Chess comes from ancient Atlantis, it is a game that is known and played by the inhabitants of that continent that today lies submerged in the ocean that bears its name.
Chess symbolizes or allegorizes the GAME OF LIFE, or better said, THE BOARD OF LIFE.
We, esoterically speaking, in the light of Gnosis are simple pieces, driven by invisible or hidden forces that we do not know. Such mechanical forces, some are of an evolutionary type and others of an devolutive type. But we must not forget the revolutionary forces that work from the Higher Dimensions of Space, the INTELLIGENT PRINCIPLES that are hidden behind the phenomena, creating and recreating again.
The Ineffable Beings, the LORDS OF THE FLAME, the Masters of the Conscious Circle of Solar Humanity, sometimes move the white pieces and other times the black pieces; that is, they direct the course of the innumerable centuries.
Some of these Beings, called DEVAS, direct (for example) the ELEMENTAL DEPARTMENTS of Nature, while others are occupied with other varied activities. In all of them there are scales and scales, degrees and degrees. And each group or family, according to its PARTICULAR RAY, acts on the CHESSBOARD, which, as we have already said, is UNIVERSAL LIFE.
It is obvious that if Humanity had an awakened Consciousness it could determine circumstances on the BOARD, because logically, it would not be subject to mechanical laws, such as the Law of Cause and Effect, and the Law of Return, the Law of Recurrence, etc.
What do the four sides of the CHESS BOARD represent?
They represent the four elements of Nature: fire, air, water and earth , already mentioned exhaustively by all the Alchemy treatises that exist on the face of the Earth.
They also represent the Superior Existential Bodies of the Being (Physical, Astral, Mental and Causal) , created by the real or authentic Man in the “Forge of the Cyclops”, using for this purpose the transmutation of the “libido” (according to Freudian language) or sexual energy.
Multiplying side by side (the 8 squares by the 8 squares that make up the aforementioned BOARD), we obtain the number 64. At the same time, adding the resulting number (6 + 4) kabbalistically, we then have the ARCANUM 10 of the TAROT (remember that the TAROT is the “GOLDEN BOOK”, and that this, in itself, constitutes the PATTERN OF MEASUREMENTS of the Cosmic Laws).
Thus, the ARCANE 10 is the “WHEEL OF SAMSARA”, the tragic Wheel whose three thousand painful turns or “cycles” have already been duly studied by Revolutionary Scientific Gnosticism.
From the point of view of Transcendental Sexology, the WHEEL is the alchemical hieroglyph of the time necessary for the
cooking of philosophical matter, and therefore, of one’s own cooking.
On the BOARD OF LIFE, we must annihilate the Ego and create the Superior Existential Bodies of the Being, taking advantage of the time in the hard work of “cooking the philosophical matter”. In this way we will be able to escape from this “SEWER OF SAMSARA”, as VM Samael Aun Weor called it.
The Ego, the “I”, the “myself”, keeps us tied to the “VALLEY OF SUFFERING”, to the fatal Wheel of births and deaths, creating physical bodies as a result of Karma.
Now, if we carefully observe the 32 white squares and the 32 black squares, we find there an evident manifestation of the OPPOSITE PAIRS of Hermetic Philosophy, that is to say, light and darkness, day and night, the permanent struggle between the forces of good and the forces of evil (which must be transcended, passed beyond both), and so on. Such opposites (black and white) constitute the YIN and the YAN of the Orientals; the passive Force and the active Force.
Adding again Kabbalistically (now the number 32), we obtain the number 5, which in the MAJOR ARCANA of the EGYPTIAN TAROT, represents the GREAT LAW, DIVINE JUSTICE. This means that the TRIBUNAL OF OBJECTIVE JUSTICE controls the two antagonistic forces and that the “intellectual animal” wrongly called “man” is subject to its dictates.
That said, let us now proceed to analyze, very judiciously, each of the pieces or pieces of Chess.
But first, let us see the following: there are 16 pieces in total. Number 16 is “THE FRAGILITY”, the “TOWER STRIKED DOWN” by the Ray of Cosmic Justice. According to the Kabbalists, it is the “TOWER OF BABEL”, the Tower of the “confusion of tongues”.
Indeed, there are many Initiates who fall (like the inverted PENTALPH) on the BOARD OF LIFE. There are many “FULMINATED TOWERS”; every Initiate who spills the GLASS OF HERMES, inevitably falls.
