Copyright (C) 1999 by William Mistele.  All rights reserved. 

The cosmic letters are basic building blocks from which matter,
space, time, the universe, spirit and human consciousness have been
constructed.  I enjoy working with them from time to time because
they give me such a clear perspective on the ways in which Divine
Providence is active in shaping human history.  The letters and brief
descriptions of each of them on four planes are found in Franz
Bardon's book, The Key to the True Kabbalah. 
    The UE vibration is fashioned from combining into one
concentration the note of C#, the color of pink, and the sensations
of great density and also penetrating through space and time.  I
found the UE quite difficult in the beginning to work with.  I have
returned to it again and again because it is one of the best letters for
understanding the heart, the cosmic principle of love, and
prophetic/clairvoyant ability.  
     I knew a man once who mentioned that he liked to place a
picture of a couple who were in great conflict under a pink light. 
Invariably, he found that this action got the couple to become more
affectionate and appreciative of each other.   The UE certainly
increases ones sense of love due to the pink color.  The pink is a
combination of the more abstract white light of spirit and the power
of passion found in the color red.  
    But when it comes down to it, the cosmic letters are cosmic
vehicles of consciousness and creativity.  The UE, therefore, serves
as a way of tracing the movement of the highest love for the
universe down through the planes to where it influences you on a
physical and instinctual level.  Since it is easy to get lost amid the
great variety of practices undertaken by a magician or hermetic
student, it is nice to return and work with those letters which offer
integration of the self and reassurance about the presence of love
within and guiding you. 
     A simple way of working with the qualities if not the power of
the UE is to concentrate on a small ball constructed from the color,
sound, and sensations and then to contemplate this energy.  For
some it will be just as easy to imagine you are sitting in the center of
a universe filled only with this energy as well.  In any case, the
procedure is to create the energy field and then to mediate within it
so you receive impressions and become completely familiar with its
vibrations and qualities.  
    I offer the following as a brief summary of my work during the
last several weeks in mediating on UE. 
    


The Cosmic Letter UE

Akashic Level:  This is another version of absolute transcendence. 
It is the highest spiritual essence at the core of the heart--it sees,
feels, and lives within the dream of what is possible for the universe,
of what the universe can become.  This is Kether in the Kabbalah
and the sphere of Neptune in our solar system.  There is no question
but that this is the consciousness and love of the Creator watching
over his creation.
     One of the qualities present is the feeling of absolute freedom
which belongs to a loving heart--the ability to express itself in new
ways and to fashion new possibilities which have never before been
seen.  This intuition, though founded on pure love, is not weak or
naive.  It commands the secret purposes behind creation and ordains
their mode of fulfillment.
   
Mental Level:  The akashic level has no real reference to space and
time.  It does not belong to any specific race of intelligent beings nor
is it shaped by the limitations of the evolutions in various star
systems.  But on the mental level, this cosmic, divine consciousness
of love now focuses through you as an individual.  You share its
ecstasy, its vision, and its motivation.  It possesses your being. 
Though now modified and qualified by the limitations of your
individuality, it is nonetheless active and fully present within you. 
     The great advantage of feeling this inspiration completely and of
having it alive within you is that you see the world differently.  You
understand every human desire.  No impulse, consciousness, or
intention escapes your comprehension.  You understand everyone's
level of spiritual development and the process of transformation
which they are undergoing.
      Since the heart deals with harmony, this divine impulse seeks to
reconcile the deepest desires of each individual with his or her
highest ideals.  The ideal is the active, sometimes barely conscious
spiritual principle recognized by an individual--that is, whatever
motivates or inspires an individual to seek and to undergo positive
transformation.  The desires are not only found within the instincts
of the animal kingdom and the absolute cravings of kundalini for
new experience.  It is the hunger within physical matter to become
enlightened, to turn from fixed density into pure, boundless light.
     Bardon says of the mental level, "In the mental plane, i.e., in the
spirit, this oscillation, like the one discussed before, will bring about
the faculty of profoundest cosmic intuition and inspiration which, at
the same time, may be regarded as the gift for absolute devotion to,
and deepest love for, Divine Providence...."
     The reason you feel such devotion and humility is that you
perceive and realize the interconnection of all things, the divine
desire hidden within every human desire, and the divine presence
which observes and seeks to inspire all human action.  To
everything a time and a season--every human desire will be fulfilled. 
On the mental level, you comprehend this process from its
beginning to its end.

