祝祭の週における秘教徒の目標は、世界に注入されるパワフルなスピリチャルエネルギーの通路、チャンネルとなることです。これは七年に一度だけの「グループインパクトの週」だからこそ、集団で奉仕する非常に重要な機会となります。
Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn, the sign into which our sun passes during the Festival Week.
Why only once every seven years? Perhaps a key is provided in the word “opportunity”, for the number seven and opportunity are both related to the planet Saturn. Saturn’s normal cycle of revolution, from the perspective of Earth, is approximately 28 years, and each seven-year period marks a critical phase in Saturn’s influence.
Saturn is the ruler of Capricorn, the sign into which our sun passes during the Festival Week. Capricorn, the sign of initiation, provides the play of energies that condition the Festival Week. It is also the sign in which the world Saviour, known to Christians as the Christ, is born. At this moment of greatest darkness (in the Northern Hemisphere), the world Saviour is born, bringing light into the world. This is an age-old belief and celebration recognised by many religious traditions of the world, not just the Christian. The ancient Persians and Egyptians, as well as the pagans of ancient England and Germany, all recognised the coming of the world Saviour born on December 25th, just shortly after the winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere, which occurs on December 21st, marking the end of the sun’s descent and the reversal of its path to increasing light over the next six months.
The winter solstice and the birth of the Christ child.
Mabel Collins in her book When the Sun Moves Northward wrote of the winter solstice and the birth of the Saviour, “Man’s spiritual being is indissolubly associated with this little child, this lightbringer, and as the disciple attains psychic consciousness he becomes aware of the mystic recurrence of that miracle which is described in the religions as birth, death, and resurrection. As he passes up the steps of consciousness, he learns that the spiritual lightbearer must endure the martyrdom of crucifixion in time and space, and must descend into the tomb of matter. The yearly initiations begin with that desire of rebirth into matter which brings the human spirit into the condition of suffering under the rule of the pairs of opposites; heat and cold, pleasure and pain, love and hate, male and female—these opposing conditions assail him continually, and he cannot free himself from them save by escaping from rebirth. It was the work of the Christ to show the meaning of the Cross, and to teach the great lesson of sacrifice which means that none shall seek Freedom till all are saved… The accepted belief of the ancients was that no great sacrifice can commence during the sun’s southern progress. The south belongs to Yama, the God of the Dead. The sacred months are those in which the sun moves northwards.”
Capricorn is the energy that drives the seeker to the summit of spiritual achievement
Perhaps we should begin our consideration of this Festival Week with the question, why Capricorn? The short answer is, because Capricorn is the energy that drives the seeker to the summit of spiritual achievement. The more earth-bound, worldly side of Capricorn is the unbridled ambition that leads to success on the material, physical plane. The higher form of these same urges — for ambition, like all human attributes, has a higher and a lower form of expression — is the driving spiritual aspiration that rivets the focus on the lighted way and will brook no obstacle to the achieving of liberation.
We see this urge in the symbols for Capricorn — three animals: the crocodile, the goat and the unicorn. The crocodile is that creature that lives half on land and half in the water, symbolising the grounded, earth-based stance of the human being and also the life of the emotional, watery realm. The goat is symbolic of the seeker’s aspiration to ascend the mountain to the very summit of initiation. And the unicorn with its single spear represents the one-pointed, driving ambition towards liberation.
Why Capricorn? Because Capricorn, as an earth sign, provides the necessary conditions for humanity to fulfil its intended role in the divine Plan, which is to serve as planetary mediator between the higher and lower kingdoms of our planet and to bring about the redemption of the outer realms of earthly life. Alice Bailey said that in Capricorn “is expressed the densest point of concrete materialisation of which the human soul is capable. When crystallisation has reached a certain degree of density and ‘hardness’, it is easily shattered and destroyed.” And it’s the task of the new group of world servers to deliver the “hammer flow” to world conditions that delay the evolutionary progress of humanity and impede its achievement of right relations with the kingdoms above and below it: hierarchical, animal, vegetable and mineral.
The constellation Capricorn stands for the influence which will carry the will of Shamballa to Hierarchy and the world initiates, giving them that dynamic spirit which will enable them to carry forward to completion the Will of God on Earth. This Festival Week is the first since the Shamballa impact of 2000 and the release of the first Ray of Power and will directly into Humanity. Can we see, as yet, any signs of humanity’s responsiveness to this powerful spiritual force? In particular, we need to look at the new group of world servers, who are in the vanguard of humanity’s spiritual awakening.
