This is Volume Three Number 14

December 3, 2006

Gentlepeople,



This newsletter is one week late because my hard drive and computer power
supply died and all of my email programs became corrupted and could not be
recovered.  If you wrote me an email that was not answered, please humor me
by resending it as I don't have it any more.  I also lost the drafts to this
and other newsletters that need to be rewritten this week.  Sorry for the
delays and non-communication.



________________________

Mystical Gnosticism - Part Ten
________________________



We awakened to the true reality of life and our awakening improved our
memory and our imagination.  We avoided getting stuck in the past (our
memories) and focusing entirely on the future (our imagination).  Instead,
we stayed in the present and we learned more about ourselves by paying
attention to life, other people, our own ignorance, awakening, memories and
imagination.  By doing these things, we moved into the World of our Mind.



The World of our Mind is the eighth sphere on the Tree of Life.  It is here
in this sphere, this place, this vibration that we become the mind that does
the thinking, observing, remembering and imagining.  It is here we become
the watcher that watches us do the things we do, think the things we think
and react the way we react to life.



This is a very big step for most people.  We feel like we're losing our mind
when we observe ourselves thinking, or when we realize it is this "us"
that's remembering and imagining the things we remember, imagine and think.
It's hard for us to grasp that we can watch ourselves remember, imagine and
observe life and the things we do.



We are not the remembrance but we think we are the one that remembers.  It's
a shock when we realize we're not remembering, we're observing that part of
us that does remember.  We're not imagining, we're observing that part of us
that imagines.  We're not paying attention to things; we're observing that
part of us that does pay attention to life.



We are the watcher and we watch all of these things; we watch ourselves act,
think and feel.



Then we slip back into the illusion and we are the one who pays attention,
remembers and imagines; we are the physical mind and body.  But having
awakened, and having paid attention to our memory and imagination, we have
experienced the joy of being our own Mind.



Many years ago I can remember telling my teacher that no matter how hard I
tried to enter my own Mind, I was not able to do so.  He looked at me and
smiled: "But John, that's the way it is until you do your personal work."



I already knew what my personal work was and the prospect of having to
resolve all my issues with my family, other people, life and the Divine was
not my highest priority.  Knowing that I needed to learn how to accept,
forgive and love more and more did not make my task easier.  Knowledge is
one thing, but doing the work is quite another.  Truth is that at that time
of my life I'd rather play than work.



But the part of me that watched me play slowly encouraged me to do my
spiritual work.  Thus it is with many of the people who come to me seeking
the easy road to enlightenment.  They want me to fix them so they can enjoy
beauty of who they really are.   My teachers couldn't fix me; and I can't
fix anybody except myself.



This is the dilemma that faces those people who enter the Sphere of the
Mind.  But like most things in our reality, this dilemma is just another
illusion.  By doing our personal work we advance into our own Mind and
observe ourselves.  By continuing to play, we remain within the grasp of the
illusion of life and we make no spiritual progress.  Others observing us
attempt to resolve this dilemma think we're confused.



And we really are.  Appearing and being confused is a symbol of the tenth
step of our spiritual journey



Namaste,
John

Gnostic News is a publication of the Universal
Gnostic Church http://UniversalGnostic.com
Copyright by John Gilbert, Ph.D. and Universal
Gnostic Church 2006



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

This is Volume Three Number 15

December 10, 2006

Gentlepeople,

We're still behind as you can tell from the above
date,   But we are getting caught up.  Thanks for
your patience.

__________________________

Mystical Gnosticism - Part Eleven
__________________________

The first step of our spiritual journey in life
is to become aware of everything in our life and
experience.  People who become aware generally
change their behavior.  They become negative
about the things in their life.  This is called
our spiritual baptism.  It's a baptism into the
stark reality of life.

The second step is to pay attention to the things
that come into our awareness.  The more we pay
attention to these things, the more hopeful we
become that there really is something better.  As
we become more and more hopeful, we reach out to
the Divine.  This is our first spiritual
communion.

The third step is a spiritual awakening that
arises naturally out of paying attention to the
things that come into our awareness.  Suddenly,
it dawns on us the Divine is here and now and
everywhere.  We become calmer and more peaceful
inside and out.  This is our spiritual
confirmation.

The fourth step is the opening of our memory to
things we had forgotten.  We start to remember
everything.  We remember all the "bad" things
we've done and these memories affect our
behavior.  We become indrawn and depressed.  We
dwell in the past.  When we remember to accept,
forgive and love ourselves and others, we work
through our depression and become grateful for
all the good things in life.  This is our spiritual
confession.

The fifth step of our spiritual journey in life
is to imagine the possibilities of our life.  No
matter how young or old we are at the time, we
imagine all the good deeds we can accomplish.
We rise from our state of depression to a state
of elation.  This is our first spiritual healing.  We
begin to imagine we are worthy and we can
accomplish something with our life.

The sixth step of our spiritual journey occurs
when we move from the past (memory) and future
(imagination) into the present and come to terms
with our own mind.  We become hopeful again.  But
this time our hope is on an entirely different
level.  We've awakened to our true being as a
Child of the Divine.  We've remembered our past
deeds and learned to accept, forgive and love
ourselves and others in spite of these things.
We've imagined all that we can be and we've
empowered ourselves to accomplish something with
our life.  This is our second spiritual healing.

These things we've discussed in the previous ten
lessons.

The seventh step of our spiritual path is the
process of reasoning out everything we know about
our own strengths and weaknesses to come up with
ideas we are capable of implementing in our life.
  This is not the "pie in the sky" dreams of our
imagination.  This is a realistic and doable plan
for us.  The result is we know what we can really
do and we start formulating ways to do exactly
that.

The seventh step is all about thinking.  It's our
third spiritual healing.  We're not hampered by
our past or the things we imagine may happen to
us.  We're empowered to do what we know we can
do.  We are healed.

Namaste,
John

Gnostic News is a publication of the Universal
Gnostic Church http://UniversalGnostic.com
Copyright by John Gilbert, Ph.D. and Universal
Gnostic Church 2006

This is Volume Three Number 16

December 17 2006

Gentlepeople,

We really are getting caught up.  Now we plan to
get a little ahead of ourselves and finish up
this series of discussions next week.

__________________________

Mystical Gnosticism - Part Twelve
__________________________

The eighth step on our spiritual journey is to
pay attention to our intuitive insights and honor
them.  All of us always have intuitive insights.
Most of us tune them out.  We allow our rational
mind to tell us that's nonsense, that it absolutely
isn't true.  We shut down our intuition because
we don't use it.  Now we start to pay attention
More and more as we enter the eighth step of
our spiritual journey.

We do not become more intuitive.  We are always
perfectly intuitive.  What happens is that we're
more willing to accept the intuitive insights we
receive.  We're more willing to listen to our
intuition.  Were free to express our intuitive
insights to others.  When these intuitive
insights are not colored by our imagination or by
our rational, thinking mind, we attain our
spiritual marriage.  We honor the marriage of our
masculine and feminine minds.  This is our
spiritual marriage.

The ninth step on our spiritual journey occurs
when we know right from wrong, when we can tell
the difference between that which nourishes us
and others and that which does not.  Others see
us as having a strong conscience and we are
considered to be ethical and professional.  We
see ourselves as knowing what will nourish us and
others.  We don't think about it, we just know.

Some people refer to this as being our
"conscience," and it is.  But it's also the
ability to discriminate between any two things
and know which will serve us or others better in
the moment.  It's a knowing based on everything
we've learned about ourselves while traveling the
previous eight steps.  We just know.  This is our
second spiritual communion.

Namaste,
John

Gnostic News is a publication of the Universal
Gnostic Church http://UniversalGnostic.com
Copyright by John Gilbert, Ph.D. and Universal
Gnostic Church 2006

Gentlepeople,

A year ago I was doing one job for the church assisted by three secretaries.
Today I'm doing three jobs for the church with one part-time secretary. 
Needless to say, this isn't working out too well for me.

WANT TO BE A SECRETARY?

If you have any skills with Dreamweaver, Excell, Powerpoint, and web-based data
bases, and would like to work at home as contract labor, please drop me an email
and let's talk.  Phone skills are a must.  Handling correspondence and email is
also required.  Good spelling and grammar are a must.

THE MODERN ESSENES

The Modern Essenes have uploaded some free materials to their web site that
might interest you.  Please take a look at http://ModernEssenes.com

The healing techniques taught by the Modern Essenes actually work.  I encourage
you to try them for yourself.  The Essene Blessing Walk is truly a blessing.

SPIRITUAL ALCHEMY

Spiritual Alchemy is one of the best ways to do your personal work and travel
your own unique spiritual path.  Please visit http://AlchemicalOrder.com and
take a look at their free introductory lessons to see if you're ready for this
work.

THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE

Unless and until I can hire some secretarial help, this newsletter will be
sporatic.  As soon as I can train two or three people to help me, I'll start
writing again.  In the meantime, please be patient with us and have a Great
Spring!

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

The Essene Blessing Walk is a free teaching of the Modern Essenes available at
http://ModernEssenes.com.  I recommend it to you as a valuable tool for your own
spiritual path.

WORDS OF THE BIBLE - Overview

A lot of militant ministers preach malicious mischief when they talk about some
of the words in the Christian Bible. It all starts in the very beginning.

They say: "In the beginning, God created heaven and earth."  That's all very
good, but the ancient Jewish nation spoke Hebrew and in that language there is
no word for "heaven."  And, the ancient Hebrew word for "earth" meant both the
land for growing crops and matter as we know it.

What most people fail to realize is that the ancient Jewish faith was a pagan
faith based on animal sacrifices to appease the Gods. These Gods lived in the
ethers above the Earth. The "ethers" are not visible, they make no sound, cannot
be tasted nor smelled and cannot be felt by the human hand.  The ethers are
beyond the human senses because they are not matter.  Yet all matter is born
oout of the ethers.

Modern science would say that all matter is born out of the energy that fills
the universe.  In other words, the first words of the Christian Bible could
better be expressed by saying: "In the beginning was matter and energy."

Since the Book of Genesis is all about the creation, these words would better
express what was happening during the creation.  The process of creation was
probably one where Divine energy was converted into matter by an act of the
Divine Will.

In the beginning, there was energy and matter...