Astral Level:  The great freedom and transcendence of the akashic
level and the illumination of mind on the mental level now result in
an astral quality--the gift of prophecy.  Though incarnated within
history, you see through space and time with the eyes of the divine
and have visions of what shall be.   This is not so difficult to
understand.  Love fully accepts and supports the way each of the
four elements grants us life and offers us new experience.  
     The UE vibration on the astral level so opens itself and
encompasses the activities of the four elements that it senses where
they have originated, what they are doing, and how they will unfold. 
An undine within a stream can sense the origin of the waters, their
flow and movement, and where the stream leads.  She is one with
the entire flow--from the beginning to the end.  So to UE is to the
astral plane.  It joins itself to the entire stream of time.  The past,
present, and future are equally real and alive within its heart.
    The real point, then, about the astral gift of prophecy is not that
you can see specific things before they happen, though this is
obviously a very special ability.  The point in regard to the cosmic
letter UE is that as you practice on the astral level your own inner
desires and impulses become luminous.  They are no longer dark,
obscure, and in conflict with each other.  Your inner self becomes
incredibly clear.  You gain inner freedom because you are able to
embrace your own desires and secret impulses with perfected love. 
     This grace which is effective within yourself naturally extends
itself to embrace and foresee the unfolding of desire and karma
within others as well.  As this skill develops, you become like some
of the spirits of the earthzone of whom Bardon says they oversee
and foresee the fate of both individuals and nations.

Physical:  This is the ability to influence and to transform anything
or anyone you come in contact with.  You already have the key to
its deepest secrets and the alchemy by which it undergoes change
and is elevated in vibration, to be made into a new being.  You
understand precisely the role illusion, self-deception, and any kind
of limitation play in someone's life.  You know exactly when and in
what way to intervene to offer a new path of life and when to step
aside and remain hidden from others' gaze. 
     It goes without saying that you are able to be active and
influential anywhere on earth.  The whole world you hold within
your heart.  Your presence, to the extent you master the UE
vibration, is a divine presence and your work is divine service.   
     In the Old Testament, there were prophets such as Isaiah whose
prophecies regarding the nations were without parallel.  He spoke
concerning the fate of all the nations having any connection to
Israel.  But other individuals such as Daniel in Babylon and Joseph
in Egypt were not only prophets but also were totally active in the
physical world as well.  Daniel and Joseph were number one in rank
next to the King or Pharaoh.  They exercised oversight and
governed the entire economies of these nations.
    In other words, on the astral plane, the UE leads to great
prophetic ability.  But take a further step toward the physical plane
and the UE creates an individual who has great influence and
effectiveness within the physical world.  The purpose of his
existence is to guide others through their transformations.
    An example of a role such as this is that of the "spiritual uncle"
among the Hopi Indians.  During puberty, a child leaves his home,
enters a kiva, and is initiated into the clan of his mother.  There he
gains a spiritual uncle.  This is an older individual who remains with
him the rest of his life.  The task of the spiritual uncle is serve as a
friend, an advisor, and a counselor.  He acts as a  spiritual
conscience.  He is a stable, trusted, and inspiring presence during all
the transitions of life.  
     The spiritual uncle is not a minister to a congregation, a priest to
a parish, or a guru to an ashram.  He is someone who is there for
you individually.  His job is to see that your life reaches its highest
level of attainment.  The Dalai Lama also has an individual who
serves as both valet and advisor and who is with him his entire life.  
    These human roles are similar to the influence of the UE on the
physical plane.  The difference is that in mastering the vibration of
UE you in effect internalize the presence of your own guardian
angel.  Though incarnate, you become a spiritual being whose entire
power is set on guiding the world to its highest attainment. 
        
