Finding Joy in Your Darkness

Like it or not not, our culture here in America is borrowed! When I say "borrowed", I don't necessarily mean that as a bad thing. "It is what it is": however we choose to look at it. In some sense, one could almost say that our culture is a not too-unpleasant mixture of Western & Eastern culture, with the "Eastern" referring not to Far Eastern, as in Chinese, Japanese, etc., but to the Ancient Near Eastern culture, in particular the Hebrew culture. I was tempted here to say "patriarchal" in regards to the Ancient Near Eastern culture, but I have a sneaking suspicion that wouldn't be quite fair! The Bible, or our Western translation of the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures, leans rather heavily toward patriachalism, but one might well wonder if this leaning can largely be blamed, if blame there be, on the shoulders of good ole' English Puritanism. Anyhow, as the case may be, all this is to set the groundwork for what I write today, so; "on with the Show!"

Having written all that, which is by no means all that could, or even maybe should be written, most people in this great nation, excepting maybe those who are called 'Native Americans', have been taught to fear & even demonize the Darkness! Native Americans, as well as other Ancient peoples, including, I would surmise, those of the Ancient Near East, were far more familiar, even comfortable with the concept of 'Yin & Yang', the notion that we all have two sides ( for lack of a better term ) to our human nature. Even in our modern culture, this concept is recognized, even almost honored, thanks to influence from the Far East, but for the most part, the Darkness is usually seen as something that must be overcome, rather than accepted & embraced. As a former Christian, I am fairly familiar with this concept, for without even quoting from the Bible, it is fairly evident that our culture has been heavily influenced by Puritanical ideas on this Subject!

Maybe the greatest & saddest outworking of this Puritanical, not to mention 'patriarchal' influence was the Salem Witch Trials of the mid to late 17th century! Here again, the biblical notion that the Darkness  was evil & something to be feared outweighed what should have been common sense.  For the most part ( as I understand it ) these women, as well as some men, I believe, who were accused of being 'Witches' in league with 'Satan', were simply those who knew how to work with & honor Nature, rather than to work against & dishonor Her innate Power. Some did practice what was most often called 'the Dark Art', though it should be noted that their Craft, as it is popularly known, was, for a time anyway, veiled in secrecy to avoid persecution. To this day, in fact, much of 'the Craft' is held in Secrecy, in the Dark, if you will, for this very reason, if this reason alone. 

In the biblical story of 'Adam & Eve in the Garden', the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil was forbidden to the representative couple 'lest', as the text says, "they become ( Gods ) like Us". For whatever reason & to whatever extent, the knowledge that these 'Witches' had garnered was forbidden as well. In fact, one could safely say that this 'Fruit' ( of the Tree in question ) was simply the Knowledge that these Witches employed, whether in healing or what. Though there were doubtless those who learned to use this innate Power for their own selfish purposes, hence earning their fate, in a sense; for the most part, it was simply a way of life which was very natural to those who practiced it. For that reason, some might simply call it, 'The Old Ways'!

In our modern-day culture, a practice that is in its ascendancy is 'Shadow Work'; basically, a deep exploration of ones 'Dark' side in order to balance our energetic body ( 'Light Body', or 'Body Electric' ). The idea then, is not to overcome the Darkness in our human nature, but rather, as the Star Wars movie franchise made popular, to "bring balance to the Force"; to realize that our 'Dark' & our 'Light' are two sides of the same coin, so to speak, both necessary ( as necessary as male & female, in fact ) to the well-being of humanity. There is a sense in which we must overcome our 'Dark' side, although it might be more correctly called 'programming' or 'conditioning'. You might be thinking, "necessary?" Just think about it for a minute; "why would Darkness be necessary?"

"Okay, okay, I'll dish!" First though, let me ask you another question: "is it easier to sleep/rest when it's dark out or when it's light?" That's kind of a rhetorical question, right?! However, that's not quite where I was going with this. The 'Dark' side of our human nature isn't of necessity what we usually think of when we hear the word 'Dark' ( that's another cultural reference, by the way )! In modern times, when we use the term 'Dark', it's almost natural for our mind to immediately think, "Goth", or some such moniker associated with the 5 senses ( think 'color' ), but really, we should look at it in the sense of polar opposites, as in, say, a magnet. Even our Mother Earth, as indeed all the planets, has two opposite poles. I make no claims on being a great scientist, but I'm pretty sure this has something to do with Her ability to simply 'hang' out in Space, in a manner of speaking. So, it just makes sense then, to bring this ruling principle down to Earth, so to speak & apply it to humanity. Without these two poles in balanced cooperation, "how long do you think Life would persevere?"

On a more personal note; as some of my readers are probably aware, my 'vehicle' is afflicted with a disease ( dis-ease ) called 'Freidrich's Ataxia'. I have not done much research on the intricacies of the affliction for quite some time now ( Google it if you're interested ), but basically, it is a degenerative neuro-muscular condition which greatly inhibits the transmission of electrical signals between the brain & the muscles. Hence, one of the more noticeable symptoms is a lack of balance. "Go figure", right? One might well wonder if the root cause of this disease is not somehow related to the polar regions of the 'vehicle' in which I currently reside. I DO experience a bit of neuropathy in my feet & lower legs, if that gives any bit of a clue!

Getting to the point though; you might be asking the burning question, "how are we supposed to find joy in our darkness?" Well, we've established, more or less, that "Yes", while in the greatest sense you could rightly say that 'Dark' does not necessarily mean 'evil', or even 'bad', there are instances in which one might be accused of using his or her Darkness to 'evil' intent. Like Witchcraft; it is neither Light nor Dark by nature; "It is what It is": it depends on the individual practitioner as to whether It can be described as 'dark' or 'light'. Even so, in such a case, it still hinges largely on personal ( individual ) perspective. 

Our Darkness, like the Ego, is therefore a constituent element to our humanity. Yes, while in the greatest sense you could rightly say then that there is no dark & light, as these are relative perceptions, for the sake of argument, we'll continue to look at this dualistically. As we saw earlier, the temptation, thanks to organized religion, is to hide the  'dark' side of our nature, while emphasizing the 'light' side. Indeed, we are taught to feel guilty for even HAVING a 'dark' side! Depending, of course, on what this supposed 'dark' side makes us want to do, it might not be a bad idea to 'rein it in', to exercise tact, etc. However, our Darkness is not something to be feared, much less squelched entirely! Rather, as a constituent element, if for no other reason, we should instead embrace It! It is not, as our modern society tends to view It, something to overcome, or even bring under control. For one thing, controlling It, or endeavoring to, anyway, brings us back to the realm of 'programming' or 'conditioning'. A good rule of thumb here is that part of the Wiccan Rede that I love to quote; "An ye harm none, do what ye will". No 'dark', no 'light'; just don't intentionally cause anyone harm & you're all good! 

Some might raise the objection that sometimes it becomes necessary to 'fight fire with fire' & to merely human understanding, this is very arguable, but this might be an argument for another time. For now; we will suffice to remind us that we are More than our humanity & therefore must not of necessity return 'evil for evil' ( as the saying goes ). Even if no one goes with us, as another saying goes, we must do as our 'heart' directs, whether it be perceived as 'Dark' or 'Light'!

By following our 'Heart' ( call it 'gut feeling' or whatever ), we naturally feel more at ease, for rather than battling within ourselves, feeling one way, but acting another because Society ( again 'conditioning/programming' ) says we should or shouldn't. This is not to say, again, that there aren't certain things that are better left unsaid or undone, just that we must judge for ourselves what we know to be good, just & true, rather than allowing society to set these boundaries for us.

To find Joy in your Darkness, like most things relating to soul-searching, may sound easier than it is. Again, It IS that simple, but saying that is by no means to say It's easy! Overcoming the programming & conditioning that most of us have suffered through for the overwhelming majority of our relatively short lives is the first step towards experiencing this Joy. Once we have gotten past the notion that somehow the imbalance that we have experienced up to this point is due to something called 'Original Sin', it will become plain that the imbalance is simply a manifestation of the fact that we have been taught that a necessary part of our humanity needs to be squelched, if not stifled completely. By embracing both sides, again, 'dualistically', we bring back our body's natural balance & a body in balance not only feels better, it acts better, which in turn brings Joy to our Spirit!

In conclusion then & to reiterate; embracing our 'Darkness' not only "brings balance to the Force", in a manner of speaking, it helps us to realize that we don't don't have to battle ourselves in order to be a decent human being! Yes, there will probably still be those who try to take us to task ( judge us, try to make us feel guilty ) for doing this, but this is where choice comes in; you can listen to their judgments & continue to war with yourself ( with all that entails ), or you can tactfully & kindly say "Fuck you"; go about your business & causing no harm, do what you will!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

"Can it really be that simple?"

Depending on who you ask, Ascension can really mess with your mind! To clarify, it's pretty much a given that trying to become familiar with your Inmost Self is going to blow your fucking mind. In fact, that's kinda the whole point. Our Mind, which is that integral part of us that's most closely related to our Ego, is what likes to tell Stories, Stories that aren't necessarily true, even though we tell ourselves they are. I'm not saying that either the Mind or the Ego are 'bad, or 'evil', just that, as with all things, they can be used for 'good', or 'evil'. Even what we intend for 'good' can often turn out to be 'evil'! It's all good though, because even the 'evil' that happens to us can be transmuted to 'good'.

