Today, I would like to welcome Helmar Rudolph to the blog, this is a repost from studentsoffranzbardon.com in preparation for a brand new interview for 2022.
He has been a big inspiration in my life from his experiences with the Master Key and continues to inspire with his new work which delves deeper into the practice of hermetics and its application in our lives. Helmar’s Website: https://derbeste.coach/ (Use translate to read the content and see all the wonderful courses he has lined up.
PAA: Welcome to the blog. It has been some time since our last interview that centred around your work with the Master Key System. For those that are not familiar with your work, can you briefly introduce yourself?
Helmar: My name is Helmar Rudolph, born in Germany, but with strong ties to South Africa, where I spent the better part of the past 30 years. I have a diploma in Marketing Management from the Institute of Marketing Management in Johannesburg. In the early days I did a lot of database programming, then made myself a name in Customer Relationship Management. A period of website development followed, before turning to the Master Key System in 2007.
PAA: Recently I saw that some changes are taking place with the website and https://derbeste.coach/ is now taking centre stage. Could you let us know about the developments in your coaching program and how Hermetics and Sacred Symbols now play a role. As I believe the way in which you are presenting this information is really unique and is of great value to the wider community.
Helmar: Yes, and that was just a matter of time. Over the years I did expand my expertise, and the “Mr. Master Key” jacket became a bit too tight. The transition process isn’t yet complete, but for now “Der beste Coach” is where all my endeavors are concentrated. When I started taking cardology (“Sacred Symbols”) more seriously back in 2018, it became clear that my publishing efforts would be complemented by personal coaching. Hermetics have always been an integral part. The Chakras are the link between spiritual and the physical world, so they complement my offerings rather nicely. With those four elements – I call the entire process 4C Transformation (C for corners) – I cover the entire spectrum of personal development and conscious co-creation. Body, mind and spirit — the (w)holy trinity. You see, the Master Key System is abstract; it applies to everyone learning and practicing it. What’s missing is the individual component, the one that differentiates someone born October 4, 1966 from someone born January 7, 1988. We all are on different life paths. Even if we were born on the same day, even a year’s difference would mean that what applies to one doesn’t apply to the other. It’s our individual task to find out our individual rhythm — so to say — and to follow the beat of that drum. That’s where cardology comes in, but more on that later.
PAA: Let’s look at each new area in detail. First we have the Chakra system which though Charles Haanel mentioned the importance of the Solar Plexus the Chakras were not discussed directly in the MKS. Could you tell us how these play a role in the new course and how you see these interact with the physical world? Do you see these as actual realities coexisting within us? Or a useful mental map to navigate the qualities of a human being but lacking physical reality? I know there are mixed opinions on this.
Helmar: Behind the Chakras “hides” the wonderful 2nd hermetic principle of “correspondence” — or “analogy”. Roughly speaking it stands for “as above, so below“, which means that the laws governing the higher planes also govern the lower ones. For me here on the earthly plane it means that everything is connected — connected by law! So take the Root Chakra for example: Its colour is red; its element is earth; it stands for our groundedness, our safety and security, our tribe, our family; the base we operate from. It also has a “corresponding” zodiac sign, an alchemistic process, a yoga pose, a precious stone, a tone, a tree, a tissue salt, a planet, a Tarot card, something that blocks it, something that releases it, an endocrine gland etc pp. The same holds true for all the other Chakras – it’s all connected!

The Solar Plexus is the 3rd chakra, colour yellow, element fire. No wonder it’s — at least according to Haanel – the center for distributing energy to the entire body. Its ganglionic mass behind the stomach makes us feel like “a million bucks” when we are positive and elated. It also makes us feel like “shit” when the stomach cramps, when we feel threatened or even attacked. Have you ever been in an embarrassing situation where you almost lost control of your bowels? Well, it’s the Solar Plexus “lightening your load” in order to help you get out of the situation. The Solar Plexus means that anything that happens on the outside will have an immediate effect on our physical and emotional wellbeing. That’s why it’s so important to be in control of your body and your thoughts, so that as a result of that control you stay relaxed at all times — safe from any negative outside influence. The Chakras link the student’s mental work with the Master Key System with his/her real-life experience. Because of this significance, it goes without saying that it plays an integral part in my teaching and coaching. I wouldn’t call it actual realities that are co-existing within us. There are simply different and more complex levels to our existence, and our ability to influence our own life and the world around us.
