The Adept, the Third Sacred Degree

An adept as “a highly skilled person, an expert…one fully skilled or well versed in any art. The term is borrowed from the alchemists, who applied it to one who pretended to have found the philosopher’s stone, or the panacea.”—WAD.


“‘A jack-of-all-trades, master of none’—
an Adept is a specialist, occupying a vertical niche, not a Master.”


The idiom “jack-of-all-trades, master of none” describes a person who can do many things but may not be an expert in any of them. The Adept is the third of the Seven Sacred Degrees of Initiation. Obedience is the Adept’s keyword: “Obey the law and live.” The law of obedience covers all law, for if you break the least law, you have broken the whole. Balance of the mental life is the Adept’s responsibility.

The Adept’s initiation is the Baptism by Fire. The associated Buddhist path is cultivation of perseverance, which is steadfastness of purpose. All obstacles become a challenge for the initiate to practice steadfastness and perseverance. This path includes “right speech,” which means using wise words wisely and carefully.

The third great power of being under obedience is command over all outer forces by “letting” God act as you, without using force. “Command” in this context describes drawing in magnetic will power to support the selfless faculty of will to stand, overcome and overlook the world.

Most of the world’s population functions no higher than the third Degree of the Adept. The Via Christa, however, opens and begins at the fourth Degree, the Mystic. As an Adept, you vow to be selfless in your release of Power. Some traditions state this vow as, “I vow to be selfless in my use of the Power.” Many Adepts really love using Power, and act as great manipulators of the will of others. While this may seem attractive in the short term, it is a losing proposition over the long haul because it breeds such resentment and resistance in the manipulated souls.

An Adept does not necessarily know everything, but is usually an expert in his favorite subject area. A chief pitfall in being an Adept is thinking that you know more than you do and that others should therefore make exceptions for you. This leads to an excess of pride, touchiness about the degree of your abilities, and temper tantrums when things do not go your way. You see this in certain demanding professions, medicine, law, the entertainment arts and sports, for example. Modern slang for this arrogance includes the ephemeral labels of G.O.A.T (greatest of all times), genius, icon, diva and prima donna.

The Adept’s great cardinal virtue is obedience to all law. Initiation calls the Adept to be obedient to law. Herein lies the difference between using Power and being used by Power. The great exhortations to obedience are, “Thou shalt do this,” and “Thou shalt not do that,” which deal with physical and/or moral obedience. For example, the Neophyte rules the physical body, but many laws related to diet and exercises require Adept obedience. If you do not obey physical laws, you will become run down, over-stressed, or ill.

The hallmarks of an Adept are the personal pronouns, “I, me, and my.” Julius Caesar tersely reported a victory to the Roman Senate, saying, “Veni. Vidi. Vici,” translated as “I came. I saw. I conquered.” Spoken like a true Adept—his perceived arrogance infuriated various jealous senators, who later decided he must be removed. Since we want to hear such a message from a general, the military is obviously among the professions in which an Adept may find his rightful place. Generals such as George S. Patton and Douglas MacArthur are perfect examples. An Adept is a specialist, occupying a vertical niche. However, a Master is a generalist, a hands-on manager, capable of functioning in all aspects of his field.

Nothing is “wrong” with being Adept, nor should you unrighteously judge another for acting as one. That is his path for living, not yours for ascending. Until you become adept at grasping and maintaining control over the impulsive appetitive soul of self, you can never learn to let go of control to reach for the true soul command that lies above it. Command of your self-centered will strengthens you to surrender to God’s will for you, which is to be perfect. All disciplines build, one upon another, as you walk the Path of Ascension.

Our culture highly values adept traits, to be very good at what you do, to rely on your own judgment, awareness and abilities. Yet in ascension, you reach the point where you can and must choose to climb higher. You must cease using power and choose to be used by the Power of the living God.

– Linda Mihalic, Via Christa site editor


Edna Lister on the Adept Degree

As you enter the Degree of the Adept, you vow selflessness, seeking perfect control over the self, and perfecting control of your imagination. The goal is moral balance of personal will and desires. You are preparing for 37 months of selfless expression, and Solomon’s 1,000 burnt offerings, which are one thousand days of perfection.—Edna Lister, The Seven Degrees, August 24, 1935.


