Cancer is the fourth sign of the zodiac. Sun in Cancer is said to be at home in the heart chamber, the home of the Divine. He comes out of compassion and remains for a month. It is like a Master of Wisdom visiting our home. We can relate to him, seek his guidance, listen to his advice and establish a cordial relationship. He gives us the impact of his light and love and conducts the needed rectifications. May we re-orient ourselves afresh to the divine messengers, the Teachers of Wisdom. They are commemorated during Cancer Full Moon, Guru Purnima, the full moon of the Teacher.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Cancer illustrate the related symbolism. You find there detailed explanations of the paintings in four languages (en/de/es/fr). And you can download print-versions (high resolution) for free. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter.

Each day, we experience the apparent movement of the Sun rising in the East, coming to the midheaven at noon and then setting in the West. At midnight, the Sun reaches the bottom point. These four points constitute the cardinal cross of the day. On the horizontal plane, they form the four directions of East, South, West, and North. They only exist in relation to a being standing on Earth.

The year has the same four cardinal points namely the two solstices and the two equinoxes. They form the cardinal cross with the cardinal signs of Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. The full moon and the new moon, together with the two crescent moons, are the four cardinal points of the month. The four cardinal points signify the secrets of birth, life, and death and the smaller and larger cycles of time.

To depict this profound wisdom, I constructed the four cardinal points of the day by arranging pictures of the Sun taken in India and in Switzerland: sunrise, noon and sunset, and a daylight photo digitally transformed into a “midnight sun”. The background is designed with the help of a pre-sunrise picture taken on a flight over India.

The subtle shades of the sky needed special attention to modulate the colours. Rendering them for print on aquarelle paper, then drawing on paper, and scanning the image always changes the colours a lot, until the final version is ready for digital publishing and photo print. In each form of appearance the colours change, this being part of the creative process.

The symbolism of Cancer is visualised in the thirteen Cancer paintings done between 2010 and 2022. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Gemini is the sign of duality, which at the same time also contains the key to unity. The symbol of Gemini consists of two vertical columns which are connected to each other. The two columns symbolise subjectivity and objectivity and they form a “doorway”. Every morning, when we awaken, the door opens to the world of objective activity and at night, when we go to sleep, the door to objectivity closes again. Similarly, the door leads to subjective activity at night and is closed again in the morning. When we go to sleep and when we wake up, we can experience both worlds for a moment. The wisdom of Gemini teaches us that we can consciously go through the gate in both directions and thus live simultaneously in the subjective and the objective world.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Gemini illustrate the related symbolism. You find there detailed explanations of the paintings in four languages (en/de/es/fr). And you can download print-versions (high resolution) for free.

The Masters of the Spiritual Hierarchy are working at spreading the wisdom required to help in the evolution of the beings on the planet. Just as Lord Maitreya and the other great Masters exist, there is also a physical embodiment of the feminine energy in the Himalayas. This grand Master in a female form is called Shaila Putri, the Daughter of the Mountain. She appears as a young woman of eighteen years dressed in garments of tiger skin and holding a trident. She is the Mother of the World for our Planet and the power that assists the Hierarchy, especially in times of crises. She is the guiding star also called “the Exquisite Jewel, the Star of the Sea”. You find her described in the books “The World Teacher” and “Man Sacrifice” written by Master EK.

To illustrate this reality, I worked on images of Shaila Putri and the leading Masters of Hierarchy. To indicate the relation to the Himalayas, I arranged the pictures on a background created with the help of the photo of a crystal.

The symbolism of Gemini is visualised in the thirteen Gemini paintings done between 2010 and 2022. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

In the process of creation, the One Existence manifests as two. Spirit precipitates down as matter and matter ascends up as spirit. The first aspect is called the path of descent or involution; the second aspect is the path of ascent or evolution. On the path of descent, God comes down as this creation. The spiritual energies descend into matter, and the universal consciousness becomes the individual consciousness. On the path of ascent, we rise again by our spiritual practices and finally merge into God, just as the lesser light merges into the greater light.

The whole cycle of descent and ascent is called the ‘path of the waters’. For this flow of energy, the seers have conceived the sound formula as Narayana. ‘Na’ is the sound of ascent and ‘Ra’ is the sound of descent. The path of waters is ‘Ayana’ and it is immortal. To gain the freedom of the flow of energy, the seers keep singing OM Namo Narayanaya and they keep dancing in joy.

The picture visualises the path of ascent from the mundane to the super-mundane spheres by depicting a person on a path in three different degrees of density. The path leads further up into the blue sky towards the sun, the source of light. On the other side of the cycle, the movement goes via the Moon, the principle of reflection, down into the dense matter. The illustration of the cycle was designed with the help of extracts from a NASA photo of a galaxy.

