We greet the day on the sixth day of the week with the Angel of Joy!
If you’re anyone like me, I read this and wondered, “Joy? Seriously?” That’s because what I would say has been my biggest challenge in this life has been depression. From about age 7 or 8 on, I felt lonely and alone. I didn’t think others understood me. I was shy. My step-mother (God bless her – which I say seriously after realizing in my early 30s the blessing of her behavior) took it upon herself to let me know what a “bad” child I was, so I went into my teen years with a boat load of shame and low self-esteem. While self-growth in a variety of ways led to later development of a sense of worthiness and purpose, there continue to be times where the joy of life escapes me. Reading this passage of the Angel of Joy led me to think about the role of joy in life. Since these Essene Gospels were opening me to nature, I considered what happens in the “non-human” world. I realized that I couldn’t imagine a bird waking up one morning and thinking, “You know, I don’t feel much like singing today. I’m just going to hang out in the nest and call it good for the day.” Or a squirrel opening an eye and deciding, “Lord, am I tired of gathering nuts and seeds! All I feel like doing is sleeping. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll feel more up to it.” In fact, everywhere I looked in nature all I saw was the pride – and, I believe, joy – it has in being its very best. Flowers bloom fully, and I realized I felt a sense of joy as I bent over to enjoy their color and aroma. Could they possibly start poking up in Spring and decide, “No, not this year. I just don’t want to bloom!” Jacquelyn Small, LCSW, who taught and mentored me in the years I participated in Eupsychia retreats and trainings, always encouraged us to, “Do your being. Can you imagine a cat not being a cat? It’s totally alive in its cat-ness!” Likewise all of nature delights in its being just what it was meant to be, and in the fullest of its expression. Somehow we humans have the option to not be content in our being-ness – but if we look around, we don’t see that moroseness reflected anywhere around us (as long as all is in balance). If you’re struggling with your sense of happiness today, I hope you will take heart from opening to the Angel of Joy. “… The Angel of Joy, She who descends upon earth To give beauty to all men. For the Lord is not worshipped with sadness, Nor with cries of despair. Leave off your moans and lamentations, And sing unto the Lord a new song: Sing unto the Lord, all the earth. Let the heavens rejoice And let the earth be glad… ….. I will sing unto the Lord As long as I live: I will sing praise to my God While I have my being.”
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Yesterday in my post about the Angel of Work I mentioned a Sanskrit Proverb that refers to "the day well-lived."
For those who may be interested in it, I'll post it here in its entirety. It's a lovely way to be more mindful of your day -- and short enough for memorization. "Look to this day For it is Life, The very Life of Life. In its brief course lie all The realities and verities of existence, The bliss of growth, The splendor of action, The glory of power -- For yesterday is but a dream, And tomorrow is only a vision. But today, well lived, Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, And every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore, to this day." For those of you who have not been following this blog, I have been posting about the Essene Gospels. The books are currently out of print, so I have been taking the liberty of posting quotes from them.
A practice of the Essenes was to each day honor an "Angel" (you could use the word "messenger" or "essence" if you don't do well with Angels) in the morning and the evening. Past posts have gone from Day One up to the Angel of the Morning for Day Five. I am resuming with the Angel of the Evening for that day. You may do a double-take on this one -- it is the Angel of Work! But hold on! This provides a great opportunity for us to reconsider our personal perspective as well as the predominant belief of U.S. culture (where I live). It is rare that we hear of people who really love their jobs. When that happens, they may not even particularly care how much money they make because the gratifying factor is either the pleasure of what they're doing or the service they provide others, or their happiness at being able to do something that they truly enjoy doing. The difference, to me, is that between, "I'm so fortunate to be able to do my being" versus "I gotta put in another day at my job so we can pay the bills." The Essene Gospel doesn't consider the second possibility noted above. It does consider "idleness," and addresses that with, "He who eats the bread of idleness Must die of hunger, For a field of stones Can yield only stones. For him is the day without meaning..." Yet consider the promise of a "day well-lived," (as stated in a Sanskrit proverb whose saying is much in line with the philosophy of these Gospels): "For the honest work of humble hands Is a daily prayer of thanksgiving, And the music of the plough Is a joyful song unto the Lord.... .... The man of God who has found his task Shall not ask any other blessing." Isn't that last line inspiring? If we do the work we love; if we feel we have found what we are meant to do and engage in it with the fullest expression of our being that we can, it is a blessing! A blessing for us, and a blessing to others who benefit from beholding that which we create. If you don't already do something that really excites you, could you possibly consider a change? The world is waiting for the blessing inside you to come forth and grace us all. I missed posting yesterday, which was Angel of Air day for me. So, do we ever consider the implications of the changes we create in our environment? Dorothy MacLean was a co-founder of the conscious community in Findhorn, Scotland. She intuitively communicated with all kinds of nature spirits. From her book, To Honor the Earth, put together in 1991, see what she has to say, even from 27 years ago! “We who control the storm spirits seem wild at the moment. The weather has indeed been influenced by humans. For example, you have desecrated the land by your mining operations and slag heaps, taking without giving. Likewise, you use the atmosphere around the Earth without proper consideration. Thus you upset the balance and clear a pathway for destructive winds. The powers in our control are subject to natural laws. When humans interfere and break theses laws, there must be consequences. But perfected human thought can perform miracles, and we would wish for that." Communication between Dorothy Maclean and The Angel of Air, page 96. Is it possible that the huge swaths of trees being cleared in the Amazon could contribute toward creating a pathway for winds to intensify up the coastlines of the U.S.? We are so horrified by the natural "disasters" that take place -- yet could it be that we unintentionally put the wheels in motion for them? I don't mean to say that challenging weather would not happen if we left everything in status quo, but I can't help but wonder how things might be different if we considered that "every action results in another action of equal force" applied to more than physics. That said, isn't nature theoretical physics on a larger scale? Wishing you a day in which you take in the environment around you and appreciate it. Did anyone catch that I skipped the Angel of the Evening on Day Four and rushed into Day Five? Ooops!
