Cherries- 26th October 1991

CHERRIES are a wonderful fruit indeed! They hang like festive baubles, self-contained with fiery glow. The sweet cherry and the sour resemble assorted punctuation marks, hanging blithely with lush and exquisite statement.

The cherry-pip used to make for many a good game, not the least of which was a form of fortunetelling using scattered and counted falls and forms. Folk would collect and bag these pips for simple games or compiling equations. Cherries were never so commonplace as to supply one with many pip-bags; unless they were collected from the bird-pecked or rotten variety, and these were usually taken to flavour various cordials and wines.

There was once a god called Saffros, who it is said, bore an unspeakable love and fascination for a maiden who was below age for marriage and promised already to another. Upon her tunic was embroidered that of the house of her father and that of her future lover - and Saffros was pained every time he did see that emblem on her bodice.

The maiden saw him not when he gazed upon her countenance, for he was so ethereal, whilst she quite human born. Who knows from what design true love may spring forth? 

“Love and the Maiden,” by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope (1829–1908), tempera, gold paint, gold leaf on canvas.

There was nothing else to do but create a fruit for his beloved, one which would speak of their union and prolificacy. This would be his gift to she that was betrothed to another. The plan was full of cunning, for he knew that should she taste but one of the fruits of his making she would instantly come to see him and know him and thereby come over to his love. And trees did spring up all around the place with dainty orbs of delicate hue, as fairy oranges dangling in great multitude.

It did come to pass that in childlike delight the new fruit was plucked and chosen by this unsuspecting girl. As her lips embraced the fruit they paled as the very blood drained from them, and she fell to the earth quite dead; whilst the cherish-fruit was overcome with the color of her dark blood, stained by this untimely death - having taken her life from her.

For Saffros had tried the impossible - he held her corpse with his invisible and impotent grasp, regretful of his crime of passion. For her soul had flitted off, far, far from reach, never taking notice of he who had awaited her.

As penance, in sorrow, he did commend himself to the core of every pip, that he might be held and embraced by the blood in the flesh of the fruit of his loved one. And there he remained, as does all unanswered love deposit, in this the cherry.

And every time a bird does peck, Saffros awakens to his regret. And for lovers who may take of the fruit together, Saffros is relieved, as he lives his love through others. . . and contemplates what might have been.

Partners in Individuality- 22nd October 1991

LONG John Silver was more renowned for his parrot, than for his only having one leg. One could say that the most memorable attribute this character had, was one which really was not him at all . . . but rather at his side. Often we look to accessories about a man which may help to characterize his personality so. However, one man as distinct from any other, can be almost indistinguishable at first glance - unless there is something extraordinary being then particularly memorable.

So it happens that when we come to remember a fellow, in order to bring him to mind we do so by recalling his peculiarities - even if these are unkind or untrue to his actual representation of qualities which warrant real remembrance. The physical features dominate in this recall, and first spring to mind any unfortunate 'oddities' which prevail.

One might question this ever so slight analysis of recall, however it is important in our value judgments daily, to be aware of our 'quirks' and our shortcomings. For whether or not a man presents himself as being 'weighty', long nosed, balding or disheveled, has little reality on that true memory impression we have on a soul-to-soul level.

We do have memory recall on far higher levels than those which the tricks of the intellect may produce. We are impressed instantaneously and enduringly at first contact and thereafter - even though we may consciously be unable to signify such meetings. Our dealings with others are never haphazard; one soul to another, whether in casual passing or in interludes which span the years, share great moments of greeting with lasting impressions. This is no less significant when the encounters are brief and simple. Contact is contact, and does open the doorway for future concerns, future connections and future interactions.

We may meet with someone in the street, we may pass them by with a solitary glance or perhaps the vehicles in which we travel might collide - whatever the case, these meetings have their special place in time and are recorded accordingly. Wherever there is a mix from one to two, there is a recording we keep of that particular mix. The equation of that which is ourselves coupled with that which is another (in whatever form presented), is established and so characteristically impressed for soul-recall at next meeting.

Were we to rely on transient memories solely, we should forfeit such upon death or give over to pictures and imaginings, interpretations and summations, which are characteristic of that moment and time. However in these special relationships so established, we carry keys to future meetings, even though conditions within and without have seemingly altered beyond instant recognition. For there is necessity that we should carry within us the ability to truly recognize a fellow friend.

Exactly how this is effected is an extraordinary thing indeed! If one can imagine that from lifetime to lifetime and during certain periods in between, we vary so much in ways in which we may present ourselves, and in relationships that we enjoy. Whilst all the time many souls are reunited, and many a relationship of great significance can be traced to earlier encounters in far differing circumstances. However the personal signature of that individual coupled with the signature of our self, becomes as one unique signature in this our recording. Wherever the opportunities present and the two are in similar vicinity (near orbit) to one another, this key recording shall cause gravitation where the opportunity to meet once again and reunite is again established.

