Back into my Calling!
Today is a beautiful day. It is mostly sunny, I mean when the sun doesn’t play hide and seek with the clouds, and cool. It feels pleasant, like a breezy summer day.
It is good to be over the b’day hump. Not that it was a special or meaningful milestone—I turned 53—, but two days into this New Year of sorts feels like a new beginning. And it feels good! Over the past few months, since we returned from Asia, I have been experiencing a syndrome that I call the “slowness of life.” It is not that nothing happened but it felt slow and uneventful; on the surface only, of course. I understand these are preparatory—and therefore necessary–travails for what will come next but it is not enjoyable all the time. I also understand we are in the midst of the Lion’s Gate energies; powerful energies which will last till the 25th of August, but still I would have desired a little more ‘spiciness to life’ and certainly a little more clarity about my future steps. I believe I am not at a point—yet—where I can enjoy a full spiritual vista, whatever that vista will be.
An interesting thing occurred on my way back from Columbus, Ohio, on June 3rd. I lost interest in my Cathar calling. Please refer to Spiritual Progress and my Cathar Calling for a bit of history. That day, I was reading a book by Cynthia Bourgeault, an Episcopal priest I enjoyed reading from, about Mary Magdalene, and the first part of the book—the religious one—really killed my interest. I stopped after 30 or so pages. Perhaps it wasn’t the right time to read Cynthia’s book, or it is a message that I must search for a different avenue to get where I am supposed to travel.
And so I was, feeling callingless, for a few weeks till my inner flame got rekindled thanks to a discussion with one of my spiritual guides, Master Djwhal Khul. We had a good chat toward the end of July and I asked him several questions about the person my soul used to inhabit in a Cathar existence, Raymond de Périelle, or possibly Raymond de Pereille. I found out last night that his name is also written Ramon de Perella in Catalan and Raimon de Perelha in Occitan. So many variations for one person who apparently signed his name as Perilla in Latin. To make things even more interesting, the father and the son bore the exact same name. It is however easier to identify the life of the son since his story seems to end with the massacre and burning of 200 some Perfects down the walls of Montségur castle on March 16, 1244. Interestingly, I cannot find any information of Raymond de Perella being burned on the pyre, yet it is apparently common knowledge in the area that his mother in law, his wife Corba and his teenage daughter Esclarmonde perished in the flames set by the Inquisitors.
I have certainly much to discover about this intriguing and powerful man who rebuilt (or fortified) the chateau of Montségur in 1204 and turned it into the domicilium et caput (house and head) of the Cathar Church upon the request of the bishop of the time, Guilhabert de Castres, thus attracting Cathar refugees and faidits (I had to search the meaning of that word!) from all around the region.
There is most definitely a connection between the Cathars and the so-called mystery of the Grail, and this is another avenue I will investigate, when the time is ripe. I got tremendously intrigued by this passage from Sean Martin in The Cathars (pages 164-66):
Perhaps the most enduring myth about the Cathars is that they possessed the Holy Grail. The first published version of the Grail myth—Le Conte du Graal—was written around 1180 by Chrétien de Troyes. It recounts the attempts of King Arthur’s knights to find the Grail. Troyes died before he finished the story, so in this version the Grail is never found. The tale was picked up by Wolfram von Eschenbach, whose name remains closely associated with the Grail story. Von Eschenbach’s greatest work is Parzival, which is often understood to be a complex allegory of the path of spiritual development, and which betrays the influence of Eastern philosophy (von Eschenbach is thought to have traveled to the East on a crusade).
He continued to write about the Grail in Titurel and identified the Grail castle as being in the Pyrenees. Moreover, he described the lord of the Grail castle as being called “Perilla.” The fact that Montségur is in the Pyrenees, and that its lord, Raymond Péreille, often signed his name in Latin, Perilla, has led to much speculation. Von Eschenbach’s account has made it harder for historians to dismiss a connection between the Grail and the Cathars. It at least suggests that the Grail myth has been a part of the Cathars story since the time of the Good Christians, and is not just the invention of later writers.
