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[Tau Malachi]

Dwelling Places of the Father: Kingdom of the Heavens

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going” (Gospel of St. John 14:1-4).

The essentials of the reality in-betweens of dying, death and the afterlife are given in Gnosis of the Cosmic Christ in the discussion of the Sefirah Yesod, the Foundation; following the life review or “judgment” there are many possibilities, dependent upon the faith of a soul and its capacity to receive Divine Grace, or upon the balance of the karmic continuum of the soul, whether positive, admixed or negative – there are all manner of realms and worlds into which a soul may sojourn in the afterlife states, whether heavens, hells or realms of admixture in-between, all reflecting the soul’s karmic conditioning. Generally speaking, before reincarnating the mind or soul-stream will pass through various realms and worlds that exist in the inner dimensions just as this world exists in the physical or material dimension.

According to masters of the tradition, if we cleave to Yeshua Messiah and the Shekinah of the Messiah in our death, we will not come to the judgment but will be taken up in ascension into the Supernal Abode, or to an abode corresponding to our faith and gnosis. If we are not able to cleave at the time of our death, but are able to attain realization in the initial in-between of the afterlife, when the radiant display of the Clear Light Nature dawns for those who have lived according to their faith and engaged in spiritual practice throughout their lives, then, too we may be drawn in an ascent of consciousness and not come to the judgment. If we are not able to recognize and realize our divine and supernal nature, or recognize all that appears as the intrinsic radiance of our own mind, consciousness or soul, then we will wander in the in-between of ghosts until we remember that we have died, at which point the experience of the life-review or judgment will transpire as our soul integrates the experiences of our previous life. Nevertheless, however, even if we come to the judgment, and through the judgment we pass into realms or worlds of the inner dimensions, whether heavenly or hellish, or something admixed, at any time we remember the Risen Messiah, and cleave to the Messiah and Shekinah of Messiah, our soul may be uplifted in the ascension and drawn into an abode corresponding with our faith and gnosis – throughout the entire experience of the afterlife there are many possibilities for the soul to be blessed, upgraded and taken up in ascension, and for the enlightenment and liberation of the soul from compulsory transmigration; death and the afterlife is a time of great possibility for those who have faith, just as auspicious incarnations in which true faith dawns are times of great possibility. As it has been said, with God, in Christ, anything is possible, and throughout his earthly ministry Adonai Yeshua demonstrated this truth, performing many wonders, the greatest of which was the resurrection and ascension that revealed the illusory nature of sin and death and all appearances.

There is something to be said of faith in Yeshua as the Messiah of God – faith in the Holy Gospel, even faith apart from the acquisition of gnosis or self-realization as it may occur in the outer and unspiritual church, for where there is true faith and a person lives according to that faith, they abide in a sanctuary of grace, and cleaving to the Risen Messiah with faith in their living and dying, when they die Yeshua Messiah will come to them and receive them, and will bring them into his palace of lights in the Supernal Abode, New Jerusalem (Supernal); therein souls abide in the blessedness of holy sanctuary and may unfold their self-realization in Christ, Supernal or Messianic Consciousness – such is the fruit of complete and perfect faith in the Messiah, the love of the Messiah and God.

Thus, of all practices in the tradition, union with Yeshua Messiah is the heart-essence in faith, for it creates the perfect conditions for Divine Grace to act at the time of our death so that we might be uplifted in the Great Resurrection and Ascension, and likewise, it may serve as a vehicle of Divine Grace at the time of dying and death even for souls that have not taken up the practice of union in this life – for such is the power of Divine Grace in the Risen Messiah for those who open their heart and mind to him, and who are willing to cleave, if but for a moment. The masters of the tradition have said, “If an initiate learns no other practice than this, but they pray and take up this practice each day, and sincerely seek to live according to the Gospel of Truth, according to their faith, it is enough; when they die they will be received and taken up in ascension by Yeshua Messiah.”

This is the promise of Yeshua Messiah to us, so that still, even if gnosis does not dawn for us in this life, there is hope for the salvation of the soul – the enlightenment and liberation of the soul; in the sanctuary of grace manifest by Yeshua Messiah all are included who desire to be received, and no one is excluded – salvation is *universal*, open to all who cleave in faith.

