The Harmonic Concordance
And Aligning with the Sacred Heart of
The Mothers and the Christos

by Aeptha

EXTRACT FROM SUNDAY SERVICE NOVEMBER 2, 2003

As I was preparing for this service, it was hard to decide where to begin, because there are so many levels. We know that in our tradition this weekend is when we celebrate Halloween. In the Celtic tradition it is the time of the New Year. It is All Saints' Day in Catholicism. Traditionally it is recognized that at this time the veils between the worlds are very thin. It is a time in which we are called to exercise huge discernment, and that discernment involves taking this potency and moving in truth and love, and being aware of the difference between that which is in alignment with the Divine, and that which we call astral energies, and this includes our own thoughts and our own feeling world.

Many of us have been getting a lot of literature sent to us about the Lunar Eclipse with the heralded alignment that occurs next Saturday. (November 8, 2003). This Lunar Eclipse includes a very unusual alignment that involves four planets as well as the Moon and Chiron, which will align to form a six-pointed star, and because of this there are many groups that will be gathering in prayer to take advantage of this Lunar Eclipse energy and these potencies. There is a lot of information about this configuration which some people are calling the Harmonic Concordance.

There have been many very grand claims made in the material that I have received on the alignment. I have learned that part of our responsibility as spiritually mature beings is to use discernment, and so I called an astrologer friend of mine whose work I think very highly of. His input was that he sees this as a time when we will be weaving together what it is that we want to attract to ourselves, because it is something that we will be keeping close to us for a long time. Remember, we not only have the Lunar Eclipse, which tends to be associated with sub-conscious thoughts, but then on the 23rd (November, 2003) we also have a Solar Eclipse, and that tends to relate to levels of self- consciousness. So there are these Scorpio potencies that are going to stir up energies on all levels, and because some tend to be on the unconscious level, coming right after this time of Samhain, out of this time of the thinning of the veils, our challenge is to be to be aware of what we are weaving close to us. I also read an article by astrologer Heather Roan Robbins and I really appreciate this person's work because it resonated as truth. She stated that there were also three oppositions that no one was talking about, and that these oppositions of energies were going to be presenting a unique challenge that would either result in your experiencing stability, not unlike the World Tree, or you could stand between these six lines of force and feel stuck in all of your "stuff". Well, that got my attention! It makes sense, because if we are dealing with Lunar Eclipse energy, we are dealing with the unconscious realm.

We are also dealing with the subtleties of astral glamours and illusions, and that is really what I want to call to your attention. There is a lot of glamour that has been built up around this conjunction, and that glamour can make you feel really good, but that is a trap. I know that spiritual growth is not about feeling good. And there is seduction in that feeling, but it is a transitory illusion. We must be grounded in the ultimate source, which is well beyond the transitory feelings of good or bad. Many of us who have been in this work for a while have participated in those times when we thought, "Eureka, this is it. The veils are going to be thinned. I'm going to have continuous consciousness. My spiritual guide is coming, and maybe even the spaceship, and I'm ready to go!" And then we've gone through some minor disappointments and guess what? A few days later we realize that our stuff is still there. It is not about not recognizing the highest in hope and expansion, but there is a part of ourselves that knows truth, and it may not be a part that we are in conscious contact with.

If we are playing a game and not seeking the light of truth, then we are deceiving ourselves. And what we then set up is this adversarial relationship with ourselves, because on the mundane level it is like participating in a relationship that you know is destructive, but you make excuses for it, and you think it is going to change, or it feels good. And all the while you feel increasingly fragmented and depressed. It is the same in our spiritual life. We are not spiritually mature if we continue to ignore discernment, or if we continue not seeking out truth, for then we create a fragmentation between ourselves and our true self as Spirit.

In this temple our focus is to seek the truth, and usually what is not truth is what we are attached to, and what is of the ego. While in the short term it may feel good and may bring in a few extra dollars or a few more people, ultimately it is that which creates separation and despair. There have been newcomers on this path that have been turned off because they have been told certain things by teachers they respected, and they have become caught in the glamour, and then they have felt profoundly betrayed when those things did not occur. So as a teacher I have a huge responsibility, and we will be doing ceremony with these unique energies, and I would ask you to do your prayers and your work around this Lunar Eclipse, but do it in a way of truth and in a way that is balanced. Don't get caught in the glamour, because you will be doing a disservice to yourself as well as to Spirit.

In our last service we talked about St. Teresa of Avila, and for those of you who would like to see that paper, it is on our website. As I was considering this information I realized that we connect mysticism with the middle Ages, and that we don't hear too much about modern day mystics. I felt it was really important to explore that because we may be of the opinion that today's world is not particularly conducive to mystical experiences or a mystical life. So I set about an exploration of modern day mystics to see what was out there, and I came across some wonderful examples of people who participate in modern life, and who are in what we would call an ongoing state of mysticism. When I refer to mysticism what I am referring to is the path of the heart. As we saw with Teresa of Avila, and what I was seeing as I explored these people in modern times, is that the path of the heart also weaves through the path of the head, which is what we would call the path of the Magician, or the mental aspect. So mysticism is a balance between the heart and the head.

