ALLIES OF JUDGEMENT

 

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   "This path represents the element of Fire," Mr. Mellifluous states as they both gaze at the Archangel Gabriel.
  "I have met Gabriel before, but I'm not sure what this 'Judgement' is all about," Claire responds.
  “‘Change your mind and change your life’ is a popular saying these days. The enlightened of past ages knew that ‘changing the mind’ is no easy task and referred to the process of change and personal regeneration as the ‘Great Work.’ Keenly aware that family and social institutions instill beliefs that become nearly intractable, the ancients knew that individuals who struggle to move beyond the prevailing group consciousness always risk subtle or overt forms of disapproval. Nevertheless, people continue to be struck by lightning every day. We cannot, in other words, totally ignore our spiritual nature. Some people, struck often enough, feel compelled to strive for greater spiritual clarity and awareness. Moving beyond limiting social belief systems, however, requires intelligence, courage, and will power, especially since the spiritual journey moves progressively into more formless, abstract realms. The individual, by himself, might know that a greater awareness is possible but might choose not to work for it, on the one hand because he cannot find anything concrete to grasp, but he can, on the other hand, easily grasp the social risks.”
  “So does this 'Judgement' help us to understand?”
  “Yes, indeed. Because the human mind has difficulty comprehending the purely abstract, this realm reveals concrete archetypes and symbols that function as bridges to formless spiritual realms. Symbols and archetypes enable the traveler to voyage out into the unknown and come back with knowledge of spiritual principle. This realm also has the advantage of being more open to interpretation. What we encounter often appears harmlessly archaic or simply innocuous and tends to pose little or no threat to the group mind. The individual privately can personally discover meanings through meditation and ritual. If one studies the religious pantheons of all cultures and ages, one is struck by the similarity of the gods and goddesses and the symbols, which have universal meanings that the individual can grasp and apply to his own circumstances with a little effort. The figures of Osiris, Apollo and Dionysus, and Jesus, archetypes of the cosmic Christ force, can all have a profound impact on an individual whose mind is open to the forces behind the symbols.”
  “Do these spiritual energies continue to exist within us always because that is how we are made?”
  “Yes, indeed.” Mr. Mellifluous smiles. “Some modern traditions tend to treat the use of symbols and archetypes as superstition, or, at best, as unnecessary, preferring to rely on what is considered more direct approaches, such as prayer, affirmation, or treatment. There, of course, is nothing wrong with these approaches. However, they do not suit everyone. Moreover, one very important element is often overlooked in modern traditions: archetypal energy is a basic and extremely powerful form of cosmic energy within Universal Consciousness, and it is an important aspect of the 'collective unconscious' that connects all of us together. The symbols and archetypes, which exist 'objectively' on the plane of the collective unconscious, can be accessed through the individual subconscious. We should learn from the East, which has created many types of yoga to enable the individual to choose what is suitable to his temperament. It is often easier to approach the Universal Mind by engaging the individual mind with symbols. Otherwise the mind might remain overawed by something that by its very nature often remains incomprehensible to the human brain."
  “You mean this path is just one of many paths?" Claire asks.
  “Yes, but it is a path uniquely suited to the minds of many people. The 'Yoga of the West' uses the composite symbol of the Tree of Life as an archetypal map of the inner planes, with twenty-two paths between ten objective dimensions of existence. When an individual hears the call to begin the quest, finding a channel from the individual subconscious to the collective subconscious, the magical journey of regeneration on the Tree of Life commences, and travelers like us encounter paths on the Tree, each with archetypes that open our understanding of the subtle realms. The same archetypes in different forms can also be found in many other religions, as I suggested earlier. Since the symbols are so rooted in the collective subconscious, meditation on the paths of the Tree can lead to an expansion of individual spiritual consciousness.”
  “The Pentacles, Swords, Cups, and Wands are associated with those levels. Is that right?”
  “That is correct. ‘As above, so below,’ an ancient axiom, suggests that human beings, formed in God's image, contains the same energies that permeate the cosmos: the drop separated from the ocean still contains all of the properties of the ocean, in other words. The traveler on the inner pathways of the Tree of Life is functioning primarily in the archetypal realm, not in the realm of time. Remember that the archetypes include geometric symbols as well as figures that represent specialized forces both within the cosmos and the human being. In this realm we recognize them as the forces behind the diverse manifestations within nature. Since the same energies exist within human beings, correspondences exist. Humans can know the forces as separate from each other--extremely powerful but capable of connecting with the human mind since the same divine energy exists within us."
  “So old religions with gods and goddesses enabled people to know the same spiritual forces?"
  “Yes, in the sense that light from the sun is refracted through a prism, revealing rainbow colors that we perceive. I would argue, though, that our path is not a religion; it is a method of using the mind, the ultimate goal being union with the Source."
  Suddenly the Archangel Gabriel speaks even as the Archangel continues to make music with the trumpet: “As you gaze at me, you can hear the call to greater life. I announced the immaculate conception to the Virgin Mary and now blow the trumpet of the Last Judgement. Men, women, and children rise from their tombs in the moment of resurrection. They rise in their subtle bodies and hear the call with their soul.
  “The rebirth they experience is also an immaculate conception. They are reborn from the ‘lower’ self into the higher self in an ecstasy of truth. Hearing the call of the higher self, they examine their conscience and question what they have believed and valued. They are called to examine outside expectations and to question all conventional wisdom that has entombed their life. The higher self is a state of awareness that knows the truth and cannot lie. They conduct a thorough self-evaluation with the courage to bring about regeneration and growth. You must seriously examine your soul to determine if you are ready to do that.”
  “I am ready, great Archangel Gabriel,” Claire responds.
  "So then, imagine taking the hand of the great jackal-headed God Anubis and entering a cave, where there is barely enough light to see as you proceed deeper and deeper into the earth. The God guides you into a fire that does not burn your flesh. Instead, it consumes the negative energies of your subtle body, the black energy flowing down into the magma under the surface of the earth. Anubis pulls you from the fire and again you are whole.
  “Peer into the waters of the subconscious. Hear the call to rise above whatever is limiting you or interfering with your spiritual growth. As you look into the waters, you see a subtle body, which holds the wheels of energy known as chakras. You are going to cleanse each wheel of energy, or chakra, mentally with an imaginary white cloth and pure water. Whatever is negative in each chakra, you will wipe away with the cloth. Sometimes you will need to continue wiping the chakra until it remains clear. Sometimes you will find something that in your imagination you will need to pull out of the chakra. You might discover a message of some kind. Whatever you find, ask yourself what it means. Usually your higher self, through your subconscious, will immediately communicate its significance to you.
  “Cleanse your primary chakra system; each chakra contains more than one color, but the subconscious mind identifies one basic color with each chakra. So begin by visualizing the root chakra as a turning, red wine glass or a red wheel. Imagine wiping it out with the damp, white cloth.
  “Make a mental note of whatever you encounter within each chakra because the higher self in your subconscious mind is communicating with you. The next chakra, in the general area of the navel, is orange. Again, envision the chakra as a turning glass or wheel. Wipe out any impurities. Repeat the same process for the solar plexus chakra (between the navel and the heart), which is yellow. Keep cleansing yourself mentally:

