What spiritual lessons can we learn from the work of diver, William Walker, who saved Winchester Cathedral by shoring up the foundations with over 25,000 bags of concrete?
Wake up! Rise and Shine!
What’s the difference between a spiritual awakening and being ‘woke’? Either way, it’s your duty in this lifetime not to sleep through all your possibilities!
Watch the video for more thoughts on this.
I recall the phrase Wake up! Rise and shine! from my childhood. My mother frequently called this, encouraging me to get out of bed when I would rather stay under the blankets. No duvets in those bygone days! So now I’m older (just a bit), I’m using Wake Up! Rise and Shine as the title for my new book (look out for an announcement later this Summer, when it will be available for all subscribers as a free ebook). But let me tell you why I think Wake Up! Rise and Shine should be a modern mantra for everyone on a spiritual path.
Are you awake?
Nowadays, we read media articles in which some celebrities are described as ‘woke’. This description means they are well informed and aware of political, cultural and social issues. The history of the phrase is embedded in Afro-American history – the great Hudie Ledbetter (aka Leadbelly) used it in a 1938 song about racial prejudice. In 1940, an official in United Mine Workers said: “Let me tell you, buddy. Waking up is a damn sight harder than going to sleep, but we’ll stay woke up longer.” More recently, the phrase became popular and entered general conversation after soul singer Eryka Badhu used ‘I stayed woke’ as a refrain in her 2008 song, Master Teacher.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary today defines ‘woke’ as ‘questioning the dominant paradigm, striving for something better.’ This is an intellectual and ideological position – we understand and engage with present-day problems surrounding racial prejudice, gender inequality, climate change and other socio-political issues.
I would definitely like more people to wake up in this sense! And, yes, it is harder than going to sleep. We would all like to stay under the blankets of our habitual ways of thinking and perceiving. After all, what can we as individuals do about the overarching (and often negative) issues that seem to have a life of their own? In recent times, many people have conscientiously joined forces, intending to demonstrate that groups of individuals can make a difference.
BUT… I want to draw your attention to another kind of waking up. It is not contrary to the visions of ‘woke’ community organisations. In fact, if you REALLY wake up, then all efforts to realign social and cultural norms towards more beautiful and harmonious human interactions will be empowered. But the power comes not from any ideology, or from ‘political correctness’, but from the Divine Source within Creation, which is within all humanity.
Spiritual slumbers
Another special memory I have from being very small was of my mother singing a lullaby – Golden Slumbers Kiss Your Eyes. The singing of lullabies is an ancient practice and I’m sure mothers in all cultures still practice it, even if they wouldn’t stand up in public to sing.
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato tells a story of the Soul’s journey, in which he describes how our Soul, on its way into a new incarnation, crosses the River Lethe – a river that encourages all who drink from it to forget its previous life. In this process, our Soul may also forget its purpose for this incarnation.
But, when we arrive in our new home, our parents will probably be very keen to encourage us to sleep! After all, they need their own opportunities for shut-eye. They need to maintain energy for dealing with the tiny newcomer who is disrupting their lifestyle.
A regular sleep pattern is necessary for good health. We humans tend to behave like many other Earth-bound mammals: we like to be active during daylight and sleep during the night, but the advent of artificial lighting has allowed us to extend our ‘day time’ well after night has fallen. We must be alert to the very important fact that our physical and mental wellbeing should be an adjunct to, not a replacement for, our spiritual health. We must be careful not to stay spiritually comatose! Meditation and inner exploration will allow our inner guides to offer the wisdom we need to stay on track for our Soul’s purpose in this lifetime. Daily meditation allows us to reconnect with the Divine sunshine we carry within. Sometimes we need to go on a very deep journey to uncover that hidden gold but, as I Ching frequently reminds us: “perseverance furthers”.
Spiritual awakening
The second line in the lullaby my mother sang to me goes: Smiles await you when you rise. When we rise from spiritual slumbers we step into a joyous, smiling, delightful new perception. We understand that all the prejudice, inequality and planetary devastation is down to human disconnection from the Divine. When we re-establish our inner ‘kingdom’, we can rule our personal lives with grace, vitality and strength. Every time one person steps into this awakening, another notch in planetary and social health is registered, we are engaged in what kabbalists call tikkun olam – the healing of the world. We can make use of the alphabetical characters provided in The Shefa Method, in order to participate in this process.
As you can see, this character is shaped like a crucible, a container in which changes can evolve in a protective environment. Think of your meditation sessions as an opportunity to sit in the stillness and silence of the Divine, a golden sunshine that will permeate your mind and body. Every time you dip into this arena you will shed your outer habits of anxiety and fear. You will stop being overwhelmed by the daily news. You will know, directly, that the Divine qualities of Love, Wisdom and Power can be expressed through us – will allow us to solve the most difficult and pressing problems humanity is facing.
