The planet Mars, being next the earth in the astronomical order of your solar system, has no lower expression of life than your highest and most spiritual expression here. So, any embodiment upon the planet Mars would represent a higher state of expression than the highest embodiment upon the planet earth, (excepting the Messiahs who are beyond the angelic state of the earth) would be like your Angels.

In taking this next degree of embodiment, when all is fulfilled in the angelic states between the earth and Mars, the Angel does not pass beyond the solar system but enters expression in the next step. As there is every experience and expression on the earth which belong to earth, so in the next step, which is expression on the planet Mars, the Soul must have all embodiments and must express all that is possible there, all that the planet has provided. On entering that planet there is expression, as here, according to the laws that govern that planet Do not think that those expressions are like the expressions on earth; if they were, Souls would not be required to pass through them, as before entering upon expression there, all Souls must have passed through all possible experiences of earth as mortals, spirits and Angels. Souls must pass through all expressions on the next planet after having fulfilled all ministrations in the angelic states between the two planets, i. e., having fulfilled all that relates to the group to which the Soul belongs. As long as any Souls in that group or in the Messianic group of that dispensation shall still have expression in mortal, spiritual or angelic states of earth, none can enter the next planetary existence. In fact, in point of time, as said before, in the angelic state there mast be as great a period as in the unfoldment of all embodiments on earth.

If some of the inhabitants of the planet Mars were presented to you, were it possible for you to perceive them with your earthly vision or spiritual perception, you would consider that they belong to a race of Angels; yet these would be but the human beings of Mars. They have physical powers and possessions of which you have no knowledge and which can only come through the Angels of your planet Disembodied spirits can only give you this knowledge from beyond the orbit of the earth through the Angels of earth, because the angelic states alone perceive and impart this knowledge, unless the planet be beneath the earth; if it is, then disembodied spirits can minister to that planet under guidance, but if above the earth the disembodied spirit can only be shown those states and degrees, as said before, by the Angels of your planet.

To typify the states of that planetary life - what they are - we will say: where yon crawl they walk, where you walk they may fly, where you dream they fulfill; compared to the earth, the atmosphere, the life on the planet, and everything pertaining to it, are of such a nature that you would think them all spiritual, angelic; still they inhabit organic bodies and are material. But as all science and art and religion upon the earth in its present unfoldment, even in the highest, are the next degree beneath the lowest that the planet Mars expresses, can yon judge what must be the condition of the planet whose lowest states already typify your highest ideal? You can not even conceive it.

As said before, could you see the inhabitants of Mars, as embodied in the material life of that planet, they would seem to you as gods. Such is the next step of expression. But we are here to tell you that through the expression of life upon the planet Mars there are as great victories to win, and great achievements to be wrought, as between the lowest and highest states on earth. Thus, it will be seen, that they can by no means be like what the earth has offered, but must be a continuation, just as a next higher grade in education must commence where the lower one ceases.

Among the ancients, who knew most of these teachings, Mars was supposed to be the Nemesis of the earth. It was supposed that all powers regulating the justice of man to man, and retribution for wrong, were in some way connected with this planet Mars. It has been referred to in a previous lesson that some lives seem to sweep into human existence, not governed by the usual rules that regulate humanity, for the specific purpose of righting wrong; that these are messengers from the planet Mars.

When all the degrees of expression have been experienced, when every possible conquest has been made upon Mars, the Angel again appears, (the Angel of that planet, Mars,) and that Angel is as much higher in achievement than the one that has expression as the Angel of the earth, as the planet itself is higher in relation to the planetary system. All this time the expression is from the Soul. Remember that it is only that the higher planet affords a better opportunity for expressing that which is within the Soul. The Angel of Mars is one who watches over this world in ways that are mysterious to you, but can be understood by the Angels of the earth, those who guard mankind. These Angels of the planet Mars, having higher knowledge and wisdom than the Angels of the planet earth, must announce to the Angels of the planet earth any truths in the Celestial kingdom, any approach of a dispensation, as these can only be known through the higher Angels.

There is a break in the geometrical order of planets in the space occupied by the Asteroids. Among the ancients there was a series of traditions, that there was a war in Heaven between Mars and Jupiter, or between the deities of those planets there seemed to be discord, which caused the disruption of a planet This divided or broken planet illustrates that which has been stated before: that the usual order proves the rule, and the exception is that which illustrates the rule. It is generally accepted by astronomers that, geometrically, these Asteroids occupy precisely the position that a planet should or would occupy under Herschel's system of ratios. Unquestionably, in the great cycles of material life there is always a break somewhere; that, as you compromise with perfect harmony by certain notes of discord, that, as every musician will understand, there is no music that is not a compromise - were harmony perfect it could not be played by any living musician upon any earthly instrument, - to in the twelve planets, which are the harmonies in the solar system, there is this interval, this compromise.