The esoteric meaning of the Lord’s Prayer (Pater Noster)

Dear NightFall Astrology readers,

In this article, I’ll provide you with a translation of a fascinating excerpt from “L’Almanach du Magiste” (the Magus’s Almanac), published in March 1897, by Dr Gérard Encausse – Papus, one of the founders of the contemporary school of occultism, entitled: The esotericism of “Pater Noster” or the Lord’s prayer (the Universal Christian prayer).

This “Almanac”, which was published in book form, contained all the astrological alignments for a year. For this reason, it began in March, with the sign of Aries, which drives the zodiacal year (the astrological year starts with the Spring Equinox). The Almanac also contained various articles, such as the one below, and information about esoteric publications and lifestyle in the late 19th century.

“Pater Noster” has always been considered one of the most esoteric of all Christian prayers. According to tradition, Christ addressed this wonderful invocation to his heavenly Father at the moment of sacrifice. All occultists have in mind the work of Eliphas Levi on the occult verse of “Pater Noster”.

Whatever the real origin of this prayer, it is easy to determine its highly initiatory essence by an analysis, even a brief one. In the following pages, we shall attempt to present a first summary of our research on this subject to our readers. We do not doubt that minds better prepared than ours concerning this subject can go further in a study that we will only touch upon.

In “Pater Noster,” we must consider

1° The Prayer itself;
2° The divisions it presents and their reason for being;
3° The adaptations of this Prayer according to the principles of Analogy.

The Prayer. The “Pater” consists of two parts:

1° An exoteric (outer/physical) part, known only to the general public of Western Catholics;
2° An esoteric (inner/spiritual) part, known to the Eastern Churches and reserved for priests.

The exoteric part includes the revelation of the forces acting in the three worlds and analysing their means of action. The esoteric part links these forces to their principle through the revelation of the mysteries of the Grand Arcanum (the spiritual and alchemical symbolism of the Philosopher’s Stone. No, we aren’t talking about Harry Potter!).
It is the synthesis of the teachings whose analysis is contained in the first part.

I. The exoteric part of the prayer:

“Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from the evil one.”

II. The esoteric (gnostic) part of the prayer:

“For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.”

This is the text of the Prayer, in which we have already marked the divisions to which we will return. For the time being, it is sufficient to note that the terms used are extremely general.

“Father, Name, Kingdom, Will, Heaven, Bread, Forgiveness, Trespasses, Temptation”.

III. The verse divisions:

We know that occultism, without distinction of date or school, teaches the existence of three worlds:

1. The Divine World;
2. The Moral or Astral World;
3. The Physical World.

M. Amelineau, in his learned work on Egyptian Gnosis, insists on the fact that all Gnostic schools agree on the existence of the three worlds. The same is true of all Kabbalistic, alchemical or theurgic schools.

Now the first three verses correspond to the Divine World, characterised by three terms:

“Father, Name, Kingdom” are synthesised through the term “Will”.
“Heaven and Earth” serve as a link between the two worlds.
“Bread, Forgiveness, Trespass” correspond to the world of Human Will.

Finally, “Temptation” or “Sin” refers to the flesh and the physical world.

A. The Divine World:

God is analysed under his triple manifestation:

The Father (Our Father) is considered to exist in all the Heavens, i.e. in all the planes where our ideal can reveal itself either in the physical, astral or divine.
This Father is manifested by two other aspects, the Word (Your Name), whose true knowledge must be reserved for the initiated so as not to be profaned (i.e. sanctified);
The Holy Spirit (Thy Kingdom), the living realisation of the Divinity in all its incarnations and whose total advent the initiate calls for everywhere (let it come).

Finally, the Divine Unity appears in this mysterious involution – evolution of the Will (Thy Will) whose current of love runs through all creation from Matter (Earth) in all its planes to Spirit, the Ideal (Heaven) in all its hierarchies.

This mysterious current (mentioned by Hermes at the beginning of his Emerald Tablet) links the Divine world to the Human world that we will now address.

B. The Human World:

Every moment of Our Life, the current of divine Love permeates us and brings us spiritual bread whose beneficial influences we must assimilate daily. The majority of the time, however, we close our souls to this divine flow, which, like the Sun’s illumination of the Earth, cannot reach the bottom of the cave we are digging by sinking into Matter rather than evolving towards Spirit.
How, then, can we expose our being to spirituality’s daily bread?

The next verse gives the answer.

