Yesterday morning it was rainy and windy. However, later the rain stopped when we left for a visit of the city of Lübeck. Lübeck was an important trading town in medieval times, with a number of churches and towers with green rust covered tops.

We parked our car near the Petrikirche and entered the huge nave: a high, white room at the end of which two Japanese violin players gave a concert – the sounds beautifully echoing through space.

The church from medieval times had been bombed in World War 2 and later reconstructed. It now was a place open for religious, cultural and social activities of all kinds – a real open space in a sacral ambience.

We took the elevator up the church tower to the platform from where you have a beautiful view over the city:

The old town hall with the market place

The Holstentor

Later we descended again and went over the market place over to the Marienkirche. In front of it there a little devil sitting on a stone:

A plate told the story of this devil:

During the construction of the church the devil joined helping the construction and so the work went on very quickly. He was so cooperative because he thought that a tavern was being built. When he came to know that it was a church he got very angry, rose into the air, got a heavy stone and wanted to destroy the church. He was about to throw down the stone as a craftsman saw him and told him, “Better wait, a wine tavern will be constructed just in front of the church and thus many people will come and go there.” And so it was: Just on the other side of the road there is an old wine tavern which is well frequented. And the devil was happy about it…

We turned around the corner and came to the shop cum café of a famous Lübeck marzipan manufacturer. In the shop window there was the model of  New York city buildings and the statue of Liberty done with Marzipan.

The Empire State building with reflections of the old Townhall of Lübeck

The Statue of Liberty

Street café, all done with Marzipan

We bought a marzipan elephant as a gift for a friend and then went home.

In the afternoon we went for a one hour drive to Hamburg to meet the little WTT group for Cancer Full Moon meditation in the centre of the city.

A little angel on the window sill in the house of our Hamburg friend

A little Ganesha statue blessing on the meditation table

Afterwards we had a beautiful dinner together prepared by our friend

Afterwards we read extracts of the chapter on Cancer in Spiritual Astrology by Master EK and then talked about the qualities of Cancer as the different persons experience them. Speaking about sensitivity the talk came to the reactions one has when others are judging about oneself or about friends. My wife told an experience she had with a coach who said to her, “When someone else is talking bad about a friend of you, what does this have to do with your relation to this friend? You don’t have to let yourself be touched.” By just staying aligned to your soul and not letting get drowned into the judgements of others you don’t get wounded by their words and the repercussions they otherwise have in the surroundings.

At the end my friend took some photos of my wife and me, and my wife wanted that one is put on the blog, too – something I normally don’t do. So here it comes.

Just before starting yesterday for the next part of our journey my friend showed me the sign of Maitreya she once got worked out by a goldsmith friend:

The flowers were full of raindrops when we started our journey northwards towards Lübeck at the Baltic Sea.

In the late afternoon we arrived at the next place in the surroundings of  Lübeck where our friend has an Ayurveda health practice. She showed us the work she is doing – and then moved empty her practice for us to have a place to stay.

I love the Nordic ambiance – red houses, flowers, full green vegetation.

View of the balcony

and looking down into the garden, where an artist has exposed some objects:

A wooden fish looking up

Sun greeting at the entrance

Little angel blessing from the window frame

And of course a little Buddha…

After meditation and dinner we had a walk along a nearby channel constucted over 100 years ago. We had to walk through high reed and nettles – with our sandals… Later it started raining so that we had to walk back. Since there was no official way to the channel, we walked through the garden of the landlord.

How could the horse see us through its hair?

Yesterday afternoon while my wife was out for an exchange with  friend, the friend where we are passing these days took me out on a tour with an e-bike. We went along a small river, fields and forests to a little idyllic moor lake with some boat rentals. We sat on the board of the lake and talked for a while.

Crossing a little river

One of the boat rentals

On the way home the battery went down (it wasn’t full) and so I had to pedal a bit harder.

In the evening the husband returned home. He is a bike specialist and works as a consultant in bike development situations. He had been at a meeting where they were discussing how the legal regulations can cope with all the effects of the new forms of electric mobility. He told me about the difficulties arising out of the e-bike boom – organisation of battery wast disposal, of traffic regulations, of forming technicians for the maintenance and regulating this formation, of discussions ins whose area the work with e-bike falls – electricians, engineers, bike specialist… He explained the difficulties with the development of e-mobility meeting similar problems like with the upcoming of automobiles 100 years ago when the cars were there, but you had to buy petrol in small bottles from the pharmacies…

Other fascinating talks followed in the evening.

On the terrace

In the early morning I enjoyed again doing my yoga asanas on the terrace looking at the ancient church which the Church had sold some years ago. Now there are concerts and other social activities in the old building. In the evening we had observed a young kestrel sitting above the windows of the church.

View from the terrace during early morning asanas

We had a beautiful morning meditation and breakfast together and soon will start for the next part of our journey. Here are some more impressions from inside the rooms.

