ntroduction
It seems a simple story.
At first glance it appears to be nothing more than a very long
fairy tale about good and evil. Peopled with Elves, Dwarves,
Wizards, Monsters and more, J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
was not considered a great work of literature when it first
appeared in 1954. Now it is hailed as the book of the 20th
century. What is it about this book that caused it to be such a
sensation? Why does it create such a warmth and resonance in the
hearts of its readers? Our answer to these and other questions
to be discussed in the course of this article is that Tolkien
was aware of the hidden esoteric history of humanity and the
powerful influence of the Great Work of Alchemy on European
culture.
Using
Tolkien's splendid tale as a tool, this article will reveal that
like the great masters of old, Tolkien is initiating us into a
new level of awareness of our past, ourselves and the planet we
inhabit. It will also reveal that Tolkien somehow knew the
deepest secrets of Alchemy and embedded this mysterious
knowledge into the heart of his work. This is the real reason
why The Lord of the Rings has such a great and universal appeal,
for it is our true history and secret heritage that is being
revealed to us through its pages. Tolkien has mined a deep vein
of mythic resonance that rings true to all who delve deeply into
this extraordinary work of Art.
In a fantastic land called Middle-earth a young Hobbit named
Frodo becomes entangled in an all-consuming spiritual and
political war that ultimately changes the entire face of the
world. As documented in Tolkien's first book, The Hobbit, by way
of his uncle Bilbo's adventures, Frodo has acquired a mysterious
Ring. Through the efforts of his friend Gandalf the Wizard,
Frodo comes to understand that this Ring, forged in an earlier
Age by the evil Sauron in the subterranean fires of Mt. Doom,
not only grants its bearer the power of invisibility, and
possibly immortality, but also holds the key to the dominion of
Middle-earth.
With all of the odds against him, Frodo, the
modest, sincere and good-natured Hobbit of the Shire embarks on
a quest to destroy this ill-omened Ring of Power. Although he
has little to gain and much to lose by destroying the Ring,
Frodo nevertheless is ultimately successful in his quest.
Despite being hunted by thousands of Orcs, lost in an unknown
wilderness with only the assistance of his friend and gardener
Sam and the shifty covetous creature named Gollum, Frodo
selflessly moves towards the ultimate conclusion of the tale in
which the great Ring of Power and domination is destroyed in the
blazing underground inferno of Mt. Doom.
This destruction of the Ring of Power appears to have unintended
consequences that bring forth what Tolkien describes as the end
of the Third Age of Middle-earth. At the conclusion of this
compelling story of good and evil, heroes and villains, magic
and mystery, all of the fantastic inhabitants of Middle-earth,
Wizards, Elves, Dwarves, and Ents disappear from the landscape
of Middle-earth leaving the next Age, the Fourth Age to be ruled
by Men. Aragorn, the most noble of the human race, is crowned
King of Middle-earth and Men become the ultimate victors of this
Great War against Sauron and his agent Sauruman that ends the
Third Age of Middle-earth.
When Lord of the Rings was published in 1954 no one, including
J.R.R. Tolkien himself ever dreamed that his trilogy would go on
to sell millions and millions of copies, be translated into
nearly every language on earth, and turned into one of the
biggest motion picture projects ever undertaken.
What is it about this simple story that could cause such an
enormous reaction? How is it possible that a simple fairy tale
of a selfless little Hobbit saving the world from ultimate evil
could be heralded as the greatest work of literature in the
twentieth century? Why do the books and the subsequent film
resonate so vividly in the hearts, minds and perhaps the souls
of nearly all of us? And who is J.R.R. Tolkien? Did he
intentionally write this story knowing the powerful impact it
would have on the reader? Our contention is that Tolkien
somehow, someway had personal knowledge of the pre-history of
our planet and the extraordinary fact that at this point in
time, human history is moving irrevocably towards the end of
what is known by the mystics from many of the world's great
spiritual traditions as the Fourth Age of Humanity, just as The
Lord of the Rings relates the story of the end of the Third Age
of Middle-earth. In this context you will not only come to
understand the fundamental story that is being told to us, the
mytho-poeic story and its relevance to our lives, but also why
Tolkien time and time again insisted that The Lord of the Rings
is not an allegory.
art
One Rings of Time:
The Four Ages, the Precession of the Equinoxes and the Quality
of Time
In contrast to the materially based teachings offered to us by
today's schools and institutions of higher learning, the
teachings of Alchemy (which flowed from Egypt into the mystic
heart of the Hebrew, Islamic and Christian traditions) as well
as the Tantric teachings of India and Tibet, present a deeply
spiritual view of human history and evolution. As documented in
the book, The Path of the Priestess; A Guidebook for Awakening
the Divine Feminine, by Sharron Rose, this view is completely at
variance with that of the modern scientific Darwinian
perspective.1 Rather than perceive past and future from a purely
linear point of view, the great adepts, and masters of these
ancient spiritually based traditions, knew that the flow of time
and human experience is not linear but cyclic. In other words,
in the same way that we as human beings experience the ebb and
flow of cycles such as the seasons of nature, the phases of the
moon, birth, growth, maturation and death, humanity, as a whole,
experiences the rise and fall of a larger cycle of existence
known as the Maha Yuga. This Maha Yuga or Great Cycle is
composed of four ages known as the Satya Yuga, or Golden Age,
the Treta Yuga or Silver Age, the Dvapara Yuga or Bronze Age and
the Kali Yuga or Iron Age.
The teachings state that as this cycle begins, the world and all
of its inhabitants are totally aligned with deep spiritual
principles, the natural world and shimmering realms of Divinity.
It is a time of unity, splendor, grace and luminosity. However,
as the cycle unfolds and these Ages metaphorically progress,
from gold to silver to bronze to iron, the bulk of humanity
moves further and further away from this pure, unsullied,
essential knowledge and experience of spirit. As time moves on,
there is a gradual distancing from the Primordial Source and
descent towards an age of total materialization and
concretization. With each successive Age, faith, integrity, and
allegiance to spiritual values is decreased by one-fourth. The
veils between the realms of spirit and matter become thicker,
and our resistance to the forces of darkness becomes weaker. By
the final Age of the cycle, the pure light of spirit is all but
extinguished. Only a quarter of the original Divine energy of
truth, virtue and integrity remains and even that energy
diminishes with the unfolding of the final Age. This final stage
of the cycle, in which we now reside, is known as the Iron Age.
According to the texts, it is the Age our race has lived in for
at least 6000 years. It is the period of time known to us today
as history.
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