It was easy for me to see the correlation between the morning (physical or natural) and evening (spiritual) angels up to day four: Sun and Power, Water and Love and Air and Wisdom. I’ve been a bit challenged with the pairing of Day Five: Earth and Eternal Life. I’ll leave you to contemplate the connection; I have some thoughts, but will post those later (if I remember!) So, the Angel of Eternal Life…. Here are excerpts from the shorter writing: “… The Angel of Eternal Life, Who brings the message of eternity To man. …. Do not wait for death To reveal the great mystery: If you know not your Heavenly Father While your feet tread the dusty soil, There shall be naught but shadows for thee In the life to come. Here and now Is the mystery revealed. Here and now Is the curtain lifted…. “ If I get any readers for this blog, I’ll ask what understanding they come to about this. What I take from it is that we have the potential to know God (and it does say “know God” – which means have an actual experience of God, as you understand Him/Her/It.) This will unfold over time, so for those practicing this method of spiritual growth, “Truth” shifts with your insights. Yet this is how a personal relationship with your God develops – not one of listening to others read from scriptures, but one that occurs over time as you spend time in attempts to contact this higher power. The journey to come to know your Heavenly Father is unique to each of us. Mine tends to feel like it’s taking an inordinately long time (not helped by this passage, which makes me think that “the mystery” should be “revealed here and now.” Then recently I re-read in the book, The Thirteen-Petalled Rose , by Adin Steinsaltz (yes, my other spiritual intrigue is Kabbalah – to the very limited extent this shiksa has read of this tradition): “The feeling of ‘behold, I’ve arrived’ could well undermine the capacity to continue, suggesting as it does that the Infinite can be reached in a finite number of steps…. At every rung of his ascent, like any person who follows the way of God, they perceive mainly the remoteness.” (pg. 131, with my taking out use of the word “penitent.”) What an awesome concept of a finite number of steps to take to reach the Infinite. How does one come to understand the Infinite? Man, as made in the “image and likeness of God,” may consider putting effort into understanding himself. At least, it’s a start… OK, methinks time for a break from the Earth, as much of a maniac as I am about respecting her.
Angel of the Fifth Morning is the Angel of Life. Interestingly, in the shorter version of the communion with the Angel of Life, one is encouraged to be a tree-hugger! You may be surprised to read this: ….” Go, then, towards 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… And eyesight of the eagle be yours. …” A few weeks ago on a moist morning as I walked in a wooded area, a pine tree caught my eye. I went up to it and leaned my face into its trunk, not particularly expecting much. (And if you’re wondering about insect inhabitants, this was towards the end of winter and probably cold enough that they were not yet out and about.) The aroma from the bark was almost intoxicating! And despite my skepticism, I did feel energized by the connection with the tree. I stayed by it for a few minutes, soaking up the vibrant sensation --even at a time the tree “should” have still been “sleeping.” Since that time I have stopped to visit it again, and I suspect I will several more times. I’m curious to see if the bark smells different in the other seasons – or when the climate is drier instead of the lovely wet-earth situation that welcomed me that day. That said, the longer version of the Angel of Life has something else to say. I’ll leave that for another time when the Angel of Life is the Essence to be greeted on the day of my post. Below is a SoulCollage® card I created with a big, beautiful tree (though I guess the butterfly is more prominent). I encourage you to find a tree in your neighborhood to befriend. :-) You may wonder why I blog about the importance of honoring Nature and the balance that exists between our environment (on all levels) and humanity. Believe me, it is not because I am smarter than the average bear on this topic.
