BOTA, Builders of the Adytum, Holy Qabalah and Sacred Tarot teachings.

The Open Door

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THE OPEN DOOR
Life is a succession of open doors.
We pass through some and others we pass by.
The decisions we make before these open doors
are the arbiters of our destiny thenceforth.
This volume is an open door before which you
now stand. Look within and consider well
what you see there, for this portal leads
from outer darkness to Inner Light.

May that Light be extended upon you.

BOTA Tarot Key 0, The fool

MYSTERY SCHOOLS

“For you it is given to understand. For others, I speak in parables.”

In every age and in every country, there are always those few individuals who seek more satisfying answers to the great questions of Life than they can find in their local churches and temples or through science. If their quest is sincere and they persist, they will eventually be drawn into contact with one of the world’s Mystery Schools, where they may be instructed and trained. There have always been centers, called Mystery Schools, responding to the cry for understanding from aspirants throughout the ages.

From within those walls, a secret knowledge called The Ageless Wisdom has been known and used for many centuries in enlightening the spiritual aspirants of each epoch. It is called Ageless because it is not susceptible to the mutations of time, nor is the Ageless Wisdom primarily a product of man’s thinking. It is written by God upon the face of nature, there for all to read, if they can. Hitherto, the great practical secrets have been guarded carefully from spiritual dilettantes and have only been given to duly initiated men and women under the strictest pledges of secrecy. In the past, this secrecy has been necessary because of societal restrictions upon freedom of thought and worship.

Today, such close secrecy is no longer necessary. Much may now be given out openly, which formerly could be imparted only in private and by word of mouth. The greatest secrets, however, can never be transmitted by written or spoken word. The secrecy that guards the deepest esoteric knowledge is not imposed by the custodians of Ageless Wisdom but by human ignorance. It is the kind of secrecy which shrouds the work of great scientists such as Bohr, Curie, Einstein, Edison, and others. This secrecy does not result from any deliberate withholding but rather from a mass ignorance and consequent inability to understand the concepts and reasoning required by advanced science.

The custodians of Ageless Wisdom can no more disclose their knowledge to untrained men and women than great scientists can explain their theories of the universe to children who are still in kindergarten.

The work of these schools is intensely practical. The student is given theoretical knowledge together with experimental work so that he learns both by precept and experience. As he continues with the process of self-unfolding, he gradually increases mastery of himself, first in small things, then in greater.

BOTA Tarot Key 1, The Magician

BUILDERS OF THE ADYTUM

BUILDERS OF THE ADYTUM (B.O.T.A. or BOTA) is a true Mystery School, an international, non-profit teaching and training Order, and an outer vehicle of the Inner Spiritual Hierarchy, sometimes called the Inner School, which guides the evolution of Man. Adytum is derived from an ancient Greek word designating the innermost part of the Temple, the Holy of Holies, that which is not made with hands. Its system is that of the Western, Qabalistic-Hermetic tradition, and its teachings have been handed down from Adepts to Initiates since very ancient times. The founder of BOTA, Dr. Paul Foster Case, was such an Adept.

As a recognized world authority on the Tarot and Qabalah, he was given the task by the Inner School of reinterpreting the Ageless Wisdom into modern idiom. Deciding to devote his life to this project, he abandoned a successful career as a musical conductor and founded BOTA in 1922. Because of his close contact with the Inner School and total commitment to serving mankind, he became a fountain of living wisdom, disseminated through his tracts, lessons, lectures, and books. After his death in 1954, his colleague, Dr. Ann Davies, extended the teachings of BOTA to their present state and initiated the international expansion of the Order. The lessons and some of the books of these two spiritual Adepts have been published in English, Spanish, French, and German.

The Work of BOTA does not bid for your interest on the grounds of mere antiquity but because it has met the tests of centuries of application. However, lest you think that the spiritual attainment possible through following these teachings is to be had in some miraculous manner, B.O.T.A. declares to you at the outset that your sincerity, your desire, and your willingness to work will be the sole measure of your accomplishment.

