Sending Out Positive Vibrations!

If any of  you ,my beloved readers, are feeling down let the pendulum of your emotional state swing to the positive!

What have I been up to lately?

Of course Ive been involved in Christmas related get togethers and such but Ive also kept up on my reading.

Just finished "The Life and Doctrines of Jakob Boheme" by Franz Hartmann ,the famous 19th century German Theosophist, and now I'm reading "The Kybalion" by the Three Initiate (Likely William Walker Atkinson but also possibility Paul Foster Case, founder of the B.O.T.A.).

Also been planning an expansion of my work here which I'm calling, "Inner Gnosis." It won't however take away but rather greatly enhance this blog. More details coming soon!

Even though it is after Christmas we are still in the season and Id like to wish a heartfelt Merry Christmas and happy new year to all!

The Holiest Day of the Year

 Christmas is almost upon us and I couldn't be happier.

While western Christendom generally considers Easter a more holy holiday because they believe Jesus Christ's death saves us as a Gnostic Christian I think differently.

For me the ultimate sacrifice of the Aeon Christos was not his death but his incarnation into limited corporeal form. Understand that before Christos had a body he was pure spirit and without any restriction.

The wonder of my faith is that the Absolute loved us so much he sent his salvaic aspect to incarnate and teach us the way to liberation because we were so lost in the illusion of materiality and multiplicity.

So for me and those who think like me while easter is very important there is no more holy holiday than Christmas.

By the way I am well aware that the 25 of december is not the true date of Jesus Christ's birth but that hardly matters to me. The date is seared into the western consciousness and for me its the commemoration that counts not the day.

 Merry Christmas!

We Are All Asleep

 Though what follows is far from a perfect summary it transmits the most important concept I learned from Gurdjieff by recently reading "In Search of the Miraculous," pretty well. It is of course best to read the book for yourself but be warned its a challenging read.

 People don't do evil things for the sake of evil. At best when they do evil things they do them for what they perceive to be a good reason which is lunacy and worse more often they do evil things without thinking at all.

  This is a law and it extends well beyond what is perceived as evil actions. Most of the time we do everything without thinking. That is we do things without intention and without
a definitive aim.

  Our moving center which for the sake of explanation we shall call our learned instincts (They are not strictly speaking instincts because they were not born in us but they are learned and we perform them unconsciously like instincts) controls our movements,our actions,even our speech and all the time we are lost in our mind thinking about this and that or more often dreaming about something pleasant or agonizing over an imagined nightmare. We do not DO anything really things just HAPPEN and we REACT unconsciously.

  This is a SLEEP and its epidemic,it effects all of us. It makes us machines.

  To be AWAKE,to be truly HUMAN we must learn to know ourselves always. To remember what we are doing,what we are saying, what we are thinking,what is actually going on inside and all around us in this moment. If we can learn to do that we can truly change ourselves and conquer the world!

  "He who knows others is wise; He who knows himself is enlightened!"
-Lao Tzu

Material Reality is Illusionary

"This material world is a reflection of the spiritual world. The material world is but a shadow of reality. In the shadow there is no reality or substantiality,but from the shadow we can understand that there is substance and reality. In the desert there is no water,but the mirage suggests that there is such a thing as water In the material world there is no water,there is no happiness,but the real water of actual happiness is there in the spiritual world."

-Bhagavad-gita As It Is

What is a REAL Christian Anyway?

What is a real christian and who gets to decide? Do you? Do I?

Understand the implications of such a thought. If you say, "That women isn't a real christian because she is divorced!" or "That man isn't a real christian because he uses tarot cards!" or "That old man isn't a real christian because he drinks!" etc what are you really doing?

You are not judging others so much as you are

condemning yourself to such judgements and the circle of negativity never ends.

Jesus said,

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

-Matthew 7:1-2

 I think that the evil we see in others is the evil we fail to see in ourselves.

I know we have the capacity to be Christ not simply Christians but that comes from a higher state of consciousness that reflects out an inner love and inclusion not a lower state that is full of exclusion and arrogance. I try my best but I am not anywhere near that level and almost no one else is either so lets all open our hearts and try our best to be brothers and sisters IN Christ.

With hard work hopefully one day we won't have to TRY anymore and will instead just BE!

How Many Angels can Dance on the Head of a Pin?

My father relayed a recent incident at his church to me which is interesting.

He is a pentecostal and it is quite common for pentecostals to randomly come up to you,lay their hands on your shoulders,and pray for you.

Now one of the deacons got it into his head that laying your hands on the pastor to pray was wrong and the pastor tended to agree.

So last Sunday a churchless pentecostal was invited to my fathers church and when it was time for all those to come up and pray for the pastor who wished too this man did and put his hands on the pastors shoulders. Then the deacon in question stormed up and forcefully removed his hands from the pastor.

Needless to say this caused the visitor to feel unwelcome and a bit angry. I doubt he will come back.

Now the main interest to me in this is why do churches do such things?

Shall we alienate everyone who doesn't act in a certain way at a certain time because we deem it to be inappropriate based on our own limited understanding?

As I hear it the deacon didn't like this because a member of the church use to lay  her hands on people to pray all the time and later she was exorcised.

Really? Regardless of whether demon possession exists or not is putting on the hands and praying a sign of possession? I personally think if someone were truly demon possessed we'd know it,it would be impossible not to see and they would certainly never pray for anyone.