The symbolism of Taurus is visualised in the thirteen Taurus paintings done between 2010 and 2022. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

I just came across the website of Siberian Roerich Society, , where I found the following about the King of Shambhala tanka, read with automatic translation (Google Chrome browser) – please read upto the end:

“In the exposition of the fireplace hall of the Novosibirsk Museum of N.K. Roerich can be seen the tanka “King of Shambhala” from the collection of the Roerich family. Let’s share the information that we managed to collect about this exhibit.
At the end of 1923, the Roerichs left America and arrived in India. They chose the Principality of Sikkim as a place for a long stop, renting a house near the city of Darjeeling. (…)
The entire Roerich family lived in this house for more than a year. They got acquainted with local sights, preparations were underway for the Central Asian expedition. The photographs of 1924 depicted N.K. Roerich with his sons Yuri and Svyatoslav in a room where the walls are hung with tankas, among which is the “King of Shambhala” tanka.
In the letters to N.K. Roerich to American collaborators dated August 20 and 27, 1924, we read: “Finally, an artist from Tibet has come to us and is now painting Shambhala, [beginning] with the King of the World in the center. Just think what we will bring to you! This cult is greatly revered in Tashi Lumpo (Tashi Lama Monastery). The expedition from Everest praised our collection of Tibetan paintings very much.” “And on the first floor [we] are painting the painting “King of Shambhala”….
When this unique exhibit arrived at our museum, we turned to Yulia Igorevna Elikhina (leading researcher at the Oriental Department, curator of the Hermitage’s Tibetan, Mongolian and Khotanese collections) to help us attribute the tanka. Here is her answer: “The second king of Shambhala, Manjushrikirti, is depicted in the center. He sits in the royal pose of rajalalitasana, with his right hand in the gesture of bestowing goodness (varada mudra), next to him is a lotus stem, on the flower of which there are attributes – a sword and a book (attributes of the bodhisattva of wisdom Manjushri, whose incarnation he is). In his left hand he holds a chakra, a wheel of teaching and a symbol of royal power. His parents are shown next to him in the form of bodhisattvas, since the kings of Shambhala receive teachings from their parents. The father’s right hand is in the gesture of fearlessness (abhaya-mudra), the left hand is in the gesture of teaching (vitarka).
Above are Buddha Shakyamuni teaching, with a white body, then Amitabha, with a red body, and Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, with a yellow body. Shambhala is surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Below is shown the war of the last king of Shambhala, after which the era of universal prosperity will come.
Yulia Igorevna also drew our attention to the fact that in the picture N.K. Roerich’s “Banner of the Future” from the collection of the State Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum depicts exactly the “King of Shambhala” tanka. As you know, this painting is part of the Maitreya series, which the artist created in 1925-1926 and presented to the Soviet government when the expedition visited Moscow.
Regarding the name of this painting – “The Banner of the Future” – we will quote the words of Yu.N. Roerich from his book “Tibetan Painting”: “The most characteristic work of Tibetan painting is the so-called tanka (than-ka), a word usually translated as a banner” 6 . The painting also has a second name – “The Song of Rigden-Jepo”.(name of Sanat Kumara)
And one more picture of N.K. Roerich’s “Order of Rigden-Japo”, created in 1926-1927, brings us back to the image on the tank – the image of Rigden-Japo almost exactly repeats the appearance of the King of Shambhala.

In the book Shining Shambala, Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich gives a conversation with one very respected lama: “… Rigden-Jepo, tireless, always awake for the benefit of mankind. His eyes never close. (…) Distance does not exist for him; he can help the deserving in the twinkling of an eye. Its bright light can destroy any darkness. (…)
A great era is coming. The Ruler of the World is ready for battle. Many signs are happening. Cosmic Fire again approaches the Earth. The planets herald a new era. But many catastrophes will occur before the new era of prosperity comes. Again humanity will be tested to determine if its spirit has developed enough. Underground fire is now seeking to connect with the fire element of Akash; if all good forces do not unite their power, the greatest cataclysms are inevitable.”

Sri Kumar recently proposed:
“We may open a window where we post all that relates to Shambala and allow all members to post and thus participate in the thought of Shambala. Allow responsible participation. ‘WTT-Shambala’ can be the window. The idea is to implant the reality of Shambala in the consciousness of aspirants so that they are ‘upheld’.”

As such a window for relating to Shambala, the World Teacher Trust-Global has now opened the Facebook group “WTT Shambala”, (login to Facebook needed) in the time of Good Friday, Aries Full Moon and Easter festival.