Peace,
John
http://UniversalGnostic.com

Gentlepeople,

The Magical Golden Dawn, formerly the Magical Order of the Golden Dawn, is
upgrading all of their teachings to make them easier to learn and understand. At
the same time we're upgrading the website to make it easier to find everything.
If you're at all interested in ritual and divination, please take the time to
visit this great collection of esoteric and metaphysical knowledge. You an even
take the first initiation using the ritual provided or you write your own.  For
more details, see http://MagicalOrder.com

The Esoteric Masons have updated their website as well. Many of us believe the
Masonic teachings hide great wisdom about the Tree of Life that very few Masons
know anything about. The Esoteric Masons teach the lessons of the Tree of Life
based on the knowledge hidden in the Masonic degrees. You can visit their site
and learn all about Masonry, or you can learn the secrets taught by Esoteric
Masons, or you can do both. See http://EsotericMasons.com for details. You can
take their first initiation to see if their teaching is useful for your
spiritual path.

The Emerald Tablet is reportedly some 10,000 years old. The number of myths
surrounding this tablet is a fairly good indication it actually existed at some
point in time. It's a fairly short document but the commentaries about what the
doument really says could fill many books. And it does.

The first line of the Emerald Tablet is rendered by Drs. Rhodonn Starrus and
Betty Reeves (See
http://UniversalGnostic.com/reading/mystic/Emerald_Tablet.html) as:

True, without falsehood, certain and most true, that which is above is as that
which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above, for the
performance of the miracles of the One Thing.

Jabir ibn Hayyan translated this as

"Truth! Certainty! That is which there is no doubt!"

Somebody publishing as Anonymous translated it as:

Here is a true explanation, concerning which there can be no doubt.

In the eleven hundreds the following Latin document emerged:

True, without falsehood, certain, most certain.

The Aurelium Occultae Philosophorum translation is:

This is true and remote from all cover of falsehood.

Issac Newton translated it in about 1680 as:

Tis true without lying, certain and most true.

Here are some other obsrure translations:

I speak truly, not falsely, certainly and most truly.

It is true, no lie, certain and to be depended upon.

This is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth:

Itbis true without untruth, certain and most true.

The truth, certainty, truest, without untruth.

True! True without doubt.

What is remarkable about all these translations is that all of these authors
agree that what follows is the truth.  Over the course of the next eleven weeks,
we'll delve into what that truth is.  You'll be amazed.  You'll be stunned. 
This little twelve-line Emerald Tablet has the potential to forever change your
life. I hope it does!

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

MODERN ESSENES

The Modern Essenes offer two powerful healing techniques to the public at no
cost. One technique is called the Essene Blessing Walk and the other the Essene
Healing Breath. I recommend both of them to you as tools to assist you on your
spiritual path. Try them and see what I mean. You'll be amazed at the results
you can achieve in less than a week. See http://ModernEssenes.com for details.

CHRISTIAN GNOSTIC FELLOWSHIP

We're pleased to announce that Bishop Lee has offered to assume leadership of
this group. We upgraded the web site at http://ChristianGnostic.com and will
continue to do so. Our old discussion group was lost because nobody has the
password. The new group is being formed now at
http://groups.Yahoo.com/group/ChristianGnostic/ and you're invited to join. This
group is open to both Christians and recovering Christians with a Gnostic point
of view.

MAGICAL GOLDEN DAWN

The Magical Golden Dawn teaches a spiritual path based on the Tree of Life and
working the paths back up the Tree to our Divine Source. This path appeals to
psychics and others interested in divination or ritual. You can go in as much
depth as you want or just skim the surface. It's entirely up to you. We invite
you to study their free introductory materials and take your first initiation to
see if this approach will help you on your own spiritual path.
http://MagicalOrder.com

THE EMERALD TABLET - LINE TWO

The second line of the Emerald Tablet is rendered by Dr. Juliet Ashley (See
http://AlchemicalOrder.com/articles/emerald.html) as: "That which is below is
like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below,
to accomplish the miracles of One Thing; and as all things have proceeded from
One, by the meditation of One, so all things are born from this One Thing, by
adaptation."

Jabir ibn Hayyan says: It attests: The above from the below, and the below from
the above - the work of the miracle of the One.

The Aurelium states: Whatever is below is similar to that which is above.
Through this, the marvels of the work of the One Thing are procured and
perfected.

Issac Newton wrote: That which is below is like that which is above and that
which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of the One Only
Thing.

Sigismund wrote: The superior agrees with the inferior, and the inferior with
the superior, to the effect of One truly wonderful work.

Madame Blavatsky wrote: What is below is like that which is above, and what is
above is similar to that which is below to accomplish the wonders of the One
Thing.

Fulcanelli says: As below, so above; and as above, so below. With this knowledge
alone you may work miracles.

Idres Shah puts it this way: What is above is like what is below. What is below
is like what is above. The miracles of unity is to be attained.

Everyone seems to agree that "As above, so below." Whatever is happening here is
also happening in the planes above. One way to interpret this is to say we're a
spiritual being living on many planes at the same time. What we do on one plane
affects what we do on all the other planes.

According to the Kaballah, we live simultaneously in the Worlds of Spirit (the
Divine), Air (Spirit), Water (Soul), Fire (Ego) and Earth (Persona) as expressed
by and through our spiritual being, mental being, emotional being, passionate
being and physical being. In other words, we are a spiritual, mental, emotional,
passionate physical thing.

On deeper analysis, the first five spheres on the Tree of Life are like
corresponding spheres at the bottom of the Tree. The correspondences are: 1-6,
2-8, 3-9, 4-7 and 5-10 which relate to the opposites of Unmanifest - Manifest
(1-6), Pure Intention - Illusionary Intention (2-8), Unconditional Love - Raw
Emotions (3-9), Compassionate Mind - Desire Mind (4-7), Empowering - Corrupt
Power (5-10). As above, so below in this instance means that we have the ability
to raise ourselves up or lower our spiritual selves down.

Meditation and contemplation on this stanza yields many insights no matter which
translation you choose.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

ESOTERIC MASONS

Masons will be pleased to learn the Swedenborgian Rite and the Order
of Jonathan and David are now available to Esoteric Master Masons on
the EsotericMasons.com web site.

PATHWORKING ON THE TREE OF LIFE

Pathworking is the process of tuning into the energy of a sphere or
path on the Tree of Life and allowing that energy to teach you what
you need to know to advance on your spiritual journey. Sounds simple
and it is except for the human propensity to make everything more
difficult. We must have an inner drive to make things more difficult
for the people who follow us. Or maybe we just want to be better
because we got there first -- even if getting there first was just an
accident of birth.

There are two organizations that offer you the opportunity to make
pathworking as difficult or as easy as you want.  Both organizations
embrace both men and women.  Both are economical. One is based on the
idea everybody has spiritual guides willing to help them. That's the
Magical Golden Dawn (http://MagicalOrder.com). The other is Esoteric
Masons (http://EsotericMasons.com). Both allow you to pick and choose
what you want to learn and both offer free lessons to make your job of
deciding what to do easier. Maybe it's time for you to check it all out.

Emerald Tablet - Line Three

Jabir ibn Hayyan says: "All things were from One." He postulates there
is one creative force that creates everything. There is One Source."

Georgio Beato said: "As all things are made from one, by the
consideration of one, so all things were made from this one, by
conjunction." Consideration is thoughts or thinking. Conjunction is a
decision, an intentional act.

Issac Newton offered: "And as all things have been and arose from one
by ye mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one
thing by adaptation." Mediation is a conscious decision. Adaptation is
what we do after we're born or what an idea does after it's birthed.

Madame Blavatsky wrote: "As all things were produced by the mediation
of one being, so all things were produced from this one by
adaptation." Adaptation here suggests like begets like.

Fulcanelli says: "And since all things exist in and eminate from the
ONE Who is the ultimate Cause, so all things are born after their kind
from this ONE." Blavatsky would say this is adaptation.

Idres Shah puts it this way: "Everything is formed from the
contemplation of unity, and all things come about by unity, by means
of adaptation." We are all One.

This line of the Tablet speaks to each of us in the manner which we
will understand. Yet, all of these translations say basically the same
thing. They all claim there is One Source, One Creator of all that is.
  The suggestion is that all of us are co-creators and we create things
similar to ourselves.

The more I read these lines, the more I understand the vastness and
the complexity of the Creation.  At the same time, I feel like we're
all in this together.  We're all learning to accept, forgive and love
more and more. Maybe that's what it's all about.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

The Path of the Healing Dragon (http://PathoftheHealingDragon.com)is
an alchemical healing path using the Divine energy, called Dragon
energy, to help us heal ourselves. We do that by addressing the
emotional issues in our life. Some people call this Dragon Reiki. But
the technique is not Reiki. True, Reiki and Dragon Energy are both
Divine healing energy. Gnostic News recommends the Path of the Healing
Dragon to you.

Line four is often translated as "The Sun is it's father and the Moon
its mother." At least, that's the way Issac Newton, Georgio Beato,
Juliet Ashley, Rhodonn Starrus and Betty Reeves put it. Kriegsmann and
Fulcanelli agree. Jabir ibn Hayyan and Madame Blavatsky say: "Its
father is the Sun and its mother the Moon."  Same thing.

It's unanimous. Most esoteric writers agree on the translation of this
line. They also agree in their commentaries that the Sun represents
the World of Fire and the Moon represents the World of Water. The
World of Fire is masculine and the World of Water is feminine. The
Worlds of Fire and Water are its parents. The child of the Worlds of
Fire and Water is the World of Earth.

Line four can be written as "The World of Earth's father is the World
of Fire and its mother the World of Water."  It can also be written as
the Element of Earth's father is the Element of Fire and its mother
the Element of Water. Father Fire and Mother Water are the parents of
the Child Earth.

There's another deeper alchemical meaning. The Sun is a symbol for the
Ego which resides in the World of Fire. The Ego is the Element of Fire
personified. The Ego is the root of all our needs, wants, desires,
passions, cravings, addictions, energy, drive and striving. Our Ego is
our personal Fire.

The Moon is a symbol for our Soul which resides in the World of Water.
The Soul is the Element of Water personified. Our Soul is the root of
all our feelings, our accepting, forgiving and loving. Our Soul is our
personal Water.