We should revisit the mystical heart because the communication that I have received is that we will be grounding our roots deeply in that heart. This will facilitate the opening of our own mystical hearts and our own heart-to-heart connections. We don't have to look very far to see the tumultuousness of the times we are in, and perhaps even the tumultuousness of parts of our own lives, and we must be able to access our heart within the greater heart in order to withstand that pain. If we do not do this we will go into self-medication, into the fields of illusion and glamour, and we will go into places that are not of truth, because we will feel so overwhelmed.

I want to share with you the lives of three women that I explored. One of the women is Joanna Macy. She was born in 1929 in New York. She had a strong mystical experience in her church at the age of 16 and she then went into the Peace Corps and found that her path was one of social activism. She went to India where she became very strongly drawn to Buddhist practices and philosophy, and she talks of the great heart, the one heart, the heart of the world, the heart of all life. She saw that injustice on all levels was a misuse of that heart. And so she set about in her life to bring balance through social activism, and she talks about how, as she's confronted with inequities on a day to day basis, in order to keep from going into despair, judgment, and misuse of her own energies, she returns over and over again to the heart of the Great Mother, and seeks that all of her choices, all of her actions, all of her words and deeds would come through that place. And from what I was able to gather, she has been extraordinarily successful in the outer world as an activist for social change.

There is another woman by the name of Kathleen Raine, and when I looked her up on the internet I found that she died about two months ago. She was an English poet who used transcendent symbolism. She felt that if we focus on our world in a trite way, then we become trite, but if we focus on all the depth, breadth, beauty and the interconnectedness of the world, then we stay interconnected.

And the other mystic's life I studied was Gabrielle Bossis. She was a French playwright who also made her transition within the last few years, but she was a profoundly successful playwright and actress who traveled all over the world. She kept a diary of the inner communications that she had on a daily basis between herself and the energies that she came to know as Jesus. Her diary is full of depth, meaning and intensity, and she never shared it with anyone, and yet her plays reflected her love of, and her belief in, all of humanity.

We must have the courage to open our hearts and to connect to the Great Heart because if we do not there will be no hope in this world. The hope comes through the interconnectedness, the transcendence, and through the truth. In the Gnostic tradition there were five powers associated with the Mothers, the Goddesses, who are the creator-aspect of God. These powers are Love, Faith, Peace, Gnosis, and Hope. I have spoken before about the four active chambers in our hearts, and that there is the fifth chamber that is coming into being, and this is said to be the Chamber of the Christ that can only come into full activation when the other four chambers are fully open. When all five are active then the five powers of the Mothers can flow through your heart to all life.

In Catholicism we hear of the Sacred Heart of Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the truth is that this imagery, this energy, is recognized in other traditions, although oftentimes a different languaging is used to refer to it, but it is always there. You go through the mystical, magical heart of Mary in order to enter into the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Think of this life-stream that we know as Mary as a stream of consciousness, a living matrix, and when I say matrix, understand we are not talking about a static energy. We are talking about a living, breathing, moving, organic, expansive movement. It is also the place in life where all things are made whole, because otherwise, why would you be here? Why would you be on this stream of evolution that we call humanity if it was not because all things are there for you to behold? And so we enter into the Sacred Heart of the Mother who holds the five powers, so that our heart, Her heart, and the heart of all creation can be made whole. And then we enter into the fiery heart of the Solar Logos, of the Sun, of the Son, so that in this state of wholeness, of Divine Love, Divine Wisdom, in this state of completion, of pure love, pure life, that we then join with the fire of illumination and resurrection, and thus join life and light.

In our Pathworking we will be using the sounds of the five vowels to call in the five powers of the Mothers, and to activate the five centers of our heart as we enter into the Heart of the Divine Mother, and from that heart we will move to the Heart of the Christos. The five vowels can be sounded without the use of the tongue. If you did not have a tongue you could still make vowel sounds. Consonants require a tongue. Vowels have been called the Mother Language, and in many traditions they are associated with the Sacred Name of God and with the Keys of Wisdom. The five vowels are ancient pathways, and we will be using the power of these five sounds in our Pathworking. We will be building the energies of symbolism in order to move through these doorways, and when I ask you to sound with me, sound from your heart and with intention. And if your inner guidance is to stay quiet, I honor that, but if you feel called, please join in the sound.

There was something that I didn't mention about Kathleen Raine when I was talking about her poetry. She had a remarkable life with tremendous trials and tribulations as well as joys and successes. She was a dynamic, interesting woman, and I strongly suspect that she might have been one of the original Pathworkers, because she spoke of her mystical experiences and that the pathway to the Divine was through ancient symbols and ancient imagery, and that you had to enter fully into them. She said that it wasn't something outside of you, but it was something that you allowed to well up from within you and become you, and it moved beyond you, as you moved beyond it. So I invite you in this Pathworking to embody the imagery.

