blog

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’?

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.

These days, it seems everyone has a hotline to ‘the truth’, while at the same time it seems to be ever more difficult to determine which truth we should believe. But is truth something we should have to believe in anyway? Shouldn’t truth be so clear as to be undeniable and not a matter of belief at all?

What is truth?

All the religions and spiritual traditions around the world claim to have insights concerning the truth. In some cases, a charismatic teacher has come into the community and turned old ideas upside down: it is the firm conviction in the righteousness of this new truth that fuels the charisma. This kind of person is a prophetic personality. He – and it usually a male figure – becomes a magnet for followers and a so-called ‘cult’ develops. After a few years of persecution, the cult may gain traction, be accepted by the state that happens to be in charge at the time and becomes an official religion. The original teacher’s inspiration is invariably distorted along the route. Many generations later, scholars may reveal the questionable concepts embedded in the religion. For example, cultural developments may mean people no longer accept the religion’s attitudes towards women or homosexuals. Or perhaps a lack of financial or sexual integrity of the religion’s leaders may be exposed. Despite this, many of the faithful still continue following, ignoring the flaws in the so-called ‘truths’ they have accepted. But this is not to say that the inspired teacher was not telling ‘the truth’ in the first place.

Finding the truth within

The greatest teachers are those who insist each one of us should search inwardly for truth. They acknowledge that ‘truth’ for one person may involve moral codes and strictures that are not appropriate for others. They would also say that some ‘truths’ become outmoded and need to be reappraised. For the most part, I do believe they would agree we should not expect to find the truth in musty old manuscripts or ancient scriptures.

The founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) was an intensely mystical seeker called George Fox (1624–1691). From a young age he travelled around, asking questions of church ministers, hoping to hear some profound words of wisdom. He was constantly disappointed. Eventually, when sitting quietly one day – ‘contemplating’ is the word he would have used – he heard an inner voice telling him to listen to the wisdom of God within his own heart:

I heard a voice which said, “There is one, even Christ Jesus, that can speak to thy condition.”

While George Fox was certainly charismatic, he had no desire to found a sect. He shared his understanding and proclaimed it outdoors, saying that church buildings and rituals were unnecessary and that both men and women could declare wisdom that arrived for them personally, during what he called ‘silent worship’.

His followers originally described themselves as ‘Children of the Light’, or ‘Friends of the Truth’. Then they became the Society of Friends. Fox’s inspiration was to encourage people to listen to their own heart’s wisdom and share it, but not impose it on others.

This spiritual movement was not named after its founder – an indication of Fox’s integrity – but, by the time of his death, around 60,000 people (over 1%) in England and Wales were practicing Quakers, particularly women. Because they were banned from university, politics and other social organisations – they were even persecuted under law for a period during the 1800s – some became wealthy entrepreneurs. People such as John Cadbury and Joseph Rowntree were philanthropists, and several British banks were also founded by Quaker families. Despite their immense influence in an expanding and prosperous Britain, George Fox’s gravestone is simple and plain, in keeping with Quaker ideals.

Nowadays, the Quaker movement maintains a simple approach to spiritual activities, focussing for the most part on their well-established habit of sitting in silence. Today, we would call this practice meditation! Several important charitable enterprises have been founded after insights gained in a Sunday morning Quaker gathering – Amnesty International and Oxfam are good examples, though there are many others. For myself, I have had some very profound experiences while sitting in silent worship with Quakers.

What do you find when you search within?

Personally, I don’t call myself a ‘Christian’ although I am very happy, given the opportunity, to sit with Quakers, who (for the most part) would use the ‘Christian’ identifier. However, what I recognise in Fox’s experience is a universal spiritual illumination. Because Fox grew up in a Christian society, he could only use a label that he was familiar with to describe his insights. When he heard a guiding voice within, I’m quite certain he would have heard words that fitted his previous understanding. For him, Jesus was the only teacher who was likely to bring wisdom to the listening heart. Had he been from an Indian background, the voice would undoubtedly have presented itself as Lord Krishna.

This was a ‘true’ experience – Fox was meeting the ‘truth’ within him, and it gave itself a name. Some people use the expression ‘Christ consciousness’ to describe a state of being where we feel at one with the simplicity of truth within, although this experience is by no means unique to Christians. This simplicity is often accompanied by an awareness of expanded light throughout the mind and body. You enter an arena in which you feel held and protected, innocent and wise at the same time – you become a ‘child of the light’.

What’s in a name?

When you encounter the light within – the ‘truth’ – then your own history, or the history of your ancestors, will have an influence on the name you might use to describe this experience. A born-again Christian will probably call the light ‘the Holy Spirit’. Anyone brought up in an Abrahamic religion – Jewish, Christian or Muslim ­– might want to describe the light as an ‘angel’. Often, the light will present you with an angelic name. It might even describe itself as ‘God’. Eileen Caddy, one of the founders of the Findhorn Community in Scotland, heard a voice while meditating in Glastonbury in the late 1950s. The voice said, Be still and know that I am God. I’m sure Eileen knew these words are found in the biblical Psalms, (46:10), but this does not mean her experience was not true. She heard the words directly. Her familiarity with the Psalms would have allowed the ‘truth’ to speak to her in this particular way. Eileen would have been comfortable and not at all surprised to receive a spiritual message delivered using biblical words.

Your truth

Of course, we all know that some people hear voices telling them to do bad things, as well good! The hearing of voices can be a sign of a malfunctioning ego, rather than a mystical insight. So what’s the difference? According to many accounts I have read, someone who needs treatment for a mental disorder is usually anxious, hyperactive and extremely agitated. Profound spiritual insights are invariably accompanied by an aura of calm – although someone who has just had a powerful vision will often seem over-enthusiastic and can be somewhat pushy, wanting to share the ‘good news’! After all, the word ‘enthusiasm’ literally means to be filled with God.

When you take up regular meditation, you will gain powerful insights. You won’t necessarily hear voices, but you may very well find ‘ideas’ arising quickly, like messages in your mind, as though coming from ‘somewhere else’. You will see the ‘truth’ concerning your personal life. You may also observe that other people seem to be out of integrity with their own ‘truth’ but, for the most part, it’s not your job to point this out! What you can do, however, is encourage others to meditate and listen to the truth that is waiting inside them to be recognised.

---

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.