Dear Friends in the Light,
Revelation 12 describes 
a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars The woman is pregnant and about to give birth, “travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered”
John addressed the “seven churches of Asia” of old, and offered both counsel and comfort; his imagery is also deeply symbolic and can be understood on a number of levels. The deepest of these depict the journey of the Soul/Self through incarnation and initiation. A human soul enters this earth sphere “clothed with the sun” and through many trials comes to the rebirth of the Christ within, the second birth: the veil is rent—an initiation that happens after many lifetimes of struggle and the long journey to self mastery continues. Within the spiritual centers (stars) are all the attributes necessary for the journey.
John addresses the churches; but also the nations of the world (which is the collection of souls gathered in one place and time.) These are tempted by “a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads” if the mass mind of a nation allows the dragon to “devour the child”as soon as it is born, (the desire dragons of pride, jealously, anger, spiritual laziness. lust and greed), that collective body strays off the path and devours itself.
—but by the grace of God, working with the Light and spiritual tools contained within the four elements (represented in Revelations as the lion, man, eagle and ox) as well as our Teachers and the angelic beings, our task in this collective body is to cast out the dragon, “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world”
The beast, rising from the sea of emotion, and the dragon in this vision make alliance; our desires give rise to emotions that smolder in the “deep sea” and emerge to torment the one who allows it free reign. No one is “saved” from the temptations, as Jesus clearly demonstrated when he fasted 40 days in the wilderness.
The key to it all is still, no matter what other people do, and leaders of nations do in our name, we are compelled to remain as newborn Christ children, demonstrating Christ’s love and compassion and peace. This is very powerful and we must claim our power and surround ourselves with beauty.
Love to All and Peace on Earth
This is quite a profound meditation to ponder:
O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love
O morning stars together
Proclaim thy holy birth
And praises sing to God the King
And peace to men on earth
From Father Paul
Sermon Advent 12/21/68
I go through his every Christmas: experiencing the sorrows of, that our Master experiences. I take my text today out of the 2nd chapter of Matthew and the 20th verse. As we are approaching that time of celebration of our Lord, we today also are approaching the reality of this, for the new heaven and the new earth is being born.
Arise, and take the young child and his mother and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. And he arose and took the young child and his mother and came into the land of Israel.
These two verses are so appropriate today, because we whom have sought the Way of Christ in the reality: Not just a group of words, but the reality of it, and who take upon ourselves the spiritual cloak of one of his sons and daughters, are being told that we are citizens of the Most High. And this is what we in these two verses also are being told in this time, to take those who will come to arise and take the child; take this spiritual being within the body that we look at and take it into Israel, that place, the Promise, the realty, for we this day look all about us and see the many things which are going on in the world, and we know we have seen and we have watched the walking dead.
And this text not only speaks to us of the times of old, of the celebration which we are celebrating now in the Advent, as the approach of the birth of one Lord Jesus in the Blessed Virgin. But it also speaks a great and powerful message to us. For this too is our message from the Spirit; to arise and take the newborn reality, that which has been seeking to come out for 2,000 years into the people. To take the rebirth through the Illumination and the receiving the reality of the Christ, the Christos and the Light, and to go into the land throughout the world. For they whom sought to kill, to squelch, to hide, and to keep away from God’s children the Great Truth of the true salvation of the complete giving of the body and the soul to God, and how the transformation would take place.
And we have seen this here; and all around u we see where they have tried to kill the child. They have tried to squelch the words of Jesus Christ by interpretation. They have tried to tell and whisper into your ear, and those whom have fallen are the ones that have listened to the things which are contrary to the teachings of Jesus and to the ancient sages. For the teachings of the ancient wisdoms and the ancient sages were not contrary to those of our Lord. And those whom have fallen away or who have gone their way in an attempt to do it their way, they have listened and the child is not dead. He lives. And you whom have come into this Order, or you whom have come here as visitors to our chapel service, have come to where the child is revived. They may have sought to kill it, but the words have lived on and the reality is here.