A desire body vital center overlies the epigastric nerve plexus, which is the Adept’s seat of powe in the physical body. It is the seat of intellect (not intelligence), called the “seat of Satan.” Living in the intellect serves to lower your consciousness to a horizontal level and hold you there. Many cults function at the navel center, using the energy it controls as the abdominal brain. Yet to ascend, you must let the Light as Power use you from the crown center at the top of the head.—Edna Lister, The Nervous System, February 8, 1936.


Beware of so-called automatic or “inspired writing,” which opens you to all the great darkness of that lowest degree of adepts. It leads to aggrandizing the self to be thought great before men, or to illusion and self-delusion. Automatic writing opens a direct line to the disembodied tricksters and the downright demonic deceivers still floating near earth. When you use force, you lay yourself open to falsity, deceit, and treachery. Dangers from automatic writing are great: only when you can see as you hear, and repeat what you hear are you safe. Spiritual seeing and hearing are not toys to play with, but principles, gifts of vast dignity and glory, and must so be approached. To misunderstand this causes great confusion and results in tragedy.—Edna Lister, October 30, 1944.


There are no shortcuts to ascension. All so-called shortcuts are psychic and of the adept trance-medium way, not of the hard Path of the Master, the long, hard climb by becoming law, which is the only safe way.—Edna Lister, November 1, 1944.


Seven Sacred Degrees transform you from self awareness to soul consciousness: The first three degrees, the Neophyte, Disciple, and Adept all practice varying degrees of self-control. The Mystic stands at the center point of balance, the fulcrum between self and soul. As a Mystic, you commune directly with God, needing no other intervening agency, creed or dogma. The final three degrees, the Master, Priest and Christos all deal with soul conquering of self through absolute responsibility, service and surrender of the self to the soul. You work on all seven degrees always.—Edna Lister, April 13, 1945.


If you practice yoga breathing exercises without giving up self, you become merely an Adept, never a Master. It requires rigorous training to monitor and sacrifice the little self.—Edna Lister, July 9, 1945.


No one can have or work for an adept medium’s abilities for self-gain and have the soul vision of a Master at the same time. To use the soul powers gained through fulfilling high vows to serve only God forever is illegal, unlawful, and contracts a great debt.—Edna Lister, July 19, 1945.


The Adept vows to be selfless in his release of the Light as Power. As the Power moves through, be careful that it remains untainted by self, and according to the Father’s will, not your own.—Edna Lister, October 15, 1946.


Gemini is the sign associated with the Adept Degree, the sign of duality. Gemini rules the intellect, the seat of which is at the solar plexus, called Satan’s throne, the adversary-consciousness that operates independently of God’s mind, the self-mind, reasoning, and rationalizing. You must remain faithful to truth, regardless of what comes, to the point of standing up for it. You can fall for worldly beliefs and remain stuck at Satan’s throne, or conquer willful thoughts, overcome self, and live by faith in God. Do not foolishly spend your soul substance to sustain false beliefs. You are learning to live in the world while not being of it.—Edna Lister, Seven Churches of Revelation, October 18, 1946.


Ninety-nine percent of your grief and resentment result from your demands on and expectations of other people. Adepts can and do use soul substance through control of self and others. They do not take initiations to conquer or lift self, but are very happy in their own control of power. “How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?”—John 5:44. To go through the Gates of Light, you must desire to lift self, and must take initiations to conquer the little self remaining. Adepts spend their earned credits and enjoy every minute they spend on the psychic or physical planes. They use mediums and guides until they become mere mediums and guides.—Edna Lister, May 16, 1947.


The Adept Degree rules the solar plexus center. One who contemplates his navel, flirts with possession by entities. This Degree is under Gemini, the house of either control and manipulation, or of unconquerable faith and unquenchable love.—Edna Lister, The Seven Churches, December 13, 1949.


Everyone is ascending to some degree, low or higher. Sometimes you recognize your soul debts and help another. At other times, you do not see and may withhold aid. Helping the other fellow lift, no matter what, is the Christos work. When you work from this standpoint, you become a Christos Adept. As a Neophyte, you hear about ascension of the body. The Disciple talks about it and tries, haphazardly. All control, manipulation and formulaic demonstration is under the Adept Degree. The minute you surrender to the Almighty Father, you become a Mystic.—Edna Lister, October 2, 1950.


The Neophyte hears about it and thinks about it. The Disciple talks about it and tries it, hit or miss. The Adept finally does it in varying degrees of zeal and skill.—Edna Lister, November 14, 1950.