This factor takes the 'impersonality' out from an otherwise impersonal structure. Without this condition, without this soul-recognition, we should surely skip the Cosmos completely unattached as it were, and without much hope at all of continuing encounters.

Whilst there is also the facsimile of certain karma between individuals, the karmic relationship is worked on in a different manner to the above described. For although there is much great achievement in the settling and re-sorting of this and that which may need attention between two or more, these instances worked through may well be tainted with impressions more of the moment, as they pertain to dealings of a particular moment. But the signature soul-relationship endures far past obligatory meetings and interactions, and is with us long after the memory of such enhanced 'corrections' have passed.

Therefore there may be great satisfaction in our assisting a fellow who we owe gratitude to, and content with such fulfillment, are not impressed with the need to indefinitely take up with them. However that special relationship will draw us together in many future encounters, without necessity from either party to actively assert particularly anything- maybe just to 'catch up' as it were. Similarly I may briefly meet a man, whereas there has been little or no karmic impression in that slight encounter - and yet in one simple meeting, I shall have an impression which shall be recorded there to stay forever on. I shall recognize soul-to-soul, that individual at yet another passing.

Often a man may experience what is termed a déjà vu. This need not be (as is often mistaken) something of the present being re-enacted as though we had been there before. It is usually the case that we are shocked into a certain defined, clarity-filled awareness of what we are doing. The eeriness of this awareness is that hitherto we were not so aware. Usually this is sparked by such an encounter with another 'ringing bells' so to speak, in which we are awake to the recognition of some other fellow whom we have made contact once again with. This contact may have been so brief as it has passed unnoticeably and our attention has been taken up elsewhere - nonetheless we are impressed with that reuniting.

Of course this does not mean to say that we have experience of that déjà vu every time we make contact again with those of the past, for this occurs so often in the course of a day, that we should be caught up by this experience continually. However, there can be special meetings and certain circumstances which inspire this spark of recall. Even before that meeting on the day, we may be alerted to its happening.

One might wonder what distinguishes one soul from another, and added to that there is a complexity which provides for the soul to become more enhanced and more fulfilled and altered accordingly. One might say that when one is alone there is little differentiation, but where one meets with another there is comparison for both.

For example: if I never use my foot upon the ground, my foot has less significance, even to me. When the foot makes impact upon the ground there is a relationship of foot to ground. The foot has become noticeably significant, the ground too. One against another brings consciousness and provision for activity.

We are what we are in the likeness and through the impact of others. This is no less true for our likeness being that of the Father's. For we should be nothing without Him, through which our relationship becomes notable. We must be dual in relationship with Him, for us to be us. There must always be a relationship, there must always be two for one to know another and thereby know oneself.

How am I to recognize a world, even if I have all of my faculties, if there is no world to recognize? How am I to hold an identity, even if I have one, if I am not with another? For life is a series of conflicts and harmonies. We may either become that which impinges upon us and absorb it accordingly, or we repel. We are in identity through our relationships to each differing and unique individuality - this is what makes it so.

Ultimately we may measure ourselves in relation to the Father and in relation to the great individuals, and come to know ourselves intimately through this special mix of duality. One becomes two because one cannot be one without another.

The soul is as a mirror, and all brothers as our teachers. All encounters are of supreme significance....and many a road, with many an 'old friend'.

Ice the Great Magician

Dear Readers,

As an addendum to the recent blog entry on water and karma I have the following:

There was a time when Helena Blavatsky was shunned by some in the Theosophical Society. She still had little study meetings in London with stalwart fans. These are published as Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge. Here is an excerpt of relevance to our subject:

From H.P.Blavatsky, Transactions of the Blavatsky Lodge:

Q. When Tyndall* took a large block of ice and threw a powerful ray upon it and thence on to a screen, there were to be seen the forms of ferns and plants in it. What is the reason for this?
*(Professor John Tyndall b. 1820)

A. .......Occultism would explain it by saying either that the ray helped to show the astral shapes which were preparing to form future ferns and plants, or that the ice had preserved the reflection of actual ferns and plants that had been reflected in it. Ice is a great magician, whose occult properties are as little known as those of Ether. .....This is well known to the learned Yogis who dwell on the eternal ice of Bodrinath and the Himalayas.

 At any rate, ice has certainly the property of retaining images of things impressed on its surface under certain conditions of light, images which it preserves until it is melted. .... in decomposing the ice with heat you deal with the forces and the that were impressed on it, then you find that it throws off these images and the forms appear. It is but one link leading to another link.

Rudolf Steiner also noted this marvel:

When Steiner noted that the icy crystals that form in winter on the panes of windows are different on a flower shop from those appearing on the windows of a butcher shop, he suggested to Pfeiffer and to another of his early followers, Lily Kolisko, that they experiment in the lab with the formation of crystals as a means of demonstrating what he called the "formative forces" in nature.