This all sounds like superstition in the worst possible way to me and I am reminded of a heated medieval theological debate,

"How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"

I am certainly not perfect but I try my utmost never to squabble over such meaningless little things anymore. I have no right to judge but this little story is just so ridiculous to me.

Could this kind of conduct perhaps have something to do with the fact that most mainstream Christians look everywhere for the second coming of Christ except within themselves?

The Mystic Way by Rumi

Plug thy low sensual ear, which stuffs like cotton
Thy conscience and makes deaf thine inward ear.
Be without ear, without sense, without thought,
And hearken to the call of God, "Return!"
Our speech and action is the outer journey,
Our inner journey is above the sky
The body travels on its dusty way;
The spirit walks like Jesus, on the sea.

What have I been up to lately?

Been a couple days since I posted anything and that's a bad habit to get in so I can at least tell you what I've been up to lately.

My birthday was a couple days ago and I bought a nook ereader for myself. On it Ive been reading,

The Mystical Qabbalah by Dion Fortune

In search of the Miraculous by P.D. Ouspensky

Doctor Who: Shada by Douglas Adams

I also bought myself a Lord of the Rings Tarot deck and joined the Builders of Adytum.

I must of course be careful not to let materialism cloud my path.

I promise to post something more meaningful soon.

How can I express the truth?

He is not wood but split a piece and He is there,
He is not the earth but pick up a stone and you will find Him,
He is not a bird but its song is His holy voice,
He is not the sky but look up and you will see His shining face,
He is not a man but He became flesh and dwelt among us,
He has no name but we call him Father and Master and Lord.

How can I express the truth?

God is one. All is the One,One is the All. Yet God is more than the All.

Material reality is only an illusion.

Today's PPF Reading

See now this is why I love the Tarot,what a wonderful reading!

Past


The river was ruff and full of rapids but I began to travel out of the fog of confusion and the water calmed,







Present


On the horizon out over the calm water I see 8 bright stars but one is bigger than the rest and shining the brightest pointing the way home. Right now Hope and Joy are my allies!






Future


There will come a time soon on my journey where I will have to look inward and discover which road the Lord will have me take as I journey onwards towards the distant crown!

From the Inside out

I was taught to pray not listen, to read not feel,to accept not see.

Eventually I realized through studying the Gnostic Gospels that each of our spirits is of the same substance as the Divine so how could I learn to hear,feel,and see?

By following the advice of my lord Jesus Christ,

"...the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you.
When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and
you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living
Father..."

-Gospel of Thomas,3

What I didn't know before is that God speaks from the inside out not from the outside in.

Though it may be obvious to you it wasn't to me. My understanding was stilted.

I looked everywhere else for God ,tried all kinds of practices, but I never found him because I didn't look inside. I was afraid too you see. I knew that inside me was great darkness.

A great and horrible darkness,the shadow.

But what I know now is that darkness is the illusion that encrusts the Divine Spark inside me and hides its light from my view.

Christ did not come into this world,he did not take on limited material form to save the righteous,

"I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners."
-Matthew 9:13

There is NOTHING so dark that it can not be illuminated,there is no one beyond redemption and enlightenment. Not even me and certainly not you!

"Light and darkness, life and death, right and left are mutually dependent; it is impossible for them to separate. Accordingly the 'good' are not good, the 'bad' are not bad, 'life' is not life, 'death' is not death."

-Gospel of Philip

I am not bad and I am not good,I am both.

When I learned to see the good in me again not just the bad I could hear,feel,and see my Lord from within!

It came when I realized that I am just a fool on a journey. When I accepted that I could forgive myself and then the Light came!

Admit it and Change Everything

"Define and narrow me, you starve yourself of yourself.
Nail me down in a box of cold words, that box is your
 coffin.
I do not know who I am.
I am astounded lucid confusion.
I am not a Christian, I am not a Jew, I am not a Zoroastrian,
And I am not even a Muslim.
I do not belong to the land, or to any known or unknown
 sea.
Nature cannot own or claim me, nor can heaven,
Nor can India, China, Bulgaria,
My birthplace is placelessness,
My sign to have and give no sign,
You say you see my mouth, ears, eyes, nose-they are not
 mine.
I am the life of life.
I am that cat, this stone, no one.
I have thrown duality away like an old dishrag,
I see and know all times and worlds,
As one, one, always one.
So what do I have to do to get you to admit who is
 speaking?
Admit it and change everything!
This is your own voice echoing off the walls of God."

-Rumi

Salvation

 The only horror awaiting you at death is rebirth should you not attain mystical Union in the here and now.

 Far from being an elitist religion this idea points to the universalism of Gnosticism. Taken to its logical conclusion it means all will be saved though some with less rebirths than others. This is in keeping with the belief that our Divine Spark is actually part of the Unknown Father and He can not be whole so long as we remain in the prison of material reality.

Now the Valentinian Gnostics taught that you must be resurrected in life if you are to be resurrected after death which is to say you have to reach Christ consciousness or Theosis as our eastern orthodox brothers call it.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
-2 Corinthians 5:17

Jesus repeatedly talks about the two natures becoming one in the Gospel of Thomas. He further says quote,

"He who will drink from my mouth will become
like Me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden
will become revealed to him."
(saying 108)

 My understanding of all this is far from perfect ,after all I am only a fool, so I do not believe I understand it fully but this concept has perhaps two stages,

1. Making the two natures of man,the Light and the darkness,one.

2. Experiencing the true reality which is that all multiplicity is an illusion. Coming to know that the universe of forms ,that is material reality, is an illusion and that all things are one. Forming a union with the Divine from which all things emanate and  are inseparably connected.