The Child of Water and Fire, the Sun and the Moon, is the Earth on
three levels: 1) the World of Earth, 2) the Element of Earth and 3)
our personalities.  According to psychology our personality is
expressed through several Personas. Each Persona is created by us to
meet a specific need like parent, child, teacher, student, employer,
employee, friend, foe, provider, client, participant or spectator.

So we have three levels of looking at the Sun, Moon and Earth: 1) The
Worlds of Fire, Water and Earth, 2) the Elements of Fire, Water and
Earth, and 3) Ego, Soul and Persona. All three levels are important in
the study of the Emerald Tablet, the study of Spiritual Alchemy.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

According to Ashley, Line five reads: "The Wind carried it in its
belly.  The Earth is its Nurse." Starrus and Reeves, Issac Newton, and
most other authors say almost the same thing. It's interesting to read
some of the other translations.

Georgio Beato writes: "The wind bore it in the womb. Its nurse is the
Earth." Several other authors use the term womb. Some call the wind by
its Elemental name Air. Some say the Earth is both its nurse and
guardian. Jabir ibn Hayyan says: The Earth carried it in her belly,
and the Wind nourished it in her belly." Hayyan says just the opposite
of all the other authors I've read.

The Wind is the Element of Air. The belly is found within the being.
In my opinion this means "it" was born within the Element of Air.
According to the Kaballah all manifested things started out in the
Element of Air as a thought or idea. These thoughts and ideas are
expressed as becoming aware, paying attention to an awareness,
creating intentions, beliefs, memory, imagination and thinking.

The second step in the creative process is to reflect upon these
thoughts and reflecting on our thoughts gives birth to emotions. The
World of Water is contained within and is a part of the World of Air.
In the same manner the World of Air is contained within the Source of
all things. And in the same manner the World of Fire is born within
the World of Water. Our needs, wants, desires, cravings, addictions,
passions, drive and determination are born of our emotions.

Finally, the World of Fire births the World of Earth and the physical
being that we are is contained within and nurtured by all the worlds
of the creation. The Earth nourishes our physical being and is our
nurse. In the same manner Air nourishes our mind, Water nourishes our
emotions and Fire nourishes our desires. We are a product of all four
worlds and we reside within them.

For more information about the elements of Air, Water, Fire and Earth
see http://Tarot101.Wordpress.com and start at the beginning of the
blog. In the meantime, have a great week.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

The most effective form of prayer is one spoken from the heart with a
compassionate intention to have something happen and a firm belief
that it will. Mystics have taught this for centuries. Science has only
recently proven this truth through the science of quantum physics.

If you would like to change something in your life, please learn about
Intentional Prayer. Learn how to pray with intention from your heart,
to change the things you want to change in your life. Then visit the
Intentional Prayer Network and see how you can help others achieve
their desires while they help you achieve yours.

http://IntentionalPrayer.com

Several readers have written to say their version of the Emerald
Tablet is different than mine. Some lines I write about are not in
their version. Some lines in my version become two lines in theirs.
Others report some lines are combined in their version.

What they say is true. Yet, all versions came from the same original
because the message is the same. Different authors translated things
and organized them differently. It's not always easy to translate
something from one language to another and retain the original
meaning. But, all of the translations I know tend to say the same
thing differently. That's what makes this study so interesting.

Line six of the Emerald Tablet according to Starrus and Reeves is
given as: "This is the father of all perfection, or consummation of
the whole world. Its power is integrating, if it be turned into
earth." The Ashley version is: "The father of the works of wonder in
the whole world is here. Its strength and power is complete if it be
converted into earth." Sir Isaac Newton reports: "The father of all
perfection in ye whole world is here, its force or power is entire if
it be converted into earth."

The Arabic Anonymous translation says: "The father of talisman and
protector of miracles whose powers are perfect and whose lights are
confirmed to be a Fire that becomes Earth." The earliest Latin text
agrees: "It is the father of all works of wonder in the world. Its
power is complete if cast to Earth." Georgio Beato writes: "Its power
is perfected if it is turned into earth."

The Kriegsmann translation is: "It is the cause of all perfection, of
all things throughout the universe. This will attain the highest
perfection of powers if it be turned into earth." Blavatsky writes:
"It is the cause of perfection throughout the whole earth. Its power
is perfect if it be changed into earth." Several other translations
echo these same sentiments.

Let us call the One Thing that created all there is the Source. If we
do that then "it, the father and our father" becomes The Source. What
all these translators are saying is: "The Source is the ultimate cause
of everything, the Source is perfect." The Source is what the Source
is. From our limited viewpoint, we don't know what the Source is.

We think the Source may be "wrong" for creating good and evil. But the
fact is we learn through the conflict of good and evil. If there is no
evil, then there cannot be any good. You can't have one without the
other. But the Source is neither good nor evil. The Source is perfect.
The Source created good and evil and everything else for a purpose we
don't yet understand.

What we do know is that the World of Fire is the Astral World; and the
Lower Astral World is the Foundation of the Physical World. Physical
"stuff" is created from Astral "stuff." In fact, Astral "stuff" is the
matrix, the foundation, upon which all physical "stuff" is built. You
and I are physical beings created by our own Higher Self upon a matrix
of Astral "smoke" which was also created by our own Higher Self.

This is the process of converting, changing and turning Fire into
Earth. This is the process of creation itself. Our Highest Self in the
World of Air creates and reflects upon a thought form that becomes our
Higher Self in the World of Water.

Our Highest Self feels the depth of our emotions as it experiences the
duality where every feeling has an equal and opposite feeling, where
every thought has an equal and opposite thought. Within this turmoil,
our Higher Self forms a Lower Self (Ego). Our Higher Self gifts our
Ego with certain abilities and liabilities so we are challenged to
succeed in life. If we succeed in this life we learn valuable lessons
that advance us on our own spiritual path. If we don't, we don't.

If you meditate on these things you'll begin to identify your own
abilities and liabilities. This leads you to a deeper understanding of
why you chose to incarnate in this place at this time.  You'll know
what lessons you came here to learn. You'll know how to share your own
gifts so others may also learn and follow their own spiritual path.

All we have to do is learn why and how we integrated Fire into Earth
to become who and what we are in this physical reality. When I saw
these things I knew I came here to learn how to accept, forgive and
love more and more. I also came here to learn how to share instead of
keeping everything to and for myself.

If I can succeed in doing these things, my Lower Self (Ego) will
become my High Self (Perfected Ego). That's the first goal of all
Spiritual Alchemists, Esoteric Masons and Magical Golden Dawners.
These three represent the Air (Alchemy), Water (Masonry) and Fire
(Magic) paths to perfection of our ego.

Many great teachings derive from the words spoken in the sixth line of
the Emerald Tablet.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

The Starrus and Reeves translation continues: "Thou shalt separate the
earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, suavely, and with
great ingenuity." Ashley renders this as: "Separate the earth from the
fire, the subtle from the gross, gently and with unremitting care."
George Beato says it as: "separate the earth from the fire, the subtle
and thin from the crude and course, prudently." Sir Isaac Newton
reports: "Separate thou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtle from the
gross sweetly with great industry." The earliest Latin text has it as
"It will separate earth from fire, the subtle from the gross.
Blavatsky and Fulcanelli agree with these writers in their own way.

Jabir ibn Hayyan writes: Feed the earth from that which is subtle,
with the greatest power." Sigismund Bacstrom tanslates the Chaldean
version of the Emerald Tablet as: "Separate that spiritous earth from
the dense or crude by means of a gentle heat, with much attention."

The majority concur, but these last two translations intrigue mm for
their diversion from the majority report. To understand this part of
the Tablet, let's agree that the World of Fire, being the Astral
World, is more subtle than the World of Earth. Let's agree the World
of Earth is the world of matter which compared to astral matter is
indeed "gross."

To separate the subtle from the gross is one of the first steps in
alchemy, which is called, appropriately enough, "separation." We are
asked to separate what we manifest in our lives (the gross, the earth)
from what we intended to manifest (the fire, the subtle).

Part of the human condition is that we always create in our lives what
we intend to create. But we create it with all of our beliefs about
ourselves, all of our other intentions for our life, all of our
emotional issues, all of our intuitive insights, memories, thoughts
and ideas and all the things we imagine. What a complex mixture of
positive and negative attributes we bring into our creations.

When I separate the subtle from the gross, I am separating my Fire
from my Earth, my desires from my creations. So the process is to
lovingly, with great kindness to ourselves, softly and gently look at
what we have created in our life and then look at what we desired to
create, our spiritous Earth, in our life. The difference between the
two is all of the garbage we carry around inside ourselves. This
garbage is the "gross and crude" we will eventually burn in the fire.

There are several ways for us to do this but they all involve first
identifying what we desired and what we created. Let me share some
examples: 1) I desired a medium build but I created a fat me, 2) I
wanted a loving relationship, but I created a painful war, 3) I sought
a wonderful career, but I created a terrible job, and 4) I needed to
write beautiful heart-felt poetry, but I wrote hate-filled novels.

Our Fire is what we want, need, desire, crave and intend. Our Earth is
what we actually create. The difference between the two are the things
we need to remove from our lives through the alchemical tools of
accepting, forgiving and loving ourselves and all others. If we do
this gently and with loving kindness, we start to manifest what we
really want in our life. It's tedious work, but it works!

I recommend Spiritual Alchemy to everyone: http://AlchemicalOrder.com

Peace,
John
PS: If you have a little spare time, like about an hour a week, the
Octagon Society (a UGF Spiritual Alchemical Fellowship) needs a
secretary to manage our discussion group.

Gentlepeople,

Starrus and Reeves continue: "It ascends from Earth to heaven and
descends again to Earth, and receives the power of the superiors and
of the inferiors." Ash agrees: "I ascends from the Earth to the
Heaven, and again descends to Earth, and thereby gathers to itself the
strength of things above and of things below." I like the way Issac
Newton says the same thing: "It ascends from ye earth to ye heaven and
again it descends to ye earth and receives ye force of things superior
and inferior."

The Early Latin Text says: "With great capacity it ascends from Earth
to Heaven. Again it descends to Earth, and takes back the poer of the
above and the below." Georgio Beato reportes: "This ascends from the
Earth into the Sky and again descends from the sky to the Earth, and
receives the power and efficacy of things above and things below."
Jabir ibn Hayyan reports: "It ascends from the Earth to the Heaven and
becomes ruler over that which is above and that which is below." Most
of the other authors I've read say basically the same things as these
authors quoted here but in different words.

