nordic mythology has ancient roots as well. And of
course, the Nordic and the Greek come from the same essential
source: Gnosis itself. This is the purpose of our studies, and this is why we
always emphasize the universal nature of mythology, and we try to
illuminate each mythological story by relating it to other myths, so that we
can grasp the universality of the wisdom that each of us needs.

In the heart of Nordic or Germanic mythology is a great tree. This is

called the World Tree, Yggdrasil. The name Yggdrasil actually means
”terrifying steed,” and it is said to be the horse of Odin, the father of the
Gods. If it is a tree and it is a horse, it is then a vehicle of life, it is the Tree
of Life. In Nordic Mythology we know that Yggdrasil supports existence
itself, it supports the nine worlds, as you find in the Eddas, that ancient
Bible of the Germans and the Nordic races.

Yggdrasil is roughly divided into three major sections, so if we were to

draw a tree with its roots and then the branches at the top, but around the
center of the tree we were to draw a circle, a ring floating at the center,
the bottommost part where the roots are would obviously be the inferior
worlds, the submerged worlds, which have different aspects, and that is
why in the Nordic mythology we understand that these inferior worlds are
divided into three. In Gnosis we know that these are the inferior aspect,
the physical aspect and the superior aspect. So in the center of our Earth
we have the physical part, but we also have an inferior dimension there,
and a superior dimension there. The inferior dimension is obviously Hell, it
is Dante's Inferno, which he explained very well. But there is also a
superior part in the center of the Earth, related to Heaven, and it is related
to the Heaven of this Earth, and there are temples there and angels,
divinities which guide the evolution of this planet. So these three aspects,
or three worlds, are related to the bottommost part of the tree, and these
are the first three of the nine Nordic worlds.

In the center part, that plane which hangs in the middle of the tree, we
have three more worlds, and again we have these aspects: inferior,
physical and superior. In this middle realm we have what is commonly
called Midgard, and this is the world of the humans. Midgard actually does
not appear in this first opera. The opera Das Rheingold begins in the first
scene in the submerged worlds, in the lower part of the tree.

The upper section obviously would be Heaven, which has three aspects.

So you see here nine worlds suspended on the Tree of Life.

This is obviously the same Tree of Life which appears in the book of
Genesis, and as you know, Genesis has at its root this little phrase ”gen”
which is related to generate, which is creation, the beginning. Das
Rheingold begins in the waters.

In the very first moments of the opera, with beautiful music playing, the
audience is imagining the beginnings of creation in nature, and that
creation of course happens in the waters, the womb of the Divine Mother.
And as the opera opens and the music is playing, we descend. This is
Wagner's instruction, and the audience is imagining descending into the
bottom of the river Rhine, which are these lower waters. So here we see in
the very opening moments of Das Rheingold two bodies of water; superior
and inferior or upper and lower. If you have studied Gnosis for some time
you will immediately see that this relates to, obviously, the river Nile,
when the waters are separated. Or the waters of creation in the book of
Genesis, when the Spirit of God divides the waters. And these waters
relate to Daath, the Tree of Knowledge. So here we see two essential trees
for us to understand and keep in mind, because they play significantly in
this opera: the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge.

The Tree of Life is Kabbalah; this is a map of the psyche itself, and
truly, the entire series of operas of The Ring of the Nibelungen is an
explanation of our psychological situation. It is actually a history, but it is a
history that is happening now, and it is a history that will repeat in the
future. It is a story that is eternal and universal, which is precisely why it is
considered Gnostic. Gnosis is a universal wisdom and relates to all people
from all times, but according to their level.

We as a humanity have our psychological level which you can witness

just by looking at the products of this culture, by looking at the way we all
relate to one another, looking at the structures of our society, you can see
the level of our culture, of our world. But the wisdom itself is eternal, the
beauty of that symbol, eternal wisdom, is immediately also in the
beginning of this opera, by the three Rhine-maidens.

Rhine-maidens of course are nymphs or mermaids, feminine elemental

forces which live in the waters of the Rhine. In Nordic mythology, these are
the Norns. They are three maidens who are responsible for the Fate of
everyone. Even the Gods have no power over them. These three are
simply past, present and future. So the three Rhine-maidens, these three
elemental intelligences, are here in the waters guarding the Rhinegold.
Being feminine, they represent the power of the Divine Mother. The Divine
Mother has a womb, a chaos, a great ocean, which is called Prakriti in
Hinduism, and within that womb creation is gestated and gives birth, and
the gold is the source of that. But the student who is trying to understand
the meaning of these operas should pay close attention to the fact that
the opera begins in the water, and it begins with the responsibility of these
three Rhine-maidens, for they are to guard the gold.

Now as you see in the first scene, Alberich comes, and he is a troll or a
gnome or a creature of the underworld who is driven by passion, and he
wants the gold. The Rhine-maidens of course tease him, and this is a
symbol of our own ego which wants to take power, which because of
its lust, its passion, its desire, wants to take from the Divine Mother, wants
to steal this divine gold. And of course, these divine women do not think
that is possible. They believe that no one is capable of stealing the gold.

It is good for us to pause for a moment and consider carefully the

nature of these three Rhine-maidens. In Greek mythology you have heard
about the Fates, three women who have a similar appearance as the three
in the Nordic mythology, these three Rhine-maidens. In Greek Mythology
one is a spinster, who is spinning twine, rope. The second one is
measuring the length of that twine, and the third one cuts it at just the
right length. Here you see past, present and future in the Greek myth, and
this twine represents the life of the person, the life of an individual. So
these three women, these three symbols, measure each person's
existence, and what is that measurement done by? With Karma.

Now you see in Das Rheingold that these three Rhine-maidens are
operating under the command of their Father, but he is not named,
because as you know from Kabbalah, He has no name. And what is
interesting is that not even the Gods can influence the Rhine-maidens.
They have power over the Gods, and this demonstrates something very
subtle for the Western mind. We have this unfortunate characteristic in our
personality, in our upbringing: we think that God is beyond the law. This is
one of the most beautiful things about this opera, as it demonstrates very
explicitly that God is not beyond the law, even God has to respect the law.
Karma is eternal, Karma is the basis for existence and even the Gods are
subject to Karma. The moment when you step outside the boundary that
Karma manages is the moment you step out of the universe, out of
manifestation altogether, otherwise Karma is always there. This is a very
deep symbol in Das Rheingold, represented by these three Rhine-maidens.

So we know that Alberich comes and wants the gold. First of all, he
sees the Rhine-maidens and he wants them, but the Rhine-maidens tease
him and make fun of him. What is subtle here and good to look at is that
Alberich tries to seduce each of the Rhine-maidens, and he fails each time.
So this is a symbol of how our own egotistical mind believes that it can
outwit Karma, and it can outwit the progression of our own development:
past, present and future. We think we are more intelligent or more clever
than the law itself, and we are driven by lust. Lust in its base is a craving
for sensation, for a feeling of self. And as you know, as we have discussed
in these lectures many times, the idea of self, the sensation of self is false.
In the ultimate sense, there is no self-nature. Self-nature is relative to our
level, this is also beautifully represented throughout this opera, which we
will discover as we proceed through the story. But Alberich of course,
driven by desire, thinks he can outsmart these Fates, the Rhine-maidens,
and of course he fails. But in his failure, rather than recognizing his own
idiocy he becomes enraged against the Rhine-maidens, and when he
hears that the gold can confer power, he wants it.

Now, in the stage directions for this opera, Wagner was very specific
about how this scene should be represented on stage, and there is a
reason. He said that, of course the Rhine-maidens are floating in the
waters of the Rhine, but the stage should be organized in such a way that
the bottom is the bottom of the river, and there is a great prominent rock
which shoots up from the base of the river, and it is like a tower, and at
the very top of this tower is the gold. Now what else could this symbolize
but a phallus? What else is submerged in the waters of the Divine Mother
in order to begin creation but the phallus of the Divine Father? This is the
beautiful and subtle symbol present in Wagner's stage direction, that,
submerged in the waters of existence, penetrating the womb of the Divine
Mother, is the phallic force of the Father who commands the Rhine-
maidens to protect the gold and to keep it safe. Naturally, that gold is
spiritual: that gold is the source of power for all creatures, and that is why
the Divine Father has commanded it to be protected and held safe here in
the waters of creation, the waters of Genesis.

Also in the stage direction, in this moment where the conflict is

unfolding between the Rhine-maidens and Alberich, Wagner says a ray of
light penetrates into the depths and the gold is illuminated, and the Rhine-
maidens are so overwhelmed with the beauty of this moment that they
forget Alberich. The Sun is the Christ, the Sun is the Solar Logos, the
universal Cosmic Christ who is present in all religions. He is the God of
Light, and as this light illuminates the gold, the Rhine-maidens begin to
sing in ecstasy, an ecstasy of the soul, because of the beauty of the light
illuminating the gold in the water. Alberich sees it too, and becomes
inflamed with desire to have it, to steal the gold. And of course, he does.
But he has to do this in a very particular way; he rushes up the rock and at
the point of stealing the gold he renounces love: in other words, he
renounces the consciousness, he renounces his own inner divinity,
because God is love. Christ is love, and when we renounce that within
ourselves, as a psyche, as a soul, we become like Alberich, a toad, an
abysmal creature consumed with desire, lost in the underworld, in the
darkness, consumed with the greed and lust for power and sensation.

Alberich steals the gold and makes a proclamation that he renounces

love and will have the gold in order to have his satisfaction, and from this
gold he plans to forge a ring, upon which the entire opera is based.

Scene 2
Another aspect of the Nordic mythology which is important to
understand is that God is not seen as a bearded old man on a throne by
himself. Like most world religions or world traditions, God is a multiplicity,
God is diversity, and in that diversity is the unity. Of course, in Gnosis we
study the Army of the Word, the Army of the Voice, and this is a way of
understanding that both the monotheistic view of religion as God being
one, and the polytheistic view of God being many, are actually one and the
same. A way to understand that would be by looking at a tree: what we
call a tree actually in itself does not exist. A tree is a compound of many
parts: leaves, branches, and all the different chemicals and elements that
make up the tree. God is the same. God as an entity, as a singular force, is
made up of many parts, and this is why the Bible describes the body of
Christ is the church, because the body itself is made up of many parts like
our own physical body, and so is Christ. Christ is an energy, Christ is a
force, and God is that.

In Gnosis, we describe the Trinity, this first triangle on the top of

the Kabbalah, the Tree of Life, and this Trinity is a three-in-one, it is a tri-
unity. It is actually one force or one energy, which is Christ itself, but that
force expresses in different ways depending on the need, depending on
the circumstance, in the same way that your body will work in different
ways, but it is the same body. You use your hand when you need your
hand, you use your foot when you need your foot, but it is still you, it is
still that physical body doing it. God is the same.

Wotan or Odin is the first sphere on the Tree of Life, what in Hebrew is
called Kether, and in Christianity we call him the Father. And he of course
is related to Jupiter or Zeus, the Father of all the Gods. Wotan has a very
rich mythological and symbolic background, and in the story of The Ring of
the Nibelungen he is one of our central characters, and he is of course
God, but he is God in his level, he is God as Kether, as the Crown, as the
Father who is responsible for guiding the development of all of those who
are in his domain. His domain is the Tree of Life itself, all of the spheres
which rest below Kether, and he manages them with the assistance, with
the help of his many parts, which are the other Gods. This is why
sometimes when we read mythologies we become confused that one God
is married to multiple wives or one Goddess has multiple husbands; this is
symbolic of the integrated nature of God and can be understood best
through meditation.

Scene Two opens with Wotan and his wife Fricka. Fricka is his feminine
aspect. Wotan is dreaming, he is asleep. As you know when you study
Hinduism, we also hear about the Gods who sleep and dream. But when
Fricka awakens him, she says, ”You should come and see the fortress that
has been built for you by the Giants.” This fortress is called Valhall, or we
call it Valhalla, and that name means simply the House of the Warrior, or
the warriors. Wotan hired the Giants to build it for him as a place for him
to consolidate his efforts to maintain safety and security for everyone who
is in his domain. Valhalla then, this Hall of the Warrior, is the Tree of Life
itself, the aspects below Wotan, Kether. It is called the celestial Jerusalem
in the Bible; it is the soul. It is the structure which God needs in order for
his cause to be advanced, and his cause is self-knowledge, to know
himself, in order for the God himself to advance in his own objective
reasoning.

Wotan has one eye; he wears a patch because one of his eyes is gone.
In this opera, Wagner explains this through a dialogue between Fricka and
Wotan. Fricka is concerned that Wotan wanders too much (he is known as
the Wanderer) and as she is the Goddess of fidelity and marriage, she
wants to be nestled in a safe home. Wotan always wants to be out, the
hunter, the wanderer. So she was supporting the idea of building Valhalla
as an idea, a way, of keeping her husband home. So you see a beautiful
conflict between Wotan and Fricka which relates well to man and woman,
and what resolves this between them is the arrival of Freia.

Freia is Fricka's sister, and Freia is the Goddess of Love, so this conflict,
or this push-pull, plus and minus between the Divine Father and the Divine
Mother is equilibrated with the force of love. So right here you see a
beautiful symbol of the three forces which are required for any form of
creation. Wotan is the positive, projective, masculine energy; Fricka is the
receptive, passive, feminine energy; and Freia is the force that causes
them to bind, to unify and to create.

Freia is the Goddess of Love, of harmony, of balance. Freia's job in the

mythology is that she is the one who provides strength to the Gods, she
provides them with their vitality. And how does she do that? With golden
apples. Now there is something very interesting here: if we remember in
the first scene, we have the three Rhine-maidens protecting the gold in
the waters. Part of the job of those Rhine-maidens - which is not in the
opera, but it is in the mythology - is that they feed the Tree of Life itself,
they feed Yggdrasil. So in the very bottom of the Tree of Life we have the
inferior worlds down below, the lower worlds, and at the root we have of
course the three aspects of those inferior worlds, and in the middle part
we have three aspects, and in the upper part we have three aspects. But
in each one there is a well of water. A spring in other words, and this is the
water that sustains the tree. Without the water from the Rhine-maidens,
the water that has the gold in it, the tree will fall apart, it will die. And that
tree is the universe, that tree is our own soul, it is our own psyche. Freia
represents another level of that, another aspect of that, and she is the
Goddess related to waters who takes the apples of gold to feed the Gods
and to sustain their power.

Of course this has a direct relationship with the Greek mythology; you
find the Goddess there who has the same exact responsibility. And you
also find it in the Hindu mythology related to Amrita, that divine elixir
which keeps the Gods sustained and alive, this is the Greek Ambrosia. So
all world traditions have a Goddess who delivers a magical or a vital
substance which keeps the Gods alive.

What does Wotan do? To have his castle, he had to hire the Giants to
build it, and he has to pay them. Now, this deal, this contract, is actually
the brain child of another God, and he is perhaps the most paradoxical,
the most mischievous, the most diabolic and perhaps the most honorable
one, and this is Loge, also known as Loki, Mephistopheles and Lucifer. He
is the trickster, he is the deceiver, but he is the God of Fire. So be aware of
these symbols; the waters which feed the tree, the gold in the waters, and
the God of Fire. Loge is a universal symbol, present in all religions. In the
Greek myths, he is called Prometheus, the one who gives fire to man. In
the Bible he is called Lucifer, the bearer of light, the bearer of fire. But
unfortunately, he has some problems.

Loge is the adviser of Wotan, and Loge is everywhere and involved in

everything, and you will see that as we go through the story, that Loge is
always right in the middle of every problem, and he seems to be the cause
of the problem in many cases.

The construction of Valhalla is performed by Giants. We understand

that the term “giant” refers to someone of a big stature who has a lot of
power, a lot of force, a lot of strength, and when you reflect again on the
Greek mythology, you probably remember that it was the cyclops who
built the domain of the Gods in the Greek myths. So likewise in the Nordic
myths we have the Giants who build the domain of the Gods, but who are
these Giants? These Giants in the opera are presented as two brothers or
two companions, Fasolt and Fafner. They arrive to receive their payment.
Of course, as they are coming, Fricka reminds Wotan that he promised to
pay them with Freia, to give them the Goddess of Love as payment. To
understand this, we have to grasp what this symbolizes.

Remember that this opera concerns past, present and future, related to
the Rhine-maidens. The construction of the castle, of the fort, the domain
of God, is the construction of the temple of Solomon within us, it is the
construction of the soul. But that process is a matter of great efforts which
proceed according to cosmic evolution. What is symbolized here in these
two Giants is very deep. Like many things in this opera, there are levels to
this. But in the immediate level we can summarize that these two Giants
represent two previous races: the Lemurians and the Atlanteans. They
were Giants in the sense that they had a more elevated spiritual
understanding than we do, they were not as degenerated as we are; and
the opera explains this.

Through the course of the development of the cosmic realms, the

development of this humanity has unfolded through a series of Root
Races, and in this way the structure of the soul has developed further and
further, which in turn advances the self-knowledge of God. The two giants
represent how through evolution the structure of the Tree of Life, the Soul,
has been constructed.

Another beautiful aspect of this is the missing eye of Wotan. It is not in

the opera, but in the original mythology you find that when Wotan realized
he needed more knowledge, he needed more understanding; thus, he
plucked out his eye and he put it in the well of the Rhine-maidens as
payment, as an offering, as a sacrifice. In other words: he put his own way
of seeing, his own way of vision, his own way of perception into the
waters. He made that sacrifice so he could know himself, and what else is
a way of seeing but a part of consciousness, the Essence, the embryo
of soul that we have now? The missing eye symbolizes the
human consciousness deposited into the womb of nature. Wotan plucked
out this part of himself, with pain, and put it deep into the waters, and it is
that part, the Essence, which grows and elaborates through the process of
Alchemy in order to eventually return to Wotan, a symbol of our own
Father. This is the nature of the path.

In the opera, Wotan says that he did this in order to gain his wife, and it
is the same thing. He sacrifices his eye in order to gain more complete
development of himself, to acquire his feminine aspect who is the waters,
the Divine Mother.

Yet another aspect there, if you look at the Tarot, the first arcanum is
the Magician, which is Kether, the first sphere on the Tree of Life, and at
the top of that card there are a pair of eyes. When Master Samael Aun
Weor explains the symbolism of this card, he says that these eyes
represent the symbol of infinity. So if Kether, Wotan, is to sacrifice an eye,
this is how he himself enters into manifestation between the Mahapralaya
and the Mahamanvantara, the Great Day and the Great Night. In other
words, he leaves the Absolute, that bliss of perfect existence, in order to
enter into manifestation which is imperfect, and this is painful. For the
Gods, this is pain, to enter into manifestation, for the ones that can reside
in the great Pralaya, in that night of bliss. So as I said there are many
symbols related to each element of this story.

Nonetheless, Freia arrives, and of course she is very concerned

because she is about to be given to the Giants. Fricka and Wotan then
have a little bit of a conflict over Freia. Fricka, the wife of Wotan, wants
Freia to be saved, to be kept with the Gods in order for them to keep their
power, because if Freia is delivered to the Giants, the Gods will lose their
vitality. In this conversation Fricka accuses Wotan and says, ”I wanted you
to build this castle so that you would stay home with me, but instead I can
see that you are going to use this as a base for you to conduct your
conquests and to be out, and that is why you want to give away my
sister.” Wotan says nothing can keep him at home, because he needs
constant change in order to live.

This is a great psychological lesson for a Gnostic student. God is not

static, stagnant, or still. God is in constant movement, constant motion,
and this is the symbol. And as a Gnostic student, as a student of the
spiritual path, we have to grasp that in our own work. We should be
seeking constant change as a psyche, as a mind, because that is what our
own God needs, he needs for us to change so that his own development
can advance so that we can return to him.

Freia enters into the scene pursued by the Giants, and the Giants want
their wages. The Giants tell Wotan, “You made a deal with us and you
have to keep it.” The deal was the brain child of Loge, the trickster, and
Wotan never had the intention of fulfilling the deal, of giving them Freia,
because he expected, based on Loge's words, that there would be some
imperfection in the castle, there would be some issue which would allow
him to keep his sister-in-law, the Goddess.
 At this point two new characters enter in order to prevent the Goddess
of Love being taken away. And these two characters are Donner and Froh.
Donner wields an axe, a hammer. It is a two-headed instrument, and this
is a symbol of willpower, it is the shape of a cross. These two Gods
intervene and try to block the Giants. These two Gods symbolically
represent the other two aspects of the Solar Logos. Wotan is the Father
(Kether), Froh is the Son (Chokmah), and Donner is the Holy Spirit (Binah).

In this conflict that arises between the Giants and the Gods, Wotan is
stalling and waiting for Loge to save him with an answer to this quandary,
“How do I get out of this deal that I made?” And Loge arrives as Fire. So
the answer to that conflict is in that fire, it is Lucifer, but the answer is not
what you might think. Now of course we understand that Loge was coming
back from his mission to check the castle and finds that it is perfect, and
now he needs to find something to replace Freia, to pay the Giants with.

The Giants are symbolic of the previous Root Races through which our
own psyche gradually evolved, to become a little more sophisticated, to
become this castle which the Gods can then inhabit and use. So this story
in this moment represents a period within our own evolutionary history, a
time related to the Lemurians and Atlanteans, and this same period of
time is represented in the book of Genesis with Cain and Abel: these two
Giants are Cain and Abel.

Loge tells the story of Alberich, that Alberich renounced love, stole the
Gold and has forged a Ring. So Loge tells Wotan, “If we get that, the Gold
and the Ring, we can pay the Giants.” The Giants hear this idea and they
want it, but they decide to take Freia as a hostage, and when they do that
the Gods become weak.

It is good to reflect here that at all levels of the Tree of Life there is a
certain amount of give and take, push and pull, conflict. We have this sort
of kindergarten concept that when we enter into the Heavens everything
is blissful and beautiful and perfect for eternity, but that is not the case.
And that is why in the Nordic mythologies, in the Greek mythologies, in the
Hindu mythologies, in the Buddhist mythologies, we always hear stories of
the wars among the Gods, of deals made and broken, of problems. Why?
Karma. Even the Gods are subject to it. So as we advance into the next
scene we will find out a little bit more about how that is.

Scene 3
 

This short act or scene concerns us very directly. Alberich is

representative of part of our own psyche.

In the book of Genesis in the Bible, in the story of Adam and Eve, when
the serpent shows to Adam and Eve the Tree of Knowledge, and asks Eve
about it, Eve says, “God said we should not eat of this tree”, and the
serpent says, ”God said that because he knows that if you eat of it you will
become as Gods, knowing good and bad.” The serpent does not say, ”Eat
it!”, the serpent does not tell Eve to eat the fruit, neither does he offer it.
He just asks what it is. Why is it like that? Eve is tempted by her own
desire. This is a very, very important part of the book of Genesis that has
been misinterpreted for centuries, and everyone blames Eve and the
serpent, but it should be grasped that the serpent is playing a role there
which is very important. That is why Master Jesus says, ”Be ye wise as
serpents and harmless as doves,” because the serpent has a kind of
wisdom that we need, a subtlety of understanding. Well in this story, Loge
is that same serpent who is a little tricky, he works with that kind of
subtlety of thought, a subtlety of intelligence that we are very easily
fooled by.

Alberich represents our own desire. It is this part of our mind which in
the course of development becomes entranced or enslaved with passion,
with lust, with craving for sensation. And that craving symbolized in the
opera is represented in Alberich stealing the gold. The gold is the same as
the golden apples of Freia: it is a magical force, a magical energy which
rests inside the waters, and those waters are sexual. When Alberich steals
the gold, he steals the energy of God. He steals the vitality, the force
which can sustain the Gods. But this is happening on different levels, you
see this right? Alberich steals the gold from the base of the waters, but the
Giants acquire the gold through their labors, so what is happening with
God? What is happening with Wotan and all his parts? He is losing power,
there is danger, there is a problem. So you see here, God is not above the
law, God is not existing there eternally without issues, without problems,
without challenges.

When Wotan and Loge come to the inferior worlds find Alberich,
Alberich has of course made the ring and he has also commanded his own
people to serve him, he has become a tyrannical ruler of the Nibelung,
which is a race of creatures deep down in the earth. And he has
commanded his brother Mime to fashion a magical helmet which confers
powers on Alberich. Now of course, how is this made? How is this all
happening? Because of the gold that he stole. The symbol here is that our
own egotistical psyche infected with desire and power takes the otherwise
pure gold and fashions it into its own creations. It fashions that energy,
that force into something that has a lot of strength, a lot of power, but
perverse.

Where do we see an example of this now? In a very superficial way, we

can see how in these times humanity is taking all the beautiful capacities
that we have as a mind, as a heart, in order to create machines of
destruction, to kill each other. Or in order to create economic or political
systems to enslave other people. Or to create gossip and slander and
psychological and social traps in order to hurt other people. These are
ways in which we take the energies that we receive from God, and we
corrupt them and use them in the wrong way.

But specific to this myth and other myths like it, the gold is fashioned
by Alberich and his brother into the Tarnhelm and the Ring of Power. How?
Through fornication. The waters contain the gold: the sexual waters, the
waters of Genesis, hide the precious metal. But when those sexual forces
are infected, made impure with lust or desire, those waters are turned
black, they are putrid. But yet, because they have that creative power of
God, they can create, but they create the ego, they create more desire,
more lust, more anger, more suffering. And yet the creations of
the ego seem to be fantastic, powerful, magical.

For example, our own sense of self is a creation of the ego, because it

has no true basis for existence. This is why Buddhism says there is no self:
the self-nature that we walk around with every day truly does not exist,
but we think it does. And because we continue trying to feed it, and
elaborate that self-image, putting on different clothes, putting on different
beliefs or different theories, or adjusting ourselves this way and that way
to fit into the flow of life, we keep trying to believe that this sense of self is
real, but it is not. It is a deception, it is an illusion, and that is the
Tarnhelm. The Tarnhelm is a magical helmet which gives its wearer
powers to be invisible, powers to change shape, to become different
things. This is the power that the ego has when it has trapped
the consciousness (the gold) inside. The source of that energy is God, it is
the gold which is that sexual force. But when the ego traps it, when
Alberich takes it, he utilizes that force for his own pride, for his own lust,
for his own cravings, his own envy, his jealousy, his anger, his resentment.
And he forms from that this ability to change his shape, to look like
different things. We do that because we are very insincere, we try to make
ourselves look like the way we think others want us to appear, rather than
being who we are.

Let us say we want to get a job in a particular place, then we get this
idea, a concept that we have to look a certain way in order to fit into that
job, so we change our appearance. Or if we want to be friends with
someone, some particular person, then we alter our appearance in order
to be the way we think they want us to be. We do this with our spouse, we
do this with our parents, with our friends, but the most destructive,
damaging and persistent way we do it is with ourselves. We project an
image to our own selves which is false. We like to tell ourselves that we
are a certain way, we have certain virtues or certain attributes that we
think we have, and we tell ourselves that we have that and we persistently
encourage this deceptive illusion. So we lie to ourselves, not only lying to
others but to ourselves.

Alberich is very satisfied with the Tarnhelm and the Ring. The Ring, it is
said, gives him power over the Earth, power to command all things, and in
truth it does. But again, the power comes from the gold. In other words we
can say, God gives us strength, but our ego steals it, and our ego creates
suffering, which is what Alberich does. He takes the powers of the Ring
and begins to put himself up as a tyrannical ruler, as a big shot, as if he is
somebody important. In reality, he is just a toad.

Now of course, Wotan sees the threat that the ego represents, that

the ego now has the power of the Gods, and Wotan is about to strike him
down in order to finish with that threat, but who steps in but Loge? This is
a very interesting moment, because in this moment God could have
simply killed him and that would be the end of the story. Why does Loge
interfere? It is very curious. How is it that Loge knows more than Wotan?
How is it that Loge is able to very cleverly manipulate Alberich, where God
is not? Well, Wotan, or our own inner Father, cannot mix with the ego, they
are like oil and water. But Loge is the mixture of the two, Loge is the
bearer of fire who is trapped inside the gold. This is never stated explicitly
in the opera, but watch through the course of the story how everything
that happens with the gold is related to Loge, and he is very much
concerned. Even though he does not need it, he does not want it, he is
very concerned with what happens.

He interferes here and taunts Alberich and says, ”Oh well, you must
really be a big shot now, show us your power, show us what you can do.”
So of course Alberich makes himself into a great dragon. We do the same
thing. When we become inebriated with our own self-satisfaction, our own
inner Loge taunts us. The moment we acquire a little bit of power, a little
bit of money, a little bit of force, we use that to lord it over those around
us. Or worse, we build up our own self-image into something false. We
make ourselves appear like a dragon. The dragon is an ancient symbol for
a Master, for someone who has mastered the elements, because a dragon
flies, swims, breathes fire and tramples the earth, so he commands all the
elements of nature. He is a commander, he is a great force. The real
Dragon of Wisdom is a Christ. But there are lots of black dragons –
egotistical, black magicians – who love to portray themselves as Christ,
but who are really just toads in disguise.

Alberich makes himself appear as a great dragon, because he is very

full of himself, full of pride. This relates specifically to what you will see
happening with Alberich later on, but as a little preview we can say this:
Those who learn how to take the gold from the waters through the science
of Alchemy begin to walk a very treacherous road, because each little
particle of energy that is taken through the process of transmutation,
through Alchemy, is energy that needs to be used, but it is our own
individual will that decides how to use it. This is not a mechanical process,
it is not an automatic process. It happens according to our will.  And if our
will is corrupted by desire, our works will be corrupted as well.

Alberich uses his self-will, his selfish will, to build the Tarnhelm and the
Ring in order to sustain his pride and to fulfill his resentment. And we do
that to, through the desires of our ego, but specifically there are people
who do that and also awaken the consciousness. In other words, the eye of
Odin which was sunk into the waters opens, that eye becomes awake, but
in the depths of hell. And then the Tarnhelm and the Ring make
themselves into this dragon which is very pleased with itself and has
powers over nature, and what is that but a sorcerer? A black magician.
And this is what Alberich becomes in this moment: and why does he do it?
Because of Loge. Not because Loge tells him to, Loge only tempts him.
Remember the serpent who tempted Eve? Loge says, ”Oh, you are a big
shot now, show me what you can do!” Our own mind does that: that is
Loge inside of us who says, ”Oh now you have got some power, flex it.
Show me, show others, demonstrate yourself.” And this is all of course
deceptive.

