Beacon of Love

A Zen proverb advises: “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.” Jack Kornfield chimes in: “Before ecstasy, do laundry. After ecstasy, do laundry.”

Perhaps you’ve had a wonderful experience of oneness with the spiritual world. Most of us have had a moment of enlightenment. But that’s not enough. We need to maintain the flame alive moment after moment, day after day. It requires dedication, discipline, perseverance. It also demands resistance to the forces of darkness. Don’t give in to the powers promising instant cash, over-night stardom, spells to manipulate others.

Keep your Soul’s sparks sparkling, my dear ones. Keep your inner chambers clean and cozy and safe. How else will you remain free when the outer shadows obstruct the flow of Life, Love, Light? Only the spiritual strength, which you consciously cultivate within, can assure that you’ll always be open and connected to your Highest Self, who is your direct line to the Source of All.

Whenever you feel that your crown chakra is closing under the burdens of earthly existence, call upon the Archangel Michael to shine pure Cosmic Light through you and purge away the clutter in your etheric bubble. Claim your true essence; practice the I-A-O (pronounced “ee-ah-oh”) harmonious movement meditation daily (click here to receive it as my gift to you). It’s simple and easy, and only takes a few minutes, but you’ll notice the difference. Become one with your Highest Self out of your own free will. Yes, you have to make the choice. Not choosing means saying no to Life, Love, Light. Your indecisions may turn you into a servant to the curse of densifying matter and Greed, to the allure of false materialistic success and Pride. Would you like your heart to freeze and your Soul to die? Resolve to be a beacon of Light at this very moment. Begin creating a circle of Love one person at the time now.

I can belong now to myself

and shining spread my inner light

into the dark of space and time.

toward sleep is urging all creation,

but inmost soul must stay awake

and carry wakefully sun’s glowing

into the winter’s icy flowing.

~ Weekly Verse 25 by Rudolf Steiner from The Calendar of the Soul
(trans. Ruth & Hans Pusch)

I belong to my Highest Self;

my inner essence shines Light

into the dark world of matter.

Life on Earth is slowly dying.

Stay awake, my Soul, be aware.

Keep the Sun’s spark alive,

spread the nourishing Love,

melt the frozen human hearts.

~ Soulful Spark 25 by Marta Stemberger

Somewhere between the union and separation, between you and me, lives my Soul and yours. Somewhere there is the ever changing space for my I and your I to shine Light and Love into the heartless existence. And through that permeable flow, the Universal Love can nourish the Life on Earth.

The hardening world of matter continuously pushes us into separation, while our eternal spiritual nature urges us to stay in Union with All. But as humans, we are neither fully matter nor fully spirit. We are somewhere in between.

We are gregarious creatures; we need meaningful connection with each other. But we also need boundaries, a safe haven to grow and be and express our uniqueness, our individuality.

We must be able to live with others without lapsing into neediness, possessiveness, codependent attachment. We must be able to be on our own without falling into isolation, hatred, sociopathic behavior. Yes and no are both good; union and separation are both essential. Let’s find the healthy balance between these two polarities against the backdrop of Universal Love. We can only become a true beacon of Universal Light and Love when we tune into the sustaining and nourishing breath of energy.

Only by merging with the ever changing flow we can stand strong and bright in our human I, within the luminous column of our Highest Self, to whom we belong, from whom we are never separated. And only then we can spread the healing Universal Love across the globe, reaching each other in pure, genuine connection we all crave.

How do you create a healthy space for your true essence to shine?

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Dispel Your Fears

I’m intrigued that Rudolf Steiner used the word “maternal” (mütterliches) in the verse marking the festival of Archangel Michael. This is the only time he uses this expression in his entire Calendar of the Soul. Why? He never wrote anything by accident, especially not in his verses.

At Michaelmas, the Feast of Archangel Michael, celebrated on September 29, we’re encouraged to overcome inner fears (the Dragon) with the strength of our Light (the Spear). The imagery is always showing a male-looking angelic warrior standing on or beside a dragon that he conquered with his sword. Yet, this special day is a seven days after the Autumnal Equinox during the harvest season. If we are in the time of balance and abundance then we need the feminine aspect as well, to even out the masculine energies.

The life-sustaining feminine vigor in us gives the power to our will, our impulse and strength to act in the world. The fire within, or rather, the will to exist, enables us to bring the Spirit into the matter, to ground the Cosmic Light in our Souls, housed in our bodies, the earthly sheet of our human selves.

O Nature, your maternal life

I bear within the essence of my will.

And my will’s fiery energy

shall strengthen my spirit striving,

that sense of self springs forth from it

to hold me in myself.

~ Weekly Verse 26 by Rudolf Steiner from The Calendar of the Soul
(trans. Ruth & Hans Pusch)

Life-sustaining feminine force

gives power to my will.

The fire, the urge to exist

draws Spirit Light into matter.

My Soul becomes alive, aware

of its human nature in action.

~ Soulful Spark 26 by Marta Stemberger

“Blasphemy!” I hear the opponents’ voices cry. Indeed! If the feminine is responsible for bringing the Light of the Spirit into the darkness of matter, can we be surprised that women have been, and still are, abused, killed, burnt, prosecuted, pushed down, thrown out, excluded? And women do it to women too, sadly.

Genuine maternal nourishing warmth dispels dread. True motherly care soothes the wounded souls. The scary dragon can only be conquered if the spear of light within each one of us is sustained through the love of the hearth. No wonder that the patriarchal cultures have tried hard to eradicate the feminine power in women and men. The cold and calculating mechanisms can only thrive on fright.

The day of Archangel Michael, the presiding entity of angelic beings, has even been downgraded in Christianity, and not celebrated like the other three festivals around the Sun solstices and equinoxes: Christmas, Easter, St. John. Growing up as a Catholic in Europe, I never heard of Michaelmas. Again, we should not be surprised. No patriarchal structure can exist without terror. And so the dominant forces could not allow celebrations that inspire people to dissolve anxieties.

Fear is especially destructive in shattered women who pass them onto their partners and children. Fearfulness fuels separation, greed, technological coldness, mainly perpetuated by fractured men. The annihilating urges in injured souls of men and women are devastating, pushing us all into life-negating sociopathic behaviors. The whole world is currently swamped with these unfortunate energies.

We all need to heal. We all need to mend our brokenness.

“With the experience of lives fully lived (l-i-v-e-d is devil spelled backwards, a reversal!), Matrons figure out reality in time to do something about it, averting tragedy daily in time for a good laugh over tea in the afternoon,” wrote Carolyn Myers for the Autumnal Equinox in the We’Moon calendar 2015 by Mother Tongue, Inc.

How do you dissolve your fears?

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Over to you, dear Soulful Reader:

HOW DO YOU CREATE A HEALTHY SPACE IN YOUR TRUE ESSENCE TO SHINE?

HOW DO YOU DISOLVE YOUR FEARS?

I invite you to share your thoughts + impressions below.

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Treat yourself to insightful name analysis…

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