Several concepts need further explanation. To the ancients Earth was
this physical reality where we voluntarily come to learn more about
everything. But more especially we come here to learn more about our
own spiritual path and the Divine.

The ancient teachers used the words air, wind, aether, ether and
heaven interchangeably. All of these words referred to the World of
the Mind which they considered to be the first creation. In short
terms, the Divine created individual minds. These individual minds
became aware and thought about now, the past and the future (Air). At
some point these minds began to reflect on their own thoughts and they
began to feel things (Water) - the second creation. The third creation
occurred when thoughts and feelings combined to create needs, wants
and desires (Fire). The fourth creation when Water and Fire created
Earth. The fifth and final creation is when we create something.

References to heaven in the Emerald tablet refer to the individual's
World of Air, their World of Mind. The World of Air is "above" and is
therefore referred to as "the Superiors or Supernals." The Worlds of
Water, Fire and Earth are "below" and therefore referred to as the
"Inferiors." Above is Air and Below is Water, Fire and Earth. At this
point I hasten to admit some people consider Air and Water as the
Superiors and Fire and Earth as the inferiors.

What we bring back when we visit our own World of Air is knowledge. In
ancient times, knowledge was see as the light that lights the way back
to the Divine. Light means knowledge. When we gain light, we gain
knowledge. Knowledge is strength. Knowledge is power. Power is force.
Knowledge is force. Knowledge is what sets us free.

There's a Tarot card that expresses this concept very well to me and
it's the Hermit. We seek light (knowledge) so we ascend to our own
World of Air, and when we're ready we bring this light (knowledge)
into our own world. The only thing is that we have to so it.

We have to do it because doing it is creating, and one of the things
we came here to do in this world is to create our own lives. If our
life isn't what we want it to be, we can change it. We can create the
life we want because that's what we do. We create our own lives.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

Starrus and Reeves continue: "So thou hast the glory of the whole
world; therefore let all obscurity flee before thee." Ashley says: "By
this means, all the glory of the world shall be yours, and all
obscurity shall flee from you." The earliest Latin text reads: Thus
you will receive the glory of the distinctiveness of the world. All
obscurity will flee from you." Georgio Beato puts is thusly: "By this
means you will acquire the glory of the whole world, and so you will
drive away all shadows and blindness."

Sir Isaac Newton agrees: "By this means you shall have ye glory of ye
whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you." Bacstrom
adds: "By this wilt thou partake of the honors of the whole world. And
Darkness will fly from thee." Blavatsky reports: "Thus you will
possess  the light of the whole world, and all obscurity will fly away
from you."

The original words translated as partake of the honors, glory and
light of the whole world have also been translated as wisdom and
knowledge. In the ancient tongues, to rise up in glory or partake of
the honors of the whole world was to become a wise and learned person,
light was attributed to knowledge. But there's more to these than just
wisdom and knowledge. They are wisdom and knowing applied to life and
shared with others with loving kindness.

Without this loving kindness wisdom is said to be cold and knowledge
worthless. What good is wisdom if it is applied with hatred or apathy?
What good is knowledge that is not lovingly shared with others? The
Emerald Tablet says that if you do your inner work as previously
described you will lovingly and kindly apply wisdom and knowledge in
your life and with others. The assumption is that if you do not, you
will not. If you don't do your inner work, you will be neither wise
nor knowing and you will not be nor share with loving kindness.

Obscurity is darkness, shadow and blindness. All are a symbol for
ignorance. According to the ancient teachings, we are born in
ignorance of who and what we truly are. Some of us remain in this
state of ignorance our whole life. Some of us never realize we are a
part of the Divine. We don't know the Divine is never separate from us
and we are never separate from the Divine.

When we do our inner spiritual work, we "know" this truth and this
truth sets us free. Free from what? Free from our own ignorance. Free
from our own ignorance so we can fly. The words "we can fly" mean that
we're free to be and do whatever we want to be or do. But having done
our inner work and learned the truth that sets us free, whatever we
become or do, we do and become with loving kindness.

The Emerald Tablet has survived for thousands of years because some
people believe it is true and they do their inner work and they prove
it is true beyond all shadow of doubt. They become the person they
came here to become and do what they came here to do.  Others can see
their light. Others can see the lovingly kind person they became, and
the lovingly kind things they do. And in time, others will start to do
their own inner work. Thus the Emerald Tablet survives from generation
to generation.

I pray we all become lovingly kind people as soon as possible.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

Starrus and Reeves translate this line as: "This is the strong force
of all forces, overcoming every subtle and penetrating every solid
thing." Ashley translates it as: "It is the strong strength of all
strength. For it shall overcome every subtle thing, and penetrate
every solid thing." The oldest Latin text still with us says: "This is
the whole most strong strength of all strength, for it overcomes all
subtle things."

Georgio Beato writes: "For this by its fortitude snatches the palm
from all other fortitude and power. For it is able to penetrate and
subdue everything subtle and everything crude and hard." Sir Isaac
Newton says: "This thing itself presently comes forth stronger by
reasons of this fortitude: it subdues all bodies surely, whether
tenuous or solid, by penetrating them." Blavatsky says: " This thing
has more fortitude than fortitude itself, because it will overcome
every subtle thing and penetrate every solid thing." Most of the other
translations generally agree with what is shared here.

What is it that can penetrate all solid things? The obvious guesses
are 1) the astral material that forms the foundation for all physical
things, 2) thought that forms the framework of the astral material. 3)
the life energy that proceeds from the Divine itself, 4) atomic
particles that can penetrate anything, 5) electrical or magnetic
energy that appears to penetrate all solid things, 6) gamma rays or
some other ray that can move through all matter, or 7) the Divine.

What is it that can penetrate all solid things? Perhaps it is all of
these, so let's turn our attention to some strong force that can
subdue, overcome or overpower all subtle matter. Keep in mind that
subtle matter has no substance. The obvious guesses are 1) thought or
thought forms, 2) emotions or ethereal matter, 3) passions or astral
matter, 4) electrical, magnetic or plasma energy, 5) some form of ray,
6) the life force, or 7) the Divine.

So far we have a lot of potential answers but none that stands out
heads and shoulders above the rest. But this is not new. For as long
as humanity has read and debated the Emerald Tables, these kinds of
guesses have been around. Will we fare any better if we look for the
strongest fortitude or strength? No, not much, for we shall guess the
same things and perhaps even add to our list.

So what is this great power?

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

Ministers enjoy certain rights in order to better serve the people
who place their trust in them. These rights include administering
the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, confession, communion,
marriage, unction and supreme unction. Some governments require
baptisms to be registered. Most jurisdictions require a marriage
license and most bar same sex marriages.

In the USA, and many parts of the free world, confession is strictly
confidential and ministers may not divulge any portion of any
confession to any person or governmental agency. The parishioner
may, but the minister, priest, priestess or bishop may not.

Unction is healing through prayer, meditation, contemplation, laying
on of hands or anointing the afflicted. Recently some licensing
boards in the USA and Canada have sanctioned ministers for doing
things other than these five healing modalities. For example, some
massage therapy licensing boards define moving the hands as massage
therapy rather than anointing or laying on of hands. Some also claim
that laying on of hands done anyplace other than on the head is also
massage therapy. Others claim that reflexology is massage by law.

Some medical licensing boards now consider energy medicine such as
Reiki to be illegal for anybody who is not a licenced doctor unless
it is done under the supervision of a medical doctor. Recently, a
few aromatherapists have been cited for practicing medicine without
a license because they "prescribed" or "recommended" essential oils
be used to help some medical condition.

In many parts of the USA and the rest of the world, astrologers,
psychics and tarot readers are coming under attack by the religious
right. The process is to: 1)promote a "Fortune Telling" Law citing
the "well-known fact" that fortune telling is a scam, 2)these laws
pass easily where brought to a vote, 3)classify astrology, psychics
and tarot readers as fortune tellers, and 4)file charges against
these professionals for practicing fortune telling.

The problem with all of these claims is that the person charged is
guilty until proven innocent by the preponderance of evidence. This
is very difficult -- almost impossible -- to prove. Thankfully,
there are ways to avoid this difficulty:

1. All of the above can become licensed as a spiritual healer or
spiritual health coach.  See http://HealerCoach.com or
http://SpiritualHealthCoach.com or http://ACHLB.com for details.

2. Aromatherapsists and reflexologists can become certified as an
Aromatherapy Coach or Reflexology Coach by the Natural Therapies
Certification Board. (http://NTCB.org)

3. Level 2 Reiki Healers and Reiki Masters can become licensed as a
Reiki practitioner by the International Board of Reiki Licensing.
(http://ReikiLicense.com)

Separation of Church and State in America and Canada give spiritual
people the opportunity to become licensed as spiritual healers and
legally practice aromatherapy, astrology, divination, energy
healing, psychic readings, reflexology, Reiki, tarot reading and
similar techniques as part of their spiritual healing practice.
While ministers may not be able to legally practice these things
under their ministerial license, they can do so by becoming licensed
as a spiritual healer.

We'll resume our discussion of the Emerald Tablet next week.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

The Universal Gnostic Fellowship started a new discussion group for
the Alchemical Dragon website:
http://Yahoogroups.com/grou/EsotericAlchemy and you're invited to
join. You can study the Path of the Healing Black Dragon and enjoy
discussions with others at the same time.

Drs. Starrus and Reeves translate this stanza as "So the world was
created." Dr. Juliet Ashley reads it as: "Thus was the world created."
The ancient Latin text agrees: "Thus was the world created." Georgio
Beato reports it as: "By this means the world was founded. Sie Isaac
Newton says: "So was ye world created."

The Arabaic version by the anonymous German of Ruska says:"The
structure of the microcosm is in accordance with the structure of the
macrocosm." Kriegsmann gives it as: "And so everything whatsoever that
the world contains was created." Madame Blavatsky simple states: "By
it the world was formed." Fulcanelli translates it as: "By it the
world was created."

All of these translators have already defined "it" as the Mind of the
Divine. They would all agree that nothing exists except the Mind of
the Divine and everything in the creation is contained within the Mind
of the Divine. This is how we turn Fire into Earth. This is how we are
created and how we create everything in our own little world. This is
how everything is created.

