Today, let’s open our Bibles to the Book of Zechariah, one of the “twelve minor Hebrew prophets” whose writings appear in the Old Testament. Zechariah’s prophecies, visitations and/or visions are especially interesting and relevant, because they mention Zerubbabel, the Second Temple, and the signet ring, as well as the Golden Menorah or Lampstand representing the Spiritual Body. In his fascinating account, Zechariah actually sees and describes the Lampstand. In the King James translation, his account reads as follows:
Then the Angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”
I asked the Angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”
He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I replied.
So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
“What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”
Then the word of the Lord came to me: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
“Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?”
Then I asked the Angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”
Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”
He replied, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I said.
So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”
Is this an accurate translation of what passed between the prophet and the Angel or Messenger (probably Gabriel)? Not even close. Here’s how I interpret what the prophet actually recorded back around 500 BCE:
A messenger (angel) proclaimed: To return to the Bridegroom, to awaken from sleep, join in perceiving the Living Water making visible the Menorah of Gold holding the sacred fullness–the light of fullness poured out by the sevenfold LAMPS of REDEMPTION (gullah).
Two olive trees, one on the right-hand side of the Lamp, one upon the left, witness for the Living Water, the Word of God, to Zerubbabel (the Son born in captivity), witnessing to the wealth and power of Ruach (God’s Breath), speaking Yhovah (the Name of God’s) to the Whole Creation in the Great Gathering Place (har) of the face of Zerubbabel’s uprightness or rightmindedness bringing about the Son of God’s (eben) deliverance through Divine Grace.
The Living Water of Yovah proclaims the Divine Sparks in Zerubbabel laid the foundation of the Temple, Divine Sparks (yods) cut off from knowing–the knowing cast away by condemning the Greater Light of God in the lesser. Rejoice to behold the Son of God in the Divine Spark (yod) within Zerubbabel.
The sevenfold eyes of Yovah move about the Land of the Living God, witnessing repeatedly for the Living Water of the two olive trees from the right-hand side of the Lampstand to the left; speaking for both olive trees to the ear of the Divine Spark through the two golden pipes or channels pouring forth the Living Water communicating the knowledge of the Word of God; the Word of the two anointing the Son abiding with the Lord in the Land of the Living God.
Wow. Lots of ego snarls to unravel here. Let’s start with ‘amar, a Hebrew word generally translated into English as “speaking,” “saying,” “said,” or “to say.” One of the most common and essential words in the Hebrew Bible, ‘amar (אָמַר) is used more than 5,000 times. Biblical scholars tell us the word can describe either divine or human communications, but that can’t be right on the grounds that the letters making up the word are aleph, mem, aleph, and resh (meaning, “the Father’s water fathering enlightenment,” more or less). So, ‘amar refers not to speaking, but to the divine communications coming through the Living Water of God’s Saving Grace. And that Water or “Holy Steam of Sound” is mentioned more than 5,000 times in the Old Testament–knowledge lost to us hitherto through unilluminated translation.
Let’s now talk about gullah — the word translated as “bowl” in the KJV Bible. While gullah CAN mean “bowl,” “reservoir,” “spring,” “cup of oil,” “fountain,” or even “the orb atop a column,” these are all SECONDARY definitions of the word.
According to both Strong and Brown-Driver-Briggs, the FIRST definition of gullah is REDEMPTION, including the right and the object of redemption and, by implication, the relationship between the redeemer and the redeemed. And, as it so happens, this more accurate definition of gullah is the key to understanding what the Golden Menorah actually represents.
Moreover, Zechariah didn’t awaken to see and describe a lampstand crowned by a golden bowl, as we are told in the KJV version. He was told by a divine messenger about the spiritual awakening the Golden Menorah or Lamp of Redemption facilitates. That Lampstand is the inner-instrument, “skeleton,” or foundational structure of the Spiritual Body, Chariot, or Merkabah conveying our Souls in the dream-realm. And through that symbolic Lampstand of Redemption, Zechariah learns, the two olive trees fuel the lamps or “spirits” of the Lamp — the sefen Eyes of God also mentioned elsewhere in the Judeo-Christian Bible.
While unconvinced “olive trees” is the most accurate translation of zayith, I’ll let it stand, having no better suggestion to proffer.
This brings us to eben, a Hebrew word traditionally translated as “stone.” This makes no sense, given that eben is a marriage of “e” (God or Elohim) and ben (son). The word, therefore, can ONLY mean Son of God or Son of Elohim. Symbolically speaking, therefore, eben signifies the “stone” or “rock” upon which we rebuild the Temple of the right-minded or upright perception of Creation’s shared ONENESS or WHOLENESS.
