At places where nature is particularly beautiful and tranquillity prevails, we might sense a special sublime energy, when we have an orientation to the inside. Otherwise, we will just walk by without noticing anything special. We can find such places of energy at riversides, forests, mountain valleys, waterfalls or lakes. With a certain sensitivity and a keen eye, we may experience the sublime presence of high souls through subtle hints, without being emotional about it. Such places are subtle ashrams and they might also be in the proximity of our villages, towns and cities. But we have to develop the necessary faculty and approach them with an attitude of respect. Then, it is good to visit such points from time to time in a spirit of pilgrimage.

Sunday 17 October, there was a clear golden sunshine, and my wife and I decided on a short notice to make an excursion to the Lauterbrunnen valley near Interlaken for a walking tour. It is a beautiful valley about 60 km from our home, surrounded on one side by the towering mountains Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau and on the other side by the Schilthorn. The meaning of the word “Lauterbrunnen” is “pure fountain”.

We wanted to walk from Lauterbrunnen to Stechelberg at the end of the valley, then take the cable car to Mürren, a mountain village on a terrace above the valley at the foot of the Schilthorn. It cannot be reached by public road, only by cable cars. From there, we wanted to walk along the edge to Grütschalp and from there back by another cable car to Lauterbrunnen.

We did not want to take the huge parking house in the town but went to a little open-air parking outside Lauterbrunnen. And we had to smile about the “analogous” way of collecting the fee, not with a machine but in an envelope and noting hand-written the details of the stay…
The valley shone in glistening sunlight. I had to think of the visit to Yosemite valley two years ago.

On the opposite side there were already the famous Staubbachfalls pouring down the rocks for nearly 300 meters like pure energy of liquid dust – the meaning of the name of the falls – an overwhelming feeling of purity and majesty.

We crossed the valley and went along the Weisse Lütschine river to a nearby camping site where we wanted to have lunch. When we turned towards the falls, there was a children playground and behind it a graveyard.

My wife immediately felt the presence of a great number of earthbound souls hovering around. I also sensed them – many seem to get stuck on the way up due to today’s materialistic orientation and ignorance about the subtle worlds. We went into a little road next to the cemetery. My wife started doing her inner work ( I have blogged about it several times); I also did some visualisation guiding them towards the light. We did not want to attract the attention of the passing tourists and kept it short.

The noon light was shining on the downpour of waters and the air was filled with the shining “water dust” coming down along the rocks – a most sublime presence. You can easily imagine some dancing devas.

We then came along an old house covered with grass…

… and, on the way to the restaurant, of a chalet full of flowers before the windows.

After lunch in open air, we took the path along the river which was glittering like molten sunlight.

We quickly went on, passed by the Trümmelbach waterfalls inside a mountain – we had seen another time.

At one point you can see the Mount Jungfrau through a small valley. The perspective reminded me of a photo of Mount Kailash in Tibet. Pyramid-like or conical mountains are particularly good at bringing energies down to the earth. You might read more about it in the Lunar Messenger about Pyramid and Double Pyramid.

Towards the end of the valley, there is the rope-way station of Stechelberg going up to Mürren. A cabin just left on our arrival, so we had to wait for the next one. In the station, there were again a number of East Asian tourists and others. The lady at the cash desk was happy that tourism is coming back to normal.

Coming out of the station in Mürren, there is a breathtaking view of the towering mountains on the other side. At one place, there was a scaffold for a new construction near the edge of the cliff. Some tourists were standing around, and one of them suddenly climbed up for the group to take pics of him. We felt, OMG, he is crazy – deaths through selfies and tourist photos is globally rising high.

We walked through the village along hotels and lodges, partly already closed until winter, and then followed the railway leading to Grütschalp. Most tourists took the train or another cable-car. We continued walking – soon there were nearly no more hikers.

Walking along the rails and the electrical cables was not so nice, so we decided to try a way up. One road was blocked due to repair; the way we chose was a bit steep in the beginning and the sunlight was dazzling me. I had to close the eyes and felt dizzy. My wife helped me to continue up the rocky path through the forest. When after a while we arrived on a plateau, there was a mountain biker waiting for us to give way. He then jumped down over the rocks with great speed- we wondered how he could manage to do so – and avoid other hikers coming up.

