January 19, 2008

(Carla channeling)

Q’uo

We are those known to you as the principle of Q’uo. Greetings in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator, in whose service we come to you this evening. May we express to you our delight at the privilege of being asked to join your circle of seeking and take part in this working.

We are very happy to share with you our thoughts on the devotional life; that is, how to create a life that dwells within the precincts of White Ritual Magic, as the one known as Jim has asked.

However, as always, we would preface our remarks by asking each who hears or reads these words to take responsibility for discriminating as each listens to what we have to say. Take what seems good to you and leave the rest behind. Please do not make the mistake of thinking that all that we say is equally important to you, for spiritual seeking is very idiosyncratic. There will be those thoughts that are helpful to you and those thoughts that do not fit your process as it is. You only need those things that make you feel a resonance and a wish to ponder them further.

If you will discriminate, then that will free us to offer our thoughts without being concerned that we might infringe upon your free will or be a stumbling block in the way of your process. We thank you for this consideration, my friends.

We would further preface our remarks by saying that the basis of all of these thoughts which we offer to you this particular evening is love. One can move into a great many complexities and details in discussing how to live a life that is grounded in love and based upon the awareness that all are one and all things are the Creator. Yet underlying every complexity and every detail is a single, simple truth: the one infinite Creator, and you, and all that there is are one thing. It is a unified creation and the nature of that unity is love. Unconditional love is the one great original Thought that has generated all the seen worlds and all of the unseen worlds as well.

Your question, my brother, moves into that area where the seeker has awakened so thoroughly that he has begun to seek to express the fruits of his new awareness. We do not need to remind each that the prerequisite for working to create a magical ritual of the entire life is an open heart. And the prerequisite for having an open heart is a freely flowing chakra body, with the lower chakras balanced and open and full power moving through into the heart and thence through the upper chakras and out the crown of the head.

When you become aware that this is not the case, in your momentary estimation of your state of mind, then there is the need to relinquish the magical personality and move into that balancing mode where that trigger which has taken you away from an open energy system and an open heart is identified, loved, accepted, embraced and balanced. Then and only then is it wise to move back into the ceremonial dance of the devotional life.

We use the term, devotional life, because it is this instrument’s term for a life in which the principles of ritual magic of the white ceremonial kind are brought into the daily life, and it is a phrase that is easier for us to say. Therefore, please understand that when we speak of the devotional life we are not speaking specifically of a Christian life, or any type of belief system that would be behind living a life of devotion to the one infinite Creator. We are simply taking the shortcut of this instrument’s vocabulary for describing the life in which the entity sees not only the possibility but the need for imbuing every aspect of the normal, everyday life with magic.

As the one known as Jim has said, the basic work of the magician is to create changes in his consciousness by an act of will. He does this very specifically in order to serve. There is nothing physical connected with the white ritual magical tradition. All the work that is done is work in consciousness. The work consists of invocation. One invokes one’s own magical personality and then one invokes characteristics of the Creator or the Creator Itself.

We may illustrate the principles of this type of magic by looking at the ritual that this instrument calls Holy Communion or the Holy Eucharist. The ritual is conducted by a priest. The priest prepares the congregation by reading from holy works, offering prayers and supplications, and then leading the congregation in a general confession of sins. In this confession, all is laid before the one infinite Creator, given away by the self, emptying the self of all that is past. The priest then absolves those in the congregation, reminding them that Jesus the Christ came to love rather than to judge and that all is forgiven.

Thusly he prepares the congregation for the reception of the Holy Communion. He then turns his back to the congregation, or in some churches simply turns his mind and his attention away from the congregation, and he begins to pray directly to the one infinite Creator.

He remembers the actions of the one known as Jesus the Christ in which the Christ is breaking bread and drinking wine with his disciples. He tells them, “Take this bread; it is my body. Take this wine; it is my blood.”

And as he remembers this, with his priestly hands hovering over the bread and the wine he is about to give the congregation, he invokes the presence of Jesus the Christ, that it may enter into the substance of the bread and the wine. Magically, then, it becomes a living host, a living carrier for new life. As the congregation takes this bread and this wine from his hands, again he says, “The bread of life, the cup of salvation,” and that repetition brings the energy of Jesus the Christ into the awareness of each of the congregation as they eat the body and drink the blood that has set them free to live a new life, unencumbered by past sins.