Pathworking

I would ask you to begin by taking some deep breaths and making yourself comfortable. Focus on your breath and become aware of the space between your breaths. Feel the rhythm as your breath moves in and out of your chest. And even as you are aware of your breath, become aware of the breath of the others in this room. And even as you become aware of the breath of the others, become aware of the One Breath, the Creator's Breath, the Sustainer's Breath. Be aware of the Breath of She Who Breathes You. And as you are resting in Her Breath, as you are growing, expanding in Her Breath, as you are being liberated in Her Breath, you are in the Cradle of Life. And you are aware as you lie in this Cradle and are being breathed, that you are part of a greater life, a continuous life, a life in a myriad of forms, a life that is a life of stars, planets, people, animals, plants, celestial beings, unknown beings, of light and of dark, for the Mother embraces and is all.

I invite you to become focused on your heart center, and be aware of the spiral that is present in your heart, and know that even as you feel your heart, you are connected to the Great Heart and therefore to all hearts. And we go into the first chamber of the heart, the Chamber of Faith with the sound of Ah (Group sounds the vowel A). Open to the Realms of Faith. May I have Faith, and may I not be tempted to forget Your power or Your love. May my love not stray before the might of the destroyer, but remember instead the might of the Lord. Faith, you shall have the last word, the final say. You bring forth life and you create from what the darkness has destroyed, for your power, Faith, is infinite, your forgiveness total, your mercy complete. I shall be lifted up by Faith. Faith creates, and Faith brings me home. And so the Chamber of Faith is activated.

So we are called to the Chamber of Gnosis, the Chamber of true Knowledge, the knowledge of alpha and omega. We go to the chamber in our heart of Gnosis with the sound of Ee. (Group sounds the vowel E). Hail to thee Sophia, all hail to thee. And we are in the Chamber of Gnosis. Mother of the Cosmos, you create all that moves in light. Oh thou, the breathing life of all, Creator of the shimmering sound that touches us. Respirations of all the world, we hear your breathing in and out, and in silence we come to know thee, Gnosis, source of light, sound, knowledge, in the roar and the whisper, in the breeze and the whirlwind. We hear your name, Sophia, radiant one, you shine within us. Name of names, our small identity unravels in you. You give it back, Gnosis. Wordless action, silent potency, ears and eyes awaken, Gnosis, consciousness is.

And now we come to the third chamber, the Chamber of Love, with the sound of Oh. (Group sounds the vowel O). There is congestion, fear and constriction in this chamber. There is doubt of love and doubt of your worthiness. And so sound again, for love is everlasting and open. Release the congestion. (Group sounds the vowel O). Feel the three chambers, know the three chambers. Know Love, Gnosis, and Faith.

Come with me now to the fourth chamber, for the need is great. This is the place of the great synthesizer, the avatar of Peace. Sound for me the vowel I. (Group sounds vowel I). Why does peace pain you so? Peace is the synthesizer, the restorer, the reconciler. Hail to thee, Peace, as you weave Faith, Gnosis, Love, and prepare the way home. Peace, weave, reconcile, restore, synthesize, bring wholeness. Weave the four to become the cross that then births the fifth. Peace, weave for us the four, Inri, Natura, Rex, Intiga, so that the fifth would be birthed and Hope would come, and through Hope we go to the Heart of the Christos.

Feel the Crown of Light, for you are the kings and the queens. Unite and walk with every creature. Desire with us and through us, and come into the bedroom of our hearts. Prepare us for the beauty, the union, and the power. Let Peace reign, let Peace prevail with Faith, Gnosis, Love, and now we open to the Fifth Chamber of Light, of Hope. (Group sounds vowel U.) You are the hope. Sound all five. (Group sounds A, E, I, O, U) Through the silence and power of silence we are now being birthed into the heart of Tiphereth, the Heart of the Christ. Go to the heart. (A gong sounds). Walk down the halls of the sacred mysteries, spiral up the ladder of light, move toward the flame, merge with the flame, become the flame, and let the rays of your light pour forth to light a darkened world.

And so we are rooted in the love of the Mothers, and we are the illuminators of the light of the Christ. And we call now to the potencies of Our Father, we call in the ancient name, Abba, Abba, Abba. Feel the presence of the Father. Father-Mother of the Cosmos, focus your light within us. Focus the light of the Christos who is both son and daughter. Create your reign of unity. We are one desire, we are one light. Our desire is your desire, for it through you, in you, that we live and we move and we have our beings. From you is born the power and the life, from you the song that beautifies all, from age to age it removes, from age to age, from life to life, from death to death. We are in gratitude, we are in service, we are renewed, we are restored, we are unity, and we are the Hope.

(The group recites The Mantram of Unification:)

The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate.
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the soul control the outer form,
And life, and all events,
And bring to light the Love
That underlies the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.

Aeptha: Our cups are full, and the harvest is great, and we are blessed. And it is our joy to make the choice over and over again to be a blessing in this world, to make a difference in this world, to walk in beauty, to choose love over and over again instead of hate, to choose words of compassion and sharing instead of words of separation and distortion. We make that choice, and when we don't, we forgive ourselves and we get up, and we keep going, because if we are waiting for someone else to do it, then we are not in truth, for we are life and it is from the Creator that we have come, it is in the Creator that we live and move and have our being, and we have the privilege of knowing that, and therefore we have the responsibility.