Last Judgment
The Last Judgment is the initiation in which the individual is called to give account for the energies he has expended during his allotted time of opportunity in the world of form. The, Last Judgment, also known as the Trial of the Sacred Fire, may take place either in the Ascension Temple at Luxor, Egypt, or at the Court of the Sacred Fire on the God Star, Sirius. Candidates for the ascension are reviewed at Luxor, while the unprofitable servants, those who have utterly abused their opportunities to evolve Godward by refusing to multiply their God-given talents, must appear before the Bar of Supreme Justice on Sirius.
In the case of the unprofitable servant, this final review of the soul’s experiments in the world of form takes place when the sands in the hourglass have run out, when the soul has spent the last farthing of “energy-opportunity” for all incarnations. On the other hand, the candidate for the ascension may finish his course on time, or ahead of time, to be received by the Hierarch of Luxor with highest honors.
This review is called the “last” judgment to distinguish it from (1) the judgments of the God Presence and the Christ Self that occur daily throughout the soul’s many embodiments, and (2) the judgment that takes place at the close of each embodiment when the soul stands before the Lords of Karma to give an accounting of her activities in the world of form. Neither one of these is the “last” judgment; but they may both be thought of as achievement tests, given in order that the soul might know where she stands: whether or not she has “passed” a particular grade, how best to prepare for the test of the next day or the next embodiment, and how ultimately to prepare for the “final exam”—the Trial by Fire.
The Trial of the Sacred Fire, whether it is convoked at Luxor or on Sirius, is the final examination of the individual’s every motive, thought, feeling, word and deed with its corresponding cause, effect, record and memory. It is here that the final auditing of the soul’s account takes place: Has the soul multiplied or wasted the talents given by God? What degree of self-mastery has been attained? In what ways has the soul sought to enhance the evolution of life towards its divine completion? In essence, the purpose of the Trial of the Sacred Fire is to determine exactly how brightly the star of the soul shines and to reward her accordingly.
The Trial of the Sacred Fire on Sirius
On Sirius the Trial of the Sacred Fire takes place in a large circular courtroom surrounded by twelve smaller circular courts, often referred to as “flame rooms.” Thus, the cosmic pattern of the Central Sun with twelve revolving lesser suns is duplicated in the design of the Court of the Sacred Fire. The Twelve Solar Hierarchies are represented at the trial by twelve sets of twin flames, known collectively as the Four and Twenty Elders.
At the conclusion of the trial, if the margin of judgment—or, shall we say, the margin of mercy—has awarded the soul another opportunity, the sentence is pronounced and the Court is adjourned. The soul is then escorted to an antechamber whence she may be taken to a retreat for instruction before reembodying, which may occur within a fortnight. But if it is considered that he would not alter his course, even if further opportunity in embodiment were given to him, the Court calls for an immediate reckoning of his accounts.
After he has been given his “last rites,” the sacred tone—the keynote of his Presence—is sounded, and the sacred fire is released through his soul and four lower bodies. The current from Omega rises from the base of the dais, and the current from Alpha descends through the canopy overhead. The soul whose works have been of God is immortalized by the sacred fire; but the soul whose deeds have been evil—the soul who has used God’s energy to spawn a veil of illusion—is consumed. If the soul fails this exam, she goes through the second death (the first death being the death of the physical body; the second death being the death of the soul) and her individuality is remembered no more.
The second death
The second death comes as an act of mercy to those souls whose karma is so heavy that the suffering that would be entailed in the balancing of their debt to Life is considered by the Elders to be too great for any lifestream to bear. Actually, it is God in man who is crucified daily by the weight of men’s sins, and He does not choose to bear their burdens indefinitely—hence the second death is the means whereby God himself is liberated from the vile consciousness of men.
In the process of the second death, the Creator withdraws the energies he has invested in the individualization of the soul. This takes place automatically as the sacred fire passes through the personality consciousness, through the cause, effect, record and memory of all that has transpired within the forcefield and pattern of identity, and through the four lower bodies. As these energies are relieved of the stamp of personal impurity, they are drawn into the heart of the sacred fire and thence into the Great Central Sun Magnet (the white-fire core of the Central Sun) where they are purified—repolarized with perfection—and returned to the reservoir of God’s creative power, the Great Causal Body, from which they will eventually be released in the mold of a newly created soul.
At the same time that the individual is passing through the Trial by Fire at the Court of the Sacred Fire on Sirius, his negative creations are being cast into the lake of fire for repolarization.
The individualized God Presence of the lifestream who has passed through the second death is drawn into the Universal God Presence, and the Christ Self becomes one with the Universal Christ. In the case of twin flames, if one has passed through the second death and the other is continuing on the spiritual path, the latter must wait until the Lord of Creation fashions another divine complement after the same pattern held in the Causal Body of the one remaining. This new soul will have to go through the tests of self-mastery in the world of form like any other soul, eventually to find reunion with the twin flame, who may or may not have ascended by the time this one attains perfectionment.
The Trial of the Sacred Fire at Luxor
The sons and daughters of God must pass through the ritual of the Last Judgment in preparation for the final test of the sacred fire and their ultimate reunion with the God Presence. This is the judgment that is reserved for the blessed Servant Sons referred to in the Book of Revelation, who “loved not their lives unto the death.”[1] The Ascension Temple at Luxor is the place prepared for the last judgment of those who have passed through the schoolroom of earth and earned the right to sit at the right hand of God.[2]
The final test of the sacred fire is not given to the candidate unless the Hierarch of the retreat considers that the soul is fully prepared to meet God. Hence, before they are brought to the Court of the Sacred Fire, weeks, months or years of training in the Ascension Temple may be required of those disciples who are lacking in one or more of the requirements for the ascension.