I believe this comes from knowing yourself and listening to your Divine Spark within. There are many methods one can use to do this. My chief methods at this point are study and meditation on the Gnostic Gospels,interpreting my dreams, and visualizations on a Kabbalistic interpretation of the Tarot along with readings.

It is my belief that those who attain Christ Consciousness in this life will break the cycle and upon material death ascend to the Pleroma,the heavenly realm of Light and Oneness!

I hope to one day KNOW it.

Wholeness

When I started out on my journey I believed that there were two natures,the darkness and the light and indeed in a symbolic way there are but I have come to know that it is only an illusion. Multiplicity is the demiurges illusion.
 The great evil I see in others is my ego projecting my own faults on to them.
To experience the true reality I must learn to transmutate my two natures into one,I must become whole.
 All things emanate from the Source,the One,the Monad,the Unknown Father of all and as Jesus said,

"When you make the two one, and when you
make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside,
and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the
female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the
female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye,
and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and
a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter [the
Kingdom]."
-Gospel of Thomas,22

As the great Valentinian writer elaborated:

"Light and darkness, life and death, right and left are mutually dependent; it is impossible for them to separate. Accordingly the 'good' are not good, the 'bad' are not bad, 'life' is not life, 'death' is not death."

-Gospel of Philip

Remember,

"Jesus said, "When you make the two one, you will become the
sons of man, and when you say, 'Mountain, move away,' it will
move away."

-Gospel of Thomas,106

 "Jesus said, "He who will drink from my mouth will become
like Me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden
will become revealed to him."

-Gospel of Thomas,108

Symbols and Images

"Truth did not come into the world naked, but in symbols and images. The world cannot receive truth in any other way. There is rebirth and an image of rebirth, and it is by means of this image that one must be reborn. What image is this?
It is resurrection. Image must arise through image. By means of this image the bridal chamber and the image must approach the truth. This is restoration.

Those who receive the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and have accepted them must do this. If someone does not accept them, the name (Christian) will also be taken from that person. A person receives them in chrism (anointing) with the oil of the power of the cross. The apostles called this power the right and the left. This person is no longer a christian but IS Christ.

The master (Jesus) did everything in a mystery: baptism,chrism,eucharist,redemption, and bridal chamber.

For this reason He said,
"I have come to make the lower like the upper and the outer like the inner,and to unite them in that place."

He spoke here in symbols and images."

-The Gospel of Philip, 67:9-32

My Vision of the Light

Its been a few days so I shall try to retell it as best as I can but some of the glory may be lost.

There I was sat listening to music,it might have been "Within you without you," and as I sat I put my face down and let my mind go.

I was transported to the sky beyond the planets to a place that seemed to be only blanketed with far off stars and otherwise darkness.

 As I flew I began to change. How I can not say ,sometimes this vision was first person sometimes third, but at that moment I was seeing it all through my own eyes and I changed into a billion strands of blue white light like lightening or plasma.

Then it opened.

The blackness opened on both sides like it was a bubble of darkness being stabbed by an invisible finger of light.

It opened and on the other side of this door was white light. Pure white light.

I flew into it now out of this universe of forms into a light space beyond time and matter.

There seemed to be no floor or walls or roof in this place just pure bright whiteness yet I put my blue-white light strands on the solid air and transformed back into the semblance of the man I use to be.

There directly in front of me was a giant pillar of that same kind of manic electric light and I somehow knew that I was standing before the God of all sitting on his throne.

At that moment even though I seemed to be able to see through the light strands of the Unknown Fathers throne from behind the right hand side a man appeared and came towards me. His skin was as white as the snow as was his hair and he seemed naked.

Then I knew.

I knew it was Jesus himself and I saw him as he is depicted by man. With a beard and olive skin wearing a robe and sandals.

He opened his arms and I ran forward and hugged him. He returned the embrace and I cried.

Something to be Truly Thankful for

"Jesus said, "He who will drink from my mouth will become
like Me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden
will become revealed to him."

"His disciples said to Him, "When will the Kingdom come?"
<Jesus said,> "It will not come by waiting for it. It will
not be a matter of saying 'Here it is' or 'There it is.' Rather,
the Kingdom of the Father is spread out upon the earth, and me

do not see it."

-Gospel of Thomas 108,113

I believe my lord Jesus Christ is talking about a higher state of consciousness. That is he is talking about union with our higher self which is fully Divine.

You see each of our spirits is a pure spark of Divine consciousness and of the same essence as the God of All.

God wants us to unite with him as much as we want to unite with him.

As the great sufi mystic Rumi said,

"What you seek is seeking you!"

The Divine oneness will never be whole until every last human is liberated from the cycle of death and rebirth and unites with God!

To tie this into thanksgiving a bit understand that your highest self is divine and of immeasurable value. You matter,you are important, no matter how blessed or cursed your life in the material universe seems to be every part of you is of the gods.

Rejoice and give thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Short Gnostic Prayer of Thanksgiving

"Dearest Father, most gracious Mother Barbelo,thank you for these wonderful gifts which you have given, and grant us the mindfulness to appreciate them and return them to others.

(Sign of the Cross) Nous,Christos,Pistis Sophia,Amen."


