By Day of Greenleaf, Yaiyr
As did the ancient Essenes, the modern Nasarean Church of The Essene Way operates a “Mystery School.” The name of our Mystery School is Essene Mountain of Peace. Our Mystery School is the context in which the members of our church – and prospective members – study the teachings of our Nasarean Religion of The Essene Way. We offer an introductory course for sincere seekers that are not yet members, but most of our Essene Mystery School courses are open only to members of Essene Church of Christ. To become a member of our church, a student must complete the first few assignments of a study course titled, The Forty-Nine Petals of The Blue Rose.
Those who become members are not required to continue taking study courses but may be eligible to do so. Although most of the Mystery School courses are offered as home-study-courses via the mail, members are encouraged to visit the Mother Temple for in-person Mystery School classes whenever they can.
Every student works at his or her own pace. He or she may take as much time as needed to complete a home-study course. When all the assignments for a particular course are completed, that course is done and the student may be eligible – but not required – to take the next course. The content of each course is a bit more “advanced” than the previous one; the “higher mysteries” are revealed only after the “lesser mysteries” have been understood.
Our Mystery School is divided into three main sections, and each of those sections has various levels, initiations, and empowerments. The three main sections are: 1) “The Blue Rose Study Course” which is linked to participation in an order within our church called “Essene Order of The Blue Rose”; 2) “The Red Rose Study Course” which is linked to participation in an order within our church called “Essene Order of The Red Rose”; and, 3) “The White Rose Study Course” which is linked to participation in an order within our church called “Essene Order of The White Rose.”
COMMENTARY ON DOCTRINE FOUR
Essene Mountain of Peace is subtitled The Essene Academy of Higher Learning. Although many courses are offered via mail, in-person classes are also offered at our Mother Temple currently located at our beautiful natural-paradise Essene Retreat Center and Organic Farm called Essene Garden of Peace. Located on 35 acres in a coastal mountain forest of Oregon, our Mother Temple at Essene Garden of Peace offers weekly Sabbath Services, various classes on topics such as Essene Meditation Practices, Essene Yoga, Essene Herbology, and has for some decades been the location of our Annual Summer Essene Gathering that is attended by members of our church from all over the world.
We are accurately labeled a “Mystery School” in that, like the ancient mystery schools, our teachings address the esoteric “mysteries” of life in school-like fashion: on a gradient scale which is ladder-like, the completion of one level being prerequisite to the beginning of the next level.
But don’t let the term “Mystery School” scare you away: There is nothing less scary than LOVE, and LOVE is the GOLDEN THREAD that runs through EVERY LEVEL of our Mystery School.
In the following appendix to this Commentary on Doctrine Four, I provide an excerpt from an article I wrote that gives a bit of information about each of the three “orders” mentioned in Doctrine Four. Those three orders are: The Order of The Blue Rose, The Order of The Red Rose, and The Order of The White Rose. [Note: A diligent student will not skip reading the following appendix; every appendix that I have included in this Book is important and should be read!]
Appendix to the Commentary on Doctrine Four: An Introduction to the Three “Roses” in Our Essene Mystery School
As was the ancient Nasarean Religion of the Essene Way, our modern church is organized in the manner of an historic “Mystery School.” The name of our Mystery School is Essene Mountain of Peace. Our Mystery School is the context in which our members study our teachings.
We offer several introductory courses for the general public within our Mystery School but most courses are open only to members. To become a member, a student must complete the first few assignments of a course titled, The Forty-Nine Petals of the Blue Rose. Those that become members of our church are not required to continue taking courses in our Mystery School but may be eligible to do so. Most of the Mystery School courses are offered as home-study-courses via the mail.
Besides the home-study courses, we offer in-person classes at our Mother Temple located near Greenleaf, Oregon. That land-base is where I (Day of Greenleaf/Day Owen) maintain my office and oversee the Mystery School and other church ministries. That land-base is called Essene Garden of Peace (in Hebrew, that is: Gan Shalom). Our Mother Temple at Essene Garden of Peace features a small organic farm and offers courses in organic homestead farming skills, as well as courses in Nasarean spiritual practices such as Essene Yoga and Essene Meditation. We are a legally recognized monastery and, from top to bottom, are a Living Mystery School that goes beyond the written study course materials. Everything that happens on this land is part of the Mystery School. That includes obvious things like initiation rituals and baptisms being performed on visiting members of our church at the yearly National Gathering, but also includes subtler things like how a person acts when they are on our land and how they perform on special assignments and, as the years roll by, how they live life as a Nasarean Essene initiate and member of our church family. Our scripture – The Holy Megillah: Nasarean Bible of The Essene Way – makes clear that the progress of the student in the Mystery School is linked not only to the “Scholarly Path” – the actual written assignments in the courses – but also to good behavior on the “Social Path” which, obviously, is something that unfolds as the months and years roll by.