That same metaphorical “rock” is mentioned multiple times in the Bible, most notably in Deuteronomy 32:4, 2 Samuel 22: 2-3, Matthew 16:18, and 1 Corinthians 10:4. The foundation stone of the Temple of the Holy Spirit (Solomon), that much-referenced “rock” is the At-one-ment (OM), the sound of God’s Breath calling the All in All back together in ONENESS. And, as we’ve learned in previous posts, that sound emanates from Elohim.
Ergo, OM unites the Divine Sparks of Elohim (the e-ben) through the Living Water vibration our Souls hear and share with other Souls in meditation.
The second paragraph of this passage from Zechariah explains that our seemingly separated Souls (Zerubbabel) laid that foundation stone before throwing away the knowledge of the Oneness they share with each other, God and Christ. We threw that knowledge away, we also learn, by condemning or misjudging our fellow beings, all of whom embody the sparks of Elohim — the Greater Light of the Solar Logos.
That our condemnation of each other fetters us to the dream of hell is a central tenet of the Course. Jesus explains the how and why in Workbook Lesson 198: Only my condemnation injures me, the start of which reads:
Injury is impossible. And yet illusion makes illusion. If you can condemn, you can be injured. For you have believed that you can injure, and the right you have established for yourself can be now used against you, till you lay it down as valueless, unwanted and unreal. Then does illusion cease to have effects, and those it seemed to have will be undone. Then are you free, for freedom is your gift, and you can now receive the gift you gave.
Condemn and you are made a prisoner. Forgive and you are freed. Such is the law that rules perception. It is not a law that knowledge understands, for freedom is a part of knowledge. To condemn is thus impossible in truth. What seems to be its influence and its effects have not occurred at all. Yet must we deal with them a while as if they had. Illusion makes illusion. Except one. Forgiveness is illusion that is answer to the rest.
This brings us to the Hebrew word tsaba, which is generally translated as “army” or “host” (as in Lord of Hosts) The word actually means “gathering place.” That Great Gathering Place is sometimes identified in the Old Testament as Gilgal, a word said to mean “Circle of Standing Stones.” If those stones are eben, the word more accurately refers to the Sons of God standing together in the Circle of Forgiveness, having restored their upright perception of Creation’s Wholeness through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (i.e., purification via the sanity restoring Living Water or OM).
The name Gilgal brings to mind the ancient Mesopotamian “Epic of Gilga(l)mesh,” as well as Stonehenge and the other stone circles found throughout the British Isles. Knowing what Gilgal truly represents helps us understand that these ancient monoliths were likely erected to emulate the Golden Circle of God’s Whole Creation, which we join (in the Gathering Place) by listening to God’s Voice with right-minded intention.
That Golden Circle of God’s Whole Creation is poetically described in the following from the Course:
Beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything you see and yet somehow familiar, is an arc of golden light that stretches as you look into a great and shining circle. And all the circle fills with light before your eyes. The edges of the circle disappear, and what is in it is no longer contained at all. The light expands and covers everything, extending to infinity forever shining and with no break or limit anywhere. Within it everything is joined in perfect continuity. Nor is it possible to imagine that anything could be outside, for there is nowhere that this light is not. (ACIM, T-21.I.8:1-6)
Let’s now explore the final paragraph of my retranslation of Zechariah, which reads (to save you scrolling back):
The seven eyes of Yovah (OM, the Name of God in time) move about the Land of the Living God, witnessing repeatedly for the Living Water of the two olive trees from the right-hand side of the Lampstand to the left; speaking for both olive trees to the ear of the Divine Spark through the two golden pipes or channels pouring forth the Living Water communicating the knowledge of the Word of God; the Word of the two anointing the Son abiding with the Lord in the Land of the Living God.
Let me take a stab at explaining what all this means. We know that the seven eyes of Yovah were seen by John of Patmos on the Lamb of God. And, as per Course-Jesus, the Lamb represents the eternal innocence and/or holiness of the Christ Self, to which we all belong in Truth. We “crucified” each other when we lost our knowledge of that shared innocence through condemnation. The execution of Jesus was, btw, meant to symbolize that universal error.