From the Adept to Christos Degree, you are tempted to ask why tests come and how long they will continue. The answer is to look up and move up in consciousness. You do not live by demonstrations using Power, but by the Word of God.—Edna Lister, Three Temptations on the Way, November 12, 1950.


When you take a new position, you are a Neophyte. As they show you how to do the job, you become a Disciple. As you learn how to do the job proficiently, you become an Adept. These degrees are under the law of self control. All magicians, fakirs, and ordinary healers are master Adepts at controlling self until someone steps on their toes. The adept’s control of self is a thin veneer, covering the subconscious and its limitations. If you scratch his surface, the lion of self growls. He can become so full of conflict from controlling self that he has a blowout. He still feels resentment, anger, self-pity, etc., and wonders why his self control has not filled the bill. The adept will fail continually until he takes responsibility for his soul debts.—Edna Lister, The Practice of Breathing, July 31, 1951.


At the third Degree, the Adept stands in the inner court of the temple of initiation, touching power, and beginning to use power for the first time. This is the point of the control and manipulation of Light as Mind, Substance, and Power that fakirs and most faith healers use. Here, the soul is at the tongue-biting stage, still controlling self without conquering it.—Edna Lister, The Mental Lotus Centers, November 27, 1951.


Many adepts are proud that they can commune with nature, which is but a small portion of the All That Is. Worship God, Who is the cause behind nature.—Edna Lister, The Mental Lotus Centers, November 27, 1951.


A Master Adept is still ascending to be endowed with the full living soul. Christed consciousness is moving into the children of men to heal them, but they have yet to become Christed Adepts. Light can heal the Elect, but only if they hold to their high state from the time of the healing. The process of ascension for the Elect is to hold the high point; if they lose it, the illness returns. To become a creator, you must hold the healing without relapse. Edna Miriam has fewer followers than many famous healing adepts because she teaches the Path of Ascension and self-healing, which pulls the soul from the quicksands of self.—Edna Lister, September 22, 1952.


Adepts believe that God created law for them to use. On the Via Christa, we believe that God created us for law to use. Declare everything good and very good, even before you seek the kingdom of heaven. We cannot cleanse evil until the Light we release frees it from the very rocks of earth.—Edna Lister, September 25, 1952.


Those who place their hands on their knees or in their laps to meditate, focus their consciousness in the lower vital centers, work solely on earth’s magnetic currents, and cut off the cosmic etheric currents, which carries the white Light of the Christ. Concentrating on the navel center causes you to work only from the brain’s frontal lobes, divorced from the Mind of God. This begets self-centered intellectual reasoning and rationalizing that drags you down in consciousness.—Edna Lister, Seven Churches, November 25, 1952.


As an Adept, working under self-control, you come under the fate line and vows of living just a good life in the worldly sense.—Edna Lister, Seven Angels and Seven Vials of Wrath, December 16, 1952.


When a soul, who has vowed to uphold the highest degrees of responsibility, fails to keep his vows, he cools off. The first sign is letting outer events and personalities take over your life. When someone cannot hold the pure white Light of the Christ, he may think he prays, but drops back to the Adept Degree. First he loses his high, fervent point, then can no longer hold to high consciousness. Finally, he may lose his sense of responsibility not to build greater spiritual debt, and his access to Power is cut off. This is divine protection, otherwise, he could charge greater debts than he can pay. When such souls return, we say, “Hello. We’re glad to see you.” This is the law of the universe. God says, “Child, welcome.” The prodigal son is our example.—Edna Lister, May 28, 1953.


Many faith healers are master adepts, but when people laud them, many take worldly credit from the adulation. The adept uses his own soul substance to heal, but the thousands who adore him pour out their soul substance to renew him. Someone must open the Gates of Light for such worldly adepts. The Elect are responsible to hold those whom God has used them to heal.—Edna Lister, June 8, 1953.


Everyone goes through the “asleep while wide awake” phase, where they hear about and talk about truth. In the adept awareness phase, they use force and their voices become coarse and raucous. Yet this is the point of finally doing something about it. When they ascend in consciousness, it becomes the mastery of self in the golden silence.—Edna Lister, July 13, 1953.


An adept is always controlling emotions, thinking and imagination, believing that all is well, as long as no one pokes him too hard. Self can explode when trapped in the pressure cooker of control.—Edna Lister, November 30, 1954.


