Holy Wednesday

Reflections on joy

Morning prayers as usual. This has become a beloved ritual because it centers me, helps me begin each day with the right mindset. Today is the Wednesday before Easter, and marks for Christians the day Judas Iscariot conspired with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. We reflect on betrayal, darkness and the death of the little-i-ego-self so that the higher self can be born and take charge of the body-soul-mind. This is what is meant by carrying the cross.

Later in the day, during the first hours of the Pink Moon, I performed a candle ritual. I lit a white votive candle with the intent that the conscience of our species can be awakened to the urgent need to live in harmony with the earth, each other, spirit realms and God. To treat each other as we want to be treated, with kindness and wisdom. Even for enemies, we wish for their highest good, because if they achieve that, they will not be enemies any more.

Finally, during the hour of Mercury, I meditated on the letter A (ref. Franz Bardon, Key to the True Kabbalah). I reflected on the highest wisdom, which is the akashic level of the letter, and the prime air principle. Now, based on the writings of David Hawkins, the psychiatrist who wrote Power vs Force back in 1991, the highest level of consciousness corresponding to the air element that is possible in a physical incarnation is joy.

How then can the highest wisdom bring joy? And what exactly is wisdom? The first time I really read the bible was when I was young – maybe in my teens. I can remember puzzling over what a big deal Solomon made of wisdom in Proverbs. In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher writes that all is vanity, and in his final prayer for Israel before he died, David said hope is with God and not in this world.

Then, of course, in this wonderful discipline of Hermeticism, we have the Great Work, in which the highest aspiration is to connect with the Godhead and become a god-man or god-woman. One of the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary is the admonition to repent for the Kingdom is at hand. This means that the kingdom (God-consciousness) is within each of us, the quadrature of the circle in which we balance the elements within ourselves so we can remember this higher state and begin to live it.

But back to wisdom and joy. How in the world do these correlate? Because to be wise is to understand that this physical incarnation is but an eyeblink in the eternal now, and we have lived many lives, in each one completing some spiritual goal. Or not. Always our choice. For me, this realization gives me new perspective on life’s problems and the day-to-day. All things pass, and I have spent many hours in meditation and prayer to shed both fear and attachment so that I can lift my eyes and embrace the highest states of consciousness as related to the elements – love (water), joy (air), peace (earth) and enlightenment (fire), which is the realization of the kingdom within.

There is much darkness in the world, and we who can remain balanced and functioning with this higher state of consciousness emit energies that draw people, make them feel better, change their lives and their perspectives on life. Instead of the quiet desperation this material world seems to want with all its misguided greed, envy, cruelty, poverty and war, we Hermeticists can, if we wish, serve as powerful beacons shining forth spiritual light, allowing those with whom we interact a glimpse of one of the Christian ternaries – faith, hope and agape.

Well, enough of that. While in this material world, we must also obey the laws of Saturn by taking care of business, but we find eventually that the way to make friends with Saturn, make him an ally instead of a cruel taskmaster, is to live lives of service to humanity. Anyway, warm regards!