The Sound of the Strokes of the Twelfth Hour
THE WAY OF THE GRAIL – SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS – August 29, 2022
Czech original: Znění Úderů Dvanácté Hodiny · cesta-gralu.cz
A quivering tension pervades the whole part of the world community of Ephesus
What is meant thereby is not a small community of men in the earthly world, but it is a name appointed by the Wisdom of God for one immense world-part containing a great number of planes of various degrees of development in Subsequent Creation
From above downwards there was formed a place for the development of those humanly spiritual sparks which by their kind stood nearest to the conditions of the materialities that precisely fill the spheres of Ephesus
Innumerable are the streams of sparks which sank into the luminous planes of the finely animistic and thereafter into the gardens of the ethereal kind, in order that here, anchored to a substance wholly of another kind than the spiritual, they might let themselves be surrounded by the coverings of the materialities and, through the glowing through of these, might then be permitted to develop towards their perfecting
In the coverings of ethereal garments the spiritual sparks became souls, in order then to press still further onward in the longing for consciousness and for the attaining of the completeness of their development
For this development many of the souls descended further, down to the places of the coarsest precipitations of the materialities, which the earthly world of men here, on the basis of its kind of concepts, calls the universe
In reality this universe is again only a vibration of the animistic weaving of a finer substance, which through cooling adapted itself into the precipitation of gross matter
Everything contained in this precipitation may be called that in the beginning lifeless gross material part, into which life was gradually brought by the animistic working
That lasted a certain time, which with earthly perceiving we may call the passing of billions of years
The soil of gross materiality needed first to be glowed through with the animistic life flowing out of the gardens of Asgard, so that it might be prepared to receive the spiritual kind of life
The development of life passed through individual stages, so that the matter of the initial, fundamentally anchored animistic working might shape itself into more manifold forms and figures
In the ferment of the initial upheaving changes everything needed to find its place, so that the accord of the world of nature might be set ever more masterfully
Thereby it is comprehensible that before the souls in their finer coverings descended all the way here to these places, and before they were permitted to incarnate into the materially bodily coverings, a great number of developmental transformations of life had elapsed
In the circling of the stars, whose end cannot be surveyed, there had in the beginning to be kindled at a chosen place, for the stream of the sparks journeying in their soul coverings, the star of Apollon, so that it might give life to its near sister, a small planet with a blue shimmer
With its brightness and its warmth Apollon bestowed a space of light for the birth of life upon a planet in the deep distances of the universe, which belongs to the administration of the animistic Erda
Thus there arose the gross material life of mankind upon Earth, which bore within it the fulfilment of the promise concerning the first leaving of the spiritual paradise by the sparks for the purpose of gaining experiences in the far distances, where alone the till then still unconscious and therefore unrefined will of human volition could assert itself
All this and much more besides was part of a great plan far surpassing all the planes of one part of Subsequent Creation, which already billions of earthly years before that had been shaping itself as a breath of Life woven out of the graciousness of the Love of God
Very long ago there was ordained the beginning of Subsequent Creation and of the seven world communities to be found within it
Each of these communities had a point of ripeness given in advance, at which the harvest of the development of the life to be found in that particular community will be fulfilled
From the beginning up to the present time the life of the universe is woven in one single section of the gross material circling
This section needs to be fulfilled and closed
Earthly science is not able in this to survey the dimensions either of the beginning or of the end
This time is known here in Subsequent Creation by the animistic servant of Valhalla, Hathmes, who knows exactly the ripeness of all the parts of the world communities
He himself calls it the moment of the fulfilment of one complete breathing-out of creativeness
After the breathing-out there must then of necessity come the breathing-in
Together with him the servant Hermetes also knows the further duration of the forms out of the precipitation of the gross material kind, he who laid into the universality of the universe the prototype of the basic forms and figures
We too can observe it, for all the animistic life contained in the materialities of the universe tells everything of this happening
When that moment of fulfilment has passed, then shortly after it there will close the eye circling upon the planet which counts as the dome of Hermetes in the solar system here
The animistic weaves both happenings and forms and knows no time
For a better understanding of the animistic concept of “fulfilment” it may be called the moment when the last stroke upon the clock announces the twelfth hour