Now the path became broader and slowly went down.

The whole time there were varying views of the “holy trinity”, Eiger, Mönch (monk) and Jungfrau mountains. For a while, we focused to perceive the subtle energies of the mountain range, and there was a feeling of sublime deva presence. We thought of Master Kumar mentioning that there is an ashram in the subtle spheres around Mount Jungfrau. (You can read more about subtle ashrams in the book of Sri Kumar on “Ashram – Regulations for Entry“.)

Jungfrau meaning virgin, Virgo. There was a profound pristine purity around. Switzerland is said to be ruled astrologically by Virgo – and this was like the manifestation of the quality.

On the other side of the valley, there was the village of Wengen. My thoughts went back to an important seminar of Master Kumar in Wengen about Sri Suktam, the hymn of the World Mother in 2002 – at the feet of the Virgin Mountain. (There exists an English transcription and a German translation of the seminar.)

It was still some distance until Grütschalp and in the shadow it was nippy. At some places we saw some pieces of frost. At others, there were turnpike-like metal structures. We wondered what they were good for – and discovered that they belong to the snow-making system of the ski slopes… We imagined the masses of skiers coming soon in winter.

But now, we were the only hikers on the way, surrounded by profound silence. Although a bit tired, we were like impregnated by the gorgeous panorama.

At Grütschalp, the tourists coming by mountain train from Mürren and other places arrived at the top station of the rope-way. From there, it goes down to the Lauterbrunnen train station and from there to Interlaken and other places. When gliding down into the valley, the high mountains looked as if they were sinking behind the promontories – a final view, and then they were hidden behind the steep rock walls of the valley.

A final walk through Lauterbrunnen, back to the parking and then driving home. A big traffic jam awaited us on the highway – we were not the only ones who took advantage of the nice weather.

On the lower levels of awareness, Scorpio stands for darkness and loss of consciousness. When we lose ourselves in the outer life, the light of the soul disappears; we are trapped. Especially in the month of Scorpio we should withdraw from unimportant activities and delve more into meditation. It is on inner levels where we can experience much light and bring it into everyday life. Scorpio thus offers the opportunity to encounter and overcome our undesired patterns.

The symbolism of Scorpio is visualised in the twelve Scorpio paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

On his symbolic journey through the zodiac, the Sun in Scorpio reaches the darkness of the underworlds. Scorpio stands for loss of consciousness and death experiences. These experiences often seem frightening because they reflect encounters with the dark aspects of our personality not yet purified. Scorpio enables us to enter into the silence for inner transformation and ascension to the light.

Scorpio represents the threshold to the infernal worlds. At this threshold a Master watches over the planet and its beings, ensuring that no one falls into the nether worlds. The Master is symbolised by the three-headed watchdog called Sarama in the East and Cerberus (Kerberos) in Greek mythology. Sarama stands for the dog star Sirius, the watchdog of our system. Master Jupiter is this watchdog.

To illustrate this symbolism, I transformed a Wikimedia photo by Matthiasberlin showing a group of statues from the archaeological museum of Heraklion, Greece. It depicts the three-headed Cerberus at the threshold of the underworld, surrounded by Hades/Pluto, the regent of the underworld, and his wife Persephone. She represents the part of the immortal soul that goes through the experiences of birth and death.

The symbolism of Scorpio is visualised in the twelve Scorpio paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

I was invited via Mark, a friend from Seattle, to give a talk at the Theosophical Society in Seattle via Zoom. The theme: “Creativity and Originality: From the Inside to the Outside and Back“. In Seattle, it was 4-5:30 pm, for me, it was 1 – 2:30 am Monday morning.

I enjoyed very much the “night fly to Seattle” to be with the group there, and several of my friends from the US participated. After the presentation, a member of the organising team of TS Seattle wrote: “Under the clothing of art you managed to convey much wisdom; it’s much appreciated”.

The presentation is about 1 hour. A month before, I had given the same talk for the German community of the WTT. There is also now a French version of the presentation.