Response to the 2004 Tsunami was proof that the heart of humanity is sound. The fact that it was focused on the physical plane, in the destruction and rebuilding on a massive scale and requiring a sustained focus over a long period of time, suggests its relevance to humanity’s achieving of the first initiation en masse.
In December 2004, a tsunami brought unfathomable death and destruction to some 40 nations in Asia. The tsunami was an act of nature uncontrollable by human forces, but humanity’s response to the tsunami does bear evaluation. And what we saw was a spontaneous outpouring of compassion and assistance and sharing on the part of individuals, ngo’s and charities that was far in advance of governments’ response. This response was proof that the heart of humanity is sound. The fact that it was focused on the physical plane, in the destruction and rebuilding on a massive scale and requiring a sustained focus over a long period of time, suggests its relevance to the humanity’s achieving of the first initiation en masse.
Alice Bailey said that the Path of Initiation is the achievement of synthesis and of response to the centre Shamballa. And, she pointed out, sustained effort is the seed of synthesis, the cause of achievement, and that which finally overcomes death. The responsiveness is there, we can say; the sustained effort is still to being weighed in the balances. One of the tasks of the new group of world servers, subjectively speaking, is “ to hold the vision before the eyes of men”. Not only does this give hope to those who might otherwise lose faith; it also signifies the need for directed, focused will.
Esoterically, the new group of world servers represents the ajna centre of our planetary Life. As such, they are “the carrier of energy which makes the Plan possible”, the Tibetan said. And he followed with a prediction: “Later the new group of world servers will definitely receive energy from Shamballa in a direct reception, via the Hierarchy. Towards the end of the century it will be found explanatory of much.” Elsewhere he wrote that “the Plan, as it’s presently served, is the production of a subjective synthesis in humanity and of a telepathic interplay which will eventually annihilate time.” If we tie all these ideas together, we can understand our Festival Week theme, “Living Synthesis”. For the energy of Shamballa, the centre where the Will of God is known, is synthesis, the binding wholeness that knits the web of our planetary life into a coherent, unified, integrated whole.
Synthesis is not something that can be built “from the ground up”. We can’t create synthesis by focusing on the outer, material plane because that will only generate uniformity.
Whether they know this or not, members of the new group of world servers identify themselves by their sense of urgency about the state of the planet, of the natural world, whose ecosystems are such a vibrant demonstration of living synthesis. Members of the new group of world servers are identified in their commitment to globalisation, but a just and human globalisation; in their striving for conflict resolutions that result in “win-win” solutions; in their capacity to see the divinity in everyone regardless of outer differences; in their love of humanity, collectively, not just their family and friends.
This synthesis is not something that can be built “from the ground up”, so to speak. We can’t create synthesis by focusing on the outer, material plane because that will only generate uniformity. The past century saw enough examples of totalitarianism to teach us that imposing a uniform structure does not work with human beings, probably because it denies the mind that each human being is endowed with by the Creator. “Man” literally means “one who thinks”, and the trajectory of this capacity is towards the realisation of synthesis. “When the world of thought is unified,” Alice Bailey said, “then the outer world will fall into a synthetic order.” How do we foster the unification of the world of thought? How do we learn to “think together,” as the ashram of the Hierarchy does?
The tendency of the mind to harden and to separate is probably a necessary stage that humanity has had to pass through on the way to mental development.
It’s the human being’s way, when the mind develops, to pride oneself on one’s mental independence. To think means to think freely, without outside authority, and this fosters, for a very long stage of the way, a kind of mental contrariness that is very much a part of the human experience. Historically, according to the Tibetan, this tendency became notable to the Hierarchy around the year 1400. An intense differentiation and crystallisation had developed, especially in religion and politics. This led to the spread of political factions of all sorts and to the wide variety of religions sects that we are so accustomed to that we think they’re normal and inevitable. But to the Hierarchy, the growth of this differentiation and crystallisation was a sign of humanity’s mental development, for an effect of the mind, on the lower concrete level, is the tendency to divide, separate, and harden because of its focus on material forms rather than spiritual principles.