This ‘knowledge’, what the ancients called gnosis, is an awakening. When you open your eyes, you can face life with a smile. You will gradually come to understand the real purpose of your present incarnation, the contribution you can make personally to the whole world waking up.
A way back home
The original words of my mother’s lullaby date back several centuries, to a drama by Thomas Dekker, written in 1603. In 1918, Dekker’s poem was set to a melody by British composer, Peter Warlock (according to his Wikipedia entry he took that name because he was interested in ‘occult practices’). Pete Seeger included it on his album, Lullabies from Far and Wide in 1972.
The Beatles sang a version of Golden Slumbers with additional lyrics by Paul McCartney (John Denver and Neil Diamond also covered this version):
Once there was a way
To get back homeward
Once there was a way
To get back home
Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby.
Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles await you when you rise
Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby.
Paul McCartney added a melancholic aura to the song, with his new lines suggesting there is no way home: Once there was a way… But now, he implies, we had best not cry about the loss, we should take time out and go to sleep. We should remember, though, that Paul’s version was written in 1969, the year after the Beatles renounced their association with the Maharishi, who had taught them ‘the way to get back homeward’ – Transcendental Meditation.
Let me assure you, there is a way home. Then you will wake up and you will greet the world with smiles. As the Beatles sang in All You Need Is Love, when they were still meditating: “It’s easy!”
During May 2021, The Shefa Method Self-Study version is completely FREE. The Supervised version is greatly reduced. Click here to apply.
You can learn how to work with the great Archangels of the Tree of Life by enrolling on my new course, Accessing Angelic Realms, either as Self-Study or with personal supervision from me. During May, if you take up the FREE Shefa Method offer, you also receive a 50% Discount Voucher valid against Accessing Angelic Realms if you purchase during May 2021 (you can start the course itself whenever you wish).
If you’re not already on my mailing list, subscribe and I will notify you of my vlogs and blogs, and send you my eight-times-a-year Tree of Life Cycles newsletter.
Bright Shining Angel
In this video I recall the angelic illumination I received almost fifty years ago and what an impact it had on me. Such experiences are open to everybody – you too can meet your bright shining angel…
What is Your Purpose?
In my last Signs & Wonders vlog, I talked about the Moon and what it means in your birth chart. This time, I look at the Sun – the most important light in your personal ‘solar system’, which indicates your purpose in life.
Your Lot in Life
One person may be ‘born with a silver spoon in their mouth’, while another may not have a penny to their name. Is this how it is and always will be? How much control do we really have over our ‘lot in life’?
Watch the video for more thoughts on this.
I was not brought up in a religious household – quite the opposite! Religion, I was told, was the ‘opium of the people’. If people are seduced by the promise of a beautiful afterlife, then they are likely to be more content with their lot. Opium keeps the proletariat half asleep and malleable. A state religion was useful politically, as citizens would learn to accept their status in life. As one of the verses goes in the famous hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful:
The rich man in his castle
The poor man at his gate,
He made them high and lowly
And ordered their estate.
These lines were penned by the Anglo-Irish poet, Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) who was wife to the Bishop of Dublin. They were included in her Hymns for Little Children, published in 1848. (She also wrote the very popular There is a Green Hill Far Away, as well as the Christmas Carol, Once in Royal David’s City). I remember singing all these hymns when I was attending a Church of England primary school in the 1950s – a hundred years after they were written.
Cecil’s lines concerning the ‘estate’ of every individual soul tell us a great deal about the traditional Christian message concerning our ‘agency’. Agency means having the ability to change what you don’t like. The rich man likes what he’s got (we assume), so he doesn’t need change. On the other hand, the poor man has to be persuaded that poverty is his destiny. How useful to brainwash small children into believing this! They’re telling you: Don’t strive to change what has been pre-destined. Accept your ‘lot’ in life willingly.
Although this is a Victorian Christian injunction, the ancient Greek Stoics, who lived at least two thousand years ago, would have agreed. In the Hellenistic period, plenty of intelligent people accepted the idea of ‘lots’ and believed each natal horoscope would show the individual what is ‘written’ as their destiny. Unlike the Christians, the ancient Greeks didn’t think of a single father ‘God’, but they certainly believed in ‘fate’ or ‘fortune’.
The Wheel of Fortune
The tarot image of the Wheel of Fortune is based on the archetypal concept that ‘what goes up must come down’. This is also a crucial theory in astrological lore, which developed because we watch the cycles of time and see constant changes in the natural world. We notice the Sun as it rises, then shines and eventually sets. So human destiny can be experienced as a similar sequence – being born, creating our lives, then dying.