- Secrets of the Soil, Tompkins and Bird, 1989

In recent years the late Masuro Emoto has been known for his work in demonstrating the responsive nature of water to human thoughts and emotions. 

Presently Awkward- 19th October 1991

Let no man discredit the Gods of the past,
Lest he chance to meet one and suffer foolish regret ever on.

THE HIGH beings of whom we once pronounced our undying allegiances to, are now at best as shadowy apparitions of an ancient world. They have been closeted by the consciousness of modern man today and replaced with idols and personalities who play a mighty game of cricket or win the financial lotteries in the Who's Who of greed and pseudo-majesty.

We have replaced reverence with adulation; we replace humility with false but explicit nervousness and doubt. We have replaced firmness of attitude and steadfastness of faith with vague and untimely assertions - those that we prefer not to die for, but rather casually discuss and contemplate.

The modern world is so rapidly expressing new and interesting forms of technology that fascination and wonder is meager; great stimulation is commonplace. The higher worlds have been hidden from view; they are as almost detached from humanity as humanity is detached from them. Heritage is scorned and remodeled, and history is pure fantasy, as its insights have become speculative rather than experienced. We leave history to the scholars to argue, we are not perturbed by the accuracy of account. The scholars are unmoved by the treasured works of the former world; they would rather place dates and tags and file chronologically with neat precision - they do not know of the times to which they refer.

We endeavor to encompass a fair attitude to all men, that there be little or no racial distinctions - although physical testimony to such equality has not yet been realized, as the Third World sit at the feet of the table waiting for scraps, kicked in the interim. Although the modern man is proud of his longings for such equality, he will not vacate the chair, he will not share his place.

And downcast are the men of the past. There is no equality there - much haughty assumption that the men of today are at the apex of this great evolutionary trek, and those who reflect back do so with modern eyes and see but a few thousand years.

The woman would be as men and the men as women, but neither more complete, for both are still neglectful of the identity of pure spirit, and the spirit of a man and the spirit of a woman, and the spirit of both being thus perfected.

And not one tenth of the day is given over to seriousness. And not one tenth of the day is given over to the love of beauty. And not one tenth is given to accomplishing the difficult, and neither to piety, neither to honesty, neither to advancing grace, neither to gratitude in the extreme.

Would that the Heart Foundation gave counsel as to the exercise and developing capacity of the heart to love. By all means stretch the sinews, but also try to stretch the ideals. Wholesome food in the mouth, wholesome words issuing from.

All poisons elementary to man are made so by those poisons excreted from inadequacy and excrement from the sphere of thought reaching up to the cosmic realms. Diseases are offspring of man's own destructivita.

For every small and innocent child refused a life, which would otherwise have been given free license, were it not for negligence, were it not for interference - for all of those babes surrendered back prematurely to the heavenly worlds the Globe is stained and screeching, until this is no longer more.

If humanity refuses its humanity, then overall the grim consequences shatter all regions. All men are confronted by this grand necessity to make aright those former and ongoing sins of great negligence. All men are answerable and inextricably linked, and denial of this makes it all the harder a task.

There is much comfort in Heaven for those who have suffered the wrongs of the world - but no comfort for those who grant not consideration to the righteous. The pain of the world is the pain of incessant incarnation, which drives a man upon return to realize the sturdy realities of which we must all give over to Heavenly transformation.

It truly is not enough to take five minutes a month in quiet meditation, as these five minutes will pus and suppurate on the outermost edge of this, our inner wound. Rather that we are to address the problems of the moment within the very moment and drive down into the consciousness those pressing issues which will not be put off. For to what purpose is leisure time? It is taken to be to the purpose that we might forget, that we might neglect and go on an indefinite holiday. The distractions of pastimes are the filling stuff of a padded intellect. They serve no great purpose; they do not ward off ulcers.

Is the hard line too hard?: That we should be gainfully employed. If duty requires that we give over our time to this and to that, well and good. But our thoughts are ever our own, within whatever occupation. We must make use of our time wherever we are, with whatever we are doing, whoever we make intimate contact with, and begin refining, and begin with eager determination.

Reluctance, reticence, comes from beta-blocking unraveling swellings: the pressure in one's head when one does try to concentrate; that we are so used to succumbing to invited stupidities - all men may work to surpass this inadequacy. We are all given to improvement; we can in fact make great moves out from this 'marshmallow' impressionistic thought void.

Come the time when we take parley with those: our most High Fellows of the Heavenly order, then shall we come to acknowledge the source of all earthly inspiration, so translated, so worked upon and imparted that we might sup from yet the greater table. 

Light a candle on the altar of Humanity for those who from the great divinities wish us well. And for all that which comprises the past be mindful and respectful, as we are ever in such company, as all our todays are as one yesterday, and the yesteryears are the scope of future prospects, and our deeds and thoughts provide the scope of salvation.