Taken from Jeremy Puma's, "A Gnostic Prayerbook: Rites, Rituals, Prayers and Devotions for the Solitary Modern Gnostic."

Jesus Christ's Religion is Big Enoguh for All of Us

The absolute legitimacy of the new testament canon is highly questionable from a historical perspective. There were MANY ideas about exactly who Jesus was and what he claimed at the very beginning of the religion in the 1st century.

To deny that is to deny reality.

Believe what you like but don't assume you know the whole truth. I certainly don't.

Only a blind fool has absolute certainty regarding such things because to much time has passed with far to many distortions for the historic Jesus Christ to be knowable.

The truth is the Orthodox Jesus is based as much on myth as the Gnostic Jesus.

Accept that and move on.

Realize though that that is no basis for loosing ones faith but it is a good justification for being open minded and allowing for a big tent Christianity that accepts seemingly unusual doctrines as legitimate expressions of our noble tradition.

Jesus Christ's religion is big enough for all of us!

The Mystic Way

We are Strangers

Each of our spirits is a pure spark of Divine consciousness and of the same essence as the God of All.

We are not merely animals or minds.

We are strangers in a strange land.

God can not be whole while we remain trapped in the illusion of material reality so He calls to us. He calls always in our dreams and imaginings. He calls and we only need learn how to listen to hear His Holy Voice.

Do not be discouraged by past or even present misdeeds. According to the secret revelation of St.John the God of All,the Monad,the One,the Unknown Father,the Pleroma,the Light freely gives mercy and love. He is not these things but he freely gives them.

As we are engulfed in the darkness of ignorance the Light does not judge. He is forever calling us home like the father who when he saw his son coming from afar prepared a great feast and welcomed his return with open arms even though the son had stolen from him.

Our God is not a god of second chances. Hes a God of infinite chances until we get it right!

Carl Jung's Prophecy of the New Age

The term "New Age" has come to mean many things that it is not. While both the newager and Carl Jung are talking about the Age of Aquarius when they are referring to a new age (or aeon as he preferred) Jung's prophecy goes well beyond the vague pronouncements of the new age devotee.
 This mandala which appears before the "Seven Sermons to the Dead" in Jung's Red Book represents that prophecy. For a clear understanding of it I encourage you to download and listen to a free lecture by the prominent Gnostic and Jungian Scholar Stephan Hoeller entitled,
"C.G. Jung's Prophecy of the New Aeon".

Ignorance

We have to stop denying that we are fools
otherwise we will remain spiritually dead.

I hated Gnosticism once.

Why did I hate it?

I can't say really outside of a general sense from my conservative christian upbringing that such things were evil.

 How could there be other books of the bible? How could I believe such heresy?

I didn't even ask myself these questions. I just ignored or made fun of it.

I made fun of what I did not understand and never tried to learn.

That is called ignorance my friends. Willful ignorance.

In fairness to myself let me add that I was so propagandized to believe that anything different, anything with even the veneer of "paganism" must be evil and the work of satan.

In other words I was afraid.

I was a blind fool because I was afraid to know.

Not unlike Adam in the garden of Eden I wanted to remain in a perfect prison of ignorance forever but my better nature convinced me to eat the fruit and my eyes were opened.

After an existential crisis no doubt caused by Holy Wisdom herself I began to detest jehovah but I still loved Jesus so I searched through christian history and found Marcions work. Then finally I came to Gnosticism only this time I actually read and meditated on what the ancient "heretical" church fathers had to say.

My life has never been the same since.

We all let the ego get the better of us much to often. We fight,we argue, we think ourselves wise but the truth is such things are the way of the fool,the blind fool.

Only when we realize we are fools,when we come to understand that we don't understand,when we open our mind to things we once thought wrong will the light be able to get in.

However it is comforting to know that we all start out as blind fools when we first make our way on the fools journey towards the Crown.

You and I are not alone.

Today's Card: Eight of Cups

Today's card is the Eight of Cups. I need to walk away from old things,I need to move on and grow. Based on the other cards in my reading I know this has to do with my fear of relationships. I need to recognize that I have deep affection,I need to walk away from my fear,and I need to go for it as a happy fool believing that life is good and worthy of trust.

Gods Who Should Worship Men

I wish good kind christian people like my father would cast off their belief in a god who demands blood atonement.

Justice maybe warranted but its not love or mercy. An eye for an eye maybe justice but Jesus Christ said if your enemy strikes you on the cheek turn to him the other and pray for him. Love your enemies.

Jehovah didn't love his enemies but its not as if he was evil in his wrath rather he was coarse. He had no capacity for forgiveness without blood atonement either through the punishment and death of the person or of an animal surrogate.

To me this says either God has a monumental case of schizophrenia or jehovah is NOT Jesus Christs father but hey what do I know?

I realize that I am a fool I only wish my orthodox counterparts would realize the same.

In my opinion though ,and it is only my fool-like opinion, only a god completely beyond rational comprehension without a name,without description can truly be a God worthy of worship.

"Men make gods and worship their creation. It would be fitting for (such) gods to worship men!"

-Gospel of Phillip

Fear of Enlightenment

My only disagreement is one of language. We are part of the One,not the whole. Though for a number of reasons I am more attracted to the western mysteries there is much Gnosis in the east.

The Unity of Opposites

"The One is the all."

I use to think I had a fractured personality but I know now that the illness is in thinking that the shadow and the light are separate.

