Archives for June 2021

The great Sufi mystic, Ibn ‘Arabi, is a helpful friend when we are on our path to find spiritual wisdom.

It is He who is revealed in every face, sought in every sign, gazed upon by every eye, worshipped in every object of worship, and pursued in the unseen and the invisible. Not a single one of His creatures can fail to find Him in its primordial and original nature.

— Ibn’Arabi, al-Fuduhat al-Makkiyyah, chapter 372

The title for my blog this week is taken from an ancient Sufi manual on spiritual retreat by Ibn’Arabi, an Andulusian mystic scholar, poet and philosopher (1165-1240). His cosmological teachings were very influential in the Islamic world during the late Middle Ages and he is renowned among Sufis as a saint – given the title ‘The Greatest Shaykh’. (You will have to excuse the shaykh’s use of the masculine gender for the Divine – he was a mediaeval writer, after all!)

Sufism is the esoteric or mystical branch of Islam, and Sufis, like the Jewish mystics known as Kabbalists, developed practices and experimented with inner journeys, seeking the Divine within. That’s what we modern meditators want to achieve as well. In this treatise, Ibn’Arabi is teaching seekers how to explore their own ‘primordial and original nature’, in order to find the Divine within. If this exploration is diligently pursued, he promises we cannot fail to find Divinity. Then we will experience the delight of knowing we are at one with It, not separated and alone within our individual selfhood.

Surrendering is a challenge

The original title for Ibn ’Arabi’s manual was: A Treatise on the Lights in the Secrets Granted One Who Undertakes Retreat. In his treatise, the shaykh offers guidance for the ultimate inner journey, towards a meeting with the Divine – the ‘Lord of Power’. This requires absolute surrender of the ego (the words Islam and Muslim both derive from an Arabic word meaning ‘surrender’).

In Sufism, the journey is thought of as a ladder, so again we see a similarity to the concept of ascending the branches of a tree in Kabbalah. At each stage of the ascent, we are told, our imagination can deceive us into thinking we have ‘arrived’. There is the possibility of temptation, by which we might come to think we’ve ‘got the truth’. Only someone with an overpowering desire, a heart intention (himma) for the Divine, and no care for anything else, can look forward to a safe journey.

Remembrance

The instructions for using a dhikr (Arabic for remembrance) as a fundamental technique during the inner retreat are almost identical to those given in the Hindu or Transcendental Meditation teachings, as well as for The Shefa Method. A mantra (Sanskrit) and a zera (Hebrew) will both serve as ‘reminders’ of what you want to achieve.

Ibn ’Arabi advises seekers…

Occupy yourself with dhikr, remembrance of God, with whatever sort of dhikr you choose.

Then, because this teacher is a practising Muslim, he continues…

The highest dhikr is the Greatest Name… saying Allah, Allah, and nothing beyond Allah.

In order to maintain the repetition of the chosen dhikr, the mystic will usually use beads, passing them through their hands as the dhikr is repeated.

Reverence

Ibn’ Arabi advises the seeker to begin their journey with due reverence for the sacred task. This includes being careful of your diet – your food should be nourishing, but should not include animal fat. He recommends we become aware of extremes of satiation or hunger. Keep your constitution in balance – any extremes can lead to “corrupt imaginings’ and excitability. This sounds like a warning, perhaps that psychosis could be a side effect if the seeker does not maintain a healthy lifestyle. I would add a further suggestion – avoid watching extreme action movies, or TV shows that focus on danger, fear, anxiety, murder and so on. When you meditate, your stored memories of such content can filter into your mental arena and present themselves just when your intention is to go beyond these negative possibilities.

Some mystics adopt wearing a shawl and/or a head covering during meditation. That’s part of my practice. Putting on a shawl cues you that you are ‘in retreat’ from everyday concerns. I also light candles and give thanks when I extinguish them before leaving my meditation room. The shawl I wear for special events is embroidered with a Tree of Life, but for everyday meditation I use a plain white pashmina.

So, is the inner journey safe?