When intuition opens, you can lose the path by getting stuck on phenomena, and using the Power. Then you must retrace your steps to climb again or slide into the pit of self. At this point, you must face the dweller on the threshold of consciousness to pass the initiations on misuse of Light as Mind, Substance, and Power. An Adept uses law, but a Master knows the law uses him.—Edna Lister, Seven Degrees in the Great Pyramid, November 30, 1954.


One pitfall of being an Adept is that when they touch anything higher than self, their fear of losing control breaks their contact with that highervibration.—Edna Lister, February 6, 1956.


You cannot spiritually see or hear fully, or go to the Source, until you have completed the Adept and Master initiations to burn away the thousand strands of your silver cord.—Edna Lister, May, 9, 1957.


The Adept Degree, with its seven lesser degrees, is the healer and magician, able to manipulate energies and make everything they do appear simple.—Edna Lister, May 29, 1957.


Adepts believe that the universe made law for their use, but no one may write a blank check on God’s Power and not expect to reimburse the expense. You can’t borrow from God’s bank interest-free. “Let” is the only legal signature for reimbursement. Fallen adepts must return to God and accept that they must let God use them.—Edna Lister, June 6, 1957.


The Oriental schools of meditation teach that the student must sit in the lotus position, focused on the solar plexus. We kneel instead and look up in consciousness of God’s presence. When you concentrate on the navel, you may float out of the body, but can produce only phenomena according to the Adept Degree. An Adept uses Power, control, and force to do what he may call “white magic.” Voodoo and blood rites are the lowest forms of black magic and are utterly damning to the soul. The three lower vital centers in the abdomen compose the Land of Egypt, which symbolizes bondage to Pharaoh, symbolic of the impulsive appetitive soul, the lowest level of self.

The first great initiation is lifting the subconscious mind from the clutches of self. Lifting the impulsive appetitive soul tests you to the fullest because you test your own resolve as your soul consciousness struggles in the body’s grip. This is the point of control where you measure your will to control. Continuing to dwell in the Land of Egypt can only hold you down in consciousness. The third degree deals with decisive action, so you will likely use force and personal will before you learn to let God’s will take charge. The Adept hears, does, and talks with force and self.—Edna Lister, March 4, 1958.


The Adept initiations deal with healing and Baptism by Fire. You begin by controlling emotions and producing phenomena. All fakirs, mediums and healers are adepts, including hypnotists, medical doctors, nurses, aides, and psychiatrists. They may have mastered the level where they live, but see no reason for conquering self or submitting to law under the white Light of the Christ.—Edna Lister, A Charted Heaven, October 21, 1958.


In the third plague on Egypt (Exodus 8:16-19), all the dust of the land became lice and afflicted man and beast. Lice represent lesser negative thoughts that upset emotions and open the way to crippling fear and doubt. Stability is not stagnation—it is looking up, not up and down, not blowing hot then cold. This plague is under Gemini, the Adept, who vows to be selfless in releasing Power, not using Power. This plague defined the limit of an Adept’s control, and awakened Israel to unconquerable faith, governed by stability. Moses and Aaron began at the bottom with the miracle of tiny lice and ascended in the Power God gave them. They let God use them for His honor and glory, whereas the Egyptian magicians could only use illusion to imitate what they saw. Adepts imitate the reflections of what true initiates do in the Heavenly Realms above the planes. A reflection can do nothing; a miracle is an act of creation.—Edna Lister, Ten Plagues on Egypt, December 1958.


The goal of the Neophyte, Disciple and Adept Degrees are self-control and controlling the body, emotions and thoughts. They cover the first three vital centers in the abdominal cavity, which we call the Land of Egypt. All psychic phenomena, such as levitation, breath control and walking on coals, manifest under the Adept’s self-control.

Ordinary initiatory work encompasses these degrees and stops. Any truth work, no matter its degree or kind, is good if it helps someone, lifts consciousness or raises the soul’s rate of vibration. Yet one thought or statement promoting the self cuts off your progress and you drop to your previous level. If you are conscious of where you have climbed, you cut off your ability to climb farther. Wherever you stop along the path, you are an Adept.—Edna Lister, The Pioneering Mystic, May 5, 1959.


