Inner Temple: Meditation 5

Opening Note: Some of this material has been shared openly by me at workshops and classes from 1989 to the present year, while most of it is published here for the first time.

The Background to my meeting Ronald Heaver in Britain.

In the mid-1970’s there were many utopian schemes surfacing in Britain. They were often inspired by people wanting to buy properties to turn into spiritual centres, influenced by the success of the Findhorn community in Scotland.

I was invited to join one such scheme in 1974, proposed by New Age motivator Michael Riddell, who started a number of inspirational schemes at that time. As a result of my involvement, I had four pivotal and powerful meetings with Ronald Heaver at his house in Keinton Mandeville, near Glastonbury. My visits were witnessed by various associates, including Marko Galley, Rollo Maughling, and, of course, Michael Riddell. I later compared some of my experiences with others who had visited Heaver during the same period of the 1970’s, including philosopher and author David Spangler.

Description of Ronald Heaver in the 1970’s

Ronald Heaver had spinal injuries from a bi-plane crash during the First World War. As a result he was a massive figure, who had been bed-ridden for some years. Prior to his becoming an invalid he had been a vigorous traveller, an ace pilot, and had had some remarkable international spiritual experiences. He was a member of what we might have once called the fringe of the British “upper classes”, though not extremely wealthy or privileged. Heaver was of that generation of spiritual masters (now all departed from this world) who had a powerful sense of social grace and honourable class superiority, having been born (in 1900) into a culture that we can barely imagine today. In another historical world, of the past, he would have been a king or a high priest, and, indeed, he was both Priest and King, in the spiritual world of the present. He naturally exacted respect, and he expected his visitors to have both education and good manners. He was not patient with blunders or ignorance, though I must add that he was never short-tempered or aggressive, despite his long years of severe physical disability.

My first visit and a surprising response

On my first visit, in 1974, I was understandably nervous as I entered Ronald Heaver’s bedroom where he held audience, meeting from his bed with the many people who came to see him, almost always one person at a time. He looked at me, looked deep into me, and suddenly starting talking about the Order of Melchizadek, as if it was a conversation that we had been sharing for years. He had an uncanny ability to see into people and say something that woke them up. His first words to me were not “hello young man” or “pleased to meet you” but “Now, about this Order of Melchizadek, you cannot join unless you are already a member, for it exists out of time yet reaches into time into this world…and you must reach out in return…when you reach your hand upwards, another hand will grip yours and pull you up…” In the 1980’s I incorporated the spiritual process, the inner power, of this startling introductory statement into my empowered visions of The King in the Tree, which are taught to all the Inner Temples groups. When Ronald Heaver said these words to me, he was not merely talking, but opening out the power itself, and sensing how I responded to it. Of course, I did not understand this so clearly at that time, but I could feel the spiritual resonance in the room as he spoke.

My second visit, and reactions from W G Gray

On a later visit, Heaver (we called him Mr Heaver, of course, and never Ronald) revealed that his interest in the “spiritual centre” project was mainly to provide ongoing support for his lady companion, as he knew exactly when he has going to die, and that she would outlive him by some years. Several years after Heaver’s death, Gareth Knight and I met her at a gathering in Glastonbury, so Heaver’s predictions were proven accurate. She talked to us briefly about her recent hip surgery, her continued life after Heaver’s death, and about a dispute over his writings and papers. I never saw her again after that day, though eventually I heard of her death.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, in publications and in classes, Ronald Heaver was the only person that I ever heard W G Gray speak of with deep respect. He called Heaver “one of the Old Ones” and referred to him as a “senior officer”…both in the army sense, and in terms of the Inner Order. Gray was rather surprised that I was visiting Heaver, and (looking back) I sense that he saw it as a spiritual encounter that confirmed something to him…though he was often secretive when it came to such matters, like all the older generation occultists.

