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It is the privilege of men to perform their journey twice. The first time is to feel their pain and discover their sacramental wound. The second time is to experience the ascent of the soul and set into motion the hidden processes of the kosmos in order to efface karma and redirect their future incarnations. Although women have to do this too, we are dealing with archetypal principles and therefore speak in terms of gender-specific roles.

We have all heard of the Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead. Did you know there are Christian Books of the Dead? They are the gnostic Books of Ieou. Christ is the central figure and to understand His role in those books, we need to know that they were written by ethnic Egyptians who became Christians in the late Hellenistic period, that is c 100-300 CE. They undoubtedly transformed their ancient beliefs as expressed in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, into a Christian form. Thus Christ combines the roles of, Horus as the conductor of souls, Anubis as the performer of the balance, Ma’at as the principle of truth against which the actions of the deceased are balanced, Thoth as the recorder of the result of the trial, Osiris as the judge and Typhon as the executioner. The Egyptians understood the analogy of death as initiation and the metaphor of initiation as death, because they realised that essentially, both are out of body experiences. For that reason, Christ admonishes his disciples to maintain a very high standard of discipline and action. Even a cursory reading of the Books of Ieou demonstrates this necessity.

In essence, these teachings are a transcendent mysticism, which requires years of detailed study. For the purposes of these articles, we shall focus on one issue only, the ascent of the soul.

In the Books of Ieou, Christ makes it clear that what He is teaching must be done by the soul after it leaves the body. We interpret this as a reference to the body as a vehicle of consciousness and the soul as the carrier of personal identity. This means that Christ is referring to a different level of reality from here and now. He is referring to the place of symbols, dreams, visions, images, metaphors and analogies. Thus what happens at this level of reality during initiation also happens here at death, because in both instances, the soul leaves the body to experience this reality. Therefore initiation is the metaphor for death and the near death experience is the analogy for initiation. Hence it is legitimate for us to use the hermetic and gnostic practices implied in the Books of Ieou, to explore the processes of death.

Fundamentally, the soul has to navigate the inner landscape by a conscious and deliberate visualisation that focuses on each planet in turn. That is why we have looked at the planets in the first male journey. But that is only the warm up. The second journey requires us to consider death as an initiation. Thus if the first journey is sacramental, the second journey is initiatory. That is why the second journey gives us the opportunity to redirect our future incarnations.

Books of Ieou

Since you may not be familiar with the text, the relevant part is set out below:

"But the paralemptai (receivers) of the Treasury of the Light come and they bring forth the soul from the body, until they pass through all the aeons and the places of the invisible God, and they take it to the Treasury of the Light. And they erase all sins which they have committed knowingly, and those which they have committed unknowingly. And they make them to be pure light. And the soul leaps continually from place to place, until it reaches the Treasury of the Light. And it passes into the interior of the watchers of the Treasury of the Light. And they (the souls) pass into the interior of the three amens. And they pass into the interior of the twins, and they pass into the interior of the triple-powered one, and they pass into the interior of the ranks of the five trees, and they pass into the interior of the seven voices. And they exist in the place which is within them, which is the place of the incomprehensible ones of the Treasury of the Light. And furthermore all these ranks give to them their seals and <their> mysteries, because they have received mysteries before they came forth from the body."

Let us analyse what we are being told. First, the soul is brought forth from the body, so this is definitely an out of body experience. Secondly, sins are erased, or, karma is effaced. They are made into pure light. That is, the hidden processes of the kosmos are now activated for the liberation of the soul. This is how future incarnations are directed. Thirdly, there is the second male journey of seven steps. The soul reaches the Treasury of the Light and:

1. Passes into the interior of the watchers.
2. Passes into the interior of the three amens.
3. Passes into the interior of the twins.
4. Passes into the interior of the triple-powered one.
5. Passes into the interior of the ranks of the five trees.
6. Passes into the interior of the seven voices.
7. Exists in the place of the incomprehensible ones.

Fourthly, the liberated soul exists in the place of the incomprehensible ones of the Treasury of the Light. Fifthly, at each step, the soul is given seals and mysteries because it received mysteries before it came forth from the body. It did that in the first journey when the man felt his pain and found his wound. Now, the deep masculine experiences the light. Let us try to grasp this by looking at it in a table:

Name	Greek	English	Ieou	Attribute	Meaning
Alfa	A , a	A, a	Watchers	Moon	1st chakra
Epsilon	E , e	E, e	3 Amens	Mercury	2nd chakra
Eta	H , h	I	Twins	Venus	3rd chakra
Iota	I , i	I	3-Powered	Sun	4th chakra
Omicron	O , o	O, o	5 Trees	Mars	5th chakra
Ipsilon	U , u	I	7 Voices	Jupiter	6th chakra
Omega	W , w	O, o	Incomprehensible Ones	Saturn	7th chakra

Thus the Moon path has the Watchers; the Mercury path has the Three Amens; the Venus path has the Twins; the Sun path has the Triple Powered Ones; the Mars path has the Five Trees; the Jupiter path has the Seven Voices; and the Saturn path has the Incomprehensible Ones. Does all this make sense? It shouldn’t. Not in a left brain way. This is all right brain, vision, revelation, imagination, intuition and inspiration. You will not understand this by reading about it. You must experience it directly. Now at last, we are talking about Christian initiation. This is the time for the fourth journey, the Christ Journey.