MAX HEINDEL'S MESSAGE:

                         Preparation for Initiation

    This evening we will take the Magnetic Needle as our subject of 
meditation, for it has a lesson of supreme importance in our spiritual 
career, a lesson which it behooves every faithful follower of the Mystic 
Light to take earnestly and prayerfully to heart. 

    The Magnetic Needle is made of metal which has an inherent affinity for 
the lodestone, namely, steel. Other metals are but indifferently affected, 
if at all. But when steel has once been touched with the lodestone, its 
whole nature is changed. It has become alive, as it were, imbued with a new 
force which we might describe as a constant yearning after the lodestone 
which once kissed it. Needles made of other metals, and unmagnetized steel, 
may be put upon a pivot, and they will stand in any balanced position 
wherever they are placed. They are passive to whatever force is applied to 
them from without. But the Needle which has been touched by the lodestone 
resists, and no matter how often or how severely we push it away from the 
magnetic position, as soon as the force exerted against it is removed, it 
will instantly revert and point toward the magnetic pole. 

    A similar phenomenon is seen in the life of the Christian; once he has 
felt, thoroughly felt in his being, the love of the Father, he is a changed 
man. 

    The worldly forces from without may be exerted in various ways to divert 
his interest and attention, but every particle of his being yearns for God 
and is always turning in that direction unaffected by the world of drifting, 
listless men. Whatever else he may do in the world, (because it is 
absolutely necessary to take the proper part in the world's work), will be 
done because it is right and dutiful to do so, but with his whole being he 
yearns towards the Father, whose Love, whose Being, and whose Force has 
drawn his soul. To him "But on Thing is Needful": His Father's Love, and his 
every effort is directed to win His Approval. 

    When we turn from the earth to heaven; we find almost identical 
conditions there. Everywhere through the great firmament millions and 
billions of miles, yea, infinite space, is filled with marching orbs that 
move with a velocity which beggars comprehension by the human mind. At the 
time when we entered the pro-Ecclesia, the stars were in a certain position. 
But during every moment since we have been here, they have changed and they 
are now changing with every tick of the clock Ä all but one. Among all these 
countless stars moving at such an enormous speed, there is one that is 
changeless, one that always occupies the same position: "The North Star." No 
matter what time during the day or night, during summer or winter, from 
birth to death, we look up into the heavens, that star will be found always 
in the same place. Whenever it is visible to our eyes or by the help of a 
telescope at any time, it will always be found to occupy the position which 
we speak of as "North." 

    Now mark the phenomenon of the changeless needle, always pointing 
towards the changeless star, and consider the connection between them and 
the lesson there is for us in this phenomenon. The magnetic needle is not a 
fair-weather follower. It does not matter whether it rains or shines, 
whether it is calm or stormy, whether there are fogs or clouds; under all 
circumstances the magnetic needle points with unvarying fidelity towards the 
North Star, and upon this great fact the mariner stakes the property and 
life of himself, his crew and his passengers. Though the sleet and the rain, 
snow or hail may beat in his face, almost blinding him and making it 
impossible for him to see the front of his ship, yet so long as he can see 
that faithful needle he knows that he is on the right course, he knows that 
it will never swerve, that even though the ship should founder and find a 
watery grave at the bottom of the sea, that faithful needle will still 
remain in the same position, pointing to the changeless star until the very 
last atom of its being has been disintegrated by corrosion. Therefore he 
trusts implicitly to this faithful guide as he "lays him down in peace to 
sleep rocked in the cradle of the deep." 

    There is, in the unswerving devotion symbolized by this magnetic needle, 
one of the greatest and most wonderful lessons for those who have seen the 
mystic light and who aspire to the privilege of guiding others who have not 
yet found the path. Let us realize that to do this, the first, foremost, and 
the greatest prerequisite is: that we shall ourselves have become firmly 
grounded and rooted so that we are not disturbed by worldly changes going on 
about us. 

    Whether the clouds of doubt, scepticism, or persecution be cast about us 
by others, or whether they seek to ensnare us in blinding fogs of other 
doctrines, it behooves us to hold fast to that which is good. Yea, even 
though life were the price we have to pay, we must imitate that faithful 
needle. As the ship founders and settles to its watery grave, we must 
continue to point to the one goal of all, "Our Father in Heaven," never 
swerving to the right or to the left, no matter what may come. As the 
needle, that has once been touched by the lodestone, is impregnated with a 
yearning after the changeless star, a yearning which does not cease, even 
though it finds a watery grave, a yearning which lasts until the last atom 
of its being has been disolved by the action of the elements, so also must 
we, if we are really truly yearning to be competent guides to others, 
continue with unswerving devotion on the path which we have chosen, looking 
neither to the right or the left but fastening our eyes upon the changeles 
star ahead "Our Father in Heaven" in whom there is no change neither 
turning. For as the slightest deviation upon the part of the magnetic needle 
in the compass would be sufficient to dash the mariner upon the shoals or 
rocks of a dangerous shore, wrecking both ship and lives, so also, if we 
swerve from the path we have once chosen, we become stumbling blocks to 
others who are looking to us for guidance and example, and their lives are 
on our heads. 

    "To whom much has been given, from him much will be required." We have 
received much from the teachings of the Elder Brothers. The mystic light has 
beckoned us on, and may we realize the great responsibility we have, by our 
example and our lives, to faithfully guide those seekers with whom we come 
in contact, to the haven of rest and refuge.