By Marshall Haley –

In early August of 1973, I was searching for the meaning of life. I made one of my frequent visits to the University Book Store in the University District of Seattle. A book seemed to ‘jump out’ at me as I searched the occult section for deeper meaning: Secret of the Andes by “Brother Philip.”

A quick perusal drew my attention to words such as “Great White Brotherhood*” that I’d heard during a class I had taken at the Quest (Theosophical) Bookstore in Seattle. The book told of a retreat high in the Peruvian Andes including a library that allegedly contained the wisdom of the ages and provided the meaning of life—exactly what I wanted to know! Readers were invited to travel to the retreat and “weave the garment of your seven rays” in a beautiful river valley where vegetables grew six times their normal size.

So, I soon gave notice at Pacific Northwest Bell in Seattle where I worked as an information operator and bought a $600 round-trip ticket to Lima and Cuzco, Peru. The trip took around 24 hours but was no hardship for a 25-year-old former U.S. Marine and college baseball player. (Passport photo to the right.)

Then I landed in Cuzco, which sits on the 12,500-foot plateau that covers most of Peru. For the first few days, I could not walk more than about a half-block without stopping for a few minutes to catch my breath.  A humbling experience!

After a week of acclimating, I decided to get on the train and head for the Andes. I planned to pull the cord to stop the train (like in the movies) when I got close enough to the mountains, hop off and head for the hills.

Mystical Journey

Have you ever read the Life and Teachings of the Masters of the Far East? The author tells of his troupe of several European scientists who travelled by ship to India, in 1890, to verify reports of super-human feats by holy men there.  When they got off the ship, they were greeted by a guide who led them on a mystical journey throughout India and Mongolia. They had not informed anyone in India of their plans, so they initially wondered who their guide represented and how he knew they were coming.

So naturally, I fully expected that someone from the Andes retreat would come down to meet me and show me the way. Ah, youth! To my surprise, the train never headed toward the mountains, but went southeast to the town of Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca. As darkness fell shortly after we arrived, I checked into a little hotel and went right to bed around 8 p.m.

As I awoke, I ‘heard a voice in my head’ say, “You can go home now.” Without even wondering who said that, I quickly looked at my watch: 5:00 a.m. I looked at the train schedule and saw the once/day trip to Cuzco left at 5:30 a.m., I quickly put on my clothes, threw my stuff together and ran for the train. I later realized that I had never even seen Lake Titicaca—only smelled it. I arrived back in Seattle on my 26^th birthday, Sept. 14, 1973, not having made contact with ‘Brother Philip’ or any of his associates.

Making Outer Contact

Three months later, on Tuesday, Dec. 18^th, I got a ride from a young man named Gary Kingman whom I’d just met at a job interview, and we lived in the same part of town. He asked me what interested me, and I told him I enjoyed studying astrology and making charts. He said the school he’d just attended encouraged him to get his chart done.

“What kind of school is that?!” I asked. Gary said, “Have you ever heard of the Great White Brotherhood*?” I said, “Yes, I was just down in Peru looking for them!” He started telling me about 10,001 avatars who had come to save Earth, traveling on the comet Kohoutek that was passing Earth that very week.

When we got to my house, he pulled over, opened his briefcase and handed me a Summit Lighthouse brochure and a copy of “Climb the Highest Mountain,” published the year before. He gave me his phone number and asked me to call when I had read the book. I read the first four chapters over the next couple of days, and thought, “These are things I’ve always known, but I’ve never heard anyone talk about them!” I called Gary, and he invited me to a Wednesday healing service. After attending several services that winter, the group members told me about the Easter conference coming up in April at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and asked if I wanted to go. I did.

Sometime that spring, Gary told me that El Morya, in his final dictation to their class, on Dec. 8—ten days before I met him in Seattle—had asked them to always carry TSL brochures and books with them, because he would be sending his students to them! Thankfully, Gary obeyed!

Conferences/Classes

I first saw Elizabeth Clare Prophet on Wednesday evening, April 10, as we walked across the hotel parking lot and she walked with her entourage, returning from dinner. She stopped and turned toward us with a big smile and said, “Hello!” I felt the urge to run up to her and tell her I’d read her book, but Gary hesitated, appearing shy. He had attended El Morya’s quarter of Ascended Master University the previous fall, so I followed his example and restrained myself.

On Friday, April 12, 1974, I joined the Keepers of the Flame Fraternity so I could attend their meeting on Saturday. On the last day of the class, Mrs. Prophet told us Paul the Venetian’s quarter would start that week in Santa Barbara and invited anyone who could to attend. For those who could not, she told us Serapis Bey would sponsor the next 3-month seminar in September. I said to myself, “THAT’S the one I’m going to!” I wasn’t familiar with Serapis Bey, but knew I had to go to that quarter.  I later realized how well that ‘fit’ my Cancer Rising sign, since Serapis sponsors Cancer types—and both my birth father (deceased) and stepfather had Cancer Suns.

That conference, I believe, marked Mrs. Prophet’s first public introduction to Mother Mary’s cosmic clock astrology, which I immediately loved, because it filled in much of the deeper spiritual meaning that I then realized had been lost from what she called ‘worldly’ astrology. I had studied astrology for several years.

During my Ascended Master University quarter under Serapis (they changed the school’s name to Summit University in 1975), I told Mother the story of my trip to Peru. She told our class that El Morya wanted us to know that the book Secret of the Andes was a false hierarchy book, that the authors had left Peru for Europe, but kept publishing the book to discourage earnest seekers of the Brotherhood and “to drain their supply.”

Mrs. Prophet also told us that she and Lanello would take over as hierarchs of the Temple of Illumination over Lake Titicaca when the God and Goddess Meru ‘moved up’ in hierarchy to replace Helios and Vesta.

When she said that, a ‘light went on in my head,’ and I had a better idea who had told me, “You can go home now” when I awoke at 5 a.m. in Puno. By then, I had studied Mother Mary’s teachings on the cosmic clock and knew El Morya sponsored the 5 o’clock line!

Requirements on the Spiritual Path

Why did I need to travel all the way to Peru only to find The Summit Lighthouse and Teachings of the Great White Brotherhood right back in Seattle? Apparently, God requires us to sometimes make a pilgrimage to a holy location to prove our serious intent.

Even though I had no idea Lake Titicaca adjoined a very high spiritual forcefield, El Morya and our messengers, Mark and Elizabeth Clare Prophet, apparently required me to meet them in their future retreat before they would arrange for me to meet one of their outer, physical representatives.

But the masters don’t always have an easy time coordinating our meeting their outer representatives! Both Gary and I had intended to check out that job the previous Tuesday, but we each changed our mind. Can you see the masters like puppeteers pulling our strings—and planting ideas in our heads—to make sure we connect?!

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LINKS:

• – The word “white” refers not to race but to the aura (halo) of white light surrounding their forms.
• – The Great White Brotherhood
• – Etheric Retreats of the Ascended Masters
• – Climb the Highest Mountain, Vol. 1
• – Keepers of the Flame Fraternity  
• – El Morya
• – Serapis Bey
• – The Cosmic Clock