We describe this ceremony or ritual to you in some detail because we wish you to see the kind of change that a magical ritual is intended to offer. It is intended to create a change in consciousness, or as this instrument would say, a change in vibration. The intent is to lift the natural default vibration of each of the congregation by invoking the presence of the one infinite Creator in the persona of Jesus the Christ.

The everyday life is not spent in church and in the workaday world. Each seeker must choose to be his own priest. Each seeker is fully capable of taking on priesthood. Yet we would suggest to the seeker who wishes to live a devotional life that he become more and more finely tuned to an awareness of this momentary decision to become the priest rather than the lay person. For there is a qualitative difference between the actions of a lay person and the actions of a priest.

When one is a lay person, one is framing the self without any particular power, metaphysically or spiritually speaking. When one styles himself as a priest, on the other hand, he styles himself as an entity who has become able to handle sacred things and to pray directly to the one infinite Creator and be heard.

You are naturally priests. The unnatural frame of mind, in terms of your deeper nature, is that of the lay person. Yet your culture has trained you all of your life to give your power away to authority figures such as priests. Therefore, as you set out to live a devotional life, we ask that you take seriously the responsibility of priesthood. When you do not feel priestly, then it is well for you to refrain from expressing the form of any ritual. It is essential that the essence of the ritual precede and inform the form. Otherwise the ritual is dead and does not have power.

It is not necessary, my friends, to be extremely judgmental or overly critical of the self as to whether or not the self is open-hearted and working with an open energy-body system. Indeed, after a certain amount of practice at remaining in this frame of mind of the priest at all times, it shall become familiar enough to the seeker that there is no longer the concern for whether or not one is in tune. This is due to the fact that once an entity has become accustomed to living in a priestly manner, any aberration from that tenor of mind will be all too obvious to the entity and will constitute that which needs attending as though it were a pain in the body.

It is for the beginner that we offer these warnings. We place them here because it is essential that seekers see the difference between actions and essence. One may speak in ritualistic ways and move in ritualistic motions and yet fail to live a magical life because the heart is not open and love is not flowing. As the one known as Paul said, “Without love, I am a clanging gong.” ¹

The most intricate of rituals is always founded on love. That is the prerequisite. Therefore, we encourage each to do the work necessary to support a devotional life. There are all too many of your peoples that have sought the life of a religious recluse because of the great yearning for the infinite Creator, yet because the form remained that which was understood and not the essence, the hunger remained and even grew, despite the monastic schedule of six worship services in each day.

That being said, let us look at some ways to think about the devotional life lived in the rush of the workaday world. In a way, it seems an odd fit to make of the everyday functions of life a ritual, yet each and every portion of the life is entirely prone to and grateful for sacred use. In order to illustrate this, we would take an example from this instrument’s own life.

Each day this instrument and the one known as Jim come together at the end of their working day for a bath. This instrument has physical limitations which make it helpful for the one known as Jim to interact with her, far more than most husbands and wives interact when bathing. The one known as Jim draws the bath, opens the oils and lotions that will be needed after the bath and places them ready, and invites this instrument into the bathtub. He helps her sit down and together they enjoy their whirlpool and the cleansing of their bodies.

When they are both clean, before they leave the bathtub, the one known as Jim takes two pieces of ice in holders and for two minutes ices this instrument’s back, which alleviates the arthritic pain in her shoulders and spine. When this has been done, the instrument lets the water out of the bath and puts the shampoos and other accoutrements of the bath away and then is helped out of the bathtub by the one known as Jim. He helps her rub oil into her body, dries her off and then puts lotion on her body, working to replenish sensitive skin that is always very dry.

At the end of their bath ritual they are both clean, the instrument has accomplished all that she needs to accomplish with the help of the one known as Jim, and in all of that intricate movement there have been no words. For each knows the dance and each makes of the dance as graceful and beautiful a thing as can be conceived by both of them.