Astrology marks out the potential patterns for your individual destiny based on the time and place you were born. Over many generations, celestial watchers identified these patterns and calculated the activities of the wandering stars – the planets. When we consult a birth chart, or choose a day for a wedding or a book launch, we rely on very ancient observations and considerations. We can consult a treasure trove of wisdom, handed down to us from the early astrologers, who wrote their textbooks in Greek, Latin and Arabic.
The Lot of Fortune
In Hellenistic astrology we find many ‘lots’ – sometimes called ‘Arabic parts’. Calculating these is a complex mathematical process, although nowadays the maths can be easily done for you, if you consult online astrology sites (astro-seek.com is a good one, if you would like to try this for yourself).
Of special concern right now, particularly for those who want to make changes in their lives, will be to investigate the so-called ‘Lot of Fortune’, for which the Moon is the primary luminary. Ancient philosophers understood that we earthlings live in a ‘sub-lunar’ arena, and the rapidly changing phases of the Moon will be highly influential in our path of fortune, or destiny. In a natural birth, the moment the baby emerges to take its first breath is down to the lunar rhythms at work within the mother’s body. Mother provides nurturing as food and love. Any modern psychologist will tell you that the extent to which we get what we need or desire from our nurturing parents will colour our sense of being at ease in the world. Our m other also donates packages of inheritance, which is why, in evolutionary astrology, the Moon is sometimes associated with family karma. An astrologer will look at your natal chart and identify aspects to the Moon from ‘benefics’ or ‘malefics’. The horoscope can also reveal the ‘Lot of Fortune’, said to describe how your personal fortunes may shape up.
Pre-destined to be rich or poor?
Whether we take on board the notion that ‘God’ has already decided our ‘estate’ in life, or that the changing motion of the Moon can describe our destiny, we are faced with the very same, very big philosophical question: Do we have any free will? Do we have ‘agency’?
In recent decades, the ideas of New Thought have become popular. Here are some famous, and some not so well known, statements, concerning our individual ability to make our own fortune:
It is no stigma to wear rags; the disgrace is in continuing to wear them. – Muriel Strode (1903).
It depends upon yourself entirely whether you remain all your life in poverty, and it depends upon the prince entirely whether he becomes a man or merely remains a prince in name. – Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1909).
All men are created equal; but it is your own fault if you stay that way. – Dr. Long (1953).
It doesn’t matter if you’re born poor and you die poor, as long as you’re rich in between. – Joey Adams (1972).
If you born poor, it’s not your mistake, but if you die poor it’s your mistake. – usually attributed to Bill Gates.
My favourite quotes date back earlier than these. One of my all time favourite writers is George Bernard Shaw (1856 -1950). He once wrote:
People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.
and…
Life isn’t about finding yourself, it’s about creating yourself.
Earlier still, Shakespeare wrote:
the fault…. is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings…
I suggest the Bard used the word ‘underlings’ because, for him, we are ‘sub-lunar’, in other words ‘under’ the influence of the Moon.
Sunshine
The Egyptian pyramid texts also speak of a person ‘drawing himself out of himself’. So how do we create ourselves? It’s clear we arrive in the world under certain circumstances, with a particular DNA inheritance, with specific family histories. But do these dictate how things will unfold in our lives?
In astrology, another ‘lot’ is the ‘Lot of Spirit’, for which the Sun takes the lead. The Sun represents our creative vitality and spiritual passion. If we take the relationship between the Sun and the Moon as a description of our potential, perhaps we can remove ourselves from the idea that we are, somehow, fated. When we meditate regularly, we discover the sunshine in our own Soul and we can begin to create a life we choose, rather than being ‘under the influence’, of inherited lunar tendencies, and therefore ‘fated’. The creative intelligence that sustains the cosmos is available to each and every one of us. The Shefa Method not only takes you on a journey to experience your inner Divine sunshine, it gives you the tools to create your best possible life.
During May 2021, The Shefa Method Self-Study version is complete FREE. The Supervised version is greatly reduced. Click here to apply.
You can learn how to work with the great Archangels of the Tree of Life by enrolling on my new course, Accessing Angelic Realms, either as Self-Study or with personal supervision from me. During May, if you take up the FREE Shefa Method offer, you also receive a 50% Discount Voucher valid against Accessing Angelic Realms if you purchase during May 2021 (you can start the course itself whenever you wish).
If you’re not already on my mailing list, subscribe and I will notify you of my vlogs and blogs, and send you my eight-times-a-year Tree of Life Cycles newsletter.
The Moon and You
Where the Moon was at the time of your birth, and the relationship she has with the Sun in your birth chart, will tell you a lot about how you bring your passion out into the world – or not!