The Sufi warnings echo a legend in Jewish aggadah, in which four rabbis attempt the inner journey to Pardes, from which the word ‘Paradise’ is derived and translates as ‘orchard’. Only one rabbi, Akiva, comes back in good order: one actually dies, one of them goes mad, and one becomes a heretic. In the legend, this last character (nicknamed ‘Acher’, meaning ‘backwards’) destroys some of the saplings in the Divine orchard. This suggests to me that Acher, when he gets to Heaven, rather than surrendering to the beauty of the Divine, starts pulling it apart with intellectual argument. Acher gets a glimpse of the Divine but refuses to believe in the validity of his own experience.

In this painting, we see four rabbis arguing about Talmudic texts. It isn’t clear if the four pictured here are meant to be the same group who appear in the legend, but clearly they haven’t got to Heaven as yet, otherwise at least one of them would be blissful!

Acher’s destructive approach reminds me that many people who have powerful spiritual experiences will rush for medical advice, hoping to dismiss the reality of a Divine encounter by applying scientific/materialist concepts. I hold my hand up to this! When I first had a powerful illumination in 1974, my first immediate thought was to consult a doctor. Fortunately, I also knew a Sufi, who gave me an alternative explanation. Even so, it took me many years to accept the Divinity of my experience, and to stop trying to pull it apart with my intellect, assigning it to the file labelled ‘weird’.

How do these warnings apply to modern spiritual seekers? These concerns are to be taken seriously. We need to be well grounded in our material, everyday life before we endeavour to enter a more expanded state of consciousness, otherwise we can be flooded and overwhelmed by our experiences. That is why modern teachers suggest a softly-softly approach for people living what yogis call a ‘householder’ lifestyle – working, bringing up a family and such.

Meditation twice daily for twenty minutes, perhaps with some extra time for using the Shefa characters if you are following the Shefa Method; maybe add an hour-long session once a week, if you want to seek guidance from inner guides or angelic supporters. You could make this a regular ‘date’ with your inner ‘Council’. I find guides and angels respond more promptly if you give them a regular slot. Don’t just suddenly think, ‘I need some help right NOW!’ and hope you’ll be able to instantly drop into the right space to meet your guides.

The kind of timetable I suggest above will be safe for most people. If you have a bipolar tendency, or any other mental issues, then take precautions and just use meditation for ten minutes each time. Those tendencies are not contra-indicators; they just signal that you can easily become overwhelmed when opening your psyche to otherworldly dimensions. Another suggestion is to undertake walking meditations, as suggested for children under the age of ten. Time spent walking, with your own bodily rhythm and speed, naturally keeps you grounded. Using a zera while walking will definitely encourage stillness in your mental arena.

The Secrets

The Sufi master’s treatise title seems to promise revelations – the ‘lights in the secrets’. What does that mean? The branches – or paths – on the Kabbalist’s Tree of Life is decorated with sefirot – receptacles of light, each derived from the greater Light of the Divine. Perhaps the ‘secrets’ are close cousins to the sefirot and the ‘lights’ are the Archangelic guardians we learn about in Tree of Life mysticism.

In the Sufi tradition we learn about ‘demons’. These are dynamic energy forms that are associated with disorientation, pain and distress, which can leave you feeling bewildered and confused. Heat and agitation are associated with these feelings. The shaykh recommends you keep maintaining the dhikr, until the difficulties cease, then the Angelic influence will bring a feeling of calm and bliss, often associated with coolness.

Not ‘God’

Ibn’Arabi invites you to enter your retreat with a clearly articulated intention, in which you state that there is ‘nothing other than God’. If anything arrives in your meditation that seems to be Divine, he insists that you assume it must be a lower form… the Divine will always be more than all experiences or forms, however beautiful they are. The mystic must keep repeating ‘this is not God’, because the Divine is the source of manifested realms but, in Itself, has no form. So, even meeting an Archangel, however awesome that might be, we always repeat: this is not the Divine. An Archangel is only an extended attribute of Divinity as It creates multiple realms for Its own delight. In Kabbalah, there have been especial warnings concerning Metatron, whose light is so potent and overwhelming that one could be seduced into thinking this Archangel is actually the Divine. But Metatron is just an aspect of Divinity, just like the other Archangels, including Michael, whose name means ‘like unto God’.