What Alberich, the false dragon, the black magician, does not realize, is
that he is being tricked by his own desires. Loge manipulates that desire.
This happens to us too.

Right now, in our own station of life, in some form or another, we are
doing this, we believe we are such and such person with such and such
virtues, and we believe we are self-sufficient, we have a self-will, but that
is egotistical. We do not realize the source of our real power which is God
within, and that is because our own selfish mind has us hypnotized. That
mind is being tempted by our own Loge, our own Mephistopheles. And we
do not realize that Loge tempts us repeatedly and traps us, and this is all
Karma.

Loge then says, ”Well, if you can make yourself into a dragon, do you
have the power to make yourself into something very small?” And so,
Alberich becomes a toad. And what is this? What is a toad, but false
humility? To be small, to act humble, to act like you are a little thing,
innocent, a little creature of nature. And of course, with this, Loge traps
him. So in this scene we see a very direct symbol of some of the problems
that we face as a psyche, and in the next scene it gets a little more
complicated.

Scene 4
At the beginning of this scene, Wotan and Loge have arrived back into
the higher realms bringing Alberich, and Wotan demands the gold from
him. And of course, since Alberich, the ego, has no choice, he calls his
underlings to bring all the gold and give it to the Gods. Wotan also claims
the Tarnhelm and the Ring, and Alberich of course has to agree, but out of
his fury he curses the Ring. To fully explain this symbol you have to study
and meditate on what happened with the evolution of this race, this
humanity. It is partly symbolized in this opera. When the cathedral of
the soul, the temple of Solomon, Valhalla, is being constructed in the
superior realms, this symbolizes how energy descends through matter and
creates each level or each layer that God needs in order to fully know
himself; these are related to our inner bodies, to the soul: the mind, the
heart, the vital body and the physical body, these different levels. And the
construction of these levels of our development happened through the
progression of past ages, of races in our history: the Polar, Hyperborean,
Lemurian and Atlantean ages.

As we know from the book of Genesis, when Eve, tempted by desire,

her own lust, her own mind, eats the fruit, it is the same as Alberich
stealing the gold, and what is represented here by both Alberich and Eve
are different views of the same psychological core related to the primeval
levels of our own mind, from these past times, these past ages. And
through the process of that temptation and those struggles, our own inner
psychology, our own mind or these levels of the soul developed through
steps. The problem is, there was a mistake, there were some errors made
by the Gods themselves.
 In the development or the guidance of this race, of this humanity, there
was a small miscalculation, and the end result was that when Wotan
comes to take the gold there is a curse. In other words, when the Gods
came to remove a certain section, a certain piece of the physiology of
humanity in past times, a shadow remained, which is now called the
“ego.” A little miscalculation was there, a curse. Of course, the curse that
Alberich places is that whoever uses the ring, whoever has this power is
doomed.

You might ask, ”Why is all of this necessary? Why does all this happen?
If God is God, why are there curses, why is there suffering, why are these
problems there?” It is due to the nature of understanding, it is the nature
of comprehension. The problems come because of karma, which build
upon previous karmas. The self-knowledge of God is the comprehension of
perfect action, intuitive action, and there are subtleties in the mind, even
in the levels of Gods, that can produce little aberrations, little
imperfections, and that is why manifestation is there. If those
imperfections were not there, nothing would be manifest. So manifestation
occurs in order for each level, each creature in each level, to comprehend
the errors of that level and to change them, to gradually improve.
Unfortunately we are caught in the wheels of this big machine, and this
curse is both self-generated and a product of karma, a product of our
particular cosmic scenario.

So you have to comprehend the curse of Alberich as a curse on this

humanity, but due to complicated reasons. It was caused by our own
desire, our own lust, our own craving for power, but also by a little
miscalculation by the Gods.

For example, how is it that Alberich was able to create these things? It
is necessary. In the same way that we as a humanity need to develop
reasoning, to develop the heart, in order for us to develop these capacities
we need the powers of God, in other words perception, memory,
reasoning, and with those powers of consciousness we are able to
elaborate and grow spiritually, but unfortunately the shadow of
the ego corrupts the process and introduces a problem.
 Even though the ring is cursed, Wotan does not want to give it to the
giants.  When he wants to keep the Ring, the Goddess Erda arises from the
earth. She is a very mysterious figure in this opera, if you watch the opera
you will see that. She just sort of appears, gives her warnings and goes
away, and the result is that Wotan is left really wanting to know more from
her, and for me this is a really beautiful symbol, a beautiful story, of how
even our own Being is searching for knowledge, has longing. These very
elevated aspects of our own soul also need, and are searching. The Earth
Mother is representative of the primordial chaos, the Prakriti, that womb,
which is reflected in the waters of the Rhine. She is always informed by
her three daughters, of course the Rhine-maidens. They are past, present
and future, so the Earth Goddess always knows what has happened, what
is happening and what will happen. And sometimes, she intervenes, and in
this case she does. She does this for the benefit of Wotan. Now what is
really interesting also about this symbol is that here we have a
representation of Kether, the first manifestation, and yet he does not know
her. Kether, the Father, does not know this Goddess, and this is
representative of how he needs knowledge, he needs to know more, and
that is really what the whole operatic scene is throughout, is the necessity
for our own inner God to develop, to gain knowledge.

Now, the opera moves into a new level here; when the Gods take from
Alberich the gold and the Ring, they retrieve also the Goddess of Love who
is the source of their own power: love. And in acquiring her, they deliver to
the Giants the gold and the Ring, and the Giants represent these past
physical races, these humanities, the Lemurians and Atlanteans, but they
also symbolize parts of our mind, related to Cain and Abel. In the Bible you
will remember that Cain and Abel were the children of Adam and Eve, and
Cain and Abel both were devoted to making sacrifices to God, in the same
way that the Giants are: the Giants are making exchanges with the Gods,
with Wotan, and in any exchange there is always mutual benefit.

When we perform a ritual or we perform a meditation practice, we are

performing an exchange with our own God. Meditation is a way that we
provide elements for the growth of our consciousness which helps our own
inner Being, our own God, to develop in his own understanding. It also
helps us: there is an exchange. The same happens with prayer, the same
happens with transmutation, there is always an exchange of energy. This
is what is happening with the Giants, they are making an exchange, they
are building, by passing through evolution. These past ages, these past
races were going through the process of elaborating psychological
structures, and these are particularly related to our mind and heart.

When Cain and Abel in the Bible make sacrifices, there is a difference
between them. Cain is a hunter, Cain is making a sort of inferior sacrifice,
and Abel's sacrifice is greater, he is a shepherd, he gathers sheep. Cain
gathers fruit, herbs, and nuts, and things like that. So God prefers Abel's
sacrifice, and out of jealousy Cain kills him.

We see in the opera that these two brothers are jealous of each other.
Here in the opera, Fasolt is in love with Freia. So these two brothers begin
to fight over the gold, and the basis of the argument is that the one
brother, Fasolt, feels like he gave more of a sacrifice because he had to
give up Freia, the Goddess, because he wanted her. So the other brother
says, ”Well, then I deserve more of the treasure, because I had to give up
and deal with you and your stuff this whole time, so I'm going to take more
for myself.” And the first brother feels like he deserves more of the
treasure because he had to give up the Goddess, so of course they fight.
And what happens? Cain kills Abel; Fafner kills his brother, and Fasolt dies.
In this moment, what we are seeing is of course some historical conflicts
related to these races, and we are also seeing how our own mind, Fafner,
kills the soul because of desire; so there are levels.

In the first part, we see Alberich who is a more primordial aspect of our
psyche who steals the gold. The Gods take it back, but then the Giants,
symbols of our mind and soul, who were constructing the soul, advancing
its development, still have jealousy: that means that they still have animal
nature. They are Giants, they have big stature, they have strength. Our
own mind and heart have strength, but not the intelligence of the Gods,
they still have jealousy and pride. And so they fight, and Fafner kills Fasolt.
Fafner then would represent the mind, Fasolt represents the embryo of
the soul, Abel.

Now the Gods after all of this are left disheartened, and this is
symbolized by the sky being oppressive and overcast. So Donner steps up.
Donner carries a hammer or an axe, and this is a symbol of willpower, so
Donner would be related to the Holy Spirit, to Binah in the Tree of Life, and
he is the God of lightning and storms, like Indra from the Hindus. So he
conjures a big storm which comes and clears the atmosphere, and as a
result of that his brother Froh follows suit and calls forth rain. Froh is the
symbol of the Cosmic Christ, he is the God of Light. And the result of the
activity of these Gods is a rainbow.

In the Bible, the rainbow is a symbol of God's promise after the flood of
Noah. The flood of Noah is closely related to this story as well. The flood
came in order to destroy all the impure human beings, who were the
Atlanteans, the Giants. So there was a flood, in other words, the great
destruction came and then the rainbow comes, the same as in the Bible.
You have it here in this opera, you have it in the Nordic mythology.

Of course, the rainbow is the light that is expressing from this trinity of
Wotan, Froh and Donner, and that ray, the Cosmic Christ, is a light, and
what else is that light in the opera but the bridge for the Gods to cross
over into their celestial abode, into the soul?

The rainbow is the path to liberation, and the path is a path of light.

How are you going to walk on light? How are you going to walk on a
path made of light, especially if your own darkness does not comprehend
it? You have to become one with that light.

So we see at the end of this opera a beautiful symbol of what is to

come. The Gods begin to enter into Valhalla. The name Valhalla means the
Hall of the Warrior, and in the mythology we know that this hall is
represented as the place where all the dead heroes go, meaning that a
great hero, only a great hero, not just anyone, but a great warrior, when
that warrior dies they cross the rainbow bridge and enter into the domain
of the Gods, and what else is that but a symbol of mystical death? Our
own ego, Alberich, and related to the Giants as well, has to die. But that
death only comes in battle, in the war to redeem the soul, and that is what
all the rest of the three operas are about, which we will enter into in the
next lectures.
 Any questions?

Question: When Wotan fell asleep, is that related with Adam falling
asleep? In Genesis...

Answer: I think that Wotan falling asleep there, my impression is that it

has levels of meaning. What comes to my mind is Vishnu, Brahma, where
that God in the Hindu myth falls asleep and dreams, and the dream is life,
is manifestation itself. But it may well be related to Adam falling asleep
too, because in a sense, Wotan or Odin is the celestial Adam. So it could
be. Any other questions?

Comment: It is stated that Brahma sleeps and Brahma needs to

awaken.

Answer: The Hindu myth states that Brahma sleeps, but Brahma needs
to awaken, and that of course is the path. The whole process of the warrior
on the path is the process of the full development of the human being, and
that full development is the awakening of God, which the Hindus call Self-
realization.

Question: You say that Loge is part of God just like the other Gods, but
he kind of knows what is going to happen, he is just making it all come
together. Is that his role, of sending certain events happening?

Answer: Loge is different from the other Gods. He seems to operate

according to different rules, and has a very different psychology. And
there is a reason for that: he is fire. He is the elemental intelligence or the
fundamental wisdom of Christ, which is fire, which is light, which is of
course the bridge itself. So he is a kind of symbol that is beyond self-hood,
beyond the kind of individuality that a God has, like Wotan, or like Fricka
or Freia. In other words, he is the light, he is the fire, but he is trapped
because of these complications, so this is why the Bible says, ”Oh, Son of
the Morning, how you have fallen,” because that light has become trapped
in the karma, in the problems which have unfolded of course through this
process. And in that sense he has a very dualistic and very unpredictable
nature.
 What is curious about Loge and the other representations of him like
Mephistopheles, he always seems to try to conquer his opponent, but in
reality he wants to lose. And you see that very well in the story of Job in
the Bible, which is the best story in the Bible related to Lucifer where you
see how Lucifer is actually doing God's will by going to Job and basically
destroying his life, to test him, and that is Loge's job. Loge serves Wotan,
but the way he does it seems very contradictory to our own self-idea. Our
own idea, the way we have this self-nature, is we want things to be perfect
and beautiful, like that. But Loge knows better, because he sees the roots
of things, he sees the causes, he knows the karma.

Question: (???)...like a black magician only sees one side of that, and I
think that he is trying to help him by different ways.

Answer: Yeah, he appears like a black magician, it is true, and we think

of him that way. But a black magician only sees one side, because he only
sees through his desire. Loge is trapped in our desires, but because his
root intelligence is from the Christ, he can see beyond them. So he is a
very subtle force for our intellect to capture, and when you will really
comprehend him is when you have experiences with him in yourself,
through your own practice, through your own efforts. When you interact
with your own inner Lucifer, your own inner Loge, then you will get it. You
will realize he is both your worst enemy and your best friend, just like in
the great opera Mephistopheles. You see that, beautiful. Or in the story by
Goethe, that Loge or Lucifer is the great tempter. Without temptation
there is no way to conquer, without fire there can be no light. So he is that
God of Fire that provides the capacity to awaken the Light. A very
challenging thing to grasp. You have a question?

Question: What is the meaning of Freia being covered with the gold?

Answer: Well, of course Freia is the Goddess of Love, and when the
Giants demand their payment, this is symbolic of that level of our own
psyche which is demanding gifts and powers, benefits from God, which in
a sense was deserved. But the problem is that the Giants became
identified with the gold, and that identification with spiritual powers is
exactly what brought the Atlanteans to their ruin, because they developed
this lust for more spiritual power, in other words through black magic.
There was a portion, a small aspect of that civilization, that still retained
the vision of the Goddess, which is Freia. But they too, in turn, were
tempted by the mind, so the mind demanded more and more and more,
and eventually brought about their own destruction. So that identification
with powers, with spiritual benefits, can actually create your own doom.
This is part of why in Gnosis we emphasize the importance of developing
serenity, to learn how to accept things as they are, to not cultivate desire
in any form, whether it is physical, whether it is spiritual, whether it is
emotional. Because desire does not work merely through physical desire,
desire works through the heart, desire works through the mind, and it can
veil itself as spiritual ambition, the ambition to advance on the path.
Gnostic students or Gnostic followers can become very entranced with
that, this idea, “If I get a spouse and if I learn this teaching, then I can
really advance spiritually.” The longing is naturally there in the soul,
because God is the one pushing that, but that longing can easily be
corrupted by our own desire, and then we would become like those Giants,
jealous and fighting.

So any other questions?

Question: Do some of the lyrics that are not real words like ”Heda” and
”Hedo” have any meaning?

Answer: It is clear that those phrases have the primordial vowels in

them, so perhaps they are sacred mantras.  We will have to experiment to
find out.

Question: In another lecture it was mentioned that the fortress

represents the mind blocking our understanding of the superior worlds,
can you elaborate upon this?

Answer: Of course. When we are talking about the mind here, this term
has, like most terms, many levels. The term mind is not limited to our
brain. In some cases you can say that mind and consciousness are
interchangeable. And certainly if you study Buddhism, that is how they use
the word. They use the word mind instead of consciousness. So sometimes
in the course of these lectures, that is the sense that we are using. In
other cases we are describing, let us say specifically Netzach on the Tree
of Life, which is related to our mental body or that structure in our psyche
which is able to process thought, but that is not mind by itself. Really, the
term mind is related to Manas, which is Tiphereth. And mind also relates to
Geburah, because in Sanskrit Buddhi means intellect. So what I am
pointing out to you here is that these three spheres, Geburah, Tiphereth
and Netzach, are all directly related to mind. So in that sense we can say:
mind is this structure on the tree which acts as an intermediary between
God and us. Mind is very deep and very high at the same time, there are
levels. That is part of the reason we study the Tree of Life, because Atman
in his way, in his level, has mind. So does God, so does the Christ. It is
mind of a certain level. In what you are referring to the castle becoming an
obstacle, this is how our own reasoning, our own mind, our own soul can
become an obstacle for us when we do not control it.

Question: (???) ...he meant intellect.

Answer: Okay, intellect. Well intellect is different. Mind would be a little

more abstract. Mind is more like a mirror, mind reflects, but it is not the
image and in itself it is empty. The mirror itself is nothing, it is just a
surface, and our own soul is similar. The soul that we have now and
the soul that we need to develop is simply a mirror of a certain level. The
way we are now we have an Essence, we have a spark of consciousness,
and its power of reflection is very small. This is why when you close your
eyes you see darkness, this is why when you dream, you are in chaos. You
are not awake, you are asleep, because that mind is very small, has a
narrow band of light that it can reflect. When you create the soul, you
create a bigger surface. When you awaken consciousness, the mirror
becomes polished. When the soul elevates and the level of Being raises,
the mirror is getting bigger, clearer, more perfected. The perfection of that
mirror is the return into the Absolute in which that mirror is perfect without
any dust, and the dust would be the ego. Intellect is the capacity to
discriminate between yes and no. We need that tool in order to
comprehend the reflection of the imagery. Do you grasp that? Without
intellect, without reasoning, how could you comprehend fully? You could
comprehend to a level, like an animal. An animal can comprehend
sensation or images up to a point, emotionally, instinctively. But not with
reasoning, not through comparing, not through analyzing information, and
the intellect provides that. That capacity to compare images can become
an obstacle when that capacity is not under the guidance of Wotan, or
God, our own Being. And really, that capacity, that guidance comes
through Buddhi, Geburah, which is called intellect, that is the meaning of
that term, but it does not mean intellect in the way we think of it, it is a
superior, very abstract form of mind.

Comment: Pistis Sophia.

Answer: Right, another term for that is Sophia, from Pistis Sophia, and
that is a capacity that we have, related to the pineal gland. This is a good
moment to point out that the power of the Tarnhelm is a power of the
pineal gland, but it is how the forces of God are harnessed by will, and you
will discover more about that in the next opera.

3.

Wotan--made secretly uneasy by Erda’s dark prediction that

‘Nothing that is ends not;

A day of gloom
Dawns for the gods;--
Be ruled and waive from the ring’--

relinquishes the ring which he had wrested from Alberich, as has been
seen. His restlessness however daily increases, until at last he penetrates
in disguise into the dark underground world and woos the fair earth
goddess. So successfully does he plead his cause, that she receives him as
her spouse and bears him eight lovely daughters. She also reveals to him
the secrets of the future, when Walhalla’s strong walls shall fall, and the
gods shall perish, because they have resorted to fraud and lent a willing
ear to Loge, prince of evil.

Notwithstanding this fatal prediction Wotan remains undismayed.

Instead of yielding passively to whatever fate may befall him, he resolves
to prepare for a future conflict, and to defend Walhalla against every foe.
As the gods are few in number, he soon decides to summon mortals to his
abode, and in order to have men trained to every hardship and
accustomed to war, he flings his spear over the world, and kindles
unending strife between all the nations. His eight daughters, the
Walkyries, are next deputed to ride down to earth every day and bear
away the bravest among the slain. These warriors are entertained at his
table with heavenly mead, and encouraged to keep up their strength and
skill by cutting and hewing each other, their wounds healing magically as
soon as made.

But, in spite of these preparations, Wotan is not yet satisfied. He still

remembers the all-powerful ring which he has given to the giants, and
which is still in the keeping of Fafnir. In case this ring again falls into the
hands of the revengeful Alberich, he knows the gods cannot hope to
escape from his wrath. He himself cannot snatch back a gift once given, so
he decides to beget a son, who will unconsciously be his emissary, and
who will, moreover, oppose the offspring which Erda has predicted that
Alberich will raise merely to help him avenge his wrongs. Disguised as a
mortal named Wälse, or Volsung, Wotan takes up his abode upon earth,
and marries a mortal woman, who bears him twin children, Siegmund and
Sieglinde. These children are still very young when Hunding, a hunter and
lover of strife, comes upon their hut in the woods, and burns it to the
ground, after slaying the elder woman and carrying off the younger as his
captive.

On their return from the forest, Wälse and Siegmund behold with
dismay the destruction of their dwelling, and vow constant warfare against
their foes. This vow they faithfully keep until Siegmund grows up and his
father suddenly and mysteriously disappears, leaving behind him nothing
but the wolf-skin garment to which he owes his name.

Hunding, in the mean while, has carried Sieglinde off to his dwelling,
which is built around the stem of a mighty oak, and when she attains a
marriageable age he compels her to become his wife, although she very
reluctantly submits to his wish. The opening scene of this opera represents
Hunding’s hall,--in the midst of which stands the mighty oak whose
branches overshadow the whole house,--which is dimly illumined by the
fire burning on the hearth. Suddenly the door is flung wide open, and a
stranger rushes in. He is dusty and dishevelled, and examines the
apartment with a wild glance. When he has ascertained that it is quite
empty, he comes in, closes the door behind him, and sinks exhausted in
front of the fire, where he soon falls asleep. A moment later Sieglinde,
Hunding’s forced wife, appears. When she sees a stranger in front of the
fire, instead of her expected lord and master, she starts back in sudden
fear. But, reassured by the motionless attitude of the stranger, she soon
draws near, and, bending over him, discovers that he has fallen asleep:--

‘His heart still heaves,

Though his lids be lowered,
Warlike and manful I deem him
Though wearied down he sunk.’

As she has only a very dim recollection of her past, she fails to
recognise her brother in the sleeper. He soon stirs uneasily, and,
wakening, tries to utter a few words, which his parched lips almost refuse
to articulate, until she compassionately gives him a drink.

Gazing at Sieglinde as if fascinated by some celestial vision, Siegmund,

in answer to her questions, informs her that he is an unhappy wight,
whose footsteps misfortune constantly dogs. He then goes on to inform
her that even now he has escaped from his enemies with nothing but his
life, and makes a movement to leave her for fear lest he should bring ill-
luck upon her too. Sieglinde, however, implores him to remain and await
the return of her husband. Almost as she speaks Hunding enters the
house, and, allowing her to divest him of his weapons, seems dumbly to
inquire the reason of the stranger’s presence at his hearth.

Sieglinde rapidly explains how she found him faint and weary before
the fire, and Hunding, mindful of the laws of hospitality, bids the stranger
welcome, and invites him to partake of the food which Sieglinde now sets
before them. As Siegmund takes his place at the rude board, Hunding first
becomes aware of the strange resemblance he bears to his wife, and after
commenting upon it _sotto voce_, he inquires his guest’s name and
antecedents. Siegmund then mournfully relates his happy youth, the tragic
loss of his mother and sister, his roaming life with his father, and the
latter’s mysterious disappearance.

Only then does Hunding recognize in him the foe whom he has long
been seeking to slay.
 Unconscious of all this, Siegmund goes on to relate how on that very
day he had fought single-handed against countless foes to defend a
helpless maiden, running away only when his weapons had failed him and
the maiden had been slain at his feet. Sieglinde listens breathless to the
story of his sad life and of his brave defence of helpless virtue, while
Hunding suddenly declares that, were it not that the sacred rights of
hospitality restrained him, he would then and there slay the man who had
made so many of his kinsmen bite the dust. He however contents himself
with making an appointment for a hostile encounter early on the morrow,
promising to supply Siegmund with a good sword, since he has no
weapons of his own:--

‘My doors ward thee,

Wölfing, to-day;
Till the dawn shelter they show;
A flawless sword
Will befit thee at sunrise,
By day be ready for fight,
And pay thy debt for the dead.’

Then Hunding angrily withdraws with his wife, taking his weapons with
him, and muttering dark threats, which fill his guest’s heart with nameless
fear. Left alone, Siegmund bitterly mourns his lack of weapons, for he
fears lest he may be treacherously attacked by his foe, and in his sorrow
he reproaches his father, who had repeatedly told him that he would find a
sword ready to his hand in case of direst need.

‘A sword,--so promised my father--

In sorest need I should find--
Weaponless falling
In the house of the foe,
Here in pledge
To his wrath I am held.’

While he is brooding thus over his misfortunes, the flames on the

hearth flicker and burn brighter. Suddenly their light glints upon the hilt of
a sword driven deep in the bole of the mighty oak, and, reassured by the
thought that he has a weapon within reach, Siegmund disposes himself to
sleep.

The night wears on. The fire flickers and dies out. The deep silence is
broken only by Siegmund’s peaceful breathing, when the door noiselessly
opens, and Sieglinde, all dressed in white, steals into the room. She glides
up to the sleeping guest and gently rouses him, bidding him escape while
her husband is still sound asleep under the influence of an opiate which
she has secretly administered:--

‘It is I; behold what I say!

In heedless sleep is Hunding,
I set him a drink for his dreams,
The night for thy safety thou needest.’

Leading him to the oak, she then points out the sword, telling him it
was driven into the very heart of the tree by a one-eyed stranger. He had
come into the hall on her wedding day, and had declared that none but
the mortal for whom the gods intended the weapon would ever be able to
pull it out. She then goes on to describe how many strong men have tried
to withdraw it, and warmly declares it must have been intended for him
who had so generously striven to protect a helpless maiden. Her tender
solicitude fills the poor outcast’s famished heart with such love and joy
that he clasps her to his breast, and, the door swinging noiselessly open to
admit a flood of silvery moonbeams, they join in the marvellous duet
known as the ‘Spring Song.’

As they gaze enraptured upon each other, they too perceive the strong
resemblance which has so struck Hunding, but still fail to recognize each
other as near of kin. To save Sieglinde from her distasteful compulsory
marriage, Siegmund now consents to fly, providing she will accompany
him, vowing to protect her till death with the sword which he easily draws
from the oak, and which he declares he knows his father must have placed
there, as he recognizes him in the description which Sieglinde had given of
the stranger:--

‘Siegmund the Volsung,

Seest thou beside thee!
For bridal gift
He brings thee this sword.
He woos with the blade
The blissfullest wife.
From the house of the foe
He hies with thee.
Forth from here
Follow him far,
Hence to the laughing
House of the Spring,
Where Nothung the sword defends thee,
Where Siegmund infolds thee in love!’

This passionate appeal entirely sweeps away Sieglinde’s last scruples;

she yields rapturously to his wooing, and they steal away softly, hand in
hand, to go and seek their happiness out in the wide world. Hunding, upon
awaking on the morrow, discovers the treachery of his guest and the
desertion of his wife. Almost beside himself with fury, he prepares to
overtake and punish the guilty pair.

As a fight is now imminent between Siegmund, his mortal son, and

Hunding, Wotan, who is up on a rocky mountain overlooking the earth,
summons Brunhilde the Walkyrie to his side, bidding her saddle her steed
and so direct the battle that Siegmund may remain victor and Hunding
only fall. Chanting her Walkyrie war-cry, Brunhilde departs, laughingly
calling out to Wotan that he had best be prepared for a call from his wife,
who is hastening toward him as fast as her rams can draw her brazen
chariot. Brunhilde has scarcely passed out of sight when Fricka comes
upon the scene. After upbraiding Wotan for forsaking her to woo the
goddess Erda and a mortal maiden, she says that, as father of the gods
and ruler of the world, he is bound to uphold religion and morality. She
then dwells angrily upon the immorality of the just consummated union
between Siegmund and Sieglinde, who are brother and sister, and finally
forces her husband, much against his will, to promise he will revoke his
decree, give the victory to the injured husband, Hunding, and punish
Siegmund, the seducer, by immediate death.
 Wotan therefore summons Brunhilde once more, and sadly bids her to
shield Hunding in the coming fight. Brunhilde, who realizes that the second
command has been dictated by Fricka, implores him to confide his
troubles to her. She then hears with dismay an account of the way in
which Wotan has been beguiled into wrongdoing by Loge, of his attempts
to gather an army large enough to oppose to his foes when the last day
should come, and of his long cherished hope that Siegmund would recover
the fatal ring which he feared would again fall into the revengeful
Alberich’s hands. Finally, however, Wotan repeats his order to her to
befriend Hunding, and Brunhilde, awed by his despair, slowly departs to
fulfil his commands.

The god has just vanished amid the mutterings of thunder, expressive
of his wrath if any one dare to disobey his behests, when Siegmund and
Sieglinde suddenly appear upon the mountain side. They are fleeing from
Hunding, and Sieglinde, who has discovered when too late that Siegmund
is her brother, is so torn by remorse, love, and fear that she soon sinks
fainting to the ground. Siegmund, alarmed, bends over her, but, having
ascertained that she has only fainted, makes no effort to revive her,
deeming it better that she should remain unconscious during the
encounter which must soon take place, for the horn of the pursuing
Hunding is already heard in the distance.

Siegmund has just pressed a tender kiss upon Sieglinde’s fair forehead,
when Brunhilde, the Walkyrie, suddenly appears before him, and solemnly
warns him of his coming defeat and death. He proudly tells her of his
matchless sword, but she informs him that his reliance upon it is quite
misplaced, for it will be wrenched from his grasp when his need is
greatest. Then she tries to comfort him by describing the glory which
awaits him in Walhalla, whither she will convey him after death.

Siegmund eagerly questions her, but, learning that Sieglinde can never
be admitted within its shining portals, passionately declares he cannot
leave her. He next proposes to kill her and himself, so that they may be
together in Hela’s dark abode, for he will accept no joys which she cannot
share:--
‘Then greet for me Valhall,
Greet for me Wotan;
Hail unto Wälse,
And all the heroes!
Greet, too, the graceful
Warlike mist-maidens:
For now I follow thee not.’

Brunhilde’s heart is so touched by his love for and utter devotion to

Sieglinde, and she is so anxious at the same time to fulfil Wotan’s real
wish, in defiance of his orders, that she finally allows compassion to get
the better of her reason, and impulsively promises Siegmund that she will
protect him in the coming fray. At the same moment Hunding’s horn is
heard, and Brunhilde disappears, while the scene darkens with the rapid
approach of a thunderstorm. Such is the darkness that Siegmund, who has
sprung down the path in his eagerness to meet his foe, misses his way,
while Sieglinde slowly rouses from her swoon, muttering of the days of her
happy childhood when she dwelt with her family in the great wood.
Suddenly, the lightning flashes, and Hunding and Siegmund, meeting upon
a ridge, begin fighting, in spite of Sieglinde’s frantic cries.

As the struggle begins, Brunhilde, true to her promise, hovers over the
combatants, holding her shield over Siegmund and warding off every
dangerous blow, while Sieglinde gazes in speechless terror upon the
combatants.