The 8 Pawns
The 8 “pawns” are also inverted “PENTALPHAS” until they manage to awaken Consciousness and create the Superior Existential Bodies of the Being. The number 8 is the number of the “JOB TESTS”, it is a sign of pain, of suffering.
On the BOARD, the “humanoids” cannot understand each other, they form the mechanical, unconscious, sleeping Humanity. In other words, they constitute the famous “TOWER OF BABEL”.
What does the KING symbolize? Why is there a BLACK KING and a WHITE KING?
The King symbolizes the REAL INNER BEING of each one of us. When the King is given “CHECKMATE” in the Game of Chess, it means that the cycle of 108 existences has been completed for a certain Essence (the one that plays, so to speak), and that the INTIMATE or INTERNAL MASTER has absorbed the spiritual and psychic principles so that it DEVOLVES in the Infernal Worlds and is free of “I’s”.
When said Essence restarts a new cycle, the GAME OF LIFE will begin again for it; that is obvious…
The white King invites us to think of the Eternal Father (JEHOVAH or IOD-HEVE); the black King points out the opposite of the first: the ANTI-CHRIST or dark forces of the Universe. The black King also refers to the ANIMAL EGO, and in general to all the POWERS OF DARKNESS, to the involutive forces of Nature and the Cosmos.
The White King is Immortal; he must fight against his antithesis, he is the one who drives (from within and from above) his Essence, so that it works on itself on the BOARD OF LIFE.
The Queen Symbolizes Mother Kundalini or her antithesis
The QUEEN also has two aspects: white and black. In her positive or white aspect, she is the DIVINE MOTHER KUNDALINI with her five forms, already symbolized by the Hindus with the five-legged SACRED COW. She is MARY or RAM-IO, she is the feminine aspect of God (MOTHER GOD), a part of our own BEING, but derived. The ungrateful son who forgets his Mother, fails on the BOARD OF LIFE, he cannot annihilate the ANIMAL EGO.
In reality, the White Queen or Kundalini is an Electromagnetic and Solar Fire that lies coiled, in the form of a Serpent, awaiting the moment to be awakened.
Those who study esoteric physiology in the Nahuatl or Hindu style, emphasize the transcendental idea of a marvelous magnetic center, located at the base of the spine, at a distance between the anal orifice and the sexual organs. In the center of such a CHAKRA there is a yellow square, invisible to the eyes of the flesh, but visible to clairvoyance or the SIXTH SENSE. There exists a YONI or UTERUS, and in the center of it there is a PHALUS, in which the Serpent is coiled, that mysterious psychic energy called “KUNDALINI”.
It is unquestionable that only through SAHA MAITHUNA or SEXUAL MAGIC, can the Serpent, the WHITE QUEEN of Chess, be awakened in its energetic aspect (within ourselves).
In her negative or black aspect, she is the GODDESS KALI (of desires and passions). Even today, some degenerate and dark sects of India offer human sacrifices to KALI. The BLACK QUEEN is, therefore, the Infra-instinctive and brutal Force of Nature, she is the antithesis of Kundalini, she is the TEMPTING SERPENT OF EDEN, the sexual fire descending negatively towards the atomic hells of mankind.
There has always been and will always be a bloody struggle between the WHITE QUEEN and the BLACK QUEEN, fighting over their children, over Humanity…
The Bishop represents sexual forces
The Bishop represents the sexual forces of Nature (established in JESOD, PI NINTH FOUNDATION, SEX). The BISHOP, in this game that we have been discussing, has a phallic character, it is the symbol of sexual (virile) power.
Note how this important piece moves in the form of an “X”, which reminds us precisely of the CROSS OF SAINT ANDREW. The extraordinary torment of Andrew, full of enigmas and portents, made the CROSS IN AN X very famous, on which his separated members were tied in a merciless manner.
Undoubtedly, and without any exaggeration, we can and must solemnly say that the CROSS OF SAINT ANDREW (the symbolic X, which is certainly a Greek “K”) was, is and always will be one of the most valuable symbols of Christian Esotericism.
The annihilation of the Ego in the LABORATORIUM-ORATORIUM of the Third Logos is the profound meaning of Andrew’s tortures in the terrible “X”. It is the terrifying, indispensable death, which could never be carried out with any common fire. Obviously, and according to art, for this work the extra help of an occult agent is required, of a secret fire of a sexual type, which (to give an idea of its form) looks more like a needle than a flame. This fire (or this BURNING NEEDLE) is the vital spark communicated by the Logos to inert matter; it is the DIVINAL FOHAT, enclosed in all creation; it is the IGNEOUS RAY, the Kundalini, the Sacred Serpent of the Wisdom of Anahuac, ascending through the medullar-spinal canal of the Adept.