Every transgression/trespass against our divine Immortality is a debt we voluntarily incur and must pay off through the sufferings of the subsequent incarnation. As taught by Pythagoras, we generate the future by exercising our will in the present.

Now, there is a way to quickly open the door to our inner heaven: to sacrifice some of our egoism in exchange for some of our universality. Our selfish life resides within ourselves, while our moral life resides within others. Only when we act for the benefit of others do we act in an evolutionary mode; when we act for our own benefit, we act in an involutionary, obscuring mode.

If someone insults me, he incurs a moral debt, the repayment of which I may defer as I see fit. Through his actions, he becomes my slave. If I harbour resentment for his actions and consider vengeance, I become self-centred and generate the evil that kills me spiritually.

But if I forgive, I universalise myself, I act in a divine manner, and I destroy not only the evil that I was going to do to myself but also the evil that my enemy had done to himself; I advance to the extent that I am able, the evolution of humanity as a whole by making attractive two souls that would have remained, perhaps for centuries, repulsed by each other and which would have slowed the final reintegration.

Therefore, voluntary forgiveness is the most marvellous method revealed to us for appealing to Providence. Consequently, this word is of utmost importance from the perspective of Man’s conscious creation of his immortality.

C. The Physical World:

This creation of Sin, i.e., of evil for ourselves, is the key to our incarnation in the world of the Flesh, this world of physical Temptation. Through his desire to unite with Matter in order to be stronger than God, the spiritual Adam created in his molecules, that is, in us, the Temptation to the world below. The same ‘original sin’ gravely afflicts our age.

The key to all of this evolution and the possible union of God and man lies in a single principle: forgiveness.
The Lord’s prayer can end here for those with only the first two degrees of initiation; however, the “pneumatics” will continue and evoke the great mystery of the divine constitution.

{ The pneumatics (“spiritual”, from Greek πνεῦμα, “spirit”) were, in Gnosticism, the highest order of humans, the other two orders being psychics and hylics (“matter”). A pneumatic saw itself as escaping the doom of the material world via the transcendent knowledge of Sophia’s Divine Spark within the soul. }

Papus proceeds to practically adapt the prayer to the Ideal, Truth, and Pain/Suffering:

IV. Adaptation to the Ideal:

“(Image of the father in the moral world)

Ideal director who is in my inner Heaven,

May your name be manifested in dedication,

May your evolutionary influence be realised,

May your domain extend in my body as it is extended in my heart.

Manifest to me daily your certain presence

Forgive my failings

As I forgive those of weak mortals, my brothers.

Preserve me from the mirages of perverse matter, but deliver me from despair.

For you are Royalty, Balance, and Strength in the Eternity of my Intutuion.”

V. Adaptation to the Truth:

“(Image of the Father in the Intellectual world)

Living Truth who are within my eternal Spirit,

Let the Work attest to thy Name,

Allow your manifestation to manifest,

May your Law be manifest in reality

According to the Spirit.

Give us daily creative inspiration.

Forgive my ignorance, just as I will forgive the ignorance of my brothers.

Preserve me from barren denial, but deliver me from deadly doubt.

For you are Royalty, Balance, and Strength in the Unity of my Reason”.

VI. Adaptation to Pain and Suffering:

“(Paternal redemption principle in the Material World)*

O Suffering which is in the Root of my incarnation,

May your Name be sanctified by courage in trial,

May your influence be understood,

May your purifying fire burn my body as it has burned my soul.

Come every day to change my indolent nature

Come to destroy my sloth and pride

As you destroy the sloth and pride of sinners, my brothers!

Preserve me from the cowardice that might lead me to turn away from you, for you alone

Can deliver me from the evil I have created.

For You are the Purifier, Balancer, and Redeemer throughout the cycle of my existences.”

* Positive verses become negative in the material world and vice versa.

Thank you for reading.

Fuel my caffeine addiction and spark my productivity by clicking that ‘Buy me a coffee’ button—because nothing says ‘I love this blog’ like a hot cup of java!
Buy Me a Coffee

Your Astrologer – Theodora NightFall ~

Your next 4 steps (they’re all essential but non-cumulative):

1. Follow me on Facebook & Instagram!

2. Subscribe to my free newsletter, “NightFall Insiders”, the place where the most potent magicK happens, and get my daily & weekly horoscopes, exclusive articles, updates, and special offers delivered directly to your inbox!

3. Purchase one of my super concise & accurate mini-readings that will answer your most pressing Astro questions within 5 days max!

4. Book a LIVE Astro consultation with me.