Here is the link to the PDF text of the talk. And this link leads to the talk of my friend Mark about “Master KPK and Meetings with Remarkable People“.

10 days ago, a friend sent me some photos of Mount Girnar, a very sacred place in Gujarat, India, linked to Lord Dattatreya, where he is said to dwell. In 2018, my friend Srinivas sent me some copies of the book “Experiencing Divinity” written and self-published by Pramod Kene. It is about his spiritual discipline of climbing Mount Girnar 50 times. (The publisher is given as: Pramod Kene, Vartak Aali, Chaul, Talula Alibag, District Raigad, Maharashtra – 402203, India. Price: Rs.300/-)

I read the book with great fascination and distributed the extra-copies to friends. Srinivas now also gave a text extract from the book of Sri Kene about Mount Girnar, which you find below. You might not understand all the expressions in the text but you can read it with the heart. Srinivas also sent the pics of a sunrise at Girnar and a video, but it is not published on the web. So I give another video from YouTube for you to get an impression of climbing the sacred mount.

“Girnar is an immutable abode of Sri Datta Maharaj. There is no place for doubt whatsoever.

This is the place where Sri Dattatreya Swamy has given in person Darshan to many saints. It is no wonder that from the immemorial several Siddha Yogis are engrossed in sadhana in the caves of Girnar.

The unparalleled beauty and grandeur of Mount Girnar is simply breathtaking…!

Girnar is “TAPOBHOOMI”, a land dedicated to sadhana and tapasya of Sri Datta Maharaj.

It is on the summit of Mount Girnar where Sri Datta Maharaj did tapas for 12000 years leaving “CHARANA PADUKA” behind that are a source of motivation to all Sri Datta Devotees.

All the avatars of the almighty had their work associated with the needs of that specific time line whereas the avatar of Sri Datta Maharaj is immortal and his work is timeless.

Sri Datta Maharaj is Guru of the Gurus and till data Swamy continues to guide all.

The blessings obtained in return of our deep and faithful devotion towards Sri Datta are undoubtedly manifold.

The task of punishing and bringing a strayed devotee back on the righteous path can only be done by Sri Datta.

The more you adore him, the more Sri Datta Maharaj radiates his affection in return.

The moment one enters the virtuous land of Girnar one can feel the positive vibes.

At a height of 3666 feet, is the pinnacle of Mount Girnar and is the dwelling of Gorakhkshanath. He did some very rigorous tapas here owing to which Sri Datta Maharaj blessed him by giving him personal darshan. Located here are Gorakhkshanath “Charan Paduka and Dhuni”.

Adjacent is a small tunnel and it is believed that one who passes through this tunnel gets away to “MUKTI”.

Next peak in line is the GuruShikar. GuruShikar is straight up and conical in shape.

At its top, at a height of 3630 feet above sea level, located are the CharanPaduka of Sri Datta Maharaj that are controlling the UNIVERSE.

Generally, the place of Guru is at the topmost position, but Gorakhkshanath prayed to Sri Datta Maharaj that he be at such a location that he could get a view of the Charan Paduka of Sri Datta Maharaj all the time. Sri Datta Maharaj agreed to this and for this reason, the Gorakhksha peak is slightly higher then GuruShikar.

From here Gorakhkshanath takes darshan of the Charan Paduka of Sri Datta Maharaj.

In ShivPuran Girnar is referred to as Revataachal Mountain.

In Skand Puran, it is named as Raivat, Revataachal, Kumud, Ujjayant.

The names Revataachal, Kumud, Ujjayant are associated with “Trimurti”.

There are indications in the puranas that Lord Ram and the Pandavs lived here in Girnar.

As per historic indications, “Girnar is older than Himalaya”.”

The message and task of Libra is poise, harmony and equilibrium. We find balance not by withdrawing from responsibilities, but by establishing a dynamic harmony between the different areas of our lives – between inner and outer life, between rest and activity. If the balance is disturbed, disorder and crises arise. We need to make right decisions and act appropriately. The Wisdom Teachings tell us right choice is always made when we align with the Will to Good.

