The Path to Pentecost Day 20

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Saint-Sever Beatus, 11th century.

6:1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

“7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

Rev 6:1-8

At the crucifixion Christ transforms the physical body. In the fifty days of the Pentecost period, Christ is now working to transform the subtle bodies. 

The astral and the etheric had become permeated with the energies of Ahriman and Lucifer over the millennia since souls first came into physical incarnation. Ahriman especially took up residence in the seven spiritual centres. The act of Christ opening the seven seals allows the original energies that Revelation calls the seven spirits before the throne, to enter in once again. These energies were known in ancient times as the seven planetary spirits. They were also the beings who overshadowed the seven temples of Atlantis. In Atlantis the temples, with the exception of the Sun Temple, became corrupted. This corruption then resided in the corresponding spiritual centre. The act of opening the seals, releases the primal spiritual forces to cleanse the centres of the corruption by the occupying negative energies.

The seals are released again, in a spiral order beginning with the heart centre. The order however is reversed from the letters to the Churches, because Christ is now reversing the harm caused by the old, occupying energies of Ahriman.

The first four seals release horses with riders. The horse is a symbol of intelligence, so the awakening of the centres through the opening of the seals is done through the action of a particular intelligence. Intelligence is the slayer of the unreal. It is through spiritual thinking that we distinguish between the lie and the truth.

The white horse is the energy of the Sun. It is white, because the Sun Temple was the only Atlantean temple to retain its purity. The crown is given to this rider to show that love must rule our lives. Amor omnia vincit, love conquers everything.

The red horse is the primal energy of the spirit of the adrenals. This is the centre of emotion. It is where we are held captive by our desires. When this centre controls our thoughts we are never satisfied. We think that satisfying our need for more and more will bring us peace and contentment. The action of the Spirit of Venus, the ruler of the Adrenal centre, is to slay this contentment with the sword of karma. 

The black horse is the spirit which works through the Will centre. The will and the adrenals reflect one another. They have worked together to create our karmic debts through combining personal desire with wilfulness. The two centres together must now come into balance (the rider carries scales) so that our incarnations in the future will restore our karmic balance through the new consciousness and expression of the divine will.

The fourth horse is pale. Actually the Greek word literally translates as “green”. This is the centre of the etheric forces. It is our connection to the plant world. The corruption of the etheric centre gave us a craving for immortality, but it was a craving for immortality of the physical body. Human beings were not meant to extend their lives in a physical incarnation, but to understand that life is part of a cycle of birth, death and rebirth. So the name of the rider of this horse is Death. It is through the connection with death, with intelligence, understanding and fearlessness that we throw off the inhibiting fear of death which has crippled human consciousness, and destroy the old energies which want to restrain our return to the freedom of Spirit. 

At the time of the incarnation of Christ, the lust for physical life had become so strong that many souls were trapped close to the physical world and could not return to the higher spiritual worlds for renewal. Revelation calls the world where souls were trapped, Hades.

The opening of this seal by Christ now frees us to enter into a consciousness where we perceive life and death not as exclusive alternatives, but as milestones on the road of our journey as immortal spirit. We can now leave physical incarnation and return to the higher spirit realms to be renewed and refreshed in spirit and prepared for our next journey in the physical world.

The Image

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Saint-Sever Beatus, 11th century.
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Saint-Sever Beatus, 11th century.

There are many dramatic portrayals of this scene from Revelation. The “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” are loosed upon the world. This scene from a medieval illustrated manuscript shows something extra. Along with the horsemen releasing destruction upon the world, it also shows the assisting spiritual forces. The four living beings are associated with the four horsemen, as are four depictions of the Lamb. This tells us that Christ is in control. When we invoke the power of Christ in our lives, we may well experience what seems to be devastating change and even loss, but if we continue along the path, then what seems to be loss will turn out to be gain.

For today, reflect on a difficult, painful time in your life. See if you can discover what you gained from it. See if you can discover how it may you a better, more powerful, more understanding being.

I am very simple with my spiritual levels because I think the more you enter into Christ, the more simple you become. The spiritually-minded person is always totally and utterly dependant on the Christ. The truly spiritual person will always realise that from his own selfish, physical point of view there is nothing he can do. It is by the very grace, power and strength of the working of the Christ that you become what you are. I like that ancient hymn that says, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling”.  These are simple little truths which we mustn’t forget..  

Rev Mario Schoenmaker, The Book of Revelation, 1982 Lecture Series

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top