There are seven heavens, and beyond them is the Supernal Abode of the Pleroma of Light, which has been called the “eighth heaven” in Christian Gnosticism; and within these heavens are many dwelling places, many luminous realms and worlds – souls are drawn in ascent according to their faith and gnosis, the perfect in faith being drawn into the eighth heaven, and all who have faith being taken into the abode that corresponds to the power of their faith. The eighth heaven is the abode of repose with Christ in God – Union with the Soul of the Messiah, and is the heaven of enlightenment and liberation; although the seven heavens are not the full enlightenment and liberation of the soul, nevertheless they represent gradations in the evolution of the soul towards that peak of supreme attainment and are as great blessings and respites in between incarnations, establishing auspicious conditions for the next incarnation of the soul, or becoming vehicles of progress for the soul that may be realized and embodied in a future incarnation. Thus, even if we cleave with an imperfect or partial faith our soul may be drawn in ascent and blessed – truly “in our Father’s house there are many dwelling places,” and through the Messiah our soul is well received in them.

Now, the house (Bet) of the Father is the Mother – Elohim, Imma, the Great Matrix, and so the heavens are the Divine Body of the Bright Mother, Or Imma; she is the space of all the heavens – the space of all creation, the Father and Son are the light and sound-vibration, and the Mother and Daughter are the radiant space and radiant display of all that appears. As the Father and Mother, Son and Daughter are inseparable from one another the heavens are called the glory of Yahweh Elohim – the light-power of all of the heavens having its root in this Supernal Glory.

In the perfection of faith and perfection of devekut-cleaving the soul seeks and cleaves to nothing but the Messiah and Yahweh or Eheieh – hence El Elyon; the single thought and desire of the soul is for knowledge of God and conscious union with God and Godhead, and therefore it becomes what it most loves and is drawn in ascent to this Divine Rapture of Union. Thus, such a faithful and holy soul does not turn aside and cleave to anything in the lower or upper abodes of the seven heavens, but seeks its fulfillment and illumination in the eighth heaven, the Supernal Abode; if and when souls turn aside and cleaves to anything in the lower or upper abodes of the seven heavens then, in a manner of speaking, that is their reward in heaven and the soul enters and takes up its abode in that heaven, according to its desire, according to its faith and gnosis.

Essentially, the seven heavens represent various gradations of nearness to the Holy One and various gradations of higher consciousness, the eighth heaven representing conscious union and the dawn of Supernal or Messianic Consciousness: *non-dual realization*.

On a spiritual and psychic level nearness is similitude – the more a soul is the image and likeness of God, the nearer the soul is to God; the perfect image and likeness of God is the experience of Union with God. In this we may understand the teaching of Adonai Yeshua when he says, “I am the way, truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you know him and have seen him,” and also, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (14:6-7, and 9).

Basically speaking, the various heavens are gradations of the soul’s likeness to the Messiah or Christ, the eighth heaven being self-realization in Christ; so truly, the Messiah or Christ (Divine I Am) is the way, truth and life divine, for the Messiah is the Human One manifest as the image and likeness of God and Godhead, the Human One in Union with the Divine.

Here it must be said, in the practice of union with the Messiah in mystical prayer and meditation, the realization and embodiment of union is living in a Christ-like way, living according to our faith, and living according to the truth and light revealed in our experience – in so doing the resurrection and ascension of the soul in the Mystical Body of the Risen Messiah is assured, all through Divine Grace. So Adonai Yeshua says to us, his disciples, “You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Having spoken of the ideal, the attainment of the eighth heaven, the Supernal Abode, we may say that all souls are destine to it in the fruition of their journey, yet all souls are not necessarily predestine to it in this lifetime or in the afterlife experience that will follow – there is something of a natural development and evolution of souls, various gradations of spiritual progress, and the blessing a vast majority of souls will receive in the afterlife will be a respite in one of the seven heavens between incarnations, most likely a passage through the lower heavens below the causal veil, the Veil of Paroket. This may help to create auspicious circumstances in the soul’s next incarnation, facilitating the development and evolution of the soul towards the Highest of Life, Messianic Consciousness, and the experience of union with Christ in God. Thus, spiritual knowledge of the Path of the Ascension, the soul’s journey through the seven heavens to the eighth heaven, may empower an individual to ascend to the inmost abode possible, allowing them to receive the greatest blessing and mercy.

In speaking about the seven heavens we speak about them in terms of a soul’s journey through them in ascent from one to another, beginning in the first heaven and passing in their natural order to the seventh heaven; hence we speak of them in a linear fashion, as with all of the provisional teachings on dying, death and the afterlife. Yet, as the masters of the tradition tell us, death and the afterlife is akin to sleep and dream, and as we experience in our dreams, the experience in the afterlife is far more fluid and flowing than in the ordinary waking consciousness of the incarnate state, or our typical experience of the physical or material dimension. As in other points within the experience of realities in-between within the afterlife, if at any time we remember the Risen Messiah and cleave to the Messiah and Shekinah of Messiah, we could very well be drawn instantaneously in ascent into a significantly higher heaven, or even directly into an experience of the eighth heaven; likewise, it is possible for the mind or soul-stream to experience radical leaps or shifts in the experience of the heavens in a completely non-linear fashion – after all, the reality of our experience is a radiant display of our own mind, consciousness or soul, and therefore a shift in our consciousness can produce a radical shift in the reality of our experience, especially in dream and the afterlife states. Thus, though we may speak of the heavens in a rather sequential and linear fashion, our experience may, in fact, be nonlinear or non-sequential; but speaking of them in a linear way in provisional teachings helps empower us to direct our consciousness with awareness in the midst of the experience and provides a context for clear recognition of the gradation of our experience, providing us with some measure of orientation.

