Today is summer solstice and the beginning of the month of Cancer. In his booklet, “The Science of Symbolism“, Master EK writes about the symbolism of this sign:

“When the earth begins to tilt back from the highest point of the summer solstice, the Sun appears to travel sidewise from North to South. Hence it is described as a crab while passing through this sign. A branch of symbolism represents it as the beetle which can resurrect a worm into a butterfly. This marks the transformation of matter into mind, the passage to spirit.”

The picture of the month, “Cancer – The Crab, the Tortoise and the Beetle”, illustrates three aspects of the symbolism of this sign.

Today I found on French Wikimedia the page with many pictures of Nicholas Roerich, some of them quite unknown in the West. Great paintings.

Kalki Avatar – the divine incarnation which comes on a white horse to save the world

Extract of the painting Fiat Rex, by Nicholas Roerich. It seems to be inspired by the picture of Master Morya.

She who holds the World

Path to Kailash

Na Visotah Tummo – tummo is the technique with which Yogis withstand the influence of heat or cold.

Sometimes you might feel at your wit’s end and don’t see a way out of a problem. As soon as you come again into contact with your inner potential you can rise again and continue your striving. The video with the song “Dear Father” by Neil Diamond, from the famous movie Jonathan Livingston Seagull just visualises this crisis. It is very inspiring. You find on YouTube more extracts / music from the film.

Picture from the video

An Indian friend sent me the link to this sublime video: “Lotus Flower Images – On White“, by photographer Bahman Farzad. Music by Ahmad Farzad, – a father-son production. There is another video by both: Lotus Flower Images. See also the website. Sublime!

Picture by Bahman Farzad, from the video

Here are some thoughts from the wisdom teachings of WTT about the month of Gemini:

Master EK says in his Full Moon Meditations, Gemini:
“The whole creation is an objectification of the subjectivity which we call God. These two aspects, Subjectivity and Objectivity are visualized as the first pair, Gemini. According to the ancient Indian tradition, Gemini represents a pair of supplementaries, subjectivity and objectivity.
Subjectivity is called the Lord and objectivity is called the power of the Lord in relation to his Lady. Hence the pair represents the birth of the first Androgyne, Sakti and Siva. The emblem is called Ardhanari (the male who is half female). The sign Gemini is worshipped as the temple of the Lord at the entrance of which there are two pillars, Boaz and Yakhin (word and meaning). Man passing through the gate between the two pillars represents himself expressing as word and his concept.”

In Hamburg, 1989, Master KPK said about Gemini: “Gemini is the sweet process of One existing as two. Is it not sweet to live together as man and woman? What is true in the lower world is also true in the higher world. What exists above exists below. So, the sweet experience of living in companionship is offered by Gemini. We know that Gemini is a symbol of man and woman given as two pillars. Who is the man and who is the woman? If you can take the male and female energy as man and woman, there is the proper understanding of the man and woman.”

And in Achberg, Germany, in 1991, he said: “Gemini gives hints to us that everything exists as two, but understand that which is two is only one. That is what is called ‘the lower pole merging with the higher pole’. This is normally known as the glyph of Gemini II. This is for all those who practise discrimination in the objective world. Discrimination is one of the important faculties of Gemini. For all objective working we are all required to work with discrimination, but subjectively we should carry the understanding that all that which appears as duality is nothing but the one manifesting as two. When we know this aspect of Gemini, we have known how to work with Gemini. It is a state of awareness, where we carry the understanding of oneness in the subjective plane and work in the objective plane with discrimination. Carry the understanding that the two keep functioning and according to the need of the hour we function with both of them with discrimination. That is the purpose of Gemini Full Moon.”

The picture, “Gemini – Union beyond Duality”, shows on three planes, between and above the pillars, Krishna and Radha as a symbol of duality and union.

Since 1910, the 29th May is celebrated as the day of group initiation. It was started by Master CVV,  who in 1910 received from higher circles the Energy of Synthesis that visited him through Halley‘s Comet, enabling him to transmit the Aquarian energies to the planet and to the beings of the planet. On 29 May, 1910, he started distributing the energies from Kumbakonam in South India. While he initiated the few who had assembled around him, he spread the energy in a great measure around the whole planet. Therefore, 29 May is celebrated as the day of group initiation, as May Call Day.

In the book Spiritual Astrology Master EK says that Uranus is the ruler of the Aquarian energies and that Master CVV had a spark of the metal Uranium emanating from his heart lotus. The picture: “May Call Day – Receiving the Energies of Synthesis” symbolically represents the reception of the energies and how they emanate from the heart centre. It is painted using different photos of comets, one with Halley’s Comet in the background and another photo, from 1910, of Halley’s Comet in the foreground on the body of Master CVV.

This morning on the way to my office I saw the spider in front of the Swiss National Bank building (left) and the Government (right) – a work of art entitled “Maman”, by the New York artist Louise Bourgeois, it is there for 10 days…. Quite symbolic. The artist called her work “maman” because her mother was busily engaged in keeping the family together, like a spider.

The spider with the Swiss Government building at the background

I today came over a nice website called “The World Garden“. There are photos from gardens from many countries, you can send them a picture of your garden to be added to the site. On the page there is an nice intro by Barbara Wolf:

“Long ago Mother Earth was a perfect garden. There was a perfect blueprint for her. Then, fragmentation began and today the garden is far from perfect. Let us turn the imperfect to the perfect.
We begin small; each of us making one piece of a world garden of perfection. We overlay our efforts, our tapestry, on the energies of imperfect Mother Earth. That is how we change the imperfect to the perfect.”

The site made me think of the book “Leaves of Morya’s Garden” from 1924. Here is an extract from the aphorism No 229:

Yes, yes, yes, each word of unity is as the seed of
some fair flower.
To cultivate a garden of beauty is permitted to all.
But where are the gardeners who can judge which seed is best?
We shall teach them to gather the fertile stalks.
We shall pluck out the blighting weeds.
And the ground where God has manifested Himself
We shall adorn with flowers.
But where the flowers of unity are—guard their petals.
Yes, yes, yes!

View from out of our living room

I just got the following story from a Canadian friend. I knew the anecdote, in a slightly different form, but having had very turbulent weeks at my office (with 2 big projects in their “hot” phases, resignations of colleagues in my team and the related recruitment interviews….) I found it a timely reminder – though the work-life-balance is still fine …

“A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things—your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions—and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. The sand is everything else—the small stuff.’

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first—the things that really matter. Set your priorities….. The rest is just sand.’

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked. The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers with a friend.’

Stones at the nearby river Aare

Though the precise moment of the Wesak (or Vaisakh) Festival is over since 2 hours I would like to post a Spanish video from YouTube showing scenes of the festival in a valley near Mount Kailash. For long times this festival related to Taurus full moon and the reception of sublime spiritual energies had been regarded as a mythological event reported about only by clairvoyants, but here you see Tibetan people celebrating it very much like described by Leadbeater or Master DK.

A friend also sent me the link to a film, “Journey to the Wesak Valley in Tibet“; the author who made the video describes his journey to the Vaisakh Festival, there are nice pictures on the site. Here are extracts on YouTube.

I only came to know later that at Vaisakh full moon this year there was the celebration of 2600 years of the Buddha’s enlightenment, with world-wide festivities.

Painting after a drawing in a book of Charles Leadbeater:

Vaisakh Full Moon at about 5 am seen from the veranda