There is a saying I've heard recently, "If it's complicated, it's Ego; Spirit is simple!" Several things: saying it's simple is NOT to say it's easy! It's a tough row to hoe & like I always say, "it's gonna hurt like hell!" Not that It truly hurts US, but that, as we tend to identify with our Ego ( at least, until we wake up/ascend ), It will wound our Ego to the very core until we realize we are NOT the Ego. Then & only then can we move forward. 

Sometimes we try too hard! Of course, that could just be MY Mind telling me that, but it resonates with my Spirit that by focusing our attention on waking up/ascension, our Ego tends to step in & say, "THIS is how we do it". Depending on our personality, then, we tend to look at others who are awakening/ascending & if they aren't following the same steps as we did ( not even in the same order, OMG! ), they're just not doing it right, nor for the right reasons! On that subject: this is not a judgement, but telling people how to wake up/ascend has become a lucrative business for some. This is NOT to say that they're charlatans, just out to make a quick buck off the weak-minded & unsuspecting, or that they shouldn't profit from their garnered knowledge, just that, "It's really NOT that complicated"!

Again though, saying "it's simple" is NOT saying "it's easy"! It's not going to be easy to look into the abyss that is our own soul & feeling it bore into our very...................soul. Things will come to the surface that we had almost forgotten were there. Things that, in our Mind, we had hidden so well that we thought they were gone for good, though every once in a while they would surface, but then, thanks to religion, we could always blame it on the Devil, right? ( a bit of sarcasm there ) This is most often called 'shadow work' & if you propose to ascend ( whatever that means to you ), you're going to have to face your 'demons'! Don't get me wrong though, 'shadow work' isn't all bad either. Just because it's likely gonna hurt like hell doesn't mean that only demons dwell in the abyss. That's where our True Self is hidden, the One that, for whatever reason, we've hidden away. We may have learned at an early age to keep our Light hidden because It hurt certain people's eyes, or because our particular Truth just wasn't acceptable in our culture.

Most people who know me, or at least know my human condition, know that I suffer from a genetic disease called ataxia. One reason that I talk so much about "trying too hard" is that I can personally attest to it, physically speaking anyway. I've learned two things from this disease: one is, "SLOW DOWN! I probably tell myself several times a day,`"Charles, slow the FUCK down!" Another is that I often try too hard: I find that if I don't focus my attention on the object of my affection so much, it often will come easier. This is probably because my body knows better what it needs than I do! There IS, I must admit, a seemingly fine line here, but usually I find that if I just go with the flow, there's a lot less complications! 

The Ego, which as I've noted before, is neither good nor bad ( "It just IS!" ) CAN pose a problem, specifically in this respect, because It informs our Mind that it can't be that simple. Going back to the whole business of profiting from helping other people wake up/ascend, the overwhelming majority of people who do so often spend a goodly amount of money themselves ( not to mention their time ) in learning how to do this so that they in turn can teach others how to properly do it.  Again, this is not to say that they have not awakened themselves or ascended, just that how they accomplished it won't necessarily work for everyone. Ask any elementary teacher how well the cookie-cutter approach works!

Call it Ascension, call It what you will, what it really comes down to is Choice! ( "Wow"; talk about simplifying things! ) No, I'm not talking about deciding whether to wear the red shirt or the blue one today, or really any choice involving the rational, or what we might be used to perceiving as the Conscious Mind. ( this is where "trying too hard" comes in ) This Choice will be made by our Higher Self ( even 'unconsciously' at first ), intuitively guiding our Conscious Mind to take the red pill as opposed to the blue one. 

Transmutation Itself is a Choice! That simple, "Yes", but NOT easy: we have to decide, or rather, let our Higher Self/Intuition decide whether to do this or that, to take one course of action as opposed to another, or even if we need to act at all. In our Mind, old programming might still come to surface with thoughts like, "well, what is THIS person going to think; what if THEY perceive it as 'bad'?!" Of course, the thing is, just because THEY might perceive it as 'bad' doesn't mean that it is or even that you shouldn't do it. No, this is where you listen to your heart & if your heart ( Higher Self/Intuition ) condemns you, then by all means, DON'T DO IT! But otherwise, if you're not hurting anyone, just bruising their Ego, then, by all means, DO IT; It's THAT simple!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

Beyond the Binary

From 'The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition ( 1970-1979 )', a Physical Binary is "a binary star whose components are bound by mutual gravitational attraction and orbit a common center of mass".

From this ancient, ideologically biased definition, it should be fairly clear that the principle of "as above, so below" is in force here. This could well describe the attraction between two people, whether of opposite or same-sex. The "common center of mass", of course, would refer to the Spirit, or Source, of which we are all an integral part. As this article is intended to focus more on the "below" aspect, though: we will start there.  

According to this article from The National Center for Transgender Equality, "binary means "having two parts (male and female ). Therefore "nonbinary" is one term people use to describe genders that don't fall into one of these two categories, male or female".

This is not meant to inflame the whole Gender Debate either, but since you can't really go there without going there, here goes! The use of the word 'binary' in this debate might be perceived by some as being a stolen term. I have done this as well; as a Christian, I used the term 'qualitative' ( as opposed to 'quantitative' ) in describing the Kingdom of Heaven! 

The definition of 'binary' as posited above is not entirely accurate & could be perceived as somewhat ambiguous, but as I understand it, this mathematical term is used in this day & age to describe those who have accepted the roles society has prescribed concerning gender. "Nonbinary", then, helps us identify those who do not wish to conform to the roles that society has assigned to the different sexes. This is not to say that we should or should not conform to said roles: just in the manner of explaining my own ( personal ) understanding of the whole debate. 

Most, if not all available dictionaries agree, in other words, with Collins Dictionary that "gender is the state of being male or female in relation to the social and cultural roles that are considered appropriate for men and women". 'Gender', then, is not to be confused with 'sex', though it is similar. The 'sex' of a person is normally determined by their genitalia, or 'sex organs'. In essence, if a person has a penis & no womb, they are male, whereas, if they have a vagina, a womb & mammary glands that secrete 'milk', they are female. My readers may have heard, as I have, of those 'anomalies' that seem to have both a penis & a vagina, but I have NEVER heard of a male that bears a womb!

The debate, as I understand it though, is focused on assigned gender roles in society. Sex has naturally been brought into it though, because again, if you have a vagina, etc, rather than a penis, you are usually assigned the role in society that conforms to your sex. In many ways, the current popular movement could be described as a 'knee-jerk reaction', much like feminism. Basically, both are somewhat revolutionary, announcing that "we will not conform"! I applaud the sentiment, though the lengths to which some go saddens me; as in the case of those who choose to identify as 'nonbinary', most if not all of whom have, to whatever extent, chosen to suffer what is sometimes called 'gender reassignment surgery'. I'm not here to judge though; "just sayin'!"

Again; I DO applaud the sentiment & I'm NOT here to judge! No one should be forced to conform to a certain role just because they have certain body parts rather than others! "As above, so below"; if one has this ( body part ) ran than that ( body part ), they are, humanly speaking, that certain sex.Their gender, on the other hand, need not prescribe that because they have this rather than that, they should fill a certain role in society. Just because one is female does not mean, for instance, that she should basically stay at home, barefoot & pregnant ( a baby machine, in other words ). Just because one is male, on the other hand, does not automatically mean that he should be the ( sole? ) breadwinner. Again, this is not to say that one should not accept these roles; "the choice, as always, is yours & yours alone!"

Ultimately, though, the fact that we are NOT this body trumps all other arguments! I'm not saying that our body is totally separate from our Identity ( it IS, in fact, an integral part of Who We are ); just that it is simply the Vehicle in which We ( our Higher Selves ) have chosen to incarnate in this Time. It is when we identify with this Vehicle, however, that we run into trouble! Personally speaking, yes, we are ( normally ) male or female, so depending on the culture we live in, because of this fact, we may be assigned this role or that. However, the choice is up to us as to whether we wish to conform to the rules of our given culture. As any non-conformist will tell you though; there are consequences to our actions!

The problem, as this blogger sees it, with claiming to be 'nonbinary' is that it's based in the notion that we are our biological bodies. Although I may be opening a can of worms here, I propose that if we remember  we are, in Essence. neither male nor female, much of this difficulty will fade. On a personal note though, I feel that I have a female spirit. The question has been asked, "Do spirits have gender, or sex?" I personally feel that this explains so many things in my past life, but at the same time, I have all the male accoutrements. I do not plan to do anything drastic, such as surgery, but I feel more comfortable living a life of non-conformity, especially when it comes to gender roles. 

"I guess you could almost call ME 'nonbinary'! 

Back to the binary issue now; because in essence we are neither male nor female ( "we are NOT our biological bodies" ), we cannot technically be referred to as 'binary' in the first place! Or CAN we?! We ARE technically, as human beings, composed of two parts, body & soul, or spirit. The Soul, in my understanding, is actually the total being, both human & Divine, whereas the Spirit is that part of us that belongs to Source. The Source, of course, not being divided, can be defined as neither male nor female ( It just IS! ), but speaking of cans of worms, one might mention polarities here.............