It is clear that we have been referring to the WHITE BISHOP, the PHALLUS used in a positive way (to achieve CHASTITY through alchemical transmutation). It is not difficult to understand that its antithesis (the BLACK BISHOP) is FORNICATION, the virile force used for unhealthy eroticism, etc.
The Knight of the Chess Game
THE Knight moves on the BOARD in the form of an “L”, and this reminds us of the LAW, symbolized, among the Muslims, by a horse.
The KNIGHT in the game of Chess, singularly, makes us think of the mythological CENTAUR and the Constellation of Sagittarius. In reality, the “intellectual humanoid” is still something unfulfilled, and that is why terrible struggles are unleashed (within him) between the animal part and his truly human part. The “intellectual animal” is like a CENTAUR who must launch the arrow of his desire (of his LONGING TO BE, let us say) towards the INNER SUN or REAL BEING, in order to reconnect with the latter.
The arrow is a symbol of the strength of EROS, while the tempered bow represents the 3 Forces: FATHER, SON and HOLY SPIRIT, which the neophyte must use to reach inner liberation.
The HORSE simultaneously allegorizes boldness, courage, bravery and other attributes of Consciousness. However, there is a need to eliminate the opposites of the aforementioned virtues, allegorized by the BLACK KNIGHT.
In the esotericism of bullfighting, the HORSE symbolizes the physical body that has not yet been tamed, and on which the neophyte goes, ready to “sting” with the Lance the “ROARING BEAST”, the animal Ego.
The Rook alludes to Self-observation
THE ROOK, since among other things it refers to the STATE OF ALERTNESS PERCEPTION, that is, to the OBSERVATION that the aspirants must have on themselves, constitutes a piece of inestimable value. Without the sense of psychological self-observation, triumph is radically impossible (on the BOARD OF LIFE). Let us not forget that all authentic self-psychology has three fundamental aspects: self-observation, self-exploration and elimination .
Of course, the ROOK OR TOWER is founded on the CUBIC STONE OF JESOD, on sex, since the work of mystical death cannot be fully carried out without the help of the THIRD LOGOS, the creative energy.
Thus, in a state of alert, like a lookout in times of war, the neophyte from his own tower (which is his brain, his head) learns to TRANSFORM IMPRESSIONS, preventing the mind from carrying out its usual DATA PROCESSING, that is, interposing Consciousness between The TOWER and the impressions that come from all sides of the BOARD…
Paul of Tarsus said to his disciples:
“Remember that your bodies are the Temple of the living God and that the Most High dwells in you.”
The TOWER of this Temple is the head of the “planetary body”. The Temple of Solomon itself has the figure of the human body, “BELEM”, on the other hand, comes from a Chaldean word that reminds us of the famous “TOWER OF BEL”, the “TOWER OF FIRE” (this TOWER is formidable). In order for the “GOLDEN CHILD” of Alchemy (the SON OF MAN) to be able to incarnate in us, the “TOWER OF BEL” must have already been made. When is it made? When we have developed the SOLAR FIRE within ourselves; then the TOWER is made. In these conditions, the SON OF THE SON (the Second Logos, the Chrestos) can penetrate in us to speak the Golden Word of the first Instant.
In conclusion, on the BOARD OF EXISTENCE the Initiates must raise their TOWER OF FIRE symbolized by the ROOK, if they long for the INNER MAGNES of Alchemy, the INTIMATE CHRIST, to be born in his own “manger.”
THE PAWNS, finally, are the neophytes or apprentices, those who aspire to become Adepts of the Conscious Circle of Solar Humanity, they are those who have already been informed about the Esoteric Path that leads to final liberation, and for this reason they work on themselves, debating between white and black.
The white pawn represents the Essence, fighting with the help of the KING, the QUEEN, the BISHOP and the WHITE ROOK, against the forces that oppose its development. The black pawn symbolizes the forces of the Ego, those “inhuman elements”, left and sinister, that together form the “I”, the “myself”.
When a white pawn is devoured, due to a “blunder”, it means that one has been deceived by the EGO, an issue that is very common on the BOARD OF LIFE.
Editor’s note for posterity: Several internet sources present this information as a lecture given by Master Samael Aun Weor, which does not seem accurate when we analyze the content, especially in the following paragraph:
Therefore, on this website, until we can verify that Master Samael actually said it, it will appear as “from the administrator” and we hope for your understanding.
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