The Chakras also represent a path of initiation. Whereas the lower ones are deeply linked to our physical existence, the higher ones are impersonal and represent the ephemeral and therefore spiritual aspects of our life. They are a map, yes, because we start with the Root Chakra, and then work ourselves up until we’ve reached the Crown Chakra. If all seven are operating harmoniously, our life is a symphony of joy and contentment — of health, wealth and fulfilment. The Master Key System emphasizes the Solar Plexus, because it’s “contains” the fire that we need to move forward in life. It also protects us from external or foreign influences that could be detrimental to our well-being. It is, however, only one of seven main Chakras. As each one is governed by an endocrine gland, it’s obvious that any hormonal release impacts on us directly — and immediately.
PAA: Sacred Symbols. This looks to be a huge subject as you have brought something that is usually very complex and transformed it into a far more easy to access method. I say that with the caveat that I am reading all this via your German language website so I may be misunderstanding some terms. Can you expound on exactly what these Sacred Symbols are and how we apply them to benefit our lives?
Helmar: “Sacred Symbols” leans on the book “Sacred Symbols of the Ancients” by Edith Randall and Florence Campbell. The “sacred symbols” are the 52 playing cards, also called “the little book of the 7 thunders” — the latter being the 7 planets from Mercury to Neptune, which interact with the 52 playing cards. The entire subject is indeed huge. The playing cards represent a solar calendar, with 4 decks — or seasons, 13 cards per deck — or moons, 52 cards in total — or weeks, 12 court cards or months, and the Joker with a value of 5/4 – the remainder of the days. If you could Ace (1) to King (13), you’ll get 91, times 4 decks equals 364, plus the Joker, et voilà, there’s your entire year. The 7 planets represent the seven days of the week. In French it’s most apparent: Lunedi (Moon day), Mardi (Mars day), Mercredi (Mercury day), Jeudi (Jupiter day), Vendredi (Venus day), Samedi (or Saturday for Saturn day), and Dimanche (or Sunday for Sun day), leaving out the outer planets of recent discovery, Uranus and Neptune. But, and here it gets interesting: it’s not only a solar calendar, but one for personal development and foretelling future energies. Say you were born on October 4. You’d have the 5 of Diamonds as your birth card and the Jack of Clubs as your Planetary Ruler (Oct 4 is Libra, and Libra is ruled by Venus, so your Venus card is your Planetary Ruler). The 5 of Diamonds is – in a 7×7 grid with 3 crown line cards = 52 cards — the Neptune card in the Saturn line. It has all its 7 planetary cards on the Uranus line, and based on that A LOT can be told about that person. Say he or she was born in 1966, now being 53 years old. The person would be in the 53rd distribution of the cards. The base distribution is the natural order from Ace to King, in the suit order of Hearts (spring), Clubs (summer), Diamonds (autumn), and Spades (winter). Through a process of quadration, as devised by people in the know back in the day, this natural order gets “distorted”. And the first quadration or distortion is where the 5 of Diamonds occupies the Neptune/Saturn position. The quadration continues over the years, eventually leading — in our case — to year 53, where the 5 of Diamonds not only sits in a completely different position, but also has 7 different cards in front of it. As each of those 7 cards stands for 52 days, totalling 364, they represent periods of energetic qualities. If I now know where I stand with my card, I can see which energies and qualities rule over those 52 day periods. This means I can tune into my own personal rhythm, and that means that I can do the right thing at the right time, vastly enhancing my chances of success. All this obviously applies to each of the other cards in the deck as well. Find out what your card is means finding out things about your life that you may have had an inkling about, but never really knew for sure. This newly gained knowledge is like a gift from God, because it puts a sceptre of power into your hands. It allows you completely reevaluate your life, strengthening your strengths while managing your weaknesses — and you sure have them! Cardology is a blend of astrology and numerology. It makes the interpretation very easy, so I find it more accessible than astrology. What is most striking is its accuracy. I wouldn’t have gone into reprogramming the system based on the book by Randall/Campbell if I hadn’t been so convinced of it. Now take this highly personal and individual element and link it up with the abstract qualities of the Master Key System, and you have the holy grail of personal development. I know of nothing that even comes close, although there are great individual tools and methods out there. The combination of the MKS and Sacred Symbols, however, does it for me.