There can be no light without darkness.

They must merge,there must be an alchemical transmutation.

We are flux and we are constant. We do good and bad and we are both. We regress and progress and are always doing both.

We are a unity of opposites or else we are completely broken.

"Light and darkness, life and death, right and left are mutually dependent; it is impossible for them to separate. Accordingly the 'good' are not good, the 'bad' are not bad, 'life' is not life, 'death' is not death."

-Gospel of Philip

"What am I telling you?
All at once the living die.
How do they live in illusion?
The rich become poor,
kings are overthrown,
everything changes.
The world is illusion."

-The Treatise on Resurrection

The illusion (or in my case delusion) of multiplicity shall completely vanish once I come to KNOW the true reality.

The very moment the black head of the snake eats his white tail individuation and eternity has come.

We are all part of the One,All things emanate from the One but I only believe that now. I will KNOW it one day through experience with the help of Christos and Sophia.

Awaken!

Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot: The Moon

My meditation for this week from "The Fool's Pilgrimage: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot" is on the Moon card and the 29th path on the Tree of Life from Malkuth to Netzach,

"May I hear the call from on high! Through the tumult and confusion of  the lower worlds, the voice of my Father calls to me from afar. May I never cease to heed this call and rally to the banner of my inward Lord, as the battle of life rages. The Lord of my soul reigns above the waterfloods: He will remove all delusion and confusion from me. I shall stop, listen, and be silent, in order to hear the voice. Louder than the thunder of the falling waters is the still, small voice that resounds from the distant place. I hear thee, O voice above all voices! I heed thee, O call before all calls!"

 Now while I'm sharing these meditations with you the book has a lot more including a great beginners guide to the history,meaning,and use of both the Tarot and the Kabbalah plus card descriptions, illustrations,key phrases,and mottos with every meditation. Also included is a CD of the meditations set to music which I ripped and put on my mp3 player for further reflection.

 Its really an excellent book that when meditated on I know leads to Gnosis. I can't recommend it enough!

We All Need Some Light

"...We all need some light now
We all need some light now
Yes, we all need some light now
Turn on your light and wash the darkness away!"

I am the Walrus

 Zen Koans and contradictory Gnostic statements like those found in "The Thunder,Perfect Mind" try to knock us out of our linear naturalistic thinking and if they do we at least temporarily reach a higher state of consciousness.

Absurdities found in Discordianism might also serve a similar function.

Paradoxical statements (and possibly absurdism) offer a way to get a glimpse of God for He* is incomprehensible.

On the Fool's journey the blind  fool slowly becomes the Holy Fool. The Holy fool ,a mystic who has reached a high level of union with God which I personally equate with a higher level of consciousness, often speaks in paradoxes that the uninitiated consider foolish.

 We Gnostics give God titles and describe his lower emanations but we can not comprehend the Unknown Father. At best we can call him the light and describe his many gifts to us like love,mercy,happiness, and knowledge but none of these things are the Unknown Father.

We recognize that if we describe him and give him a name we limit him and our God is beyond limits.

 Our feeble material minds don't have the power to comprehend these things rationally but the wonder of our religion is that we can reach higher states of consciousness and experience him by listening to our Divine Spark within!

Try reading and mediating on some of these works yourself:

"The Thunder,Perfect Mind"

99 Zen Koans

Discordian Quotes

Now maybe I'm wrong about all this but if I am then I'm right!



*Remember that even the male descriptions that we give our God such as "he","father",and "him" are merely titles. God is beyond sex. The ancient Gnostics described "him" as androgynous for this reason.

Today's Card: The Devil

Not being partisan here because I don't care for either Obama or Romney but the present card in my regular PPF tarot reading today was the devil. Now its true that I've only been using the Tarot for a few months but still this is the first time Ive EVER drawn the devil card in a reading.

Can this be a coincidence?

 I think not.

You're a Prophet and I'm a Prophet.

Ive had visions in the Jungian sense,visions of such wonderful beauty,active imaginings that came from nowhere. Ive tried to write them down in something I call the "Exegesis on the Labyrinth" but it did not work out.

Maybe i'll try again.

Some orthodox Christians say that gnostics are elitists but then those same Christians think that only a few chosen elect can obtain prophecy,have visions,and dream dreams.

I'm here to tell you that many gnostics like me think we're all prophets,all visionaries,all dreamers.

We can write our own gospels and live our own myths. The canon never closed.

The power is inside us all,we need only awaken!

"Who looks outside dreams,who looks inside awakens!"
-Carl Jung

Homage to the God of Light

A Quick Word on Moral Laws

I think that if we do good because we fear the wrath of a god or if we do good solely to obey a god's law than we are not really good.

I don't put much stock in mosaic laws including the ten commandments and not just because the demiurge is not my father.

  What I do put stock in and hope to accomplish is the raising of my consciousness to a level where I do good without thinking about law or wrath or anything at all.

I think an entirely unconscious predilection to do the right thing is the state of being a truly good person.

It comes not from fear of divine punishment or a desire to be a spiritual slave but rather from an inner peace that radiates an outward love.

I do not claim to be anywhere near that level but I do feel that I have gotten better and will continue too so long as I stay on the path of the Fool's journey!

