bars also denote the three qualities of Prakriti. The lowest, or outermost, is Tamas, the quality of matter on the physical plane; the middle is Rajas, the astral; and Sattva, the spiritual, is innermost and highest.

The Hierophant wears three garments; the inner is white; the middle, blue; and the outer, scarlet. He is therefore clothed in light, water and fire. It will be remembered, moreover, that the Magician wears a white tunic and a red robe, while the dress of the High Priestess is blue. Thus the Hierophant's vestments indicate that he combines the functions of the Magician and the High Priestess.

Before him kneel two priests. In Mr. Waite's Tarot they wear albs, one of which is embroidered with lilies, the other with roses. This is ingenious, for it implies that the ministers personify the principles typified by the lilies and roses in the Magician's garden. To make the correspondence wholly consistent, however, the wearer of the roseembroidered alb should be a woman, since roses are symbols of Prakriti. Interesting and suggestive then, as Mr. Waite's variation may be, it is not only a radical departure from the traditional picture, but it also involves a contradiction in the terms of the symbolism. To avoid this, I adhere to the older design; which shows one priest wearing red, the other, black.

Red is the color of Rajas, passion and action; black stands for Tamas, ignorance and inertia. The priests therefore denote human passions and ignorance brought under the control of the real Self, and acting as ministers to whom he communicates his wisdom and entrusts the execution of his will.

Their heads are tonsured, to show that they represent specializations of the universal radiant energy; for the tonsure is a very ancient sun-symbol. The implicit is that both passion and ignorance are states of Prana, as it is expressed through the human organism. A single force enters into both conditions.

In yoga practice both are made to obey the will of

the adept. All the exercises involving restraint make use of inertia, or Tamas; those that transfer Prana from lower to higher centers of expression partake of the quality of action or Rajas. The gross body of a yogi in Samadhi is inert and apparently lifeless (Tamas); but his higher vehicles are intensely active (Rajas).

Such, in brief, are some of the implicits of this picture. Other interpretations will be suggested to the student, as he becomes ready for them. They will be revealed by the very Teacher symbolized by this trump.

Nothing is hid from the Hierophant, for he is the AllKnower. In his transcendent comprehension are embraced Past, Present, and Future. He knows the totality of manifestation and grasps every detail in that stupendous whole. He therefore knows the true history of the Tarot, and all the meanings of every symbol.

He knows also every thought of every person; perceives the exact stage of development attained by each; and understands precisely what each one needs. Our most secret aims and aspirations are an open book to him. He already knows whatever we want to know; and he is willing and able to solve all our problems.

"Take my yoke upon you; learn of me; ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free," is the Christian promise. It is essentially the same as the declaration of the Gita: "I am the Ego seated in the hearts of men; be with thy mind fixed on me, be my devotee, my worshipper, bow down to me and thou shalt come even to me; take sanctuary with me alone. I shall liberate thee from all sins; do thou not grieve!"

The Hierophant is the maker of these promises in every age; for there are not many gods, but one Spirit. That One, from generation to generation, repeats to mankind the same triumphant and eternal truth: "All things are from One; from that One nothing can be separated; realize thine identity with Him and be free."

To be continued

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THE BELIEF IN IMMORTALITY

AN INNATE IDEA

By Eduard Herrmann

I.

LATO says that knowledge is recollection of experiences gathered in this or other lives, and if we consider the progress due to evolution we must confess that if the knowledge which humanity has gained in the course of time could be forgotten, progress would be impossible. Recollection is the means by which we progress. This is best shown in the arts and sciences, which, in the course of centuries, have become so intricate that it takes almost a life to study and to master them. It is safe to say that the greater part of those who devote their lives to an art or to a science, are unable to advance it any further and must be satisfied to keep it in that state of development in which it has been delivered to them. They are the custodians of that art or science; their knowledge of it is based on the experiences and studies of their whole life, and they can be well satisfied if that life is sufficient to guide them to a certain mastery in an art or science. To advance it beyond the generally known limits necessitates talent, and in a higher degree genius. Talent is the unconscious recollection of knowledge, acquired in a moderate degree, in a former life; genius is an unconscious recollection of an enormous amount of knowledge gained in a former life. Talent and genius first manifest themselves as a strong predilection, even as a passion, for a certain art or science.

They are a hint of nature which ought not to be overlooked by the parents and guardians; for that hint truly says: "My soul has already tasted the delights of this art or science, it has experience in it, it is not at all difficult, and I am anxious to learn more of it. Children with talent are sure to make rapid progress, in comparison with other children, because they need only to refresh the knowledge gotten in a former life, while the others have to gain it anew. On those gifted children depends the further progress of art and science. Still more decided is the influence which a genius exerts, because in his case it is one who brings into the new body the deep knowledge which led him in his time to the pinnacle of a certain art or science. This explains the strange cases of children who manifest a technical mastership in very early years and thereby arouse the admiration of the whole world—a dangerous thing, because many have been spoiled by it, while others have been prevented from reaching that greatness in their art to which they were destined from nature and by their own efforts in a former life. But if the circumstances are fortunate, and especially if the character of the child is impervious to temptations, then the world will be benefited by the blossoming of the genius, and art will progress.

I have advanced this example to show that knowledge is recollection, as Plato says. It does not matter whether we remember acquiring that knowledge in previous times or not, it is in the soul when we are born, and we use it as soon as that is possible. That this knowledge or talent is not transmitted from parents to offspring is proven by the fact that not all the children of the same parents have it, and, what is of still greater significance, that the parents themselves rarely possess it. Alfred Russell Wallace says that the character of the parents tends to be transmitted to their offspring,' yet he means only the physical aspect of character, for in another chapter he affirms that the effects of education and training are not hereditary,2 and that is exactly what we say.

1Social Environment and Moral Progress, page 13.
Ibid, page 123.

Those effects are stored up in the individual souls and become later the so-called innate ideas. Webster defines them as follows: "Innate ideas are such as are supposed to be stamped on the mind when existence begins"-before existence begins would be more correct, because otherwise the questions cannot be avoided; by whom are they thus stamped on the mind? and why are they not stamped on the minds of all? Dangerous questions which involve the justice of God. But if we say: "Innate ideas are such as are supposed to have been stamped on the mind before this period of physical existence began" then everything becomes clear, for it presupposes other existences in which those now innate ideas were experiences, and became accumulated knowledge. All innate ideas must be traced to former periods of existence, whether in the spiritual or physical worlds. The innate ideas pertaining to the physical world are related to arts, sciences, and in general to things which are useful or otherwise, in this physical life, and they can only have been acquired in and through the struggle for existence. The innate ideas pertaining to the spiritual world are the abstract ideas of truth, beauty, justice, goodness, morality, immortality; in short, the perfect ideas and virtues we attribute to Divinity and which we unconsciously strive to imitate. They are the springs of humanity's true evolution and no living soul can for any length of time stand against their irresistible influence. Those who attempt to resist are thrown out of physical existence. So is explained the decline and ruin of whole nations, as well as of individuals. It is sometimes asserted that those virtues which we have called the innate ideas of truth, beauty, justice, are not to be found among uncivilized people and that they must be regarded as the efflorescence of the highest civilization. Let me quote here once more from A. H. Wallace, the contemporary of Darwin, and a great naturalist, who certainly must have known what he was saying when he stated: "Many entirely ignore the undoubted fact that affection, sympathy, compassion form as essential a part of human nature as do the higher intellectual and moral faculties; that in the very