This tendency of the mind to harden and to separate is probably a necessary stage that humanity has had to pass through on the way to mental development. But some 600 years have passed since 1400 and we can see how dangerously limiting the effects of the lower mind can be as we look at the materialism and separativeness that dominate so much of human living today. Capricorn is the constellation by means of which comes the conquering will which releases from form life and initiates the human being into the realm of divine will. I mentioned the influence of the planet Saturn earlier. Saturn offers opportunity to bring about the needed changes and to destroy that which holds back the free expression of the soul. Saturn breaks up existing conditions by the force of its energy impact, and one can presume that these seven-year Festival Weeks, with their peculiar augmentation of the energy of Capricorn, are highly significant moments of spiritual opportunity and, the Tibetan said, “advantage must be taken of this period, and special preparation made. This fact invites the attention of all of us.”
Elsewhere he said, “It is only now that the full purpose and the work of Saturn for humanity can reach a point of group usefulness, for it is only now that humanity has reached a point of general and widespread intelligence which can make any choice a definite conscious act. Prior to the present time, only a few pioneering disciples and a handful of intelligent people could be regarded as freely choosing…Today, there are countless numbers because humanity itself now stands upon the probationary path. Hence the need to make choices, for deliberately applied purificatory measures before Scorpio, which governs the path of discipleship, can properly play its part.
“Rest not from your meditation work.”
In a transitional era between two ages, such as the present time, the new group of world servers and particularly those with an at least somewhat conscious sense of the spiritual implications of the times have a special role to play. The pressures of conflicting energies colliding in a time of transition from an old age to a new place enormous stress on the physical, emotional and mental states of human beings. In a sense, this is a period of training as we build up our spiritual muscles to accommodate the demands of the coming age. In such a period, the Tibetan said, the integrating group of world servers must meet a very real need. “Their work must primarily be to keep such a close link with the soul of humanity…through their own soul activity that there will always be those who can ‘work in the interludes’ and so keep the plan progressing and the vision before the eyes of those who cannot as yet themselves enter into the high and secret place. They have to learn to work subjectively, and this they must do in order to preserve the power, latent in all, to withdraw into the centre. They constitute the door, speaking symbolically. Capacities and powers can die out for lack of use; the power of divine abstraction and the faculty to find what has been called ‘the golden path which leads to the clear pool and from thence to the Temple of Retreat’ must not be lost. This is the first work of the Group of World Mystics, and they must keep the path open and the way clear of obstructions. Otherwise knowledge of the way might temporarily die out and the selfish purposes of the material nature assume undue control. This dire event happened in Atlantean days and the then group of workers had to withdraw from all external activity and "abstract the divine mysteries, hiding them away from the curious and the unworthy."
Now a new attempt is being made to free the “prisoners of the planet.” The Hierarchy, through the Group of World Servers now in process of formation is seeking to externalise itself, and to restore the mysteries to humanity to whom they truly belong. If the attempt is to succeed it is basically necessary that all of you who have sensed the vision or seen a part of the intended plan should re-dedicate yourselves to the service of humanity, should pledge yourselves to the work of aiding to the utmost of your ability all world servers, and should sacrifice your time and give of your money to further the endeavor of the Great Ones. Rest not, above all, from your meditation work; keep the inner link; think truth at all times. The need and the opportunity are great and all possible helpers are being called to the forefront of the battle. All can be used in some way, if the true nature of sacrifice is grasped, if skill in action is developed and if work without attachment is the effort of each and all of you.”
“Rest not from your meditation work.” Meditation is essential to the esoteric path; not the spiritual path, because all unselfish, loving service that contributes in even a small way to the upliftment of life on earth is spiritual. But the esoteric way is founded on development of the intuition, the third eye symbolised by the horn of the unicorn. This third eye enables one to see through the outer worlds to the inner divine substance that permeates the world, awaiting recognition. Not only is the third eye the means by which one sees through material substance to the soul at the core of every atom of substance, but the third eye is the directing agent of the received energy. In other words, it is a means for distribution. That’s why our group meditations are an important means of service to the Plan. More important than our gaining deeper insight into Reality, the meaning of life, is our serving as a channel for the inpouring energies of Light and Love that seek to irradiate human consciousness. Because we know that “radiation shines through me; I see it naught”, our work in meditation without expectation or self-reference, simply focusing our attention as a Group Mind, is an especially potent form of service that can help to sustain the work of all those servers who labour on the “front lines” of the world’s conflict. That is the opportunity presented by the potent inrush of the energies of Capricorn at this time.