Gnosticism and Christianity are Inseparability Entwined

"Historically and geographically speaking, Gnosticism developed at the same time and in the same places as early Christianity, with which it was, and remained, entwined-Palestine, Syria, Samaria, and Antolia, and later, Ptolemaic Egypt. Since the deciphering of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it has become apparent that at least some elements of the Gnostic tradition go back to the Essenes. The theory of some scholars that ascribed the origins of Gnosticism to Iranian or even Indian influences has now been largely discredited. The land of Middle Eastern spirituality-with its visionary apocalypticism and revelations, its messianic fervor, and its mystical and ascetic communities-are now assumed to be the cradle of Gnosticism."

-Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition of Inner Knowing pgs. 93-94

Today's Card: Page of Wands

I don't always want to wrestle with blogger formatting to get all the cards in but I will share my present card.
 Page of wands (Reversed) can be taken many ways but I like to think that it means a time of great creative energy is about to burst forth but that energy may not be quite as great as it would have been had the card been upright.
 The upright and reversed distinction is arbitrary in readings. Some people use different meanings some don't. I am still relatively new to the Tarot and as I keep digging into them and learning I'll come to a definitive opinion eventually but for now I remain unsure.
 Wands is the suit of Air,in Jungian thinking Intuition.

The Age of Antichrist

The enlightenment revealed great knowledge about the physical world. Unfortunately it also brought about materialism and spiritual death.

The Gnostics teach that there are three fundamental kinds of people,
The Hylic (Material),the Psychic (Psychological),and the Pneumatic (Spiritual).

With the enlightenment came a emphasis on the Hylic, to a lesser extent the Psychic, and a total denial of the Pneumatic.

Why do people wait days in line braving the cold rain/snow for the latest ipad or sometimes get trampled to death in pursuit of whatever trinket on BLACK friday?*

Because materialism is the new religion.

Due to this development  I feel sad for my fellow man because I know from personal experience that owning more and more stuff does not lead to happiness but despair.

In the Tarot the representation of materialism is the devil card.

The devil card has a pentacle pointing down.

The pentacle pointing down according to the famous white magician Eliphas Levi means mater over spirit.

Whether we know it or not materialism is the philosophy of the left hand path, of the devil himself.

Therefore I think it can be rightly surmised that this is an age of antichrist.

Just as the Jews have decided that a messiah must come in an age rather than in a person so many of us Gnostic Christians believe that along with the incarnation of the Aeon Christos came an age of faith called Pisces. That age is coming to an end and with it I believe we have temporarily transitioned to an age of antichrist.

Thankfully this dying of the old age of faith that comes with evil returning will soon give way to the Age of Aquarius,the age of Magic! An age when people will want more than mere faith but will also turn away from satan,turn away from materialism!

Light

The Way and the Name of the Nameless,the Knowledge of the Unknowable

"The way that can be told,
Is not the constant way;
The name that can be named
It not the eternal name."

-Lao Tzu
 

"He is the invisible Spirit, of whom it is not right to think of him as a god, or something similar. For he is more than a god, since there is nothing above him, for no one lords it over him. For he does not exist in something inferior to him, since everything exists in him. For it is he who establishes himself. He is eternal, since he does not need anything. For he is total perfection. He did not lack anything, that he might be completed by it; rather he is always completely perfect in light. He is illimitable, since there is no one prior to him to set limits to him. He is unsearchable, since there exists no one prior to him to examine him. He is immeasurable, since there was no one prior to him to measure him. He is invisible, since no one saw him. He is eternal, since he exists eternally. He is ineffable, since no one was able to comprehend him to speak about him. He is unnameable, since there is no one prior to him to give him a name.
"He is immeasurable light, which is pure, holy (and) immaculate. He is ineffable, being perfect in incorruptibility. (He is) not in perfection, nor in blessedness, nor in divinity, but he is far superior. He is not corporeal nor is he incorporeal. He is neither large nor is he small. There is no way to say, 'What is his quantity?' or, 'What is his quality?', for no one can know him. He is not someone among (other) beings, rather he is far superior. Not that he is (simply) superior, but his essence does not partake in the aeons nor in time. For he who partakes in an aeon was prepared beforehand. Time was not apportioned to him, since he does not receive anything from another, for it would be received on loan. For he who precedes someone does not lack, that he may receive from him. For rather, it is the latter that looks expectantly at him in his light.
"For the perfection is majestic. He is pure, immeasurable mind. He is an aeon-giving aeon. He is life-giving life. He is a blessedness-giving blessed one. He is knowledge-giving knowledge. He is goodness-giving goodness. He is mercy and redemption-giving mercy. He is grace-giving grace, not because he possesses it, but because he gives the immeasurable, incomprehensible light."

- The Secret Revelation of St. John


"Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
 
-John 14:6

"I and the Father are one."

-John 10:30

Christos is the salvaic Aeon which is literally the salvaic aspect of the Unknown Father and depending on the myth the first emanation from him,the Son. Obviously Christos incarnated as the man Jesus Christ.

This does not mean that only christians can be saved it means that all people who are saved, or liberated, do so through the Spirit of Jesus Christ, The Aeon (or god) Christos the salvaic aspect of the ONE.

No one comes to the Unknown Father but by Christos regardless of religion.  Christos with the help of his consort Holy Sophia (Holy Wisdom) grants gnosis about the Unknowable.

J.R.R. Tolkein's Gnostic Cosmogony

J.R.R. Tolkein's cosmogony called "Ainulindalë" and found in the "The Silmarillion" is strikingly similar to the Gnostic cosmogony.

Tolkein said that he was not making up a story but rather he had a very real sense that he was DISCOVERING something inside.