We ALL have at least one thing in common; We all come from Source! The cool thing is that, unlike the Hope of Heaven that orthodox Christianity teaches, we don't have to wait for this biological body to perish before we return to Source. For one thing, We're already One with Source ( always have been, whether we realized it or not ) & for another, to return to Source in this lifetime, or any other, is simply to remember Who & What We are!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

"Greater Works"; Grasping Infinity

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater [ works ] than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

Jesus - John 4:12 ( NKJV )

For years I have puzzled over, not only what Jesus could have meant by these plain, but enigmatic words, but also how orthodoxy seems to have missed this simple truth. Now, I say "missed", but to be honest, there are probably more than a few extant theories that various theologians have postulated concerning what Jesus might have meant when He uttered these words. Right off the top of my head, from my own Christian upbringing/experience, one explanation, maybe the most ready one, might involve the phrase "already/not yet". In essence, Jesus would have been saying that, in some future Resurrection, His disciples would indeed do Greater Works than even He did. In this "already/not yet" scenario", it is because of His Spirit that we are able to do anything ( good ), but once our corrupt ( sinful ) human nature has been changed to an incorruptible one, then we will do those things He promised. However; I digress, because my purpose here is not to decry the orthodox ( Christian ) position so much as to uncover the Truth of this plain & simple statement.

With these words, was Jesus implying that what did during His earthly ministry was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the miraculous, or supernatural? It's hard for us, even as faithful Christians, to imagine a Time when we'll be able to heal with a touch or a Word, or to literally walk on water, much less to do greater miracles. That IS what He said though ( according to our garbled transliterations ), so it is doubtless what He meant. However, the question remains; "What Did He mean?!" Did Jesus actually mean to say that EVERYTHING He did was a mere pittance compared to what we ( His disciples ) would do? For that matter, can we say for sure that Jesus meant those words for US today, now in the 21st century, almost 2,000 years after He uttered them? By looking closer at the context of His Words, might we reach a better conclusion as to His intended meaning? It is entirely possible, in fact, very likely that Jesus made this promise to His 1st century disciples as well as those who would follow, including those in the 21st century & beyond, to Infinity!

"You still haven't answered the question!" you might be thinking! That's true, though I intend to pursue it's elusiveness a bit further.

First, let's suppose Jesus WAS speaking ONLY to those 1st century followers of His. If this were so, looking further into the context, including 'audience relevance' might indeed clear things up. For the sake of conjecture, what if He was prophesying of a future generation ( 21st century? ), in which, because of technology or whatever ( 'evolution' ?! ) humankind would be able to accomplish more astounding things than Jesus Himself?! A greater possibility though & a greater likelihood, is that Jesus uttered a Universal Truth here, One that spoke of the Potential within EVERY human being. Was Jesus speaking metaphorically here, referring not simply to the physical but to the more important metaphysical? The inner alchemy, which is necessary for any outward change to occur, might better serve as an explanation of Jesus' enigmatic words!

If indeed Jesus WAS speaking metaphorically ( which actually makes more sense ), then maybe, just maybe, He was pointing His disciples, indeed ALL of humanity to the fact that they would do as He had done, unlocking the Potential within themselves that would enable them to do, not only what He did, but even GREATER ( more miraculous )! At this juncture, my readers might be thinking, "Okay, so how DO we unlock this Potential? How can we EVER hope to get to the point where we'll do what Jesus did, much less Greater Works?!" Well, my friends, I'll tell you one thing for sure; it's not going to be easy & in fact, it's probably going to hurt like hell!

Again, you might be inclined to wonder, first, why I say "it's going to hurt like hell" & second, if indeed it IS going to hurt like hell, "why the hell would we even want to do it?" Well, to answer ( to the best of MY ability ) the former question: something I often say concerning how far we've fallen, both as individuals & as a nation; "It's taken this long to get to where we are; it's going to take at least that long to get back to where we should be ( "Back to the Garden", so to speak ). We have forgotten Who & What We are, having built so many layers over our True Identity, that not only will it take some time to strip away all those layers, it will be a painful process too. Secondly; a choice is set before you this day, my friend ( not to sound too ominous ); you can take the blue pill & go back to sheep, continuing your mind-numbingly painful existence, or you can take the red pill & wake up to the realization that it's not all about you & the 'Murican Dream, that we are here not just to wake up, but to help others wake up. '"Will it really be all that painful?" Hell yes! But it will be SO worth it!

Back now, to those troublesome words of Jesus; it almost goes without saying that every action we take, with the possible exception of pure animalistic ( instinctual ) behavior, begins in the Mind. We must determine a course of action, whether consciously or unconsciously, before our brain sends the necessary signals to the constituent elements, our hands & feet. Even still, these signals often tend to get fucked up! Once we remember Who We are though ( this would be another reason for 'Ascension', as some have called it), these signals, almost bypassing the brain, coming directly from our High, or Innermost Self are longer garbled; In Essence, "no more fucking up!" 

( This is also why Science & Technology can never be our Savior; They rely on the Mind/Brain! )

Although Jesus WAS simply the Jewish Messiah, as I've often posited, in this sense, He could be perceived as our Salvation! I say, "in this sense", because as I've also previously stated, Jesus came to show His people that they too could awaken the Potential Within & become Gods, doing what He did & More. As the Jewish Messiah, some might be tempted ( some have ) to say, "Jesus failed!" Did He though?! Yes, one might well say, there might not be a lot of available evidence that He did much waking up. This may seem to be the case, but then again, "what about thinking outside the Box ( or Book ) for a change?" No, there is not a lot of plain, in-your-face biblical evidence ( though it IS there if you care to open your Mind ), but what about places the biased transliterators chose not to go? For instance, "what do you think the chances are that the word of Jesus, if not Jesus Himself. might have traveled as far ( "from east to west" ) as  the Americas, India, China? The possibilities are Infinite!

In the Christian Mindset, which is what I was raised with, the very idea that we, as mere human beings, could do "greater works" than Jesus Himself is approaching blasphemy, playing with Fire, so to speak. Yet, that is exactly what we're doing, my friends; We ARE playing with Fire, the same Fire that Jesus played with! Like the fabled woman ( Matthew 9:18-26, Mark 5:22-43, Luke 8:41-56 ) that was healed by her faith, we too can heal ourselves & help our world heal by grasping Infinity!

Namaste' & Blessed Be

Sage Charles

To Stand Again; the Resurrection of the Christ

"She is risen"

Religiously speaking, the meaning of this short, somewhat enigmatic phrase is that, along with the orthodox understanding of "He is risen", referring to the Resurrection of Jesus, His Bride, the Church is risen as well. This is a bit of an ambiguous statement, being interpreted anywhere from the fulfilled ( preterist ) perspective to a future physical resurrection to somewhere in between ( though closer to the latter end of the spectrum ) which might be called the 'already/not yet' position. It is the former perspective which I adhered to in the last days of my Journey through Christianity. As far as that goes, I still believe that Jesus' own Resurrection ( anastasis ) was indicative of a far greater truth, that of the spiritual resurrection of those He came to atone for, His Jewish & Gentile brethren. Nowadays, my understanding is that Jesus came to show His People, Jew & Gentile, how they might themselves become One again ( At-one-ment ) with the Christ Within, the Potential that lies buried deep within every adult human being ( I say "adult", because It is much closer to the surface in children ). This phrase might also be understood as referring to the rise of the Divine Feminine, or in Essence the standing again in Power of the matriarchy as opposed to the patriarchy which has enjoyed the ascendancy for almost 2,000 years. More on this later...................

Known as 'Holy Week', this week includes, starting tomorrow, 'Ash Wednesday', 'Maundy Thursday' & 'Good Friday', all leading up to the traditional celebration of Easter on Sunday. This week also wraps up the Lenten Season, which began on February 22nd this year & ends on Thursday, May 6th.  As the Story goes, Jesus, who was set ( ready ) to celebrate the Jewish Passover with His disciple, instituted what is now known as 'The Lord's Supper', though it could be argued that He was the main meal! But all jokes aside, as we also know from the rest of the Story Jesus ended up dying on the Cross & rising again from the dead on 'the third day'.  Now, whether one chooses to posit their faith in this Story & view it as a factual account or simply perceives it as metaphorical of a greater spiritual truth, it should be crystal clear that this was no ordinary Man! Or WAS He?!

"As above, so below"; "Jesus came to show His People, Jew & Gentile, how they themselves might become One again with the Christ Within". Jesus WAS the Messiah to the Jews, yes & though many claim Him as THEIR Messiah today, including those who are neither Jew nor Gentile, He WAS a Man & thus was the Messiah to His People ( the Jews ) alone! Strangely enough, most, if not all orthodox Jews are still looking for THEIR Messiah! 

If one is a Bible-believing Christian, orthodox or not, they must exercise a great amount of faith to accept the literal account, whereas the metaphorical perspective opens up at least two possibilities. One is that the Story was indicative of our own spiritual Resurrection; the other is that the Story is cosmological, referring to the process that we go through when we crucify ourselves by realizing/awakening the Christ Potential within us. Call It 'Ascension', call it 'Kundalini Rising'; this process awakens the Goddess ( or 'God' ) Within by allowing the spinal fluid ( some say 'consciousness' ) to rise through the spinal column, by way of the chakras till it reaches the Crown Chakra, which is our link to Divinity. The crucifixion occurs after we have crossed the Bridge, somewhere between the Heart & Throat Chakras. In Essence, we begin to die to the lower, or animal nature & stand again in our Truth, that of our Higher, or Divine Nature!