We are citizens of that new race, that new world into which the Light shall spread. And it shall be in accordance with the teachings of our Lord. Buddha tried, he tried too, but they defiled his teachings also. They tried to; and there’s one of the old Teachers who come her occasionally said that “Why the teachings that they are trying to teach are no more like his teachings…” As they were given today, it is just lie they have tried to defile someone who has accepted the Word of the New Testament and the teachings of our Lord Jesus, or the teachings of Paul, or John, or Matthew. But let us know that we are the citizens of the new risen world. We are part of the heavenly reality and as long as we stay that , so will the regeneration the rebirth of that reality within us take place.
You are all part of the great Soul and Mind of the Father. You have been given a piece of this Great Reality and what you do with it is up to you; whether you live it or whether you go like those whom sought to destroy the Light of our Lord Jesus at his birth. And these, too, will die. For ye cannot destroy truth, for they have tried to down through the ages, and every time it is tried, some suffer, but the truth survives and the reality and the Spirit survive, and the power of creation and the reality lives on.
I ask you a question: Shall the child be reborn in reality in you? In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
-Amen
Advent
The days grow steadily shorter and are often overcast. The air is crisp and cold. The stars glitter with a special brilliance in the nighttime sky. It is winter in the northern hemisphere, and the days are the shortest of the year. And yet, historically, it is a time for festivals of Light, for lanterns and candles to be lighted and carried in procession, or gathered around while festive and joyful songs are sung. It is a time of joy that light is again to be born out of darkness. For the ancient Romans, it was the time for the feast of Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun. For Germanic people, it is Sankt Martinstag, when the children light lanterns and go about the town, while in older times bonfires were lit or virgins with candles in their hair walked in procession in the forest. In Sweden, it is the feast of Santa Lucia, whose name means light—a time of purity and simplicity, marked by white candles and green moss.
This is the time chosen by Christians to celebrate the Nativity of Christ, the redeemer and savior and renewer of life in the earth—just after the Winter Solstice, as the days begin once again to lengthen.
Christmas was not officially celebrated until the middle of the fourth century, the first record being 354 AD in Rome. Before this time the emphasis was on Epiphany, the celebration of the visit of the Magi to the newborn child. Advent as a particular liturgical season developed even later, after the fifth century, as a penitential season of prayer and fasting. In Rome, however, there developed a period of four Sundays of festive and joyful preparation without penitential character. By the 13th century the two traditions had merged. This shows a natural blending of our inner and outer life, for only when we consciously prepare our temples with carful interior housecleaning can we be satisfied and joyous about the results of outer activities.
As we enter into the time preceding the celebration of Christmas and the reality which it signifies, we begin to feel the stirrings within ourselves of joyful expectation and uplifted spirits. Yet this often becomes clouded by an intensity of worldly activities, some of which may be charitable, but remain nonetheless, work. We may find ourselves in doubt or fear, having heard that this is a time of joy; that we should go through the customs of the season while feeling something should be done in inner preparation, but quite vague about what that might be, despite a definite concept or two about it.
The character of this preparation remains both penitential and joyful, with expectation and a reaching for purity of heart as if the baptismal waters were again washing clean the soul and beginning again the process of dedication to Christ. The nature of the work leading up to this is undisguised—it is hard labor, as we see in Luke 3:5: valleys are to be filled, mountains made level, crooked places made straight, and rough places smooth—monumental feats that surpass even the efforts made to welcome a great king or head of state, and yet only right in consideration of the greatness of the Christ.
In this spirit we might examine, for example, our valleys: depressions that hinder the joyful expression of life. Perhaps some of these come from the mountains of pride in which we think our achievements are the result of our own efforts, thus cutting off the Holy Spirit which accomplishes the Great Works. There are the crooked places in our lives where we are devious or seek to evade the truth, and the places where we make things unnecessarily rough for others. How to overcome? We don’t obsess about our faults, for this is fruitless egotism.
We can prepare ourselves by reasonable discipline and attention to the Spirit, by loving service, by bringing order to our relationships with people; by avoiding excess, by ridding ourselves of ideas and judgments based upon appearances. We reflect upon the nature of the One whom we hope to receive into ourselves, and the Mother who conceived Him.
No real experience is ever completely as we expect it to be. Our thinking falls short of reality every time!