With that in mind in the context of Jungian theory its no surprise that his origin story for the gods (Who incidentally emanated from a single being beyond them with the title Ilúvatar the ‘Father of All’, also called ‘Eru – “the One, He that is Alone”’) and the universe is so similar to others.

  There are primordial images in all of us that can be accessed through active imagination,dreams,and other altered states of consciousness. These Archetypes transcend all languages,cultures,and time.

  The Unknown Father of ALL is within and always speaking. The human race is forgetful but we can learn to listen and find true Gnosis.

Listen to "Ainulindalë"-

Today's Card: Page of Pentacles

Finally did a general PPF reading ,been distracted all day, but don't feel like wrestling with blogger formatting right now so I'm just posting today's card which is the Page of Pentacles!
 Pentacles is the suit of Earth,in Jungian terms Sensation.
Dreams,dreams,dreams. Time to begin. The energy is flowing!

A Simple Gnostic Ritual and Prayer for All Hallows Eve

A short simple ritual and prayer for the departed Saints who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven for this All Hallows Eve.

Light a big candle with three wicks or alternatively three candles.

When using thee candles it is preferable that the middle one be slightly taller than the others representing the Unknown Father and the two be side by side representing Christos and Sophia his consort but this is hardly necessary.

 As you light the first wick say,"Nous" the second "Christos", and the third "Pistis Sophia" .

Then Pray:

"Great Invisible Spirit and Holy Mother Barbelo, guide and watch over the spirits of all those who have departed from the World of Forms, and establish them in the communities of the realms of unity and perfection."

*Sign of the Cross* Nous, Christos, Pistis Sophia. Amen.

(Alternatively say your own prayer.)

All Hallows Eve is also Samhain and its a good idea after this little ritual of respect to consider not only the dead Saints but also the dying year and its beginning of transformation into a new year reborn.

As I said in the last post this is a time for deep transformation and remembering those who have transformed before us!

What is Halloween to me Besides the Wonderful Costumes and Candy?

What is Halloween to me besides the wonderful costumes and candy?

First let me say as I have before that I walk a fine line between Christianity and Paganism these days that makes me acceptable to neither.

Regardless All Hallows Eve is both a remembering of the Saints who have attained the beatific vision in Heaven and Samhain,the beginning of the darker days of the year.

In a kind of magical way this is a day to remember all the Saints of the Unknown Father who have departed to go up to one of the heaven's whatever religion they might come from through the Aeon Christos and to commemorate the beginning of the death of the year.

Like the Death card coming up in a Tarot reading though the death of the year is NOT a sign of end but a sign of new beginnings as fall then winter will give way to Spring and rebirth!

Its a time for deep transformation and remembering those who have transformed before us!

Read the Moment

"They (the disciples) said to him:
"Tell us who you are that we may believe in you."

He replied:

"You read the face of the sky and of the earth,
drawing your own conclusions,
but you do not recognize the one who stands before you,
and you do not know how to read this moment."

-The Gospel of Thomas,saying 91

"The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

He replied,

“When evening comes, you say,
‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’
and in the morning,
‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’
You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."

-Matthew 16:1-3

I Am a Great Fool, A Sleepy Man, A Forgetful Spark

 I recently read in the book ,"The Fool's Pilgrimage: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot," that I was looking at the Fool's journey backwards and I had a "WOW" moment.

I KNOW I don't know all there is and may get some ,if not most, of this wrong but this is where I am right now so bear with me.

For those who don't know the Tarot is broken up in to two groups and is 78 cards.

The first group is the Major Arcana and includes the famous cards like the Fool,Death,the devil,Judgement,The Lovers,The Magician,e.t.c. and is 22 cards.

The other is the 56 card lower arcana and depending on the deck may not contain much rich symbolism but thankfully my Radiant Rider-Waite Deck does.

Ok so each card of the Major Arcana is numbered 1 through 22 with the Fool being 0.

The Journey is the fool going "DOWN" the path towards enlightenment and the 22 cards are levels basically ,of course I'm no expert and could be slightly wrong about certain things as you'll soon learn first hand, so I thought the levels started from 0 and went down chronologically to 1,2,3,4,e.t.c. but what I read made me realize that they start with the fool at 0 and go !!UP!! from 22 to 1 then to 0 only the blind fool at that point becomes the HOLY FOOL.

It all makes so much more sense now because Gnosticism teaches that we are creations of a lower emanation of the Unknown Father named Jehovah but the Unknown Father gave a piece of himself to each of us called the Divine Spark that is within. Later he sent Jesus Christ to show us the way and reveal as much as is possible for our finite minds to comprehend of the Unknown Father through His Life and Teachings.

With this in mind we have the ability to move up the Kabbalistic tree of life to the Crown,Up the Fool's journey to get back to the Source because we are many steps away from the Source. We are ,according to the tarot, 22 emanations down from the Source more or less meaning we are many states of consciousness removed from Him.

To sum up I saw the fools journey as beginning at 0 and going to 1 which is the Magician but actually it starts at 0 and goes to 22 which is the World and as you go up each level makes more sense tell you've reached the Magician and then go past it to become the Holy Fool in union with the Divine Oneness which is enlightenment and at death liberation.

If your compassionate ,much as the bodhisattvas who vow to use their enlightenment to help others rather than wait to die so they may take their place within the oneness, you come back down and assume the role of the magician but your still the Holy Fool.