PAA: These new programs sound extremely interesting. Knowledge that is often misunderstood or divorced from our practical lives explained clearly. Can you share a little about the discovery of these methods and what impact they have had upon your own life?
Helmar: How much time do you have? First of all, with the cards I found out so much more about myself. I also finally realised why in the past my relationships were of a particular quality — a Jack of Clubs in Venus sure makes for a lot of variety and creative energy in the love department. This allowed me to finally make internal changes, vastly impacting on my current relationship in a positive way.

It also confirmed my “quirkiness” and “being different”, because with all my cards on the Uranus line I’m sure up for shaking things up or an electrifying conversation — even argument. Also, as a 5 of Diamonds I replace the 9 of Diamonds in the natural order (Spread 0), which finally explained why the money I earn never stays with me for an extended period of time. It cannot, for the 9 needs to let go, needs to be generous, and as Diamonds stand for values, including money, the values I acquire need to be released. So now I know that I receive by being generous, and that is in fact the case. My girlfriend is a 7 of Spades. The 7 of Spades is my Jupiter card — my blessing. For my Planetary Ruler (Jack of Clubs) it’s the Venus card, so ideal for a relationship. And that’s exactly how it’s been turning out. Amazing! Over and above my general “imprint”, I can check my annual card distribution for any opportunities or obstacles. This makes for a much smoother and fulfilling life path. See it as your personal headlights that shine light into the future. The value of having such a tool is immense!
PAA: On the site I read this: ‘It has never been so easy to combine the supposedly mystical with the practical and to achieve quick, concrete and sustainable results’, which I think is interesting as there are many masters, gurus and teachers out there promising change and sadly the change or the breakthrough individuals are looking for is often not found. So what makes this program different? How do you manage to create real change in those doing your courses whereby they can progress not only in their inner life but also in their outer life through material success? This for me is a very important difference in your program in that real world results are absolutely expected and the amount of time required for change is realistic in terms of years not days or weeks.
Helmar: The program is different because it’s truly holistic. It doesn’t cover everything, but it combines the abstract or generic with the individual or personal. It results in my clients reaching a level of energy that becomes self-propelling. This avoids dependencies on me or anyone else. They become a light upon themselves. They become their own masters. I accomplish that simply by means of polarisation. The MKS is on one side, the cards on the other, and in between you find the chakras. It’s not easy to express the complexity in simple terms, but that was as close as I could get it. The work is clearly an inner one, but the inner needs the outer in order to be of any value. As all my clients have outer needs and desires, there’s never a shortage for applying their newly gained inner wisdom in a practical way. The amount of time for change depends. Some things can be lighthing fast, like the aforementioned insight into your own being. Others take from a couple of days to years. That’s normal and expected. You know the saying: “the journey is the destination”. Nothing could be more true. You enjoy the journey, knowing from deep within that you’ll reap rewards every step of the way. Even the things that take longer to accomplish aren’t rushed or a cause for frustration or resignation. Your entire life becomes a symphony of joy and contentment. I think I said this before. 🙂
PAA: MKS system is now the final stage of the new curriculum. Do you see this as a requirement for best results to have these prior courses preparing the ground to be ready for the MKS?
Helmar: In the chain Hermetics, Chakras and MKS it’s the final stage. You gotta start somewhere, and you need to get your basics right. In effect it runs parallel to Sacred Symbols, although from a “course learning” perspective it may make more sense to do one after the other. You are also welcome to do the cards first, but then it’s again Hermetics, Chakras and MKS. The Chakras are pretty simple, so they could technically come after or with the MKS. For the sake of simplicity I have put them together with the Hermetic principles to form part of my free “Fun’Da/Mental” online course.
