In its symbolism chess is the most significant of all games. It has been called “the royal game”–the pastime of kings.

Like the Tarot cards, the chessmen represent the elements of life, the Universe and philosophy.

The chessboard consists of 64 squares alternately black and white and symbolizes the floor of the House of the Mysteries. Upon this field of existence of thought, to move a number of strangely carved figures, each according to a fixed law.

The White King is Ormuzd; the Black king, Ahriman; and upon the plains of Cosmos the great war between Light and Darkness is fought through all the ages.

Of the philosophical constitution of man, the kings represent the spirit; the queens the mind; the bishops the emotions; the knights the vitality; the castles, or rooks, the physical body.

The pieces upon the kings’ side are positive; those upon the queens’ side, negative. The pawns are the sensory impulses and perceptive faculties–the eight parts of the soul. The white king and his suite symbolize the Self and its vehicles; the black king and his retinue, the not-self–the false Ego and its legion.

The game of chess thus sets forth the eternal struggle of each part of man’s compound nature against the shadow of itself. The nature of each of the chessmen is revealed by the way in which it moves; geometry is the key to their interpretation.

The castle (the body) moves on the square; the bishop (the emotions) moves on the slant; the king, being the spirit, cannot be captured, but loses the battle when so surrounded that it cannot escape.

Ultimately, the game represents man’s exercise of free will while operating within the confines of natural law. ♦️

Secret Teaching Of The Ages.