Leo is a fire sign; together with Aries and Sagittarius it transmits the different qualities of the fire of the soul. Astrologically, Leo is governed by the Sun, which is “at home” in this sign. In this month, we can link especially well with the colour of golden light to the power of the inner Sun in the heart centre. On the outside, the Leo energy appears to be gentle, but on the inside, it is a fiery force. The heart is the seat of the Hierarchy, and the rapprochement of the Hierarchy with humanity is through Leo.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Leo 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.

The Anima Channel team asked me for an interview about the Paracelsus Center in Einsiedeln, Switzerland, with which I am involved since 1999. And with Anima since the start in August 2020. They wanted to know more about the place of the Paracelsus House and how a group of people is keeping it alive and vibrant.

They had visited the place end of May and done some videos about Paracelsus in English and in Spanish The interview was on 13 July, Cancer full moon morning. The video was published today.

More about the Paracelsus Center and the Paracelsus Magazine here.

When pondering on which new image for Leo might develop, I contemplated on the inner vertical alignment from the heart to the head centre and its planetary correspondence: As there is an individual head centre, the Sahasrara, there is also a Sahasrara of the Earth called Shambala.

The innermost point of the head centre is called the Jewel in the Lotus. And there is a corresponding jewel at the innermost point of the planetary head centre called Chintamani (see the painting on “The White Island“). Both gems are referred to with the mantra OM MANI PADME HUM.

The image of two wheels forming the number 8 showed up in contemplation. I formed each wheel with the help of the symbol used on the cover of the book “The Teachings of Sanat Kumara” by Dr K. Parvathi Kumar. The graphic contains eight sections. I placed a miniature form of the symbol into the centre of each wheel as the jewel in the lotus. For visualising Sanat Kumara, the lord of Shambala, I reworked the photo of an old Bodhisattva bust, probably of Lord Maitreya, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I arranged the centre of the upper wheel as the Sahasrara of Sanat Kumara; the lower wheel leads downward from his Ajna centre, a star forming the contact point. In the centre of the lower wheel there is an image of the earth showing the Eastern hemisphere. I finally worked on the colours of the structure to give expression to the circulation of the energies.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Leo illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Leo paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

Why am I writing three blog-posts about this visit? What is the deeper meaning and purpose – for me and for a reader? These questions came to my mind early this morning while doing asanas, and also some answers.

It is about experiences. My friends chose to bring me to certain places, and I noticed that these places had a specific relevance for me, our lives and our friendship. The walk to a forest and cliff in Heiligenberg (Holy Mountain) on the first evening was like a prelude – we were in the beauty of nature around their home, at a natural burial side, and, while overlooking a vast horizon from a mountain cliff, speaking about life and “transition planning”. Such “viewing life from an inner mountain” is something to do from time to time: “Where do I come from, where am I, where am I going to, and what is the purpose of it?“

The visits to Meersburg and Ueberlingen turned out to be linked to experiences in earlier phases of my life, also those of the last excursion. Thoughts and emotions conserved therein are a part of my “inner museum” though normally not part of my present life. Some visits were like rays of light from the past into the presence, or coming from dimensions of poetry and theatre culture. It was inspiring and nourishing to be there together with my friends. This togetherness was enriching and the main purpose of my journey. It strengthened the foundations for our work on plans for future co-operation. And this was also the undercurrent of the third day of my visit:

In the morning, we started our trip to Reichenau Island in Lake Constance connected by a causeway to the mainland. The first stop was at the Church of Saint George, forming part of an ancient Benedictine monastery founded 1300 years ago.

Due to the fragility of the old wall paintings, it is opened only at certain times. We participated in a guided tour. The guide living her whole life on the island, gave plenty of interesting facets and humorous anecdotes on the biblical wall illustrations of the wonders of Jesus and the eventful history of the monastery. She told, for example, that there are relicts of the cross of Jesus in the monastery, and there exist so many relicts that you could fill an entire ship with the wood of the cross.

The murals about miracles of Christ are unique for their age and location – the only preserved complete set north of the Alps, survivals from the 10th century.

After lunch on a camping site at the lake, we visited the Abbey of Reichenau dedicated to the Virgin and Saint Mark. The abbey was a great artistic and spiritual centre claimed to having been the largest centre for producing illuminated manuscripts in Europe during the 11th century. The outer forms are still there, the inspiration is still there if we see and integrate it in a way relevant for us. These were places, where groups of souls intensely collaborated in a joint spiritual endeavour.

The excursion brought up a lot of memories of experiences on the path through life, our lives. Seeing the events and places not as outer experiences but integrating them as reflections of the inner – this is part of working out the next steps.

This work culminated in a way Tuesday morning during the last hours of my stay in Heiligenberg. Sabine and I worked on the project for a future website of the German speaking community of WTT and exchanged about other plans for the future. The co-operation goes on, strengthened with new impulses.