Meeting the Lights

Using the Tree of Life as a map of ascension is a powerful technique for your inner journeys. When you are at the foot of the Tree, you are well grounded before you begin your journey. On my website you will find suggestions for working with the Archangels of the lower part of the Tree – click here to access them. You would find it useful to have a copy of The Angels Script as well, then you can use the Archangels cards from the deck to set out the map as a visual reminder of the journey up the Tree.

The Lord of Power – or Lady, as you prefer – is within you, residing permanently in ‘Paradise’ or the ‘Inner Kingdom’, also known as ‘Heaven’. Experiencing the ‘lights’ within the secret gates standing between your everyday self and Heaven allows you to release limitations and blocks in your psyche. Then you can truly step into your own power and shine your light as a gift to the world.

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Until 18 June 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. If you take up the FREE Shefa Method offer, you also receive a 50% Discount Voucher valid against Accessing Angelic Realms if you purchase before 18 June 2021 (you can start the course itself whenever you wish).

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The Sun is the main driving force in your birth chart. While your Soul is trying to express itself in your current lifetime, the Sun is the instrument it uses to achieve this.

This blog focuses on the importance of getting in touch with the Sun inside your heart. The image above shows someone peeling back a grey overlay to reveal a sunny landscape under the fog. Let’s have a think about how we can all get to work on this spiritual revelation!

As I quote in the video, the 2nd-century astrologer Vettius Valens describes the Sun as the instrument of perception of the Soul . What can that mean for us, on our spiritual journey?

A Soul symphony

Valens is telling us that the Sun’s placement in our natal horoscope describes the main theme that our Soul has chosen for this lifetime. Many ancient philosophers, especially Pythagoras, envisioned the cosmos as a vast musical concert, and we can think of our life as a microcosmic symphony in which many instruments will play their particular parts. But we would say that the Sun carries the main theme, or melody.

In astrology we identify the Sun as having twelve options – these are the twelve signs of the zodiac. Having chosen its main theme, the Sun can step into the world of time and settle into one of twelve ‘houses’, or ‘places’ – I prefer to call these ‘mansions’. The twelve mansions are topics of human activity where our Soul can act out its chosen story. Another way of thinking about this would be to describe the Sun as taking on a costume, then choosing an arena to perform in, just as an actor puts on a costume and then walks out onto a stage where the scene has been set up.

An example might work like this: a Soul has chosen its Sun to wear the costume of Taurus and has arrived in the fourth mansion of home and family. Now, this Soul can develop all those practical down-to-earth potentials offered by the Taurean theme and act them out in the arena of home and family. That seems to me like a very comfortable mansion for a Taurean Sun to occupy – mostly. Taurean energy is generally stable and predictable – good for family and home matters – although we should be aware of the saying, ‘Like a bull in a china shop’. Think how that might apply if you have a bull in your family!

 A more challenging combination might be the Sun putting on the costume of Aries and stepping into the fourth mansion. The energetic, fiery, extravert quality of Aries the Ram ( the ‘battering-ram’) may find it hard work to be confined in a home and family scenario.

The Sun energy available to us in this present incarnation presents us with creative – we could say magical – potential. We have the creative power of the Universe within our own microcosmic domain. Our Soul has chosen its ‘MO’, its modus operandi, or style of operating (zodiac sign) and its locus operandi ­– place of operation. I’ve given you just two examples from the 144 variations – that is twelve zodiac signs multiplied by twelve houses, places or mansions.

We want to take full advantage of these creative potentials. How we can step into a sense our own agency?

We have chosen a name and a place

An Egyptian creation legend describes how the everlasting God of the Universe, Neb-er-tcher, filled all of space. Because this god desired to create the world, he took the form of creator-god Khepera, who raises himself in Nu – a celestial ocean which is inert and helpless. Heaven and Earth have not been created, but Khepera brings dynamic activity into this ocean. He wants somewhere to stand himself in what is really only empty space. He also has no name.

Khepera is a form of the Sun-god Re, specifically the god of the rising Sun. He was self-produced – his name comes from the Egyptian word, kheprer, meaning ‘to become’. This story describes our creative power , our capacity to become as our Soul chooses. Khepera is often portrayed as a scarab beetle, or with a scarab on his head.

The legend says that Khepera gave being to himself by uttering his own name. Because he was still a portion of the great god Neb-er-tcher, when he spoke the word Khepera, he came into being as Khepera. (Note – here you can see the significance of your own name for this lifetime, so if the name your parents gave you seems unsuitable for your heart’s intention, change it).