The World and all of creation was created within the Mind of the
Divine by an act of will. Thus the world was created. Thus we were
created. Thus everything was created.

Thus we create everything in our world. We create everything in our
world with our own mind. As above, so below. All we have to do to
understand how we create our own life is to understand our own mind.

Our mind is the sum total of everything we have ever been, are now and
always will be. That's because the Divine Mind is the sum total of
everything the Divine Mind has been, is now and forever will be. As
above, so below.

Our mind is the sum total of all our real and imagined memories, all
of our awareness about everything, all of our thoughts, ideas and
attitudes, all of our dreams, wants, needs, passions and desires, all
of our emotions and feelings of joy - anxiety, peace - rage, bliss -
grief and happiness - depression, and all of the things we create in
our life and in our mind. We created all of this because that's how
everything is created.

Thus says the Emerald Tablet. We are the master of our own destiny. We
can make the Laws of the Universe serve us or punish us. It's our
choice how we use these Universal Laws. We are who and what we are
because that's what we created ourselves to be. If we want to change
our creation of ourselves, we learn and apply the Laws of Spiritual
Alchemy and we change ourselves. We cannot change the unexpected chaos
of the Universe, but we can change ourselves.

Peace,
John



Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

INTENTIONAL PRAYER is the process of simply and powerfully stating
your intention for your life or a part of your life. I personally find
Intentional Prayer to help me change the circumstances of my life in a
beneficial and wonderful way. I recommend it to you. Read about it at
IntentionalPrayer.com and decide if this is a spiritual tool you would
like to use in your life. Groups are forming now.

PRISON SERVICE PROJECT is one way we can help prisoners who want to
help themselves. We can help incarcerated people learn the Gnostic
Lessons, start studying alchemy, magick, esoteric masonry or tarot. We
can teach them intentional prayer, meditation and all of the other
spiritual tools we use to help ourselves.

Joel Vore is the project manager and he's asking for you to help him
identify incarcerated people that want to help themselves become a
better person and develop a closer communion with the Divine. If you
have any questions or ideas, please contact Joel_Vore@... and
tell him Gnostic News sent you.

Starrus and Reeves translate the next stanza as: "So the world was
created."  Ashley and the ancient Latin text both report: "Thus was
the world created." Sir Isaac Newton says: "So was ye world created."
Sigismund Bacstrom translates it as: "In this manner the world was
created." Madam Blavatsky says: "By it the world was formed." Most
other authors would agree with most of these translations.

The process of creation is this:

1. The Divine becomes aware that something is possible, forms an
intention to make it happen and believes that it can be done.

2.  The Divine reflects on these things and empowers these thoughts
with compassion and all the emotions that arise from this action.

3. The Divine develops a passion for this creation and wants it to
happen according to the Divine Will.

4. The Divine manifests the something that was conceived to be possible.

The is the process of 1. Air = creating it in the mind, 2. Water =
empowering it in the heart, 3. Fire = lighting the fire in the belly,
and 4. converting it to Earth. This is exactly the same process we
create things in our own lives.

First, we (Air) conceive of an idea, believe it can be done and form
an intention to do it. Secondly  (Water), we reflect on our own ideas
and add our emotions of love, peace, joy, happiness, anger, sorrow,
unhappiness and hatred to it. Thirdly (Fire), we put our energy,
passion and desire into our emotionalized mental creation and we are
driven, or want, to make it happen. So, we make it happen (Earth) by
creating the reality of our mental-emotional-passionate creation in
this physical universe.

Thus are all things in the world created. Thus are all things created.
This is the message of the Emerald Tablet.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

The Path of the Healing Dragon is an alchemical
path of personal work designed to help you get
rid of your emotional baggage and garbage. The
path is not really fun, but you'll have more fun
when you finish it. The people I talk to that are
traveling this path praise it for the changes
they already see in their own lives.  I encourage
you to visit (http://PathoftheHealingDragon.com).

STANZA 14 of the EMERALD TABLET

Starrus and Reeves translate this stanza as:
"Hence were all wonderful adaptations, of which
this is the manner." Ashley translates it as
"Hence shall wonderful adaptations be achieved,
of which the means is here." The German of Ruska
says: "The structure of the microcosm is in
accordance with the structure of the macrocosm."
The Latin text from the 1100s says: "From this
comes marvelous adaptations of which this is the
procedure."

Kriegsmann writes: "Hence admirable works are
accomplished which are instituted according to
the same mode." Fulcanelli sees it as: "From it
are born manifold wonders, the means to achieving
which are here given."  Indres Shaw puts it as:
"And in the future wonderful developments will be
made, and this is the way." Sir Isaac Newton
wrote: "From this are & do come admirable
adaptations whereof ye process is here in this."

Though there are many differences in language,
the consensus appears to be that the creation
continues in the same manner in which the Earth
was created. That process appears to be something
is created first in the mind, second in the
emotions, thirdly in the passion and desire to
make this something become manifest, and finally
the thing is manifested by converting the Fire
(passion and desire) into Earth (the physical
reality) as we know it.

Most mystics, actually all that I know through
their writings, say all of creation is an act of
Divine Will and that we create our own lives
according to our own will. This does not mean
chaos happens. It does. We are spiritual travels
trying to find our way even though the unexpected
happens. The fact the unexpected happens is
immaterial. The most important thing is not the
chaos in our life but the way we deal with
unexpected events.

If we can continue to accept, forgive and love
more and more in spite of all the chaos in the
world, we advance on our own unique spiritual
path. If we don't, we don't. Our spiritual growth
depends not upon the unexpected events in our
life, but our reactions or non-reactions to these
unexpected events.

But we stray from the point that we create our
own lives in the same way the Divine created us:
1) we form a thought, 2) we become emotionally
invested in that thought, 3) we become passionate
about that emotionalized idea, and 4) we manifest
it in our lives.

Thus teaches the Emerald Tablet. Next week we'll
wrap up the fourteenth and final stanza of this
important alchemical document. But I would be
remiss if I did not mention the Tarot keys I
through XIV can be mapped 1-1 with the fourteen
stanzas of the Emerald Tablet. You just don't use
the Golden Dawn interpretations of the cards.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

We come now to the final stanza of the Emerald
Tablet. I say final stanza because, from my
reading on the subject, it appears the original
tablet contained fourteen stanzas. Various
translators use more or less depending upon their
understanding of this great teaching.

What all authors I read do agree upon is theG
final stanza says something about the original
author being Hermes Trismegistus or Hermes who is
"honored" three times. Hermes also knows and
understands the three parts of the philosophy of
the whole world. That may be the way in which
Hermes was "honored." The final stanza also says
something about "the end" of this discussion
about the operation of the Sun.

Some people believe Hermes was the God Thoth in
Egypt. Others think of Hermes as the Roman God
Mercury. Some think of Hermes as an honorary
title earned in one or another mystery school. We
may never know the true author of the Emerald
Tablet. Great teachings are like that. We
remember the teaching but sometimes forget the
teacher.

Most scholars explain the "three parts of the
philosophy of the whole world" sums up the
teaching of the Emerald Tablet. Alchemists
believe these three parts are the three
Alchemical Marriages. Others feel they are the
accomplishment of the three "Great Tasks of Life"
- to become completely accepting, absolutely
forgiving and unconditionally loving.

In my opinion, it matters not who the original
author may have been. The important thing is the
teaching itself. While I believe the Emerald
Tablet does speak to the three Alchemical
Marriages and the three Great Tasks of Life, I
also believe it speaks to each of us in a
language that we understand deep in our souls.
Thus we learn to become a more spiritual person
because the Emerald Tablet speaks to us both as a
group and individually.

We can debate the "operation of the Sun" and
never agree on anything except that Hermes was
through describing it for us. Evidently we have
to accomplish our own "work" to become
three-times honored. Whatever that work is, I
believe each of us has all of the tools and
knowledge to accomplish that work. Maybe that's
why, it's called the Great Work.

Each time I read the Emerald Tablet, I learn more
about myself and my own unique spiritual path. It
doesn't matter what translation I read, I still
learn something more about myself and my
spiritual path. I love the Emerald Tablet and
recommend it to you as a tool for spiritual
growth no matter what spiritual path you choose
to follow.

Peace,
John
PS: The End

Gentlepeople,

The language the Master Jesus used in his
teaching and everyday is is a dialect of the
Syriac language called Aramaic. Though I studied
Aramaic for a year in seminary, I am not an
Aramaic scholar by any stretch of the
imagination. All I really know is how to use a
good Aramaic-to-English dictionary and read what
others have to say. The beauty of this is that
most Aramaic scholars agree on the Aramaic
version of the Lord's Prayer. So, here we go...

Aramaic Lords Prayer - Part One

The first Aramaic word of this prayer is Abwoon
which is translated in most Christian bibles as
"Our Father." To be sure, one of the possible
translations of Abwoon is indeed "Our Father."
But there are several other translations with
exactly the same validity. Abwoon  is also both
genders, so it is both mother and father. But,
Abwoon is also not gender specific so it is also
either father or mother. Abwoon is singular or
plural so it is also both father and mother.
Abwoon is your Abwoon, my Abwoon, and our Abwoon.
Abwoon is all of these things:

1. Our Father
2. Our Mother
3. Our Mother and Father
4. Your Father
5. Your Mother
6. Your Father and Mother
7. My Mother
8. My Father
9. My Father and Mother

But that's only the beginning. Not only is Abwoon
all of these things, it is also gender-less.
Therefore, other translations of the word Abwoon
could also include:

10. My Creator
11. Your Creator
12. Our Creator
13. Their Creator
14. My Creator, Father and Mother
15. Your Creator, Mother and Father
16. Our Creator, Father and Mother
17. Their Creator, Mother and Father
18. The Creator
19. The Creator and Mother
20. The Creator and Father
21. The Creator, Father and Mother
22. The Source of Everything
23. The Source
24. The One Being
25. The One Thing

But we've only begun. "Our Father" was not merely
one possible translation out of twenty-five, it
was one translation out of hundreds of
possibilities. See for yourself. Think of every
word that could possible mean father, mother,
creator, source, one, one thing, only thing, one
being... etc. etc. Then look these words up in a
Thesaurus and add all of the other possible words
that could be used to describe the Divine. Abwoon
means all of these and more.