If we put the four planes together, we have an individual with an
incredibly dense and solid vibration in accordance with the earth
element within UE.  And, under the influence of the akasha within
UE, consciousness is both at one with the entire universe and
completely focused within the present moment and situation.  There
is a full acceptance of the world exactly as it is so much so that the
limitations of life are seen as sacred.  At the same time, there is no
karmic restriction or limitation which can not be radically altered if
the full desires of the heart are brought to bear upon it.

This is a poem I wrote five years ago in which I sought to give a
voice to the letter UE:

I am the benevolence of Divine Providence
I create, I inspire, I guide
I make all things new in the fullness of time

I am the wish-fulfilling gem 
I gratify your deepest cravings 
And reveal your highest path to perfection 

I am the mysterious nexus:
Through my soul pass
The most obscure forces 
Holding history in their grasp

I alter molecular vibrations with my touch 
Amid your worst nightmare, 
Your greatest fear,
Your obstacles 
Impenetrable and severe
I open the gateway to freedom 

Who Celebrates these things: 
The beauty of the earth and sky uniting
The tossing and turning of the seasons in wild passion
And this also: 
The vast, unknown reaches 
Within a heart without hope--
Swirling cosmic dust
Giving birth to stars
Out of the dark womb of infinite space

My wealth is the joining 
Of matter and spirit without limit 
And my consort is the fire 
Illuminating the world with universal love. 


Pathworking

In some systems of hermetic philosophy, the letters of the Hebrew
alphabet are related to the paths between the sephiroth in the Tree
of Life.  These paths, like the Tarot cards, can be worked with in a
very casual as well as a very ritualized manner.  Obviously, different
individuals and traditions will attribute the letters according to their
own systems of practice and interpretation.  My only interest in
mentioning this is to point out that the letters have psychological
value in a spiritual system as well as purely magical usages.
    For example, the UE, which also seems to correlate to the letter
Y, can be related to the Hebrew letter Yod as sometimes other
letters are as well.  In some systems, the Yod applies to the path
between Tipareth and Chesed in the Tree of Life.   This path is
sometimes assigned the Tarot card of the Hermit.  
   The Hermit is also sometimes seen as carrying a staff and a lamp. 
You can take a Tarot card and contemplate it.  You can imagine
walking inside of the picture and asking the individuals or images
questions.  You can imagine you become the Tarot card and so
forth.  Activities such as these carry a psychological weight--they
help orient us on a personal level, that is, through direct personal
experience, to archetypal imagery.
    As I contemplate the Hermit Tarot card, the card changes.  It
turns into a great yogic master or magician.  He holds in his right
hand the sun and in his left hand a book.  The book contains the
wisdom of all spiritual paths, of all hermetic philosophies, and the
knowledge of Kabbalah and the spheres of our solar system.  
    He is still a hermit.  He is wrapped up in his spiritual practices
and so has very little interest in informing the world of his presence. 
But on the other hand, he is not like the traditional image of a
hermit because he is not inactive when it comes to being involved in
the external world.  With the creative power of the sun at his
disposal, he is free to project his mind anywhere on earth to provide
inspiration, illumination, and healing of strife.  
    This hermit is wealthy beyond what imagination can conceive. 
He has the resources of Chesed at his disposal.  And he inspires
though in a secret and unseen manner because he is united to the
divine purposes of love emanating from Tipareth.  I like this image
of a Hermit better than the traditional Tarot image because it
overcomes completely the sense of isolation attending those who
seek within for light and meaning.   As I mentioned, this hermit is
the essence of wealth and love joined.  For me, then, it is not
difficult to relate the Tarot card and the path on the tree the cosmic
letter UE.