But in the very midst of the fray, when Siegmund is about to pierce
Hunding’s heart with his glittering sword, Wotan suddenly appears, and,
extending his sacred spear to parry the blow, he shivers the sword
Nothung to pieces. Hunding basely takes advantage of this accident to
slay his defenceless foe, while Brunhilde, fearing Wotan’s wrath and
Hunding’s cruelty, catches up the fainting Sieglinde and bears her rapidly
away upon her fleet-footed steed.

After gazing for a moment in speechless sorrow at his lifeless favourite,

Wotan turns a wrathful glance upon the treacherous Hunding, who, unable
to endure the divine accusation of his unflinching gaze, falls lifeless to the
ground. Then the god mounts his steed, and rides off on the wings of the
storm in pursuit of the disobedient Walkyrie, whom he is obliged to punish
severely for his oath’s sake.

The next scene represents an elevated plateau, the trysting spot of the
eight Walkyries, on Hindarfiall, or Walkürenfels, whither they all come
hastening, bearing the bodies of the slain across their fleet steeds.
Brunhilde appears last of all, carrying Sieglinde. She breathlessly pours out
the story of the day’s adventures, and implores her sisters to devise some
means of hiding Sieglinde, and to protect her from Wotan’s dreaded
wrath:--

‘The raging hunter

Behind me who rides,
He nears, he nears from the North!
Save me, sisters!
Ward this woman.’

The sound of the tempest has been growing louder and louder while
she is speaking, and as she ends her narrative Sieglinde
recovers consciousness, but only to upbraid her for having saved her life.
She wildly proposes suicide, until Brunhilde bids her live for the sake of
Siegmund’s son whom she will bring into the world, and tells her to
treasure the fragments of the sword Nothung, which she had carried away.
Sieglinde, anxious now to live for her child’s sake, hides the broken
fragments in her bosom, and, in obedience to Brunhilde’s advice, speeds
into the dense forest where Fafnir has his lair, and where Wotan will never
venture lest the curse of the ring should fall upon him.

‘Save for thy son

The broken sword!
Where his father fell
On the field I found it.
Who welds it anew
And waves it again,
His name he gains from me now--
“Siegfried” the hero be hailed.’

The noise of the storm and rushing wind has become greater and
greater, the Walkyries have anxiously been noting Wotan’s approach. As
Sieglinde vanishes in the dim recesses of the primeval forest, the wrathful
god comes striding upon the stage in search of Brunhilde, who cowers
tremblingly behind her sisters. After a scathing rebuke to the Walkyries,
who would fain shelter a culprit from his all-seeing eye, Wotan bids
Brunhilde step forth. Solemnly he then pronounces her sentence, declaring
she shall serve him as Walkyrie no longer, but shall be banished to earth,
where she will have to live as a mere mortal, and, marrying, to know
naught beyond the joys and sorrows of other women:--

‘Heard you not how

Her fate I have fixed?
Far from your side
Shall the faithless sister be sundered;
Her horse no more
In your midst through the breezes shall haste her;
Her flower of maidenhood
Will falter and fade;
A husband will win
Her womanly heart,
She meekly will bend
To the mastering man
The hearth she’ll heed, as she spins,
And to laughers is left for their sport.’

Brunhilde, hearing this terrible decree, which degrades her from the
rank of a goddess to that of a mere mortal, sinks to her knees and utters a
great cry of despair. This is echoed by the Walkyries, who, however,
depart at Wotan’s command, leaving their unhappy sister alone with him.

Passionately now Brunhilde pleads with her father, declaring she had
meant to serve him best by disobeying his commands, and imploring him
not to banish her forever from his beloved presence. But, although Wotan
still loves her dearly, he cannot revoke his decree, and repeats to her that
he will leave her on the mountain, bound in the fetters of sleep, a prey to
the first man who comes to awaken her and claim her as his bride.

All Brunhilde’s tears and passionate pleadings only wring from him a
promise that she will be hedged in by a barrier of living flames, so that
none but the very bravest among men can ever come near her to claim
her as his own.

Wotan, holding his beloved daughter in a close embrace, then gently

seals her eyes in slumber with tender kisses, lays her softly down upon the
green mound, and draws down the visor of her helmet. Then, after
covering her with her shield to protect her from all harm, he begins a
powerful incantation, summoning Loge to surround her with an impassable
barrier of flames. As this incantation proceeds, small flickering tongues of
fire start forth on every side; they soon rise higher and higher, roaring and
crackling until, as Wotan disappears, they form a fiery barrier all around
the sleeping Walkyrie:--

‘Loge, hear!
Hitherward listen!
As I found thee at first--
In arrowy flame
As thereafter thou fleddest--
In fluttering fire;
As I dealt with thee once,
I wield thee to-day!
Arise, billowing blaze,
And fold in thy fire the rock!
Loge! Loge! Aloft!
Who fears the spike
Of my spear to face,
He will pierce not the planted fire.’

4.

Act I

Since the times of yore, the Masters have been working very hard with
their Valkyries in order to help this humanity. We have to understand that
the Monad, the Master itself, which never falls, is always the junction of
the Spirit with the Spiritual Soul (the Valkyria). When the Spiritual Soul and
the Spirit unite - then, the Master is born.

So, in this part of Wagner’s opera, Die Walkure, is hidden a marvelous

doctrine of Alchemy, which is always shown through the different myths of
different religions. The Nordics are precisely the descendants from the
Hyperboreans, and the Hyperboreans are the manifestation of an ancient
past, which in esotericism is called the Mahamanvantara of the Sun, or the
Solar Round.

Any planet always passes through different stages, which are called
rounds, and it is necessary to understand and comprehend these rounds in
order to follow the sequence of Wagner’s opera.

All of Wagner’s works are really profound; he was a great master that
left for us his beautiful and amazing work, in which we find very profound
esotericism. Only someone with a very elevated vision could write such
music, and go deep into the past in order to have concentrated it into this
wonderful piece of opera.

So, every planet has to pass through seven rounds. Each round is
called a small Manvantara. Manvantara means “Cosmic Day.” The addition
of the seven Manvantaras is called a Mahamanvantara – a great Cosmic
Day.
 So, our planet Earth is the outcome of three previous Manvantaras. We
are in the fourth Manvantara, called the Manvantara of the Earth, the
Terrestrial Round of this present Cosmic Day.

In Nordic Mythology, as in any myth, we

find the symbol of a tree. Many times, we talk about the Tree of Life
(Kabbalah), and, of course, the Nordics rely on the tree called Yggdrasil,
which is a tree divided in three parts: the roots, the middle (which is the
trunk), and the branches.

The branches are called Asgard, the home of the Aesir, the Gods.

The middle part is called Midgard, the place where the human beings
live.

In the roots, of course, you find, Hel, Niflheim and Muspelheim – the
abode of the Lost Ones.

A synthesis of the whole work of the Tree of Life!

If you observe the Tree of Life of the Hebrew Mythology, you find that it
has nine spheres above Malkuth, and it has also nine spheres below
Malkuth. In esotericism, we call the world of Malkuth (the Earth)
Mesocosmos, which in translation means “the Cosmos of the Middle.”
 And, obviously, Midgard of the Yggdrasil Tree is precisely pointing to
Malkuth, the abode of the human beings, where the Gods made the great
experiment.

Every time that Midgard appears (or, that a planet appears), it is

precisely the outcome of Asgard and Hel, Niflheim and Muspelheim
because every planet is the outcome of Karma. It is written that Karma is
the cause of existence. And, of course, the Gods above in Asgard also
have Karma, which is called Katancia. And the Karma below is the Karma
of the demons, who live in Niflheim - the abode of the dead.

The conjunction of both Katancia and Karma creates within every

Cosmic Day. So, we will say that we, of the Terrestrial Round, the fourth
circle in the center of the Ygdrasil, are the outcome of three previous
circles or manifestations. These Gods, Masters, self-realized Beings, who in
the three previous manifestations achieved happiness, mastery,
knowledge, assist us. They come from above in order to help this
Terrestrial Round, and that is precisely what is dramatized here in Die
Walkure, and in all the opera.

We have to comprehend and understand that Midgard - which in this

terrestrial round, is called the Aryan Root Race, or better to say, this Root
Race in which we are living, which is the Fifth Root Race of this Terrestrial
Round - is the outcome of the previous manifestations or forces which is
very clearly (esoterically speaking) shown in the first part of the opera.

If you will recall, at the beginning of the opera everything starts when
Siegmund enters into a house, which has the trunk of the ash-tree
precisely in the middle. And, if you observe the Yggdrasil image, you will
see how the trunk of the tree is precisely in the middle of Midgard.

So, in the opera, Wagner is showing us that everything that is

happening in this first part of Die Walkure is happening in Midgard.
Midgard is the whole planet Earth; it is any country, any house, and even
your physical body.

If you use that symbology, you will understand that the trunk (if
Midgard is your physical body) is your spinal column, which is where the
myth (the Rune Sig) is always hidden within the Macrocosm as within the
Microcosm.

Sig                                   Siegmund and Sieglinde

The Rune Sig, also called Sigel or Sowellu, reminds us of Siegmund and
Sieglinde. Sig is a hieroglyphic of the Sun, so everything here is related
with that Rune Sig, which precisely has a shape of a lightening, a ray that
descends from above. It is that victorious ray that is in the hands of
Jupiter, the Father of all Gods, Christ, Odin, or, in this case, Wotan.  So,
behold Sig, the deep meaning and the source of that wisdom of the
Nordics.

In the Sig or Solar Epoch in the Second Round of these seven rounds,
there was a great initiate who reached the summit of perfection, and who
in this time humanity knows as the Christ. And it is because in this fourth
round, in this Terrestrial Round, he lived physically all the drama of the
Christ (which is not a person, but an energy - a force, a cosmic energy) So,
Jesus of Nazareth, the Master Aberamentho, was and is the highest initiate
of Sig, the Solar Epoch or the Second Cosmic Day of this Mahamavantara.
At that time, there were many great initiates; at that time, the Master
Samael Aun Weor also self-realized himself for the first time. All of the
Archangels that we find in this day and age are the outcome of that
cosmic day.

After that cosmic day had finished, another cosmic day started, which
was the past cosmic day, previous to our Terrestrial Round, and that
cosmic day is called the Lunar Round. In that epoch, Jehovah was the
highest initiate. This is very important to understand because master Jesus
is previous, a master that arose further back in time than Jehovah. Both of
them are, of course, great initiates, Cosmic Masters. Jesus is the outcome
of the Solar Epoch, and Jehovah is the outcome of the Lunar Epoch.

Everything in Nature repeats, or recapitulates, and that is why in the

first part of the opera the previous speaker described how this Cosmic Day
of the Mahamanvantara started.

Now, here we are arriving at Midgard, which is precisely the beginning

of Die Walkure. The terrestrial offspring that appears in Midgard is the
outcome of the plan of the Gods, as you may have already realized. These
Gods are the beings from previous cosmic days, which are self-realized
Monads: Monads with Mastery. So, before the beginning of this Root Race
that we call Aryan Race (which is rooted precisely in the Nordics, in the
Hyperboreans) the Atlantean Root Race existed, which the speaker in the
previous lecture was describing the symbology of.

The Atlantean Civilization had seven sub-races, and the Fourth Sub-
Race of the Atlantean Civilization was mixed (by the Plan of the Gods) with
the Hyperboreans; so, the Hyperboreans were precisely those beings -
Children of Fire, or we would say, the Children of the Mist of Fire - which
were mixed with the Fourth Sub-Race of the Atlantean Civilization in order
to form the nucleus for this present Aryan Race. That was precisely the
root of our present Aryan Race.

The Bible calls this mixture the Shemites. The authentic, legitimate
Shemites are the outcome of the mixture of Atlanteans with
Hyperboreans, which were the Second Root Race that existed around
North Pole. Around the North Pole is where the Lands of Avalon are: lands
that are situated in the Fourth Dimension. The Hyperboreans were
worshippers of Sig, the Sun, because in this present Terrestrial Round or
manifestation they were the recapitulation of the Second Round.  This is
why Nietzsche and many other great German writers always point to the
Hyperboreans as the root of the Aryan Race, because, indeed, in that
mixture in the Atlantean Civilization, the root of Aryan Race was formed.

At that time, they spoke a language, which many times in the lectures
we call “Watan,” a language spoken by the Atlanteans. So, the primeval
Atlantean language “Watan” is the fundamental root of Sanskrit, Hebrew
and Chinese. From them, of course, come other languages.

In the First Root Race (of this present fourth round), this great
Archangel Uriel (who was precisely a child of the Second Round, or the
Solar Round, where Jesus was the highest initiate) was also incarnated.
The First Root Race - Protoplasmic Race, the Polar Root Race - was located
in the Fourth Dimension, in which is now the North Pole. Uriel wrote a book
with Runic characters. It was known and studied in the Hyperborean
Epoch. So, this Runic alphabet comes from the very beginning of the
creation of this world. And from the Runic alphabet derived the Hebrew
alphabet and many other alphabets in the world.

Apollo the God of Music

“Watan” was the language spoken by the primeval Hyperboreans who

were mixed with the Atlanteans, and from that language comes the word
‘Wotan.’

This was a language related with wisdom, related with fire, related with
the mystery of the fire, Solar Light. They, the Hyperboreans, as you can
read in Greek Mythology, were worshippers of Apollo; Apollo in Dodone or
Dodona was worshipped as the God of the Sun. So, here you find the
relationship of Apollo and the Hyperboreans of the Solar Epoch, and the
highest Initiate of that epoch: the Master Aberamentho, called Jesus Christ
in this day and age.
 So, the plan among the Hyperborean Solar Beings of that epoch was to
bring salvation to humanity, because they knew at that time that in the
epoch of this Fifth Sun, which is the Aryan Root Race, the Gods will die.
They knew already that Valhalla, the Great Hall of the Warriors, was
becoming separated from Midgard, and that only the courageous ones can
gain entrance; those who were searching for the knowledge can gain
entrance into that Valhalla, into the Hall of the Warriors.

So, as there was separation, the Gods were diminishing; the Gods were
in danger of disappearing, not in the sense to disappear into nothing, but
in the sense that humanity will stop worshipping the Solar Gods. As it is
written in the great Aztec Calendar of the Nahuas, within the time of the
Children of the Fifth Sun (we, the Aryans of this epoch) the worship of the
Gods will cease. This prophecy has already been fulfilled, since this
humanity mocks the Gods; but the Gods exist, despite the fact that
humanity cannot see the Gods behind the big wall – Valhalla; yet, Valhalla
is there and only the courageous ones can pass through.

Sequentially, there was, of course, a great plan of the Gods in order to

bring hope into this civilization, into this Aryan Root Race, in order to help
this humanity, because the Karma of the Gods and the Karma of this
planet are very heavy.

So behold here how the Rune Sig, Sigel or Sowellu as “hope” is

descending from heaven from the Sun, as the Solar Force as the Ray of
Creation; the Sig emerges from the root (of the Yggdrasil) from Siegmund
and Sieglinde – which is, of course, the sexual force, the Sig of God
descending into Midgard in order to help humanity.

Here in this marvelous symbology, we see in Midgard (as the physical

organism of the human being) the symbol of the two witnesses (of
Revelation), which are better explained in the Mayan Bible called Popol
Vuh: they are Hunapu and Ixbalanque, who, according to the Mayan Bible,
when they died, one became the Moon and the other the Sun. Here (in this
opera) we have the same symbol in Siegmund and Sieglinde: the two
polarities, the offspring of Wotan (the Word that descends); they descend
as they are created by Odin, Wotan, with the objective of the creation of
the Solar Men, or harvesting of Solar Men.
 So, these siblings, these twins, are the symbol of the two forces – solar
and lunar, through which the Gods are working. But, they are, of course, in
Midgard (the physical organism), which is in the Wheel of Samsara,
Malkuth, or as the Bible calls it - Egypt, because Egypt is Malkuth, the
Kingdom, Midgard, where all of us are, here in slavery. But, our Inner
Father, the Gods above, they are preoccupied with us and they are trying
to induce us to go out of those mechanical laws of Midgard ruled by the
mechanicity of nature, and represented in mythology in that opera of the
Nords with Fricka, the wife of Wotan. So, Fricka, the wife of Wotan is, of
course, the representation of the laws of nature to which we are submitted
mechanically; and that Law of Nature demands that we obey the rules, to
follow the laws of this mechanicity of the planet. And this is why you see
there Hunding, the spouse of Eve, Sieglinde. It is necessary to remind you
that because of the fall, because of fornication, because of ignorance, Eve
eats of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge and gives that to Adam. If now
you understand that Adam is the brain and that Eve represents the sexual
organs, you will understand how Eve eats of the fruits and gives the
outcome to the brain, which is Adam. In this case, Adam is Siegmund, and
Eve is Sieglinde - the two polarities. But, because of their ignorance,
because of the thirst for knowledge, Sieglinde is married to Hunding,
which is a dog (lust), or a little dog (Hund in German means dog).

Hunding, the dog, is thirsty for sex, lust: the mechanicity of nature.

And, of course, this Hunding has a tribe, the Tribe of Hunding, which he is
always defending and that Siegmund tries to defeat because they are
always unjust. The other names of the people of that tribe are: lust, anger,
pride, profanity, laziness, gluttony, envy, arrogance - all of those
psychological aggregates - all, of course, friends and relatives of Hunding,
which work in the Laws of Nature, and they are children of nature:
cowards. They are the outcome of fornication, the outcome of not knowing
how to handle the gold of the Rheingold, the gold of the river, the Rhein,
which is the sexual force, as you know already.

So, Eve, Sieglinde, is married to Hunding unwillingly, but it is because

she ate of the fruit and because of the thirst for knowledge. Because if you
remember in the Bible, when Adam and Eve are before The Tree of
Knowledge, Loge, Lucifer appears and says: “If you eat from that fruit,
your eyes will be opened.” But, there are two ways of eating it: through
Alchemy, you absorb or ingest the force in order to create something
spiritual within, or through fornication, creating Hunding, or the egotistical
dog-nature within you.

And this is why it is written in Kabbalah that Eve marries Nahemah, and

Adam marries Lilith - these are two polarities or egotistical natures. In the
opera, Siegmund is married to a woman, but he is not in love, and
Sieglinde to a man, but she is not in love, either. But somehow they (Brain
and Sex) have to be united. We will say esoterically they have to “commit
incest.” They have to break the Law of the Mechanicity of Nature in order
to bring out their salvation. And this is why you see there that there is an
apparent adultery and apparent incest, within which is hidden the Alchemy
and which the initiate always confronts.

When you enter the path in Midgard, you know that your Being
manifests through the ash-tree, through the Yggdrasil: your spinal column.
But you are blind, you are looking, you are searching for knowledge and in
that search you commit many mistakes, but, of course, those who are
against the searching for knowledge from the Wisdom of God are always
those people from Midgard who follow the mechanicity of the Laws of
Fricka, the mechanicity of the Laws of the Wheel of Samsara, which are
related with the lunar forces. To break that is to fight against your own
blood, your own flesh. And that is why the Lord, the Christ said:

“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth (Midgard): I came not to
send peace, but a sword; for I am come to set a man at variance against
his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law
against her mother in law.  And a man's enemies shall be they of his own
household.

“He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he
that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that
takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me.

“He that finds his life shall lose it: and he that loses his life for my sake
shall find it.” - Matthew 10: 35-39
 What is the meaning of this? It does not mean that you have to hate
your family in the physical world. No! It means that you have to hate the
psychological roots that you have within. You can be with your family, but
burn the lustful roots that you have within from your father and mother –
this is what the Lord Christ explains here, it is related with the Ego that we
have within. Our mother is lust, Hund, a dog. So, we have to go far away
from Hunding, and precisely, this is pointing at the sexual force. The
sexual force is feminine, the Eve Sieglinde, and Siegmund is Adam, the
brain that searches for knowledge.

The union of both brain (Shiva) and sex (Shakti) is the outcome of the
entrance into Initiation, into the Ninth Sphere. And this is precisely the
point here: the search for knowledge. In this case, Siegmund (Pingala) is
trying to find the knowledge, the doctrine, the way to enter into the higher
realms of life. But it is not until the moment he enters and meets his sister
(Ida) when he finds the way.

Siegmund’s Father, his Inner Being, Wotan, has promised him: “I will
give you the weapons, the necessary weapons to fight against those
enemies that you have within, those unbelievers that mock me, that are
within you.” Any place that you go and try to save your own Soul they
always appear and steal the innocence of your Soul. But you need to
awake that force. You will know the moment, and when you find that
moment, you will receive a sword, a weapon in order to fight against your
enemies - your unbelievers, those uncircumcised – or, in other words,
those fornicators that do not transmute the energy; you act now alone, but
you need more strength. And, of course, Wotan, the Word, the Wise One,
knows very well that only Sieglinde, the sexual force, can give that
weapon to Siegmund. This is why they recognize each other.

You have to recognize and unite the two forces - Ida and Pingala,
because without the union of those two forces, the sword cannot appear.
And where else that sword is but in the trunk – in the spinal column. There
is where Wotan/Odin inserted the weapon, but you have to awaken it; you
have to gain it by knowing how to transmute the solar and lunar atoms of
your own organism, and for that you have to be courageous. You need
Thelema – Willpower, that courage that Siegmund is showing. He is a
searcher, he is a searcher of knowledge, and his sister is also a searcher,
but unfortunately she is bound to the Laws of Nature. The brain, always
free, looks for the way to be free from the Mechanicity of Nature, but the
brain does not know that Sieglinde, the sexual force, is the one that binds
him and her to the Laws of Fricka.

Thus, this is the only way – by uniting the solar and lunar atoms- to
awaken and attain the sword. This is how, in the version of the opera that I
always see, Siegmund goes and places his back against the tree. I do not
know if there are other versions of the drama, but the way it should be is
that Siegmund places his back against the ash-tree and above his head is
the sword that Odin/Wotan inserted in the ash-tree. Of course, by singing,
by pronouncing the necessary mantras in the sexual union with his sister,
which means when the solar and lunar atoms are united in Midgard, atoms
which are the outcome of forces above, because those forces come from
above, from Kether, they descend according to the Ray of Creation into
the Ninth Sphere.

So, when they (Siegmund and Sieglinde) transmute by singing,

by pronouncing the necessary mantras, then the brain, Siegmund,
receives the sword thanks to Sieglinde (sexual organs). And that sword is
the Nothung (that comes from “nothing”) that comes in the very moment
when they need it, and that is the sword that he needs in order to fight. Of
course, in that sword of Wotan, there is awakening, thanks to
the Kundalini that is rising from the sexual organs, in other words, from
Eve to the brain, to Adam. So, this is how the sword comes - from
Sieglinde to Siegmund, from the Moon to the Sun, as lightning, the Rune
Sig: this is the sword.

With that sword we are able to fight our enemies, which are within us
(Hunding); but Hunding (lust) has to sleep, because during transmutation
Eve takes the energy. On the other hand, when we fornicate, the sexual
organs (Eve-Sieglinde) take the energies from the Father in order to feed
Hunding (lust). But, when we transmute the energy Sieglinde does not
feed any more Hunding. Therefore, Hunding falls into a deep sleep and
Sieglinde gives the energy to her brother, to Siegmund, in order to fight
the Hunding that is within, against the Laws of God, and only follows the
Mechanicity of Fricka, the Wheel of Samsara. Of course, what we
explained here is the symbology; yet, it is not easy when you have to do it.

This is how you symbolically see it, this explanation of Midgard or the
Garden of Eden, because it is in the middle of the Garden, where Adam
and Eve meet. This is the same symbology, the same myth – the two
polarities that we need to work with and from which in this way, as
Wagner is showing in the opera, will come something spiritual, the
offspring of that union, which will be Siegfried, the Victorious One.

So, they fall in love, they love each other, and remember that at the
end of that part of the opera, the doors are opened by the forces of spring,
which enter into the house, because they are working with the forces of
spring, the forces of nature in the positive way. They already have the
sword; they are ready to conquer and to go into the self-realization of the
Being.

Act II
To reach the Mountain of Initiation, to reach Mastery, is not enough in
order to obtain liberation. The couple, Siegmund and Sieglinde, goes out,
and start working on themselves in order to finally reach the summit of
that mountain, where Wotan and the Valkyria are, which means, of course,
the Spirit and the Spiritual Soul. Of course, this is the development, of
the Initiation, which one has to perform through Alchemy, as we already
explained.

Nevertheless, the plan of the Gods is not just to create Hanasmusen.

They want to create a hero capable of taking over the Gods; in other
words, another God. Siegmund is doing it, but it is not enough. He has to
confront Hunding and the egos; and Hunding, the ego and his tribe, is
related with Karma. Karma is cause and effect. And Fricka, the Laws of
Nature, are not to give away so easily the Initiate. Fricka, Nature, always
works with her weapons in order to stop the daring who wants to conquer
her. It is very easy to see there how Fricka appears and is blaming Wotan
that the couple, who is transmuting the energy and arising, is going
against her on lust, and that is precisely what happens in the life of any
initiate.  When we enter into this, we are against the mechanicity of the
laws of our own body, our own family, our own nation. That is why the life
of any initiate is always surrounded by revolution, people that protest, that
do not want superior laws, because the mechanical forces of nature work
to the last against it – “You shall not do this; you shall not do that; you
have to follow the mechanicity of the lunar path!”

All religions rooted in family, rooted in the blood, are lunar religions.
But only the solar religion is the one that conquers family and goes beyond
that, and finds that the true family is Universal. But there are many people
that feel so attached to their roots, their blood, their race, and they cannot
become victorious. And precisely this is the Hunding that does not want to
give away so easily Eve, Sieglinde, and thus he goes after her. And, of
course, there is Karma involved on it, as you see, and that Karma, of
course, is coming from past Cosmic Days.

The Niebelungen, Alberich, which is already the head of Niebelungen, is

planning how to take humanity in his hands; he wants the power. Because
the Niebelungen, the beings that dwell in Klipoth, the Baalim, Javhe and
his followers utilize the ego in order to manipulate humanity. And that is
precisely what Wotan is afraid of, because he already sees that the black
magicians are already planning and conquering, and going into humanity,
and he wants to help humanity. But a great sacrifice has to happen. A
descent has to come. As you know, there is always the Savior in this task,
or in this plan. It does not matter how we work by ourselves, but there is a
point in where we need the Savior. We need the sacrifice of a God, some
God that will sacrifice and descend into the realm of Midgard and abandon
his powers (abandon Nirvana). And that, of course, is in relation with our
own particular Ray, with our own particular God and the Logos above.

This is what is hidden here in this scene, which shows that the
mechanical laws of Nature somehow have to be conquered, but in the very
wise way and with free will. This is precisely what is hidden there in the
will of Wotan. He wants to create a hero, but a hero that is always assisted
by the Inner Being’s will. He wants a different hero that will have a free will
and will give that free will to his will without asking. Of course, in the great
drama in the Bible, we find that hero, which is called Jesus, who says:
“Father, if it is possible, take this chalice out of me, but not my will, but
Thine be done.” – the free will.

For this, of course, part of the Monad has to descend into the drama,
which we are seeing here. And Siegmund has to die, Siegmund is just that
part of the soul that represents at this height, or this level right now (in the
opera) – the Terrestrial Man, because first the Terrestrial man has to be
created, as we explained previously in many lectures.

This humanity is just made by “Hundings”, which are utilizing their

sexual force (Sieglinde), in the wrong way, and who are creating cowards,
weak individuals, slaves of the forces of Fricka, Nature. Only those, only
those courageous ones, that are capable to fight against their own desires,
their own lust, their own dog – Hund, are capable of reaching the level of
the Terrestrial Man, or the level of human being, because the human being
has to be created. And, in order for the human being to be created, we
need to create within, as you know, Astral Body, Mental Body, Causal Body
in order to reach summit of that mountain.

But those two forces, Ida – Pingala (Sieglinde and Siegmund), are the
ones that rise there because from them, from their union of male-female,
Sun and Moon, comes the human being. But remember that that human
being has to prepare himself – has to die.
 It is coming into my mind the decapitation of John the Baptist: John the
Baptist has to die in order for the Messiah, the Savior, the Victorious One,
to appear. And this is something very beautiful.

Because Siegmund, as the Human Soul, is bottled up within Hunding,

Siegmund is working, yet, he is mingled with Hunding, thus, that
Terrestrial Man has to die. And that is precisely the great step that only
few initiates can do. Many initiates that enter into the Path, they get their
sword, they reach the Mastery, but they do not go beyond. They continue
with their Hunding within themselves, ignoring that that Hunding,
that ego, that “tribe”, that legion of defects – psychological aggregates
that we have within, are moved easily by the laws of nature and by
Alberich, the Baalim, the black magicians from Nibbeleheim, who only like
gold and power, and who do not care a bit about the Laws of God, because
they are fornicators and they awake their energy in the negative way.
They utilize the gold of the Rhein in the wrong way in order to build that
ring, which symbolizes, of course, the power of the Kundabuffer organ
organ. In order to develop the Kundabuffer organ, which is the opposite
of Kundalini, you need to hate love.

Javhe is a being that hates Love, hates the Son of God who is Love. The
Father is Wisdom, the Son is love, and the Holy Spirit is sexual force.
Christ, the Son, is love, and Javhe is a being that hates the Christ badly,
and he is the boss of the black lodge, his name is Jahve. Jahve, yes, the
boss of the black lodge, hates the Christ. Javhe renounces love and he has
the power, he has the ring and the Gods know that. But, of course, Jahve
works with the mechanicity of the forces of nature, represented in this
case by the Niebelungen. Or, by the Niebelung Alberich, who awakes in
evil and for evil, who collects gold and power, and that threatens the Gods
with their black lodge, and who, in this day and age, have degenerated
this humanity - this Aryan race who is the outcome of the Hyperboreans.

The great sacrifice, the promise to this Aryan race, to this Terrestrial
Epoch, was accomplished two thousand years ago. That great Initiate,
named Aberamentho, the highest of the Solar Epoch, came to his
Hyperboreans, to that blood. It is written, as you remember, that Jesus was
the son of an Aryan soldier who impregnated the Jewish Miriam, the
mother of Jesus of Nazareth, the mother of his physical body. So, the
physical body of Jesus of Nazareth is the outcome of Hyperborean blood
and Jewish blood, Hyperborean solar energy and lunar Jewish blood.