We are all a part of Abwoon. Everything is a part
of Abwoon and Abwoon is a part of everything. We
cannot conceive of anything that is not Abwoon.
It is impossible because we are a part of Abwoon
- all of us and everything else that is.

So, with all of these possible translations, why
did the male-dominated church of the first four
hundred years of the New Era choose to use the
singular masculine form of the creative aspect of
Abwoon? Why? Indeed!

Oh, did I forget to mention that Abwoon is not
only the creative principle but the sustaining,
nurturing and destroying principle as well?
Abwoon is memory and everything that ever was.
Abwoon is imagination and everything that ever
will be. Abwoon is mind and every thought and
everything that is now.

Pick a word that means any of these things and
that's Abwoon. Those who pray: "Our Mother, who
are in Heaven," are every bit as correct as those
who use any other word that can be assigned to
Abwoon.

I suspect the world would be a different place if
the church had used a different word to describe
Abwoon. Next week we'll consider the second word
of the Aramaic version of this prayer. (If you
think this is good, it only gets better. If you
think this is bad, it only gets worse. Abwoon is
like that.)

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

Thank you for all your kind words and
encouragement. I do appreciate it.

Aramaic Lord's Prayer - Part Two

The second word of the Aramaic version of the
Lord's Prayer is "d'bashmaya," which is usually
translated as "who art in heaven." Never mind
that 2000 years ago "heaven" was the "ethers" or
simply the "air." There was no concept of
"Heaven" as we know it today. There was no
concept of "Hell" either, but that's another
story.

D'bashmaya literally means "fills the Universe."
Thus the first phrase of the Lord's Prayer that
goes: "Our Father who art in heaven" really means
something like this:

1. Oh, Source of Life that fills the Universe,

2. Oh, Breathing Life who is everywhere,

3. Oh, Great Mother who is everything,

4. Oh, Wondrous Creator who is immanent,

5. Ah, Father whose name shines everywhere

6. Gods unbounded, there is no place where You
are not,

7. Ah, Wonderful Being, who contains all that is,

To understand the world of the Master Jesus, one
needs to understand the basic understanding of
the public concerning religion and spirituality.
The Jews looked at the Divine as being in
everything. They believed the Divine was in the
Earth and all of the minerals, plants, animals
and humans on the Earth. They also believed that
all of these things lived within the Divine.

Most of the non-Jews believed there were many
Gods and Goddesses who were responsible for the
several parts and kingdoms of the Earth. They
named the "head" God by many names like Ptah,
Zeus, Chronos, Jupiter, Hera and Juno. But all of
the Gods and Goddesses were to be worshiped and
honored. They saw humanity as subject to the will
of the Gods and Goddesses but separate from them.


The Master Jesus spoke to both Jews and non-Jews
by addressing the Creator in terms they both
could grasp by saying: "Abwoon d'bashmaya." Each
person could hear the words that spoke to his or
her heart and understand what the Master said in
the way that made sense to her or him.

Thus Abwoon was understood as the One God or the
Gods according to the listener. And, d'bashmaya
was understood according to the knowledge of the
listener. What strikes me more than anything is
the pure genius behind choosing exactly these two
words to introduce what might be called the
greatest spiritual teaching of all time.

However you understand the Creator of all that
is, Abwoon is exactly that. However you define
the powers of the Divine, d'bashmaya is exactly
that. If you see the Divine as all-knowing,
all-powerful and present everywhere, then
d'bashmaya translates into exactly these words.

Heaven, on the other hand, is an adaptation of
the word Ether to explain the Christian concept
of heaven and hell. In reality, Jesus spoke of
these places as a state of mental happiness and a
state of sorrow and gnashing of teeth. The words
heaven and hell never crossed his lips and the
thoughts of these places, as we have been taught
to understand them, probably never crossed his
mind. His concept of the Divine, as we will come
to understand, was the Divine was Everything and
Everywhere. Everything is a part of the Divine
and the Divine is a part of Everything.

How very different Abwoon d'bashmaya is from the
masculine dictator we call God.

Peace,
John


.

Gentlepeople,

Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving this
Thursday November 22, 2007. Theoretically this is
a day of gratitude though I believe many
Americans think of it more as a four-day weekend
vacation. Too bad for them. We have many things
to be thankful for and it wouldn't hurt us a bit
to show a little gratitude now and again.

I am thankful for my wife, family and pets. I am
thankful for gainful employment and all the
benefits we derive from a modest income. I am
thankful for my health and the health of my
family. I am grateful for your support, and I am
thankful for the happiness I enjoy.

Thanks!

The next two words of the Aramaic Lords Prayer
are Nethqadash (neth - ka - dosh), which is
usually translated as "hallowed be thy name."
In my opinion this is a stretch, for the words
literally mean: "make a space for your
presence here." Even Aramaic scholars argue
over the meaning of this stanza.

The phrase "make a space" also means to make,
create, realize or be a blessing. To this phrase
we need to add a personal pronoun. Since we're
speaking about the Divine, that pronoun would be
you or your,both singular or plural. The result
can be any of the following: You make, create,
realize or are a space or a blessing. You bless.
You are blessed. Based on the context it could
also mean I ask you for a blessing or to bless.

The phrase "for your presence here" also
indicates an appreciation for what is being or
will be received. It can mean gratitude or being
thankful. The combined meaning of these two
phrases is a request and a thanksgiving. The
request is to be blessed. This is followed by
gratitude for this blessing.

The form of prayer from the beginnings of
Christianity followed this format of asking for
something and thanking the Divine for the
requested gift at the same time. To us it may
sound presumptive to do this. On the other hand
the whole concept of abundance is based on the
same format. We ask the Universe for the things
we need knowing that we can have anything.
And we are thankful for what we receive.

I like to read the first two stanzas of the
Lord's Prayer not as "Our Father who are in
Heaven, hallowed be thy name;" but as:

Oh Source of Life residing everywhere,
Bless us and receive our gratitude.

During this Thanksgiving week, I ask for Divine
blessing and I am thankful.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

{I'm resending this post because many people
have reported a strange code in the text. It
turns out Microsoft doesn't like by new
FireFox browser. I do. <g>)

Last week I said the next two words of the
Aramaic Lord's Prayer are Nethqadash. Actually
hose two words are Neshqadash Schmakh. The rest
of the explanation refers to these two words, and
not just the first word. Mea Culpa! (My fault!)

Several people asked me how to pronounce the
Lord's Prayer in Aramaic. The truth is we really
don't know the correct pronunciation of the words
reportedly spoken by the Master Yeshua (Jesus)
2000 years ago. But here's one modern version:

Abwoon d'bashmaya
Abwoon (Ab' as in stab, woon rhymes with moon)
D'bashmaya (Duh, bahsh' rhymes with squash, May-
uh)

Nethqadash schmakh
Nethqadash (Neth' rhymes with Beth, caw like a
crow, dahsh rhymes with bahsh)
Shmakh ( Sh like shush, muck' with a very hard
"k" - almost sounds like muck-a)

After deep meditation, my translation of the
first two stanzas of the Aramaic Lord's Prayer
is:

Oh Source of All Life that fills the Universe,
May we experience your blessings with gratitude.

How much different that sounds and feels to me
than the usual translation:

Our Father, who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.

THE POWER OF PRAYER

If you want somebody to pray for you, join the
Intentional Prayer Network at
http://IntentionalPrayer.com

THE LORD'S PRAYER - PART FOUR

The third stanza of the ancient Aramaic Lord's
Prayer is TeyTey malkuthakh. Tey' tey rhymes with
day, and malkuthakh is mal (rhymes with pal) coo'
(rhymes with moo) tuh (rhymes with duh!). Tey tey
is most often translated as come and malkuthakh
as kingdom. So this stanza has come to be known
as "Thy Kingdom come."

Malkuth is the Hebrew word for Kingdom and the
Aramaic word for a place ruled by a genderless
ruler or a ruler of either gender. It can also
be a place in the process of being created or a
place created. Malkuth can therefore be rendered
as a "place being ruled by someone or something,"
or as a "place being created or already created"
by someone or something. Abwoon is the King,
Queen, Ruler or Creator and Malkuth is the place
that is created or in the process of being
created. It's very likely that Malkuth is in the
process of being created under the supervision of
the Divine Source of Everything.


Malkuthakh is the Aramaic word for the
qualities of the place we call the "Kingdom."� To
understand this we need to understand two basic
concepts. The first is the Source of all things
is the only source of light (Air), love (Water)
and passion (Fire). Light is knowledge. Love
includes all emotions of every kind. Passion is
our intentions, goals, ambitions, wants, needs,
cravings and addictions. Malkuthakh is the place
for all of these things, but in ancient times it
was called the Place of Light and Love.

Yes, Malkuth is the place of Air, Water and Fire.
In Malkuth these three elements are expressed as
Earth. Yes, it is the Kingdom. But more than
this, Malkuth is the place of creation, the place
of light and love. This prayer refers to this
place of light and love where you and I create
our own lives.

The second concept is that while it is true the
Divine, the Source, created everything, you and I
create our own lives within the confines of the
Divine Will. We are magicians and we create the
magic in our own lives according to Universal
Laws. We "create" the "stuff" that complicates
our lives and challenges us to resolve the ensuing
emotions. We may say: "stuff happens,"� but
because of who we are at the time and the lessons
we came here to learn, we created that "stuff"� in
our lives. You and I create our own lives here in
Malkuth.

Tey tey is a confirmation that the Divine is here
and there and everywhere. It doesn't really mean
"come." It really means being here and there and
everywhere, being immanent. It is also a request
to continue being here, there and everywhere.
Being here, there and everywhere is the same
thing as saying "shine on me."� For, as the Sun
shines on the Earth, so does Awoon shine on
her/his creation.

Combine these ideas and you have a good idea
of what this phrase means. Some of the
translations of the phrase Tay tey malkuthakh
are:

May your light and love be with me.
May your light and love be with us.
May your light and love shine on me.
May your light and love shine on us.
May You continue to be here.
May You continue to be with us.
May You continue to be with me.
May Your Kingdom continue being here.
May Your Kingdom be with me.
May Your Kingdom be with us.

