Science of the Sacraments by Charles Leadbeater
This would be the best book available that describes the actual spiritual events that occur during the Eucharist.  Charles Leadbeater was one of the most brilliant clairvoyants at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and he  accurately records all he sees during the performing of the Mass.  The accuracy of this book has been vouched for by so many other psychics, (including some of the present Australian Church of Antioch Clergy), and they join in with the others to commend the quality of this work.    
One minor statement about women's ability to be celebrants that Leadbeater made in this book, is no longer relevant, and Leadbeater did himself acknowledge that this information would in the very near future be redundant.   This has proved to come true with the Church of Antioch USA. and Australia both having gained true lines of female succession in 1987 that are perfectly in balance with the male.  
Available through all theosophical bookshops.  
Please be aware that the new editions have deleted the section on the robes, croziers, etc.  For information on these, contact us for a copy of this section from the old edition. 
Link to PDF Version with corrections to pages 20,41,42,78 & 237.  See also "What Have I got to Say".

Evidence of the colour of Jesus’ & Mary’s Hair

I know you probably won’t believe this of me, but I got into a bit of a rumble in an esoteric group last week about whether or not Jesus and Mary had red hair. The first part I posted follows here in the first paragraph. I then got questioned on many things by a bit of a ???? let’s not even give him a name or title…. From the 2nd paragraph on are my answers for anyone interested. I cannot include his questions as he deleted them all at the end of the discussion. You may get the gist of it from my answers. 

Red hair is associated with the genetics of indo European speakers. There was an Indo European element in early Israel and this is demonstrated in “The Armana Letters” where the Prince of Jerusalem had an Indo European name. Furthermore see Analysis by Graves & Patti “In Hebrew Myths” and also “Raglan the Hero”. For indo European influence on pre-Christian lore the argument is simply that the natives of Gallilee were a mixture of Indo European & Semitic elements. Furthermore red heads were known in ancient Egypt as we know from Plutarch. They were associated with the Cult of the God Set, which early Egyptians such as Apion identified as being the God of Israel. Moreover King David was of an Edomite tribe being descended from Caleb; compare the genealogy in Chronicles and Kings of Salma. Note that edom means red. There was therefore a Jewish tradition that King David had red hair which is mentioned in the Talmud. Finally ancient Catholic tradition holds that the earliest portraits of Jesus and Mary were painted by Saint Luke and the earliest known copies of these images show both Jesus & Mary as having redish brown hair. See also the discussion by Graves, “In King Jesus” which although a novel is based on serious scholarship. Redish brown hair colour is also mentioned in the Apocryphal Letter of King Agabas of Edessa which is based on early sources. I have given only a small example of what I believe to be evidence. 

In relation to the myth of Isirus and Egyptian parallels we regard these as ancient prophecies this is a quite Orthodox Christian viewpoint see for example Eusebus – “Preparation for the Gospel” & St. Augustine – “City of God”, who hold that the prophecy of the coming of Jesus was revealed to all human beings everywhere at the beginning of humanity. Therefore we regard the parallels you mention as prophecies. Rather than Christianity being derived from Egyptian mythology, we see Egyptian mythology as being derived from the original Christian Prophecy. As far as an esoteric view on this point. See Rudolph Steiner’s “Christianity as Mystical Fact”.

In regard to the fact of bronze & words of many waters, there are two considerations.
1. We are not claiming that Jesus or Mary had white skin, merely that they had red hair. This is not genetically inconsistent with Indo European ancestry, but it would have to be a mixed ancestry. Our comments are not meant to be racial in any way but rather concern visage. (the early icons are after all also facts).

2. The next aspect you have ignored from an esoteric viewpoint is that “the voice of many waters” is a reference to an internal state of consciousness related to the mercury energies within the body. It should be noted that mercury’s metallic symbol is brass and indicating the feet as brass is a way of indicating bringing mercury energy from the feet to the mouth where it becomes “the sound of many waters”.

Note that Jesus Christ was considered the equivalent of mercury because mercury is a symbol of the Logos word (or sound of many waters) in Greek Mythology. This equation is also found in alchemy.

In regard to the black Mary Icons, these are an ancient symbol of the embodiment of Wisdom. See Ean Begg, “The Black Madonna”, and Idris Shah, who explains that black equals wise in Sufiism. We regard this also as a prophecy of the coming incarnation of The Divine Wisdom (Sophia in Greek) in human form. 

Once again Prophecy not Mythology.