During my visit to friends in Heiligenberg (Holy Mountain) near Lake Constance (see the previous blogpost) Sabine and I went to the town of Überlingen last Sunday morning to see the “Sweden procession“. It is a tradition which started at the end of the Thirty Years’ War: In 1634, the citizens could successfully repel a besiegement of the Swedes which attacked the town over two years. In gratitude for this success, the citizens made a vow to hold twice a year a “Sweden procession”, where after a church service the “Sweden Madonna”, a figure of Mary gilded in silver in 1659, is carried on shoulders by scouts through the town, together with a youth choir, altar boys and girls, and men and women dressed in the traditional costumes.

Memories came up: In my youth, feeling like aeons ago, I had participated in similar processions as an altar boy. I was now a tourist, an on-looker, touched by the ambiance of the spiritual orientation. The faces of the youngsters in the Sweden procession, dressed in white, were focused and full of devotion. I was astonished to see in the cortège people of all ages – also a lot of youngsters and middle-aged people. Sabine was greeting some she knew from her choir.

While we were walking along Lake Constance, she told me that in past times, there had been such processions at many places but modern life turned people away, so that nowadays there are only very few of such processions left.

The citizens of Überlingen, however, are very proud of their tradition and there is a strong social cohesion in the town. She knows of people who lived for longer time in other parts of Germany but felt lost there, and they came back to live and work in this area. You can feel this sense of togetherness in the town – and it could be seen in the “Sword Dance”, related to the Sweden procession, which was performed in the courtyard of Überlingen and in front of the archives an hour later.

It was short before noon – and for us time to prepare for the Health & Healing – Prayer we do on Thursday and Sunday noon time. We rushed through some streets of the old town to the “Garden of Silence” at the “SusoHaus“, which might have been the birth place of Henry Suso (Heinrich Seuse), a mediaeval Dominican friar and mystic (1295-1366). In 2007, an association “New Mysticism in Dialogue” was founded to fill the house with life by transferring Heinrich Seuse’s spiritual impulses into our time and make them fruitful for people today. The house was renovated and now, visitors have the opportunity to become creatively active in writing, making music, philosophising, meditating and, above all, in dialogue with others in the sense of their own lives. (translated from their website)

The “Garden of Silence” at the SusoHaus is freely accessible at all times, and sitting there, under flowers, was an excellent place for our Health & Healing meditation.

A week ago, I was in Heiligenberg (Holy Mountain), South Germany, near Lake Constance visiting Manfred and Sabine for 5 days. It was a precious time with these two friends filled with exchanges, meditations, little excursions and relaxing in their beautiful garden. Manfred has created a little paradise with many roses and other flowers, trees, and bushes with plenty of red and black currants, raspberries and blackberries at the moment – delicious…

In the first evening, Manfred took me up to the forest near the castle where there are two natural burial sites and we spoke about our “transition planning”. In Germany, there are only such places where you can bury the urns outside traditional cemeteries – in Switzerland, it is allowed to give the ash into lakes, rivers, or places in nature.

We then followed a path along the cliffs, which had been only recently re-opened after a longer renovation. It lead to the “friendship cave”, a natural cave, where some centuries ago castle servants were living.

Next morning, Sabine took me to Meersburg on Lake Constance. We walked through the old town and the new castle. There, we saw a statue of the German poet Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (1797-1848), who lived for eight years in Meersburg.

We then visited the Prince’s House, which Annette had purchased to live there, with a gorgeous view over the lake. Now, it is a museum dedicated to this first well-known German poetess.

It was very special for me: Already in school, we learnt some of Annette’s poems by heart and read texts. About 40 years ago, a dear friend of mine wrote his PhD about the chronology of her life for the historical-critical complete edition of her works. I was jobless at that time and he gave me his work for typing; thus, I knew many details about Annette. My friend then arranged that I became a museum guide at the Rüschhaus near Münster, North Germany, where Annette had previously lived. Now, in the Prince’s House, there were several pictures of this other house.

Afterwards, we visited the Meersburg cemetery where Annette is buried. We also wanted to see the grave of another famous person, Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815), who studied “animal magnetism”. He was hypnotizing people and healing with his hands – of course, much disputed and considered “imagination” by the mainstream physicians and scientists.

We spent the afternoon in the garden, and in the evening, we went to a small theatre in an old basement vault in Überlingen. The “Noltes Theater” presented “Summer Night Rapture”, a poetic performance with songs, jazz and blues music – full of linguistic wit, furious piano playing, and enthusiasm for theatre.

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.

Summer Solstice – already more than a week has passed by. Like in previous years, we wanted to celebrate the beginning of summer at the Paracelsus centre and start with a solstice fire ritual on the mountain ridge near the Etzel Pass at a place with a grand view towards Einsiedeln, the surrounding mountains and, on the other side, the Zurich lake.

You find in the following some impressions – but please see also the report of the “Anima” team about their visit to the Paracelsus centre end of May at the end of this blogpost.

During the fire ritual, there was very sublime ambiance and we could feel the presence of the Devas, subtile intelligences. At the very end of the ritual, a short spray of raindrops gave us their blessing touch for 1-2 minutes.