That mixture was the plan in order to help this humanity, which was
falling into sin. The great Master Aberamentho, Jesus of Nazareth, made
the great sacrifice. That is why many great painters painted him with
white skin. Many people do not like that, but the Hyperboreans are the
root of the white race. And, of course, all of us are Aryans – this is what we
have to understand. This Aryan root race populates the entire Earth. The
first root race flourished in Tibet, the second in China and India, the third
in Persia, Babylon, Egypt, the fourth among the Greeks and Romans, the
fifth among the Germans, English, French, Teutons and Anglo-Saxons, the
sixth among the Latin American – the mixture of Europeans with natives of
South America, and the seventh sub-race of the Aryan race is being
formed here, in the United States and Canada – the mixture of all races.
So, the whole planet Earth, the whole Midgard, is inhabited by the Aryan
race, which unfortunately is being tricked by the Niebelungen – the black
lodge. The black lodge fought against the great Being that came two
thousand years ago in order to deliver the solar force – the solar religion
that has roots in previous Cosmic Days, solar wisdom related to the
development of the Solar Men, but the lunar forces of Fricka are very
strong, because this Nature is heavy, charged with a lot of Karma of past
cosmic days. And black magicians take advantage of that Karma in order
to sink the humanity more into the mud.

Unfortunately, Master Jesus was betrayed by the black lodge, or better

to say, by an initiate that went into the black lodge, following the
Niebelungen. At that time, of course, this is why Christianity failed because
it had only a few triumphs in the beginning and in different epochs that
some Siegmunds appeared in scene. But most of Christianity in this day
and age, as you know, only think that by believing in this great
Hyperborean Solar Being, called Jesus of Nazareth, they will be saved.

Boreas is the God of the wind of that part that the Greeks call in the
North, the Boreas, the Wind of the North. Hyper-Boreas is that area
beyond the North, beyond Boreas – the Land of the North. That is the
meaning of the word Hyperborean – “beyond the North.” And beyond the
North, which is the North Pole is, of course, we find the Land of Avalon –
the Fourth Dimension. Because, if you see the planet Earth as Malkuth, if
you see it as the Midgard, understand that the South is the roots, the
north are the branches, and then West and East in Midgard. So, the North
of course is the branches of Asgard – the abode of the Gods. But that
Valhalla, that Thule – the sacred Island of Avalon, the land of the
Hyperboreans – is not in the third dimension. That Shangri-La is above,
above Midgard, and the First Sephirot that we find above Midgard is Yesod
– the fourth dimension – the Promised Land, the land of Avalon, the
Hyperborean land, where all the Masters dwell.

Hyperborea is precisely the Land of Apollo ruled by the Solar Beings.

There were precisely in former times (according to Greek Mythology) two
great virgins that were coming from the Hyperboreans from the Fourth
Dimension into Midgard, the third dimension. Hyperocha and Laodicea,
related, of course, symbolically with our own particular chakras, or
churches, as the Book of Revelation states, Laodicea and Ajna Chakra-
Philadelphia, the two churches above. From there, the wisdom, the
knowledge of the Hyperboreans descends into the lower churches or
chakras. Gnosis is the knowledge or the wisdom of the Hyperboreans, the
Nordics that came from the North – from Asgard. Thus Gnosis is the root of
this myth.

And, of course, it is in Asgard where Wotan and the Valkyrie Brunhilde

are talking about fate. Asgard is also where you find the Gods that rule the
laws of the Wheel of Samsara, because they are Angels. Those who we call
Angels are the beings who self-realized themselves in the Lunar Epoch,
because Archangels are the beings that self-realized themselves before
the Lunar Epoch – which is the Solar Epoch. So, the Angels related with the
Lunar Epoch, which are commanded by Jehovah, are the ones that control
the Laws of Nature.

And, of course, the Gods are submitted to those laws, they do not
break those laws; yet, they have to know how to overcome those laws
without hurting themselves, because they create Karma if they do it in the
wrong way. And this is the meaning of their fate.
 Of course, Wotan and the Valkyrie
Brunhilde are seeing that this couple already reached the summit of the
mountain, they are coming, but Hunding– the Karma, the Ego is after
them; Wotan and Brunhilde do not want this mixture; thus, there has to be
a sacrifice, there has to be a decapitation – John the Baptist has to die.
Because, among all those Alchemists that are born from women, from
Sieglinde, there is nobody higher than John the Baptist. But he who is the
lowest in the kingdom of Asgard is higher than Siegmund, higher than John
the Baptist. And it is written that he has to be decapitated in order for the
Lord to come. But the Lord has to descend and to work and that is
precisely the sacrifice that we see here.

In this great drama, where the Spiritual Soul (Brunhilde) and the Spirit

(Wotan), in this case, the Monad with the Spiritual Soul, the Valkyrie, is
trying to resolve how to help, how to go down and to do the work. But, of
course, in this descent, in this work, there is a great mystery that few
people understand - why Siegmund has to die, and why Brunhilde
knowingly disobeys. She loves very much his Inner Father, his Inner
Master, and she only performs the Will of God. But, in order to help, she
needs to disobey apparently in such a way, in order to continue with the
drama and to acquire perfection, in order for Siegfried to appear in the
scene. So the whole drama here is showing us how the Gods also do work.
We have to do our work here, assisted by our Inner Father, but there is a
level in which they by renunciation can assist us directly.

Remember that the Nine Muses, the Nine Valkyrie, are the
representation of the Nine Sephirots above The Tree of Life – the nine
heavens. And in every single Heaven the Will of God is performed. But the
first Valkyria that was born from Wotan was precisely Brunhilde, which is
in Yesod. That beautiful Cherub, which is related with the sexual force,
that is the first Valkyria that was born, and then the rest of Valkyrie, which
are nine. So, the Will of God is done above.

And that reminds me of that saying of Jesus in the Mount of the Olive:
”Father, if thou be willing, pass this cup out of me, but not my will, but
thine be done.” The whole Siegmund has to die. With this, you have to
comprehend that every single initiate that represented the drama of the
Christ in the Bible, in the new Gospel, every single one was a Christ, was a
self-realized Master, but the highest among them was Master
Aberamentho, the represented Christ. But John the Baptist was a Christ as
well, and all the Apostles were Christs, self-realized. This is how you have
to understand. All the prophets of Jerusalem were Christs; Mohammed was
a Christ, Buddha was a Christ, because anyone who is self-realized
becomes a Christ and can represent any play of the drama in order to help
humanity.

So, of course, we have to work with Enneagram, and that is precisely

the point here. The Enneagram is not that work that people think that is
just written in a book that they can buy and read, and just start from there
without previously doing anything, no!; the real Enneagram work starts
when you reach the Fifth Initiation, the Mastery, and if you take the direct
Path, this means that you have to die for Nirvana, from Asgard, in order to
appear again, doing the work, from the very beginning in Midgard.

 
Act III

Loge, Lucifer, Mephistopheles – the fire is mingled

everywhere. We find fire, Loge, in the water; we find fire, Loge in the
earth, in the wind, it is everywhere. Without Loge, without fire, nothing can
exist, and he knows this. He is the child of the Chaos and he knows
everything, but he acts accordingly to the level of the being, according to
necessity. And that is why his actions, in Hell and in Heaven, are
misunderstood by many.

Wotan cannot exist without Loge; Brunhilde cannot exist without Loge;
Siegmund and Sieglinde cannot do their alchemical work and cannot attain
the sword without Loge. He is the one that orchestrates the whole opera in
the hidden. And, of course, the abode of Loge, Prometheus, where he is
working through is in the Ninth Sphere. The Rheingold, the gold of the
Rhein is that Loge, that fire, which is hidden in the waters of Yesod. The
power that is bestowed within Brunhilde is that fire conquered by the Gods
and that is placed within her and it is coming from Loge; because without
Loge, without temptation, there is no knowledge. Temptation is fire, and
the triumph over temptation is light, understanding, knowledge.
 Loge tempted Eve, he tempted the couple in Midgard, and because of
knowledge they took the energy in the wrong way. But with experience
and suffering and pain, they change and they know that now they can
steal the fire from Loge by not acting like animals.

But also, that fire, that power has to descend; there has to be a
sacrifice. And this is precisely what Loge does. But Loge is not a
sanctimonious being. Loge is beyond good and evil. Loge is like the cat
that likes to play with the mouse while he is alive. And when he, that fire,
sees something alive, he starts playing because he wants to kill the
mouse. And that mouse is hidden within the Gods, within the demons,
within the men, and as long as this mouse is alive Loge is active. When the
mouse dies completely, Loge disappears; he says: “My job is done in this
Cosmic Day, in this Mahamanvantara”.

Of course, in the mixture – this is the secret of Salvador Salvandus, and

the only way to explain how that force can descend from above into the
Ninth Sphere and to help us, how this being that loves really the Will of
God represented in this opera by Brunhilde, which is the Valkyrie of the
Truth - which, by the way, Val as you know means “slaughter” or
“warrior”.

But now I want to give – because many people know about the
meaning of Kyrie in different ways in German language – but allow me to
take the Greek language, which is also an Aryan language; because in this
day and age we speak many Aryan languages derived from the same root,
which is Watan - Wotan, Odin - the Hyperboreans of the Atlantic Epoch. So,
Kyrie in Greek means  “Lord”, and Kyria (Cyria, Kuria) – “Lordess” or
“Lady”. There is a prayer where we say Kyrie Eleison – “Lord of the
Highest”. So, in Greek when you want to respect an older woman, you call
her Kyria. So, of course, that Kyria, that Lady, that Lordess is from above.
We have our own particular inner Kyria, the Valkyria, which is the warrior,
Spiritual Soul above. And from that Spiritual Soul (Buddhi) above, which is
where the Christic Mysteries are hidden within the Monad (Atman-Buddhi),
a part of it (part of that Christic Fire) has to descend in order to perform
the sacrifice for that initiate and that is precisely hidden in the following
verse of Isaiah that our speaker will read right now…
How art thou fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the dawn! How art
thou cut down to Adamah, the one who weakened the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend up to heaven, I will exalt my
Throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
Congregation, in the sides of the north:

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be (Adamah Elion), the
most high.

Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell (the abode of the dead), to the
sides of the pit (Yesod, the Ninth Sphere). Isaiah 14, Verses 12-15

You read in this beautiful poem of Isaiah – “the Congregation in the

sides of the north”, “above the heights of the clouds,” which are precisely
the horses upon which the Valkyries ride in Asgard, in the sides of the
north” – where they ascend up to heaven, and exalt their Throne above
the stars of God; yet, in this drama, in order for the Being, in order for
Odin and all the parts of the Being to acquire self-realization, there has to
be a sacrifice. And this is represented in that beautiful drama, in which the
Father of the Gods – Wotan, Kether and represented in Chesed is
sacrificing that part of him, which comes from above, which is the
daughter of Erda – the Divine Mother, which is the ancient mother that
have the wisdom of previous Cosmic Days, because from her comes all the
wisdom and Odin knows that. From Erda, Odin-Wotan begat Brunhilde and
her eight other sisters, which give him knowledge and wisdom in the
Universe.

But if Wotan wants to achieve what he is planning to achieve, which is

another higher level of reasoning, and thus to save the offspring of the
Gods, Lucifer through Brunhilde has to descend. So, Lucifer is not just as
people think, some individual up there in heaven that was against the will
of God and that is why God sent him down to suffer. Yes, Lucifer suffers
here in Midgard and in Hell. But through his disobedience he stirs the
forces, the fire in this type of initiation.

Through his disobedience he is performing the will of God, and this is

something that you do not understand only if you carefully watch the
opera. There you will see how Wotan and Brunhilde intuit that they have to
do it, but they are chained to their own roots, and even the Valkyria,
knowing that helping Siegmund is helping God, God interferes and breaks
the sword of Siegmund because he knows that the drama has to continue.
And his daughter, the Spiritual Soul, that is in this case already in Yesod;
what does it mean “is already in Yesod”? It means that the
Spiritual Soul (Geburah), the Monad, when somebody reaches Mastery, as
a force for a sacrifice has to descend into the Ninth Sphere as a Cherub (as
Geburah-El, Gabriel) in order to work and continue the work of self-
realization. This is the myth, or the Luciferian Myth, that is not related only
to one part, but many parts of the Being. This is what in Esotericism and
Gnosticism we call “Christus Lucifer”, which is the sacrifice of Christ
through the Valkyria because within the Divine Soul, within the
Spiritual Soul, are all the Christic Powers.

Thus, through the Divine Soul (Geburah-El, Gabriel) is how the Lord

descends, but has to do it through the Cherubim. The Cherubim, as you
remember are in Yesod, the beings in Yesod are called Cherubim, which
means The Strong Ones, this is in relation with the sexual force, and in this
way they sacrifice. The Devine Soul has to become human.

But in this case, it is beautifully described in this opera, it is better

because you see the sacrifice through the feminine aspect. Many times we
see, in many myths, the sacrifice through the masculine aspect, as a
masculine force. But here, we see it beautifully in a feminine aspect. In
order to show this, Wagner shows here how that part of God that we have
above loves God because love is feminine. This love is the Spiritual Soul,
but part of that love has to descend and abandon God, and this is the
descent of Lucifer. This longing is chanted there, spreading in this case it
descent into the Ninth Sphere for the sake of God. They intuit, they know
about it, but with the disobedience of the Valkyria, of course, God is forced
to punish.

In this case we will say that that Divine Force mingled with the human
level has acquired the sins of the world. Do you realize this? This is the
mixture of that, which is when Christ descends into the initiate and
mingles with the ego of the initiate; in order to save him, he takes the sins
of the world. Therefore, those that condemn Lucifer they do not know
about this; they do not know that Lucifer (the morning star) in the initiate
is mingled with the ego of the initiate and is taking the guilt of the initiate.
This is also represented in Prometheus, in the Myth of Prometheus in the
Greek Mythology, where the God of Fire takes the fire of the Sun, you see
the fire of the Sun is the knowledge of the Hyperboreans, and gives it to
the humans, those humans are real Siegmunds.  This myth is not what
commonly people think that Prometheus took the fire and then the
primeval men started to make weapons or using the fire to get warm –
that is a ridiculous explanation of this myth. The fire the Prometheus steals
from the sun is Solar Fire that is in sex, and only the courageous ones who
know how to utilize that fire awake. Thus, because of that, Prometheus is
chained to the rock, the same rock that you see here in the opera that is
where the Valkyria is resting. She is falling asleep and as she does it she is
losing all the powers. This is precisely what happens when a Master
renounces Nirvana, when a Master renounces Heaven, they enter into a
profound sleep. Then, the Master has to start from scratch, from the very
bottom. The Master already has what he gain, but he renounces to all and
even Odin breaks the sword; in a sense that he has to temper it again. And
this is why when Christ is born, in this sense, in the manger of the world
Midgard, Herod – Hunding, Alberich, wants to kill that offspring, which is
called Siegfried.

But here where you see this sacrifice, is precisely where the Master
finds Guinevere the great woman warrior, Valkyria, or the Amazon; see:
Val-Kyrie. If you take the name Val as “warrior” and Kyrie as “lady from
the highest”, you find there a beautiful meaning: “The Lady Warrior”,
which descends and sacrifice, is the Divine Soul, Buddhi, Geburah because
Geburah is a warrior in Kabbalah, Geburah it is represented by a warrior;
but it is feminine and descends into Yesod, and this is precisely the
Cherub. Thus, when Adam and Eve eat of the forbidden fruit, when they
fornicate, the Cherub is precisely Geburah who is brandishing the sword:
“You lost the sword, I have it, and you cannot pass here through this way,
through the Nine Sphere into the Tree of Life” – Geburah is precisely the
same Cherub. But, in this case, this Cherub sacrifices – the beautiful
Cherub goes down as Lucifer.
 Everyone has his own Lucifer, mingled, entwined in the spinal column,
it is the power of sex. Lucifer is Loki, Loge that acts in different ways. In
order for you to conquer him you have to perform sacrifices, you have to
fight against the dragon, the dragon of darkness – the giant, which is not
related only with the ego, but also with the dark forces of nature; that
giant has the power of Niebelungen, and is a power that the Nibelungen
want to steal from him. So, this is why Brunhilde is on the rock of that
mountain, surrounded by fire, which is Loge, Lucifer, because he is a part
of the sacrifice. Only the courageous one, the one that conquers himself is
capable of defeating that fire of Lucifer. That fire is temptation and
expresses itself through the spear, the point of the spear of Wotan, that
point of the spear (symbol of the phallus), it is the spear that many
initiates (even Hitler) were looking for, the same spear with which
Longinus wound the side of the Lord. It is necessary to understand and to
know that the spear is the phallus, and the power is in the extreme point
of the spear, because if the sexual force leaves through the tip of the
spear, the spear loses its power; but if nothing goes out of the tip of that
sword, the spear keeps its power.

Regrettably lust mingles in different levels in the Tree of Life and the

initiate has to work in order to conquer sex. But for that he needs the help
of the Valkyria, which is related with the Katancia, the Karma of the Nine
Spheres above Malkuth, because Siegmund only can conquer the Karma
related with Malkuth, but beyond Malkuth it is not related with him, it is
related with Valkyria, which is part of him because Siegmund is Brunhilde’
s brother too. As you see here in this opera, Siegmund and Sieglinde are
siblings, which are brother and sister of Valkyrie Brunhilde, but from a
different mother. Brunhilde is the daughter of Erda, which is the Divine
Mother, something cosmic, superior, while this couple of siblings are
children of a mortal woman, which means from the mortality of nature –
Midgard. But Valkyrie is from the superior nature, from Asgard. Did you
understand? How beautiful is shown everything in this opera; of course,
there is more to talk about, but first enjoy watching it.

Questions and Answers

Q: The sword is called Nothung. What does that mean?
 A: Well, it means that every time that somebody awakes the Kundalini,
the energy, something new that is Nothung, the sword. Why is the sword
called Nothung? Well, what is coming from your hard work, although the
sword has many meanings, but really “nothing” because we are also
“nothing”. What is coming, of course, is something new that is not
physical, something that is not recognizable. When you acquire the sword
the first time it is something new that is called Nothing – a power is given
you that you never had and that is why it is “nothing”, because it is
something new. And if you fall and you rise again, Nothung appears again,
but is not that Nothung that you had before – it is another “nothing”.

Right view, of course, is nothingness, the right way in which the energy
of the sword gives you right view, because when you work on yourself,
alchemically speaking, you have to utilize the sword in order to defeat
your enemies. Every time that you kill an enemy with the power of the
sword, which is the Kundalini, the Divine Mother, a new view, internal view
appears inside of you, which is “nothing” – nothing related with this
physical world. That is why in Buddhism it is stated that the being does not
exist. It is true, because when the being appears is as something new that
comes from nothing, from the fire. The being is nothing in relation with
what we think. Many people think about God in different ways, they have
beautiful ideas and concepts about God, but God has nothing to do with
thought. God is nothing related with what we know, and that is why that
sword is the one that kills all of those that are not related with “nothing”,
but with “something” – something mechanical.

Well, if questions arise later, you can write them in the Forum, and we
will answer them. But we invite you to study this lecture and to watch Die
Walkure, beautiful opera in which everything that you read here is hidden.
There are more things, but for those things to appear you need to question
in order for the knowledge to come out … thank you very much… and we
will see you and hear you next Saturday with Siegfried, the hero.

5.

Sieglinde, having dragged herself into the depths of the great

untrodden forest, dwelt there in utter solitude until the time came for her
son Siegfried to come into the world. Sick and alone, the poor woman went
about in search of aid, and finally came to Mime’s cavern, where, after
giving birth to her child and entrusting him to the care of the dwarf, she
gently breathed her last.

Here, in the grand old forest, young Siegfried grew up to manhood,

knowing nothing of his parentage except the lie which Mime, the wily
dwarf, chose to tell him, that he was his own son. Strong, fearless, and
unruly, the youth soon felt the utmost contempt for the cringing dwarf,
and, instead of bending over the anvil and swinging the heavy hammer, he
preferred to range the forest, hunting the wild beasts, climbing the tallest
trees, and scaling the steepest rocks.

As the opera opens, the curtain rises upon a sooty cave, where the
dwarf Mime is alone at work, hammering a sword upon his anvil and
complaining bitterly of the strength and violence of young Siegfried, who
shatters every weapon he makes. In spite of repeated disappointments,
however, Mime the Nibelung works on. His sole aim is to weld a sword
which in the bold youth’s hands will avail to slay his enemy, the giant
Fafnir, the owner of the ring and magic helm, and the possessor of all the
mighty hoard.

While busy in his forge, Mime tells how the giant fled with his treasure
far away from the haunts of men, concealed his gold in the Neidhole, a
gruesome den. There, thanks to the magic helmet, he has assumed the
loathsome shape of a great dragon, whose fiery breath and lashing tail
none dares to encounter.

As Mime finishes the sword he has been fashioning, Siegfried, singing

his merry hunting song, dashes into the cave, holding a bear in leash.
After some rough play, which nearly drives the unhappy Mime mad with
terror, Siegfried sets the beast free, grasps the sword, and with one single
blow shatters it to pieces on the anvil, to Mime’s great chagrin. Another
weapon has failed to satisfy his needs, and the youth, after harshly
upbraiding the unhappy smith, throws himself sullenly down in front of the
fire. Mime then cringingly approaches him with servile offers of food and
drink, continually vaunting his love and devotion. These protests of
simulated affection greatly disgust Siegfried, who is well aware of the fact
that they are nothing but the merest pretense.

In his anger against this constant deceit, he finally resorts to violence

to wring the truth from Mime, who, with many interruptions and many
attempts to resume his old whining tone, finally reveals to him the secret
of his birth and the name of his mother. He also tells him all he gleaned
about his father, who fell in battle, and, in proof of the veracity of his
words, produces the fragments of Siegmund’s sword, which the dying
Sieglinde had left for her son:--

‘Lo! what thy mother had left me!

For my pains and worry together
She gave me this poor reward.
See! a broken sword,
Brandished, she said, by thy father,
When foiled in the last of his fights.’

Siegfried, who has listened to all this tale with breathless attention,
interrupting the dwarf only to silence his recurring attempts at self-praise,
now declares he will fare forth into the wild world as soon as Mime has
welded together the precious fragments of the sword. In the mean while,
finding the dwarf’s hated presence too unbearable, he rushes out and
vanishes in the green forest depths. Left alone once more, Mime wistfully
gazes after him, thinking how he may detain the youth until the dragon
has been slain. At last he slowly begins to hammer the fragments of the
sword, which will not yield to his skill and resume their former shape.

While the dwarf Mime is abandoning himself to moody despair, Wotan

has been walking through the forest. He is disguised as a Wanderer,
according to his wont, and suddenly enters Mime’s cave. The dwarf starts
up in alarm at the sight of a stranger, but after asking him who he may be,
and learning that he prides himself upon his wisdom, he bids him begone.
Wotan, however, who has come hither to ascertain whether there is any
prospect of discovering anything new, now proposes a contest of wit, in
which the loser’s head shall be at the winner’s disposal. Mime reluctantly
assents, and begins by asking a question concerning the dwarfs and their
treasures. This Wotan answers by describing the Nibelungs’ gold, and the
power wielded by Alberich as long as he was owner of the magic ring.

Mime’s second inquiry is relative to the inhabitants of earth, and Wotan

describes the great stature of the giants, who, however, were no match for
the dwarfs, until they obtained possession not only of the ring, but also of
the great hoard over which Fafnir now broods in the guise of a dragon.

Then Mime questions him concerning the gods, but only to be told that
Wotan, the most powerful of them all, holds an invincible spear upon
whose shaft are engraved powerful runes. In speaking thus the disguised
god strikes the ground with his spear, and a long roll of thunder falls upon
the terrified Mime’s ear.

The three questions have been asked and successfully answered, and it
is now Mime’s turn to submit to an interrogatory, from which he evidently
shrinks, but to which he must yield. Wotan now proceeds to ask him which
race, beloved by Wotan, is yet visited by his wrath, which sword is the
most invincible of weapons, and who will weld its broken pieces together.
Mime triumphantly answers the first two questions by naming the Volsung
race and Siegmund’s blade, Nothung; but as he has failed to weld the
sword anew, and has no idea who will be able to achieve the feat, he is
forced to acknowledge himself beaten by the third.

Scorning to take any advantage of so puny a rival, Wotan refuses to

take the forfeited head, and departs, after telling the Nibelung that the
sword can only be restored to its pristine glory by the hand of a man who
knows no fear, and that the same man will claim it as his lawful prize and
dispose of Mime’s head:--

‘Hark thou forfeited dwarf;

None but he
Who never feared,
Nothung forges anew.
Henceforth beware!
Thy wily headIs forfeit to him
Whose heart is free from fear.’
 When Siegfried returns and finds the fire low, the dwarf idle, and the
sword unfinished, he angrily demands an explanation. Mime then reveals
to him that none but a fearless man can ever accomplish the task. As
Siegfried does not even know the meaning of the word, Mime graphically
describes all the various phases of terror to enlighten him.

Siegfried listens to his explanations, but when they have come to an

end and he has ascertained that such a feeling has never been harboured
in his breast, he springs up and seizes the pieces of the broken sword. He
files them to dust, melts the metal on the fire, which he blows into an
intense glow, and after moulding tempers the sword. While hammering
lustily Siegfried gaily sings the Song of the Sword. The blade, when
finished, flashes in his hand like a streak of lightning, and possesses so
keen an edge that he cleaves the huge anvil in two with a single stroke.

While Siegfried is thus busily employed, Mime, dreading the man who
knows no fear, and to whom he has been told his head was forfeit,
concocts a poisonous draught. This he intends to administer to the young
hero as soon as the frightful dragon is slain, for he has artfully incited the
youth to go forth and attack the monster, in hope of learning the peculiar
sensation of fear, which he has never yet known.

In another cave, in the depths of the selfsame dense forest, is Alberich

the dwarf, Mime’s brother and former master. He mounts guard night and
day over the Neidhole, where Fafnir, the giant dragon, gloats over his gold.
It is night and the darkness is so great that the entrance to the Neidhole
only dimly appears. The storm wind rises and sweeps through the woods,
rustling all the forest leaves. It subsides however almost as soon as it has
risen, and Wotan, still disguised as a Wanderer, appears in the moonlight,
to the great alarm of the wily dwarf. A moment’s examination suffices to
enable him to recognise his quondam foe, whom he maliciously taunts
with the loss of the ring, for well he knows the god cannot take back what
he has once given away.

Wotan, however, seems in no wise inclined to resent this taunting

speech, but warns Alberich of the approach of Mime, accompanied by a
youth who knows no fear, and whose keen blade will slay the monster. He
adds that the youth will appropriate the hoard, ere he rouses Fafnir to
foretell the enemy’s coming. Then he disappears with the usual
accompaniment of rushing winds and rumbling thunder.

The warning which Alberich would fain disbelieve is verified, as soon as

the morning breaks, by the appearance of Siegfried and Mime. The latter
is acting as guide, and eagerly points out the mighty dragon’s lair. But
even then the youth still refuses to tremble, and when Mime describes
Fafnir’s fiery breath, coiling tail, and impenetrable hide, he good-naturedly
declares he will save his most telling blow until the monster’s side is
exposed, and he can plunge Nothung deep into his gigantic breast.

Thus forewarned against the dragon’s various modes of attack,

Siegfried advances boldly, while Mime prudently retires to a place of
safety. He is closely watched by Alberich, who crouches unseen in his
cave. Siegfried seats himself on the bank to wait for the dragon’s
awakening, and beguiles the time by trying to imitate the songs of the
birds, which he would fain understand quite clearly. As all his efforts result
in failure, Siegfried soon casts aside the reed with which he had tried to
reproduce their liquid notes, and, winding his horn, boldly summons Fafnir
to come forth and encounter him in single fight.
 This challenge immediately brings forth the frightful dragon. To
Siegfried’s surprise he can still talk like a man. After a few of the usual
amenities, the fight begins. Mindful of his boast, Siegfried skilfully parries
every blow, evades the fiery breath, lashing tail, and dangerous claws,
and, biding his time, thrusts his sword up to the very hilt in the giant’s
heart.

With his dying breath, the monster tells the youth of the curse which
accompanies his hoard, and, rolling over, dies in terrible convulsions. The
young hero, seeing the monster is dead, withdraws his sword from the
wound; but as he does so a drop of the fiery blood falls upon his naked
hand. The intolerable smarting sensation it produces causes him to put it
to his lips to allay the pain. No sooner has he done so than he suddenly
becomes aware that a miracle has happened, for he can understand the
songs of all the forest birds.

Listening wonderingly, Siegfried soon hears a bird overhead warning

him to possess himself of the tarn-helmet and magic ring, and proclaiming
that the treasure of the Nibelungs is now his own. He immediately thanks
the bird for its advice, and vanishes into the gaping Neidhole in search of
the promised treasures:--

‘Hi! Siegfried shall have now

The Nibelungs’ hoard,
For here in the holeIt awaits his hand!
Let him not turn from the tarn-helm,
It leads to tasks of delight;
But finds he a ring for his finger,
The world he will rule with his will.’

Alberich and Mime, who have been trembling with fear as long as the
conflict raged, now timidly venture out of their respective hiding places.
Then only they become aware of each other’s intention to hasten into the
cave and appropriate the treasure, and begin a violent quarrel. It is
brought to a speedy close, however, by the reappearance of Siegfried
wearing the glittering helmet, armour, and magic ring.

The mere appearance of this martial young figure causes both dwarfs
to slink back to their hiding places, while the birds resume their song. They
warn Siegfried to distrust Mime, who is even then approaching with the
poisonous draught. This the dwarf urges upon him with such persistency
that Siegfried, disgusted with his fawning hypocrisy, finally draws his
sword and kills him with one blow:--

‘Taste of my sword,
Sickening talker!
Meed for hate
Nothung makes;
Work for which he was mended.’