Metaphorically speaking, we must die to our lower nature before we can realize our Divinity. Now, before we go too far down the rabbit hole, I'm not saying that we should literally 'kill' or even ignore our animal body by denying its 'needs', just that we should not allow our passions & desires to rule, or determine our actions. Rather than allowing mortal fear to lead us, we should lead the way with Love which stems from our Higher Nature, which IS Love Itself! 

To "stand again in our own truth" means that, once we have crossed the Bridge, with the Throat Chakra cleared, we begin to, not only realize, but to speak our truth, the Truth of Who We really are. Who we really are may not be fully evident to us or especially to those around us, but as the saying goes, "once you wake up, it's hard to go back to sheep". In Essence, once the Journey has begun, it's pretty much impossible to turn back. You might even say it's 'Unstoppable'!

I wish I could, but I cannot tell you how to begin your Journey! Everyone's Journey is going to look different, though there are many similarities. For instance, while the same steps, so to speak, must be taken, the order in which they occur & the intensity of their occurrence may differ, depending on factors such as childhood trauma & current environment.I can tell you that an important step on your Journey is the ability to meditate, which again, may look different to any number of people. Some prefer to take up the 'Om' position, while others are more comfortable just sitting in a chair with their hands in their lap. Closing the physical eyes is the general rule, as well as finding a place to meditate with as little distraction as possible, though I believe it's possible to meditate in the midst of all manner of distraction & with your eyes fully open!

For those who have begun their own personal Journey back to the Divine: I don't have to tell YOU that it's a veritable 'bed of roses', complete with ALL the thorns! It's a beautiful, though heart-wrenching Path, but once you've tasted the personal freedom this Path brings, you'll NEVER leave it! Now don't get me wrong; there WILL be times when you'll almost regret your decision to start on this Journey, but then...................you'll get over it!

Back to the Resurrection of the Christ now, most of you probably grew up with the Story that the Bible tells concerning the Man Jesus who become the Son of God by dying for the sins of His People & consequently rising from the dead. Many have faith in this Story & so, for them I believe, it is true! Now, I'm NOT saying that it IS true, or that because they believe the historical MAN Jesus paid for their sins on the Cross, that He did; just that this is THEIR truth, they rest in it. Some of my readers are probably aware that my dad recently passed away; he believed fervently in both the Resurrection & that Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, paid for his sins. I acknowledged at his passing that "he now rests in the arms of his Lord": I believe he did, though I daresay he now knows the Truth!

As a Christian & particularly as a 'preterist', I came to understand that the Greek & Hebrew Scriptures were written a long time ago to a people very far away from us ( though closer than you might think )! As such, the Bible that we read, in its many & varied transliterations, cannot, indeed MUST NOT be read as applying directly to us, though we might make application of many of the principles found therein. For the purposes of this post though, I wish to focus on the fact that the society which we claim, in fact, one might argue, civilization itself, derives from the patriarchal culture brought to the Middle East by the likes of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. One might wonder though, if the writers of the Bible, in their zealous interpretation of the texts, didn't gloss over certain facts, biased as they were by their own patriarchy!

As a good Jew, Jesus WAS a Man like any other, though He WAS the Son of God! On this subject of subject there has been much discussion & disagreement over the 2,000 some years since He walked the earth; indeed, wars have been fought over it! Jesus WAS the Son of God, although even the Bible says as much of His disciples, of Whom my dad was an avid one. According to the Story, Jesus was both the Son of Man & the Son of God! Indeed, following the Story, He was crucified for this very reason, because as the religious rulers ofl His Day wondered, "How can a Man be God?" 

Jesus was God! No, He wasn't the 'God' they thought He was. He wasn't the petty, patriarchal 'God' they had grown accustomed to & had begun to emulate! Speaking of rabbit holes, I'll readily acknowledge that Jesus did have a few moments in which He exhibited Old Testament God qualities, like cleansing the Temple & later visiting the promised & well-deserved destruction on that same Temple. No, more than that, Jesus proved that a Man could be God, in Essence that he was both Human & Divine.

"She is risen" might mean something different for anybody who hears these words. To some, it might be as simple as a reference to the Church, even if it IS 'already/not yet', but to others it signals the rising again of the Divine Feminine, who for some 2,000 years the Patriarchy has tried to squelch. Jesus, according to most accounts had few female disciples, but the few that slipped through the cracks rank so highly in importance that they're well-nigh impossible to hide!

As We rise to the occasion, let's just hope that this time, the Divine Masculine will be satisfied to fight by Her side!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles 

This Current Experience

 "It's electrifyin'!"

Yes, a bit of a play on words, but seriously; it IS all about the Life that we are presently, at this point in Time, choosing to participate in ( or not ). Of course, many of us WERE brought up to look forward to what is often called 'the Afterlife', usually involving some form of 'Heaven' or other. A signature statement for this condition might be, "Where are you going when you die?" For this question, there are but two choices, 'Heaven' or 'Hell'!

A wise man once said, in other words, maybe, "Everything is Energy!" This being the case ( ask any present-day scientist or physician if you have doubts ), would it seem strange to call the signals that travel in great, almost incalculable bursts from any given point on our body to our brain 'electricity'? Electricity was 'discovered', one might say, when Benjamin Franklin, according to the story, sent a kite aloft during a lightning storm. Most if not all my readers know the rest of the story; the key that he'd attached to the kite string before sending it into the storm gave him what must have been one of the most shocking experiences of his life!

My father, as some of you may know, has recently passed into the next experience. His body, or 'meat vehicle', which had threatened to shut down on him before, finally decided that it was not going to allow any more of these electrical signals to pass through it. I say this, not because I'm looking for words of comfort, but because these processes are alive in me right now & this is a good outlet ( pun intended )! As I've admitted ( freely ) before, I am NOT a scientist & so do not know the lingo, though I AM more or less familiar with what keeps us tickin'!

Because therefore, we ARE Energy, it is electricity that keeps us alive, humanly speaking! Once those neurons stop firing, the Spirit, or Essence tends to leave the physical body. No Electricity, No 'Energy in Motion', so to speak & this husk returns to its Mother Earth, to the Elements of which it's composed.  But, enough about all that; "What I REALLY came here to talk about is the Now!"

There is a lot of talk going around these days concerning living in the moment. To a point I agree, though I can understand the tendency, both to forget ( the lessons of ) the past, or to be unconcerned about ( the possible dangers of ) the future. Though I can understand this, there is at least as much danger of over-correcting & going into the opposite ditch by letting the past dictate your future, in essence, not forgiving yourself & others for the past ( mistakes ) while at the same time worrying about the future because of that same past! 

Living in the moment DOES tend to alleviate both conditions, though it can also serve as a sort of crutch! By 'crutch', of course, I'm simply referring to self-medication, not necessarily with drugs, prescription or otherwise, but basically throwing yourself into the latest extreme sport or whatever strikes your fancy at the time. This is not to say that these sorts of activities are without merit, though it COULD be argued..................just that these sorts of activities often serve simply as a mask for the storms raging under the surface!

Living in the moment would almost seem to be synonymous with living FOR the moment & indeed, at first glance there may not be a lot of difference, but there is a subtle difference. Living FOR the moment implies heavily that one is actually using this lifestyle as a crutch, whereas living IN the moment simply means that one is approaching their life one day at a time, celebrating the 'Now', rather than yearning for a hopeful future, or dwelling on a tattered past.

According to this published article from the University of Maine, "At birth, a baby’s brain contains 100 billion neurons, roughly as many nerve cells as there are stars in the Milky Way, and almost all the neurons the brain will ever have." "As above, so below"! The synapses that occur, for instance when one takes a simple breath are themselves astronomical. It might seem strange, though maybe not so much in this modern day & age, to think of ourselves, physically anyway, as being full of electricity, but one might have cause to ponder exactly how much power we could generate if only we could figure out how to harness it. "Wait a minute...................."

Electricity IS what keeps this 'biological clock' ticking; once that flow stops & those neurons cease to form synapses, 'that's all she wrote' for this body, although, as we know, that's not the end of Us, being Infinite Beings & all! The Electricity that keeps this biology moving, while it IS a form of the same Energy that forms the Universe & indeed our own Divinity, our Higher Self, is however a lower form, operating at a lower, or slower frequency. Again, not being a Scientist, I'm not trying to awe you with my knowledge of all the technicalities, but this resonates with me! It may not with all my readers & that's fine; 'It is what It is!

"Would it surprise you to know that everything that we've been taught about both 'Heaven' & 'Hell' is contingent on what we believe about the past & the future?!" Our past, according to most religious dogma, is what condemns us to 'Hell'. The other side of the coin, so to speak, is that if we change our actions for a better future, we may find ourselves in A Better Place, namely 'Heaven'. Of course, it must be noted that, by this reckoning too, it is what we do in the Future, no matter our Past, that determines our Placement. By this time, many of my readers might find themselves nodding in agreement, if only in theory. It IS what we do that matters ( again, "pun intended" ); if we would inherit 'Heaven', we must make the appropriate choices: if 'Hell' ( who in their right mind would make THAT choice?! ), then just keep choosing selfishly, no matter the harm you might be causing. Either way, to focus unduly on the Past OR the Future leads into Fear; fear that if we don't act a certain way, we'll end up in 'Hell' & conversely that if we DO act a certain way, we won't get to go to 'Heaven'! 

