The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ is Levi's most famous work, published in 1907. In it, he fills in the missing years of Jesus' life with reports on his early education with Jewish rabbis, a trip to India where he learned about Hinduism and the Vedas, and his further travels to Tibet, Persia, Assyria, Greece, and Egypt. The historical accuracy of Levi's writing is questionable, and the work is considered apocryphal by all but the Church Universal and Truimphant, but his message bolsters the heroic image of Jesus as a savior of men everywhere. American preacher and author LEVI H. DOWLING (1844-1911) was a dedicated ascetic who observed intense meditation and fasting in order to strengthen his spiritual power and understanding. With this practice, he claimed to have gotten access to God's Book of Remembrance, which contains all knowledge of history, and wrote a number of histories based the revelations within that book.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Introduction
The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ
Section I. ALEPH. - Birth and Early Life of Mary, Mother of Jesus.
Section II.BETH. - Birth and Infancy of John, the Harbinger, and of Jesus.
Section III.GIMEL. - Education of Mary and Elizabeth in Zoan
Section IV.DALETH. - Childhood and Early Education of John the Harbinger
Section V.He. - Childhood and Early Education of Jesus.
Section VI.VAU. - Life and Works of Jesus in India
Section VII.ZAIN. - Life and Works of Jesus in Tibet and Western India.
Section VIII.CHETH. - Life and Works of Jesus in Persia
Section IX.TETH. - Life and Works of Jesus in Assyria.
Section X.JOD. - Life and Works of Jesus in Greece.
Section XI.CAPH. - Life and Works of Jesus in Egypt.
Section XII.LAMED. - The Council of the Seven Sages of the World.
Section XIII.MEM. - The Ministry of John, the Harbinger
Section XIV.NUN. - The Christine Ministry of Jesus—Introductory Epoch.
Section XV.SAMECH. - The First Annual Epoch of the Christine Ministry of Jesus.
Section XVI.AIN. - The Second Annual Epoch of the Christine Ministry of Jesus.
Section XVII.PE. - The Third Annual Epoch of the Christine Ministry of Jesus.
Section XVIII.TZADDI. - The Arrest and Betrayal of Jesus.
Section XIX.KOPH. - The Trial and Execution of Jesus.
Section XX.RESH. - The Resurrection of Jesus.
Section XXI.SCHIN. - Materialization of the Spiritual Body of Jesus.
Section XXII.TAU. - Establishment of the Christine Church.
Subject Index
About the Author
THE TARCHER CORNERSTONE EDITIONS
Tao Te Ching
by Lao Tzu, translated by Jonathan Star
The Essential Marcus Aurelius
newly translated and introduced
by Jacob Needleman and John P. Piazza
Accept This Gift: Selections from A Course in Miracles
edited by Frances Vaughan, Ph.D., and Roger Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.
foreword by Marianne Williamson
The Kybalion
by Three Initiates
The Spiritual Emerson
Essential Works by Ralph Waldo Emerson
introduction by Jacob Needleman
The Four Gospels
The Contemporary English Version
foreword by Phyllis Tickle
The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs
Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy
Rumi: In the Arms of the Beloved
translations by Jonathan Star
The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ
Levi H. Dowling
JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
New York
JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN
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The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ was originally published in 1908.
The present text is from an edition of 1911.
First Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin edition 2009
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eISBN : 978-1-101-02227-6
Neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering professional advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions contained in this book are not intended as a substitute for consulting with a physician. All matters regarding your health require medical supervision. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestion in this book.
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Publisher’s Note
LEVI H . DOWLING (1844-1911), who originally composed and published this book under the sole name of Levi, was a Church of Christ pastor, a Civil War chaplain for the Union Army, a practitioner of homeopathic medicine, a New Thought lecturer, and a religious publisher with an extraordinary vision of unity at the heart of the world’s historic religions.
Dowling said he received the text of The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ while in a trance state, in which he was able to gain access to the “Akashic Records.” To Dowling, these ethereal records were a cosmic ledger of all human actions. The concept of Akasha, or universal ether, originated in ancient Vedic literature and was popularized in the West in the late nineteenth century through the Theosophical writings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
Dowling copyrighted The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ in 1908 and, with his wife, Eva, began privately selling it the following year. The present volume is based on a 1911 edition, one of the earliest extant versions.
For ease of reading, this Tarcher Cornerstone Edition of the narrative has been reset and reformatted. It is otherwise unabridged from Dowling’s original.
Introduction
BY EVA S . DOWLING, A . PH.D. , scribe TO THE messenger.
The Book.
The full title of this book is “The Aquarian Age Gospel of Jesus, the Christ of the Piscean Age,” and the critical reader is apt to ask a number of pertinent questions concerning it. Among the many anticipated questions these are perhaps the most important:
1. What is an Age?
2. What is the Piscean Age?
3. What is the Aquarian Age?
4. What is meant by the Christ as the word is used in this book?
5. What relationship existed between Jesus of Nazareth and the Christ?
6. Who is Levi, the transcriber of this book?
7. What are the Akashic Records?
1. What is an Age? Astronomers tell us that our sun and his family of planets revolve around a central sun, which is millions of miles distant, and that it requires something less than 26,000 years to make one revolution. His orbit is called the Zodiac, which is divided into twelve signs, familiarly known as Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. It requires our Solar System a little more than 2,100 years to pass through one of these signs, and this time is the measurement of an Age or Dispensation. Because of what Astronomers call “the precession of the Equinoxes” the movement of the sun through the signs of the Zodiac is in order reverse from that given above.
