I awoke this morning to the sound of several high-pitched saws. I cringed -- it sounded like they were cutting a whole forest. It seems that, since Spokane’s windstorm of last November (2015), people now fear the trees in their yards. I’ve seen many taken down – that didn’t fall in the storm. Perhaps they were sick or dying; I don’t know.

In all honesty, I think it’s the wind we should fear. But we don’t have control over the wind, do we?       So the trees take the brunt of our mistrust, despite stories I heard after the storm of trees even falling in a direction that spared harm to people and/or their homes. I have now decided that Trees are a lot smarter than we give them credit for.

Which brings me back to The Gospel of the Essenes. Imagine my surprise to find, when reading the daily prayers to the Angels of the Earthly Mother (Sun, Water, Air, the Earth, Life, Joy and culminating with the Earthly Mother as a whole) and the Angels of the Heavenly Father (Power, Love, Wisdom, Eternal Life, Work, and the Heavenly Father in His Completion), the following lines in the Angel of Life:

“Go then toward the high-growing trees,
And before one of them which is beautiful,
High-growing and mighty,
Say these words: 
‘Hail be unto thee! O good, living tree,
Made by the Creator!’
Then shall the River of Life
Flow between you and your Brother,
The Tree,
And health of the body,
Swiftness of foot,
Quick hearing of the ears,
Strength of the arms,
And eyesight of the eagle be yours.
Such is the Communion
With the Angel of Life,
Holy messenger of the Earthly Mother.”
(pages 35-36 in the edition I have)

I thought perhaps this was a fluke – a little aside put in by the author who was a tree-lover. But no, apparently not. In the latter part of the book there are short sections on different aspects of Essene life. Titles for these include The Holy Law, The Angels, The Brotherhood, Stars, The Moon and yes, Trees!

I will post later on this section on Trees, for it may offer an explanation of why the movie Avatar struck such a deep chord for many.  For now, I want to close with my own little ode to Trees.

My appreciation and honor to the members of the Tree Kingdom!  
You stand guard over our properties with majestic and stately presence. 
Your branching arms give homes to birds and squirrels.  
I am grateful for your shade on hot summer days, and the fact that the snow is a little less deep under your canopies in the winter. 
Thank you for cleansing the air that we breathe and for infusing it with the sweet smell of pine          and cedar. 
The heady aromas of your blossoms in the Spring are a wonder to inhale, and the bright colors blazed by many of your leaves in the Autumn truly a sight to behold before you take your Winter hibernation. For with these you mark the cycles of the seasons, reminding us of the our part in Nature’s grand design. 
Hail to Thee, oh Brother/Sister Trees!
My heart opens to you and I bless you.
May your lives be strong, your years be many, and your gifts to us be honored.

It’s been a while since my last post from The Sacred Journey: You and Your Higher Self,  that is authored by a channeled being who goes by “Lazaris.” My first post was about Lazaris’s description of the Bridge of Faith.

Now the Bridge of Belief – well, that’s a whole different story! It is arched very steeply. Those walking that bridge cannot see what’s over the top of that bridge until they arrive at the crest. It probably requires more of a sense of adventure – after all, what’s up there?? People who get to the top and see the expanse ahead have an inner knowledge that what they’ve seen is “true,” but there’s no way to  prove it to others.

Kabbalist Rav P. S. Berg, in his book “The Essential Zohar,” notes that spiritual growth is meant to be difficult. One of the big challenges we face, as humans, is learning to walk. Rav Berg says we are expected to master this developmental milestone – as well as learning to speak and learning to read – and they are not easy (page 186).

This reminded me of one of the stories Mary Morrissey uses in the Dream Builder coaching program I am certified in. Mary’s young grandson is learning to walk by daring to let go of the coffee table he is clinging to. He releases it and tries a few steps. He wobbles and falls – yet tries again. As his learning process involves many tumbles, Mary laughs and says, “Not once did he throw up his little hands and declare, ‘Well, I guess I’m just not meant to be a walker!’”

Back to Lazaris. He goes on to say that those who reach the apex of the Bridge of Belief will change. They step out of one reality – the one they had known up to that point – and move into another level of being. One could say we do that when, as children, we become walkers. A big change from crawlers!

So, I wonder…. When do we make a spiritual milestone equivalent to learning to walk? Perhaps the vistas one sees from the top of the parabolic Bridge of Belief are so new and different from what was known on the climbing side that one can only integrate it by a serious shift. (Bringing to mind the saying, “Miracles are just a change in perception” from A Course in Miracles, notes to Lesson 77.) And, for many of us, there could certainly be more than one mountain that we scale.

Imagine my surprise, when recently reading Edmond Bordeaux Szekely’s  Gospel of the Essenes (another out-of-print book – and what a shame!), to find:  …

"Many there are
Who would stay in the tranquil
Valley of ignorance,
Where the children play
And butterflies dance in the sun
For their short hour of life.
But none can tarry there long,
And ahead rise the somber
Mountains of learning.
Many there are who fear to cross,
And many there are who have fallen bruised and bleeding
From their steep and rugged slopes.
But faith is the guide
Over the gaping chasm,
And perseverance the foothold in the jagged rocks.
Beyond the icy peaks of struggle
Lies the peace and beauty of the Infinite Garden of Knowledge,
Where the meaning of the Law
Is made known to the Children of Light."
(pages 64-65 of the edition I have)
                                                                                  
I’m always excited by theories/scriptures/wisdom that track with other sources. To me, it sounds like the “mountains of learning” in the Essene Gospel could be a combination of Lazaris’s Bridges of Faith and Belief – but without arguing the small points, isn’t the similarity of concept striking?

As Lazaris notes, there is no right and wrong about how you get Home. Both Bridges exist to take us to God/Goddess/All That Is (Lazaris’s term) – and we choose which is right for us at any given time.

Happy trails,
Susan