The birth of Christ within you is the incarnation of all the divine traits into your earthly life. It is a birth that we prepare for, a bringing forth into our physical world that which has been forming spiritually. Just as a couple prepares for childbirth, so we prepare ourselves for Christmas by spiritual exercise, so that the Christ which is already within us might be brought forth into the world we live every day. The life we have been living; our habitual thoughts and attitudes toward people and toward God will naturally affect our experience. of this birth. We are inexorable drawn toward that which we desire. May that be Christ for each one of you, now and always.
Isaiah 9:6: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a sons is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace
Excerpt from Book of Activity Class, October 27, 1973
“To him that would be silent that he might hear my voice, without speaking to his brother let him also look within, that he shall see my Child.”
This particular verse can be read over very easily, and if you don’t know too much about the Master and his ways of speaking, you might misunderstand the great impact that this particular verse has. When a person sets aside himself in silence for the purpose of making himself accessible to Jesus Christ, the Father, to the Host, he is attempting to place himself where he may be of greater service, and become a true messenger of the Almighty. For until you have learned to be quiet, both physically and spiritually; mentally, you will not be able to hear the true Voice or the communication of the Brothers, the Master, or any of these, for even without speaking you must learn to be silent and quiet and yet stay active to receive. Your act of being silent and quiet is a distinct prayer and it will be answered by those above.
But the impact of this particular verse comes right at the last: Let him also look within that he shall see my Child.” Here is where Jesus has declared and is letting us know that it is not merely a matter of us being with him and in unity, and becoming a part of the body of Christ, but it also is saying this: “You are my offspring. I am not trying to hold you as a composite part of me. You are my child. I want you to grow up in this universe. I want you to get to understand your Father in heaven, as well as myself. My child. I want you to get yourself to the place where you too can live as an adult on a cosmic level.”
Now one of probably the most, to me, idiotic statements, and certainly a tremendous ego statement which is used so prevalently by the metaphysical people is, “let us be in unity with God.” Who on earth do they think they are? That they have the purity and the love that they could even approach the Father, hardly?
“Let him look within that he shall see my Child.” Why and how is it that Jesus would say and call us his children? He did call us his flock in the Testament. But remember one thing: he did go to Calvary for the forgiveness and the atonement of our sins, as well as the atonement of the earth. He did make it possible for us to be reborn, not in the sludge and dirt which had at that time existed, but as a Child, purity in Light, and become a part of a cosmic Family. Now this isn’t some way-off-yonder fou-fou, but a Reality. And this is one of the things that we are going to have to learn.
For until we feel that we can take the place of those whom we have heard him say and quote the Testament, “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” Until we can take the place of those little children, we aren’t going to get very far. For here is exactly what he was talking about, “My child. Look at my Child. This being the Self-soul, this is my birth to it on the new earth, and therefore it is my Child. There’s not only the rebirth, not only that new birth, that rebirth of a spiritual being, but the physical body. For being born again is really a birth, the whole body is reborn. There is a whole new function, a whole new vibration, a whole new reality to that being who is truly reborn. But he cannot be reborn unless he can be the Child of Christ.
This is something which the conventional church has avoided to talk about, because they were afraid to reach that cosmic level, because they would find that the people themselves would start to have revelation, they would start to see the realities, and they’d have to start to answer questions which they did not want to answer. So they have avoided the true reality or rebirth of the earth and the people, so that they could keep away from freeing them in reality.
And he didn’t say, “I want you to become in unity with God.” He said, “you are my Child. You belong to this family. Now grow. Grow up in my image. Grow up in the image of him who gave birth to you.” He sought to make you an independent, a free, a real Christian with a cosmic background, not something of the old school, of the Old Testament.
“Look within that he shall see my Child.” For your father, then is not only the Father, the Creator, but the Father is the Christ who paid that price for your transgressions—speaking of the past out there—and has brought you into the Holy Family, has made you a part of the Cosmic Family and the reality, and has become the father of the people. (I guess that would make God kind of a Grandfather, wouldn’t it? Well, He’s old enough.)
Now—you see the difference between the Reality and something that somebody would ask you to believe, out here, after they got through mauling it over for years, and taking out what they want and putting in something else? It’s a vast difference, isn’t it? It’s a vast difference. These are his words!