PAA: I would like to ask now perhaps on the behalf of people who are reading and doing the exercises of the MKS, but who feel like nothing is changing or they are ‘doing it wrong’. As language is a precise tool but the inner meaning of what a term might mean could be different, extremely different between two individuals. With terms like entering the silence… this silence surely is dependent upon the self awareness of the student to be aware of their own mind. So student A might think their mind is silent but it actually isn’t as they are unaware of their mind and the way it operates so cannot see these thoughts. While Student B might actually be in silence but again has no way of measuring his silence so doubts themselves. This silence is often a tough skill to develop in many schools but it is right near the beginning of the MKS.
Helmar: Silence is the inevitable result of the first exercise in the MKS: physical control. You sit still for about half an hour. You cannot do this while “noising around” — and you don’t want to. Obviously there are many levels to silence. The goal of “our” silence is to be able to observe one’s thoughts, so that we can weed out and replace those that haven’t been serving us. Each person has to find their own sweet-spot, and there’s nothing that prevents them seeking the silence outside the confines of the MKS study. Fact remains though that without a certain level of mastery you won’t realise what you’re thinking, never mind what you’re living without even thinking (anymore). But that’s where you want to “dig”. You want to find out your subconscious programming; want to bring it to the surface in order to evaluate it. How to you “live” — and I purposely didn’t say “think about”, because you don’t! — health, wealth and happiness. All those realities have their origin in the subconscious mind. Now if they aren’t to your liking, you’ll need to dig them up and shine light onto them. Only then are you able to change them — are you able to reverse their polarity. And for that you need the silence, the stilling of your senses. In the end you want to be able to measure your progress in any area of your life. For that to happen you need to be as comprehensive and deep in your thinking as possible. As you take one step and a time, one area that needs work after the other, you’ll make the progress, and you’ll know that you did. The MKS lays the foundation; the cards bring in the necessary, individual dynamism. Together they are golden.
PAA: What advice would you give to those struggling with MKS or not getting the results they had expected?
Take a break from your studies. Reconnect with nature. Look in how many ways your life is truly blessed and awesome right now. Appreciate the now. Develop and attitude of gratitude. Start looking at the simple things. See where you’ve already progressed but never bothered to look — or appreciate. It’s really so simple. And, of course, acquaint yourself with the cards, because you may be following a life path that actually isn’t yours. The cards tell you which one is yours, and if you “obey their law”, you cannot be notice a significant improvement in your life. That’s a fact.
PAA: Despite developing my own programs I think what you have done with these German language courses is gold and do wonder what the timeline is for an English language version.
Helmar: Oh my word! Do you have any idea how much work that is? In terms of the cards there are plenty of cardologists in the US that could help you — it therefore doesn’t have to be me. In terms of the MKS et al., my current online courses comprise over 230 videos. It took me the better part of a full year to get it all recorded, edited, put on the website , etc., never mind the years it took me before I was actually ready to take the first step. And then it’s not about content creation, but much more so about marketing. I currently have no system in place that would “distribute” a new English offering, so I won’t even start with the content. That said, as both the MKS and the Sacred Symbols have their origin in the USA, I don’t really deem it necessary to make this my priority. It would certainly be nice for guys like you, but until I have the necessary marketing systems in place I won’t tackle the English side of it.
PAA: Are there any other areas you feel are significant that should be mentioned?
Helmar: Yes. Eat healthily. Drink plenty of clean water. Sleep well. Relax. Exercise. Strength, endurance and flexibility are key. Your body is your lowest barrier. If either something is wrong with it and/or you don’t have sufficient energy to spare, you won’t stand a chance of advancing in your spiritual or mental development. Always remember: Your body is your temple. Treat it accordingly, and the doors to both spirit and mind will be flung open wide in return. As above, so below.
PAA: Thank you Helmar for your generous sharing. Find our more about Helmar here.
Thoughts on the Cardology system? I think extremely detailed in what it can reveal. Any one practicing this?