December 21, 2003

(Carla channeling)

Q’uo

We are those known to you as the principle of Q’uo, and we greet you in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator, in Whose service we come to you today. We thank you for the great privilege of calling us to your group by your desire to seek the truth. It is always a pleasure to be called to this group. We would ask only one thing of you and that is, as always, that you listen to those things which we have to say with a jaundiced and careful ear, being quick to discard and toss away any idea or thought that does not suit you and keeping only those things which seem to you to have resonance and a personal meaning that speaks to you specifically. We feel that we are no authority figures but rather those companions who walk with you upon the road of the seeker. If you will guard your own thought processes, we shall feel free to share our thoughts with you without being concerned that we infringe upon your free will.

We find that this group does not have any opening question for us and that gives us the opportunity to move into those energies that are unspoken and that may perhaps be addressed in a less than specific and direct way by those things that we might share. We are aware that the energy of the time you call Christmas is very much within this group and within your culture at this time. And it is interesting to observe the lack of joy with which many entities approach the dark times of winter solstice, for indeed that is the energy of this particular season of the year, that energy of the dark and the sleep of hibernation and winter. It is a time when it is very easy for those entities who are close to passing from the incarnation to have a more than usual opportunity to greet the dark, with its invitation to all to come and be a part of that darkness. It is a seduction that brings many to that passage betwixt incarnation through what is called death to the next stage of consciousness for that entity. The inner planes having received all entities who pass through the gateway of death; it is then the opportunity of each entity, having made that passage, to discover, for himself and herself, what the next step is. Is it a step of healing, a step of review and examination of the life just passed? Or is it, in some cases, that entities who pass through the gates of death are quite conscious of the opportunity being offered to work within the inner planes and so are most eager to move on into new work, new projects, and new service?

For those who are at all drawn to the dark, this is that time during the season of the year when that invitation will seem more seductive than usual. It is, paradoxically, a time when the deepest impulses of entities are to lighten the darkness, to energize that darkness with gaiety and noise and movement, as if such hectic pleasures might distract the souls dwelling within from their preoccupation with the gathering darkness. That invitation, that seduction of the dark, is often [set] very deeply within the gaiety of your celebrations. It is as though the energies of humankind, not knowing how to cooperate with the darkness, find it necessary to throw up defenses against the darkness and deny the reality of the darkness. For darkness is not simply a physical thing. It is not simply the absence of a sun body within your atmosphere. Certainly that physical darkness is a huge part of the way darkness feels, that experience of the lack of light. Yet, the energies of this season are more than, and other than, physical. In part, the darkness that is physical darkness is complemented or paired with the shadow of self, the darkness of self, that entities such as this instrument would always prefer not to deal with, because it is, while undeniably a part of the personality, not considered a desirable part of the personality. We feel that perhaps this might deserve a good look, this attempt to make all things bright, to lift everything up to the light, and to have a merry and a happy season.

Certainly each within the circle has experienced the hectic nature of this particular season in, as the one known as T said, the cycle of Christmas and Christmas doings. The one known as T was saying that it would seem obvious that entities could wish each other good and send thoughts to each other without the necessity for purchasing items, without the necessity for getting certain items and yet, year upon year, and century upon century, entities faced with the shortest of the days and the longest of the nights of the year turn hungrily towards the festivities that make a brave show in the face of all of that darkness and shadow.

Let us look at the story of Christmas, in that it is a story with darkness within it. The biblical story that this instrument knows from its Sunday school has a beauty to it, the beauty of innocent birth and angelic visitors and wise men of the Earth who also come to honor a tiny child. Yet, it is perhaps not emphasized, but certainly part of the story, that the mother of this entity, the one known as Jesus, was brought to childbed without the convenience or the respect of having been married first. Further, this entity was then asked to marry an older gentlemen who was not particularly amused by the pregnancy that presumably happened by spirit’s hand alone. And further, in the very last extremities of pregnancy, this odd couple was forced to travel in the middle of winter, in inclement weather, to a place where there was no bed waiting for them at the other end, so that when the one known as Mary gave birth, it was in a stable and the infant Jesus slept in a manger that was full of hay. These details speak of the physical and the metaphysical darkness of the season, the inconvenience of spirit, the demands of the spiritual life, the demand of this infant to be born—not waiting for marriage, not waiting for propriety, but insisting upon being born, in the darkness, in the cold, in the stable—without convenience, or planning, or foresight. Simply, “It is time, and now I shall appear.”

Such is the nature of your own spirit. It is nurtured in the darkness of the season and you are brought to childbed with it as the timing of your own process pulls you into new birth; the birth of your own spiritual self, within incarnation. For that is one of the great values of being in incarnation. You are able, when you become conscious of the situation of incarnation and its advantages, to determine within incarnation to awaken that sleeping soul within that has been brought along into incarnation within you but certainly hidden, sometimes fairly deeply, within the stuff of personality, culture and conditioning.

In the darkness within the self lie both the riches of the soul and the less appreciated of the riches of the shadow side of that soul. As you bring this infant that is you as a soul into conscious awareness and begin to nurture that part of yourself as if it were an infant that needed love and tending, you begin to pull that structure within you that is the witness to all that you undergo in incarnation into more clarity. It is that witness that can release thoughts of the darkness and thoughts of the gaiety and simply continue witnessing as that child within begins to express itself, to reach towards the light that it sees, to begin to have the energy and vitality to move upon its own and to begin to grow within incarnation. As you go about nurturing this beautiful portion of the inner self, we would ask you also to look very carefully to find the wolf that bites, to find the murderer, the thief, the adulterer; to find that entity within the self that truly does partake of the darkness of self-good, that part of selfhood that is self-involved, that has the impulse to think first of the self. This is a good time of year to focus into that neglected portion of the self and to invite it into the warm and gently lighted circle of your own heart’s hearth.

It is as though there are parts of the self that have been denied because they are too dark, they are too seemingly selfish or evil or harsh or rough. And yet, that whole entity which you are cannot function without all, both the light and the dark, of its nature. Many times entities who polarize towards beauty and truth and purity feel that they must deny and leave behind those shadow portions of self. And yet we would ask you not to leave behind one iota of that 360 degrees of self that you do possess. For all of the voices within you, all of the 180 degrees of “good” and 180 degrees of that which you label “not good,” are necessary to integrate into one peaceful kingdom within.

Many are the times that this instrument has asked the question, “What is peace?” For she meditates on behalf of peace each night. ¹ And one of the keys to understanding peace, the concept of peace as a living thing and not as a dead idea, is to realize that peace is the complete and harmonious integration of light and dark, so that all is in balance within the whole entity and all of that entity’s faculties are brought to bear on a situation; not simply those faculties towards the good but those faculties that might be considered towards the negative. For the thief, the coveter, the lazy one, all of those dark voices within, can be charmed into becoming the bedrock of will that puts grit into the expression of love that the “light” part of self has no trouble expressing. Yet when the going becomes rough, it is that dark side of self that is able to take hold in difficult situations and endure. That same darkness that could be the wolf that bites, then, has become the best support possible for the light. And this is the hoped-for result of an incarnation full of both the light and the dark as the seasons revolve and as the seasons of inner life revolve as well.

So we take this opportunity to praise the dark as well as the light and to ask each of you to work on embracing all parts of the self, loving, honoring and respecting each and finding ways each day to come into more conscious harmony of being. As you are able to find your kingdom within becoming peaceable, just to that extent shall you be able to be a force for peace to those about you. No matter how you strive, if you do not embrace the dark side of self, you shall ever be less of a messenger for peace and more of a voice that has not the force and directness to project into the Earth plane with all of its inner planes of energy.

This instrument’s head is full of angels at this time of year, the angels of heaven, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men of good will.” We wish you those angels, we wish you the truth of this precious dark time. May each of you move into that time with quietness and confidence, allowing the great washes of emotion and memory to move through your thoughts and your feelings, washing you and leaving you golden and rested and truly at peace.

We would ask if there are any queries at this time before we leave this instrument.

J

Yeah, Q’uo, I’ve got a question. The veil is very thin at this time and I was wondering what your impression is? I know it’s always a good time to meditate. Are there any suggestions that you could make? Is there a way to connect with the thinness of the veil, right now, today, tomorrow? Is there anything that we can do to share in that thinness?

Q’uo

We are aware of your query, my sister. Certainly there is truth to your concept. It is indeed a time when the energies of the Earth and its inner planes are very transparent to the outer world. The idea of meditation is certainly a good one. (We have difficulty imagining a situation in which we would say anything else than that about meditation!) However, one item that is possible in order to connect with the energy of this time would be that which this instrument would call a solstice declaration. At the solstice, it is a very efficacious time to express those things which you wish to give to the dark: the greed, the world hunger, the illnesses of the world and so forth, all of those things which you may consider to be less that optimal. These can be named and given to the dark and the health of this action is in releasing those energies from the consciousness within your self. It is as though this is a good time to connect with the energies that this instrument knows of as Shiva the Destroyer, ² to hand those things to the Mother, as it were, that you wish to release from your self. “World hunger, I give it to the dark! War and the bestiality of war, I give it to the dark!” It is well to create more of a festive party atmosphere to this energy, so that those who take part in it may feel the joy of the release of these impressions.

May we answer you further, my sister?

J

No thank you, Q’uo, and happy winter solstice to you.

Q’uo

We thank you as well, my sister. Is there another query at this time?

As we seem to have exhausted the queries of this group, we shall take our leave of you, thanking each of you for taking precious time to sit in a circle of seeking and ask. We are with you, whenever you would ask us to be, to help you with your meditation or to be a presence that makes you feel safer. You have only to ask mentally and we shall be with you.

We leave each of you in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator. We are those known to you as the principle of Q’uo. Adonai my friends. Adonai.