Essene Mountain of Peace – our Mystery School – is often subtitled “The Essene Academy of Higher Learning” to indicate that we are a sort of school. We are accurately labeled a “Mystery School” in that, like the ancient mystery schools, our teachings address the esoteric “mysteries” of life in school-like fashion: on a gradient scale, ladder-like, the completion of one level being prerequisite to the beginning of the next level, just like the Mystery School of Life, The Spiral Ladder of Being that is expressed as: SPIRITUAL EVOLUTION VIA ASCENDING GRADIENTS OF BEING. Our school is patterned after THAT “Cosmic School of Life!!!”
Within the garden of Essene Mountain of Peace, there are three main “orders” – here the word “orders” simply means a “group of initiates that are at the same general level of initiation within our church” – that are symbolized by roses of specific colors. You are likely most familiar with The Order of the Blue Rose, since that is where all members of our Mystery School – all members of our church and all prospective members – begin. You may not be as familiar with the other two: The Order of the Red Rose and The Order of the White Rose. The reason that you are probably not as familiar with The Red Rose and The White Rose orders is that they are more esoteric, less in the public eye. Many members of our church – the big majority – take the main Blue Rose Course – The Forty-Nine Petals of the Blue Rose – but do not go on to do Red Rose courses or White Rose courses, being content to be a general member of the church and, for life, continuing to study our teachings by receiving the monthly membership teaching called Omnah, subscribing also to our quarterly journal Essene Path, and continuing to study the Megillah and any new books and videos we make available. Nevertheless, a minority of our members will continue to do additional courses of study and rise in level of initiation to Red Rose and, for some, even the White Rose level of studies. Some of those students will continue their studies and eventually receive an invitation to serve as ministers, priests/priestesses, and teachers within The Order of the White Rose.
It is important to note that The Order of the Red Rose and The Order of the White Rose are NOT OUTSIDE of The Order of the Blue Rose. Rather, they are esoteric orders WITHIN The Order of the Blue Rose. I will explain.
Every member of The Order of the Red Rose and The Order of the White Rose are also members of The Order of the Blue Rose. But not every member of The Order of the Blue Rose is a member of The Red Rose or The White Rose. That is because The Red Rose and The White Rose are esoteric orders for those that have completed the assignments of The Blue Rose. The leading initiates of the White Rose are generally the teachers of the Nasarean Religion of the Essene Way; not outside of the Blue Rose, the White Rose initiates are the teachers within both the Blue Rose and Red Rose. The teachers of The White Rose have earned the degree of “Wizard” (Hebrew: Yidde’oniy), as will be explained.
Having made clear that everyone begins their membership in our church in the Blue Rose, let us also make clear the fact that there are various levels of initiation within each of the three roses: a student that has completed thirty petals (assignments) in the Blue Rose is at a higher level of initiation than one that has done, say, seven petals. That same principle is true within both the Red Rose and White Rose.
The reader new to our religion may wonder: “What the heck is a wizard?” That same reader may also be wondering: “Did the ancient Nasareans really use the word ‘wizard?’” In fact, I predict that some readers may be a bit concerned about the word wizard, believing it to be scary or evil or linked with magic. So, let us now address those issues.
Because the word wizard is English, and because the ancient Nasareans did not speak English, they did not use the word wizard. However, they did use a Hebrew word that scholars translate into English as “wizard.” That word is Yidde’oniy (pronounced yid-deh-o-nee), which means: A “Knowing One.” The word Yidde’oniy stems from the Hebrew root yada, which is pronounced yah-dah and means to know. Although the word Yidde’oniy literally means a Knowing One, in the mainstream “Old Testament” that Hebrew word is used as a designation for Conjurers. In the mainstream “Old Testament” the word Yidde’oniy (“Wizard” or “Conjurer”) is used in a negative sense, but that scripture was written by the animal sacrifice cult, the avowed enemy of the Nasarean religion. In the Nasarean scriptures, the word Yidde’oniy (Wizard/Wis-ard/Wise One/Knowing One) is used in a positive sense as a designation for those in our Mystery School that have achieved the most advanced levels of spiritual training and demonstrate it in their life activities in merciful service to the Lord and Lady and all of creation.