This has been emphasized in the Essene Gospels which were written 2,000 years ago! And indigenous peoples around the world have known that if we are to continue our life, we must not deplete that which provides that life for us. I could have just gone on with signing email petitions for various environmental causes, then this paragraph on page 28 of The Essene Gospels, Book Four, jumped out at me: “And when once we see with the eyes of wisdom and hear with the ears of understanding the ageless truths of the Holy Scrolls, then must we go among the Sons of Men and teach them, for if we jealously hide the holy knowledge, pretending that it belongs only to us, then we are as one who finds a spring high in the mountains, and rather than let it flow into the valley to quench the thirst of man and beast, buries it under rocks and dirt, thereby robbing himself of water, as well….” So here I am – a voice in the wilderness – trying to call out to my fellow humans, please find the ancient knowledge and start to practice it as regularly as you can! We only have one Earth. If we destroy it, we cannot live. Written on this Earth Day, 2018, with love to the planet that gives us our physical life and honoring the concept of balance portrayed in this peaceful image. If it were a bit more personal to each of us, perhaps we would understand better....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyBbYAb027o Always encouraging more respect for the planet we live on... It's Earth Day soon! Make it a good one -- for both you and the Earth. The Angel of the Morning on Day Four is the Angel of Earth.
The Essene Gospels views man (humans) as one with the Earth. It is stated in many different places, yet here is a pretty complete rendition: “Blessed is the Child of Light Who knoweth his Earthly Mother, For she is the giver of life. Know that thy Mother is in thee, And thou art in her. She bore thee And she giveth thee life. She it was who gaveth thee thy body, And to her shalt thou one day Give it back again. Know that the blood which runs in thee Is born of the blood Of thy Earthly Mother Her blood falls from the clouds…. …Know that the air which thou dost breathe Is born of the breath Of thy Earthly Mother. Her breath is azure In the heights of the heavens…. …. Know that the hardness of thy bones Is born of the bones Of thy Earthly Mother, Of the rocks and stones…. ….The light of thy eyes, The hearing of thy ears, These are born Of the colors and the sounds Of thy Earthly Mother, Which doth enclose thee about….” (pages 65-67 in the edition I have) One thought that came to me when I read this was the light of our eyes being born of the Earthly Mother. Eyes tend to be brown, blue, sometimes green or gray/hazel. These are nature's colors! Brown of the earth, blue of the waters, green of the grasses and leaves, gray of stones. We don't have red or purple eyes (though yes, I know colored contacts exist). Isn't that interesting? Many years ago I had a Holotropic Breathwork journey in which I was birthing the Earth. I had not read the Essene Gospels at the time to see the connection, but now I am amazed! Here's the mandala I drew afterwards -- I am lying on the Earth (by the roots of a tree) with a baby coming out from my heart and an umbilical cord connecting the baby with the Earth. Pretty amazing for someone who wasn't conscious of this teaching at the time -- but who certainly was aware "unconsciously!" And what do you think of the large red umbilical cord running from the Earth adjoining the baby, then touching the full length of the tree and returning to my heart? Everything is connected: my prone body, the baby, the Earth and the Tree. And that was on Earth Day. What a profound experience. Namaste. I had the most awesome walk this morning! This is Saturday, the day I consider the Sabbath. That is the day in the Essene Gospels for honoring the Earthly Mother in the morning and the Heavenly Father in the evening.
Now that I am practicing the message of the Essene Gospels, I am mindful of the angel of the Earthly Mother in my morning walks. And noticing the interplay between some of them – for instance, how often there is rain and wind together (Angels of Water and Air). When that happens my thoughts turn to the cleansing powers of both – emotional cleaning by water, and mental clearing by air. It’s as if the community or area where I live is washed to allow for a clean start, and since this is Spring I thought today as I was out that maybe the cleansing today is for the fullness of Summer to come in. (Yes, that’s still a ways off, but who knows how, or if, the elements perceive time?) It was a gentle rain when I started out, and the air was still at first. About halfway into my planned route, the rain picked up a bit and a breeze kicked in. As I continued the mindful breathing I practice as I walk, the sun started to peek out from the clouds! Its light did not last very long – but in that time I was aware of the unique blessing this was for the start of my day. I was greeted by all the Angels of the Earthly Mother: the Angels of Sun, Water, Air, Earth (who was happily soaking up the moisture from the skies above), Life (I could almost feel how happy the trees and plants were for the life-giving water) and Joy (as the Life ignites again in the plant kingdom, Joy flows through them as they come into the fullness of expressing their beauty.) That’s only six angels, you say? Yes – because the seventh (the Sabbath) is the time to honor all of them as the aspects of our Earthly Mother. And the morning today provided me the rare opportunity to be in the presence of all of them within the space of 30 minutes. What a blessing! Wishing you blessings for your day -- the openness and awareness to notice them, and the wonder of receiving them. |
Susan C. Moyer, MSW
Is a sound healer and transformational coach. She has 25+ years experience in using alternate states of consciousness to access deeper healing on all levels: physical, psychological, mental and spiritual. Archives
August 2019
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