Amazon.com description: Product Description: Within the pages of this little volume are found some of the most priceless gems belonging to the deepest phases of the Christian religion. These gems are the result of the spiritual investigations that inspired and illumined Seer, Max Heindel, the authorized messenger of the Elder Brothers of the Rose Cross, who are working to disseminate throughout the Western world the deeper spiritual meanings which are both concealed and revealed within the Christian religion. Max Heindel's mysticism is set firmly in the western tradition of the Gnosis. Following a series of disappointments and ill health, Heindel claims to have been visited by a Spiritual Being, who he identified as an Elder Brother of the Rosicrucian Order. From this entity he received a compelling explanation of the spiritual evolution of both the Cosmos and Humanity, couched in terms best suited to the logical, linear mind of western culture.    Along with The Rosicrucian Mysteries, Ancient and Modern Initiation acts as an elementary exposition of these teachings and training methods, and a perfect introduction to the philosophy of this important teacher of the Western Mystery Tradition.  Cover photography by Paul Spremulli.