My third visit and an initiatory experience

On my third visit, I entered the audience room, and Ronald Heaver immediately ordered me to go out of another door on the opposite side of the room, and on into the Sanctuary to meditate. This was a small building in the garden, very plain, with an eternal light burning on an altar inside. He gave me no clue what to do, or what to expect. I was told to stay for at least 15 minutes in complete silence, then report back to him. The method of teaching that he used was not verbal or textual training, such as we expect today, but direct experience without any preliminary material to get in the way. This is a very ancient method of spiritual teaching.

When I returned to his room he questioned me mercilessly about what I had sensed, felt, seen, and learned. I replied that I had a surprising sudden vision of the Virgin holding a sheaf of wheat: he said, yes, yes, but what else? I replied that I had a feeling of spiritual power very similar to that of the Archangel Michael, but somehow attuned a special way that I did not understand. He said, yes, yes, that is because we are on the Michael line that runs through the centre of the Earth and leads to Jerusalem…what else? I said that I had found myself, for a short time, in a chamber or chapel of utter stillness and silence with many powerful, but dimly perceived presences that seemed to be watching me intently. Aha! He replied, and immediately proceeded to tell me more about the Order of Melchizadek and the spiritual Elders who keep convocation in the chapel or inner sanctuary that I had momentarily visited.

This classic esoteric spiritual tradition is what became, in my own presentations of a perennial truth, the Chapel of the Elders, or the Sanctuary before the Void, that I later taught in many classes and experiential workshops, continuing from 1988 to the present day. It forms an important part of my Inner Temple Traditions and Inner Convocation series, and I have taught this visionary form, and opened out this inner contact, to many people over the years. You can find a text for this Visionary Form after this essay.

Having confirmed my spiritual sensitivities, Ronald Heaver then told me the remarkable story about a talisman that he had buried in Jerusalem, and how someone had dug it up some years later, acting on mysterious inner inspiration, and brought it to him in England. This is a famous story among British esotericists, and is part of the 20th century Glastonbury mythos. At that time I did not know what to make of it. Heaver seemed to be expecting some particular response or reaction from me, or perhaps he may have assumed that I would know the story already. At one point I asked him if had known Dion Fortune when she lived in Glastonbury, and he laughed. “Oh yes, she was involved in ritual magic you know…totally unnecessary”. He also told me that he knew W G Gray, and that he knew I was a protégé of Gray’s. I was pretty certain that ritual magic was, indeed, necessary, but it was difficult to disagree with Ronald Heaver, as he knew intuitively what was passing through your mind, was always several steps and jumps ahead of you, and every statement that he made was a spiritual teaching of some sort, that pulled you up, and made you think on a new level. Ten minutes with Heaver was like ten hours of intense concentration or challenging physical exercise…except it was spiritual. Of course ritual magic is not necessary, once you have worked your way through its disciplines and art, and emerged on the other side with a highly developed consciousness. That is what he was saying to me, back then in 1974, though I did not understand him at the time.

A theory of telluric energy networks in the Earth.

On my last visit of the mid-1970’s (but not my ultimate meeting, as there was one more), he outlined in some detail a complex theory of how ley lines (ever popular) were not straight lines along the surface of the land as is popularly taught, but that they pass down through the centre of the planet, then are deflected or reflected at various angles to link geomantic or telluric power sites that were thousands of miles apart on the surface. He likened this to the angular relationships in an astrological natal chart (the square, trine, sextile, and so forth). He told me that certain places in Tibet, in the Holy Land, and South America, had powerful angular relationships through the centre of the Earth, to one another, and , of course, to Glastonbury. This is extremely interesting esoteric lore. Looking back on this teaching, I also think that he sensed that I was soon to be working with UnderWorld spiritual forces, those that radiate from the planetary heart, and his remarkable intuition had led him to talk about this complex knowledge. I have no idea if this teaching has been expanded further, to this day.

Initiation and transmission handed on by Ronald Heaver

Not long before he died, Heaver transferred the inner power of the priesthood to me, in a simple direct transmission, without ritual (of course!). This was, essentially, a Melchizadek initiation, similar to the one I had received from W G Gray in a ritual lodge context (witnessed by Norman Gibbs) a few years before, but with certain significant differences of inner contact and subtle power. It added something to the power that I had received from Gray, and this combined transmission is what I work with in the Consecration ceremonies that are conducted from time to time.