Exact Time of the Beginning of an Age. Regarding this matter there is a disagreement among astronomers; but in this Introduction we are not called upon to give the reasons of the various investigators for their opinions; there are enough well authenticated facts for our present purposes. It is conceded by all critical students that the sun entered the zodiacal sign Taurus in the days of our historic Adam when the Taurian Age began; that Abraham lived not far from the beginning of the Arian Age, when the sun entered the sign Aries. About the time of the rise of the Roman empire the sun entered the sign Pisces, the Fishes, and the Piscean Age began, so that early in this Age Jesus of Nazareth lived.
2. What is the Piscean Age? This question requires further consideration. The Piscean Age is identical with the Christian Dispensation. The word Pisces means fish. The sign is known as a water sign, and the Piscean Age has been distinctly the age of the fish and its element, water.
In the establishment of their great institutions John the Harbinger and Jesus both introduced the rite of water baptism, which has been used in some form in all the so-called Christian Churches and cults, even to the present time. Water is the true symbol of purification. Jesus himself said to the Harbinger before he was baptized: “All men must be washed, symbolic of the cleansing of the soul.” (Aquarian Gospel 64:7.)
Fish was a Christian Symbol. In the earlier centuries of the Christian Dispensation the fish was everywhere used as a symbol. In his remarkable book, “Christian Iconography,” Didron says:
“The fish, in the opinion of antiquarians generally, is the symbol of Jesus Christ. The fish is sculptured upon a number of Christian monuments, and more particularly upon the ancient sarcophagi. It is also upon medals, bearing the name of our Savior and also upon engraved stones, cameos and intaglios. The fish is also to be remarked upon the amulets worn suspended from the necks by children, and upon ancient glasses and sculptured lamps.
“Baptismal fonts are more particularly ornamented with the fish. The fish is constantly exhibited placed upon a dish in the middle of the table, at the Last Supper, among the loaves, knives and cups used at the banquet.”
In the writings of Tertullian we find this statement: “We are little fishes in Christ our great fish.”
The last two thousand years, comprising the Piscean Age, has certainly been one of water and the many uses of that element have been emphasized, and sea and lake and river navigation has been brought to a high degree of efficiency.
3. What is the Aquarian Age? The human race is today standing upon the cusp of the Piscean-Aquarian Ages. Aquarius is an air sign and the New Age is already noted for remarkable inventions for the use of air, electricity, magnetism, etc. Men navigate the air as fish do the sea, and send their thoughts spinning around the world with the speed of lightning.
The word Aquarius is derived from the Latin word aqua, meaning water. Aquarius is, however, the water bearer, and the symbol of the sign, which is the eleventh sign of the Zodiac, is a man carrying in his right hand a pitcher of water. Jesus referred to the beginning of the Aquarian Age in these words:
“And then the man who bears the pitcher will walk forth across an arc of heaven; the sign and signet of the Son of Man will stand forth in the eastern sky. The wise will then lift up their heads and know that the redemption of the earth is near.” (Aquarian Gospel 157:29, 30.)
The Aquarian Age is pre-eminently a spiritual age, and the spiritual side of the great lessons that Jesus gave to the world may now be comprehended by multitudes of people for the many are now coming into an advanced stage of spiritual consciousness; so with much propriety this book is called “The Aquarian (or Spiritual) Gospel of Jesus, the Christ.”
An Important Event. The transfer of dominion from one Age to another is an important event in the world of Cherubim and Seraphim. Among the manuscripts of Levi we have found a most remarkable paper describing the transfer of dominion from the Piscean Age to the Aquarian Age, but it is difficult to determine whether it is a recital of facts or a prophetic statement. We reproduce the paper in full.
THE CUSP OF THE AGES.
“In Spirit I was caught away into the realms of Akasha; I stood alone within the circle of the sun.
“And there I found the secret spring that opens up the door to Wisdom and an understanding heart.
“I entered in and then I knew.
“I saw the four and twenty Cherubim and Seraphim that guard the circle of the sun, the mighty ones who were proclaimed by masters long ago ‘the four and twenty ancient ones.’
“I heard the names of every Cherubim and Seraphim, and learned that every sign in all the Zodiac is ruled by two—a Cherubim and Seraphim.
“And then I stood upon the cusp where Ages meet. The Piscean Age had passed; the Aquarian Age had just begun.
“I saw the guardian Spirits of the Piscean Age; Ramasa is the Cherubim; Vacabiel is Seraphim.
“I saw the guardian Spirits of the Aquarian Age, and Archer is the Cherubim; Sakmaquil is the Seraphim.
“These four great spirits of the Triune God stood close together on the cusp, and in the presence of the sacred Three—the God of Might, the God of Wisdom, and the God of Love—the scepter of Domain, of Might, of Wisdom and of Love was there transferred.
“I heard the charges of the Triune God; but these I may not now reveal.
“I heard the history of the Piscean Age from Piscean Cherubim and Seraphim, and when I took my pen to write Ramasa said:
“Not now, my son, not now; but you may write it down for men when men have learned the sacred laws of Brotherhood, of Peace on earth, good-will to every living thing.
“And then I heard the Aquarian Cherubim and Seraphim proclaim the Gospel of the coming Age, the age of Wisdom, of the Son of Man.
“And when the crown was lifted from the head of Ramasa and placed upon the head of Archer of the Aquarian Age; and when the royal scepter was transferred from Seraphim Vacabiel to Seraphim Sakmaquil there was deep silence in the courts of heaven.
“And then the goddess Wisdom spoke, and with her hands outstretched she poured the benedictions of the Holy Breath upon the rulers of Aquarius.
“I may not write the words she spoke, but I may tell the Gospel of the coming age that Archer told when he received the crown.
“And I may breathe to men the song of praise that Seraphim Sakmaquil sung when she received the royal scepter of the newborn age.
“This Gospel I will tell, and I will sing this song in every land, to all the people, tribes and t...