The Four and Twenty Elders are represented at Luxor by the Council of Twelve Adepts. This Council is composed of twelve ascended masters appointed by the Elders and is presided over by the chohan of the fourth ray, currently Serapis Bey. The Chohan, who is the thirteenth member of the Council, represents both the personal and the Universal Christ. Two-thirds of the Council must agree that the disciple is ready for the Trial of the Sacred Fire before he may be summoned to the Last Judgment.
In a circular courtroom, almost identical to the one on Sirius, the disciple is brought to the center dais where he kneels at the feet of his own Christ Self, who throughout his many embodiments has been his Higher Mentor (hence the term “Higher Mental Body”). This individualized Christ Self, functioning as the Mediator between the Higher and the lower self, is completely familiar with the entire evolution of the disciple whom he has disciplined to the point of self-mastery. His intimate association with the God Presence and his role as the voice of conscience qualifies him to mediate with the Hierarch who will pronounce the judgment of the Almighty.
The candidate for the ascension, who must finish at the top of his class at Luxor before he is considered for the Last Judgment, faces the Hierarch, who sits in the seat of judgment on the twelve o’clock line. The Twelve Adepts are seated as in the Court of the Sacred Fire from the nine to the three o’clock lines, six on either side, each member of the Council representing one of the sets of the twelve twin flames on the Court of Sirius.
Other ascended members of the Hierarchy who may be called to testify are seated from the three to the nine o’clock line. The Angel of Record stands at the six o’clock position and represents the Keeper of the Scrolls, who on occasion appears himself to honor the candidate. Other members of the graduating class, not yet ascended, are seated in the second and third rows behind the ascended masters from the three to the nine o’clock line. The mighty seraphim stand in pairs at each of the doors at the three, six and nine o’clock lines. These guardian angels of purity also have the privilege of escorting the candidate through the tunnel under the six o’clock line to the center dais.
To be summoned to the Last Judgment at the Court of Luxor is the highest honor that can come to unascended man prior to his ascension. The purpose of this judgment is not the disposing of the individual into that “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” on Sirius; rather it is a sacred ritual performed for those who are supremely ready for the ascension, but whose energies must be weighed before they may proceed with the final initiations of the sacred fire.
If perhaps the last one-fifth of one percent of their remaining karma may yet require transmutation, the Court may decree that this shall be accomplished through a single act of valiant service rendered from the etheric plane to embodied humanity or to the ascended masters. Or, it may be the decision of the Council that the disciple should withdraw to his chamber for a fortnight to invoke one or more of the flames of God in order to bring his soul, together with his etheric, mental and emotional bodies, into the perfectly balanced expression of the power, wisdom and love of the Christ.
This Final Judgment reveals to the Lords who sit on the bench with the Christ Self the stress and strain of the disciple’s experiences throughout his many embodiments, including his successes and failures along the way. During the examination, the disciple’s entire life record is studied and weighed; and his attitude toward the testing of his soul is considered as important as his actual victory over every trial. Of course, without complete humility before God and without the transmutation of all human pride, he could never have gained entrance into the outer, much less the inner court of the Halls of Luxor.
One of the most important questions asked by the Council of Twelve is whether or not the example set by the disciple while in embodiment is one that would be desirable for all mankind to follow. Has he openly proclaimed the teachings of the Christ and of the Brotherhood? Has he taken a stand for right in the midst of oppression and adversity, challenging the sinister force entrenched in the civilization of his time? Has he left well-defined footprints on the sands of time that those who follow him may trace and thereby find their victory? Or has he sown matrices of error as stones of stumbling in his brothers’ pathway that will prevent their fulfilling the requirements of the Law? If so, has he removed these barriers through subsequent service to Life?
The recommendations that are given at the close of this Trial involve the final preparation of the lifestream for the initiations of the transfiguration and the resurrection, which he must pass prior to his ascension. If all of the required initiations have been passed during the disciple’s final embodiment, he is still given the opportunity to participate in these two rituals before entering the Flame Room where he will undergo the final test of the sacred fire and the ritual of the ascension.
There have been cases where the recommendation of the Council has been to send the disciple (in his finer bodies) into the world to perform a special service for the Brotherhood: perhaps a mission to Paris, to Moscow, to New York, or wherever the need is greatest. In rare cases the Council recommends another embodiment of service in order that the candidate might gain more experience in the world of form in preparation for the time when he will serve from ascended levels with embodied humanity.
When there is great need in the world, the candidate may petition the Council for another opportunity to serve in the world of form even though he has earned his ascension. In the case of Saint Germain, who ascended approximately sixty years after the close of his embodiment as Francis Bacon, the Lords of Karma awarded him the privilege of taking on a physical form after his ascension in order that he might make a valiant effort to unite Europe and to prevent the French Revolution.
The courtroom ceremony is only the beginning of a series of initiations through which the candidate for the ascension must pass in order to complete the ritual of the Last Judgment: the transfiguration, the crucifixion and the resurrection.
See also
For more information
Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Path to Immortality, chapter 3.
Sources
Mark L. Prophet and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, The Path to Immortality, pp. 224–39.
- ↑ Rev. 12:1.
- ↑ In special cases advanced initiates are taken to the Cave of Light or the Cave of Symbols, where they are given the necessary assistance to complete the raising of the four lower bodies either in the Atomic Accelerator, the Sphere of Light or the Cosmic Focus in the Cave of Light. Under certain conditions, ascensions may also take place in other retreats of the Brotherhood or from the exact spot where individuals have passed through the transition; of course it is not necessary to pass through death in order to ascend, as many Avatars have proven. Therefore, the ascension may take place anywhere or anytime it is ordained by God—providing the requirements of the Law have been met.