   The heart chakra is green.
  The throat chakra, blue.
  The third-eye chakra (middle of forehead): violet.
  The crown chakra (top of head): brilliant white.
 

   “This process will not always be easy. You might have to face thorny or repressed aspects of the self. You might ‘see’ that your energy system is out of balance or blocked in some way. You might remember unpleasant experiences from your past, but remember also that you are only judging yourself now to identify what interferes with greater spiritual awareness. The subconscious mind of the average person contains a fair share of junk, guilt, strange entities, and a few monsters. The element of Fire and the Hebrew letter 'shin,' which means tooth, or tooth of fire, are both associated with this path. Whatever you cannot wipe clean, you will mentally burn away or drain into the earth's core, to be purified by the fire below the earth's mantle.
  “You may find that forgiveness is an important aspect of the cleansing process. Forgive everyone who has harmed you. You can imagine a cup in front of you on a table and envision negative emotions leaving your body and going into the cup, where they drain into the earth. If you feel that you need to be forgiven, call the negative energy from the person that you harmed back to you, channeling it into the cup and draining it also into the earth. See it purified by the heat of the magma.
  “You will know when you are making progress if you begin to have visions of spiritual symbols because you have cleared the way for the higher self to communicate with your waking mind using the picture language of the subconscious mind. You might also hear a voice or music, just as you are hearing my voice and music now.”

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   "Notice the white flag attached to the trumpet. On the flag is a red cross, which you may recognize as a symbol of compassion. Imagine the fire of compassion blowing into you until your subtle body is white and no impurities remain.
  “You are light, and you know that the light is in everything and everyone. If you feel negative emotions again because of some event in your life, which is bound to happen as you grow older, don't judge yourself critically. You can always cleanse yourself again.”

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All stories, illustrations, and music Copyright © 2023 by Jim Robbins.