So, you are invited to join the WTT-Shambala group. You are allowed there to post and thus participate in the thought of Shambala. You may responsibly post all that relates to Shambala. You might think of paintings of Nicholas Roerich, prayers relating to Will, or thoughts from the wisdom teachings on Shambala, esp. the book of Sri Kumar on “Shambala”. Or the book “Shasta, Sambala and Sanat Kumara”

Some members will attend to the group as administrators and will weekly post content. The main language of the WTT-Shambala window will be the Aquarian language, English. However, you might post content in any language. Facebook offers automatic translation.

Here are some words translated from a discourse of Sri Kumar given on 4 April in Telugu for a deeper understanding of why to relate to Shambala:

“Shambala is the highest point in terms of consciousness on this planet. It is equivalent to the head centre (Sahasrara) in humans. So it can be seen as the Sahasrara of the earth globe. Shambala is present in one of the subtle planes in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. Many have tried to find this place in the Gobi desert but it cannot be seen by everyone. Only the permitted ones will be able to see or visit Shambala. There are many on this globe who aspire to visit Shambala. In present times, relating to Shambala is very important. I kept writing short articles on Shambala in Navani (a magazine in Telugu) and when the articles numbered 100, they were compiled into a book. This book was published both in Telugu and English.

A contemplation proposal

Interested ones can take to the rhythm of relating to Shambala every Thursday evening, after prayer, by reading an article from that book and meditating on Shambala for a few minutes. In recent times, we have Madam HPB and Nicholas Roerich who were permitted to visit Shambala. So you can find more details of Shambala in their writings as well. The more you read and think about Shambala, the more the energy of Shambala enters into you. So by relating to Shambala on a regular basis, an alignment between you and Shambala would be established. Accordingly, this new rhythm has been proposed to all the WTT groups starting from 7th April, 2022. 

If there are 1000s of us who relate to Shambala in this manner on a regular basis, all of us get into an alignment with Shambala. Thereby gradually we become mediums for Shambala to work through us. Shambala also needs an army among the humans to work out its plan. By taking to this weekly rhythm, we show our preparedness to be recruited by Shambala into working out its plan. It is a responsibility that we should take up as divine aspirants. Then we become aware of the Divine plan and also become a part in its manifestation. The writings of Master DK have many mentions of Shambala and the plan. He initiated a new group of world servers in the beginning of the 19th century and many have become part of that group ever since. The WHHO prayers that we have been doing are also part of the activities planned by that group. That is one rhythm towards world service that we have taken up in 2020. This is another rhythm that is being introduced to the groups. Remember that all these rhythms are part of the grand plan that is coming from higher circles. So if we cooperate with that plan, then we will be blessed.

Remember that Shambala is the gateway of many other Divine planes in the creation. Shambala has its centres in other higher planes. One can enter Sirius through Shambala. There are many such grand aspects of Shambala which you may gradually know while you take part in this weekly ritual.

Master Kumar just gave “A Rhythm for Humble Cooperation” (PDF) for consciously relating to the Shambala energy, especially in the present time of crises (see also here in French, German and Spanish). There, the Master also proposes to use the paintings of Nicholas Roerich to enable better comprehension and to study the teachings of Nicholas Roerich. So you fine some images below – and the information also in a PDF. The sublime paintings in the blog-post are all from Nicholas Roerich.

Master Kumar recently published a book on “Shambala” containing profound teachings for students to relate the dimension of Shambala and to this mystic land. The book is available for free as PDF and in the Ebook formats EZW3, EPUB and in Kindle format mobi.

Shambala was prophesied at the very beginning of the Kali Age, 5000 years ago. It is considered to be the seat of the Lord Sanat Kumara who esoterically rules over this Earth. Shambala contains the energy of deliverance to the beings on the planet and it has been a matter of great interest at all times.

There exists a book by Nicholas Roerich on “Shambhala“. You can buy it online. The content is also available via this link. Years ago, the book was available on the Roerich website as a PDF; you might use it, for personal use only.

The cover picture shows a detail of the painting “Command of Rigden Djapo”. Rigden Djapo is a name of Sanat Kumara.

Here are some more pictures of Roerich related to Shambala.

An Indian friend recently sent me a picture from his journey to Sikkim. He wrote:

“There on the hill top there is a cave temple of a Buddhist called Rigden-jyepo. With much veneration and much struggle we trekked to the cave. The cave was big but the entrance was very small (only one person could fit). There was no particular way to climb into the cave, only some wooden steps. I was thrilled to see the statue which was with a golden colour and in a sitting position.”

I told him that Nicholas Roerich explains that Rigden-jyepo /or Dyapo is a name of the Lord of Shambala, Sanat Kumara.

And in the Agni Yoga glossary (“A Treasury of Terms and Thoughts from the Agni Yoga Teachings”) it says:
“You mentioned to me the sacred call—Kalagiya! When someone hears this imperative call, he must know that the way to Shambhala is open to him. He must remember the year when he was called, because from that time evermore, he is closely assisted by the Blessed Rigden-jyepo. Only you must know and realize the manner in which people are helped, because often people repel the help which is sent.”