Around the solstice time of the entrance of the Sun into Cancer, we did a meditation in alignment with the many groups celebrating solstice globally. Afterwards we went down into the valley to the Paracelsus centre, where we prepared a little altar and aligned to the solstice energies with some mantram chanting and reading a text on the importance of summer solstice.

We had brought a copy of the painting of Nicholas Roerich ‘Song of Shambala’ for relating to the Shambala energy together with those of Paracelsus, the great Master, alchemist and fire philosopher.

In the afternoon, we did a walk in the surrounding and down to the Sihl river flowing through the valley.

We concluded the celebration with some exchange and the evening meditation. Since the direct road to Einsiedeln for the way back was closed due to repair, we had to make a little detour which brought us along the Sihl lake – and gave an excellent close with a foot bath.

The next morning, at the monthly Zoom exchange with the Anima team, they told about their experiences at the Paracelsus centre during their visit around May Call (29 May) to do some videos. I would like to share here the inspiring text they wrote about their visit:

Four WTT members from Argentina, Belgium and Spain felt the call to visit Paracelsus House in Switzerland. One of us came from Bristol (England) by plane, another one also from Bristol by car via Brussels (more than 1.200 km overcoming a long blockage in the Eurotunnel) and the last two of us by car from Barcelona covering about 2.200 km including both ways in an interval of 60 hours.

The effort was worth by far. From the moment when stepped in the Paracelsus House we felt an extraordinary embracing and welcoming sense of peace. A silence, not only external, but above all subtle.

This small group received the cooperation of a non-WTT member living in Zurich who joined the work. Those 5 people performed a ritual regarding to each element: a fire ritual in a safe place near a water stream that goes to river Sihl, a water ritual in the house, a ritual for the air on the top of a mountain and a silent ritual about the earth on the crypt of Einsiedeln Abbey with the presence of the Black Madonna.

In all these places we could feel the presence of the mother nature that rules over the valley and was the background force that allowed Paracelsus to connect with the elements and the elementals.

We also felt that to visit Paracelsus house, inner fire and will must be activated. The presence of Paracelsus energy is sublime, but silent and concealed and it is bestowed to those who do the required work and approach in poise, with simplicity and humbleness. At the end we understood that it was not only an experience but also a test of readiness and will.

As a result of the visit, as members of ANIMA team (a communication project that intends to spread useful wisdom), the group produced several videos about the life of Paracelsus, the energy of the valley, the meaning of alchemy and the group of fire philosophers. The videos will be publishing once a week during the next 3 months.

You can find the Spanish videos with English subtitles in this channel. And the English videos in this channel (one video, others under production).

Before arriving there

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.

Looking back to the journey to India 10 days after returning, the impact of the experiences slowly become clearer. The memories of details recede; exchanges with close friends or with my wife have given shape to certain moments by telling about them. But there is more to it, and it needs time to digest. It is one thing to be under the direct impact of situations and exchanges and it is another to observe transformations happening inside and to perceive how the trip was enriching to the inner growth of awareness. There were moments and observations which have contributed to it.

I have been at many group lives and seminars with Master Kumar over the last 25 years – journeys to India, in Europe, to North and South America. I have been keen on absorbing the teachings, on digesting them by intense taking notes, on developing a network of like-minded people. Friendships developed or were deepened. There were incidences and encounters which moved and partly challenged me – health issues, digesting situations and impressions, re-stabilizing in everyday life after some climax experiences. There were ideas for projects or service activities coming up which needed to be developed through months and years. This has been much enriching for my life. It was and is an unfoldment to many dimensions.

The last journey has been special – short but again very intense: two days of travelling, five days of group living, long hours of meditation, of rituals, of long lectures of the Master full of energy and with great presence, where he was surmounting all physical disabilities, radiating joyfulness, uplifting the large group present in the hall and outside and also participating online somewhere on the planet. Intense talks; eating in the hall with the other Westerners, where mindful and cheerful Indian ladies, group members, took lovingly care of serving us food; being accommodated as a group in the houses of group members in the surrounding. Sleeping on a mattress on the floor, short nights, getting up at a quarter to four, having time for bathroom and doing asanas before going to the morning prayers. Witnessing much attention of many helpers looking to the many details of organising – arrivals and departures of the participants, housing, transports – in an unexcited and efficient way… A strong presence of group consciousness with a pleasant absence of a commercial attitude. An experience of brotherhood.

After the journey, I try to distil what I should integrate into my way of life and add to my daily or weekly practices. This part goes more to the core and has a long lasting influence. There were hints of Sri Kumar which impressed me – on the importance of one-to-one relations in group building; on sharing one’s knowledge about the Hierarchy and the wisdom teachings and letting friends and relatives participate; on the inner strength needed for conducting ritualistic work and its magnetism; on the power of inner relating and visualising; on feeling the Master consciousness existing as ourselves and recollecting the presence of the Master. Not much can be mentioned here. But applying such hints is the essence of experience and development. Otherwise, things are quickly forgotten, and the journey would just have been an entertaining adventure.