igher intelligences in a vision, did
not return to the wily and crafty Herod, but "departed unto their own
country another way." (_Matt. 2:12._) And Herod waited in vain for
their return, and finally discovering their escape wrathfully ordered
the massacre of all male children that had been born in Bethlehem and
its suburbs of two years of age and under. He calculated the two years
from the witnessing of the "star" by the Magi. Matthew 2:16 states the
story of the fixing of the time as follows:

"And slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem, and
all the borders thereof, from two years old and under,
_according to the time which he exactly learned of the wise
men_."

Herod sought to kill the feared Messiah--the King of the Jews, who
threatened to drive him from his earthly throne--by killing all the
male infants in Bethlehem that had been born since the astrological
indication as stated by the Magi.

But this plot failed, for Joseph had been warned by "an angel in a
dream" (which mystics teach was the Astral Form of one of the Magi)
and was told to take the mother and child and flee into Egypt, and to
stay there until the death of Herod. And so Joseph, Mary, and Jesus
then fled from the wrath of Herod, and stole silently away to Egypt.
And the Occult traditions have it that the expenses of the journey of
this poor carpenter and his family--that journey into strange lands,
hurried, and without the chance to earn money along the way--was
accomplished by the means of the Gold that the Magi had offered to
Jesus, and which they had insisted upon his parents storing away for
His use. And so the gold of these Occult Mystics saved the founder of
Christianity from massacre. And how poorly has Christianity repaid the
debt, when one thinks of the persecutions of the Oriental "heathen" by
the so-called Christians of all times!

And note this--they carried the child to Egypt, the home of Mystery
and Occultism--the land of Isis! A worthy resting place for the Great
Occult Master that was to be! And Occult tradition also has it that
one night, wearied with their long journey, the family halted and
passed the night in the place of the Sphinx and Pyramids. And that the
Mother and Babe rested between the outstretched forepaws of the mighty
Sphinx, which held them safe and secure, while Joseph threw himself on
the base before them, and slept on guard. What a scene--the Master as
an infant protected by the