In conclusion & on a more personal note ( for those of my readers who have 'lost' loved ones ); my father's 'meat vehicle' went the way of ALL biology, being part of the great Circle of Life! HE, His Essence that is, remains, neither in the 'Heaven' for which he hoped, or the 'Hell' he feared. This may come as a bit of a 'shock' to some of my readers, but much of what we have been taught is not true! 

Finally, to reiterate; NOW is our only chance to do what it right, NOW is when we must make the choices that determine if we will spend our Life in 'Heaven' or Hell'! Also, Now will never come again; it will ALWAYS be Now, so choose wisely. Will you drug yourself up with pharmaceuticals or extreme sports to merely alleviate the pain, or will you acquaint yourself with your Higher Self in order to actually get to the Source of the pain? The latter choice means 'Heaven', the first means 'Hell'!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

Ascension: The War Within

There is much talk these days of 'Ascension'; the question might well be asked though, "What is it?" By definition, Ascension would naturally imply a rising up, in essence, moving from a lower place to a higher one, whether metaphorically or literally, whether mentally, emotionally, spiritually or physically. In a metaphysical sense, it might be described as reaching a higher dimension, a higher frequency, if you will. Spiritually, it could be described as being "crucified with Christ", not necessarily in the literal sense, as the Bible seems to portray, but again, in a metaphysical sense, as the journey of the spinal fluid rising from the sacral chakra to the crown chakra. The biblical story of Jesus indeed seems to follow this Journey, particularly with Jesus' '40 day' Temptation in the Wilderness. However one chooses to define 'Ascension', it is generally accepted that it involves some sort of heightened experience, again, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually.

Answering the question, "How does one ascend?" is another matter entirely! Does one achieve Ascension by ignoring certain bodily functions, or simply by embracing those functions? Is 'Ascension' what occurs when, through meditation or by whatever means, we train our bodies to rise above it all, not unlike the Phoenix?! More importantly, especially for the purposes of this short blogpost, is 'Ascension' more akin to Jesus' own fabled Ascension, as chronicled in Mark 16, Luke 19 & the 1st chapter of the book of Acts? Ephesians 4:9 seems to agree with this metaphysical interpretation, wherein "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?".

'Ascension' is something everybody wants, right?! One might think so & for the most part, they may be right, to a point. It's really not all that surprising, once they realize how mentally, emotionally, spiritually & yes, even physically demanding it is, the amount of people who are tempted to back down, maybe even forget the matter entirely! Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the pain that comes with Ascension is unbearable, or even that once one has 'achieved' It, your troubles are over. "Not at all!" No, once One has ascended ( whatever that means to you), not only do you still have to deal with those who have not yet ascended ( ? ); you must also continue to struggle with that ever-present trouble-maker, the Ego!

The Ego is unavoidable! One might, in fact, note that it is one of those 'necessary constituents' of our human nature. As previously discussed, the Ego is neither good nor evil, right or wrong; "it just IS". The problem with the Ego is when we allow it to get the better of us, so to speak, allowing it to dictate our actions, or reactions. Some might argue that the Ego is something that can be & indeed should be squelched. To a point, I agree; we can & should, maybe, subdue the Ego to the point where it is barely ( if that ) noticeable, but while we are at home in this 'meat-suit', I would dare to say that it cannot, indeed should not be entirely squelched! "Why?" you may well ask. "As above, so below"; it is a necessary component to our humanity!

The question might be proffered at this point; "Why even bother?" If the Ego is going to constantly oppose us us, "Why shouldn't we just get rid of it entirely?" Another option, however is, rather than view the Ego as something that we must fight against, we learn to live with it, not letting it control us, yet not trying to control it either! Rather, we might look at it as it is, not an adversary, or something that must be defeated, but as a necessary constituent of our humanity that allows us to  be Who We are, which is Divine & yet function as true human beings in a 'Mundane' world!

Is the Ego, then, NOT something to be overcome?! Well, "yes & no": is it something that CAN be overcome? "Sure". Is it something we must strive to overcome? Again, "yes & no"! It will not be overcome by us sitting on our laurels & throwing our hands up in despair, but, on the other hand, the harder we TRY to overcome It, the harder It's going to fight back! "What CAN we do?" you might ask. Well, for one thing; "STOP!" Stop striving, it's only going to make it worse! The Ego, not unlike our Mind, strong as It is, is a delicate thing, easily wounded. The best, really the only thing we can do, is to quiet them both. I know this is "easier said than done", but it is the most we can do, especially with any hope of success!

"So, 'Ascension'; why would we want to even attempt It if It's only going to cause us more pain?!" Wouldn't it just be easier to just accept the status quo, including the belief that most of us grew up with, that "We have but one life to live, and after that, the Judgement"? It would make Life so much simpler if we could just take things as they come, conforming to the crowd & living 'the American Dream' ( thinking of don Miguel Ruiz & his 'dream of the planet' )! "Why would ANYONE want to mess with Perfection?!

"The Answer, my friends, is blowin' in the wind..............." Yes, I'm referring here to our true nature, that of the Spirit, which means that We are Divine. This, my friends, is "Why" We would want to go to all that trouble, to re-open all those old wounds, to heal our pain! This world is in so much turmoil right now, thanks to us humans & most of us don't even realize that it's our fault! I say 'our' in a very general sense, no woman or man ( not even a fallen spiritual being ) can shoulder the blame; it's a group effort!

There's a saying that goes something like this, "It's taken so long to get to where we are; it's going to take at least as long to get back, if not longer!" Okay, so it's my saying; I said it, but isn't it true? Yes, my words could be proven untrue ( actually, I'm kinda hoping they are ), but that's where 'Ascension' comes in; once a person ascends ( whatever that means to YOU ), there's really no going back. Once One tastes the Freedom that knowing yourself & your true Power brings, that One could never even think of retreating, no matter how painful It is ( believe me, "It hurts like HELL" )! This is the ONLY way that we'll EVER 'get ourselves back to the Garden', so to speak! It is a choice; 'To ascend, or not to ascend", to BE Who we are, or not to BE Who we are!

By now, my readers might be wondering,"Why didn't he just title this 'How to Ascend'?" Well, you may have noticed that I used the phrase "whatever that means to YOU" a lot; Ascension, as we've seen, means different things to different people. There is One Spirit, yes, but We are all different aspects of that One Spirit. So, is there One way to reach that Spirit, to scale that seemingly unscalable height? To posit that there is would be akin to saying that all children should be able to learn at the same pace! 

Jesus' Ascension has been assumed, religiously speaking, for the most part, to be a literal rising of His physical body to 'Realms of Glory' ( AKA 'Heaven' ). I do not believe this to be the case. Whether literal history or not, in most cases the Bible as we have it today is so far from it's intended meaning & audience that it's somewhat surprising that humanity hasn't totally fucked things up! "Oh, wait........" 

But seriously, if Jesus' Ascension was simply a model, a precursor really, of our own, as I, along with many scholars have posited ( even the Bible says as much ), then it stands to reason that it speaks, not of a physical event, but rather to a spiritual, or metaphysical one. 

To rise above it all, One must first descend to the depths of human nature, to face the Shadow that reveals the dark side of that human nature. Once we have experienced the darkness of our deepest desire, we are forced to be honest with ourselves, to face our shadow self , which is as much a part of 'Us' as our Divinity. Knowing ourselves, Who We truly are, not just in our Divinity, but as a true human being, is of utmost importance here!

Quite seriously then, "What IS Ascension?!" Is Ascension something we aspire to achieve; some lofty peak that we hope to some day reach? Or is Ascension more akin to the salvation that the Bible teaches us to work out ( Philippians 2:12 )? Now, admittedly, there are parts of the Bible that seem to tell us that salvation, or atonement come from without, 'from Above' ( 'Heaven' ), so to speak, but in Reality, this is actually just a matter of interpretation/perception. Like biblical salvation & atonement ( at-one-ment ), Ascension is an inside job: It DOES come from Above, though this does not refer to something outside of or separate from ourselves; it is a choice we make within ourselves to, again, rise above it all, to realize that we are More than our Ego, More even than our choices! THIS is what we Ascend TO; not just the realization that We ARE More, but the Ability to Manifest that realization in daily Life! "So mote it Be!"

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

Tears of Gold ( "Jesus Wept" )

 “Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.” 

Gandalf to the Remnant of the Fellowship

There are several different kinds of tears; tears of sadness, tears of anger & tears of Joy. The first two tend to go together, because most often, anger is a symptom of sadness, which is itself a symptom of a more deep-seated issue. Then again, Joy is often mixed with sadness, as witnessed at many tearful partings, such as the final breaking of the Fellowship in the final & monumental Lord of the Rings movie. The Joy of heading for what might be called 'a better place' is most often intermingled with the sadness of those left behind. 