Then, while Alberich is laughing in malicious glee over the downfall of

his rival, Siegfried flings his body into the Neidhole, and rolls the dragon’s
carcass in front of the opening to protect the gold. He next pauses again
to listen to the bird in the lime tree, which sings of a lovely maiden
surrounded by flames, who can be won as bride only by the man who
knows no fear:--
‘Ha! Siegfried has slain
The slanderous dwarf.
O, would that the fairest
Wife he might find!
On lofty heights she sleeps,
A fire embraces her hall;
If he strides through the blaze,
And wakens the bride,Brunhilde he wins to wife.’

This new quest sounds so alluring to Siegfried, that he immediately sets

out upon it, following the road which the Wanderer has previously taken.
The latter has gone on to the very foot of the mountain, upon which the
flickering flames which surrounded Brunhilde are burning brightly. There
he pauses to conjure the goddess Erda to appear and reveal future events.
Slowly and reluctantly the Earth goddess arises from her prolonged sleep.
Her face is pallid as the newly fallen snow, her head crowned with
glittering icicles, and her form enveloped in a great white winding-sheet. In
answer to the god’s inquiries about the future, she bids him question the
Norns and Brunhilde. After a few obscure prophecies he allows her to sink
down into her grave once more, for he now knows that one of the Volsung
race has won the magic ring, and is even now on his way up the mountain
to awaken Brunhilde.

In corroboration of these words, Siegfried appears a few moments after

the prophetess or Wala has again sunk into rest. Challenged by Wotan the
Wanderer, he declares he is on the way to rouse the sleeping maiden. In
answer to a few questions, he rapidly adds that he has slain Mime and the
dragon, has tasted its blood, and brandishes aloft the glittering sword
which has done him good service and which he has welded himself.

Wotan, wishing to test his courage, and at the same time to fulfil his
promise to Brunhilde that none should attempt to pass the flames except
the one who feared not even his magic spear, now declares that he has
slain his father, Siegmund. Siegfried, the avenger, boldly draws his
gleaming sword, which, instead of shattering as once before against the
divine spear, cuts it to pieces. In the same instant the Wanderer
disappears, amid thunder and lightning. Siegfried, looking about him to
find Brunhilde, becomes aware of the flickering flames of a great fire,
which rise higher and higher as he rushes joyfully into their very midst,
blowing his horn and singing his merry hunting lay.

The flames, which now invade the whole stage, soon flicker and die out,
and, as the scene becomes visible once more, Brunhilde is seen fast
asleep upon a grassy mound. Siegfried comes, and, after commenting
upon the drowsing steed, draws nearer still. Then he perceives the
sleeping figure in armour, and bends solicitously over it. Gently he
removes the shield and helmet, cuts open the armour, and starts back in
surprise when he sees a flood of bright golden hair fall rippling all around
the fair form of a sleeping woman:--

‘No man it is!

Hallowed rapture
Thrills through my heart;
Fiery anguish
Enfolds my eyes.
My senses wander
And waver.
Whom shall I summon
Hither to help me?
Mother! Mother!
Be mindful of me.’

His head suddenly sinks down upon her bosom, but, as her immobility
continues, he experiences for the first time a faint sensation of fear. This is
born of his love for her, and, in a frantic endeavour to recall her to life, he
bends down and kisses her passionately. At the magic touch of his lips,
Brunhilde opens her eyes, and, overjoyed at the sight of the rising sun,
greets it with a burst of rapturous song ere she turns to thank her
deliverer. The first glimpse of the hero in his glittering mail is enough to fill
her heart with love, and recognizing in him Siegfried, the hero whose
coming she herself has foretold, she welcomes him with joy. Siegfried then
relates how he found her, how he delivered her from the fetters of sleep,
and, impetuously declaring his passion, claims her love in return.
 The scene between the young lovers, the personifications of the Sun
and of Spring, is one of indescribable passion and beauty, and when they
have joined in a duet of unalterable love, Brunhilde no longer regrets past
glories, but declares the world well lost for the love she has won.

‘Away Walhall’s
Lightening world!
In dust with thy seeming,
Towers lie down!
Farewell greatness
And gift of the gods!
End in bliss
Thou unwithering breed!
You, Norns, unravel
The rope of runes!
Darken upwards
Dusk of the gods!
Night of annulment,
Near in thy cloud!--
I stand in sight
Of Siegfried’s star;
For me he was
And for me he will be,
Ever and always,
One and all
Lighting love
And laughing death.’

These sentiments are more than echoed by the enamoured Siegfried,

who is beside himself with rapture at the mere thought of possessing the
glorious creature, who has forgotten all her divine state to become naught
but a loving and lovable woman.

6.

Siegfried is the third opera in this series by Richard Wagner.  And in

this third part we penetrate even deeper into profound Initiatic mysteries
whose true meaning and true content had never before been publicly
revealed.  In this story of Siegfried we see symbolized aspects of the
Cosmic Drama that any initiate from any time or place has to live within
their own consciousness.  This Cosmic Drama is universal.  It has always
existed, and it will always exist.  Very few have seen the Cosmic Drama for
what it is, because very few have lived it.  

When we penetrate into this story of Siegfried we are entering into a

symbolic representation of levels of the Path that are rarely tread.  In the
former opera, related to the Valkyries, called Die Walküre, we heard the
story of Siegmund and Sieglinde.  And in the last portion of that opera, this
divine couple is headed up the path, up a mountain.  This mountain is
symbolic.  

When we study Initiation, when we study the complete Path, what we

are studying is a great work of conscious development.  In many esoteric
traditions, this work is symbolized by a mountain.  Throughout the history
of this race, we have seen the mountain as a symbol of initiatic
development: in the Bible when Moses ascends the mountain, in the Greek
mysteries we find Mount Olympus, while in the Eastern traditions,
Hinduism and Buddhism, we find Kailash, Mount Meru, and other symbolic
mountains.

In every case, the mountain is a symbol.  Of course, most people who

study religion and study mysticism take these symbols literally as if there
is literally a mountain somewhere, physically.  But we state to make it
clear: these mountains are symbolic.  So, the mountain that the couple is
ascending in the second opera of the series represents the First Mountain
of three mountains.  

Now in most traditions we only hear of one mountain, and that is

because in most traditions we are only hearing about the first stages of
the Path of Initiation.  The later stages, having rarely been walked, have
never been revealed until very recently.  

So the First Mountain is the Mountain of Initiation.  And it is on this

Path, this work of inner development which is accessed through the sexual
cooperation between the man and the woman, or in other words through
tantrism, is a sacred path that many initiates walk.  

In many traditions we find the necessary steps, we find the necessary

symbols, even if they are not explicit.  Alchemy, Tantrism, Daath-these
sciences contain the essential keys symbolized in their depths which
represent the process whereby one is born again.  And of course, to be
born, we know, is a sexual problem.

When Nicodemus told Jesus that he did not understand the Mysteries,
Jesus explained to him that it is one thing to be born of the flesh and
another thing to be born of the spirit.  This birth of the spirit is what is
accomplished in the very first few portions of the path of the First
Mountain, the Mountain of Initiation.  This first portion is symbolized by
seven serpents of fire.  If you analyze Buddhism or Hinduism, you will find
the symbol of the seven serpents is very common.  

But this is also symbolized in other ways.  These seven serpents are
seven individual works within which the initiate has to raise the fire of the
Holy Spirit within himself, in the same way that Moses raises the serpent
upon the staff in the wilderness.  

This process of being "born again" is gradual, and it is accomplished by

passing ordeals, by passing tests, by gathering within oneself the
necessary elements through scientific chastity working in cooperation with
a spouse.  And in that process the Second Birth is gradually accomplished,
so that as a result, the soul is born.  This is symbolized in the last act of
the second opera, when Siegmund and Sieglinde are ascending the
mountain and Sieglinde is pregnant.  She has within a child ready to be
born, and this is the soul that will be born as a result of these works
ascending the mountain.  That child is named Siegfried.  

In Kabbalah, we understand that Siegfried is a symbol of the

Human Soul, Tiphereth, willpower, which, if you examine the Tree of Life,
is directly in the center of the tree, related to the heart.  And Tiphereth is
the warrior, the fighter.  In the Arthurian mysteries, he is Lancelot.  
 Now if you remember from the previous opera, there is an obstacle,
and Siegmund cannot ascend to Valhall, to heaven, with his wife. 
Brunhilde offers to save him from Wotan, from his own responsibilities,
from his Karma, but Siegmund refuses to go to Valhall.  He says, "If my
wife cannot come, if my love cannot come, I will not go."  And so, in the
next moment, he enters into battle with Hunding, and Wotan appears and
breaks the sword of Siegmund, and Siegmund is killed by Hunding. 
Hunding, of course, represents our own ego.  

What we find symbolized here is a profound Initiatic mystery related

with the Fifth Serpent of Fire, which is naturally related with the fifth
sphere of the Tree of Life, counting upwards from the bottom, Tiphereth. 
When an initiate, someone who is accomplishing levels of initiation, has
reached the Fifth Initiation of Fire, related to Tiphereth, near the end of
that process of raising that particular serpent on the staff, that initiate is
given a choice between two directions of their continued development. 
The choice is the same one that Siegmund faced: to ascend to Valhall, to
Nirvana, to heaven; or to remain with his love, with his spouse.  What is
symbolized there is the choice between choosing the Direct Path-staying
because of love, staying in the wilderness because of love-or entering
Valhall and receiving protection-escaping the battle, abandoning one's
duty, in some sense.  Because Siegmund of course, in refusing to enter
into Nirvana, to Valhall, does so because of love.  And really, the Direct
Path is the Path of Love.  It is the Path of the Bodhisattva.  

We call it the Path of Love because only the initiate who chooses to
take this Direct Path incarnates love.  And who is love but Christ?  Christ,
the Krestos, is that universal energy which is descending from above and
illuminating the entire Tree.  Christ is not an individual.  Christ is a force. 
Christ is love.  But that love is exemplified in sacrifice, selflessness.  The
Christ does not have an "I."  The Christ is not individual.  Within Christ, we
are all one.  Within Christ, all the Masters, all the Angels, all the Prophets,
are one.  In the world of Chokmah, which is related to the Christ, to the
Sun, it is a world of unity, of oneness.  And that energy, that expression, is
an expression of selfless love.  
 At this moment, the initiate who has reached this degree of
development has to choose between incarnating that love-giving birth to
that in themselves-or protecting themselves-holding on to their own self-
identity, and being saved and taken to Valhall.  

In Buddhism, the ones who choose to take the Spiral Path, the easier
way, to go to Valhall, are called Pratyekas, or Pratyeka Buddhas.  And this
term refers to a kind of selfishness, or self-love, a kind of sense of self-
being identified with oneself-considering oneself to be real, to have an "I." 
And typically this idea of the Pratyeka Buddha is related with the
"Hinayana" teachings, or the "Foundational Vehicle" (Shravakayana),
which seeks enlightenment for one's own sake, which seeks liberation
from suffering, but with only the driving concern for oneself.  

You also hear this type of practitioner, or this type of initiate, called a
"Nirvani," or in some mysteries, they are called the selfish gods, jealous
gods.  And truly, if you look at the Buddhist Wheel of Samsara, you see
that on the wheel itself are heavens in the upper portion of that wheel. 
Those heavens are part of the Wheel of Suffering, and that is where the
jealous gods live.  They are gods, they have powers, they are initiates, but
they are attached: attached to power, attached to their initiations,
attached to their sense of self, to being a so-called "Master."  And so they
reign in certain levels of heaven, and have powers and abilities, but they
are suffering-not in the way we do, but they still suffer.  

But of course, in the opera, Siegmund renounces Valhalla.  He refuses

the protection of Brunhilde and chooses to stay with his love, with his wife,
with his spouse.  This is a sacrifice of love, and this is the only way through
which an initiate enters into the Direct Path: by renouncing Nirvana,
renouncing powers.  But what happens to him?  He dies.  Of course that
death is symbolic - it is symbolic of the death of the "I," the death of self-
love.  And it is related to Initiatic, mystical death.  That death is necessary
in order for Siegfried, the Human Soul, to fully develop himself.  But of
course he does so in darkness and in obscurity.  

So now let us listen to the first act of Siegfried so we can advance in

our understanding of this profound opera.  
Act I
When this act begins, we observe Mime.  Mime, of course, is a
Nibelung, or in other words, a dwarf, a dweller of the underworld.  Mime is
a blacksmith-he works in the forge.  By twists of fate, Siegfried is raised by
Mime, but Siegfried does not know his own identity, nor his parents, nor
his history; he only knows Mime.  

Now Siegfried has innocence in his character, and courage, because he

does not know fear.  But Mime does not tell him everything.  Mime is very
crafty.  Mime knows certain things, but does not reveal them.  

Being a blacksmith, Mime represents how our own ego, our own mind,
has the capability to create.  It has the capability to use fire, to use
energy, in order to create elements, to create things in the forge. 
Symbolically, we know in Gnosis is that the forge is always related to
sexual power.  It is in the forge of the Alchemists where the weapons are
created, where Vulcan from the Greek mysteries, the Roman mysteries,
forges weapons to give to the warriors.  But Mime is not Vulcan.  Mime is a
Nibelung.  He is consumed with envy.  He is a schemer.  He is a liar.  He is
a thief.  He is our own mind.  But in particular, he is the mind of the
initiate.  Siegfried is born in an initiate-someone who has already
surpassed the Fifth Initiation of Fire-someone who has already entered into
the Direct Path; in other words, someone who has renounced Nirvana.  

Now it is good to point out here that you cannot renounce something
that you do not have.  If you do not have money, how can you renounce
it?  If you do not have Nirvana, how can you renounce it?  Renunciation is
only possible for the one who has some thing to renounce.  There are
many in the world who now proclaim themselves to be Bodhisattvas and
who aspire to enter the Path of the Bodhisattva.  And this is wonderful. 
This is a beautiful aspiration to have.  But it is one thing to aspire towards
being a Bodhisattva and another thing to actually enter that path.  This is
a conscious experience; this is something related to the Soul, not related
to belief or intention.  

The one who renounces Nirvana knows Nirvana, experiences Nirvana,

has the power to consciously go in and out of Nirvana at will.  Someone
who has acquired this Fifth Initiation of Fire has developed in themselves
the Kundalini, the Fire of the Holy Spirit, related to the Physical, Ethereal,
Astral, Mental, and Causal Bodies.  In other words, they have created
the Soul.  They have created the Solar Astral Body, which gives them the
capacity to travel at will in the Astral World, consciously, out of the
physical body.  This person has created the Solar Mental Body, which gives
them the capacity to travel at will in the Mental World, to visit temples, to
speak directly with the Gods.  And they have created the Solar Causal
Body, which is the body of willpower-conscious will-which gives the initiate
the capacity to travel in the sixth dimension, free of ego, in absolute
ecstasy of the soul.  

You have to acquire that before you can renounce it.  This is the symbol
of Siegfried.  Siegfried is the result of that renunciation.  The initiate who
renounces Nirvana and chooses to take the Direct Path takes the path of
the revolution.  Very few initiates have taken this path because it is so
revolutionary.  It is very difficult.  

The vast majority of spiritual teachings only teach the most

kindergarten level of spiritual studies.  Most spiritual schools have no clue
about what real initiation is, because most of the religions and schools that
exist in this day and age have come from the previous Piscean Era, and so
have very little or no knowledge of real initiation, of these first few steps,
much less the many steps that follow.  And part of the reason for that is
that most people who do manage to enter into initiation, and who do
manage to reach the Fifth Initiation of Fire after years of struggle, choose
to take the easier way, choose to take the Spiral Path, to hold on to the
powers they have developed, to maintain their clairvoyance, to keep their
ability to travel consciously in the other worlds, to keep their disciples, to
be admired, to be respected, to be worshipped.  And thus, they only have
knowledge up to that level, and therefore that is all they teach-the level of
knowledge up to that point.  

Those who have entered into the Direct Path are rebels,
revolutionaries, very strong characters like Jesus.  Jesus was entirely
revolutionary in His entire way of being.  He is not the type of person that
you see depicted in modern Christianity who is weak.  Jesus was a man of
tremendous strength, a very powerful personality, but a Solar Personality;
a very powerful person, like Buddha, who also is often depicted as weak,
as very passive.  But neither of these Masters was ever passive, and
neither one is passive now.  They are very revolutionary figures with a
very forceful, very strong, very direct teaching which has been
misinterpreted and disfigured by man.  

Moses was a revolutionary who entered into the Direct Path.  Elias,
Elijah, all of these prophets are prophets of the Direct Path.  And when you
study their teachings you see the intensity and the ferocity of what they
teach, and mankind does not like that.  But the ones who especially do not
like it are the Nirvanis-the Pratyeka Buddhas.  

It seems odd to us that the Gods fight amongst themselves, but they
do.  And this is symbolized, of course, in these operas, in the Mahabharata,
in the Greek Mysteries, in the Nordic Mysteries.  All of the ancient
mythologies represent the Gods in conflict.  Only the Christian one, which
of course has been hacked to pieces, does not demonstrate this.  But all
the other mythologies do.  

The Nirvanis-the Pratyeka Buddhas, those who are attached to their

positions and power, to being respected-abhor the Bodhisattvas, reject the
Bodhisattvas, criticize, scandalize the Bodhisattvas.  And this has always
been the case, and continues to be so to this day.  

What is important for us to grasp is that the one who enters into the
Bodhisattva Path, the Direct Path, basically starts over because that
person renounces all of their powers out of love for humanity.  They
renounce all of their abilities, they renounce all of their internal conscious
development, for love of humanity.  So they become like Siegfried: with a
strong personality but with no real weapons; no real force; innocent; and
in the company of their own ego, who in this opera is symbolized as Mime.

Now Mime, of course, has the pieces of the shattered sword which
belonged to Siegfried's father.  And that sword, of course, is called
Nothung, which means "nothing," and this is symbolic of the Kundalini.  

In the course of this first act, Siegfried enters to find Mime forging a
sword for Siegfried.  When Siegfried comes in he brings with him a bear,
and in a very teasing way has the bear threaten Mime, to attack Mime. 
And Mime, of course, is terrified.  That bear symbolizes the strength of the
earth, the forces of nature, which Siegfried commands.  

What is interesting here is that Siegfried represents the Human Soul,

this new birth, like Jesus born in the manger, a child born into a place of
dampness and darkness, like the cave of Mime, or the manger of Jesus. 
But that child still has power, being a developed consciousness.  And that
power is symbolized in the bear-sexual power-which Siegfried controls. 
And he uses that force to threaten Mime, to threaten his own ego, to say,
"I am the one who is really in charge here.  You, Mime, might think you are
in charge, but you are not."  Mime is terrified, because he knows the bear
can consume him.  

But Siegfried calls off the bear and tests out the new sword that Mime
has given him, but of course it breaks.  This sword is the weapon, a tool,
which the ego offers to the initiate.  

All of us have to learn to discriminate, to know how to manage the

capabilities of our own mind.  There are many capabilities that our own
mind, our own heart, has.  Our own mind, our intellect, our heart, can
produce marvelous works: ideas, and theories, and concepts, practices,
ways of understanding, ways of relating.  But, they are not sufficient for
the work that Siegfried has to accomplish.  Siegfried needs weapons that
are greater than that which the mind can provide.  

In Gnosticism we study that in order to conquer the mind, we need

something that is greater than the mind.  The mind cannot conquer itself. 
We can think about things all we want.  We can theorize about spirituality. 
We can read books.  We can build a very beautiful intellectual concept
about what the nature of God is, what is the nature of self-realization,
what is the nature of realization, of liberation.  All of these mental
concepts, and beliefs in the heart, and practices that we perform, may be
fine at certain levels of development, but Siegfried cannot use them.  To
advance in the Path of Initiation, Siegfried needs a power greater than the
mind: he needs Nothung; he needs the power of the nothingness; he
needs the Kundalini.  
 When the sword was broken, it was broken because Siegmund,
Siegfried's father, renounced Nirvana, rejected the entrance into heaven,
and chose to take the Direct Path.  Wotan then came and broke his sword. 
In other words, he broke his powers.  He broke his ability to fight.  This is
related, of course, to the Serpents of the Kundalini of the first five
initiations.  

Now in Siegfried, Siegfried needs a sword, but all he has are the shards,
the broken pieces.  And those shards are those five bodies, those five
Serpents of Fire.  But they need to be reforged; they need to be put back
into the flame and made strong to fight in a new level.  

Now there are actually seven Serpents of Fire, but the top two, number
six and seven, never fell.  These two are Brunhilde and Wotan.  

The one who takes the Direct Path enters into a new octave, new
stages, new levels, in which that initiate, or Siegfried in other words, has
to retemper the sword, to make the sword anew.  But of course, at first he
asks Mime to do it.  Siegfried asks Mime, "Take the shards of that sword
and forge it for me."  Of course Mime knows he cannot do it.  

At the same time, Siegfried tells Mime, "You are not my father.  We
look nothing alike."  This is a very important point as well in this act. 
Siegfried, of course, symbolizes our own Human Soul, our
own consciousness in terms of willpower; in other words, abstract mind,
intuitive mind.  

Mime, naturally, represents the ego that we have, but the ego that we

have grown up in.  Siegfried, of course, is raised in Mime's cave.  Mime is
always telling him, "I am your father and your mother.  I am all you know. 
I have done everything for you.  I have protected you, I have fed you, I
have taught you everything you know.  You owe everything to me." So
says our own mind.  This is a combination, really, of our personality and
our own ego, our own sense of self.  

We have to develop the capacity to discriminate, just like Siegfried

does, to learn to see the difference between our true self, or true self-
nature, and our inherited ego, our inherited personality, our acquired
characteristics, which are all false.  

You see, Siegfried is given into the hands of Mime to be raised there. 
This is Jesus being born in the manger amongst the animals.  But Jesus did
not make the mistake to believe that that was his real home, that that was
his true identity.  Neither does Siegfried.  We have to acquire that same
discrimination.  

The Path of the Revolutionary, this Direct Path, is a path within which
one renounces even one's own self, all the concepts we have of self. 
Truly, when you come to know yourself, to have true self-knowledge, you
come to understand that you are not what you perceive yourself to be. 
Each one of us has existed in a body previous to this one, we just forgot. 
And we claim, "Well, I cannot remember, so I do not believe in past lives." 
Yet, we cannot remember what happened last week, or last month, or last
year.  How are you going to remember what happened in your last body?  

You can develop that memory, you can develop that capacity,
through meditation, through transmutation, by developing the powers of
Siegfried-the ability to discriminate, to see.  

The self that we have now is false; it is acquired.  It is acquired because

of the nature of our own hypnosis, the way our mind is attached to matter
and to sensation, and becomes hypnotized by craving and aversion.  

Siegfried commands Mime to reforge the sword for him, and then
Siegfried runs into the forest, and at this moment Wotan appears.  And
Wotan, of course, we have discussed, is symbolic of our own Inner Father,
our own Inner Spirit.  Wotan is called "The Wanderer."  He is like the Spirit
that moves over the face of the waters.  Kabbalistically, Wotan is both
Kether-or the First Arcanum, the Magician- and he is also Chesed-the
Seventh Arcanum, the warrior, the fighter, in the chariot.  He is also the
Fourth Arcanum, the Emperor.  He is that wanderer.  He is our own Spirit,
who illuminates many aspects of the Tree and appears with many faces in
the course of the development of the initiate.  
 He appears in this scene to speak with Mime.  And he says that he will
challenge Mime to a battle of wits, and they exchange questions.  Of
course Mime fails.  What is curious in this scene is we see how our
own ego believes it can outsmart God.  And this is really a theme
throughout the entire series of operas.  You see with Alberich, with Fafner,
and with Mime this continual sense that they have, a belief that they have,
that they can outwit the Gods.  And at times it appears that they do so.  

So here we have Mime believing that he can outwit everyone, and our
own mind believes that.  Our own mind forgets that every action bears a
consequence.  Our own mind causes us to lose sight of the truth of Karma-
that every man will reap what he sows.  And so our mind whispers in our
ear and tells us, "You can do it.  No one will ever find out," forgetting of
course, that the one who manages the Karma is God, is our own Being.  

So this is the case with Mime and Wotan.  Wotan, naturally, traps Mime
and says, "Since you failed to answer my questions, I now have your
head.  But I transfer that right to the one who forges the sword and kills
the dragon."  And Wotan leaves.  Of course we know that that one will be
Siegfried.  

When Siegfried returns from the forest, he finds Mime dejected; has not
reforged the sword for him, Nothung.  So Siegfried does it himself.  This is
again symbolic of how our own ego cannot awaken our consciousness.  No
belief can awaken us.  No theory can awaken our consciousness. 
Membership in any school cannot awaken our consciousness.  Being close
to any so-called Master, having a certain collection of books, knowing a
certain collection of practices, believing this or that-none of that will
actually awaken the consciousness, none of that can forge the sword that
we need to fight against ourselves.  The only one that can awaken us is
ourselves.  Even the Buddha stated that: "I cannot save anyone.  Each of
you has to work out realization for himself."  

Now in the Christic mysteries, in the Christian mysteries, it is

symbolized a little bit differently.  We know that the only one that can save
us is Christ, but that Christ is not an individual, that Christ is energy, it is
love.  And in order for Christ to save us He has to be born in our heart; He
has to be born in our mind; He has to live in our actions.  And that is only
accomplished when we are present, when we are paying attention, when
we are conquering and controlling our own ego, our own desires, our
aggression, our lust, our envy.  That is all Mime; that is all Alberich; that is
all Fafner.  These things have to be controlled like an animal in order for us
to awaken and to do the will of God, to do what is right.  

So Siegfried arrives and begins to forge the sword himself.  This is

related to the second half of the First Mountain.  The first half, we know, is
related to Serpents of Fire.  But then, when the initiate chooses the Direct
Path, the sword is broken and the initiate has to begin again to forge the
sword anew.  The sword, of course, is the Kundalini.  It is the force of the
Holy Spirit that rises in our spinal column and forms a sword of will-
willpower-that we can use to conquer our own inner dragon.  

So that process of working in the forge, working in the fires of the Holy
Spirit, is a process of raising seven Serpents of Light, in other words,
completing the second half of that First Mountain, which is a process that
only Bodhisattvas go through.  And this is a process of initiation which is
gradual and very difficult.  

Each serpent is a process of being tested, of being put into the flames,
put into the fire, and hammered by the blacksmith.  That blacksmith is the
Christ who is born in the heart of the initiate, who is born in the heart of
that Bodhisattva, who strikes against the mind of the initiate repeatedly
with the hammer of Karma to teach the initiate, to form the blade, to make
it strong.  The heat of the forge is the heat of ordeals, the heat of desire,
the heat of passion, the heat of anger, of envy, which the initiate has to
withstand in order to forge the sword anew.  And throughout the process
in the opera, Siegfried is singing very happily, very beautifully, because for
him this is his perfection; this is how he acquires his weapon; this is how
the Christ develops into a Superman.  

In the first stage of this First Mountain, when the soul is first born,
really what is happening there is that man is born.  We call someone a
man because they have acquired Manas.  Man comes from Manas, which
means "mind" in Sanskrit.  And Manas is related with Tiphereth.  
 In Sanskrit, we know there is this Trimurti, or Trinity: Atman, Buddhi,
Manas, which is related to the structure of our own soul.  Manas is "mind,"
but abstract mind, intuitive mind, mind that does not use thought, but it
knows.  This is the kind of mind that meditation develops.  

We also have inferior Manas, which is Netzach, which is related to the

Mental Body.  But superior Manas is here in Tiphereth, related to the
willpower, to our conscious willpower.  

Manas, man, human.  Hu is "spirit,"  as in Allah Hu, from Islam.  Hu is

God's Spirit.  So the Hu-man is spirit controlling mind: hu-man, human. 
Being-our own Being is Wotan, our Inner Buddha.  A human being, a real
human being, is someone who has the presence of God within them, with
the spirit-Hu-controlling the mind-Manas.  

So none of us are real human beings yet.  We are human beings in

development: embryos of human beings.  Really, we are just animals that
have intellect, because we are controlled by our desires, manipulated by
our passions, by our impulses, by our instinct, by envy, by fear.  We
cannot control our fear, we cannot control our lust, we cannot control our
pride.  We act humble, we act peaceful, we act serene, but it is fake.  In
other words, we are all sanctimonious-we act like we have sanctity, purity,
moral purity, but we do not.  We put on that face, like the Pharisees and
the scribes.  

In those first initiations of fire, the Man is developed.  Any Buddha is a

Man.  Any Buddha has developed Manas.  But very few of them become a
Super-Man, something beyond a Man, something beyond a Buddha.  And
this is Christ.  

The Super-Man, the Supernal Man, is born when one enters into the
Direct Path and the Christ is born in our heart and mind.  This is the arrival
of the Superman.  Do you know where this term came from?  From
Nietzsche.  Did you know that Nietzsche was a friend of Wagner?  That
Nietzsche and Wagner were in the same group of people?  Is it not
interesting that Nietzsche wrote his book Thus Spoke Zarathustra all about
the terrors and the wonders of the Superman, or in other words the
Christified initiate, while Wagner was writing his ring cycle all about this
Superman?  And Parsifal, was also about this Superman.  

The Superman is the Christified initiate who develops these Serpents of

Light.  Only the Direct Path can lead one to those initiations.  Pratyeka
Buddhas, Sravakas, all the Nirvani Buddhas, the jealous Gods cannot
receive those initiations-none of them incarnate the Christ.  None.  They
talk about Christ; they might worship Christ, but they do not incarnate
Him.  

This is the forging of Nothung for the second time.  It is the process of
completing that First Mountain.  And when Siegfried completes it, in the
process of completing it, Mime is all the while plotting how to get Siegfried
to use the sword for his benefit-to benefit Mime.  And then in the end,
Mime is planning to kill Siegfried.  

This is how our own mind acts like our best friend.  That voice you hear
in your head is the voice of your own ego, who is always telling you what
to do, what to think, what to feel, how to act, all the while as if it is really
you-as if that is your real identity.  But behind that, in secret, that mind is
plotting your downfall.  And that is why increasingly through time, and
from lifetime to lifetime, from body to body, suffering increases, because
our Karma gets heavier, because we continue feeding desire, continue
feeding Mime, continue being misled by desire, by passion, by hate, by
envy.  