When Khepera needed a place in which to stand, he announced the name of the place and it also came into being. This magical spell was addressed to his heart, or his will. Khepera willed this standing-place to appear and it arrived at his command. One version of the legend speaks of a ‘heart-soul’ assisting Khepera in his first creative acts – he thought from his heart what he wished to create and then, simply by uttering its name, caused his thought to take concrete form. This process of thinking out the existence of things is expressed in Egyptian by words that mean laying the foundation in the heart.

We can gain creative insights about our Sun potential from this legend. Just as Khepara derives his creative potential from Neb-er-tcher, our Soul is able to make full use of the divine energy of the Sun – which, as the meaning of Archangel Michael’s name reminds us, is ‘like unto God’ – but only according to what has already been chosen. Don’t forget, however, that our Soul had the agency in the first place, to choose the place and time of incarnation. Like Khepera, we have created a heart-soul spell. We have already laid the foundation of this lifetime in our heart. Our Soul’s desire will be to shine according to this primordial – original – intention. If other inclinations tempt us away from our Sun potential, then events will conspire to nudge us back towards the light. Some of these events may prove to be seriously uncomfortable. You have been warned!

Creating your great artwork

The Renaissance artist Michelangelo is reputed to have said that he only released his sculptures from the stone – his great statue of David was already waiting within the huge piece of marble. Michelangelo’s task was to reveal the latent beauty for all to see. We can see how Michelangelo was a creator-god – the marble was unformed, waiting for the artist to summon its potential. We might also consider that Michelangelo had a hidden heart desire to create David, then the best piece of marble arrived as required for the task. There is a symbiotic relationship between the artist and the materials at hand. When we look at his majestic artwork, somehow we know that it always existed as a unique, original form, just waiting for someone to give it shape.

In the same way, your Soul has a primordial desire to express itself and your natal chart Sun, by sign and mansion, describes the potential in your piece of marble – your essential, creative desire to shine in the world of time and space.

The lessons:

• Your Soul has chosen this life possibility, even if you don’t recall the inter-life moment when that choice was made. If there is predestination, then you have played a key role in mapping out your future. You have chosen your name, your place, and your time.
• In order to identify your already chosen options, check out your natal horoscope – especially look for the sign of the zodiac where the Sun was placed when you were born. If you have the time and place of your birth, look for the rising sign and identify which ‘house’ or ‘mansion’ the Sun has chosen. Please note: there are different options for dividing the circle of the chart into twelve mansions. That’s a complicated topic, but if you ask an internet site to give you a chart (such as astrodienst.com) it will usually offer different options for the house divisions. I recommend you try two different options. The Placidus system has been a favourite with modern astrologers for generations. The Whole House system has recently attracted attention among astrologers who have discovered ancient texts. Look for the placement of the Sun in both variations. This placement might turn out to be the same, but quite likely will be different. For example, using Placidus, the Sun in my chart is placed in the fourth; using Whole House, in the fifth. What you can do for yourself, even with only a little astrological knowledge, is to consider which mansion seems to most accurately describe how you imagine yourself functioning best.

• Now you have arrived, you can take up the potentials you chose and make full use of them. Your sense of confidence and authority will grow, just as the Sun rises each morning. When you wake up each day you can say:

This is who I am, this what I do in the world. I am here to shine.

• Your Soul will use the fiery and intelligent light of your Sun sign as an instrument of perception. Like Khepera, you will rise and be able to use human senses and intelligence to establish your shining presence in this world.
• A regular meditation practice provides an open opportunity for your inner sunshine to express itself easily. The Shefa Method (FREE until 18 June 2021) gives you tools to use as remedies to heal and release any blocks that might inhibit your Sun radiating to its full capacity. This is how you peel away the fog and see a glorious landscape opening up before you. Your inner ‘bright angel’ is ‘like unto god’ ­and revealing this Sun to the world will transform your life.

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Until 18 June 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. If you take up the FREE Shefa Method offer, you also receive a 50% Discount Voucher valid against Accessing Angelic Realms if you purchase before 18 June 2021 (you can start the course itself whenever you wish).

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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.