It seems likely that Ronald Heaver also transmitted this power, through personal communion, to others, and I make no claim whatsoever of being his spiritual heir, or to having any special relationship with him. I am sure that I was just one (hopefully promising) young initiate that encountered him at this time. My sense, even now, is that he was a Priest of priests, more concerned with a vast overview of the spiritual evolutionary forces, than with training individuals. The training was through being in his presence, take it or leave it.

Inner Temple Consecrations and their validity

It is most important to remember that this type of transmission, such as I received from both Gray and Heaver, is handed on by physical interaction and presence…it cannot be received or communicated unless you are in the presence of the master, as it is handed on while in the physical human world...it has long been known that the deep initiations are enabled by touch, not by inner vision alone. There are also certain teachings and methods that are handed on, usually in a whisper. Without knowledge of these instructions, and without a special form of the Touch not widely known, any claims to be able to initiate or consecrate are invalid. Of course, many groups and orders offer formal initiations into membership, and that is an entirely different matter.

So far, I have not handed on this spiritual art and subtle transmission, that enables someone to Consecrate, to anyone else, though a time will come when I must do so.

Heaver died in 1980, so anyone claiming initiation from him must be able to confirm that they met him before that date. In the 1970’s he held meetings with a number of people who are now known as spiritual teachers or innovators in various ways, and his influence was far reaching, despite his lack of public appearances. Any claims by people who did not meet him before his death must be highly questionable, and are likely to be false. I discuss this further in my essay on the initiation that I received from W G Gray, in which I include some significant conclusions that I shared in 2004 and 2005 with Jacobus Swart, who is head of the Sangreal Sodality which was founded by W G Gray.

While Jacobus and I both head initiatory lineages deriving from the same spiritual inner sources, the Inner Temple Traditions and the Sangreal Sodality use different methods, and each has its own special role. I attribute much of the inspiration for the deeper Inner Temple and InnerConvocation material to the initiatory meetings and transmission that I received from Ronald Heaver back in the 1970’s, at a time when my spiritual path was being revealed to me by some remarkable teachers.

Zadok, and the death of Ronald Heaver

For some years Ronald Heaver wrote letters, essays, and pamphlets under the pen-name Zadok, the priest. The Hebrew word also implies the term Justified, and it was Heaver who first put me into contact with the inner spiritual order of Justified Men that I wrote about in The UnderWorld Initiation (published 1985), and which I teach in the Inner Temple Traditions InnerConvocation work. The concept is an ancient one, found in many spiritual traditions in various forms, for it describes an actual collective of advanced spiritual awareness to which we may attune. This collective of consciousness is found both in the UnderWorld and in the OverWorld, where it is located, metaphysically, in the Chapel of the Elders or Sanctuary before the Void. I should add that the Order of Justified Men is not anything exclusively patriarchal: it is a collective term rather than a gender specific term. The old sense of “men” for a plural can mean “human” , and comes from “manu” the hand, rather than from solely male gender. The Inner Temples, of course, include both priestesses and priests, as does the Sanctuary before the Void, which is explored in the visionary meditation text that follows this essay.

I was not present at Ronald Heaver’s death, but I was told by Rollo Maughling and several others that he died in full awareness at the local cottage hospital, having invited some friends and students to be present. His death was peaceful and quiet, and he died on his 80th birthday.

So that is the story of my meetings with Ronald Heaver, meetings that exerted a powerful influence on me, and opened out certain specific inner teachings and contacts for me.

The spiritual centre? It never happened…but the idea and the resulting interactions seeded many other things into the minds and souls of those involved.

Part 2: The Sanctuary Before the Void

NOTE: this text is strictly copyright © R J Stewart 1987-2005. Any use of the whole or part of the text without permission is strictly forbidden and is illegal. For copyright permissions contact R.J. Stewart

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Last Update:

May 19, 2005