The symbolism of Libra is visualised in the twelve Libra paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

We met in the time-space of the Libra equinox 2021 in the spirit of the ONE Master-Energy. 19 members from Denmark, Germany and Switzerland could overcome all obstacles and came to Hamburg for this 12th “CVV Sharing” group life from 24 – 26 September 2021.

The energy of synthesis brought us together once again. We met in the San Bao centre, a school for Tai Chi and Qigong in a quiet backyard. Through the windows we could see from time to time some other people of a silence retreat practicing conscious walking. Also inside, it was a simple but beautiful place.

The motto of the meeting was “CVV activates change. Be the change by tuning into the energy of synthesis.” The keynote from Master KPK given for this year’s CVV Sharing was: “Just relate to Me in and around in all that surrounds you, animate or inanimate. Thereby you reach Me. Abandon all other religious rules and regulations. They are a burden.”

The meeting started with the Friday evening meditation. In the afternoon we met with the organising team in a nearby AirBnB-flat and later prepared the assembly hall. Corona times demanded certain registrations, also in the restaurants. There were new stricter rules in Hamburg but they did not touch us. It was heart-warming to meet again. In the evening, Benjamin shared some reflections on the energy of equinox. Ute introduced some thoughts of how the group might relate in the night and during morning prayer, which we had in our respective accommodations. During the days, we had meditations/prayers every three hours. The evenings concluded with the Mystic Mantrams of Master CVV.

The group members were proposed to bring symbols or things as their expression of the energy of synthesis. Saturday morning, each member presented his or her item with some words, and decorated with them a shelf as a small altar during the group life – symbols, candles ….

Throughout the day we experienced different aspects of the MASTER energy through meditations, rituals, little inputs, group works, sharing in the forum. There were also breaks for personal contacts and exchange.

Saturday morning we did an experiment with a meditative ritual – first linking to the energies of the directions, then a guided visualisation, “Buddhi Sharing”, a group meeting on the inner platform, and afterwards an exchange in the group.

In the afternoon there was an input and an exchange about the qualities of the present time followed by a triangle group exchange in small varying sub-groups about our relation to groups.

Sunday morning, members presented inspirational thoughts / quotes / poems they wanted to share with the group. Afterwards there was an “open space” and an exchange about the future development of the CVV Sharing meetings. A next meeting is already planned for spring equinox at a seminar centre in North Germany.

At noon we joined as a group the World Health and Healing prayer. And after lunch, there was already the closing round, clean-up and departure. A magic time-space closed again only to open up again in future at some other moment.

For me, 1.5 days of travelling back followed, with a friend from South Germany and an overnight-stay at the home of other group members. It was a very intense and rich time, after a longer period of mainly virtual group meetings.

In the wisdom teachings, creation is described as a wheel without beginning and end, which appears cyclically. Each new cycle has its own freshness, but the basic structures remain largely the same. When the impulse for a creation comes, the wheel begins its movement and radiates time and space. The point at the beginning of creation radiates and expands becoming a globe. With the movement of time, rays of light come forth. Objectivity emerges from subjectivity. The forms gradually take on denser matter; the cosmos and its stars are born and form the visible creation.

The underlying essence of everything is called Narayana in the East, the indwelling God Vasudeva and the all-pervading God Vishnu. Libra symbolises the principle of the fulcrum that causes the wheel to turn.

For the visualisation of the Wheel of Creation, I used a photograph of the Sombrero Galaxy taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (NASA/ESA). I worked on the image of a statue of Vishnu as Vishvarupa, the embodiment of the cosmic person. It stands on the serpent Ananta, the endlessness. Its many heads symbolise the variety of phenomena. The planes of creation emerging from the centre of existence are indicated by the rainbow circle.

The symbolism of Libra is visualised in the twelve Libra paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

I will give a Zoom presentation for the Theosophical Society, Seattle, Washington, USA about “Creativity and Originality. From the Inside to the Outside and Back.” It is on Sunday, 10 October 2021 04:00 pm PDT (US West Coast time, – October 11th, 01:00 am Central European time). You can register for this talk via their website.