Or, in Christ’s own words:
You WERE in darkness until God’s Will was done completely by any part of the Sonship. When it was, it was perfectly accomplished by ALL. How else could it BE perfectly accomplished? My mission was simply to UNITE the Will of the Sonship WITH the Will of the Father by being aware of the Father’s Will myself. This is the awareness I came to give YOU, and YOUR problem in accepting it IS the problem of this world. Dispelling it is salvation, and in this sense I AM the salvation of the world.
Based on what he says, the two trees represent the Father’s Will (on the right side) and the Son’s Will (on the left), while the seven eyes of God surely represent the seven powers watching over proceedings from the upper planes of consciousness. Those seven powers, I believe, constitute the three aspects and four attributes of Elohim. The three “aspects” are the Trinity powers or logoi (Aleph, Lamed, and Hey) while the four “attributes” are the “celestial beings” variously identified as the Living Creatures, Great Dragons, throne-bearers, guardians, or Archangels. As stated before, those “celestial beings” oversee the four quadrants of the Circle-Journey, as illustrated on THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE card in the RWS Tarot.
We further learn from Zechariah that, from the Land of the Living God (the sixth plane, “enclosure,” wellspring, and/or Gathering Place) the two Trees of the shared Higher Will send down the anointing oils of atonement through two golden pipes.
The Bible Hub semi-accurately tells us:
The two gold pipes in Zechariah 4 signify God’s pure, abundant, and unceasing provision through His Spirit. They assure believers that every need—personal, communal, or ministerial—is met by the Lord who channels His life-giving oil directly, gloriously, and without interruption.
I’m pretty sure the two pipes represent the “nadis” or “channels” known in Kundalini Yoga as “Ida” and “Pingala.” Associated with the moon, Ida is the Water Ray of the Christ Self, whilst Pingala is the Sun Ray or Blood Ray of the Father’s Will. Once awakened, the two hitherto “coiled” energies climb the Sushumna (the “spine” of the spiritual body, basically) in intertwining fashion (as illustrated below), opening or clearing the chakras as they ascend ever higher. When the two energies meet — in the Ajna Chakra — we wake up to our Oneness, have a “kundalini awakening,” “go into the light,” or “open the Third Eye” (choose your preferred term). This explosive “meeting of the wills of God and Christ” is what Jesus achieved to “save the world.”
So, the “anointing oils” are the wills of God and Christ, which move through the spiritual body in the golden pipes known as Ida and Pingala. In the New Testament, the Red or Sun Ray is identified as “the blood of Christ,” whilst the Christ or Moon Ray is, I believe “the Living Water.” In the Hindu Scriptures, the Red Ray is Amrita, the elixir of immortality, whilst the Christ Ray is Varuni, the “wine of truth.” According to the allegorical lore, both powers emerged during the churning of the Ocean of Milk. (We’ll talk more about that story’s meaning and significance when we delve into Hinduism in the weeks ahead.)
As Jesus told Sister (now Saint) Faustina in the early 1930s, the Red Ray of God’s Will restores the Soul’s memory of the everlasting life with which God endowed His One Son or Creation, while the Pale Ray of Christ’s Will restores the Soul to “righteousness,” “right-mindedness,” “spiritual sanity,” or upright perception.
And these two Great Rays do indeed OIL the whole redemption “machine” or Menorah, as they sweep from right to left (east to west), as shown below. They divide and rejoin at the Ajna Chakra (the Spiritual Eye or “mouth of God). In between, they move across the Menorah from right to left, as shown below, before climbing up the Sushumna. Ignore the human body outline in the image below (borrowed from Rick Ireton), because none of this happens in the physical body. We will feel these energies in the body because our split minds overlap in the dream (but in different dimensions).
So, to recap:
The two olive trees = the “anointed” wills of God and Christ
The two pipes = the Ida and Pingala “nadis”
The seven eyes = the Seven Rays overseeing God’s Plan from the Sixth and Seventh planes
The two oils = the Blood and Water Rays
Let me leave you today with one final encapsulating quote from the Course:
The Holy Spirit is the light in which Christ stands revealed. And all who would behold Him can see Him, for they have ASKED for light. Nor will they see Him ALONE, for He is no more alone than THEY are. Because they SAW the son, they have risen IN HIM to the Father. And all this will they understand, because they looked within, and saw, beyond the darkness, the Christ in them, and RECOGNIZED Him. In the sanity of His vision, they looked upon themselves with love, seeing themselves as the Holy Spirit sees them. And WITH this vision of truth in THEM, came all the beauty of the world to shine upon them.
The Holy Meeting Place 
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