From the standpoint of the development of the humanly spiritual kind in the materialities it is thus the time when all the soul coverings are to be already irradiated and the spiritual spark glowing within them is to be already fully ripened into a brightly blazing flame, so that with ease it may rise up into those places where it will be preserved from the further collapsing happening which proceeds as part of the rebirth of the events in the precipitations of the coarsest materialities of the universe
It is the time of the necessary ripeness for everything that at that time is to be found in the coarsest parts of the worlds of that particular community
And this time appointed for one great circuit in the community of Ephesus is now drawing near and through its fulfilment calls forth in all the parts of gross materiality the expectation of the great changes that are coming
Everything is nearing the developmental turning point at which all will again move towards dissolution, so as to make room for the new beginning which will then come about anew
But before there come those truly great happenings of the renewing refreshment of one whole part of Subsequent Creation, incomprehensible in their consequences to human perceiving, for a short time yet before that the Will of God bends down through the Light of the Ray of Parzival into the distant places of the ponderous densities of the universe, in order at the last moment to release all those sparks which have managed to blaze up into a living spiritual flame
A great grace lies in this drawing near of the Ray of the Truth to all spiritual life in the worlds and spheres of the community
But too many sparks are caught fast in the oppressive grip of the materialities
In lukewarmness the spiritual sparks yielded to the influence of matter, and this took from them the power to ascend higher, where they should long since have belonged
The animistic beholds this state and trembles, for it knows the necessity of the further development of the happenings
It is itself joined with matter in a living, freely mobile connection, for it always stands outside matter's kind, although it must form and quicken it
The spiritual was to be therein still freer, more unbound and more radiating through, for its otherness of kind was to connect it enduringly upwards towards the places of the Paradise above Subsequent Creation, which is its true home
But it is precisely the spiritual that for the greater part let itself be swallowed up too strongly by the clinging power of matter, even to the point of suffocation
Thus there penetrates through all the weaving that vibration which for the faithful animistic is a joyful fulfilment, for it knows what is coming and what will come to pass with all the spheres of Ephesus
And beside the joyful vibration there penetrates a warning call which bears within it the urgency for the awakening of the spiritual, which upon its path has fallen into a deep sleep
This call goes before, accompanies and also follows the approaching Ray of Parzival, which brings the stroke of the Light for the ending of the past and the beginning of the new for the spiritual sparks in the materialities, still just before the actual rebirth of all the parts of Ephesus
It is the hallowing by the Wisdom of God of the further development within the frame of the great Laws of Creation, in which the Will of God enduringly dwells and determines everything in the loving flowing of Life
Thus everything now stands just before this stroke of the Ray of the Light upon this Earth
Therefore that tension in the vibration which penetrates through everything and gives many no peaceful sleep
It is for this reason that their inward intimation of the great happening leaves them no more peace
All that is old collapses like towers of sand whose foot has been reached by the waves of the ocean
Do not look upon the vault of stars overhead, these stars are in reality no longer there and in their far distance are moving towards their dissolution
Only here, in this place of the universe, does it appear as still enduring, for the light bearing the pictures of galaxies and stars shines for a long time
But everything is in movement, and the time for the necessary ripening of all has already been measured out and has become unalterable
Only the great vibration in a streaming invisible to earthly eyes brings tidings of this, that the time for the ripening of the spiritual in Ephesus is drawing to a close
Perhaps it will still be thousands of earthly years, but in proportion to how much time the human spirit needs for the laying aside of all the binding threads, it is only very little time
The call is borne through the universe and in its vibration causes an inward unrest, like a shaking of man's inner being, blessed with stillness, towards his awakening
And it gathers ever more strength, so that it may vibrate through every spirit which still has within it even a little intuitive sensing for something higher
And the call sent out from the heights above Subsequent Creation is now a part of the earthly world of men
It is now a part of daily life, it accompanies man on his way from home to work and back again, when he returns into the shelter of the walls of his earthly privacy
And here too it is with him and in every moment through its urging works as the last saving grace of a higher life for the awakening of man's inner being
