understand that cleanliness is next to godliness and healthful living. H. P. B. merely gave out the teaching as imparted to her by those who in their own lands had witnessed many undesirable phases of mediumship, and so were anxious concerning similar conditions elsewhere.

M.

IN

THE POSTHUMOUS LIFE OF ANIMALS

N the higher levels of the spiritual world it is well known that pure, selfless love lifts one to the harmonious buddhic plane where dwell some of the greatest egos of the race, those who need not re-incarnate for thousands of years. Were it as well understood here that selfish love induces an inner discord which actually shortens the terrestrial span, as well as the post-terrestrial one, mankind would heed the Master's warning that whosoever seeks to save his life shall lose it.

The physical life of the ordinary animal is brief, and, at best, its posthumous condition is proportionately so, and usually it is very brief. The wild creature attains only the low astral levels where, from lack of spiritual qualities, it soon sinks into unconsciousness, and then re-incarnates, provided it has evolved beyond the group-soul condition. Even the ourang-outang, the gibbon, and others of the delayed races who possess rudimentary egos,

cannot attain to more than the middle regions of the astral world.

The sustainers of spiritual life are will, mind, and love. Man long ago reached the stage where his ego possessed these in no insignificant degree. This high trinity insures for him an average of fifteen hundred years on the super-physical planes. Because associated with men, the domestic animals, though lacking egos, have gained a very little will, a little intelligence, and, in some instances, a surprising degree of affection. Of the three spiritual powers mentioned, will and love are the most potent to prolong posthumous life, but of itself love is a great uplifter and sustainer.

Of all creatures domesticated by western peoples, the horse, the dog, and the cat exhibit a pure affection for their masters which should shame most members of the human family. In the case of pet animals, if a mutual bond exist between one and his master, the double force of affection brings the two into companionship in posthumous life, and for very many years-usually about fifteen times those of that animal's normal earth lifethey are together, not only in the astral world, but even in Devachan. Largely through man, such animals are to be the foremost entities in a new world period.

Swedenborg taught that the birds and animals seen in the spiritual world are only appearances symbolizing the affections of the angels, all of

whom were once human beings. In this instance, as in many others, the Swedish seer saw truth through a glass darkly. On the other hand, the simple Indian rightly believed that his dog and his horse will accompany him to his future home.

H. P. B.

IN

THE ANT AND THE BEE

N the early ages of the world, both the ant and the bee were brought here as examples of industry to our infant humanity. They came with those great teachers who descended from the planet Venus, that abode of pure intellect where even the insect had received, in some measure, the gift of mind.

The humanity of the blue planet was not a physical one; its members never had functioned in vehicles more dense than the mind body; but, in the insect family, many species were native to the physical plane, and others to the astral. As in this world to-day, all of that innumerable family were under group-soul guidance. The ants and the bees had material bodies, but the group-soul of each specie was on the astral plane.

Inasmuch as the ant and the bee were below the normal evolution of the Venus globe-chain, their bringing here was to benefit both man and themselves. In their native world, the bee had no

sting, and the ant never made war on its kind, for these insects reflected in humble ways that lofty spirit of brotherhood to which the Venusian humanity had already attained when entering the seventh and final round of its progress.

The original group-souls of the ant and the bee families have had many divisions and subdivisions since the "Light-bringers" placed them upon the astral plane of our chain in an age when the early races of the fourth planetary round were beginning their upward trend.

As we have elsewhere stated, evolution in the Venusian scheme was an almost homogeneous one, and, because the egos that incarnated in the human race needed a diverse experience unattainable outside of our seven-fold evolution, they came over in the long-ago, and, for a like reason, did the groupsouls of the humble creatures with which we are dealing. In after ages, and on another planet, the ant and the bee are to become individualized through further subdivisions of the group-souls of each family, and the lessening of their output.

H.

L

THE MISSION OF FLOWERS

IKE the ant and the bee, certain flowers were brought to this earth by our celestial benefactors in the early ages of man's upgrowth. The rose, originally a pure red, was from Mars, and by

it man came into vibration with a planet through which he had passed in downward way to his present home. The lily, at first a pure yellow, was from Mercury, and by it Adamic man came into touch with the angels of that harmonious planet.

The blue flowers were from Venus, the green of foliage and grass from Saturn, and the plants of violet hue from the Moon. The only flowers native here were the orange ones. Since the rose symbolizes love rather than mind, it never has taken on the green of Saturn, or the blue of Venus. As for the pure white flowers, those reflecting rather than absorbing all the spectrum colors, they fulfill the highest spiritual office. Those combining white and yellow are second to them only.

The flowers brought here were immaterial ones, and came from the following levels: the yellow from the buddhic, the blue from the manasic, the green from the kama manasic, the red from the kamic, and the violet from the astral. Entering the material plane of our world, these flowers gradually drew to themselves the physical vestures which since have clothed them.

According to the veiled story in Genesis, our first parents were placed in a garden of fruits and flowers. Those Edenic flowers then had not lost their original lustre, nor had their colors become mixed, for they corresponded with the clearlydefined seven-fold aura around Adamic man.