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By Alisha R. Kaiser
“What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?”
- Job 7:17, 18
Each season brings with it an occasion to prepare for the birth of the Christ within our hearts and minds. In the never ending cycle of death, birth and resurrection, we are each given an opportunity to die to the past deceptions, limitations and misconceptions of what we believe ourselves and others to be. The Archangels over dwell the seasons and assist us in our birthing process through magnification and assimilation of certain cycles of energy. Archangel Rafael is the guardian of the Eastern gate which is the cycle of the spiritual birth of the Christ Mind. Each spring life is born anew during the Easter drama where we are afforded an opportunity to be resurrected and made new through the birthing of the Christ Mind consciousness within us. Here the harvest of the prior season is made into new wine through our marriage with Truth and poured into new skins to nourish us on our spiraling, cyclic journey home. Here we put into action that which has been born into consciousness. Anything of the little self that still remains, will be burned away through the fire of initiation, at the Northern Gate.
Archangel Uriel is the guardian of the Northern Gate which is the cycle of Death to the Ego. The summer is the time of hard work where we harvest the grains of Truth reaped during the foregoing seasons. Here we discover and remove any weeds of distortion that have taken root in our garden. When we uproot that which does not give life in our garden, we will unearth the ancestral and karmic energies in the basement of our undersoul. These are the energies that have allowed the weeds to take root. These are the energies that sought to suffocate the new life of the Christ Mind struggling to take hold at the Eastern Gate. At the Northern Gate we have an opportunity to jump off the precipice of our former belief enclosure encasements. If we pass the initiations of the Northern Gate, we will be given an opportunity to make penance and restitution at the Western Gate.
Archangel Michael is the guardian of the Western Gate which is the cycle of the Gate of the Law. As we grow, we take on the karmic burdens of our past unknowing for transenergization. Here we have an opportunity to make restitution for our misdeeds of the past. During the season of autumn each of us is given an opportunity to heal the karmic energies in the basement of our undersoul through acts of selfless service. If our spirit rises to the call, we will be asked to make a giant leap in growth at the Southern Gate.
Archangel Gabriel is the guardian of the Southern Gate which is the Gate of Enlightenment. In this cycle of winter, we have an opportunity to bring down all the energy we have raised up through the chakras for integration in the physical. Here we have an opportunity to integrate the lessons of the forty-nine purification initiations of the astral or emotional nature for the birthing of the Christ child within. This is where we will be tested in our faith, courage and steadfastness. This is where we jump into the darkness of the unknown to plant the seeds of Truth harvested at the Northern Gate. To plant one’s seeds of Truth takes an act of courage, for we do not yet know if they will bear fruit. Most people lack the courage to make the jump into the unknown and instead congregate at the precipice, attempting to block the way through fear and judgment of those desiring to make the leap to a new level of seeing, knowing and understanding. It is only through knowing ourselves that we can stand strong in the face of being judged and criticized by others. This is the foundation of the courage needed to move beyond the limiting beliefs of the little mind to be born anew at the Eastern Gate. And so the cycle begins again as we ride the spiritual tides.
This yearly drama is a cyclic tide of gestation, birth, death and resurrection of the Human Spirit. Here we leave the realm of the known to confront the unknown monsters of the mind that keep us locked in the fears of our own illusions.
“A man is a ‘faithful and wise servant’ (Matthew 24:45) when he is quick to atone for all his offenses, interiorly by contrition, exteriorly by confessing them and making reparations.”
- St. Francis of Assisi
In reviewing these cyclic spiritual tides within in my own life, I discovered that for the majority of my life, I had lived enmeshed in the fears of my own illusions which manifested as “the enemy” consciousness. The enemy consciousness first began with my parents, then my siblings, family, friends, on down the line. By the time 9/11/2001 erupted before my eyes, I became very aware that my own state of mind had contributed to this monstrous event.
The Hero
Not only was 9/11 a wakeup call for me, it was a wakeup call for this nation to reflect upon its own creations of enemy consciousness. Unfortunately, as a nation, we were unable to believe that this monster was of our own making. Thus, we have embarked an a campaign of war and destruction of the enemy wearing the cap of the hero. To better understand the genesis of hero consciousness, let us examine the mythological image of the Hero.
Joseph Campbell writes in The Power of Myth:
“We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world.”
There are many levels of hero consciousness that have been acted out in all walks of life. These include motherhood, tribal puberty rites, religious rites, vision quests, the warriors quest, etc. However, what is central to all hero myths, is that one dies to a part of himself through a physical deed or act in a cycle of events that entails a departure, fulfillment and a return to a new life or beginning.
We can see this illustrated in the Greek mythological story of Icarus where his father Daedalus made him wings of wax to help him escape from the Labyrinth of Cretan, which Daedalus’ himself had created. Daedalus cautioned him to fly the middle way so as not to be caught by the tides of the sea or the heat of the sun. But Icarus was so filled with enthusiasm, desire and emotion he did not heed the advice of his father and melted his wings when he flew to great heights and fell into the sea. As can be seen in the story of Icarus, as well as in the story of this nation, the Achilles heel of the hero is the allurement of the prideful ego.
Ann Ree Colton speaks of hero consciousness in her talk on the “New Scriptures and Myth.” She explains that if there is too much egotism at this stage of initiation, there will be a “roughage” that has to be cleansed out.
“These are the threads and fibers of selfishness which are like cataracts in the eye. Man’s desire for self allurement is one of the great myth pictures in the hero myth where one thinks he is a hero. Judas tried to make Jesus into a hero. The Higher Devachan moves out of the Hero consciousness of deitizing oneself. In hero consciousness, he is the one and only which is centered in his desire for power and will power. . . .”
“Man builds through action and conduct which are imprinted in the Devachan world. The trials of the lower Devachan show dark forces playing against the light forces with a desire for success. This is the mental metaphysical. The lower Devachan contains hideous faces and is part of the lower Devachan projection of ‘Don’t do this Work’ with grotesque images to show what you can and can’t do. You can’t go beyond the lower Devachan worlds until you unite with the Buddhi heart.”1
(Note: “Buddhi is an ignited and illuminative understanding which produces mentation or interpretation of dreams and visions. Buddhi also pertains to the informing principle, igniting the mind and prophecy.” 2
In 2002, at the Northern Gate of Death to the Ego, I saw that I had failed to take up my own cross by reflecting the monsters of my mind onto the “other.” I realized that it is only when I take full responsibility for that which initiates me and transenergize it through acceptance, forgiveness, repentance, restitution and unconditional love, will I be free of these karmic and ancestral compulsions. This awareness opened my grace to begin healing the abuse of my will, not only for me, but for my ancestors and for mankind, for when we heal ourselves all mankind benefits.
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1/ Ann Ree Colton, The New Scriptures and Myth
1/ Ann Ree Colton, Watch Your Dreams, p. 389.
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