In fact, I just discovered this the other day myself, because I am learning one thing out of this book, even though I have spoken it for him. I am learning that this book has many, many things in it that is going to build a new Christian life, a new Christian reality and way, and it’s pretty potent. That I will say, it’s pretty potent. But unless you look very carefully at this book, you will not see the realities that it is really talking about, because you have to get away from the old way of thinking, the old way of approach and take it clean and clear, just as it is spoken, and everything it implies as it is spoken, and you will find that this way which he has prepared for us is really vastly different than that which we had before.
The Sagittarious Observance: Feast of the Immaculate Conception
The final observance of the year occurs in December while the Sun passes through the sign of Sagittarius. This is, perhaps, the most exalted and most beautiful of all the ceremonials, the one best loved by the Blessed Lady herself, for it is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
The Master told his disciples that only the pure in heart should see God, and not until the sacred Mystery of the Immaculate Conception is understood and applied in the life of humanity will we have a race conceived in purity. Then shall there truly be a new Heaven and a new Earth.
While studying eternal truths, the inspired Isaiah saw in a vision a glorious future when every man should live under his own vine and fig tree. He declared that all men would beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning-hoods: “For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
So it was that the Holy Virgin envisioned a new and glorified humanity when she declared triumphantly that future generations would rise up and call her blessed. She fully realized that she was the one chosen to bring to birth the great Master Jesus and, in a physical vehicle, to bring forth the perfected type-pattern of supreme human attainment on this planet—the immaculate conception.
White and azure are the colors belonging to the Divine Lady. White and azure are also the colors with which the Temple is decorated for this exquisite Feast. All during the month of December the Lady, accompanied by multitudes of Angels and Archangels, comes very close to earth and can oft-times be seen as she passes in triumph through the days and nights of this sacred season, declaring: “I am the Immaculate Conception!” -Corinne Heline Through the Year with Mary
The Japanese are renowned for their long lifespans, with men and women living some of the longest lives in the world. However, Dr. Kyozo Ishikawa, an 88-year-old professor emeritus at Kyorin University School of Medicine in Tokyo notes that many spend the last decade of their lives dependent on others, often due to strokes and dementia. His use-it-or-lose-it prescription for that problem comes with a simple protocol to stay strong in mind, body, and heart. Here’s his formula:
Read one piece of writing daily—just one, an achievable and enriching habit.
Laugh 10 times a day—my personal favorite!
Take 100 deep breaths—so calming and restorative.
Write 1,000 words—a fantastic practice for those who rarely write.
Walk 10,000 steps daily—or at least 5,000 if that’s more attainable, though more is always better.
“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”
Paulo Coelho – The Alchemist, 1987.
Prayer and Meditation of the third Sunday of Advent in this Year of our Lord
Oh Lord, as we celebrate the approach of the ancient birth of our Lord Jesus, Jesus the great Master, who in his divine benevolence took upon himself the fleshly body of a little child, to bring unto man the needed grace and forgiveness—that he, man, might live on the sphere of earth, and thus learn to know God in all His glory
Oh Lord, we wait with bated anxiousness, and as we observe the great spiritual reality on this plane of existence, as the power of the Christos, first begotten Son of our Lord, The Father, increases in this earth, and as we sense and realize the rebirth of our earth, as it goes through the experience of Illumination—as the great psychic world unites with the old earth and provides the substance for the new spiritual body of earth, thus it is that we look forward with great joy to the coming of a new great Master perhaps not as great as he, our Lord Jesus Christ—but one in his great mercy, or two, or three—whatever Thou knowest is the need of the many “me’s”.
We look then with an astonished gaze upon the great spiritual Mother, our beloved mother, with all reverence, for we know she too feels the great infinite change of the earth, and its color, to celestial blue. We know in her compassion she seeks to lift our burdens, that the earth may be born again. That the emblem of the cross shall not go for naught, but the blessed teachings of our Master shall be taught. This in the grand array of night and day, do we await the coming of the Advent of this age, unheralded by royal pages.
But we, the teachers of old, do assemble like the knights of many stories foretold. To do battle with the darkness of the ages past—to bring the Light of Christ at last.
Dear Father in Heaven, hear our prayer, that this small star of earth may shine in thy celestial body, and in my brothers’, and mine.