When Jesus wept, as recorded in John 11:35; He did so for several reasons, most obviously for the unbelief of His fellow Jews, who had become so blind as to ignorantly disbelieve that Lazarus could rise from the dead. They, of course, thought that He wept for His dead friend, which was not totally beyond the pale, but it should be noted that Jesus, knowing that Lazarus would indeed soon embrace his loved ones again, wept also for the Joy that was before Him! As a human being, yes, He pleaded for that cup to be taken away, but as More than Human, He knew that, in order for His Joy to reach its Height, He must drink that cup to its dregs!

Tears of Sadness, like all tears, are temporary. In this Life, things just seem to happen, sometimes, for no good reason. These things are most often outside of the realm of our control, like the death ( I won't say 'loss' for they are ALWAYS with us ) of a loved one. I have, in the course of over half a century, this go 'round , experienced this a number of times, though, I dare say, not as much as many, or most! For some, those in particular who believe in some kind of afterlife, whether it's '72 Virgins', or strumming harps in some otherworldly 'Paradise, this Sadness comes because of attachment issues, but at the same time, this Sadness is often tempered, to varying degrees, with Joy; Joy, not only because the one who has passed is in 'a better place',  but also because they believe they will see their loved one ( s ) again. This is not to say that they won't, but maybe not in the way they think!

I'll be honest; as I was going through my Facebook this morning ( pretty much my morning routine; that & COFFEE! ), I read a post from a friend of mine with the picture above, which inspired me to write the one you're currently reading. Her post was along the same lines, but I wanted to elaborate & throw in a few of my own thoughts to boot! The loss, as the overwhelming majority of people sadly term it, of a loved one is truly a sorrowful affair, if for no other reason than this; we will most sorely miss their bodily presence, along with all the comforting constituent elements. However, it is also a joyful affair for, not only are THEY in a better place, so to speak; such a time also gives us a chance to grow, to determine within ourselves, for one thing, whether we will allow our grief to define us & also, to discover for ourselves what we truly believe, or know. 

As Human Beings, it is only natural that such an event would cause us emotional pain, for as such, we are emotional creatures. No matter how evolved we become, no matter the higher frequencies in which we begin to vibrate, we always, as long as we inhabit this 'meat vehicle', will have to deal with this issue!  Neither is this a bad thing, for tears, as many have learned, are cleansing. I always say; "they're in there; they gotta come out!" Most often, I'm speaking of the emotions themselves, though these usually involve tears, but as the case may be, there is a healing effect when we release our emotions. Without this emotional release, in fact, they usually act in a cancerous way. They even have the power, one might say, to rewrite DNA!  I'm no scientist, of course, so that may not be factual, but I would propose that the rewiring of our brain would not be out of the question when it comes to the power of our emotions!

Sadness happens to the best of us! Okay, so maybe that sounds a little cocky, but hey.............'if the shoe fits', right?! But seriously, the point is that EVERYONE has their moments: "As above, so below"; no matter how far you are along the 'Ascension Path', no matter how well you've learned to practice 'mind over matter' ( MOM ), when Life 'happens', it WILL, to whatever extent, knock you on your ass ( either that, or you're not as far along as you thought, i.e., you're not being honest with yourself )!

I wish to recount for my readers my own first 'real' experience with death. At the time, 'as luck would have it', I happened to be attending an Independent Fundamental Baptist church & the 16 year old daughter of the deacon of the church had experienced immediate 'cessation of life' in an unfortunate four-wheeler accident. I'm not proud to say, nor am I embarrassed, that I actually broke down & sobbed at least once at the funeral! 'Why did I cry?" Well, yes, even though I was not close with this young girl, I was a good friend of her father & mother, so much of my sadness was for their 'loss'. They, however, were more stalwart than I, or so it seemed, maybe because they had more experience in that area. Though they, of course, were saddened by the early departure of their youngest child from this life, they held dearly to the 'fact', as they saw it, that their daughter was now 'in the Arms of their Lord', or 'Heaven'. This was yet another reason for my sadness; their misplaced faith that they would see their daughter again when they themselves died & went to 'Heaven'. As I write these words, it occurs to me that their faith, misplaced as it was, was not far wrong! As the case may be, however, the emotions that were at the root of my own sadness had their own healing effect, though they were only the beginning, you might say, of the troubles I have experienced in my own Journey!

My own sadness was, in essence, misplaced, for though I had barely begun my own Journey, I was a preterist, believing that Jesus had returned in the first century, as I, along with many others, perceived the Bible taught He would. As such, I believed their faith, their Hope was misplaced. Even though I now know that my own hope, such as it was, was misplaced, I believed at the time that they were wrong while I was right! Though I like to believe that I'm past such pettiness at this stage in my own Journey; this is in itself a cause for some sadness. No regrets though; I'm thankful for where I came from, humanly speaking!

If I had kept this sadness inside, I shudder to think of the emotional wreck I might be right now! One thing I can say about my personal Journey is that I HAVE progressed this far at least; that I'm not as afraid as I was to let my emotions show, to let my tears flow! Although I know I still have a long way to go, I have learned the healing power of tears! I realize too, that much of my current existence is dependent on a 'trauma response'. I say this, not to justify my actions, but to acknowledge that I still have a lot of healing to do. I foresee many, many tears in my future!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

Embracing the Metaphor ( The Great Divorce )

"What's it matter, really?" Joe & Charlene had just been discussing the age of rocks & when Charlene found herself in between.................... a rock & a hard place; as she usually did, she capitulated without, you know..........'capitulating'! Of course, it DOES matter, though to your average Joe, it might seem to make little to no difference. Charlene had been brought up to believe that the Earth, our Mother, was only 6,000 years old, that all the geologic wonders around the world were evidence of Noah's Flood & that humanity itself found its genesis in a Middle Eastern man & his mate that, interestingly enough, DID have belly buttons ( BTW, they were created to look approximately 30 years old too ). Then, of course, there WAS that episode with the talking snake; crazy, right?!

Joe had heard the Story before, from many different perspectives. Being a world traveler, he knew that, though the versions were all different, to a lesser or greater degree, the Story was the same from culture to culture. He also knew that, in order to understand this startling truth, one had to open their mind to the notion that no one religion, much less person, had 'the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth'. Charlene knew all this, but still had a hard time acknowledging his findings, for even though they DID make all the sense in the world, the facts, as she had learned them, did not jive with what Joe was reporting. 

Charlene was more or less familiar with the term, but when it came to understanding metaphor, she'd always thought of it as referring only to those parts of the Story that the Bible didn't necessarily elucidate, as such. For instance, in her understanding, even a historical occurrence, such as the Great Flood of Noah's day spoke to a greater spiritual truth, where the Ark, through which Noah was saved along with his family, pointed forward to the salvation that came through the Christ, or the Messiah of the Hebrews. Not that she'd learned incorrectly, there was more to the Story, metaphorically speaking. 

The Story of the Bible IS the Story of Humanity, as Charlene & so many others like her had been taught, but not quite in the way she or her teachers thought! According to the biblical Story, Adam & Eve were the representative scions of Israel, the chosen people of a certain Canaanite/Hebrew god named 'El' ( Elohim ). Of course, Charlene had been taught the version that we outlined earlier, wherein Adam & Eve were the first human beings on planet Earth, being representative, not of the genesis of the Hebrew people, but of Humanity itself. Though she had never really thought about the implications of such beliefs, hanging around with Joe had begun to remove the scales from her eyes. In essence, Charlene was beginning to see, grudgingly though, that what she'd known so dogmatically all her life was not the whole Story!

The Story of Israel, as elucidated in the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures, beginning with the metaphorical choosing of Adam & Eve, though from a different & much older culture than ours, still represents the struggles of humanity, sadly enough, even to this day. Much like Israel was finally divorced by this 'El' after many instances of unfaithfulness, subsequent trial, hardship & repentance, so Humanity has been divorced from the Knowledge of Divinity, for much the same reason, in fact of the matter! This is not to say, of course, that Humanity is therefore fucked & that the Divinity is well represented by this 'El', be he Hebrew or Canaanite! Humanity is itself endowed with what is often called the Spark of Divinity! 

The Divinity, though known by many names around the world & taking many different forms, is really One Being ( if one can even correctly call It THAT! ). Humanity is a denser form of this Divinity, yet part & parcel with It! Arguably the smartest man who ever lived, someone once said "Everything is Energy" ( or something to that effect ); In this case then, this Divine Being is pure Energy. As previously discussed in this blog, our Essence, our 'Spirit' if you will, embodies this same Energy, though for biological purposes, this Energy vibrates or operates at a lower frequency. Though humanity, or so it would seem for the greater part, has been divorced from their own Divinity, it is not as though we cannot be reunited. Unlike Israel of old, it is not some petty god with which we need reunion, rather it is within ourselves that we suffer this division, or separation. Fortunately, Humanity seems to be awakening, in the past decade or so, to the Glorious fact that the Salvation we have been taught to seek without is in fact Within!

Charlene, though grudgingly, had begun to accept the Truth as reported by Joe. Her Great Awakening began long before she even had an inkling of her own innate Power, her own Divinity! Under Joe's patient & gentle tutelage, the eye of Charlene's understanding was gradually opened to the fact that the geology of our Mother Earth was far more ancient that she had been taught. Even the absurdly simple story that Adam & Eve were the first human beings on Planet Earth became more & more ridiculous to her, to say nothing of the talking snake!