The teaching now offered by BOTA was given only to selected students in the past. For you to be successful in our Work, your personal goals must correspond to those of the Order: personal enlightenment, self-transmutation, and service to Life. To only desire healing and wealth is not enough and will surely result in failure. So we seek those individuals who are well motivated, who will persist in our Work and not just skim the surface. B.O.T.A. does not offer to remake your world for you. It does offer you the keys to knowledge that will enable you to do it for yourself, with the inner help that linkage with a true Mystery School confers.

Our name, Builders of the Adytum, indicates that we propose to help you build the Inner Temple wherein conscious contact with the Higher Self may be made and your true spiritual heritage may be realized.

BOTA Tarot Key 2, High Priestess

OBJECTIVES

There is a fundamental impulse within you to seek understanding, wisdom, and true knowledge of yourself, nature, and the universe. The Mystery Schools are and always have been the repositories of special knowledge that is the key to the realization of all that you seek. It is our objective to place this key in the hands of those who are ready to receive and act upon it. This special knowledge enables you to know yourself and your creative powers, and to make for yourself the kind of world you want to live in. The problems that you face in life are not really obstacles, but like a closed door to a room that holds special knowledge. BOTA gives you the key that will unlock the problem doors of your life, and in their opening, your health, prosperity, and the mastery of your life and environment will increase.

The practical work of BOTA, which includes study, meditation, imagery, and ritual, initiates a series of subtle but important changes in your inner world, not the least of which is an expansion of your conscious awareness. Even a slight increase in this area has a remarkable effect on your mental and emotional capacities. Your intelligence increases, and you become more aware of your motivations. You become more observant, which improves your memory. Your ability to anticipate future effects of present causes is enhanced, improving your discrimination in making choices. Objectivity is increased, aiding the ability to think more logically and clearly, which increases control over your environment and helps you define your goals. You cease to regard problems as indications of failure but as the means to gain new levels of understanding and control that you need in your spiritual journey. You learn the vital creative relationship between thinking and feeling so that you can use this knowledge to recreate your world. The spiritual imperative that is elaborated in BOTA members is “Man, know thyself, and as thou knowest thyself, thou knowest thy Creator.”

Through the lessons, meditations, and practices of BOTA, you are brought to a higher state of consciousness where you can have direct knowledge of the answers to the age-old questions of the soul, “Who am I? What am I? What am I supposed to be doing?” The process that leads to a direct, experiential knowing of the answers to these questions dissolves the fear of death and establishes an intuitional certainty of the rightness of the Path you have chosen. In time, the quality of compassion will begin to dominate your personality expression – the sign of true brotherhood.

Over the ages, hundreds have realized their spiritual goals through exactly this same training, so you can depend on it being thoroughly tested and proven. If you faithfully follow the instructions that are sent to all members of this Order, you will find yourself becoming increasingly receptive to the guidance of the Higher Self, which is the beginning of the transformational process. BOTA fully realizes the implications of such assertions and the responsibility incurred in making them, yet they are made deliberately and are intended to be taken literally.

BOTA Tarot Key 9, The hermit

HIGHER STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS

That you may understand what is meant by “a higher state of consciousness,” consider the various kingdoms of nature. Each has a progressively wider range of awareness. These different ranges of awareness are clearly defined, from the apparent unconsciousness of minerals through the subconscious life processes of plants to the first glimmerings of self-consciousness in higher animals. Self-consciousness reaches its fullness in man, and he is able to reason, to formulate speech, to use tools, and to modify his environment deliberately. HIGHER consciousness goes even beyond self-consciousness. It has been called the consciousness beyond thought – the level of intuition. It is through this level of consciousness that direct knowledge of the answers to Life’s questions are realized and one’s path – past, present, and future – is clearly seen.

B.O.T.A. seeks to disclose to all earnest seekers the means whereby they may induce a higher state of conscious awareness. This aim is identical with all the great spiritual teachings throughout the ages. ALL spiritual attainment comes through the expansion of conscious awareness, which is sometimes called an awakening, and, in a larger sense, illumination. B.O.T.A. offers you keys to such expansion and provides you with the necessary training methods and techniques for its realization. These methods are clearly formulated to help the earnest seeker discover the means whereby higher or expanded states of consciousness may be experienced. Possession of such expanded states of consciousness will unerringly bring you closer to what you want to be and do in the world.

