Dearly beloved reader friends:
On this occasion I am sending you the sixth engraving of the series of seven engravings corresponding to the virtues of the Holy Spirit.
This engraving is entitled…
…SPIRITVS PIETATIS
─’The Spirit of Piety’─
When we look at this beautiful engraving we find as a central theme a lady whose head is adorned with a laurel wreath, a symbol of hermetic triumph.
Likewise, as usual, in the case of the strength of the Third Logos, we can see fire around her head, since the fire of the Divine Mother and her husband Shiva is what reinforces the virtues that we must achieve in our journey.
This lady to whom we refer also wears, as if covering a part of herself, a veil that falls over her shoulders. It is the veil of holiness and purity, proper to that very exalted part of our BEING.
In her right hand the lady in question carries a key that represents the instrument that opens all doors and that alludes to that most sacred part of our own BEING that we call humility.
Certainly, companions, as our blessed Avatar expressed well, only humility can grant us the joy of always advancing towards the dwelling place of the Father. In the language of Pistis Sophia Unveiled, our Guru warns us all about the need to eliminate from our nature the parasites of pride, self-love, conceit, arrogance, vanity, etc., etc., etc., and he emphasizes that, in Hermetic language, humility and piety are represented in the sacred text by Martha.
Our adorable Patriarch insists on the necessity of being merciful to our fellow men, for only in this way will the Great Law have mercy upon us. The Lord’s Prayer tells us, “Forgive us, Lord, our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
It is necessary to remember that we have accumulated before the Lords of Karma enormous amounts of karma, and many of these karmic letters are only forgiven with the intervention of our intimate Christ before the tribunals of the Most Holy Superior Law.
Only good deeds, right way of thinking and right way of feeling can help us to be contemplated with mercy by the Law of Karma. That is why the key of this lady appears somewhat enlarged, to give relevance to its meaning. That is the key that opens all the doors of the world of Spirit.
To reach the superior levels of Mastery, it is essential to walk on the rails of piety and humility. Both characteristics walk together on the path of the double-edged razor. When we hold grudges in our psyche or in our hearts against some companions, whether in the horizontal life or within the Secret Path, our progress stops and does not start until we embrace piety and humility. It would be absurd for the BEING to receive us in its kingdom while we carry, deep inside our psyche, this type of calamity: distrust, grudges, antipathies, resentments and so on and so forth of ill-omened things……
The lady in our subject is once again between two pillars, which in this case precisely allegorize mercy and justice, to which we allude when we pronounce the Invocation of the wise Solomon. Let us remember that phrase that tells us: “Mercy and Justice, be the equilibrium and splendor of my life”.
In our daily life we have to be attentive to show pity towards our dear little brothers, because they carry within them animic Essences that are living their evolution toward the human kingdom. Master Samael expressed it well when he told us: “This or that companion is not prepared for this path who, seeing an abandoned little dog on the side of the road and who is begging him with his eyes for a piece of bread, abandons it to its fate without feeling any remorse.” Terrible words, friends.
When the Nazarene ─V.M. Aberamentho─ was living his Via Crucis, with all the torture that this entailed, at all times he was saying: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do“…
Certainly, when our Consciousness sleeps we do not even remotely suspect the very serious damage we are causing others and in no way do we take into account to respect the solar dynasties. Yet they, the Brothers of Light, forgive us many of our iniquities.
It is also good to point out that the woman in our engraving wears a kind of belt at the height of her waist that directs one of its parts toward her breastplate, specifically toward the region that in the secret Kabbalah we call TIPHERETH. Tiphereth represents our point of connection with our BEING, and when an Adept needs to know the will of the BEING on a certain question, he concentrates directly on that part of his anatomy and receives the answer from his Real BEING. This is how this path works, dear reader.
It is necessary to be pious even to those who do not love us. That is why in Gnosis we say: “Blessed be those who love us because they understand us, but blessed be also those who do not love us because they do not understand us. An extraordinary phrase, companions of the path. Let us not forget, we are all part of creation itself, everyone, absolutely everyone…..
When we give alms we are exercising an act of piety, but he who boasts of being pious is instantly destroying with his left hand what he has done with his right hand.
Finally, at the bottom of this engraving we can see two angels guarding this virtue……
At the base of our engraving we can see the following sentence in Latin:
«Exerse te ipsum ad Pietatem. Nam corporalis exercitatio ad modicum vtilis est, Pietas autem ad omnia vtilis est. Ep.1. ad Timoth, 4».
Translation: ‘Exercise yourself toward Godliness, for bodily exercise profits a little, but Godliness is profitable for all things. Epistle 1, Timothy 4‘.
“Prediction of the apostasy4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
3 forbidding to marry , and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused, if it is received with thanksgiving;
5 for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
The Good Servant of Christ
6 If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.
7 But reject profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness.
8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.
10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
11 These things command and teach.
12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
13 Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine
14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
15 Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.
16 Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”
I now add a few sentences for reflection:
“What rain is to fire, piety is to anger.”
Schopenhauer
“He who has no pity on others will not find any for himself.”
Rubén Darío
“Boundless pity for all living beings is the firmest and surest proof of moral conduct.”
Schopenhauer
“If there were not more pity among the poor than among the rich, beggars would often have starved to death.”
William Langland
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy.”
Gospel of Saint Matthew
DEI GRATIA.
─‘By the grace of God’─.
KWEN KHAN KHU