Now is that moment of awakening in which it is to move higher within man, so that he may long for that which, as an echo within him, is called forth by the vibration streaming through the universe before the stroke of the Light
So that he may long for a pure connection with the places of his spiritual homeland
The vibration is insistent and with its power creates a pressure upon everything that is alive in man
It strengthens this and leads it to the strongest manifesting in man's nearness
Therefore man is to fasten himself with his spirit only upon the purest perceptions of his connection with the Light
It is to open itself to him like a streaming of forgotten fragrances and tones of home
It is everywhere around, it streams among men and has a thousand shapes with which it touches the inner being
Only the greatest dulling of the spirit still resists this call, which recalls that which is higher, more worthy and uplifting in man
Only a complete falling asleep of the spirit still resists it
But such a falling asleep is comparable to a deadening
The vibration pervades the whole of Ephesus like a tide of quickening, and where it finds no soil for the awakening out of deep sleep, there the withering branch is borne down
The original green freshness of the branch of victory, which was to have become the golden celebration of a victorious existence, is lost, and leaf by leaf it greys towards lifelessness
The same happens to everything that surrounded the spark
All the coverings of the spiritual spark lose in strength and at last, following the picture of the dry branch, become only pale shadows compared with their original luminosity
In their shrivelling they finally separate from the spark deep in the lowlands, where it then remains freezing, unprotected and exposed to the pressure of forces which it cannot consciously withstand
And thus at last even the last particles of its consciousness of itself are torn away from it, and the spark, thus freed from its past, like a formless little light, then rises back into the places of the spiritual streams, where in the power of homogeneity it merges with the nameless nebulae, the one thing they bear within them being an unconsciously urgent longing for a new beginning
The originally shining branch falls into the depths, in order here, in a quiet resonance, to bring the sounding forth of the cry of futility over one more unfulfilled existence
Many spirits who find themselves in the bliss of home, looking down from the heights into the depths of the world-part of Ephesus, behold this happening, and because they themselves were permitted to go forth out of this world-part, their connection is in itself a call to all who are still to be found surrounded by material coverings
Their beholding contains within it a loving strengthening which is an outstretched hand of help and at the same time a warning vibration of those who know, who recognise the course of the Laws in the work of Creation
No power can halt these Laws, not even the Will of God, for that would be a denial of the All-Wisdom of the Creator, and with this denial all that exists in Creation would collapse
And thus a thousandfold call may descend to human souls
Yet if they do not themselves awaken, then the course of development will carry them to the edge of the material worlds, that they may there wither and pass away in the necessary effect of the Laws
The spiritual spark decides for itself through its own inward power, which drives it to meet the development that is to proceed ever more in the right direction
Where this will towards the right development is not present in the spiritual spark, there everything in the great circuit of the world community is set towards its passing away
The crossing of the boundary of ripeness is a great happening, which is accompanied by the highest mobility of all the links of life and of the servants
The time of ripeness and of harvest is within reach
Whatever is not inwardly ripened in this announced time will gradually and ever more swiftly become through its coverings overripe like a fruit that is of no use
The animistic weavers faithfully serving the Will of God in the world community of Ephesus see the threads leading from every single spark into the far distances in which the necessity of atonement is to be found
At the same time they also see whether the soul, as the covering enfolding the spark, is sufficiently alive and able in good time to live through and lay aside all that is needful and still lies before it on the way to a victorious stepping out of the circling in Subsequent Creation
The weavers see the threads, and with myriads of souls they already now behold the ends of their paths
They see whether they can manage the living out of all the threads or not, for at the same time it is given to them under the Light of the Ray of Parzival to see to the end of all things in this world-part at its completion of this developmental circuit
The weavers, filled with the earnestness and conscious carefulness with which they weave the threads for the spiritual kind, bow before the Ray of Parzival in quiet vibration
So much life will most likely lose its goal and forfeit its conscious existence
It will be lost out of Creation for nothing
The spiritual life in many will pass away, and all this only because they did not awaken in time
They will lose their existence in that all they have hitherto been permitted to recognise and to draw in will have to be blown away
They will forfeit all that has hitherto been gained, if it was not turned to account for an ever stronger and more conscious existence in the Laws of Creation
All this will become nothing, it will be blown away, forgotten and lost like the dying away of a breath
