From the Contents of Esoteric Classes

EL, Hamburg, 3-14-'09

Foreign beings can't press into a being that's enclosed by a skin. So man's astral body was a zero, a nothing for other beings. Through the fact that the astral body had separated from the whole astral matter and had surrounded itself with a skin it had become a one, and people described this by putting a one in front of the zero: 10 Then they added the six and five that refer to the Venus and Jupiter stages of evolution that gives rise to the mystical number 1065 that is mentioned in Blavatsky's Secret Doctrine (Vol. 1, Dzyan iv).

When a pupil becomes clairvoyant he sees rats, mice and other parasitic animals. Beings with beautiful human faces but crippled feet come to tempt him. The snake is a symbol for the astral body. One should use the shining staff with a black snake and a brightly shining, glittering snake to banish the beings that want to drag one down. Sphinxes and cherubs are good pictures to see.

The physical body doesn't belong to us, it's an optical illusion. It's formed by streams that go out from Thrones. Imagine brooks that flow together; a whirlpool arises where they meet. Likewise the physical body arises where streams from Thrones come together. The black cross represents the lower animal part of man that must be overcome. The seven red roses must sprout and flower out of it. A beautiful story tells us that when Christ hung on the cross, bees came and drew honey from his bleeding wounds, as from red roses otherwise. The blood's composition had changed through the sacrifice and had become like the sap of red roses.

All battles here on earth are only a weak copy of the Gods' battles.