Corresponding with the evolution of form upon this planet is the evolution of consciousness. It can be postulated that, in the natural course of events, all mankind will ultimately possess a higher state of consciousness. Almost incomprehensible periods of time elapse, however, before such changes occur in the slow processes of nature. Yet, speed-ups are possible as man is endowed with special mental and physical faculties that, with proper training, enable him to bring this about much sooner. This spiritual forcing process is the work of the Mystery Schools, and it is for this purpose that our curriculum is structured.

BOTA Tarot Key 5, Hierophant

CURRICULUM

The Western presentation of Ageless Wisdom is composed of the QABALAH and what is usually known as the HERMETIC arts and sciences. The Hermetic System is named after Hermes Trismegistus, the reported founder of the esoteric tradition of the Western world. Thus, with the Qabalah, we include spiritual Alchemy, esoteric Astrology, and Tarot. Nearly all these esoteric arts and sciences, falling into the hands of materialistic opportunists, have been misused for financial and power-seeking purposes. Astrology and Tarot, in particular, have been abused. The high spiritual aim of true alchemy has been perverted by the greed of gold-seekers. The Qabalah has been obscured by those who misinterpret the letter of the Scriptures. Yet, properly instructed students know that these Hermetic arts and sciences are by no means the deluded imaginings or ignorant superstitions that some persons suppose them to be. On the contrary, they constitute an interlocking system of studies and practices which has served as the foundation of the Western Mystery training for many generations, and they are treated as such by B.O.T.A. The particular potency of this system lies in its use of symbols, which are a universal language that directly instructs subconsciousness with its pictorial wisdom, regardless of language differences.

However mysterious and esoteric it may sound, the new student is not plunged into a maze of obscure and complicated teachings. Although B.O.T.A. is considered the university level of esoteric teaching and training systems in the world, the work is taught in easy stages and with practices that are perfectly safe, in a form that any intelligent adult can understand. All students are required to take the same subjects, which provide the necessary foundation for imprinting the principles of the Ageless Wisdom on consciousness. Membership in B.O.T.A. does not require you to relinquish affiliation with your religion or other Orders.

The daily life of the Western aspirant is his schoolroom, his meditation place, and his alchemical laboratory.

After you become a member, the first two months of instruction are spent in study and experiments in Hermetic psychology. These first lessons lay the foundation of theory and practice upon which the superstructure of all subsequent work is erected. They include an explanation of the inner nature of what we regard as problems, their karmic relationship, and their purpose on the Path. Through this understanding, your daily experience takes on a totally different significance as the thread of Divine guidance is seen.

When you finish this preliminary work, you will receive a set of Tarot Keys. Becoming acquainted with these Keys in preparation for detailed instruction as to their meaning and use constitutes the next three months of study. This builds the foundation of an intensely interesting and important phase of B.O.T.A. work in the fundamentals of Tarot, which occupies the teaching for the following year. Tarot has well been called one of the foremost aids to spiritual transmutation, as the series of Tarot Keys is a record of the inner knowledge of the Western Sages in picture form – the way the Wise regard the Universe and Man in a manner that impresses the consciousness of all who use the Tarot.

The only difference between an Adept and a natural, unawakened man is the way the Adept thinks, regarding himself, the universe, and his Creator.

As an instrument of mind training, the Tarot is designed in accordance with basic laws of human psychology. It was originally devised as a means of conveying universal principles regarding Man’s structure, place and purpose in the Cosmos, through the use of symbols. Symbols are the language of subconsciousness in that they communicate ideas to all individuals, regardless of their native tongue. No matter what your present situation, no matter what your past history, if your aspiration is sincere, the right use of Tarot can bring a change for the better in your life. Lest you misunderstand the “right use” of Tarot, we do not refer to its use in fortune-telling or divination. Its right use is in study, meditation, and imagery, for which it was created. Training in the use and meaning of the Tarot is the essential foundation from which you can safely proceed to the more advanced courses of our curriculum.