How blind I have been, how asleep, how forgetful but I am beginning to see, I am slowly waking up, I am starting to remember.

I see a great and sublime symbolism in the concept of "0" being both at the beginning and end of the Fool's journey because the symbol for infinity in mathematics going all the way back to 1655 is ∞.

I should remember that the greatest religious truths are often paradoxes.

A mystic who has attained a high level of union with the Divine often speaks in paradoxes and wears the title of Holy Fool with joy.

My greatest goal is to become nothing more or less than a Holy Fool.

*Update*
A great,sleepy forgetful fool indeed.
I've looked at the cards before but how could I have forgotten that The Magician card has the infinity symbol above his head?
The blind fool becomes the Holy Fool!

Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot: The World

I have finally gotten to the meditative part of a book I'm reading called, "The Fool's Pilgrimage: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot" and so for the rest of the week/weekend ,when I'm not doing a reading, I'm going to be meditating on the World and the 32 path on the Tree of Life,

"I am not of this world, but a child of the beyond. My home is afar, and I long for the house of my Father. May I rightly commence the journey of return. I consecrate my physical,emotional,mental,and intuitive faculties to the accomplishment of the great work. May the senses of my body, the feelings of my emotions, the thoughts of my mind, and the insights of my intuition serve the great work.
There is no part of me that is not of the gods. I resolve to regard all incidents in my life as a portion of the dialogue between my self and the Self. May every part of my being, and every act of my living, be dedicated to the purpose of return to the home of my Father."

There is more than just that meditation of course.

 I encourage you to pick up a copy but full disclosure this is a referral link and by ALL means buy from somewhere else if you like (Making money is not a priority at all but making a few amazon bucks for more books would be helpful) : The Fool's Pilgrimage: Kabbalistic Meditations on the Tarot

A Fine Line

These days I walk a fine line between Christianity and Paganism. Because I do I am acceptable to neither.

Because I am primarily interested in the western mysteries the Christians would call me an evil Witch. If I were interested in the far eastern mysteries they would simply call me a Hindu or a Buddhist.

Because Jesus Christ is the center of my religion the pagans would call me an evil monotheist.

In reality I have more in common with the Hindu Monist.

Lao Tzu Speaks

A Secret Doctrine

"Behind the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of ancient doctrines, behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings, in the ruins of Nineveh or Thebes, on the crumbling stones of old temples and on the blackened visage of the Assyrian or Egyptian sphinx, in the monstrous or marvelous paintings which interpret to the faithful of India the inspired pages of the Vedas, in the cryptic emblems of our old books on alchemy, in the ceremonies practiced at reception by all secret societies, there are found indications of a doctrine which is everywhere the same and everywhere carefully concealed."

-Eliphas Levi

A Blind Fool Learning to See

I see my ego manifest everywhere.

For example I unconsciously make snarky comments in facebook threads when issues that are dear to me are attacked but I consciously know that I DON'T know all there is,that the reasons people form certain opinions that I may not like are varied because life is complicated. The wise man remains silent.

In information heavy conversations involving statistics,meanings of words, possible motivations,historical events e.t.c. there I might know better than another but often I really haven't formed a solid conscious opinion one way or the other in regards to the broader issue yet I still make a snarky comment. Even an overtly angry comment.

These comments are a reflex of my ego and made without thinking. If I thought very carefully about everything I said and reflected on where my anger came from before hand I would likely not say anything at all.

The good news is that now this is much less common for me and its getting a little less so everyday still I have this overwhelming feeling that the choice of having a facebook page or a blog at all is ego driven.

I must deny my ego control if I am ever to get well and unite with divinity.

I am just a blind fool on a journey towards becoming a Holy Fool.

I am just a man at the roots of the Tree of Life climbing up the trunk towards the Crown.

I am just a Gnostic searching for the Divine Spark within.

Today's PPF Reading

Past


I was overwhelmed by information and unable to make a decision. This is a common problem for me.
 My mind is so full of trivia ,Ive theoretically won thousands watching Jeopardy, and that can lead to too many variables. Confusion was easy to come by.
 Finding my center is what I must always do and by that I mean remembering my core values and making a decision based off of where they point me. If I don't I make poor choices.







Present


 I feel that my creativity is being stifled by my circumstances. I know its not the fault of those around me though,its my inability to prioritize and do what I most value.
 Beyond that on an even more meaningful level the card is reminding me that I feel isolated. That is in large part due to my mental illness and the inability to trust that is a result of it but I think what God is saying is now is the time to begin to put some plans to socialize more into action. A first step into a bigger world is what I may most need right now.
 Its very interesting that I drew a card with a prominent pumpkin so close to Halloween. That may have some deeper significance I am not aware of as of yet.

Future


 I have encountered the Hierophant a couple times lately. To me the card signifies that I will need to accept the situation as it is and at least pay lip service to tradition and institutional norms.
 It may also ,when taking all three cards into account, mean that my indecision about whether or not to join a certain local non-dogmatic church to gain a community and the opportunity to socialize will finally come to an end and I will join.
 Of course I always find looking back that the future card never means quite what I think at the time I drew it. Usually its much more specific than I imagined.
  I should probably just be on the look out for a person or institution with religious or governmental authority and follow their traditions to have a good outcome in whatever it is I will face. That's the wisest course according to the cards.

Praise the One,the Infinite Light, the Unknow Father of All! Amen.