Here it may be seen that the form of the ritual is very homely. There is nothing special about the ingredients of this ritual. They are soap, water, oil and so forth. Yet the love that streams between husband and wife, as the one known as Jim helps this instrument with her daily cleansing, is palpable and powerful and supports and encourages each in his own individual metaphysical life.

There are two things that we would note about this ritual before moving on. Firstly, the one known as Carla, during the whirlpool portion of the bath, actively works with angelic presences, mentally expressing her love, thankfulness and joy and rededicating herself to the service of the one infinite Creator. By doing so, she charges the water, acting as a priestess for both, although this too is never spoken.

Secondly, the dance of the bath moves into the succeeding moments of dressing and moving into the next item of the day in ways which link and tie in the energies of love, cooperation and mutual participation in the dance so that the dance does not end when the bathwater is drained.

In ritual, there are two kinds of form. There is the form of movement and there is the form of words. Behind those forms of motion and speaking lie the thoughts of the magician who is speaking and acting. To a magician there is no empty action. The dance is always ongoing. And at the very center of the dance, always, there is love. The magician invokes aspects of love, standing on a plinth ² of love, surrounded by love, and seeking only finer and more sensitive attunements of that love.

There are a finite number of movements and words within any day. There are a finite number of repeated activities which lend themselves to ritual. Consequently, to an entity whose mind is focused on filling the form of his day with the essence of worship it is not an exceedingly long process of thought to visualize every single repeated action of a normal day.

Each entity’s day will be unique to him. However, the work he does in a day will have certain aspects of it that are repeated. Therefore, the seeker who wishes to create the devotional life in the midst of the workaday world shall set his mind to analyzing each action of his day, at work, at home, and on the road.

The one known as Carla, for instance, has in her work environment the computer. All of her work is done on the computer. The one known as J, on the other hand, has in his working environment various types of large equipment such as mowers, blowers and weed eaters. It does not seem to the untrained mind that computers and mowers would be likely targets for a devotional life. Yet we would suggest to you that whatever the nature of your work environment is, you can fill it so full of devotional essence that your workday world positively sings.

Most entities have a transitional environment between work and home, because of the omnipresence of the automobile or other forms of transit. Most entities work in a place that is not their home. And this, too, is a type of environment that at first glance seems inimical to being part of a devotional life. Yet, we assure you that creative thought about the essence of the time of driving or the time of riding shall offer to the mind of the seeker repeated actions which may be infused with the invocation of deity.

All motions may be thought of as sacred dance. All words may be thought of as sacred ritual.

It is in the home environment, however, that most of the fully repetitive actions of the day are performed. The washing of the clothes, the washing of the self, the preparation and eating of food, the preparation for bed and sleep time and the rising from sleep are all inevitable in their repetition. Consequently they offer the deepest resource for one who wishes to live a devotional life.

This instrument and the one known as Jim have long created times of offering and worship at the beginning and end of the day. They have also formed the habit of remembering before food is ingested to thank the one infinite Creator and to thank the food. These are far more outer in terms of type of ritual than the kind of ritual of which we have been speaking, and yet it is helpful in the devotional life to set aside times that are specifically dedicated to worship. This enables the seeker to deepen his base of insight as time goes on.

It is possible in this way to create of the entire life a dance that is an invocation of the one infinite Creator. The element of repetition is a substantial part of a magical ritual. Something that is done once, no matter how beautiful, remains single. When that beautiful thing begins to be repeated, there is, indeed, the doubling effect; that is, each doing of that repetition with full awareness of its sacredness doubles the power of that ritual.

The one thing that is missing in terms of this repetition, when the priest is creating his own sacred life rather than being a part of a group ritual, is that he is not calling a significant amount of the entities who have shared in that same ritual. For instance, in Holy Communion or the Holy Eucharist, many of the words of that service have been expressed in relatively undistorted form for centuries on end. Therefore, when an entity begins to pray in any one of the key prayers of that ritual, such as—

“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts! Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Glory be to thee, O Lord Most High” ³

—a significant amount of those who have been Christians in incarnation and who are now between incarnations living in the inner planes, are drawn to those words, so that one entity saying that particular prayer can excite and attract a tremendous amount of heavenly help with the repetition of that prayer with heartfelt energy.