Now when Siegfried completes the sword, he splits the anvil to test it. 
Now the anvil is obviously a symbol of the tool used in the forge, and the
forge is a symbol of Tantra.  It is the place where all the heat and pressure
are gathered.  Tantrism is the science to harness energy.  The
term tantra means "continuum," or "flow," and relates to energy.  And if
you have studied true Tantrism-not the tantrism that people in the West
think of now, which is all black, which is all wrong-but real Tantrism is the
science to harness forces which reside within us.  The Dalai Lama stated
very clearly that the purpose of Tantra is to harness the subtle energies of
the body in order to awaken the consciousness.  And that is symbolized by
the forge.  When Siegfried is working in the forge, he is working in
Tantrism, in Alchemy, in Sexual Scientific Chastity.  
 When the sword is finished, he has finished that work, and he splits the
anvil with it, which represents a period of abstinence, a period within
which he takes a break from the forge, takes a rest.  And this happens at
different moments through the Path of Initiation.  But in this moment
Siegfried is prepared to go and fight the dragon, so he commands Mime,
"Take me to the dragon."  And we enter into the second act.  

Act II
In all the ancient mysteries and great religions, we have consistent
symbols.  In Christianity, we can see quite easily that there are three
traitors, three intelligences who betray the Christ.  We see Pilate, we see
Caiaphas, and we see Judas.  Each of these three traitors plays a role in
the cosmic drama related to the Initiatic process of Jesus.  Of course, Jesus
lived that universal cosmic drama in order to teach it to us, for us to
understand how we have to in turn face our own three traitors, and how to
do it.  

This opera is the same.  This opera by Wagner presents three traitors
to us.  We see Mime, Alberich, and Fafner.  Mime and Alberich are brothers
that are both Nibelungen, dwellers of the underworld.  Fafner, in this
opera, is a dragon, but he was a giant.  Fafner made a deal with Wotan to
build Valhalla.  And in the end of that first opera, Fafner, having killed his
own brother, walks away with the ring, the gold, and the Tarnhelm, these
magical elements which came out of the Rheingold.  Alberich, of course,
wants it back.  Mime wants it, too.  So they are all plotting.  

Our ego is not one.  Our ego is not an individual.  It is not consistent; it

is not organized.  Our ego is a multiplicity-a seething, chaotic sea of
desire-in conflict with itself.  Mime and Alberich, symbolized in the story,
plot against each other.  Fafner and Fasolt, in the first opera, fought to the
death because of greed, because of gluttony, because of lust.  

These three traitors exist in our own psyche.  These are the same three
traitors of Moses, the same three traitors of Osiris, the same three traitors
of Hiram Abiff.  All of these Initiatic stories contain three traitors.  Even the
Buddha faced the three daughters of Mara.  There are three Furies from
the Greek Mysteries.  

The Initiate who enters into the Direct Path must conquer them.  And to
conquer the Three Furies, the Three Traitors, requires in-depth self-
knowledge, because those three were created by none other than
ourselves.  They are our own psyche.  

Pilate is the Demon of the Mind, the intellect, that demonic intelligence
that utilizes our intellect for its own purposes.  The intellect in itself is just
a machine; it is just a tool, which when it is placed into the hands of God,
becomes very useful.  But when controlled by the Demon of the Mind, it is
a demon, it is a traitor, and it works against the Christ in the same way
that Mime and Alberich and Fafner are doing.  

Caiaphas is related to the Demon of Evil Will.  Caiaphas acts like your
best friend.  He acts very sincere.  He acts as if he is very concerned for
your welfare, like Mime is doing.  Mime is always telling Siegfried,
"Everything I do is for you.  I raised you.  I fed you.  I protected you.  I have
taught you.  I love you.  You are my son."  All the while, Mime is plotting to
kill him.  

Judas is the Demon of Desire, the one who sells his master, the one
who is driven by instinct.  

Now in the story by Wagner, we can see that these three traitors fight
amongst themselves in order to conquer and control the Rheingold, to
take possession of the ring so they will have power over the world.  They
all plot against each other.  They all plot against the Gods.  They all think
they are clever enough to outwit everyone else.  And we do the same
thing.  

This is particularly important when we are working with the tools of

scientific chastity, when we have some development, because in our
hands is the power which the ego wants to take for itself.  That is what is
represented in this stage of the opera.  Siegfried has that sword: the only
weapon that can conquer the dragon, and take from the dragon the ring,
and the gold, and the Tarnhelm.  Mime wants it.  Alberich wants it.  Wotan
shows up to taunt them.  

It is interesting.  In the first stages of the operas, Wotan is very

concerned with the outcome of what is going to happen.  He is frustrated,
and he is always seeking to find a way to change the situation.  But by this
point in the opera, he has become more like Loge, more becoming
involved in a scene and teasing, and then extracting himself, not taking
any real direct action.  And the reason is that Wotan, the Father, wants his
son-his spiritual son, his Human Soul-to be strong, to develop his will, to
not be weak, but to act when necessary, in the right way, and to know how
to do it.  This is why Wotan is around, is observing, is always watching, but
never interferes.  He never tells Siegfried what to do.  He never tells him
what to do.  Meditate on that.  

Siegfried has to do what he thinks is right.  He has to act, but on his

own.  Wotan does not want to develop a weak soul, a soul that is always
lost, without direction, without strength.  Wotan needs a warrior.  Wotan
needs Siegfried to have his own power.  

When Siegfried and Mime arrive, Alberich hides himself.  And Siegfried
hears a bird singing and wishes he could understand the bird.  In all the
different esoteric traditions, the bird always plays a significant role as a
symbol.  We have the Kala-Hamsa Swan in Hinduism; the Phoenix bird; the
Geryon; we have the vehicle of Rama.  Many birds appear, some
symbolizing negative elements, and some symbolizing positive elements.  

In Christianity, we have the dove, who symbolizes the Holy Spirit,

Binah.  Binah, of course, in Hebrew means "intelligence," or
"understanding," and is related to Shiva in Hinduism-that creative and
destructive power.  

The bird that appears here sings a song that Siegfried longs to
understand but cannot.  And that is because his own development is not to
that point yet where he has deep comprehension of this level, of Binah. 
So he crafts for himself a flute made out of a reed and tries to play.  This
is, of course, related to the Magic Flute of Mozart, and the flute of Krishna.
 This flute represents the spinal column with its seven notes, the Seven
Churches, the seven chakras, which the initiate plays when using the
energy of the Holy Spirit-the bird-trying to imitate that force and utilize it
through the spinal column, through the chakras, through the powers of the
Seven Churches.  But he is unable to do it because his own development is
not advanced enough to do it, because he has not killed the dragon yet. 
In other words, Siegfried needs to know more, needs to develop, needs to
understand more.  

So he tosses aside that reed-that flute-and takes his hunting horn.  The
hunting horn, or the trumpet, is also a symbol you find in many religions. 
In the Torah, it says that you should take your trumpet in order to awaken
from your sleep and remember God.  And that trumpet symbolizes the
sexual force, the phallus.  It is how the note is played through Daath-
related to the throat-through the sexual transmutation, through mantra,
through the Logos-the Word, the sound-played through Daath.  Through
the throat is how God creates.  In other words, this is a symbol of learning
how to take those forces in other levels, superior levels, and transform
them, transmute them, into music, into the warrior's call.  

So he begins to blow his trumpet-his hunting horn.  In other words, he

is transmuting energy; he is directing forces.  When he does that, who
appears?  Who is called from the depths but his own Leviathan?  The
dragon, Fafner.  And they have to fight.  In other words, when we use the
sexual energy, the dragon is stimulated.  So we need the sword to conquer
it.  

Siegfried kills the dragon because he is not afraid.  The Christ does not
have fear.  And the Human Soul is that warrior inspired with the Christic
force who is able to conquer that dragon and slay Fafner.  

He does so by inserting his sword into the dragon's heart.  Now the
sword is a symbol of will, of transmuted forces, the flaming sword.  And
when we insert that sword into the heart of the dragon, we penetrate and
comprehend the nature of desire.  We acquire-through the Nothing,
through the emptiness of meditation-the heart of suffering, of how our own
dragon hoards the gold of the Rhein, the powers of the Holy Spirit that are
placed in the waters.  So through meditation, through utilizing the sword
with  discriminative awareness, we penetrate the heart of Fafner and kill
our own Demon of Desire: Judas, the dragon that lies within us.  

And what comes from that is blood.  When Siegfried, with the blood
burning his hands, touches it to his mouth, suddenly he can understand
the bird, the singing bird.  He can hear words now.  And this is because
there is a direct relationship between the sexual forces present in Shiva-
Shakti, Binah, the Holy Spirit, and the dragon, who is the opposite.  The
blood is the energy, the pure force of the sexual energy, which of course is
in our own blood.  Do you know the profound relationship between blood
and the sexual waters?  Have you studied your own anatomy?  

When Siegfried kills the dragon, he touches the blood to his lips, thus
he is taking that sexual energy into his throat, Daath, the Tree of
Knowledge.  And that gives him the capacity to understand the language
of the Holy Spirit, the language of the Logos, the Word, the sound of
creation.  

Now Siegfried grabs the Tarnhelm and the ring.  Mime and Alberich
fight because they want to control Siegfried.  Alberich leaves, and Mime is
left to offer his poison drink to Siegfried.  And what else is a poison drink
but the same poisoned apple of Snow White?  That fruit of the Tree of
Knowledge, that sacred force which the ego uses to tempt us, to tantalize
us.  "Drink of this and you will have knowledge.  Drink of this and you will
have power.  Drink of this to refresh yourself."  But Siegfried knows that
his ego is always trying to deceive him, so he knows not to take the sexual
force lightly, not to misuse it, not to abuse it, not to feed his own desire. 
So instead he kills Mime.  He slays him.  And then the bird gives him a
present.  

See, now Siegfried has conquered two of the three traitors.  And each
time he performs one of these great works he receives a gift, he receives
something in return: knowledge.  First he receives knowledge of the
understanding of the language of the birds: to understand Binah.  And
second he is given the knowledge of Brunhilde.  The bird tells him that on
a remote rock awaits Brunhilde.  And only someone who has no fear can
conquer her, can take her as his own.  So of course Siegfried wants to test
himself and to acquire this maiden, and he rushes off.  
 Now what we have to point out here is that at this scene, this stage of
the opera, we have moved from the First Mountain into the Second
Mountain.  The Second and Third Mountains have never been publicly
revealed before the last century, so you will not find much, if anything,
about them anywhere, unless you look in the Greek Mysteries, and there
you will find the symbol of the Twelve Labors of Hercules.  Those twelve
labors are these two mountains.  You will also find those mountains
represented in the life of Jesus, but again it is symbolic.  

The Second Mountain is a process whereby the walker of the Direct

Path descends into an inferior world, in the Klipoth, in order to conquer
parts of his ego.  And when he conquers that portion of hell, in his own
mind, that level is cleaned.  And when that cleansing occurs, not only has
that initiate conquered that level of his own abyss, but he receives in turn
a corresponding level of his own psychological heaven.  With each
succeeding level, the initiate awakens more consciousness.  These are not
initiations.  Initiations only happen in the First Mountain.  The whole
Second Mountain is the work of one initiation related to Binah.  

This process of descending and ascending is symbolized in many

religions once again: when Jesus descends into hell; when Orpheus
descends into hell; in the Greek heroes; the Nordic heroes.  

But right at the beginning of the Second Mountain, having performed

these first works of the Second Mountain, the initiate is going to receive a
long-awaited goal, which is union with Brunhilde, which is what we are
going to talk about when we hear the description of the third act.  

Act III
When this act opens, Wotan is going to speak with Erda, who is, of
course, the Goddess of the Earth.  She sleeps.  When we understand
Kabbalistic symbolism, we understand that God-or the Being-is a diverse
collection of parts, is a multiplicity of aspects, is like a diamond with many
faces.  And the purpose of liberation is to unify all those parts and to have
absolute consciousness of all of them, collected.  
 So in this scene, really what we are observing are two parts of our own
Being-Wotan and Erda-Wotan, being Kether, our own Inner Father, the
Wanderer; Erda, being the Divine Mother.  But she sleeps.  She has
wisdom, but she does not have everything.  She needs more, too.  Wotan
arrives there to get information, to find out if she knows what will happen,
to find out what can be done.  And what is curious about this scene is
neither one of them knows.  

Neither one of them really can predict with perfection what will
happen.  And this is because our own God, our own Being, still has not
acquired perfect knowledge, because we have fallen.  We are part of Him. 
While we are in darkness, so is He.  While we are in imperfection, so is He. 
While the Human Soul is still imperfect, God still is not fully perfect.  In
other words, there are levels of development even amongst the Gods.  

The ultimate level of the development of the Gods is called Objective

Reasoning.  It is a form of knowledge that is far beyond what we can
comprehend with our little, puny mind.  

With all the levels, the heavens, that are acquired in the process
of initiation, each time the initiate conquers a new level, he is conquering
more and more comprehension, more and more understanding.  In fact
the totality of walking this path of the Three Mountains is a process of
acquiring knowledge, from the very bottom of the Tree to the very top-to
acquire knowledge of all the levels of existence.  And the sum total of that
wisdom, that understanding, is given to God.  It is what develops the
abilities of God, the understanding of God, the glory and majesty of God. 
It is not for our glory.  It is not for our own benefit.  It is for the benefit of
the Divine.  

You look into the life of Jesus and you see He did what He did not for
Himself; He did what He did for humanity and for God, taking nothing for
Himself, not even glory.  And that is the path of the Bodhisattva.  All the
glory goes to God, to Wotan.  

So in this scene, we see this curious uncertainty among the Gods.  And
that uncertainty is there because God has placed in us free will, and God
respects that.  God is not a tyrant.  
 The universe has manifested itself according to a certain design, and as
you descend through the Tree of Life you see more and more laws and
things become more and more complicated the further down you go.  And
into the midst of that, God places his eye, his consciousness, which has to
develop itself and acquire knowledge all the way up the Tree.  And in each
level working upwards the initiate has to develop more and more maturity:
spiritual maturity, conscious maturity.  

This is the nature of real willpower-to know how to act in the right way
at the right time.  This has nothing to do with moral codes.  There is no
golden rule, because at one moment what is right, in the next moment will
be wrong.  And the only one who can know the difference is the one who
listens to the voice of the Silence inside.  

Siegfried follows the guidance of the bird.  The bird, naturally, is the
Holy Spirit who provides the guidance to lead Siegfried up the mountain,
to find that remote rock where Brünnhilde sleeps.  That rock, of course, is
the Second Mountain.  

But to enter into that work, one has to pass ordeals; one is tested. 
With each succeeding level of development of the consciousness, the
initiate has to prove that they have the capacity to receive it.  Just in the
same way that you would not give your child the keys to the car, or some
other powerful tool, until that child proved that they were mature enough
to handle it.  So too does God test us, to only give us access to those
things that we can use responsibly.  

Siegfried follows the bird up the rocky path and arrives at a clearing. 
And there he discovers Wotan, but he does not know who Wotan is.  And
what does Wotan call himself?-the Guardian of the Rock.  And He is that. 
The rock is the foundation stone, which Jesus mentioned many times: the
rock upon which you have to build your church, to build the temple.  But it
is that rock that the builders reject; in other words, the Nirvanis, the
Pratyekas, the Nibelung, all reject the full development of that rock
because of attachment.  This is the same rock that in the wilderness
Moses strikes with his staff and water comes out.  That is the sexual water
which comes from our own rock, the foundation stone, Yesod.  This is
related with the lunar works of the Second Mountain.  
 We begin the Second Mountain working through the progressive nine
heavens, which are naturally related to the nine Muses who accompany
Apollo, which are symbolized by the nine Valkyrie which Odin created. 
And the first Valkyrie is Brünnhilde, who sleeps on this rock.  This is the
rock of Yesod, but in heaven, the superior aspect.  

So Siegfried has to pass the ordeal to gain entrance into that level of
development.  And to do so he has to confront Wotan, but he does not
know who Wotan is.  In other words, Siegfried does not yet know his own
self, his own Inner Father, his own Kether.  But he has courage, he has
willpower to proceed.  

Wotan blocks his way with his staff.  He says, "You cannot advance; you
have to go through me first."  So we would say symbolically that Wotan is
appearing here as Loge, as Lucifer, as the tempter, as the Guardian of the
Threshold, this apparition which we have to have courage to confront and
overcome.  

Siegfried swings his sword and breaks the staff of Wotan.  And what is
that?  You will remember of course that in the previous opera, Wotan
broke the sword.  But now the same sword reforged breaks the staff. 
What has happened?  What has changed?  

In the previous opera, that sword was the sword of a walker on the First
Mountain, who only had a certain level of development, who is still bound
by certain laws, certain commandments, certain ways of understanding,
certain ways of behaving.  But through great works and development
of consciousness, Siegfried has arrived at the precipice, the entrance into
the Second Mountain.  In other words, he has more understanding, he
needs to develop his will in a greater degree, and he is able to break the
staff of Wotan.  This is a very deep symbol.  

The staff represents, naturally, the spine.  But the staff in particular is
Wotan's symbol of his contracts, of his rules, of his laws.  What is
interesting is that when someone is in the very beginning stages
of initiation, this person is bound by the Ten Commandments, by certain
rules, by certain contracts that we make with God.  We are bound by that,
and this is what Moses delivers to the people-basic rules that one must
follow in order to reach a certain stage of initiation.  But to go beyond, to
go into further levels of development, one has to transcend even that.  

Now you will remember that those Ten Commandments are given in
Deuteronomy.  Do you know that Deutero means "second?"  In other
words, the Ten Commandments are the second law.  They are the law
given to the beginners.  But there is a first law, and that is, "You shall love
your God with all of your heart, with all of your mind, with all of your soul,
and with all of your strength."  In other words, you shall do the will of your
God above all things.  

The walker of the Direct Path transcends the Ten Commandments and
begins to act in a revolutionary way in accordance with his own will.  But
that is the will of God in him.  By appearances it looks contradictory.  It
appears that he is breaking the law, and Jesus naturally ran into this all the
time with all the Pharisees accusing him, "You are breaking the law!  You
are breaking the law!  You are breaking the law!"  And what does He say? 
"I am the law."  The Christ is the First Law which transcends the Second
Law.  

Siegfried represents the Christified initiate who breaks his contractual

obligations with lower laws.  He is revolutionary.  He is beyond the law.  He
is becoming Christ, to incarnate that.  

And this is how we can understand when we look into many Initiatic
stories, stories of the lives of great initiates.  They appear to do things
which contradict those Ten Commandments, or the basic precepts.  They
appear to do things that are against what we call "moral."  And that is
because they answer to a higher law.  

Wotan withdraws and Siegfried ascends up the mountain.  And he finds

there a sleeping warrior.  This naturally calls to mind many famous stories
in Western tradition, such as "Sleeping Beauty" or "Snow White," similar
such stories where we find the maiden sleeps and the warrior has to come
to awaken her.  

But there is a beautiful additional factor here that Siegfried sings, "I
must awaken the maid to waken myself."  If you watch the opera you will
hear him say that.  So that is a very direct indication of what this opera is
about.  Siegfried, naturally, represents the Human Soul, the warrior, the
fighter, Lancelot.  And who he finds there on the rock is Brunhilde, who is
one of the Valkyrie that Wotan created.  

Brunhilde is related to the sephirah Geburah on the Tree of Life.  In

Sanskrit she would be called Buddhi.  She is the Divine Soul, or the
Spiritual Soul, the feminine soul, the complement of the Human Soul.  In
other words, Wotan has two souls: one divine, one human; one feminine,
one masculine.  They are part of him, but he needs them to unite so that
he can advance, so that he can grow.  

Geburah, or Brunhilde, is called Guinevere in Arthurian mysteries.  She

is called Helen in the Greek mysteries.  She is called Beatrice by Goethe
and by Dante.  This is a universal symbol.  

When Siegfried arrives there he finds this warrior.  He does not realize
it is a woman, so he begins to remove her armor.  He then realizes this is a
woman and becomes afraid.  Personally, this is my favorite moment in the
whole opera, and it is because it represents and demonstrates the
humanity of Christ, the tenderness, the beauty: Christ loves.  This is not a
cold love.  It not an indifferent love or a distant love.  It is very personal; it
very emotional; it is very real.  

Siegfried, the Human Soul, perceiving his Divine Soul, experiences a

kind of vulnerability.  For the first time, his courage is challenged.  The
initiate who works in this practical science will discover this directly for
themselves by working with Alchemy, because any person who is working
with Alchemy knows well that no matter how courageous you are, when
you enter into intimate union with your spouse, you are vulnerable: as a
mind, as a heart, and sexually.  Your spouse will know you in ways that
you do not even know yourself.  Your spouse will see things in you that
you have never shown to anyone, and do not want to show.  And that is a
kind of fear-not fear in the way we tend to think of fear-but fear in a kind
of emotional vulnerability and respect.  

This is a quality of love that only someone who has really experienced
love can understand.  It is not fear in the way we usually think of it.  It is
an aspect of love, which is beautiful, but which is a profound emotional
vulnerability.  

Siegfried discovers fear in this moment; he discovers what it means to

have a weakness-not an egotistical weakness, but to have that emotional
vulnerability.  

So he decides to awaken her and he kisses her.  This is the entrance

into the Ninth Sphere, when the man and woman unite, when masculine
and feminine forces cross and form that famous cross: the feminine, being
horizontal, lying asleep on the rock; the masculine, being vertical,
penetrates that and forms a cross.  And this is the mystical union.  

In terms of the Initiatic symbol, this represents the moment in which

the consciousness of the initiate is betrothed to the Divine Soul.  In other
words, Tiphereth and Geburah unite.  And this is a moment of incredible
beauty for the initiate, but also provides the necessary elements for that
initiate to advance, to grow, to learn.  

Of course, in the opera they sing a very beautiful duet proclaiming the
mysteries of love.  And both of them sense and feel that vulnerability of
that relationship, but by uniting with each other, by trusting in that love
and trusting each other, they have the courage to renounce everything, to
embrace death.  

So the end of this opera they sing of that: that even though what they
do from love will doom the Gods, will cause the destruction of everything,
they do it because of love.  And the nature of that symbol will be explained
in next week's lecture.  

Do you have any questions?  

Audience: So practically that is the incarnation of Buddhi.  

Right.  It is pointed out that this is the moment when Buddhi incarnates
into the initiate, physically.  And Buddhi, of course, in Sanskrit means
"intellect."  But this is not intellect in the way we think of it.  This is a
capacity or a vessel through which we can receive understanding.  
 Buddhi is our Divine Consciousness, which is receptive-receptive in a
way that a vessel is receptive.  And what that vessel receives is the
wisdom of God, the wisdom of Prana, the wisdom of Atman, the wisdom of
Wotan.  That wisdom, that light, expresses itself through Buddhi, through
Geburah.  

So when we learn to meditate-truly meditate-not just concentration, not

just mantras, but to enter into Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, to go into
levels of perception where we perceive directly without the interference of
the ego, what we learn is how to receive through Buddhi, to connect in
those brief moments with Buddhi, to receive that understanding.  

But in this moment of initiation is when that element of our psyche

incarnates, becomes fully active, continually, in the consciousness of the
initiate.  That is a tremendous step.  In a sort of synthetic way we can say
that that gives the capacity to access Samadhi continually.  Buddhi is that.

Audience: This is what Krishna called the reincarnation of Heroes or

Gods-a true reincarnation.  

That is interesting.  So it is pointed out that this is what Krishna calls

the reincarnation of the Gods-a true reincarnation.  And this is because it
is the Divine Soul that provides that direct knowledge, and provides that
direct knowledge to the Human Soul who can then act on it.  

Audience: It was mentioned that when traveling in the sixth dimension

one has no ego.  Can you explain about Caiaphas, the Demon of Evil Will,
if when experiencing the world of will, one has no ego?  

Well, Caiaphas does not belong in the sixth dimension.  He resides in

the inferior part of the fifth dimension.  So in other words, our will, which
should be in Tiphereth, becomes trapped in the ego, which is in the
Klipoth.

Our own will is trapped in hell.  That is Caiaphas.  We have to renounce

that, extract our consciousness from that.  Then we can experience real
will, free will, which is not conditioned by desire, not conditioned by pride
or by envy.  It is instead that free, active will of Tiphereth in the sixth
dimension.  But you can only experience that if the consciousness is fully
separated from the ego.  

Audience: How is it that only Alberich recognizes the wanderer as

Wotan?  

That is an interesting question.  Well, actually Mime recognizes him for

who he is, and Fafner does, too.  The Three Traitors know very well the
difference between them and God, but they do their best to keep us in the
dark.  It is like Mime knows all along who Siegfried is, but he does not tell
him until Siegfried forces him to.  And how does he do that but
through meditation?  

So again, the ego is a multiplicity.  The ego is very complicated; there

are many parts of it.  Some are more clever than others.  

We have what we call the Pharisee "I", or the mystical "I", which is a
very spiritual kind of ego.  And this aspect of the psyche can know these
teachings very well, can understand them in its way, can teach-can talk
about Gnosis, can talk about religion, can talk about God.  But it is not
God.  But it thinks it is God, or at least God-like.  

And many of those so-called "masters," or leaders of movements, really

are just an enthroned Pharisee "I"-an ego that is attached to being a
leader, attached to being admired, to being worshipped, to being
followed.  And that ego, in its depth, knows that it is fooling
the consciousness of the person.

A little deeper into that question, though, is to consider why it is that at

this point in the opera, two of those three traitors are dead.  Why is
Alberich left?  What is it about Alberich?  And we are going to find that out
next week in the next lecture.  

Audience: I think you mentioned that the ego had its own sword, and
that breaks and he reforms it.  Is that reforging a stronger ego, a stronger
sword that is more difficult to break than last time?  

Well that is an interesting question.  The symbolism there is how our

own ego develops tools, and in certain levels we need that.  So for
example, when we enter into Gnosis we have a lot of ego, when we enter
into any kind of religion.  But we need that religion, we need that
structure, we need those tools in order for us to have some degree of
ability to advance and to deepen our understanding.  So we learn certain
practices, for example: meditation, or concentration on mantras.  But
really, those tools are weak because the ego has created them.  So we
could say maybe we inherited a religion from our family or from our
country.  Maybe we inherited a teaching that some person made up or
invented.  So there might be a certain, very limited, usefulness of that
tool.  But when it is really used in a strong way, it shatters, which shows
that it has no real strength.  

And this is true of many mystical traditions nowadays.  When you really
apply analysis to them, when you really look into the depth, when you
really try to utilize them in a practical way to advance your own self-
knowledge, the tools become useless because they are not strong enough
to conquer the mind-the mind made them.  

It may be the case that some of us find a school like that-a religion or a
teaching-and we practice it, but it breaks on us.  We find that it has no real
strength, so we leave; we go and find another school, another teaching,
and we start to use that.  The same thing happens-those tools keep
breaking.  

The same thing can happen here.  You can acquire the kind of
knowledge we are discussing, but take it only with your ego and become a
very egotistical student, not taking it into the consciousness, and develop
yourself as a Pharisee-as someone who believes, as someone who agrees. 
But in the end because you have not developed those tools consciously,
they will break.  And so you see many students who come to teachings like
this and leave because they did not grasp the real use of that force.  

Audience: In the case of those who teach lashing yourself, they take
the teaching the wrong way.  

Right.  And so a good example of that is there are many groups who
take these teachings in the wrong way.  They take it through, we would
say, recurrent karmic elements of the psyche.  And they translate the
teaching according to those elements of their own psyche.  

An example of that: there is a certain group who uses these teachings

of Gnosis, but in the wrong way because of recurrent elements-things that
happened in the past that live inside their minds, in the depths.  So they
take this teaching and instead of learning how to meditate and conquer
the ego that way, they take a whip-physically-and whip themselves, which
is wrong.  

There are schools that used to do that in past ages.  And it was wrong
then.  They are doing it now by a matter of recurrence, by a matter of
repetition, and by misunderstanding the teaching.  

And this is true in many other ways: how we can take elements of the
ego-which we may not even see-but things that we did in past lives which
cause us to have a predisposition in our understanding.  So when we
hear Gnosis we think, "Oh, yeah!"  It turns on a light bulb in the ego.  And
then we combine those two and we make a tool that is useless or even
harmful.  

Audience: It is about blood of the dragon.  You said Siegfried had blood
in his hand.  His hands got burned, but not his mouth.  Why is that so?  

The blood of the dragon is the very pure and root sexual force, which
we know is flowing through Yesod.  These are the rivers of Eden.  When
those rivers flow downwards into hell, they become conditioned by that
environment.  And so they become the rivers of Hades: Acheron,
Phlegethon, the Styx, etc.  That energy has a lot of potency and a lot of
power.  

When Siegfried kills the dragon with his sword, he gets blood on his
hands and it burns him.  This is the nature of how the work in Alchemy, in
transmutation, can be painful.  The hands is how we work.  We work with
our hands.  It is symbolic.  

So in the nature of working on himself to conquer the dragon, it is

painful.  It burns.  And this is true of any ego you work on.  It hurts.  When
you really see your own filthiness and you really see how filthy and
disgusting your own mind is, that is painful.  So it burns the hands.  

But in this opera, he takes and touches the blood into his mouth.  And
this is a symbol of comprehension in meditation.  When you take
something in your mouth you are going to consume and digest that,
right?  And you are going to take it into the throat.  

Real meditation is the method to transform impressions: to digest

impressions.  If we learn to meditate in this way - using
the consciousness to transform impressions - then we will not be burned
when we transform the energies of the ego.  But if we fail - meaning that
we instead become identified with those impressions, then we are harmed:
the ego is fed rather than being destroyed.

The process of transforming is on multiple levels.  Firstly, it is

happening because the energy is being transformed up the spinal column. 
You see the raising of the hand to the mouth, right?  Symbolizing the
energy moving up, over, and through Daath, through the mouth.  And that
is what provides the wisdom and the understanding.  So transmutation
and meditation provide that: comprehension.  And that is what gives him
the power.  Yet there is still pain.  