In a Baptism by Fire, flames dance upon the Adept’s shoulders, appearing as white Wings of the Christ to awaken the gland-like parathalamus structures for spiritual seeing and hearing as he burns away self. The Adept Degree rules the adrenal glands and the navel center, the solar plexus. The navel center is the seat of Satan, the seat of intellectual belief in self-control. The Breastplate of Judgment, earned at the heart center, protects the navel center ans without it you wander forty years in the wilderness. The Adept is Pharaoh, the voice of self-centered will. The throat center rules your creative power of speech expressing as self or soul. The Adept’s faith in the importance of self extends here and is discernible in the use of personal pronouns—I, me, my and mine. The thyroid gland is the Adept’s seat of power. The throat center is the I-me-my point where you finally cross out self’s control.—Edna Lister, The Pioneering Mystic, May 5, 1959.


You experience many new states of consciousness as you ascend and conquer on the Seven Degrees. In each state you learn something and begin to understand and comprehend. The Adept learns spiritual balance in the first marriage of the Lamb, where you mate self-will to God’s will and self-desire to God’s Love to become I AM, the Christed consciousness. The third law of expression is to ascend selfish desire, which balances the emotions at the solar plexus center.—Edna Lister, The Pioneering Mystic, May 5, 1959.


Standing in the inner court of the temple, the Adept comprehends Power. The Adept’s requirement is comprehension of the nature of Power to lift the third veil of illusion.—Edna Lister, The Pioneering Mystic, May 5, 1959.


The Neophyte, Disciple, and Adept Degrees deal with the principle of doing or the right application of the laws you have learned. Mars rules the Adept, who tries to conquer pride, intolerance, and other negative expressions of the self. Thus, you may experience inner conflict under Mars because it is the planet of egocentricity and energy. It is up to you whether you use this energy for trying to control conflict or for conquering. The one who weakly tries to conquer hate, pride, etc., is locked in an inner eternal conflict under Mars. You receive great energy from Mars, but you may not use it as hate or for war.—Edna Lister, Transfiguration, Resurrection, and Ascension, May 19, 1959.


Self-control is under the Adept Degree, but on the Via Christa we call it self-mastery.—Edna Lister, Eight Great Powers of Being, June 23, 1959.


The Adept’s law of obedience is “Obey the law and live.” This law covers all law, for if you break the least law, you have broken the whole. Balance of the mental life is the Adept’s responsibility. Baptism by Fire is the Adept’s initiation. Flames, the pure, unadulterated atomic fire of the Holy Breath as love, pour upon you after you surrender self until only love remains A Baptism by Fire always presents you with a choice of love or hate, positive or negative. Love brooks nothing but love. Treat one who hates by declaring, “Father, let this beautiful substance of love sent to me be ascendwd, purified, and restored to (Name) as love.” You may use this prayer treatment to redeem the lost soul substance of those who criticize and curse. Stand within a circle of love, gird your loins, cross your arms, declare their curses are love, and thank God for them.

The Buddhist Adept’s path is cultivation of perseverance, which is steadfastness in action. All obstacles become a challenge for the initiate to practice steadfastness and perseverance. This path includes “right speech,” which means choosing wise and careful words. What do you declare? “I AM awful,” or “I AM good”? One declaration of “Let there be Light” sets the entire eightfold path into action without having to consider each law.

The Adept’s power of being is command over all outer forces. You can command only yourself under complete surrender. Use the gesture of a creator to “gird up your loins”: Contract the abdominal muscles to draw all magnetic currents into the solar plexus center. Hold them there and draw the etheric currents in on a deep breath. As magnetic and etheric currents meet at the solar plexus, an explosion of Light follows, which “waters” the endocrine glands. This makes you a “pillar of the temple,” an instrument of the Living God.—Edna Lister, Eight Great Powers of Being, June 23, 1959.


The Adept Degree rules the third period in life (age fourteen to twenty-one), which culminates socially in adulthood, and spiritually in perfected personal expression (ideally). You spend the first 21 years of life developing your physical equipment to use in service to God, to release His Power.—Edna Lister, October 3, 1960.


Never consciously use the pronoun “I” in your prayers, for it demotes you to the third degree of the Adept.—Edna Lister, October 14, 1960.


The Adept’s initiations include Baptism by Fire and the burning sands of the desert that each crosses alone. Here you experience real trials by fire for the soul’s purification.—Edna Lister, How Do I Wait Upon the Lord? June 28, 1960.