Joe had a similar Story; that's why he empathized with Charlene. He'd been brought up to believe much the same way she had, but with the important difference that he had been allowed, or enabled, one might say, to open his mind up to different possibilities, different Stories, so to speak. Even now, Charlene's progress mirrored his own Journey, for Joe began to note & then explore the glaring consistencies of the Story as he had learned it. 'As above, so below; as without, so within'. Joe had learned, as Charlene was beginning to see, that just as the Story they were both taught about the materiel world & the Universe itself was lacking in many areas, so the Truth about our own Divinity had been stifled to the point that it was all but lost on the overwhelming majority of Humanity. Again though; all is not lost: the Story here represented is true of Humanity in general! Though fairly quietly, gently, one might note, the Great Awakening is occurring as we speak & it's only going to get louder!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

Doorway to the Divine; the Moon as Mediator

February's Full Moon, the Snow ( 'Candles' in Europe ) Moon has just passed Her peak as I begin to write on this beautiful Day on which we pay our due worship to the Sun, or in some cases, 'the Son'! The Moon, as we have learned, from Day One, you might say, has no light of her own, but merely reflects the light from our solar system's greatest star, the Sun. As the saying goes, "As Above, So Below"; so one might see this as metaphorical of our own situation. In this sense, particularly as Christians, we are taught that we are mere reflectors of the glory of 'God', but, as we have come to know; this Glory is not something that shines upon us, like the relationship of the Moon to the Sun, but rather; a Light that shines from Within, as We will It, consciously or unconsciously ( some haven't learned yet, what a Light they ARE )!

In the West, even in the Near East, religiously speaking, the Moon is perceived as Female while the Sun is perceived as Male. Perhaps this is one reason for the ascendancy of the patriarchy, since the female is viewed as receptive, while the male is viewed as proceptive. In matter of fact, the male & female sexual organs seem to bear this out. As such then, the female has been supposed to be the submissive one, 'the weaker vessel', as She has often been called. This, as any man who has ever had the good fortune to come face to face with a woman should know, could not be further from the Truth!

The Divine is Within every living Creature, both Male & Female! Some have even proposed that It exists within ALL Creation, even what we often refer to as 'inanimate'! As such, we may know that upon whomever we happen to rest out gaze, we are looking into a Mirror; Divinity stares back at us, even into our very soul, as some have said. In this sense, we may be seen as reflectors, though certainly not 'merely'. I must give this caveat, however; the Divinity is easier to detect in some than in others, in fact, It might seem nearly impossible to perceive in certain people!

No matter how deeply buried under the human psyche It might be, however, this Spark of Divinity, as it is often termed, DOES exist in ALL of humanity! Again, It is buried deeper, under more layers, in a manner of speaking, in some more than others, One may be assured though; It IS there! All that we must do is patiently coax it out of hiding. Whether we're speaking professionally, as is growing ever more popular, of therapy, or simply of meditational practices, which is therapy in itself, there's nothing better than self-therapy, much like self-medication. Along those lines, professional therapy could be likened to institutional religion, in that it seeks for healing from an outside source, rather than, as with meditation, searching Within for the Answer. This is not to say that either of these, institutional religion or professional therapy, are without worth, just that both of these tend to detract, or distract from our own Worth. This, of course, depends largely on the practitioner!

One of my favorite lines from the move 'The Matrix', is "I can only show you the door; you must walk through it". Note how similar this is to the old adage, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". Come to think of it, along with the ascendancy of the patriarchy, maybe trying to force the horse, so to speak, has been one of the major societal issues we have to recover from! However one chooses to perceive it, much less act on it, Divinity, like righteousness, cannot be forced, or legislated. We must go within ourselves first, to find our own Divinity, before we can ever hope to see it within the other, much less reveal it to them as the Reflector we are. To some of us, these words might sound almost familiar, as "first remove the beam from your own eye, then you may see clearly to remove the speck from the other's". ( yes, I purposely removed the patriarchal reference ) 

As Reflectors then, We function both as Receptive & Proceptive, Male & Female. First, We act out both the Male & Female aspect, proceptively searching out our own Divinity, then birthing, or revealings ( receptively ) within ourselves said Divinity, after which we may be receptive to the Divinity of the other ( for until we recognize It within ourselves, how will we recognize It in the other? ). If I may borrow from something I just read, we are, in this sense if no other, both 'the Alpha & Omega, the Beginning & the End ( Goal )'!

To unbury the Divinity within ourselves is both as easy ( 'simple' might be a better way of putting it ) & more difficult than it might seem at first glance! Depending, of course, on the level of instruction that one has received over the course of their lifetime, or even lifetimes, with the layers that any one of us has to dig through, carefully sifting out what is useful from what no longer serves us can be a very painful process. For those of who feel the pain of others as well as our own, this process can feel almost unbearable at times!

"As Above, So Below", the Spark of Divinity resides within All Creation! We may not force this Divinity to reveal Itself ( though we may gently coax It ); no, the best we can do is just BE. In our role as Reflector ( Moon ), we may be able to alert them to their own Divinity. As a warning, our Reflection can be a double-edged sword, so we must take great care how we exercise It, for, "Let's face it; everyone has their moments!"

In our Roles as Reflectors, We must remember that as Receptors of the Light, We are no less than the Light ourselves. The old saying, "this town isn't big enough for the both of us" surely doesn't fit here! The Light, like the Energy from which It emanates, indeed, which It IS, is Infinite. In order for the Other to perceive the Light within themselves, it must have a Reflection, so that they can see this Light & recognize it as coming from themselves. On the other hand, if we do not reflect It back to them, or reflect it wrongly, with the Ego, they may never perceive their Light for what It is. 

As such then, it might be truthfully said that we signify both the Sun & the Moon, being the embodiment of both the Female & Male Principle! "As Above, So Below"; we have been given to understand that the Moon simply reflects the light from the Sun when She shines, however brightly ( or not ) at night, but are we to understand this to be Her ONLY Power, that of a Receptor? The Answer should be more than obvious, just as any man who has had the good fortune to meet a woman face to face knows that they are most definitely NOT the weaker vessel!

Namaste' & Blessed Be, 

Sage Charles

The Complete Human; the Sum of the Gods ( the importance of being human )

 Ask the question, "What does it mean to be human?" of any number of people & you'll likely get as many different answers! For the most part, the answers may be similar, depending on who you ask: anything from "a sentient being" to Richard Rohr's "earth that has come to consciousness" Interestingly enough, researching the word online, one might find that some break the cardinal rule most of us old codgers were brought up with, "you can't define a word with the same word"! One definition I thought interesting was Merriam-Webster's; "a bipedal primate mammal". Most popularly though, in various ways, a human being is distinguishable from a mere animal.

"Welcome aboard the Starseed Enterprise!" In a previous post, I discussed how even our physical body is made up of energy, as well as the 'real' Us, the spiritual being that we are, being part & parcel with the Source ( call it 'God', 'the Universe', or Divine Energy; "It is what It is" ) of all Life. To reiterate, "we are NOT our physical bodies", though maybe more correctly, "we are not JUST our physical bodies"! 

We are the Gods of this world! A controversial statement, one might well note, but even Jesus called the Jewish leaders Gods. According to the Hebrew, a 'god' ( lowercase OR uppercase 'G' ) is simply 'a mighty one'; the problem is, most of us haven't figured out yet just HOW mighty we ARE!

By saying that we are the Gods of this world, I simply mean that we control the Narrative! No, not individually speaking but collectively speaking, humanity controls the greater Narrative! Therein lies the problem, if indeed one perceives it as such; the overwhelming majority of people, not realizing the Power they wield, have either yielded this Power to others, willingly or ignorantly, or else selfishly used this Power to their own ends, seemingly without a thought for the 'other'! This Narrative has been called 'The Dream of the Planet' by some. In one sense, I say, with Jesus: "We are Gods!", because of our Power of Choice. As I intimated, We, individually speaking, control our own Narrative. No, we cannot always control what happens TO us, but we CAN control HOW we respond, ALWAYS!

In another sense too, I say "We are Gods!" because We, in Essence, are One with the Source of All Life! Speaking, of course, of the Spark of Divinity that lies within ALL of humanity, I realize that it is evident in some more than others; in fact, in many, it's almost, if not impossible to glimpse. One might note here though, that yet another aspect of our Godhood is our ability, our Power to bring to light the Divinity within the other. I do not mean to say that we ourselves bring forth this Spark, but more to the effect that we Awaken the other to this Glorious Reality! "How do we do this?" one might ask. Simply by the words of Jesus ( for example ); by treating others how we ourselves would like to be treated. Of course, this example only really stands if we ourselves have accepted this Glorious Reality.   

Our acceptance/realization of this Glorious Reality, of course, is not what makes Us Gods, or mighty ones. As we have been seeing, it is not our awareness, as such, that gives us the Power of Choice: we ALL make choices, based, usually, on our individual perception. Depending on our individual perception then, unless one has awakened to the other's perception, we make & have to live with, those choices, whatever form they might manifest. However, once we have been awakened to this 'universal' perception ( 'the Dream of the Planet'/'the Matrix' ), our choices will begin to reflect this effect; rather than being based solely upon our own individual perception, they will be for the good of ALL, for we realize more & more that we ARE the other; we are all connected & what affects one affects the other, to whatever extent!