And this is true of any ego in any level.  The way to conquer it, you
have to learn what real tantra means-to take energy and transform it. 
Sometimes it is painful.  Most of the time it is painful.  But the pain is far
less than remaining a Nibelung, than remaining as a dweller of the
underworld, consumed by envy.  That is pain.  

Audience: When Wotan comes to Mime, he kind of tricks him into

beating the dragon.  How might we transfer that into the?...

Yeah.  I know the part you are talking about.  

Audience: I was not sure what is really happening there.  Is he helping

the initiate?  Is that his way of helping?
 My understanding of that scene-when Wotan comes to Mime and asks
him questions, they have this test with each other-my understanding of
that is it represents how the Being helps us, but not in direct ways.  

God is always there behind everything that is going on with us.  But you
notice in that scene that Siegfried is not there.  He is not around.  And
Siegfried is acting repeatedly, but God is not there to help him directly. 
And to me, again, this represents the need for Wotan to help his initiate
develop, but not directly.  

So I can relate that, for example, so many students want God to come
down out of the clouds and say, "Okay now you go do this and that
because I told you so."  But God does not do that.  Instead, behind the
scenes He works out a few little things.  So then we walk into situations
that we have to solve.  And really that is the work of Loge, Lucifer, or the
trainer, who in the Book of Job is doing exactly that: the way he
manipulates situations to test him.  So that is my understanding of it.  

In a way you can see that Wotan could easily kill the ego at any time.  

Audience: So he kind of just sets it up and makes sure he is not there.  

Yes.  Wotan himself could go and kill any of these elements on his
own.  He could kill Fafner, Mime, or Alberich, easy.  But he does not,
because if he did that, Siegfried would not grow, he would not learn, he
would not develop.  And in the end, Wotan would gain nothing.  He would
be in the same situation.  

I hope you will join us for the conclusion of this series next week, which
I expect will be far more dramatic and elevated than what we have
experienced so far.  So I would encourage you if you have the chance to
watch the opera before the lecture, because your own understanding of it
will be much deeper.  

Thank you. 

7.
Prologue
The three Norns, daughters of Erda, gather beside Brünnhilde's rock,
weaving the rope of Destiny. They sing of the past and the present, and of
the future when Wotan will set fire to Valhalla to signal the end of the
gods. Without warning, their rope breaks. Lamenting the loss of their
wisdom, the Norns disappear.

As day breaks, Siegfried and Brünnhilde emerge from their cave.

Brünnhilde sends Siegfried off to new adventures, urging him to keep their
love in mind. As a pledge of fidelity, Siegfried gives her the ring which he
took from Fafner's hoard. Bearing Brünnhilde's shield and mounting her
horse Grane, Siegfried rides away.

Act I
The act begins in the Hall of the Gibichungs, a people dwelling by the
Rhine. Gunther, lord of the Gibichungs, sits enthroned. His half-brother
Hagen advises him to find a wife for himself and a husband for their sister
Gutrune. He suggests Brünnhilde for Gunther's wife, and Siegfried for
Gutrune's husband. He has given Gutrune a potion to make Siegfried
forget Brünnhilde and fall in love with Gutrune; under its influence,
Siegfried will win Brünnhilde for Gunther.

Siegfried appears at Gibichung Hall, seeking to meet Gunther. Gunther

extends his hospitality to the hero, and Gutrune offers him the drugged
drink. Unaware of the deception, Siegfried toasts Brünnhilde and their
love. Drinking the potion, he loses his memory of Brünnhilde and falls in
love with Gutrune instead. In his drugged state, Siegfried offers to win a
wife for Gunther, who tells him about Brünnhilde and the magic fire. They
swear blood-brotherhood, and leave for Brünnhilde's rock.

Meanwhile, Brünnhilde is visited by her Valkyrie sister Waltraute, who

relates how Wotan returned from his wanderings one day with his spear
shattered. (Wotan is dismayed at losing his spear, as it has all the treaties
and bargains he has made—everything that gives him power—carved into
its shaft.) Wotan ordered branches of Yggdrasil, the World tree, be piled
around Valhalla; sent his ravens to spy on the world and bring him news;
and currently awaits in Valhalla for the end. Waltraute begs Brünnhilde to
return the ring to the Rhinemaidens, since the ring's curse is now affecting
their father, Wotan. However, Brünnhilde refuses to relinquish Siegfried's
token of love, and Waltraute rides away in despair.

Siegfried arrives, disguised as Gunther using the Tarnhelm, and claims

Brünnhilde as wife. Though Brünnhilde violently resists, Siegfried
overpowers her, snatching the Ring from her hand and placing it on his
own.

Act II
Hagen, waiting by the bank of the Rhine, is visited in his sleep by his
father, Alberich. On Alberich's urging, he swears to acquire the Ring.
Siegfried arrives as dawn breaks, having secretly resumed his natural form
and traded places with Gunther. Hagen summons the Gibichung to
welcome Gunther and his bride.

Gunther leads in a downcast Brünnhilde, who is astonished to see

Siegfried. Noticing the Ring on Siegfried's hand, she realizes she has been
betrayed. She denounces Siegfried in front of Gunther's vassals. Siegfried
swears on Hagen's spear that her accusations are false. He then leads
Gutrune and the bystanders off to the wedding feast, leaving Brünnhilde,
Hagen, and Gunther alone by the shore. Deeply shamed by Brünnhilde's
outburst, Gunther agrees to Hagen's suggestion that Siegfried must be
slain for his honour to be regained. Brünnhilde, seeking revenge for
Siegfried's treachery, joins the plot and tells Hagen about the hero's sole
weakness: though she had used her magic to ward him from harm, she
had left his back unguarded, knowing that he would never flee from a foe.
Hagen and Gunther decide to lure Siegfried on a hunting-trip and murder
him.

Act III
In the woods by the bank of the Rhine, the Rhinemaidens mourn the
lost Rheingold. Siegfried happens by, separated from the hunting party.
They urge him to return the Ring and avoid its curse, but he ignores their
tidings of doom. They swim away, predicting that Siegfried will die and
that his heir, a lady, will treat them more fairly.

Siegfried rejoins the hunters, who include Gunther and Hagen. While
resting, he tells them about the adventures of his youth. Hagen gives him
a drink that restores his memory, and he tells of discovering the sleeping
Brünnhilde and awakening her with a kiss. Suddenly, two ravens fly out of
a bush, and as Siegfried watches them, Hagen stabs him in the back with
his spear. The others look on in horror, and Hagen calmly walks away into
the wood. Siegfried dies, lingering on his memories of Brünnhilde. His body
is carried away in a solemn funeral procession.

Back in Gibichung Hall, Gutrune awaits Siegfried's return. Hagen

arrives, ahead of the funeral party. Gutrune is devastated when Siegfried's
corpse is brought in. Gunther blames Siegfried's death on Hagen, who
defiantly admits to the murder and claims the Ring on Siegfried's finger by
right of conquest. When Gunther objects, Hagen attacks and kills him.
However, as Hagen moves to take the Ring, the dead hero's hand raises
threateningly, and he recoils.

Brünnhilde makes her entrance and takes charge of the scene. She
issues orders for a huge funeral pyre to be assembled by the river, and
sends Wotan's lurking ravens home with "anxiously longed-for tidings."
She takes the Ring and tells the Rhinemaidens to claim it from her ashes,
once fire has cleansed it of its curse. The pyre lit, Brünnhilde mounts her
horse Grane and rides into the flames. What follows is perhaps the most
difficult to realise stage directions in the history of opera.

The fire flares up as the Rhine overflows its banks, bearing the
Rhinemaidens on its waves. Hagen leaps after the Ring and drowns. The
Rhinemaidens swim away, bearing the Ring in triumph. As the flames
increase in intensity, Valhalla comes into view in the sky. Bright flames
seem to flare up in the hall of the Gods, in which the Gods can be seen,
finally hiding them from sight completely. The curtain falls.

8.

 
Prologue
Gotterdammerung, “the twilight of the gods”: We are now arriving at
the end of this great masterpiece that hides profound mysteries that only
those who walk on the path of the self-realization of the being can
understand. Friedrich Nietzsche talked about the superman but he was
mistaken thinking that the man existed. He did not know that first the man
has to be created in order for the super man to act in that man. And this is
precisely what here, in this great opera, is hidden, which is that superior
aspect that only those that walk on the path and who are already on the
level of human being can understand. Remember that it is written that the
man is only a bridge between the intellectual animal and the superman.
But we don’t have to fall into the mistake of believing that the human
being already exists, because it does not exist. The human being has the
possibilities of existing within each on of us. And when we reach that level
then we can walk on the path of the superman. 

Nordic mythology explains in a poetic way, a language that speaks to

the consciousness; that speaks to intuition, which is a faculty we have to
develop in order to dig into this marvelous myth that has its roots in the
sun, in the solar absolute, in the Ain Soph Aur, the vehicle of the cosmic
Christ. Indeed the Nordic myth encloses a lot of solar truths that we need
to study profoundly in order to understand our being.

In Gotterdammerung prologue the three Norns, daughters of Erda, start

weaving and unweaving in the loom of the earth, in the loom of their
mother Erda; which brings us into memory that which we call in Latin the
Anima-Mundi or the soul of the world, which is intimately related with the
Divine Mother Nature, the Cosmic Mother. Remember that the Divine
Mother Nature, the Divine Mother Kundalini is related with the Arcanum
24, The Weaver. This weaver is the Divine Mother Erda, the mother of the
three Norns, Who represent the past present and future; destiny; or as we
can also call in Sanskrit, karma. Remember the karma of the world.
Remember that mistake committed by the Solar Gods in the past when
they implanted in the human organism the Kundabuffer organ. With
cosmic purposes of course, because the kundabuffer organ is an element
that every humanity receives in a certain period in order for a harvesting
of Gods to emerge from it. But the Gods in order to leave that organ in the
human organism have to make a special calculation, that is, the proper
time (not too much not too less) in order for the soul of those Monads that
start their evolution to know about good and evil (as it is symbolically
written in the bible) to know about desire and suffering in order to value
the sexual energy in order to value the power of God which is of course
the energy of the Holy Spirit whose two polarities, masculine and feminine,
are always beautifully shown in these operas in different aspect:
masculine and feminine, brother sister, father mother. Behold how these
polarities of the marvelous sexual force are represented in the rock of
Brünnhilde. Remember that the philosophical stone of Yesod is that stone
that the builders rejected, but that is necessary for the transformation.
This revolution that is happening in this opera obviously begins in the rock
when Brünnhilde is sleeping surrounded by the fire of Lucifer which is the
sexual potency, which in this opera receives the name of Loge; which is
the same Loki in the Nordic myth, because really Loki, the fire is what
transforms nature. That is why on the top of the crucified it is written
the mantra or word INRI which is a Latin mantra which means Ignis Natura
Renovatur Integra. The fire renews nature constantly.

Loki of course is that fire that acts accordingly with karma. And this is
something that we have to comprehend in order to understand Lucifer;
because Lucifer acts according to the laws of the absolute, which
originates always any universe. That is why the three Norns who represent
karma, past, present, and future (which is the aspect of the divine mother
that is weaving and unweaving the destiny of this planet’s humanity) are
weaving and unweaving the destiny, or the karma of humanity, they start,
of course, singing about he past present and the future.

When we talk about the past involved within this Nordic myth, we find
that in the very beginning the fire and the light, darkness and cold, were
precisely in each side of the abyss. The abyss was in the middle of these
two forces and eventually united and from the union, which obviously is an
alchemical representation, of water and fire, above and below, light and
darkness, which we can attribute or to place into that chaos called Daath,
related to the creation of the world.
 From the outcome of that union or that mixture Imir was born. Imir the
giant that is the first thing that emerges (as this Nordic myth states); this
Imir, the giant is the representation of the Monad, the Innermost of each
one of us. Of course this Innermost, the Spirit, this Giant Imir, the Monad,
is within where all the possibilities of creation exist. This Imir, the Giant
also represents in this cosmic day, the First Root Race, The Polar Race or
the Protoplasmic Race that existed in the beginning of creation. Imir, of
course, it is written that was feeding himself from the utter of the cow that
had emerged as well from the mixture of the two forces. This cow was
licking ice from the cold and darkness of the chaos  and from her, or from
her utter, milk was coming out in order to feed Imir, the Giant. The divine
mother here, of course, is the cow; you know that in India the symbol of
the divine mother is the cow. These for rivers of milk that emerge from the
utters of the cow represent the four river of Eden which are written in the
Hebraic myth that emerge from Eden or from Daath the super Eden, the
upper Eden. Representation of the two polarities, masculine and feminine,
above and below, because that Imir, the Giant was a hermaphrodite; it is
written that from his armpit emerge the first humanity, the first couple,
male female; a hermaphrodite in other words. And from his feet emerge a
monster of six heads, a symbol of alchemy.
 But behold hear and understand this myth of the Nordics, that after a
while other beings, the Gods emerge. Bori with is the father of Bore. And
Bore the father of Odin, Vili and Ve, according to this myth. Of course
these are the transformations of that giant which descend in different
dimensions in order to appear in the world of creation. Because in the
world of creation we always find the three primary forces that always
create and are hidden within the Giant.

Many times we said that the within the monad, within that primordial
atom in the Ain Soph is hidden, the three primary forces, Father, Son, Holy
Spirit, which in the Nordic myth are called Odin, Vili and Ve which are
three thee primary forces that destroyed the Giant. The myth stated that
they killed the giant in order to create the universe. It is a beautiful symbol
of course because from the Ain Soph which is that giant that everyone has
within emerges creation. Obviously the three primary forces take all from
the Ain Soph, because from that Giant emerge all the element that are
needed in order for creation to appear. Remember that it is written that
every thing emerges from the Ain Soph and every thing returns into the
Ain Soph. So the three primary forces Kether, Chochmah, Binah, Father,
Son, Holy Spirit, Odin, Vili, and Ve, take all the elements that they need in
order to create the Yggdrasil or all those parts of the tree of life from the
Ain Soph, from that Giant. This is how the giant dies in order for nature to
immerge. But of course the intelligence of the Gods is needed in order for
that creation to be organized. And the Norns speak of the past, how it
influences the present, and how it is going to influence the future. That is
what is called the karma of the world.

In the beginning of this cosmic day, it is written, that this great

inhabitant of the absolute, a Paramarthasatya whose name we always
state is the master Aberamentho, Who in this planet earth, in this root
race, is called Jesus of Nazareth, He was already out of creation, yet he
emerged from within the absolute light. This happened when he saw all of
those forces of Imir emerging, or monads coming from the absolute in
order for creation to appear; he saw that the karma of the previous cosmic
days was a very heavy weight in the Anima Mundi of this planet. And this
is how this myth explains from the beginning how the Gods intervene in
order to plan, how to help the karma of this world, planet earth. And of
course this great being an inhabitant of the absolute, a Paramarthasatya,
Jesus of Nazareth, Master Aberamentho, left or abandoned the absolute
and appeared in the universe in order to help Gods and humans. That was
of course at that time in the chaos; and through time this great being sent
his Buddha, or Bodhisattva, to reincarnate because any being whether a
Paramarthasatya, Dharmakaya, Sambhogakaya, or Nirmanakaya, needs
always a vehicle to express his wisdom in order to teach the way, to save
or to help.  

And this is why Jesus of Nazareth Aberamentho’ s human soul was sent

to planet earth in order to prepare himself for the great mission that he
performed 2000 years ago. And you know how his being entered into him
in order to unite the solar and lunar forces; and this precisely the
dissention of the solar gods into the universe. Many Solar Gods came to
the earth in order to manage its karma, in order to help this humanity. But
as you know many of them committed mistakes. Because they did not
take into account the karma of the world.

And this is how this opera explains, in the prologue, how the karma of
the world developed. So, the Gods are always helping, yet they left the
kundabuffer organ too much time in the human organism because they
did not take into account the karma of the previous three rounds. And the
problem is, of course, as you see in the opera or how is described in the
opera as Gotterdammerung, the damnation of the gods. The rope, of
course, breaks because with the karma that this planet has they cannot
predict the out come because each one of us instead of annihilating the
karma increase more the karma, and the lunar forces take strength, force.
The Fire is the only one that can help in this negotiation with the karma
because no body mocks the karma the superior karma.

Then this is why you see how after this singing of the Norns about the
past present and future, Siegfried and Brünnhilde appear in the stone, in
the rock. They are already united. This is what in the initiate that enters
the path and that wants to be free from this karma, from this heavy log
that we have on are backs, has to do. And of course this is (as in the
previous lecture the speaker explains very well) how the two souls have to
be united in order to overcome that karma. Because first the common and
current, the common and ordinary karma has to be overcome which
Siegfried already did it. But now they are going to confront the superior
karma which is related with the falling of Adam and Eve, or the falling of
Ask and Embla according to this myth. And how through initiation these to
forces were rising in Sigmund and Sieglinde as the opera explains it. Of
course if you read what the couple sings when Siegfried is going out of
that stone and telling Brünnhilde "I am going now to perform new tasks
and to confront new problems, but you will be with me, you and me will be
one, no mater where we are, will be one" this is precisely the moment
when the divine soul and the human soul unite and incarnate in the
physical world, in order to descend again  into the Ninth Sphere in order to
perform what we explain before, the Enneagram, which is all of the work
of the Second Mountain. In the opera you see only certain points of the
Second Mountain not the whole thing.  

When Siegfried leaves he goes and rides on Brünnhilde’s horse, which

is of course her wisdom, her understanding. Now they are one and
Siegfried has all the protection of the divine soul within him. Many great
works or jobs, tasks are in front of him and of course he leaves the real
power in the hands of Brünnhilde because the knight (human soul) always
gives his works, all the out outcome of the marvelous esoteric work to his
divine soul (his Lady). In other words the Monad always absorbs all of that.
Remember that we always say that initiations, powers are always
absorbed by the Monad and the Monad is represented by Odin and
Brünnhilde; because Brünnhilde is the divine soul within which the flame of
Prana, or, Prajna, is always burning, which is precisely his own Being, yet
part of her is within the one who is sacrificing the self (as we explained in
previous lectures) in order to descend. This is what Krishna called the
reincarnation of the Gods. This is precisely the way in which a true master
descends.

This is something that we have to comprehend because many Gnostics

do not understand the different aspects of the Monad or the Mastery.
When somebody reaches the first mountain this one incarnates, or better
said when one reaches the fifth initiation of major mysteries, this one only
incarnates the human soul. This human soul is just Siegfried. That is just a
symbol of it. Incarnated there as a bodhisattva in the direct path, not the
spiral, the direct path. But still that initiate has not incarnated his
Innermost. Many Gnostics think that when someone reaches the
fifth initiation and take the direct path they automatically incarnated the
Innermost. They are wrong. And this is how they are caught in lies and
Mythomania. Because they think that because they already reach the
fifth initiation the innermost is already inside of them. No. The innermost is
the Prajna, the light that burns within the Divine Soul and in order to
incarnate the Divine Soul the Master have to kill the dragon Fafner; in
others words, all the ego related to the earth (Malkuth), all of that
negativity. Then the Innermost incarnates because the Innermost is within
Brünnhilde and this is precisely that moment, which we see in this
prologue, how another step is going to start ahead on the way of the super
man, in which already the Monad is going to act.

Act I

          

          Rune Gebur                    Swastika (Gebur in motion) 

Well here you see how the first act begins with the Gibichungs and here
are some words that have something very significant; you find
“Gibichungs” which is of course a kingdom and the king of that kingdom is
named “Gunther;” he rules there with his sister “Gutrune.” Do you see the
similarities of a thing hidden there? Hidden there is the “G” which
is Gnosis the “G” of the Masons, the “G” of genesis. If in the second opera
the Walkirie you find the “S,” the “SIG” within “Siegfried” within
“Sieglinde” with Sigmund. Here you find Gotterdammerung, Gibichungs,
Gunther, Gutrune, the “G” is of course the Rune “Gebur,” and the mystery
of the Rune “Gebur” is precisely the swastika. Gebur is represented as a
cross, but when that cross is in movement you find there the mysterious
swastika which is the cross in movement. The Rune “Gebur” hides the
great mysteries of the Sahaja Maithuna, the great mysteries of sexuality,
which here in this opera, in this fourth part, is shown very clear for those
that walk on the path, for those that study the doctrine, for those that
know how destiny is transmitted to a vehicle. Remember that such destiny
is between these three “G”s, Gibichung, Gunther, Gutrune, incarnated
Gods (even in English God has the “G” of Gnosis). So, somebody is there
that really does not belong and his name begins with “H”, is Hagen, which
means hook, which represents the inheritance of damnation, or the evil
will of Alberich because this Hagen is the son of a mixture of Arians with
Atlanteans. Remember that Alberich represents the cunning of the
Atlantean civilizations, the Nibelungen because in the Atlantean epoch
they developed this faculty which is cunning. But in this Arian race the
faculty which is above cunning is reasoning, or the way in which we
developed objective reasoning, wisdom. But somehow, still, some Arian’s,
people that work at the shore of the river (sex) do not understand what is
reasoning and what is cunning.

You find that Gutrune and Gunther are really king and queen; they are
royal people meaning initiates. Because in order for you to do this, you
have to become a king or queen. In Kabbalah the Malachim are in
Tiphereth, i.e. if you say "I am a Malachim, a king, or a queen, what you
are saying is: “I have my astral mental and causal bodies; I am dress with
‘To soma Heliakon’ (the Mercabah), the solar bodies;” so, as this,
precisely, one begins the development of this first part as Siegfried is
navigating in the river. Because everything that we perform here is
performed in the river, in the sexual force, in the waters. And he is
performing great tasks related with the Enneagram of the second
mountain when you have to go and annihilate your egos in other levels.
Not in the level that we are doing here, because he already annihilated the
dragon of the earth which is that karma or ego related with 96 laws. Now
he is going deeper, navigating in that river and going to hell to annihilate
other creatures. Which the master Samael Aun Weor explains very clear in
the book the three mountains.

But that damnation of the kundabuffer, that mistake of the Gods, from
the past, is still active in humanity and it is very clear of course for those
that follow the path. Haggen is that double psychology that each one of us
has. We have within the aspects of the being and any initiate who walks
on the path develops his being, his spiritual soul, his divine soul, his
human soul, but has the ego also there; which in this case is represented
in Hagen, which is how the personality works through that double aspect
or that double psychology. In other worlds or planets you find humanity
with a very strong spiritually where Imir is very strong, big, nothing
negative. however only in this planet earth you find that old duality in
which the lunar and solar forces are disequilibrated, out of balance. And
Haggen of course is very strong and is always within any Kingdom within
any Court.

If you study this opera from a superficial point of view you will see how,
in this humanity, in this Arian race unfortunately, the ego if fully
developed, very strong. And that is precisely our own particular haggen,
which through inheritance, through time has become strong. And the
problem is that there are people that fortify that false personality, that
haggen, that false personality that we have within, and worship it, even
through religion. So you find that the damnation of the Gods or the
mistake of the Gods has been inherited through this double psychology
that we have, Haggen, through three factors. The first factor is that which
we called Genotype, which is related to the genes. And of course that is
transmitted through the sexual act. All of us received that damnation, or
as the bible says, the original sin transmitted through sexual act; because
all of us are children of fornication, no exception; children of adultery, no
exception; because orgasm, spasm, is fornication, it is damnation it is a sin
against the Holy Ghost, a sin again the spear of Wotan.

And when we walk on this path we have to face that unforgivable sin.
And this is something that people forget. When they enter into the path
they think that because we enter the path we are going out of sin, no, it is
not. Even, we will say, those in the exotericism (that which is outside of
esotericism) when they talk about the forgiving of sins, they think
that fornication and adultery is forgiven when they accept Jesus which is
really false, because it is written there in the same bible
that fornication and adultery is an unforgivable sin. Everybody has to pay
that sin with death. I repeat, with death! Only with death you are free from
that Kamaduro and Karmasaya or Karma of fornication and adultery. So, of
course this is genotype, we are the outcome of genotype, inheritance. Our
fathers or parents in this case placed that Karma in our body, that
inheritance in our blood, in our flesh in our bones because we have
the ego or elements that bring into our physical body that damnation.
Those elements are precisely what we call lust, cupidity, anger, greed, and
all those things that we have in abundance. Those elements are the
magnet, these are the Hagen within. We will say, to explain better is the
Alberich within that will eventual build his future son which is Hagen. So
this Hagen is the outcome of Alberich through time. And this is how
precisely why Wotan says, Alberich has already a child, Alberich has a
child an inheritance, an Heir in other words.

2 is Phenotype, education. The type of education that we receive in this

day and age, most of it is related with cunning, cunningness; which is how
our personality is strengthened in a negative way. Personalities that are
looking just for money, for gold; anyone in this world wants to have
money. They think that they will find happiness in money, in gold. This
society is built on greed or covetousness. The phenotype that we receive
is false, and even in this time these personalities, false personalities these
Hagens (that are abundant) they become atheists, and they think that
atheism is the summit of wisdom. They are against the Gods. They destroy
all the religions.

And of course 3 Paratype, circumstances, this is the other factor in

which Hagen the personality (the outcome of that Alberich that we have
within) the evil will, which is based on fornication, develops. These are the
three factors: genotype phenotype and paratype, which build this false
personality which is built upon the sub-consciousness, which is our
inheritance from the past.

So, each time the initiate has to confront that, which is why when they
fall and have to confront that they find a great problem; because the
enemy is never outside, the enemy is inside. And this is precisely the
problem of many present initiates, they always focus outside the problem
of salvation, and end always condemning other religions, or accusing other
people, and forget that the real damnation, the real traitor is within each
one of them or us. So, if we do not annihilate the interior traitor we will
always be in the same level. When we accuse others of being traitors, this
is Hagen accusing other Hagen of being a Hagen; which points to
stupidity, imbecility, rooted precisely in the ego.

And it is precisely because Hagen is so strong that we think, or he

thinks that he will have the power of the ring. Or the power of all the
process of initiation will be in his hand. And this is precisely the problem of
many Gnostics in this day and age. They always accuse others, meanwhile
within them they have the three traitors.  

So you see hear how this couple Brünnhilde and Siegfried, the
human soul and the human soul, within the initiate, are happily receiving
there initiations, the union, the love, because they are united by love. But
below in the physical world, you find another pair, the brother and sister,
who are Gunther and Gutrune; but they are not the common and ordinary
brother and sister that are fallen in sin, because they are initiates; they
are handling weapons they could be any group of initiates that know about
the “Rune Gebur,” the swastika, the power of the cross in movement that
originates universes, that originates monsters, beasts and human beings
because without the “Rune Gebur”, without the swastika nothing can
exist. Remember that through the swastika, through the cross is how
Balder (Christ), the beautiful son of Odin, (Balder in this case as a
similarity related with Siegfried) who is an innocent, beautiful, strong
warrior, but who still is innocent and does not realize how his fate is going
to finish. But he is doing the work.   

So, with the swastika everything is altered, everything is transformed

above and below, within the initiate and within humanity. It depends how
we use it. It comes into my mind of course this initiate that every body
knew with the name of Hitler and who knew about the mysteries of the
swastika; but which in the end was cheated by Hagen, by the Hagen of
others and by his own particular Hagen. Regrettably, Hitler started using
the swastika in the wrong way and instead of disintegrating his ego and
arriving at the self realization, he became a dangerous hasnamuss; which
is precisely the great problem that happened to many initiates on this Kali
Yuga. One needs to know how to use the swastika. The swastika is good
when it is guided by the Being; when our Inner Being commands it and
controls it. Because when somebody reaches mastery they always have to
be under the guidance of the being. Only the being can say” Go down to
the Ninth Sphere,” “Now stop, do not do it” People think that the same
whole rules follow for all initiates. But they are wrong. Because every
initiate in itself has a different karma, and the being knows how to handle
that karma. And that is why we cannot say at a certain time we have to
stop being in the Ninth Sphere or using the swastika. Only the initiate who
walks on the direct path knows when to use it when to stop to use it.
Because I repeat, everybody has a different type of destiny. There are
initiates that fell very deep. There are others that did not fall so deep. So
in order to deal with that, with the Rune Gebur, the mysteries of the
swastika, we need to study very deep our own particular individual karma.

And that’s why the brother and sister, Gunther and Gutrune, bring into
our minds Adam and Eve again. But not falling, standing. Of course the
brother is the brain and the sister is the sexual organs as we always
explain. The sister, eve, Gutrune always has the cup while Gunther always
has the brain which symbolizes knowledge, wisdom. So of course Siegfried
within any initiate in the physical world at that level is performing great
tasks Great marvels. But remember that if Gunther represents the brain
and Gutrune the sexual organs, then obviously Hagen represents the evil
will. The way in which we satisfy desires and we can be cheated by our
own particular ego, represented in the personality. And this is how after
performing great tasks, after performing great works, Siegfried finally
arrives at the physical world. Because the kingdom of Gunther is in
Midgard; we explain before that Midgard is Malkuth, the physical world
where everybody has his physical body where we always have the
negative aspects of the Being which is the personality. We have to
understand that if the Being is shining above, who is the master, here
below is the darkness, the karma, superior and inferior karma, which is
always glowing tenebrously through the personality of the initiate. That
personality is the one who inherited the past. And within that personality is
the damnation of fornication and adultery of the past that needs to be
washed in order for that initiate to achieve self realization. So this is what
you have to see and to visualize: The brother and sister (twin souls) above
(Tiphereth and Geburah) and the brother and sister (Brain-Sex) below (in
Malkuth).

Thus, when the initiate arrives at this moment in the opera when you
see him drinking from the cup of forgetfulness, what is that? One wonders
right? And here is precisely the problem when the initiate has to confront
his death and resurrection. And this event happens to many initiates at
that level. Many Gnostics try to explain what happened to the master
Samael Aun Weor at the end of his life. Likewise, many esotericists try to
explain what happed to the master Jesus at the end of his life and how
come they caught him and killed him if he was almighty all powerful. Yet,
they ignore that in the cross, on the swastika in activity master Jesus said:
“ My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Listen, all the powers as
in Sigmund are taken out, as well as Siegfried, all his power are taken out
for one purpose, this is, in order to become completely free. Then the
initiate has to confront, in the physical world, his original sin. Because all
of us, without exception, at the time of Adam and Eve, we fell
into fornication and we committed adultery, in other words, be betrayed
Brünnhilde; or the females, betrayed their own particular prince. But in
this Opera, the spiritual soul is represented as a female aspect,
Brünnhilde, who is betrayed. Because each one of us has his own divine
couple, the twin souls; the twin soul is within, it is Brünnhilde. Thus, in the
moment when we committed fornication, we betrayed Brünnhilde, we
committed adultery and fornication; so behold here these two
aspects fornication and adultery, and how these are related with sexuality.
And these are the first sins committed by humanity. First fornication and
through fornication entered adultery.