The difference between the Adept and Christos consciousness resides in knowing that burdens are talents. For example, investing money wisely is not always easy, but can be a burden that adds a new flock of responsibilities to your life. Ascension is God’s investment in you that you multiply and return to Him. You must choose between being an Adept and a Christed mediator. Follow Jesus, who multiplied his talents and ascended.—Edna Lister, Is Praise Necessary? July 5, 1960.


All medically related work comes under the Adept Degree.—Edna Lister, June 12, 1961.


An adept, by obedience to certain laws dealing with his plane of vibration and self control, will have miracles. If he loses self control, he does not have a miracle. The adept most easily manipulates perception in the psychological realm, where laws work according to consciousness and fervor.—Edna Lister, The Seven-branched Candelabrum, October 10, 1961.


Seek the middle road of balance, not controlling self as an Adept does, but conquering as a Mystic. Move to the center to conquer. Stop looking for results in the other fellow. Drop a pearl of wisdom and step back to watch: He will pick it up and offer it as his own. Forget the “little me.” You are a seed planter. If you want the fruit for personal gain, you kill the seed before you plant it, thus sowing infertile seed.—Edna Lister, October 13, 1961.


ESP, psychics and hunches all come under the Adept Degree. Aura reading is just one step above reading tea leaves or cards.—Edna Lister, Prophecy, Past and Present, December 12, 1961.


The Adept “tries” to work his will through demonstration. The fakir does it by lying on a bed of nails or walking on hot coals, for example. You finally reach for the Master Degree when you realize that your idle words or deeds burn you. You rise or fall on self. Effort that was a slow process in the lower degrees becomes an instantaneous act under mastery and the higher degrees. You become an open channel for God when you unlock the floodgates of His Light and Power.—Edna Lister, Heaven: A Place to Fill, April 10, 1962.


If you are dealing with substance only to materialize or manipulate it, you are an adept misusing Substance, Power and Mind to self-advantage.—Edna Lister, Earth’s Final Age, July 16, 1963.


The Adept phase in life falls between the ages of fourteen (the number that represents choice, separation and change), and twenty-one. The soul begins to work for perfected personal expression to release great Power. Until now, the embodied soul has developed the brain and body; now the soul begins working on true soul expression and development, making choices on religion, vocation, relationships, etc. At this stage, you are likely to go out and “make things happen,” which is usually using force.—Edna Lister, Seven Stages of Unfolding From Concentration to Comprehension, December 3, 1963.


The people who believe in formulaic adept demonstration are like the poor people whom Jesus fed, they leave you when the food is gone. Hear, listen, hearken from above in soul consciousness. Trying to use intellect to gain spiritual insight will not work.—Edna Lister, July 12, 1964.


The King’s Chamber in the Pyramid functioned as a temple of initiation. It was never used as a tomb. The seven slabs of stone above the King’s Chamber represent the supreme initiations of the Seven Degrees. To pass required that the initiate perfectly understand the workings of Power as an Adept.—Edna Lister, The Pyramid Mysteries, May 18, 1965.


You must function as a Christos Adept for healing treatments. All healing comes from the adept current in the River of Life, but you must always use the positive, upper pole.—Edna Lister, October 19, 1966.


If you cannot correct something in your body by using your conscious mind and declarations, ask the Master to speak the Word for your healing. Ask for the Light to move through, and to be held in the Master’s arms. You may reach a point where outer adept healing treatment cannot heal, but a supreme miracle can.—Edna Lister, October 20, 1966.


Under absolute law, you may not believe that you perform a healing. There is no place for an Adept’s excuses, or asking why. You must obey law. The only way to illumination is to be a seed planter, a waterer, one who sees and declares that Light works behind the scenes. Even God may not see visible change in three or four incarnations. Just declare that every word you speak sends forth Power and Light. Your teaching may blossom years later.—Edna Lister, The First Seven Magnitudes, November 8, 1966.


God has all potential Power, and made us ambassadors of Light to be used by all the Power. We are instruments, continuously being played upon as in a symphony orchestra. To qualify, prepare your brain cells for Power to use. Adepts believe they were created to use Power, but you know that God meant for Power to use you.—Edna Lister, January 10, 1968.


When the Adept’s concentration and meditation become soul contemplation, he is vulnerable. When compassion degenerates, the sixth veil of illusion drops into the fifth; it touches the sympathy chord, which causes it to degenerate into maudlin sentimentality.—Edna Lister, March 10, 1968.