Contrariwise, one who is living a devotional life that he has created himself is doubling his own power but not calling a large amount of those who dwell in the inner planes between incarnations with one exception. Angels are not drawn to a particular song or a particular set of words. Angels are drawn to pure essence, having never taken part in incarnation. Consequently, any living of a devotional life will attract angelic help, so that there is indeed not only the doubling effect of amplification of one’s personal power, but the supporting and undergirding effect of angelic support and encouragement.

In closing, we would simply say that we cannot iterate often enough the importance of moving from love and from essence in creating a devotional life. If there is not love in the repetition of holy things, then that energy, while not wasted, is diminished in its power to comfort, heal and succor the seeker. Therefore, do not be caught up in the forms of devotional life, but rather be caught up with the emotions engendered by having an open heart and an open energy body and experiencing the self as part of the dance of the One that is ongoing because he exists in that Creation in which all things are indeed one coordinated, eternal dance.

We are those of Q’uo, and would ask if there is a follow-up query on this question, my brother?

Jim

Not for me, Q’uo.

Q’uo

We are those of Q’uo, and would asked then if there is any other query this evening before we leave this instrument?

R

Q’uo, I keep racking my brain for some question because I hate to let you go, but I do not have one, so I’ll just say that I appreciate the Brothers and Sisters of Sorrow.

Q’uo

We are those of Q’uo, and are aware of your non-question. Yet you have asked for a little more of our time and because this instrument continues to have energy to offer for a few more of your minutes, we would speak freely, if it is all right with you.

R

Please.

Q’uo

Very well, my brother. There is in this season of the year that is winter much joy in the one known as R, while many others have exactly the opposite feeling about the weather being cold. So there is at all times a multiplicity of people, a multiplicity of opinions, and a seemingly variegated and splintered world where many things seem out of tune and the service-to-self faction of your population dominates the news with wars and rumors of wars, the misuses of power being almost endless.

Yet this appearance is an illusion. Certainly, as the days of third density wane and come to a close, those who are seeking to graduate in negative polarity are working very hard to create as much service-to-self polarization in their lives as possible. These are the entities that gather power for its own sake, that enjoy sending men to their death in the pursuit of policy and that do not blink at lying, stealing and cheating, simply saying, “It’s just business.”

It is easy for service-to-others entities to become distressed when gazing at what seems to be the way of the world. We would suggest that this seeming way of the world is only large in aspect because of the way your culture values information.

It is as though your mass media functions by a kind of radar which only picks up certain types of vibrations. In terms of your radar imaging, for instances, that which is metallic and magnetic is picked up and shown on the radar as a blip. Many other things are in the sky but the radar does not read them. Radar is set to read the objects which occupy a very small amount of the air and report only on them. Nevertheless, all of the sky is still there.

In much the same way your mass media only pick up as blips those entities which have disturbed the continuum by the misuse of power, whether it be sending entities off to die for policy or whether it be one entity who turns and shoots another. These are the things that create and constitute the blips that are reported on in the mass media. Meanwhile, all the rest of human nature remains unreported.

My friends, you are wonderful people. The vast majority of those upon Planet Earth at this time seek with all their hearts to be good people by their own lights. We ask that each of you take the time to be aware of the good people in your life: the person that sold you something at the drugstore or grocery store, the person that helped you repair something that was wrong with your house or your apartment, the person that let you into traffic on a busy street, and the people in your neighborhood whom you see walking their dogs and chatting in their front yards.

Each and every one of these entities is suffering and yet seeks with all its heart to live a good life and to serve others. We ask that you begin to deepen your appreciation of that which lies below the radar and begin to give less power to the loud voices of your media as they report on that which, if it bleeds, leads.

We would at this time take our leave of this instrument and this group, thanking each for creating this sacred space that we may share. It has been a pleasure to speak with you this evening. We leave you in the love and in the light of the one infinite Creator. We are known to you as the principle of Q’uo. Adonai, my friends. Adonai.