In Kabbalah we explained it many times. Kabbalah states that when

Adam fell he then marry two women: Lilith and Nahemah; or two
psychologies in other words. Nahemah (the white moon) is destroyed by
Siegfried when he confronted the dragon Fafner. But Lilith (the black
moon) is confronted of course in the Enneagram, in the second mountain,
and at the end of that work, Siegfried has to drink the cup forgetfulness
and that cup is in the hand of Gutrune, which of course we know very well
that the cup represents the Yoni, the sexual feminine organ.  
 And precisely this is the first step (in order to kill Kamaduro and
Karmasaya), this is to marry Gutrune, by toasting to Brünnhilde, he drinks
the cup; because this is his last task: when his inner being says: “well now
you have to confront the women with which you fell in the past. And you
have to marry her, you have to transmute with her, because with her you
fell. And with her you have to be lifted up and become completely
resurrected. If the initiate refuses, he says “Well if you want to rise
yourself into the level in which you were united with me you have to
confront that. You betrayed me with her in the past now you have to face
the consequences. Go with her and transmute with her but be careful
because she will try to make you fall again from the level in which you now
are. And the initiate does it; because if he does not do it he will not
resurrect. Because the karma of Kamaduro and Karmasaya is rooted there
in the treason he committed in the past and he has to face that. However,
if he doesn’t do it of course he will be invulnerable, protected by the force
of the Spirit, yet, if he does it he will lose that protection and this is
necessary so that the karma that is a damnation, that is of course rooted
in Hagen from the past because of the treason committed by Alberich
become fulfilled, which is the damnation of the ring.

Everybody has the damnation of the ring inside his own psychology.
But you pay that only at the end. Remember how the great initiates at the
end die. And they pass a great humiliation. And of course when the initiate
enters and confronts his new partner in the physical world. It sounds like
adultery right? It is adultery. An every body will see it. And it will be a
scandal but that is precisely the way. This is unforgivable karma and you
have to face it. And in the moment when he starts to practice sexual
magic with his new wife, from that cup he receives all the damnation, all
the ego. Remember that it is written you shall not commit adultery.
Because when you commit adultery you absorb the psychological
elements from the partner you are committing adultery with. Then you not
only have to fight against your psychological elements but also those
elements of your partner. You poison yourself in other words. And this is
something very delicate that nobody understands. This is why you shall
not commit adultery.
 Nevertheless, an initiate at that level in which Siegfried is, he has
no ego, he is completely innocent. He is courageous, powerful, has no
fear, yet, he absorbs the ego of the woman which he fell with in the past.
And, precisely, her psychological elements are what make him to forget
about his own spirituality; because her egos absorb it. And this is why you
find here how Brünnhilde feels betrayed because it is a great pain for the
divine soul. The initiate is already united, the two souls are there one, they
are one together. Yet, through that physical action of going into the other
woman, Gutrune (because it is written that sexual act at that level is
prohibited); but Siegfried’s Being said now you can go down and do it. So
when they do it, of course, Brünnhilde immediately notices it. So, when he
drinks the cup (absorbs the atomic psychic elements from Gutrune’s Yoni)
all of that goes to Siegfried’s brain (Gunther), because Gunther which is
the brain (the brother of Gutrune-Sex) has to marry her (Brünnhilde). You
see. If Gutrune is the sexual organs, Gunther is the brain, behold the two
polarities, two forces here (in Malkuth). Remember that when Eve eats of
the fruit it affects Adam with her action.

So, Siegfried goes up disguised as Gunther. Obviously Siegfried

(the soul) already absorbed the ego of Gunther (the brain-the mind) or
that aspect of psychology within him. Thus Gunther and Siegfried are one
because they even drank their blood. Remember that the blood is the
vehicle of the spirit, and how through it everything is united. After he
drinks (absorbs through Ida) the forgetfulness cup (from Gutrune’s Yoni),
he drinks the blood (through Pingala from this other cup- the brain)  and
obviously becomes one with the Gutrune’s brother (Gunther – the Mind),
there something is united, the whole ego of his partner (or spouse) is
inside and (like that) he goes up to Brünnhilde, because Siegfried is
already at that level, and goes up to the same level in which Brünnhilde is,
and Brünnhilde says “what is this”? “My human soul came here
courageously victoriously and now here is this spot of imperfection? What
is this?” And she visualizes something filthily; of course it is the ego from
that new partner (spouse) which now he has to confront; which the divine
human soul has to confront, precisely the original sin which is related with
male female which is related with Ida and Pingala; which is related with
Adam and Eve, the two polarities, above and below. Behold, this is why
Siegfried entered in disguised with that hamlet, which is the mind, in other
words that new aspect that Brünnhilde does not recognize and within
which Siegfried is disguised as Gunther.  

Siegfried (the Human Soul) is now disguised with a new aspect of

the ego (from his spouse). So, Siegfried now has to fight and to defeat the
psychological aspects that he took from his new partner in the sexual act.
And this is precisely what happens, I repeat, to those initiates who are
already without ego; because if you with ego will do that, then you will
make a mess of yourself; because you still have your ego of 96 laws and
the egos of others laws, and of course if you absorb the egos of others you
will be in more darkness. Nevertheless in this opera it is very clear that
Siegfried already killed the dragon, Siegfried already performed the many
tasks of the Enneagram, thus, finally without ego, innocent clear and pure
appears there and gets married in order to confront the last task which is
to overcome fornication or Kamaduro. Thus, when he takes his wife he
starts losing his powers, and Hagen who is precisely rooted in the original
sin is going to plan his killing because with death you overcome death. Of
course meanwhile Brünnhilde, the spiritual soul, receives notifications in
the upper worlds: there is a revolution in heaven, since Odin (her own
father) already know what is going on and every thing is going to be
changed because of the actions of Siegfried, since he overcame the spear
of Wotan, everything will be changed. Now a new law has to appear
because the final step in self-realization is coming and the old laws no
longer are in use because a new objective reasoning of the being is being
developed through the fire through Loge and all his tricks. So let us now
continue with the second act.

 
ACT II

So, by fallowing this you see how

Katancia, Karmasaya, and Kamaduro are being fulfilled; with this we want
to state that no one mocks the law. No one escapes karma. Many types of
karma are forgiven but the karma related with fornication and adultery is
unforgivable, especially if it is a fallen bodhisattva, which is related with
Katancia. Here you see, in this scene, that Alberich appears in a dream to
haggen in the beginning of this part. The dream relates to sub-
consciousness, infra-consciousness; you all know what dreams mean and
from where they come from. Of course it is within the sub-consciousness
and infra-consciousness where we find the dream world, or our own
particular Alberich which is not one but a legion that is synthesized in evil
will. Because when we betray our Inner God in the past
through fornication, we did it through evil will: Alberich stole the Rheingold
from the three maidens, the three mermaids which were holding it in the
waters, which are the waters of sexuality.  

Notice here in all of this part and see how Hagen is no longer a
Nibelungen. But the mixture I say of Nibelungen with Arians, which is this
Arian Root Race. We are no longer Atlanteans we are the mixture of the
Atlantean civilization with the Hyperboreans, which are precisely those
upon which we have make always emphasis; because the very root of this
Arian Root Race lies on the Hyperboreans. These were mixed with the
Atlanteans in the forth subrace, in the past. From the Atlanteans we get
the inheritance of cunning, and from the Arians (Hyperboreans) we
inherited wisdom.  
 Unfortunately the lunar forces of Hagen within this mixture are strong
and are everywhere. Everywhere you see you find this mixture, because
the Arian Root Race populates the whole planet earth, the seven subraces;
even though, we are now here in the United States and Canada where the
seventh or last subrace of the Arian Root Race is being developed. Before
we had of course other previous Root Races, and precisely, the
Hyperboreans or these Solar Gods were taking care of this Arian Root Race
in different continents through different ways. These Hyperboreans (Solar
Gods) are what this Opera call the Wolsungs, or the children of Wotan, or
the children of God; or as we say in Christianity and Judaism: the Prophets.
The Prophets are the Wolsungs; the ones who were in contact with God as
warriors and thus performing the work of God in the earth. And of course
these Wolsungs are those who always developed according to karma in
different ways.  

But now this: in the order to overcome the Katancia the Kamaduro and
Karmasaya; Alberich is reminding Hagen: “Remember that as ego we have
the power in the past; remember that (as Kundabuffer) you are my son
(evil-will). Are you sleeping Hagen?” Let us remember that the followers of
the lunar force are awakened black magicians which in this case are
represented by Hagen, which cunningly entered in every way (path);
since, it is written that Javhe, the boss of the black lodge took into his
hands all the religions of the world in order to control humanity. Of course
Javhe is the boss of all of those awakened black magicians that are always
trying to steel the power in order to conquer, in order to gain the battle.
Yet, the only power that they gain is power in klipoth, in hell, but never in
heaven. However, they talk about heaven, about paradise but they never
enter in because they are traitors; they are awakened traitors, and
awakened in their own past, that is, their own psyche, which always says
to them “are you sleeping Hagen?” He (the evil-will) says no I am planning
here how to gain the ring that we own be inheritance by are own right.
This reminds me that the master Samael Aun Weor states, that when
someone enters into new initiation and gains new powers the black
magicians get infuriated. The say: “Somebody is stealing from us!”
“Somebody is taking power from us!” Because they think that they own
the earth. So obviously they are always planning and complotting against
the solar light.

So, obviously Siegfried is already absorbed within the lunar force

because he wants to defeat it. Hagen thinks that this is an opportunity in
order to take the power of the ring because it is already in his (karmic)
hand. It was in the hands of Brünnhilde yet now the power is in Hagen’s
hands, because it is now a karmic power, and Hagen thinks (because
apparently, adultery is being shown) that he will partake the power, since
the law will allow it to happen, because during the process of that event of
an apparent adultery (you know that) Siegfried swore that he did not
commit adultery and it is the truth.  

Explanation: Balder Christ incarnated within that Siegfried initiate, is

innocent, Balder is just being sacrificed, the lord always sacrifices for the
initiate. And when the lord says “I never committed adultery” he is saying
the truth. But remember that when he Siegfried went up to the rock
Gunther was with him and Gunther and he were one, meaning, Gunther is
the one who committed adultery because of the advice of Hagen, his own
personality. So when Siegfried swears that he did not commit adultery he
is saying the truth, but meanwhile (through Gunther) he is committing it.
Do you see that contradiction? That is why it is written that when the lord
is incarnated, or when Balder, Christ, the Son of God is incarnated in any
initiate, he being innocent is accused of being guilty because he mingles
with the ego of the initiate. And this is what happens with many great
initiates. They are being accused by other Initiates that are on the path.

This is why the whole drama appears in this Opera when all the initiates
in that castle are listening to Brünnhilde is saying, and what Siegfried is
saying and that both of them are innocent, meaning, it is not adultery and
meanwhile it is adultery. And yes it is adultery, since this is the outcome of
adultery from the past; this is something that is being unfolded there very
clear, and the initiate has to pay the consequences. But somebody is
going to be killed there innocently. And somebody is being accused there
innocently. First Brünnhilde is being accused of adultery and she really
committed adultery yet unwillingly, thus, because of the circumstances
she is an adulterous, yes, because of the mistakes of Gutrune, the physical
woman. This is precisely the great sacrifice that is shown there in that
Opera, how Christ sacrifices himself for the initiate in order to redeem him.
He takes the Initiate sins as his own, thus, he is not guilty, he is innocent;
but by mixing himself with him he looks guilty. And this why, in different
time initiates were accused by other initiates, by other people of
committing mistakes at that level. And they ignore that when they were
doing that they were accusing the Christ because Christ was incarnated
within them. And they ignore that when they were doing that they were
gaining karma because all of them are followers of the lord, Christ. And
because they are not at that level, or because they are not following the
direct path they misjudge the initiate. And by accusing the initiate they
are accusing Christ, And they are gaining karma. This is called the
Pharisaism. Still in this time you see people (in the forum) that are talking
about the process of the master Samael Aun Weor; who in this case (the
master that was in Mexico) was the new Siegfried. And he was in that
process at that moment. Thus, everybody accused him because they were
only fanatics of Gnosticism. They did not understand that they were
accusing the Christ, or accusing Christ hidden within him, meaning, Christ
was within him. This is precisely the paradox and the sadness of our
psyche. That we don’t see clear. And this is precisely what happened at
that time of Jesus of Nazareth as well. Because Jesus was fallen and when
rising again, he was going to resurrect, and here is where Javhe and his
followers took advantage, knowing that Jesus inner being was withdrawing
from him in order (for his inner being) to affect Jesus resurrection. And in
that moment they killed him, they tortured him. So, of course, honor is
being spoken about in this part; Honor, remember that honor is related
with the level of Siegfried, with the second triangle. Geburah, Gedulah,
Tiphereth, these are in the area of honor. These are new rules, new
elements, new laws that the common and ordinary human being ignore.

Let us now enter into the third Act which is the death of our hero and
Heroine.

 
  

Act III
So, of course the death of Siegfried is coming from the hands
of Brünnhilde. Brünnhilde advises Hagen how to kill Siegfried
because she knows that with the death of Siegfried Hagen
will die, because Hagen is the same damnation. Brünnhilde
plays dumb, not knowing what is going on, because the Gods
know that through death the damnation of the ring, the end
of that curse of fornication and adultery, the kundabuffer
damnation will finish (the death of that inheritance or karma
which is within the body of Siegfried because he absorbed it).
As you see here this is how he, Christ absorbs the damnation
(karma); even the three maidens of the Rhine (similar to the
three daughters of Marah) are advising him to deliver the ring
and this is how many initiates are tempted by the Gods above
and below to abandon the path. This is why Jesus of Nazareth
said on the Mount of Olives. “Father, if it is possible, take this
cup of bitterness out of me” because he sees what is
coming.” “But not my will but thine be done” and that is
precisely what happened. He knows that his death is coming
and takes the cup, that is, he obeys his God who says “go
into the ninth sphere and take that woman because with her
you fell and redeem her as well, because not only you have to
be redeemed but her as well; I will redeem you and her
through that action.”

And through that, of course, a great revolution, a great change, new

laws, new objective reasoning will emerge. All the gods that know that,
and who see what is going to happen warn Siegfried through their three
maidens which are the three Norns as well through different aspects.
“Don’t do it, give the ring to us or the Power to us” They say in other
words, “do not follow that sequence” but Siegfried has no fear of death; he
knows that he is going to die. He knows that this is the only way to get rid
of the damnation and that is why his own Wisdom his own Spirit,
Brünnhilde is telling Hagen how to do it, in order for him to die. This is why
it is said “with his death he will kill death” a whole transformation will
occur. And, of course, when Siegfried is singing, this means, when he is
performing his work with the Word. This is why you see that when he is
singing Hagen gives him another cup to remember; this is a process of
alchemy in which the initiate’s cognizance is going deeper and deeper and
reaching the very origins of sin, this is how he remembers very clear how
everything happened. His consciousness is again completely awakened
and knowing about good and evil. Remember what is written, “The day
when you eat from that fruit your eyes will be open and you will be likes
Gods, knowing good and evil.”

Good and evil has many levels, in many lectures we said that there are
six degrees of objective reasoning. So every time that the phoenix bird
raises from his own ashes his wisdom is higher. His objective reasoning is
in another degree. It is only, of course, through the eating of the fruit of
the tree of good and evil how you go and know about good and evil;
Sexuality. And this is why you find there temptations ordeals that you
have to pass in order to finally achieve that level in which you will realize
more your God and his mysteries. This is related with Jonah as well. Thus,
Siegfried is singing about the past; his intuition, the bird of his spirituality,
that power of the past or clairvoyance, clairaudience, and all of those
powers related with those levels of initiation, help him to remember,
reminding him of many things. Thus, through his remembrance he
acknowledges that he is guilty of ignorance. And of course when the
initiate finally admits his guilt and his crime; and that he is the very source
of it. Then the fulfillment comes. Because in order to acquire another level
of reasoning, objective reasoning, another level of wisdom you have to
recognize or comprehend; not just to say: “Oh I am guilty,” no! What you
have to do is to understand to comprehend the depth of your guilt and
your crime. Thus, when you realize that it is because you really have
accepted that you are guilty. Yet, if you do not accept that then you are
not at that level yet. To accept that is to recognize your own nothingness.
It is to kneel behind God as job does it in the bible and say: “I came naked
(ignorant) from the womb of my mother and naked I will return; I am
nothing God is everything.” Siegfried recognizes that when he sings that
and then of course he gives his back so that karma is fulfilled, which
always acts through Hagen, thus, he stabs him in the back – Treason,
because treason is paid with treason. The Human Soul betrayed his own
God in the past, now he is betrayed, but through that, through that
process, he is eventually overcoming treason; which is a process that
endures one year.

When you hear about this ordeal of job you think it is just a brief
moment, like in the Opera. No. the opera happens of course in a short
time because no body is going to be in an opera for a year in order to
understand “Oh it is one year.” Listen, the ordeal of job endures exactly
eight years; this is the process that we are talking about here. But in the
last year is when the initiate receives sickness related with fornication or
with adultery, a filthy sickness that’s the way he pays and dies. Or dies
through any other way, but this is the process in which your body is
decaying and despite your Being is all mighty all powerful, nonetheless,
you get sick and you die. It is coming into my mind the master Samael Aun
Weor. With his powers he cured a lot of people but at the last time of that
year when he was passing the ordeal of Job in 1977 he could not heal
himself; He was passing the last year, and he was feeling pain in the area
of the abdomen, in the liver with all the areas related with the kidneys,
endocrine glands related with sex. He was receiving his own Katancia, His
own Kamaduro, his own Karmasaya. At that time, nobody or few
understood that, but only those who study completely all the drama.
Understand that he is not the first one nor is he the last one.
 Sequentially, now Siegfried is free, and with his death he killed Hagen
and all the traitors, because at the end you see how Brünnhilde comes and
unites with Siegfried and receive the same punishment. We told you in the
beginning that Brünnhilde was that part in which the powers of Balder, the
powers of Christ are hidden, and how she sacrifices for the warrior, thus,
she also takes that sin and rides on her horse together in order to die in
the flames with her hero. And this is precisely the great end. INRI, the fire,
Loge of nature completely transforms everything. INRI (Ignis Natura
Renovatur Integra).

Thus, all of that fire goes up to Valhalla, to the superior aspects of the
Being, and everything is destroyed and renewed with the resurrection
because remember that in accordance to mythology when Valhalla ends
Balder (Christ) resurrects and becomes a new boss of heaven, new boss in
the kingdom. In this case Balder is within, that is, Christ, the force, the
Redeemer is within Brünnhilde, is within Siegfried, is performing the great
work and finally burning in order to kill the damnation of the kundabuffer
organ and return the power of the ring to the maidens, which in this case
represent the waters of the Absolute. Because in the end the absolute
absorbs the objective reasoning the wisdom the knowledge acquired by
every single Initiate. This is why it is written that in the end the Absolute is
more knowable about itself. It is written the Absolute does not know itself
but every cosmic day the absolute knows more about itself through all the
initiates through all the heroes that perform the great work that Siegfried
performs and that is shown in this opera. Do you see that? This is the
same marvelous sacrifice which was precisely performed 2000 years ago
by Jesus of Nazareth. Since he is of course a Paramarthasatya a new
evolution, a new force surrounded the earth. In that epoch his own being
who is a Paramarthasatya, took the earth as his own body and from that
epoch the aurora borealis shown. We told you that aurora borealis or that
light that appears in the North Pole. That is coming from the Nordics, from
that great initiate, Nordic or Hyperborean initiate, because the “Boreas” is
the north wind. So the aurora borealis means the light of that north is
shown with more splendors because that light is helping those initiates
that enter into the rainbow (the path that take us from Midgar to Asgard,
from the earth to heaven; but they have to use the Gebur, the Swastika;
this is a great symbol.

So, this is precisely Gotterdammerung the end of the gods. We will say
the end of that level in that particular initiate. Because of course it is also
related to this Arian Root Race, it is also happening with this humanity:
The Solar Gods were worshiped in the past, but now the worshiping of the
Solar Gods is dead. Atheism is reigning everywhere and atheists mock the
Gods. But soon the great wolf Fernis which represents karma will open his
mouth and will swallow the earth. The great serpent of Midgard which
represents the ocean is going to swallow the earth as well. The
apocalypse, the end of the world, or the end of this Arian world, is
approaching; is happening.

It is written by the Solar Gods in the Aztec Pantheon, they said that in
the future Sixth Root Race, the Koradhi, the Gods with resurrect because
now they are dead. But through the work that we studied here, which is
the work we have to perform, the Gods will resurrect; the Gods will
emerge again in the future Koradhi Sixth Root Race. Since this Fifth Arian
Root Race is completely degenerated; yet, the Gods are still making super
efforts in order to help us. And of course through this great opera of
Wagner the ring of Nibelungen, we receive a lot of help; because that
music goes within the psyche and teaches all of this. It is more to say, yet,
we need to hear questions in order to continue.

Question: Can you discuss the ring being acquired once again by the
Rhine maidens

Answer: Yes, as we said the ring is the power. Remember that the gold,
the Rhine gold as we explained in the first lecture is on the very tip of the
phallus, or in the creative forces in the waters. That gold represents the
solar absolute, the Ain Soph Aur, the power of Christ. That is why when the
sun shines that gold glows, which is precisely that power of the Ain Soph,
which is the power of creation. The Ain Soph Aur is called the ray of
Okidanokh, it is Christ or Lucifer as well, meaning, the Light and fire that
creates through the three primary forces, creates the universe from the
bones and body of Imir, the Monad itself. But when somebody self realizes
his self and that ring returns into the waters, as we said , there is  another
level of objective reasoning acquired. And of course the absolute, the Ain
Soph Aur, the Ain Soph, absorbs that. And this particular individual knows
himself more. That is why when any humanity reaches that level, when
every single member of humanity reaches that level of Siegfried, then
from the chaos appears a star, a sun, in which all the mineral plant,
animal, and human kingdom are perfect. Of course our planet earth is far
beyond that. There are still a lot of Monads that are failures here.  

Question: If, by the grace of the law you marry the one you fell with in
the past, and transmute together, what would be the difference in the
process of redemption?

Answer: What would be the difference in the process of redemption, if

you are already with the spouse you fell with?  

Well that’s precisely the point, you see here in the fourth part. Yet, if
you already are with that spouse (because there are many initiates that
are with a spouse with whom they fell in the past) so far they will continue
there and the process will be different. They will be accused of adultery in
other ways, and fornication in other ways. But let me tell you it is very
difficult to find because after the fall of many initiates, they continue
fornicating with many. Who is here in this physical world a soul that never
had more than one partner? To fornicate one time is enough with one or
with many persons in order to be an adulterer or an adulteress. Of course
if there is one this will be very rare, one that never committed adultery or
who fell with this woman and continue being born in new bodies and
marrying and fornicating with the same woman in different lives and
finally both find the path of course that will be different. That will be
another opera, or Soap opera.

Question: You mentioned that the master Aberamento reincarnated

into the universe in this cosmic day, yet in the Gnostic Jesus section of the
web site it was mentioned that his human soul was fallen. Can you explain
how he reincarnated if he was fallen?

Answer: Well it is a way of saying that when somebody reaches and

creates the solar bodies he reincarnates. We will say that it is a fallen
bodhisattva that reincarnated. I repeat because any body that has solar
bodies has reincarnation as a law, but it is a lower level of reincarnation.
When we talk about the incarnation of the Innermost in Brünnhilde, the
divine soul, that is only through initiation. That is only when you rise again,
when you enter into the path. But when you fall you are having different
bodies. Yes you are reincarnating as a fallen bodhisattva or as fallen
human soul reincarnating, learning or receiving it rights. So Jesus, of
course, as the master Samael Aun Weor explains in major mysteries, was
fallen. But of course he rose again.

Statement: You could say that with a fallen bodhisattva the monad is
placing that human soul to suffer.

Answer continued: Yes exactly; for instance the case the master
Samael Aun Weor. He said that he was a fallen bodhisattva and he had
many reincarnations. He said for instance that he was Julius Cesar in one
of his reincarnations, and had many reincarnations in different lands. Why?
Because he was punished by his own Being; He tried to rise many times in
different lives but his Being internally was punishing him by not helping
him. So, he was sending him to another incarnation and there he was
trying to rise again and he was reaching certain levels; but then his being
might said: “this son of mine is a stubborn one, it is not the first time that
he fell it is the third time. So he has to learn. Because if I raise him now he
will do it a forth a fifth, so no, let him suffer a bit more.” This is precisely
Job says: “blessed be he that is punished by God” because through it God
is teaching him. The master Samael said in Mexico: “Believe me I suffered
a lot in this last fall that I had and I do not want to do it a fourth time
because its so much pain.”

Question: When Siegfried and Hagen die you mention this symbolized
the resurrection. How is the third mountain, the mountain of ascension
symbolized?

Well the mountain of ascension is only for resurrected masters. That is

some thing that is beyond. The second mountain is happening in this three
dimensional world but the Third Mountain is happening in Eden. This is
another thing that you have to understand because there also you have to
enter into other Sephiroth in order to return completely into the absolute.
And this is when Siegfried and Brünnhilde work in heaven as God and
Goddess and perform other works that are beyond. Because they are
already on another level of Being, this is not in this opera.

Question: What is the meaning of Hagen being the half brother of

Günter and Gutrune?

Answer: As I said he is the half brother of them because this is precisely

what you have. Our own particular ego or personality is the brother of the
positive aspects of the being. The personality Hagen is the negative
aspect of the Innermost, which unfortunately carries the karma, Katancia
that is the inheritance of the lunar past. In that way is how he is half, not
completely brother but half because one part is related of course with the
solar force which eventually the initiate has to liberate by disintegration,
because when Hagen is disintegrated the being absorbs that solar part of
the consciousness the part that was bottled up within Hagen; Hagen the
lunar part, which is related with (as you know) with the lunar bodies and
the lunar forces that return to the earth, in other words, our matters that
are mechanical, forces that are related with cause and effect (we all have
that inheritance).  So, we have the inheritance of cause and effect, karma
of the worlds, our past karma, and the inheritance of our father, do you
see the two? Unfortunately right now in the level in which we are the
karma of the worlds the inheritance of damnation is bigger than the
inheritance of our inner being.

Question: when you said that the initiate redeems the one he fell with,
when he practices with her does that mean that she lose her ego too?

Answer: Yes of course since she is an initiate because she is receiving a

lot of help. At the end she dies as well. Or the two, brother and sister die
and pass through a great transformation

Question: does that correspond to the physical?

Answer: The physical spouse is redeemed at a certain level but not

completely because the initiate is redeeming himself but is saving the one
who was falling and she rises again. But of course she has to do another
process because it is another soul; it will be her own work. Remember
Mary Magdalene? The symbol here? Not talking about physical.
Symbolically, Jesus took the seven sins through her. He did it through the
cup of Mary Magdalene and that is why she became saint, Mary
Magdalene. But before that she was a prostitute, because any woman
(fallen eve) is a prostitute with the ego inside. Any man is a prostitute with
the ego inside. But when the lord comes and redeems; that soul becomes
a saint. That is a symbol. Be careful here I repeat again. Symbol; we are
not taking about physical here, but the symbol of Mary Magdalene and
Jesus. Jesus is the Christ Mary Magdalene is that aspect. And of course this
is why he was accused.

Question: Can you explain the difference between cunning versus

reasoning?

Answer: the difference between cunning versus reasoning. According to

the evolution of the brain, the physical brain has to pass through those
processes. Cunning is an aspect of the animal. As you can see, right? And
in the Atlantean epoch the brain was being developed at that level in
which cunning was being developed in the intellect of those Atlanteans. An
example of that is written with Odysseus when by cunning he overcomes
the Cyclopes, which represent the Lemurian epoch. And of course now in
this Arian Root Race cunning is overcome by reasoning. But unfortunately
there are many people that are stagnant in cunning because they did not
mix with the Arian or the Hyperboreans so they are stagnant there. We
have to go ahead in order to develop this reasoning. But of course the
reasoning that mechanically this humanity developed is subjective
reasoning; Even though this subjective reasoning is above cunning, even
mechanical. But we are not interested of course in subjective reasoning
but objective reasoning which is also above that cunningness of the
serpent that we have to overcome. These are different aspects of the
development of the Being. Are you grasping everything? I hope you are
because there is more in this opera, if you observe, if you hear the opera,
it is beautiful, right? How everything is being fulfilled.

Many people do not understand initiation, they fall into mistakes. They

think that it is something related with science or religion or creed, of
course initiation is something related with that but it is more profound.
This type of death happened to many initiates not only to Siegfried, if you
read other mythologies you find the same process; for instance with Osiris,
right? And these were written in that way for initiates, and those initiates
existed, yet many people think “Oh it’s a myth because those heroes did
not exist.” No, they existed. But based on there life they created the myth
in order to teach. And that is why when you read the gospels you find the
myth of Jesus of Nazareth, living his life; but what you read there is not his
physical life but his spiritual development which is mixed with his physical
actions. And if you do not know that then you do not read in between the
lines, you think that every thing was physical, and then you fall into many
mistakes. Every myth has to be studied from the physical point, and from
the tree of life, in other words, through all the Sephiroth. And then
everything comes very clear for us. Because now and only now in this
epoch is how this wisdom is openly explained. Before only to initiates but
we are in the end of this Arian Root Race so therefore people need this
knowledge in order to understand and if they want to enter into the path
of the rainbow to Asgard. Thank you very much and enjoy the operas one
time again and again.