The following represents the experience of the soul in ascent through the heavens passing from the first to the seventh according to the order of their corresponding grades on the Tree of Life – Malkut to Hesed:

The Ascension through Shamaim (The Heavens)

In the ascent of the soul following the life-review or judgment, if and when the positive karmic conditioning is present, or by way of faith through grace the soul is uplifted, the soul may pass into the experience of the first heaven, which is called Vilon, and also Tibel. Vilon means veil, and Tibel is the paradisiacal earth; as this is the first and lowest of the seven heavens it is as a “veil” before them, and as it is the appearance of the earth in the uppermost atmosphere of the astral dimension, it is the earth manifest as paradise. In the outer and unspiritual church, and most outer forms of religion, this is the heaven that is most often spoken about, as this is the heaven most ordinary individuals will easily relate with – an idealized manifestation of the earth or the life with which they are familiar.

This earth is radiant with heavenly glory and is delightful, and just as there are many different realms and lands and environments within the material earth that we can experience, so also in Tibel; but all of these domains of Tibel are luminous an unimaginably beautiful, such as cannot be compared to anything upon this earth – this earth is as a shadow land or “winter,” Tibel is as a world of light or “summer.” There is perpetual day in Tibel, there is no night or darkness, and all dwell together in peace, there is no conflict or consternation, nor pain or grief; all abide in peace and joy, and it is good.

Everything on earth exists in Tibel as it would in heaven, and the Garden of Eden is in the center of Tibel; everywhere in Tibel it is perpetual day, with the sun shinning in the blue sky, but in the Garden of Eden, or in that holy region by whatever name it might be called, the sun shines in what appears to be a most beautiful and luminous starry night sky – entering into that holy place, the veil before the second heaven, Rakiya, the firmament, is parted. Thus, if and when souls enter there, and if they do not cleave to anything in that holy place, angels may come to them and lead them in ascent, or else, if they remember the light-power in them, they may envision a passage way to one of the stars shining above and go to it, passing out of Tibel, or they may choose to fly out into the greater astral universe, or setting their focus upon a star, by simple conscious intention, they may transport themselves to it; this, in one way or another, is the passage to the second heaven, which is the entire universe in the upper astral. In the second heaven the soul is able to travel among the star-systems and world-systems of the universe in the upper astral, and it is filled with immeasurably greater beauty and delight than is experienced in the first heaven, Tibel-Vilon.

There are countless stars, countless worlds, with countless realms in Rakiya; it is as though every star and planet, every celestial body, is a place of light and life – all filled with sentient beings, living spirits and souls. Whatever might be possible in the entire duration of the great aeon, the great cosmic cycle, exists in Rakiya; its delights and wonders abound, and there would be no end to speaking of them.

A soul that passes into Tibel, but no further will, certainly reincarnate in the human life-wave on earth, but souls that pass into Rakiya, though perhaps continuing to be oriented to the human life-wave on earth, might also pass into another life-wave, in another world system; hence they may be incarnate in another world in their next life. If and when souls cleave to the “paradise” of any world, and forget their freedom to travel among the various abodes of Rakiya, or they tire of their wandering and seek to continue their evolution through incarnation, then their soul will enter into an incarnation in the corresponding world to which they cleave in their desire – this could be a world equivalent to this earth in evolution, earlier in evolution than this earth, or far more advanced in evolution. Anything is possible.

Now, if in the midst of the experience of Rakiya a soul remembers God, or recalls their faith in the Messiah – in holy and enlightened being, angels, or other holy and divine beings, may come to them and lead them towards the center of this astral universe, to a great and holy star that shines in the midst, greater than all other stars altogether; that, or else, their very desire will led to a sacred quest and they will find their way or be drawn to this center – in one way or another, however, they will come to this holy star, which is the threshold of the third heaven, Shehakim, clouds of grace.

The celestial solar fire of this star is as a river of burning fire surrounding the third heaven, and a soul must be able to abide in faith and not fall into fear and self-doubt as they pass through it, lest instantly they will enter into another incarnation, or they will return to the judgment, and may even pass into in auspicious realms, such as a titan realm, a hungry ghost realm or a hell realm.