My discussion with Master Djwhal led me to another place in the Pyrénées, about 280 kilometers (175 miles) west of Montségur, called Sarrance. Master told me about the story of a bull who was seen by a little boy kneeling down in front of a statue of the Virgin Marie. At some point, the Virgin disappeared from the village and then later reappeared in the same area. I haven’t done much research yet but Sarrance is a tiny village in the high Pyrénées on the way to Spain. In fact, it is part of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela; a route which is called the Lana Route, and Sarrance is situated between Lourdes and Jaca, close to the Somport pass. I may have to walk this route one day and spend a few days in the peaceful monastery in Sarrance.
© Photo Martin M. Miles
There is one more thing that I would like to mention about this period of so-called “slowness.” About two months ago, I acquired a mystical tool called Metatron’s Cube. It is a cube that, set on a polycarbonate tube, spins or rotates on a LED base, illumined that it is by small lights of blue, green, orange and red. If you’d like, take a look at a Meditation on the Energy Flows of Metatron’s Cube .
Here is what Master Djwhal shared with us in his June 2014 teachings (which prompted me to acquire the Cube).
For those of you new to the term, Metatron’s Cube is a geometric symbol. And interestingly enough, it is also a mystical symbol. When cognitively and metaphysically understood, it is the key to Sacred Geometry; thus, and let me underscore this point, it is the key to comprehending the manifest Universe.
While these so-called Platonic solids can certainly be understood mathematically, entering into a direct mystical relationship with them can provide even more. In fact, such is precisely how one may apprehend the creative mysteries imbued within each solid.
Those of you who have actually studied Sacred Geometry likely recognize that it is, or certainly can be, a powerful spiritual path. Indeed by apprehending the Truth encoded within these geometric forms, the mysteries of the Universe can be opened. Such deep knowing is not only invaluable, it is particularly useful when it comes to comprehending how the material level comes into experiential reality. Indeed, it explains how matter actually takes, and subsequently holds, form. Fascinating, isn’t it?
If we peer a bit deeper into the mystery, we will note that an even profounder level of direct knowing is available. Indeed the deeper mystery is actually about how matter partners spirit in the process of vivification. Clearly each one needs the other for evolving human consciousness to manifest in material form. You see, Sacred Geometry, at least for those who can progress beyond its most obvious levels, grants access to a cellular experience of the Divine indwelling within.
I don’t know where this object or tool will take me once I become familiar with it, but it sounds like yet another exciting avenue to pursue. Master Djwhal invited me to put the cube under our bed at night, although it is not lit and doesn’t spin on the LED base that came with it. By ‘sleeping on the Cube,’ I seem to have fuller access to my dreams. They become vivid, affecting a part of my brain where I can read them, which has rarely been the case until now.
Last night’s dream was interesting. I was with an older Frenchman (an experienced accountant called Jean Corre) with whom I worked in Brazzaville, Congo, in 1986. We then together taught a seminar to the Congolese auditors we were training. At some point my dream shifted to another area and I could see people registering for another seminar. Or what is the same seminar? A skilled carpenter was building small houses, which looked like miniature toy houses. They were so magnificently manufactured that I thought it would be a good idea to offer each participant a ‘small house’ as a token of our appreciation. And finally I could see myself at the top of a mountainous place, perhaps in a room, when it started to snow. It was really bad weather, and unusual weather as well (from what I understood, it never snowed at that time of the year). It seems that I then regained a brief glimpse of consciousness before our son woke me up. “Time to wake up, Papa,” he said, as he handed me my clothes. The message was, as we say in French, on ne peut plus clair (it couldn’t be any clearer), and I got up.
Till we meet again, folks and walkers of the path.
In appreciation for our continued companionship.
Sarrance (Basses-Pyrenees)
Notre Dame de Sarrance; de la Pierre or La Sarrasine, difficult to date, black stone, found by bull swimming in river 8 C, hidden from Protestants 1569 in mountain cave, saved at Rev., damaged arms and head have been replaced.
http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/blackm/blackm02.html
Nurturing the Gift of Seeking 