There will be the same talk already next Wednesday, 8 September, 07:00 – 08:00 pm Central European time) in German. It is part of a series of lectures of the German-speaking community of the World Teacher Trust on various topics with a spiritual background broadcasted via Zoom. You find here the program with the login details.

On the website of the Theosophical Society, it says about the presentation:
“Ludger will explore different aspects of originality and creativity showing subtle aspects of the creative process and how this manifests through external creations and their affect on us. By discussing a piece of his own art work, he will show the evolution of the creative process that came out of his own inner exploration and realizations. His artwork is dedicated to express occult ideas and themes to convey a visual access to sublime spiritual concepts.”

Today two weeks ago, Jannes suddenly passed over. I was deeply touched when I read the e-mail of his parents informing that he had left – a thrombosis in the brain. His 33rd birthday would have been three days ago.

When I sent out the information via the mailing lists to the groups of the WTT, there were many reaction. Many people in different parts of the world knew Jannes. He had grown up in Berlin in a family deeply related to the WTT, and so he had participated in various group lives with Master Kumar, where I had met him early.

In 2006, I spent a week with my family in their home in Berlin. Jannes was 17, my boys 15 and 13. Jannes already had a pilot’s licence for gliders since the age of 15. And he even had a glider he could use, a 2-seater. It was stationed on a glider airfield in Brandenburg, an old military airport from GDR times, not far from Berlin. He spent all his free time there, in the aero-club. And he invited us for a flight. It was a great adventure for all of us.

I did the first tour. Shortly after starting, we reached an updraft and in small spirals we zoomed up like in an elevator, up to 1200m. Then we went to a tour over the country for 45 minutes. The next flights were my sons and my wife. The next days we went to different places in Berlin together with the Berlin group, and Jannes.

I met him several times in India. He was always very help-oriented, and so I asked him to take care of organising things for the group, which he did very willingly. I always tried to integrate young people in goodwill activities, for which it needs time, willingness to selflessly commit themselves, skills and the readiness to work in a team network. And endurance to carry out, under a certain supervision. Few were willing or able to do so. Jannes was.

In 2012 already, I had asked him to help preparing the German pages for the relaunch of the WTT website – quite a lot of work, and he was the only one working on this, carefully. In 2016, when we dared to bring a major part of the WTT website into Portuguese language, with the help of an American lady, a retired translator living in Sao Paulo, he also did it single-handedly.

At the same time, and besides his studies, he earned his living. Jannes worked in an organisation selling magazine subscription for nature organizations – for the birds, for the Nature Federation of Germany, etc. – a touch job, but he liked it. They went for a week or two to a certain area in Germany and there went from house to house, according to a plan, trying to get subscription contracts. From there, he received the money.

From a distance, I witnessed different crises he was going through, crises of relations which broke, crises in his studies, in the search to find his path. It was a rigorous training by life. From time to time we exchanged about it.

Jannes’ great dream was to become a Lufthansa pilot. He had to overcome a number of difficulties, and it was a challenging formation in Europe and in the US, but he succeeded. And there were long times between the trainings. So, he studied economy and later physics – he did not want to rely on being a pilot only. He did a bachelor and was about to do a Master degree. When he got his pilot licence, Lufthansa had stopped employing new pilots, so he went for a while to Air Berlin. Later, he got his job with German Wings, an airline belonging to Lufthansa but with lower wages. But then a little virus made its tour over the globe, and with the pandemia breakdown many pilots could not fly. Jannes was on short-time work and he focused on his studies.

The last time we met was in 2019 at Mount Shasta in California, during the May Call seminar with Master Kumar, his last international tour.

The last direct contact I had with Jannes was beginning of this year, when I asked him if he could help in the digital archives project, and he said yes. But the stage where he could be of help had not yet come. He passed over on Leo full moon. Thursday before his passing, Master Kumar had written:

“Jannes is very dear to me and to all of us. We let him go today himself as moon is ascending towards Full moon by Sunday. He finds his way into freer and lighter world. We join forces for his peaceful and later joyful journey. Om Santhi.”