Of course, the Nasarean religion recognizes that there are evil so-called “wizards,” just like there are evil priests. But the fact that there are some evil priests does not mean that there are no good priests! Likewise with wizards: there are good wizards and bad wizards. Nasarean wizards are good wizards. They are “Knowing Ones” that conjure good things.
We are surrounded in life by good wizards and bad wizards. Since a wizard (Yidde’oniy) is a Knowing One, a good wizard is one who knows good things and uses those good things in good ways. A bad wizard is the reverse.
Again, if the word wizard bothers you, remember, it is simply the accepted (by scholars) English translation of the Hebrew word Yidde’oniy, which means Knowing One and is used in The Holy Megillah to describe the “Wise-Ones” of our religion. And if the word magic bothers you, remember, The Holy Megillah informs us that:
Nasarean magic flows from our special knowledge.
Our special knowledge is our higher knowing.
To some degree, all of us, even those who are uncomfortable with the word wizard, practice wizardry every day. Our thoughts, words, and deeds are our wizardry and conjure things into manifestation that affect not only our own lives, but the lives of those around us. Your beliefs, and the words and actions that stem from those beliefs, are your magic (your conjuring), and your magic is only as good as your beliefs, thoughts, words, and deeds are good.
What separates obvious wizards from the rest of humanity is simply that they are aware of the above, and are working with it in a formal, conscious way. That includes gaining more knowledge, but should (if one is good) also include the gaining of more wisdom. Knowledge and wisdom are not the same thing, though they are indeed related. It takes knowledge to know how to build a nuclear bomb, but it takes wisdom to understand why that is a bad idea. Bad wizards may have knowledge, but they have little wisdom. Because there are people who would misuse special knowledge, the Green Wizards of the White Rose – the order I represent as Yaiyr – does not teach anything that could be harmful and is very selective in regard to who it accepts – and keeps – as students.
As revealed in The Holy Megillah, this order – Green Wizards of the White Rose – was the one that the Lord Christ and Lady Christ participated in their entire lives. They are the ultimate, cosmic wizards! Once more, I remind the reader that the Hebrew word that scholars translate into English as wizard is Yidde’oniy and simply means Knowing One. Certainly, the Lord and Lady are the ultimate, cosmic Knowing Ones! They used Words of Power to conjure into existenceLight when, long before the creation of this planet, they chanted the affirmation Yehi Aur (which in English means Let there be Light) AND THERE WAS LIGHT! Now, that is some conjuring! And when Yahshua and Miriam walked on water, they were certainly performing an act of great wizardry! Likewise, turning water into wine was no easy trick! And how about raising the dead as a great example of powerful wizardry?! All of these examples absolutely fit the definition of wizardry. So does the example of healing lepers by word or touch. How about the example of Magdalene, as a little girl, healing people and animals with the power of her voice? PURE WIZARDRY!
It is important to remember that such acts of wizardry flow from our Special Knowledge, which is our Higher Knowing. In other words, such “miracles” (i.e., “magic”) are not performed outside of the laws of the universe, but flow from a PROFOUND HARMONY WITH LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE THAT THE AVERAGE PERSON IS NOT AWARE OF, at least not at their current level of awareness.
The Megillah makes clear that the highest knowing is awareness of the Way of Love, and the highest knowers are God and Goddess Immanent and Transcendent, Crowned in Yah. Thus, Jah-Jah and Elohim are the ultimate good wizards, even as demonic entities are the ultimate bad wizards. Wizards are knowers, and depending on what you do (i.e., conjure) with your knowing, you are either on the dark path or the path of light. Nasarean Priests and Priestesses are trained Nasarean White Magic practitioners, advanced Essene yogis, and serve the cause of Love. Our church is an affiliated ministry of the highest teaching-order of our religion, an order called Green Wizards of The White Rose, also called Green Wizards of White Magic, in which both Yahshua and Miriam served (and still serve).