Being One with the Source of All Life does not either, for those who might have had this disturbing thought, mean that we bear the weight of the world on our often seemingly feeble shoulders! Because of the innate Godhood of ALL; everyone bears the weight of THEIR own individual choices. We, again, make our OWN choice as to how we respond to their choices, but we cannot choose for them: as a wise man once said, "I can only show you the door; YOU must walk through it!"

Everyone has their own Story, their own dream, their own perception! Most often, for whatever reason, this dream more closely jives with the dream of the planet as it is in this false reality, rather than the dream of the planet as it should be, or IS in True Reality ( whether we acknowledge It or not ), the Dream of Heaven. This Dream of Heaven, as opposed to the dream of hell that many or most are currently experiencing, is a Current Reality for those who have awakened to the aforementioned Glorious Reality that we are, not just the Sons & Daughters of God, but Goddesses & Gods in our own right! 

In this sense then, it is NOT, as I have postulated previously, ONLY our spiritual nature that gives our Godhood! It is our WHOLE being, including our Ego ( "gasp!" ), through which we make our choices & live our lives. Again, though they operate at a different frequency & vibrate at a much lower ( ? ) rate of speed, our physical bodies are "formed of the same Energy as our Spiritual Being". They are then, no less Constituent Elements of our Godhood than is our spiritual, or True Nature!

To be Truly Human is to be a God! ( "Yes, I said it!" ) As Gods, then, We cannot afford to ignore this Glorious Reality! The Dream of the Planet that we are currently living is not just any dream; it's a fucking nightmare! The only Way that we will awaken from this nightmare is first, to awaken ourselves, to realize & accept Who We are & where We came from. Second, by BEing Ourselves, to influence others by startling them with the Truth of who THEY are. In this Way, the Dream of the Planet, the Collective Consciousness will return us to the Garden, where We may freely eat of the Tree of Life & live forever!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

How To Love Yourself

 "Do you love yourself?"

If we are honest, the overwhelming majority of us would probably have to answer negatively. Whether we have been brought up to believe that we are marred by something called 'original sin', or we have been so conditioned by our culture that we feel we just don't measure up, most people really have no idea what it means to love oneself, much less how to do it.

"So tell us, oh Wise One; how DO we love ourselves?!"

Well, first of all; when it comes to loving oneself, I make no claims about being a Wise One or a guru: quite the opposite, in fact! I kinda suck at it, especially lately. Taking at face value the accepted notion of loving yourself, as in, "if you don't love yourself; how can you ( really ) love anybody else?"; what does it actually mean to love yourself? So, working our way in reverse, let's consider; if loving another means to care for them, whether that involves romantic ( ? ) feelings or not, respecting them & their needs, in essence, treating them as you yourself would like to be treated, then would that not suffice as an acceptable meaning? Actually, to those who have dared to ask this most important of questions, that probably would serve as a very acceptable, though maybe not the most concise answer. May we take this question at face value though? THAT is the question!

From a purely human standpoint; yes, one might well note that loving oneself involves respecting yourself to the point that, as don Miguel Ruiz suggests in the first of his Four Agreements, "Be impeccable with your word". Primarily of course, that would mean especially your word to yourself; IE, stop putting yourself down as you've been taught to do. Rather, remind yourself that you are worthy, you are perfect just the way you are, you ARE where you're supposed to be, blah, blah, blah..... Also, in that scenario, loving yourself might mean distancing yourself from certain people that you had previously, for whatever reason, counted as friends. "We just don't vibe anymore", "we're on different frequencies", "they're too negative for me", etc, etc, etc........... On the basis of being human, yes, all these suggestions have value, but are we not more than human?

We've discussed in this blog before how We ARE Love Itself, but what DOES that mean?! "The Bible says that God is Love, right?!" Again, "What does THAT mean?!" Does that even come close to the short list we read earlier in this post? "Do you mean to say that God is capable of human emotions?" No, Love, as we've discussed previously, is NOT an emotion! Sure, it is often, if not usually expressed, or manifested THROUGH the emotions, but It is not Itself an emotion. Humanly speaking, in the verbal sense, Love is an action. It is a choice we make, for instance, to treat others as we would ourselves like to be treated. 'Is THAT what Love is?" When we try to describe it from a merely human standpoint, It honestly seems to fall rather flat, like, "If there were no humans to manifest It, would Love even exist?" Stupid question, right? Sounds kinda like, "If a tree falls in the forest & there's no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

It has been suggested that Love, like Light, is simply Energy. So, if Love is Energy & Everything is Energy, wouldn't that mean that Everything is........................ "Wait, even Rocks?!" Actually, that's not what I'm saying.............but, interesting thought! It's really not quite THAT simple, is it? Love is Energy, yes, but does that necessarily mean that Energy is Love?! Hmmmmm! "It's getting deep in here!" So maybe here is where we get into Frequencies. If Love is just a higher frequency of Energy.......... Maybe then, animals ARE capable of Love! Or are we so vain as to think human beings are the only species that have evolved that far? For that matter, how ABOUT Rocks?! Does not the Bible itself say "even the rocks will cry out" ( Luke 19:40b )? 

But, I digress.............. "Is Love simply Energy?" As above, so below; no, it's not that simple! Love is Energy, yes, but it is not just mindless protons & neutrons doing the dance of Life; or ARE they?! Hmmmmmmmmmm! I'm going to suggest that Love is an Intelligent Energy! Now, is It intelligent because of its higher frequency? "This just keeps getting deeper & deeper!" So, before we completely fall down the rabbit-hole...

It must be understood that We ARE More than human. As someone once said, "we are spiritual beings having a human experience".  "We just can't seem to stay away from that rabbit-hole, now can we?!" What IS a 'spiritual being? Why, a Being of pure Spirit, of course, right? What is 'Spirit'? "Might as well ask what Love is!' Oh, wait................. Okay, so Everything is Energy, right?! That would include Spirit, yes!? So, lets say that Spirit is Energy that resonates at that higher frequency, like Love! That would make sense then, when the Bible says "God is Love". In that case then, a 'Spiritual Being' would simply be a Being that vibrates at a higher frequency, the Frequency of Love!

Speaking of protons & neutrons ( ? ); I'm obviously not a scientist, but I've heard something to the effect that atoms, which are apparently made up of the protons & neutrons, vibrate at such intensity that they become more or less dense, as a 'matter' of fact! Whatever the case may be then, these vehicles, which we call the human body, are not just 'a prison for the soul', as we ( Gnostics ) have been accused of teaching, but are actually part & parcel with our very Being. So, technically, the phrase ( which I have often myself used ), 'we are not our bodies' would be better phrased, 'we are not JUST our bodies'. "These physical husks will perish", I have taught, "but the Spirit remains". This, however, is not quite the Truth! As a wise man once said, in other words, "Energy never dies; it is simply transformed". In fact, then, these physical husks do NOT perish, though they may be unrecognizable as such; they are simply transformed, alchemized if you will. "Are we our physical bodies?" Yes & No. "We are More than these bodies, these vehicles, yes, but our True Identities are not bound up in them. Our True Identities are Spiritual, which means they vibrate at such a high frequency that they are rather insubstantial. "Another rabbit-hole?!" No, not really: read on for the startling conclusion!

Though we have come dangerously close to following the White Rabbit & falling down the rabbit-hole, we're still on track, trying to remember how to love ourselves. One doesn't need to have come from a Christian background to be familiar with the concept of treating these vessels as a temple; however, coming from the Christian background I do, it is very familiar to me that "we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit" ( I Corinthians 6:19 ). Though I know that we are the Spirit that is housed by this Body, or Temple, I hold this, as much of the Greek & Hebrew Scriptures, to be Truth, though often esoterically so. As such then, we owe it to these Vehicles, 'husks' though they may be, to venerate & respect them as the Temples they are! At the same time, though, we must be careful not to make the same mistake the original audience of those Greek & Hebrew Scriptures made! This Temple is, in this sense, merely transient; it is the Spirit Within that is Eternal!

In conclusion, then & to answer our original query; "How DO we love ourselves?" One might note the Answer to be two-fold, though closely related: as far as this Temple goes; "treat it with the respect it deserves, being formed of the same Energy as our Spiritual Being, our True Nature, one might say". Be impeccable with your Word, first, to yourself, then to others. Respect for your Temple means not letting others disrespect your Temple either. There is something to distancing oneself from those who vibe differently, bring in an aura of negativity, etc, etc.  I say this, not that we are better than them, but sometimes it is necessary to heal ourselves first in order to teach them how to heal themselves. ( I'm tearing up as I pen these Words ). 

Finally & most importantly ( Supremely so ); "We ARE Love"! This is our True Nature. Yes, primarily our Spirit, our Higher Self, which vibrates at such frequency that It is not visible to the physical senses, is that which is in the spotlight here, but, "as Above, so Below", the physical manifestation of our Spirit, marred though it may have been by eons of fear & ignorance, is no less worthy of our love & respect. 

In Essence, then, to Love Oneself means, first of all, to realize Who & What We are, that We ARE Love! For that matter, our Vehicles, these physical 'husks' are 'made' out of Love! Knowing these two startling truths, it is only natural that, when we begin to offer ourselves the worship WE deserve, the world that John Lennon 'Imagined' will begin to unfold before us ( I'm crying again )! In the immortal words of another famous Artist; "May it Be!"

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles