Spiritual Celebrations and traditions of the world
Have the initiates of the past instituted celebrations simply for humans to amuse themselves? No, their intention was primarily to provide them with a pause, to suspend the work rhythm which, in that epoch, was continuous and exhausting since vacations and holidays were unheard of. These initiates wanted to set free, at least for a moment, the consciousness of so many men and women overburdened with duties that affected and destroyed their health; they wanted to create a release valve in order to free their restrained psychic energies. Celebrations and Feasts, through songs, dances, games, laughter and exchanges, can provide this release and create a fraternal ambiance in which people feel understood and supported.
Still, through these celebrations, initiates had yet another goal: they wanted to bring human beings to seek energies in these subtle regions that could regenerate and vivify their heart and soul. In this ambiance of joyous and beneficial exchanges, luminous entities come to draw energies, using them, afterwards, to carry on their work throughout the world. Do you wish to help them in their work? You can consciously offer them the joy and spiritual wealth a celebration has brought to you so that others can benefit as well. This joy, this wealth will be returned to you amplified. This is how the initiates, in their wisdom, understand the meaning of a celebration. For, if wisdom is solemn, it is also filled with gaiety.
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov - Izvor Collection, no. 243, The laughter of the wise, VI
Wessak - 25 mai 2013 | |
The Wesak (Vesak) is a very important feast in most of the Far East countries. It is celebrated under different names in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, Indonesia, Singapore. |
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, Collection Synopsis n° 3, VI, 3 The meaning of initiation is to teach human beings to free themselves from their inferior nature in order to vibrate in unison with Spirit, their true Self. Fusion with the Higher Self is fusion with God. Yes, to know thyself, is to become one with Divinity, as this spark, this spirit that dwells within is never separated from God. In looking for their true identity, in finding it, human beings attain the supreme consciousness of living and breathing in God. Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, Complete Works, Vol. 22 (2006 edition) The goal of initiation is to draw human beings away from their lower self in order to project them into the unlimited circle of cosmic consciousness. This consciousness already lives within them but they do not yet clearly experience it. The consciousness human beings hold of themselves is limited to their lower self. Yet, their lower self is not the real self. Their real self is their Higher Self, their sublime Self living within, working and manifesting itself. However, human beings are not yet fully aware of their Higher Self. |
Pâques - 21 avril 2014 | |
Easter is the most important Christian celebration. It commemorates the Resurrection of Jesus-Christ on the third day after his passion, as recounted in the Bible (New Testament). The solemnity begins on Easter Sunday, indicating for the Catholics the end of fasting for the Lent, and lasts eight days (Easter week or the radiant week or the week of the eight Sundays). Calculating the date of Easter is a rather complex process that varies depending on the region of the globe where it is celebrated and on the calendar used. In non orthodox European countries, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the full moon of the spring equinox. Easter Monday is also a statutory holiday in most countries of the Christian tradition as is Good Friday in certain countries. Easter is considered the most significant Christian feast and brings important and very solemn church services, particularly in the orthodox tradition. During the entire week, Orthodox Christians salute each other with the exclamation “Christ is resurrected!”, to which one answers “In truth, He is resurrected!” Many pagan traditions celebrating the return of spring are linked to Easter. The Easter egg, symbol of the germination taking place at the beginning of spring, is the most traditional gift for Easter day. Egg giving is a tradition dating back to antiquity. Egyptians and Romans already were offering painted eggs to the mother goddess (Venus, Isis, etc) in the spring because they were a symbol of life and rebirth. With the prohibition of egg consumption during Lent established by the Catholic church in the fourth century –unused eggs were decorated and given away as gifts. Nowadays, even with fasting not being as strictly followed, the tradition of giving out eggs, including chocolate ones, remains. In Belgium and in the South-West of France it is the Easter bells that bring the Easter eggs. A multitude of popular traditions have been created throughout Christian countries on the theme of the Easter egg, with eggs being decorated, painted, distributed or exchanged on Easter Sunday.
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Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, “Christmas and Easter in the initiatic tradition.”, pp. 98-99 “Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Jesus rising from the dead is proof that we too can accelerate the process of Resurrection. It comes to each one eventually. But for it to work a transformation in our thinking, feeling and acting, we must make every effort to improve. In the past, The Resurrection was part of the Initiatic Instruction in the Temples. Millions of beings have resuscitated: it is not necessary to die physically; there is no need for the tomb. Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, “Christmas and Easter in the initiatic tradition.”, p.112 & 113 “Nature has put signs everywhere, indications to show us how to make the Resurrection occur in us. When you meditate, you are a chrysalis shut up in your cocoon, preparing your metamorphosis. If you have not yet transformed yourself into a butterfly, it is because your efforts were insufficient, you have been too busy with your affairs, like a caterpillar dragging along and eating all the leaves off the trees. Then again you close yourself up in your cocoon and weave a few spiritual threads…but your affairs once more interrupt your work. Each day you start again…and so on, until the day when finally you come out of the cocoon: a butterfly! At that moment, you no longer want to destroy leaves, you feed only on nectar, that is, you draw on all that is most subtle in the heart and soul of men and women and have no desire to eat them or defile them. Each being has something delicious, a bit of nectar inside, and if you make a habit of tasting this nectar, from then on you will always fly in the Light. […] The meaning of prayer, of meditation, is precisely that, to teach man to nourish himself with food of a spiritual nature. Those who do not understand that are continually involved in pleasure, amusement, material occupations; they neglect prayer and meditation and interrupt the process of transformation and Resurrection. This is the light that builds the Body of Glory which enables you one day to resuscitate.” |
Spring March | |
Spring brings along the melting of snow, the sprouting of seeds and the blooming of trees; but what is at play here is not a date in the calendar but the sunshine and the altitude and latitude of a place. Spring manifests itself and is celebrated in various cultures either before or after the equinox of March 20-21, the beginning of the actual season. Moreover, if spring falls in March in the Northern hemisphere, this half of the globe is invited to remember that for the other half, the Southern hemisphere, spring actually begins in September! The three monotheist religions chose to juxtapose to the spring celebrations, considered “pagan”, their own historical commemorations: in Judaism, PESACH or PASSOVER commemorates the exodus of the Jewish people from Egypt and their liberation from slavery; Christianity celebrates EASTER, the resurrection of Jesus from his tomb…; the Celtic tradition, in Northern Europe, celebrates OESTARA (from the English Easter), the birth of Ēostre, the Germanic goddess of fertility to whom are offered colorful eggs. Every human being feels the spiritual renewal that spring brings for a life of beauty and joy. |
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, Dictionnaire du livre de la nature, article Printemps During winter, archangel Gabriel concentrates within the seed the energy of the plant.
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov, Dictionnaire du livre de la nature, article Perce-neige The blooming of the snowdrop announces spring. What willpower, what strength, what courage this little flower possesses! It commands to the snow and to the frozen ground: “Go, move away, I want to come out, I want to see the sun!” |
Tu Bishvat is a Jewish holiday in the rabbinic tradition. It is the “New Year of the Trees”, a celebration of the renewal of the land of Israel. It occurs on the 15th day of the month of Shevat and falls on January 16th, 2014. It is indeed at this time of the year that the earliest flowering trees, particularly the almond trees, wake up from their winter sleep and begin a new blooming cycle. The Tu Bishvat day is celebrated by eating fruits, particularly those mentioned in the Torah as a praise of the abundance of the Holy Land: grapes, figs, pomegranate, olives and dates. That day reminds us of the passage in the Deuteronomy in which it is said that “man is a tree of the field” and invites us to meditate on the lessons that we can learn in our “double botani”.
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Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov - Izvor Collection No. 209 Christmas and Easter in the Initiatic Tradition, IV “Haven’t you seen that a tremendous event is taking place all round you, called a renewal?... One can feel that a new wave from the Cosmic ocean is breaking and in a short while the whole earth will be newly arrayed with flower, trees, birds. What splendid attire! It is the most extraordinary phenomenon of life, this regeneration and renewal. Yes, except humans! Humans remain the same; they do not join the world’s renewal. They may sense something happening around them, but they do not let themselves be influenced. They must learn now to open the inner doors and windows so that the new life can penetrate and impregnate them! |
Makar Sankranti – or Thai Pongal in Tamul – southern regions of India – is the only celebration based on the solar calendar: it takes place every year at the same date: January 14. The Sun, symbol of knowledge and of spiritual light, reverses its course. It moves North, from the tropic of Cancer to the tropic of Capricorn, which in Hindi is the crocodile tropic (makar). The half portion of the year when the sun moves southward is called a night of the Gods; when the sun moves northwards again, the period is called the day of the Gods. Makar Sankranti inaugurates the luminous half of the year. “Sankranti” designates the passing of a zodiacal sign into another. For the Hindus, the Sun is the symbol of knowledge, spiritual light and wisdom. Makar Sankranti means that we should turn our back to the darkness of illusion in which we live and begin to benefit from a new life originating from the living light shining more and more from within. As the Sun follows its course, grow purity, wisdom, knowledge should progressively grow within us.. |
Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov - CW X "The splendour of Tipharet", p22 “The first thing to do is to realize how important the centre is and what great changes will begin to occur within you, even without your knowing it, as soon as you start to seek the centre. The nearer you get to the sun in spirit, soul and thought, with your heart and will, the nearer you will be to God for, on the physical plane, the sun is the symbol and the tangible, visible representative of the Deity. All those abstract, remote names by which men designate God: Source of Life, Creator of Heaven and Earth, Prime Cause, Almighty God, Universal Soul, Cosmic Intelligence… can all be summed up in the one concrete, familiar reality of the sun. Yes, the sun can be seen as the summary and synthesis of all those sublime, abstract ideas which are beyond our comprehension. The sun is the gateway, the physical link, the medium through which we can unite with the Lord.”
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