Orchids in early morning light

Buddha meditating under the orchids

Paper dove flying through the room

Angel enjoying the morning in front of the image of a Madonna from Austria

Another angel with a candle in front of a picture of Nicholas Roerich

A Buddha and a lingam in front of a picture of Roerich

The golden Buddha meditating

Ganesha with the Cosmic Egg

Krishna playing some morning music on his flute

Gandhi smiling from the shelves

Ganesha blessing with a lotus

The tour goes on, with many exchanges and impressions – deep topics, but not much to blog about.

Prayer flags in the kitchen window

I jokingly told some of my friends that we are on a Buddha-tour – everywhere we see Buddha statues, and it’s a sport for me to take some pics of the statues of Buddhas and other spiritual beings standing in the houses and gardens.

We also met various forms of the sign of perfection we also use for the Circle of Good-Will:

This is not a crop circle 🙂

Yesterday evening my wife asked me why I like this kind of traveling – since several of our friends told us that for them such visits would be very strenuous. I mostly don’t feel so. I love these exchanges. Normally at home I don’t have much contact besides work. So I find it very interesting to see how our friends are in life, how they integrate spiritual orientation with all the challenges of everyday life, how they deal with the ups and downs of the path, the inspirations and irritations. It mostly takes some moments to “dive into” the atmosphere and understand the specific rhythms and ways of organizing the daily routine, but we quickly find deeper issues in our talks.

The Sun Chariot drawn by seven horses, the seven rays

Some people, however, “hide” themselves behind smalltalk, or, worse, behind “logorhea” – talking without pause like a waterfall and thus cutting themselves from the flow of exchange. This works like an energy-vampire and leaves you depleted. It is some kind of egocentrism and blockage out of a dominant mind. Few were these situations, but normally not so easy to handle. In such situations I just keep silent.

A Ganesha statue in Bielefeld

This time one question particularly interests us and we ask it our friends: “What (deeper) issues occupy you at the present moment?” Several of our friends are at an age where their parents are getting old and in need of care, especially when they are sick or even suffering from dementia. The other side is, which ways the grown-up children take to – often orienting away from the parents and defining their own ways – basic questions of parents in our age. Then the balance between profession and health, stress…

Living together

One point which is very profound is the conflict between ideals – one’s own or others – and the way they might distort the view of how other people are. Many have gone through very enthusiastic times on the path and have become much more distanced, or have undergone deep reorientations. Some try to hold to an ideal but experience conflicts with others who don’t hold to these concepts or force them to modify.

Butterfly, symbol of transformation – shot taken yesterday in the garden of friends

Some have gone through deep inner crises, where inner wounds of the past had come up, causing pains and demanding attention and healing.

A yard of a little castle where one of our friends is living

Listening to such feelings in an open, attentive way gives relief, for empathy is a great healer. But it also mirrors one’s own stories, and I have to see that I remain centered in my self or quickly come back to it again.

Krishna statue with a crystal globe

My wife yesterday told again an event she had some weeks ago:

In June she was in Munich at a seminar about Radical Foregiveness with Colin Tipping. She took the “direct train” back via Zurich. However, there were railroad works near the Lake of Constance, and they had to change to a regional train and then to another train.

It was a hot day and when they had to leave the intercity train she saw a couple clad in black clothes, tattooed, both very obese and carrying big suitcases. Then man panted. A voice from the load-speakers said in a sharp voice: “Please hurry up to the other platform, the train is leaving soon. … Please hurry up….”

The man was furious: “Incredible, we have paid 200 Euros and this is such a bad service.” They had to cross the railways and walk on the other platform to the regional train. The voice from the loudspeaker kept on reminding, “Please hurry up, the train is leaving soon.” My wife entered the wagon together with the couple. The places were all occupied and so they remained standing at the entrance. She saw that the man was boiling inwardly. For a moment she reflected whether she should talk to the man or not. Then she said, “Inefficiency makes you angry, yes?”

The man looked incredulously and said: “Yes! At my work I cannot be so inefficient, we have to be very precise…” – And that is injust.” – Again he looked astonished: “Yes!”

His girlfriend looked at my wife and just said, “Validating?”. My wife, “Yes.” – Are you working in a care profession?” – “No, I’m becoming a coach.” “Ah!” Later they changed again the train to the next intercity. My wife helped to carry the luggage of the man who had calmed down, and later they sait not far from each other and exchanged some more words.

My wife explained that giving space to another person without trying to solve his problem, just giving presence, helps very much to comeinto contact with oneself.

A fairy bringing light – a candelabra in the house of our friends

Yesterday morning started with a beautiful fire ritual in the garden of our friends.

Fire ritual in front of the Krishna statue in the garden

After breakfast there was a group meeting where we studied some pages from “Esoteric Healing“, about how to deal with blockages in the etheric body.