The threads hold back the soul and the spirit from the possibility of rising upwards, because their connection with matter is not yet laid aside
Although with a little movement all this could have been turned into a strengthening direction in which the promise of liberation and of victory would blaze, yet in the end the threads will not be lived through and laid aside within the appointed term, and thus they will drag the weakened spiritual life down into the place of rejection
The vibration is quiet and mighty, for there is contained in it a great bowing before the Will of God, which is to be found in it all
It is like the stillness filled with earnestness before the awaited, approaching stroke of the striking of the twelfth hour
Like the clatter of a magnificent mechanism it still weaves on in the great circling of existence in the world-part of Ephesus, yet only a short time is now granted to the spiritual life which sank down here for the purpose of its development and ripening
Still the stars circle through the universe, and the threads bringing the quickening of the animistic streaming vibrate, like radiant ribbons of a thousand colours, between the individual parts of the spheres
Still the life here draws its nourishment from the spring of eternity, which is to be found high above all in the primordially spiritual castle of the Grail
But because this life uses up the bestowed power in the circling of the materialities, which are not able to receive the Light for their quickening enduringly, but only for a certain allotted time, it hastens towards exhaustion and ending
Thus at last, and it is already not far off, there will come the point at which the materialities will never again renew themselves to their original strength, and from that moment everything will move inexorably towards the end
This point has already been announced, and everything moves towards the completion of all those circuits which are still appointed for the spiritual sparks by the Love of God as a time of grace for the completing of the last lives, in which it is still possible in accelerated fashion to lay aside many threads that were woven in the time of ripening, but above all in the time of lukewarm wandering through the materialities
Everything that knows the development now unfolding calls in vibration to the human sparks, that they may awaken and in a bright blazing up become ripe and ready for the possibility of completing their journeying through the spheres of this world-part of Subsequent Creation
Not for a moment should any man hesitate over whether there is here for him perhaps some more precious earthly goal than to set to work wholly with his spirit for the accelerated laying aside of all the threads which surround him and bind him to so many happenings out of the past
He is not to wait even a moment, and in every new moment of the present he is to behold before him the great opportunity of redeeming himself from all that is past
If the spirit lives through the great happenings as well as the smallest of them in the purest attunement of goodness, this always becomes for him one more step on the way to the spiritual home
Blessed is he who enduringly keeps in his consciousness the ability to recast every moment with his inner being into a giving of the joy of thanks and of enthusiasm to other men for a common stepping out upwards towards the Light and towards the finding of the nearness of the Creator
Whoever brings this in his spirit to full consciousness in the present rightly turns to account the time given him for this life upon Earth
He is to be aware that a further opportunity of birth may not so easily present itself to him and that he will spend precious time in the places of the ethereal worlds, where he cannot simply lay aside all those things which are in some way closely bound up with the living out in the world of gross materiality
He will remain bound to the necessity of atoning for something small, for which he will have to be born again, although he could with ease have laid it aside already in this life
Perhaps it lies only in the showing of compassion and of kind-hearted help in some moment which demanded his spiritual vigilance here in the presence of the earthly world and which caused harm or suffering to one of his fellow men
Precious time will slip away through his hands in which he could have changed something for the better, and it will burn him in his inner being all the more when in the ethereal soul covering he becomes aware how easy it would have been then in the earthly body
Above him there will then sound the stroke of the twelfth hour, which will measure out to him only a tiny portion of grace for the laying aside of so much
No one should hesitate if his inner being catches that vibration which streams everywhere around, whispering of the high time for the laying aside of everything out of his threads of fate
And the laying aside happens in its foundation in the form of a fervent longing for the ennobling and the becoming luminous of the spiritual spark
Through the universe there flies a great vibration announcing the stroke of the twelfth hour
The awakening to the movement of the spirit is now the one thing with which men should occupy themselves
Everything else is that which is to be found only beyond this necessary step
Whoever misses this step will lose, together with the promise of the enduring of his spiritual existence above the materialities, everything that has hitherto made him an inhabitant of this work of Creation