Oh, Source of all things that fills the Universe,
May we experience your blessings with Gratitude;
May your Light and Love continue to shine on us;

We'll continue this prayer and this discussion
sometime after December 4th.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

{This is a repost without the bothersome code.}

Thanks for all the kind words. Subscriptions for
this newsletter are jumping so somebody is
telling nice things to others. I appreciate that
because I have a mission to help people find
their own unique spiritual path. I believe we
each have our own personal agenda in this life
and we have our own personal connection with the
Divine. That personal connection with the Divine
is our spiritual path. As long as we follow that
spiritual path we find happiness in the midst of
sorrow, peace in an angry world and joy amongst
the anxious. So, thank you for telling people
about Gnostic News.

ARAMAIC LORD'S PRAYER - PART FIVE

The fifth stanza of this prayer is rather long.
It reads: "Neywey tzevyanach akanna d'bashmaya
aph b'arha." This is usually translated as "Thy
will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven."� But it
wasn't until four centuries after Jesus lived
that the Christian Church started talking about
Heaven. Until then everything was in the ethers
(aethers), up there in the Air. But that's
another story...

You may have guessed that "d'bashmay" is
translated here as "it is in Heaven."� You would
be right. But, we already know it really means
something like "who fills the Universe." We also
know this "Heaven"is everywhere and anywhere and
there is no-place where this Heaven is not.

That means "aph b'arha"� would be translated as
"on Earth as."� The best translation would
probably be "in every light and form." If Malkuth
is Earth, and we know it is, and Malkuth is the
place of light and love, then Earth is the place
of light and love, the place of knowledge and
emotions. I say that because light is the symbol
for knowledge and love is the master symbol for
emotions. I could have also said Earth is the
place of Fire and Water, the male and female
principle. All of this is true and all of this is
what is meant by aph b'artha (af like in after,
bart - ha).

Thus far we know the ending of this phrase is
"who fills the Universe with every light and
form." At least it's something along these lines.
Work with these ideas until you get an inner
knowing this is what these words mean to you. It
may be different from what I decided, but it
can't be as far away as "on Earth as it is in
Heaven."

Neyway tzevyanach aykanna (Nay - way, tseh- vee-
on - awk, a as in hay-con - nah) is translated as
"Thy will be done." Neyway is all-encompassing.
It refers to One Thing, the Source, which is
everything and knows everything. Those who
translate it as "Thy" probably make the best
single word translation in this whole prayer.
But it means a whole lot more than just that.

Tzevyanach is passion and desire. It is more than
merely "will." It is an emotional passion, a drive,
to do something, a desire to accomplish a purpose.

Aykanna means to embody. It means to bring
something down into the flesh, to create it, to
make it happen. I guess if you had an image of
a revengeful God who wanted everything
done the way the priesthood wanted it done,
you could translate Aykanna as "be done."

To me this passage says a good deal more than
"Thy will be done." My way of looking at is to
say: "Embody our desire into my every thought and
creation." If my creation is a joint venture
between me and the Divine, then what I want to
do is exactly what the Divine wants me to do
and together we want to accomplish this desire.

How beautiful is that? When I'm in tune with the
Divine we create beauty, love, happiness and joy
in all things. When I'm not in tune with the
Divine, we don't. In the first three stanzas I
attune myself to the Divine and then I ask for my
heart's desire. So, I pray:

Oh, Source of all things that fills the Universe,
May I experience your blessings with Gratitude;
May your Light and Love always shine within me;
Embody your desire into everything I think and do;

How the people who heard these words must have
loved this prayer! It touches me every time I
read these words with my heart. It fills me up
every time I read them with my mind. And, when I
read them with my heart (Water) and mind (Air)
together, I am empowered (Fire) to accomplish
whatever goals (Earth) the Divine and I together
decide. This is the way of creation. It is how
we create everything. We work with the Divine to
decide (Air) what we love (Water) to do (Earth)
and we empower (Fire) ourselves through this
Aramaic Lord's Prayer to accomplish just that.

So be it.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

The human condition seems to be we are always
asking the Divine for every and anything we can
imagine. At least that's my experience as a
Westerner living in a Christian society. But when
I meet people from other cultures, they seem to
pray more out of gratitude. And, when they do ask
for something, they ask to be a better person.

What is it about our way that makes us feel we
need to beg for everything? What is it about our
concept of the Divine that makes us feel deprived
in any way? Why do we feel the Divine abuses us
by withholding Divine love when we do bad things?
Why do we feel we might deserve to go the Hell?

These kinds of questions plague me because I
can't find any reason why a Christian world
should feel that way at all. I can't find any
scripture where the Master Jesus told anybody any
of these things -- even when that scripture is
corrupted or mistranslated.

Take the sixth stanza of the Aramaic Lord's
Prayer: "Hawvlan lachma d'sunquanan yaomana."
This is usually translated as "Give us this day
our daily bread" despite the fact the Aramaic
word for "day" is not part of this stanza. While
"mana" could conceivably be translated as
"bread," the word "yaomana" is all about being
with someone. Being with someone isn't bread.

"Hawvlan" is tender. "Lachma" is with your care.
"Hawvlan lachma" could be translated as "With
your tender care" a lot more easily than "give us
this day." The word "d'sunquqnan" is to unite, to
make one. So my translation of this phrase
"Hawvlan lachma d'sunquanan yaomana" is: With
Your tender care, attune us to You. But, it could
just as easily mean: With Your Love, unite us
with You. But I can't imagine it ever meant: Give
us our daily bread today.

Instead of asking for bread to sustain our
physical body, the Master Jesus was teaching us
to ask for spiritual nourishment. He taught us to
ask to be attuned to the Divine, to ask to be
united with the Divine. That seems to me to be
the kind of lesson a spiritual teacher would be
teaching. The wheat farmer would be teaching us
to eat bread.

At least, that's my opinion. But, I'm not an
Aramaic scholar by any stretch of the
imagination. Maybe the Master really was more
concerned about our diet than our spiritual
growth.

But, I really doubt that.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

My numbering of the stanzas is off, so the next
stanza is the one we normally translate as "And
forgive us our (debts, trespasses or sins) as we
forgive (our debtors, those who trespass against
us or sinners)." The original Aramaic words are
given as: "Washboglan khaubayn aykana daph khuan
schwogan l'khayyabayn."

God forgive me, but I can't find any way to
translate either of these sayings into the other.
For one thing, the Aramaic language doesn't have
any words for trespasses or sins. For a second,
the culture didn't have a concept of forgiving
debts. If you had a debt, you paid it. If you
didn't pay it off, you worked it off.  If you
couldn't work it off, your family did. Debts were
debts and forgiving them wasn't a consideration.

That said, this is a difficult passage to
translate. A word for word translation makes no
sense. The problem is the Master Jesus was
teaching his followers that we were our own
problem. Other people don't generally set out to
harm us, we sabotage ourselves. He wasn't saying
"forgive others who harm us," he was saying "help
me release my own thoughts and ideas that limit
and harm me."

Forgiving others who harm us is a necessary step
on any spiritual path, but forgiving ourselves is
just as necessary. However, if we really want to
follow a spiritual path, we need to change our
thinking about who and what we really are. We are
not our family or station in life. We are an
individualized expression of the Divine. We do
not need to seek the Kingdom of Heaven or the
Burning Flames of Hell. They are both here and
now and we get to choose which we embrace.

We do not need to be saved from anything or
anybody except our own limiting thoughts about
ourselves. We do not need to become united with
the Divine. We are and we always have been and we
always will be united with the Divine. We are
that part of the Divine which is our own unique
expression.

Our failure in life is our inability to see
ourselves as a unique expression of the Divine.
This is not a sin, debt, trespass or crime that
needs to be forgiven. It is a misconception that
needs to be changed, a misconception that we need
to change. The Master was teaching us to do just
that and to ask for Divine help to do that.

But there's another part of this message. We are
all in this life together. We are all brothers
and sisters and we're all the same. We're just
uniquely different expressions of the same
Divine. Helping each other is something we feel
the need to do. We want to help each other be the
best person we can can be. Jesus was telling us
in this prayer to help each other see our own
misconception about ourselves and change this
misconception. In this prayer the Master was both
instructing us in how to pray and how to behave
toward each other.

The Master prayed: "Show us how to change our
misconceptions that limit and restrict us, so we
can express our true being." The trap here is to
think of only ourselves. We need to remember we
are all in this life together. We need to change
our family misconceptions about our family, our
community misconceptions about our community, and
our misconceptions about us, our friends, our
neighbors - each other.

This is not about me doing it and you doing it
and others doing it. We are all praying, and
being instructed, to change our misconceptions
together. All of us -- together -- now.

But, there's more...

Another translation that's just as valid is:
"Help us untie the knots of failure that bind us,
and help us do this together." Yet another
translation that touches my heart is: "Remove
everything in our minds that separates us from
You because we are eternally a part of You."

Our misconceptions are what separates us from the
Divine even though we have never been, are not
now and never will be separate from the Divine
because we are an intrinsic and unique part of
the Divine.

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

Welcome back from the Holidays. That's another
way of saying: "Welcome back to reality." As we
enter this new year, I hope your reality is
abundance and health and a realization of your
intentions for 2008. My hopes and prayers go out
to you.

SPIRITUAL HEALING

Please do not underestimate the power of prayer
to heal you on every level of your being. Prayer
has been scientifically proven to help people,
plants and animals heal from physical injury,
emotional garbage, mental anguish, psychological
disorders and spiritual detachment.

The intention of your prayers and your belief in
the power of your own prayers appears to be the
most important part of any prayer. It's not the
words you speak but your intentions that are most
important. But, your intentions are limited by
your belief in them, yourself and the Divine.

If this teaching touches your heart, I invite you
to become a member of the Intentional Prayer
Network (IntentionalPrayer.com) and help yourself
and others attain the intentions each of you has
for your own life.

SPIRITUAL HEALERS

The Federation of Spiritual Healer Licensing
Boards is teaching basic coaching techniques to
help spiritual healers become licensed. If you
want to help others with spiritual healing
through your career or hobbies, please visit
HealerCoach.com and then check out the licensing
boards that currently belong to the Federation.
You'll probably find one that appeals to you.

ARAMAIC LORD'S PRAYER - PART EIGHT

Even as a child I had a hard time understanding
the next stanza of the Roman Catholic and
Protestant versions of the Lord's Prayer: "Lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil."

As a child I wondered why in the world an
all-loving God would ever lead us into evil or
temptation. I still ponder that very question.
Why, indeed?