Later we continued our journey and made a stop at a place at the countryside not far away from my old home town. There we met two friend with whom we had been together over a decade in a spiritual group, where, under the garb of esoteric studies and discipleship training, a lot of atrocities had happened. Those who had been in the group had undergone quite some inner wounds – merciless hurting others in the name of merciful living. The group had dissolved later, a number of them joined the WTT with which we are now associated. We had a deep exchange about these times and what had happened and the path we had taken since. All of us had taken to the work of healing inner wounds and trying to assist others in this.

A ceramic globe in the garden of our friends

Then we continued our journey to the home of other friends near Bielefeld, where we stay at the moment. Again some good talks till late in the night.

OM at the entrance of the house

A blessing Buddha on the other side of the wall with the OM

Yesterday after breakfast and a continuation of an interesting interpretation of my astro-chart our journey continued through Belgium to Germany, to the house of friends in Bonn where we spend some hours – with exchanges, but nothing for blogging 😉 In the evening we continued to Wermelskirchen to the house of our friends where the HQ of WTT-Germany is located. Relaxing talks, some work on the new Vaisakh Newsletter, strolling through the town to do some shopping. Here are some photo impressions from around the house and the garden.

Krishna statue in the garden

A holographic picture of Master CVV

A holographic picture of Sri Kumar in front of his books on Uranus

Miniature sandals, a symbol of the teacher principle

A relief picture of Mount Kailash

Symbol in blue

Symbol of the swan, Hamsa, the pulsation of life

In the morning I had a long talk with my friend about dealing with emotional wounds.

Dawn in the kitchen

All of us have encountered different situations from early childhood on where we have formed different convictions, like a feeling of being rejected by others, of not being loved by the mother, or many similar experiences. Later we interpret situations along beliefs formed on these experiences, and we create situations that confirm these beliefs. And we then believe that it is true, without recognizing that these beliefs are just there to teach us that we have to work on something in our biography. We become victims of our creeds and normally see the cause for the related situations in others.  We try to hide our uncertainties behind concepts and convictions. You have to consciously go through the related experiences to be able to let them go.

It is important not to hide behind facades, be it spiritual ones or other forms. it is a long process of self-discovery.

Later another friend had a look at my chart and gave me some interesting insights. After a beautiful lunch in the garden we had a walk through the nearby countryside, and then we returned for evening meditation followed by a water ritual.

The end of the water ritual

In the evening we met with the group of friends in the house of the daughter for dinner in the garden and a beautiful evening under a high sky.

The “Japanese Garden”

Some impressions:

Ganesha blessing from a corner

Buddha in deep contemplation

Krishna playing his lovely flute music

A Chinese statue of a disciple holding his teacher on the arm

Buddha meditating on world peace

Yesterday the morning started with a fire ritual followed by a beautiful breakfast in the garden.

Two of our friends told me how they discovered the place where they now have the healing centre Centre Caducée. Next to their house there was another house which one could not see. It was surrounded by many high fir trees. An old man who lived there had died and the house was for sale, but no one wanted to buy it. The lady of my friends had once an intuition about having something to do with that house, but there was no way how. After a year they again thought if the house was for sale, they searched on the web and found out it was.

They arranged a visit and saw it was in a bad shape, quite dark, low and dark rooms, but the place was attracting them very much. So they decided to buy. Together with some friends they cut all the pine trees so that light could enter, they renovated the inner and the man of my friends, who is since many years a doctor in Brussels decided to shift part of his practice here and to start there another kind of work.

They showed us the house which has been beautifully renovated. Surrounded by forests it is a very nice place for healing work.

The Centre Caducée

The rest of the day was filled with a lot of other inspiring exchanges.

Buddha meditating in the garden

The second day of our journey started with a little water ritual in the house of our friends. There had been long talks till late night, so we left a bit later.

Driving through hilly areas of Palatinate we saw beautiful old villages. At noon we stopped at the house of a friend near Saarbrücken. She had been for a visit to our house 3 weeks ago and it was only on a very short notice we decided to include this stop-over on our journey. We had some talks about coaching work and about the quality of rooms: She is living for the moment in the house of her late  parents and she described the work she did for cleaning the subtle space which was filled with quite some old and dark energies of the past.

Many people seem to be unconscious what kind of energies are being built up through our thoughts and habits, and these stay in the subtle realms over long periods. Master Morya in one of the Agni Yoga books even recomments that new cities should better be build on virgin ground….

In the garden we had a look at the vegetables – with a Buddha statue meditating among them ) and cherries (not only a look), greeted some donkeys and horses before we continued our journey.

The Vegetable Buddha

A salat mandala

Do you hear the sound of silence?

The highway brought us via Luxembourg – where we had another highway stop in some “no where land”, which reminded us of a motor rest in Southern France, they looked so similar…. – to the house of our next visit, near Brussels. Friends of us have some houses in a little forest where they are living already simce more than 2 decennies, a beautiful and peaceful place. We had our evening meditation together and then a hearty get-together with dinner…

The dog of our friends