For Pisces 2022, I created an image called “The Blessings of Lord Maitreya“; it is also posted in the blog. The description says: “Maitreya received the wisdom under a ficus (fig) tree at the eastern entrance to a cave which is said to be at Sravasti, in a region north of Mount Kailash. It is today called Shigatse by the Tibetans. It is believed that the ficus tree is still there even today and that he continues to bless the entire planet and humanity during the morning and evening hours.”

When I recently visited friends of mine, the wife told me that she felt touched by the painting and shared an experience she had at Shigatse. I regive it here from my memory.
In the 1990s, they wanted to go to Tibet, but since at the time they had planned to travel, visitors from abroad were not allowed to go there, they decided to fly to China and see on site where to travel.

Together with a guide, they went to a travel agency. There, they were asked where they would like to go. They said, to Tibet but this would not be possible for foreigners. The person in the office said, why not? and told them that they can organise a journey and proposed to go to Shigatse. My friends did the trip.

When they arrived at Shigatse, the wife unexpectedly experienced the presence of Lord Maitreya and saw a vision in the sky. She immediately addressed him with the words: “Oh Lord, can you please help humanity which is undergoing so much problems and suffering!” Then, the words formed in her head: “We have given to humanity all we can but humanity does not apply. We cannot help unless they put to practice what has already been given…”

They later visited the monastery in Shigatse (Tashi Lhunpo) and they saw a huge statue of Maitreya (description) worshipped as the Buddha in charge of the future. There, the wife experienced again the presence she had felt on arrival in Shigatse.

I was deeply touched by her story bearing witness of the reality of the subtle worlds. And I told her about an experience which had expressed in a painting in March 2010.

On seeing the Pisces 2022 painting about the blessing of Lord Maitreya under a ficus tree, another friend told me about a huge sacred ficus tree she had seen in Yangshuo, China and shared some photos.

P.S.: April 11th 2022: When reading the above story, my friend wrote me the following words:

“It is nice how you share your experiences with those who are interested. I would like to briefly recount the experience in Shigatze: We were sitting in a quiet place at the edge of a meadow for the 6 pm meditation. My eyes were closed. I felt someone standing in front of me and directed my inner gaze towards it. I “saw” a very tall golden pillar. I kept looking up until finally the unimaginably benevolent smiling face of Buddha Maitreya could be ‘seen’. I addressed him and he replied, on a spiritual level of course.

The next day we visited the monastery in Shigatze. There stood Buddha Maitreya exactly as I had ‘seen’ Him the day before: Huge tall and smiling. This Maitreya, however, was to be touched, he was there quite concretely as a work of art. I remember that the Chinese tour guide said he was 26 m high and that I read it that way too. (I can hardly imagine that now).”

I read at several places on the web that the statue is indeed 26.2 m high. It is in the Maitreya Chapel of the monastery, a tall red building with a gold roof at the complex’s northwestern corner, built in 1914 by the ninth Panchen Lama. But this is the outer artwork only. The subtle presence of Maitreya is not limited to this. So better look for an inner image than an outer form. Even if you do not feel an inner presence, it might be some “screen travelling” with the computer to Shigatze.

And still another friend shared a beautiful big old book (PDF, 22 MB) of Swami Pranavananda on “Kailas – Manasarovar” from 1949, where you also find old maps of Tibet / the area of Mt Kailash as well as various pilgrimage paths to the Mount. Here, you see the path from Lhasa via Shigartse (written this way) to Kailas / Manasarovar.

And she also added some beautiful pics from their journeys to the Mount full of spiritual magnetism.

In the scriptures, creation is described as an expression of the first, second and third logos, or three fires coming from one source. We can consider these three fires as will, love and wisdom and intelligent activity. They are the cosmic or electric fire, the solar fire and the fire by friction, the invisible fire in matter.

These three fires are associated with the three fire signs of the zodiac. Aries represents the electric fire; Leo represents the transforming fire, and Sagittarius is the fire by friction. Even though we describe them as three qualities, the three fires are only one fire called “Agni”.

From this source, the stardust comes forth as a ray of fire known as the great serpent Ananta, the cosmic Kundalini or the serpent of eternity. The stardust forms into stars or solar systems. This process is symbolically represented in the picture.

From the unity in the centre emerges the three points symbolizing the three logoi or the three fires. The fire pervades the space in which the serpent of eternity becomes visible. It is surrounded by the stardust from which suns and galaxies are formed. For the design of the stardust, I transformed a NASA/Hubble photo of a ring galaxy. The serpent of eternity and the fire at the background were generated with elements from different images.

The symbolism of Aries is visualised in the thirteen Aries paintings done between 2010 and 2022. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.