The Aramaic version of this stanza is Wela
tashlen l'nesyuna, Ela patzan min bisha.

The words translated as "Lead us not" become
something like Free us, Free us from, Untie us,
Untie us from, Unbind us, Unbind us from, Let us
go, Let us go from, Release us and Release us
from. As you read through these, keep in mind the
pronoun is inferred. So, you may substitute the
words me, you, them, him, her or it for the word
"us" in all the above possibilities.

The word translated as "into temptation" becomes
something like "our feelings of guilt." The best
translation is actually "our unripeness."

The concept of unripeness is that we have not
attained our potential for accepting, forgiving
and loving ourselves and each other. Knowing we
have not reached this perfection of spirit in the
flesh causes us pain and suffering. This leads to
guilt. It also leads to judging others and
finding them also guilty. For we find the faults
in others that they find in us.

That's an interesting concept. When we meet a
loving person, it's because we are loving and at
that moment we are expressing our love. When we
meet an angry and disagreeable person, it's
because at that moment we're expressing our own
anger and causing disagreement. The people in our
lives are there to mirror for us what we are
feeling and doing in the flesh.

When street people ignore us, that's because we
ignore them. When they beg from us, that's
because in some facet of our life we're begging.
When they rob us and take what we have, it's
because we're taking from others what they have.
People are the mirrors of what we are in the
flesh. All we need to do is receive the message
and decode it.

People do not mirror our spirit, because in our
spirit we are all perfect in every way. We do not
need to attain spiritual perfection because we
are spiritually perfect now and always will be
and always have been perfect in every way. What
we need to attain is perfection in the flesh.
That's why we're here of our own free choice.

The last part of this stanza was also puzzling to
me as a child and in many ways still is. "But
deliver us from evil" is absolutely the very
least I think the Divine could ever do. I mean,
after all, delivering us to evil would not be a
Divine thing to do. When you read these words in
Aramaic you get a different slant on things.

"But deliver us from evil" is a redundant
restatement. It means exactly the same thing as
"Lead us not into temptation." In the Aramaic
version there is no redundancy. What it says is
simply guilt, feeling inferior, judgments, poor
decisions, errors and mistakes. The words
actually mean "that express our imperfection."

Some translators render this passage as: 1)
Release us from the guilt that binds us, 2) Free
us from making judgments, 3) Untie the knots of
our failure, 4) Help me free myself from my
mistakes, and 5)Unbind me from my bad decisions.
I like all of these. They all speak to my heart.
Any combination of all the words that arise from
the Aramaic version speak to me. But this is my
personal version:

Help the Church avoid any mistakes that harm
anybody.

That's not a very rigorous translation, but it
sure speaks to me a lot more than the current
Catholic and Protestant versions. I don't want to
put them down in any way, I just want to express
concern. I don't want to feel the Church has
betrayed me, I just want to find my own spiritual
path and follow it. I don't want to condemn the
Church, for that's a mirror encouraging the
Church to condemn me.

So I pray: "Help me avoid any mistakes that
harm myself and others."

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

We come now to a very interesting passage in the
Lord's Prayer. For the fist thousand years of
Christianity the prayer ended at this point with
a simple Amen. But during the first century of
the second millennium, the Roman Catholic Church
added the following:

For Thine is
The Kingdom,
The Power, and
The Glory
Forever and ever.  (Some people say Forever.)

This is very curious, because that portion of the
Lord's Prayer disappeared from the Roman Catholic
liturgy and prayer book about twenty-five years
ago. It was not there for a thousand years, then
it was there. It was there for a thousand years
and now it's gone. One can only wonder why...

Some of you may recognize this passage as the
Kabalistic, or Cabalistic, Cross. It's both. The
Kabalistic Cross is a ritual in the Jewish
Kabalah. The Cabalistic Cross is a ritual in the
Christian Cabala. The Roman Catholic Church
embraced the Christian Cabalah for about a
thousand years before declaring it part of the
Gnostic Heresy, which it actually is under their
laws. But then, it always was.

When a person says "For Thine" they touch their
forehead as a symbol of touching the Mind of the
Divine and it refers to the World and Element of
Air and by inference the top sphere (Kether). The
Element of Air is the three spheres (Kether,
Chokmah and Binah) at the top of the Tree and
their inter-connecting paths.

When a Person says "is the Kingdom," they touch
their Solar Plexus as a symbol for touching the
physical manifested world, which resides within
the Mind of the Divine. This refers to the World
and Element of Earth at the bottom of the Tree of
Life, the bottom sphere (Malkuth)of the Tree.

When a person say "the Power," they touch their
right shoulder as a symbol of the Right Arm of
the Divine (Geburah) and the masculine principle.
By inference, this is the World and Element of
Fire (Netzatch, Hod and Yesod) just above the
bottom sphere on the Tree. The World of Fire is
these three spheres and their inter-connecting
paths.

When a person says "and the Glory," they touch
their left shoulder as a symbol of the Left Arm
of the Divine (Chesed) and the feminine
principle. By inference this is the World and
Element of Water, the triangle below the World of
Air (Chesed, Geburah and Tiphereth) and their
inter-connecting paths.

When a person says "Forever and Ever" they hold
their bent arms comfortably in front of them with
palms up as a symbol of supplication to the
Divine. This is the position of receiving Divine
influence. And, when a person says "Amen" they
hold their hands together in the symbol of
thanksgiving.

The Cabalistic Cross, or Kabalistic Cross is a
very powerful ritual by itself, but it is usually
included as part of larger rituals. I don't know
when this was translated into Aramaic, but the
most common form is:

Metol dilanhie (For Thine is)
malkutha (the Kingdom)
wahayla (power)
wateshbukhta (and the glory)
l'ahlam almin (for ever and ever)
Ameyn (Amen)

There are many variations to this Ritual of the
Cross. Instead of the forehead you may touch your
crown or extend your hand above. Instead of the
Solar Plexus, you may touch your belly, Lunar
Plexus, crotch, or point downward toward your
feet or Mother Earth. Instead of the shoulder you
may touch your arm,wrist, hand or point outwards
to the left or right. Instead of placing your
hands in the position of supplication you can
place them in a symbol for prayer or touch your
heart.

You can make the cross in the air in front of
you. You can make it as an Elemental Cross,
Calvary Cross, Celtic Cross or in any form you
desire. You can make it in a circle or several
circles. You can use the symbols for Air above,
Earth below, Fire on your right and Water on your
left, and Spirit within. You can make it on your
altar, on the ground, in the air, on a tree,
anywhere you want.

You have the option to use the ritual presented
here in any way you choose to create your own
personal ritual. Empower your ritual to
accomplish what you wish to accomplish, to become
what you want to become or for the benefit of any
part or the whole of creation.

That's Magic! For more information on this
subject see http://MagicalGoldenDawn.com

Peace,
John

Gentlepeople,

Thank you so much for all your words of love and
encouragement. This was a much harder project for
me than I anticipated. Translating a language you
barely know and understand takes far more time
that I thought it might. <g>

Here are some more translations of the Aramaic
Lord's Prayer for your consideration:

Bishop Jackie Olsen passed this one along:

O Divine Womb,
birthing forth the river of blessing which
runs through all,
Soften the ground of our being,
and hallow in us a space for the planting
of thy presence.
In our depths,
sow thy seed with its greening-power
that we might be midwives to thy Reign.
Then, let each of our actions
bear fruit in accordance with thy desire.
Impart to us the wisdom to bring forth the
gifts of the earth
and share them daily according to the
needs of each being,
And restore that which has been usurped
by injustice to its rightful owners,
as we restore to others that which is not
our own.
Do not let us be seduced
by that which would divert us from our
purpose,but make us sensitive to the moment
at hand.
For from thy fertile soil is born the
creativity, the life-energy, and the
dance, from birthing to birthing. Ameyn.

Cathy Treesong passed along this note:

The translation I have always liked is...
"loosen the cords of mistakes binding us,
as we release the strands we hold of
others guilt".  It is about letting go of
what holds us back. The things we create,
and the things we believe others to create.
Perhaps it's about releasing our
victim-hood! I pray and sing this line(in
Aramaic)a lot.

Cathy also passed along this link to a vocal
rendition of the Aramaic Lord's Prayer. By
following this link you can also find some other
translations:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAEIrp4MFBE

Bishop Tom Cormier passed along this
translation by Douglas-Klotz:

O Birther! Father-Mother of the Cosmos,
Focus Your Light within us, make it useful.
Create Your reign of unity now!
Your one desire then acts with ours,
as in all Light, so in all forms.
Grant what we need each day in bread and insight.
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us, as we
release the strands we hold of others guilt.
Don't let surface things delude us,
but free us from what holds us back.
From You is born all ruling will, the Power and
Life to do,
The Song that beautifies all, from age to age it
renews.
Truly Power to these statements.
May they be the ground from which all my actions
grow.
Amen.

Here's my final version of the "short form"
without the Cabalistic (Kaballistic) Cross:

Oh, Source of all things that fills the Universe,
May we experience your blessings with Gratitude;
May your Light and Love continue to shine on us;
Embody our desire into our every thought and
creation.
With Your tender care, attune us to You;
Help us change our misconceptions that limit and
restrict us, so we can express our true being;
Help us avoid any mistakes that harm us and
others;
So be it!

My version of an Elemental Cross for this prayer
is:

(Touching forehead) Remove all negative
thoughts and attitudes that limit our expression
of You, and fill us with thoughts of loving
kindness.
(Touching belly) Remove all poverty and ill
health that limit our expression of You, and fill
us with abundance and robust health.
(Touching right arm) Remove all ill-conceived
aspirations and desires that limit our expression
of You, and fill us with all we need to serve
others.
(Touching left arm) Remove all emotional
garbage and toxic relationships that limit our
expression of You, and fill us with gratitude
for everyone and everything.
So it is!

This prayer usually brings tears to my eyes and
fills me with gratitude and what I can only call
Divine Love. As I receive these things I pass
them along to you and I am refilled. Perhaps this
was the true message of the Master Jesus:
"Receive all there is to receive from the Divine
and pass it along." When I do these things, my
thoughts and prayers are for others and I am
blessed with good health, happiness, love, joy,
a positive attitude, abundance in all things
and communion with the Divine.

I pray you will create a version that sings
to your heart and soul, a version you can
"sing" daily for the benefit of all.

Peace,
John