According to the tradition, this river of fire flows from the “perspiration” of holy seraphim worshipping in the inner presence of Yahweh just beyond the seventh heaven – it is the light of the heavens and fire of the hells; passing through it, entering Shehakim, the souls experiences the most incredible realm of subtle but very brilliant light, thousands and thousands of times more subtle and brilliant that anything in the previous heavens. It is an infinite expanse of light, with countless heavenly light realms in it – this light being the Light of the Messiah reflected and expressed in the lower heavens. This is the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven in the mental dimension, beyond the astral dimension.

In the center of this heaven of the mental universe is the City of God – the light-image celestial New Jerusalem in the lower heavens, which is a far more subtle and brilliant manifestation of Divine Light than Shehakim; this image of the celestial City of God is the fourth heaven, Zebul, dwelling.

Souls that remember the Holy One, and who seek communion with the Holy One, are drawn to this City of God so as to enter it; an in the center of this City of God is that celestial temple or cathedral in which Archangel Michael presides as the high priest: hence One-Who-Is-Like-Unto-God.

This is called the “heaven of martyrs” – those who have offered up the whole of their life and being to God Most High, and therein St. Michael presides over a Gnostic Mass offering up the body and blood of the holy and righteous ones as the Body and Blood of Christ; if a soul seeks to pass out of this heaven of the higher vital dimension, crossing through the causal dimension into the heavens of the spiritual dimensions, then they must be offered up in this holy sacrifice – as pure energy, pure spirit, they will pass into the fifth heaven, Ma’on, dwelling place.

The fifth heaven is the appearance of the universe – all creation, in the spiritual dimension; and all is immeasurably more beautiful, delightful, self-radiant and glorious than in any previous heaven, such as there are no words for it; a soul could conceivably wander in this heaven forever and ever, and profoundly, something of the presence of Ha-Shem is in it, and inconceivable great divinities and holy beings are in it. At some point, however, the vision of the end of the great aeon or great cosmic cycle will dawn – the great apocalypse of the cosmos; if the soul can abide in the midst of this in the presence of awareness, without attachment or aversion, cleaving to God, they will pass into the sixth heaven, Makom, meeting place.

Who can speak of a heaven that is an apocalyptic experience, save to say that it is heaven when a soul abides in the awareness of “no-difference” and seeks only the knowledge of God and union with God; then, indeed, it is a most lofty heaven, filled with great peace and joy. The capacity to abide in the midst of this is passage into the seventh heaven, Arabot, clouds or plains.

The seventh heaven is like an infinite ocean and space of the most subtle, and yet most brilliant and dazzling light and color – a completely formless heaven of interpenetrating being; if and when a soul recognizes this as the radiant display of its own intrinsic nature, and realizes the complete inseparability of formlessness and form (experiences full non-dual realization), then they enter into the eighth heaven, the Supernal Abode of the Pleroma of Light.

Of course, it must be said that all of these heavens, as with any reality in-between we experience, is all a radiant display of our own mind, consciousness or soul; thus, they may assume a plethora of forms or appearances, and at any point if we recognize the inseparability of our soul and the reality in-between that appears we may pass into the “eighth heaven,” which is called *no-more-heaven*, but rather is divine or enlightened being, Supernal or Messianic Consciousness.

There is much more than may be said about the seven heavens and the Supernal Abode, but this represent the most basic teachings on them. These teachings are important to initiates of the Order of St. Lazarus, for sharing aspects of them may provide hope for the dying and knowledge of them can assist in the guidance of the dead through the reality in-betweens of the afterlife – there may even be a sacred ceremony of reciting or reading the guidance of the soul in ascent through the heavens as a means of blessing and offering assistance. Thus, initiates of the Order of St. Lazarus are well acquainted with teachings on the realities in-between and the ascent of the soul through the heavens; they are the foundation of much study and contemplation, and prayer and meditation.

In time we can share something more of these teachings, but for an introduction and beginning, this is enough.

*Coupled with this, you may wish to contemplate the correspondence of the heavens (Shamaim) with the Holy Sefirot of the Tree of Life – for those who know how to contemplate, this can prove very revealing.

(Likewise, you may also wish to contemplate this in conjunction with our basic Gnostic cosmology of the upper and lower aeons of the Entirety, and the Pleroma of Light within and beyond.)

May all living spirits and soul be drawn up in the Great Resurrection and ascension – all in the Mystical Body of the Risen Messiah; amen.

Blessings & shalom!
_________________
Tau Malachi
Sophia Fellowship
Ecclesia Pistis Sophia