78 On the twelfth day Ahira, the son of Enan, the leader of the men of Naphtali:
79 his offering was one silver plate, whose weight was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver basin of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering;
80 one golden dish of ten shekels, full of incense;
81 one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;
82 one male goat for a sin offering;
83 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahira, the son of Enan.
Ahira means Nourisher. He symbolizes the central, controlling thought of strength that, at this stage of spiritual development, tends to strengthen materialistic thinking. The sacrifices he makes symbolize the transmutation of beliefs about the nature of your resources and where they ultimately come from. The plate of flour here symbolizes the current beliefs about the individual, God, and the Universe. The flour mixed with oil symbolizes the old subconscious tendencies that are not in accord with the Divine. The cereal offering represents balancing of the Masculine and Feminine ways of knowing (Intellect and Intuition). The dish full of incense symbolizes the Soul reaching for the Divine. The bull and ram symbolize, respectively, the initial belief and the ideas in the mind that follow that way of thinking. Sacrificing them in a burnt offering symbolizes completely changing one’s way of thinking. The peace offerings symbolize those things that must be sacrificed in order to attain peace of mind. The two oxen symbolize the way of thinking that supports Materialism. The rams symbolize the consciousness that was raised up by this way of thinking. The Five male goats symbolize the stubbornness and refusal to change. The male lambs symbolize the belief in external sources of power and Life. Transmuting these things ends the conflict between your human and divine consciousness.
84 This was the dedication offering for the altar, on the day when it was anointed, from the leaders of Israel: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve golden dishes,
85 each silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels and each basin seventy, all the silver of the vessels two thousand four hundred shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary,
86 the twelve golden dishes, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece according to the shekel of the sanctuary, all the gold of the dishes being a hundred and twenty shekels;
87 all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old, with their cereal offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering;
88 and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication offering for the altar, after it was anointed.
All of these sacrifices combined amount to the total transfiguration of the psyche. Only through this complete transfiguration can we all become living temples of God, that is, living embodiments of God.
89 And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.
This is the point of all this preparation and sacrifice. Once this is accomplished, we may turn our consciousness inward and experience direct communication with God.