When you have completed the course in the fundamentals of Tarot, you will be ready to undertake more advanced instruction in subjects which will disclose to you methods and information that have been kept secret for centuries, and which have only recently been made available to students who are not pledged initiates of esoteric orders. These subjects include the art of healing and balancing the personality by the use of color and sound; methods of Tarot meditation that lead to the opening of the higher consciousness; explanation of the ancient Qabalistic diagram called the Tree of Life, which is the Key Symbol to the understanding of the mysteries of man, nature and the universe; instruction in the secrets of Alchemy as understood by the Fire Philosophers of antiquity– the secrets of the process of spiritual unfoldment.

When the teaching appears, the student is ready.

In the old tradition of imparting spiritual teachings, the seeker always sought out the Teacher, often at great hardship, danger, and expense in money and time. Now, due to modern methods of communication, as many as desire can receive these teachings that were the privilege of few in past epochs. B.O.T.A. utilizes modern methods wherever these prove superior to older ones, and in the work of its outer school, B.O.T.A. has adopted the modern extension method of teaching by correspondence. This permits you to do your studying in your own time and in privacy. The time you spend on your studies, meditations, and exercises is an individual determination, but be aware that what you receive will be in proportion to the effort you put into it.

Application for membership in B.O.T.A. may be made by any man or woman who is sincerely interested in its aims and objectives. When an application has been duly accepted, the applicant is enrolled as an Associate Member of B.O.T.A. As such, they are entitled to all the privileges that go with this class of membership. These are as follows:

1. Associate Members receive graded instruction in the various subjects of our curriculum. These instructions are distributed by postal mail in the form of printed lessons or through digital downloads. The lessons cannot be purchased, but are a privilege of membership.

2. Associate Members may request assistance concerning the lesson material and its practical application if they encounter areas that require clarification. They may thus have access to the experience and knowledge of a group of our more advanced members, should a sincere need for this service be required.

3. Associate Members may avail themselves and their families of the healing benefits emanating from our regular ritual work performed at various locations throughout the world. B.O.T.A. uses the word “healing” to indicate the securing of wholeness throughout the personality.

4. Participation in Open Forum discussion groups is also available. These meetings welcome members and non-members alike. In-person groups can be found in numerous locations around the world. Additionally, there are online meetings, which can be accessed from nearly anywhere. Other forms of group work may also be available, such as meditation meetings, Vibratory Attunements, Qabalistic Services, and more.

5. Associate Members, if they live near a Pronaos, may qualify to be initiated into active membership of this special ritual group after completing certain lessons and demonstrating harmonious fraternal qualities. They would then be able to participate in the various rituals of Pronaos. These ceremonials are powerful aids in expanding conscious awareness and establishing a true sense of brotherhood and kinship with all Life.

6. B.O.T.A. lessons are available in either English, Spanish, French, or German.

Membership itself is a privilege because it links one with the highest spiritual forces and with those Masters and Adepts called the Great Companions, who are dedicated to serving those forces.

hese are the privileges of membership in B.O.T.A. They are not purchased, and no additional charge is made for them with the exception of Pronaos dues, which are set by each group.

Such membership naturally entails responsibility for the support of the Order. The Builders of the Adytum is strictly a non-profit organization. Its Stewards perform a dedicated service solely for the privilege of extending the teachings of the Ageless Wisdom to a world that so sorely needs them. Membership dues therefore approximate that which will pay the actual costs of producing the instruction in its physical form and of properly carrying on the work of the Order. Dues may be paid monthly, quarterly, semiannually, or annually.

Donations are always welcome and will only be used for extending the work of B.O.T.A. Gifts, legacies, contributions, etc. are tax deductible in the United States in accordance with legal statutes.

HOW TO APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP

Simply visit the BOTA website, select “Enroll Now,” then fill out the application form and provide your preferred method for paying dues.

If you do not have Internet access, please phone the office for assistance.

Before making any decision to apply for membership, you should seriously consider the statements made in this booklet. B.O.T.A. never urges anyone to become a member. It is a step you must take for yourself of your own free choice.

MAY LIGHT BE EXTENDED UPON YOU

BOTA Tarot Key 21, The World