The Adept must undergo Baptism by Fire to burn out self. A Christed healer can still believe in control, which is temporal and temporary, yet it is better to spit out that idea than to suppress it. The Adept must develop “understanding” of the Power, which begins with controlling and ends with conquering to become the selfless servant of all the Power.—Edna Lister, How to Erect an Hypothesis, June 25, 1968.


The Adept meets the "dweller on the threshold of consciousness" as an initiation by fire. The dweller is not the appetitive soul, although living by the creature’s impulsive appetitive urges does invite the dweller to master your consciousness. The dweller is a living entity composed of the life sparks that a soul has misused by separating Mind, Substance and Power. Every negative thought, emotion, word or deed adds soul substance to the dweller, which operates on the principle of “only mine own can come unto me.” The dweller-entity is forever attracted to its own soul substance, named and numbered from the beginning of time. The time to conquer the dweller is now. Use the treatment for recalling your misused soul substance: “Father, I now gather together all my misused soul substance and ascend it unto Thee for cleansing and purification on Thy high altars of fire. Let it be returned to my Oversoul star for investment in Thy perfect works.” Use this treatment daily for your self and your loved ones.—Edna Lister, October 22, 1968.


The Adept learns that control is the first step in soul conquering, and begins by controlling negative expressions (emotional jags, anger, tantrums, etc.), which let the dweller take charge. But to pass the degree of the Adept, you must recognize that control is not an end in itself, but only the first step in a long process of lifting negative expressions up and out of the consciousness. Controlling only halts a negative expression temporarily. Soul conquering lifts the negative expression up and out of your being and fills the void with new substance and Light to remake your being.—Edna Lister, Religion from Atlantis to the Modern Western World, October 22, 1968.


You may be working on many sub-degrees of the Master, Priest and Christos, but you must polish the Adept Degree and that means permitting no expressions of “little me.” The last step in conquering is to let go of the “I.” Whenever you want to say, “I AM doing this,” you can say, “God is doing this as me,” not “through” me, but as me. You either believe that God is doing the work through you, or you don’t. You just think about Him working through you, without believing that He is possessing you. It is time to clean up your thoughts and speech, for the Adept’s last lesson is “No idle words.”—Edna Lister, August 7, 1969.


The Adept Degree has seven lesser degrees in which you must pass four degrees—earth, fire, air and water—where you practice phenomena to learn control over the elements. Earth represents the physical, water the emotional, air the mental, and fire the spiritual or inspirational phase of life. You lose the touch for mere control at the Mystic Degree, and must ascend to true Mastery on the Path of Destiny. Yet, bear in mind than whenever you begin to take the easy way, you can always regress to the line of fate, losing your progress.—Edna Lister, December 18, 1969.


The Adept is greatly tempted to use Mind, Power, and Substance. He struggles to control his thinking and emotions, and uses self-control to open clairvoyance and clairaudience, which any fakir or snake charmer can do.—Edna Lister, Character Analysis, March 12, 1970.


The Adept Degree includes forty-nine lesser degrees, all of which deal in mere phenomenon. At the 49th degree, the Adept finally realizes that he must climb through prayer and the giving up of self. Thus the Adept undergoes 49 degrees of Baptism by Fire.—Edna Lister, The Fiery Furnace, March 19, 1970.

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Edna Miriam Lister
1884 – 1971
The original Christian Pioneering Mystic,
Platonist philosopher, American Idealist, Founder, Society of the Universal Living Christ, minister, teacher, author, wife, and mother.


Edna Lister


Etymology of adept: Latin adeptus, past participle of adipisci, to attain, to grasp.


From Neophyte to Christos, an initiatory degree. The degrees are initiations by temptations on every law, to test your selflessness, devotional attitudes and soul expressions toward God and man.


Pergamos: The Adept’s Church

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”—Revelation 2:12-17.


References

The Oxford English Dictionary: Compact Ed., 2 vols. Oxford University Press, 1971.

The Holy Bible. King James Version (KJV).

Definitions

We use many online sources, the most common of which we abbreviate as shown:

AHD. American Heritage Dictionary.

CDC. Century Dictionary.

EB. Encyclopædia Britannica.

MWD. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

OAD. The Oxford American Dictionary.

ODP. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.

OED. The Oxford English Dictionary.

TPP. The Philosophy Pages.

WAD. Webster’s American Dictionary.


Related Topics

See Baptism by Fire

See Burning Sands of the Desert

See Controlling and Manipulating