Christmas Jewels – Lesson 5 – Magnificence
It’s early afternoon on Christmas Day. Everyone else in the Household has left for their respective Christmas dinners. (For the past fifteen years, I’ve run and lived in a multi-person household, with the persons not always related to each other.)
This Christmas morning was busy. I made Cranberry and Pistachio Biscotti for everyone. Then there was the usual opening of presents and stockings. I made coffee for all and fried the extra-special maple-flavored bacon which another Household member had purchased. Finally, in a last-minute flurry of gathering and packaging, everyone left and I had the house to myself.
Just now, with everyone else out, I’ve been able to crank the speakers up to full blast and catch the last portions of Handel’s Messiah. First time this season that I’ve been able to play it full out!
Throughout this Christmas season, and especially today, the words of this magnificent work have touched and inspired me like never before. Truly a special, sacred moment. Right now the words are Yet in my flesh I shall see God.
Magnificent!
Which leads me to a segue.
Magnificence – and The Magnificat
Mary shares her good news with her cousin, Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John (the Baptist). In response to Elizabeth’s recognition of the meaning of Mary’s child, Mary spontaneously praises God in what is now known as “The Magnificat.” Painting by Philippe de Champaigne.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is reported to have said – when she met her cousin Elizabeth (after the Angel Gabriel told Mary that she was to bear Jesus) – words that we now call The Magnificat – one of the earliest hymns or canticles in the Christian experience.
In part, what Mary said was:
My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me —
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
(Luke 1: 46-50)
Jumping Ahead – Where Are We Going from Here?
Right now, soloist Christopher Purves (baritone) is singing “The Trumpet Shall Sound” (on Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Harry Christophers, and performed by The Sixteen):
… the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:52b-53)
(Listen to A Trumpet Shall Sound on YouTube.)
What we’re going to learn – throughout this series of Twelve Lessons – is that Falling in Love with Ourselves comes – surprisingly – as we release our ego. In these Lessons, we’ll do some very specific exercises. But overall, ego-release is a not only a big step, it’s central to what we’re doing.
This realization is as much of a surprise to me as it may be to you. In fact, I had no idea that this was the case until about one or two months ago, when breakthroughs really started escalating for me.
The surprise factor is that we think our ego acts on our behalf – helping us to get what we want in life.
Lo, and behold.
Our egos operate against our own best interests.
Our egos create drama. They create churn in our lives. Our egos (real surprise here) get us into negative relationships.
And egos are what spin up our negative thoughts. (As we recall from Lessons Two and Three, negative thoughts – really expressed as blurts – are how our minds connect with negative thought-forms, which are energetic forms that sap our energy, tarnish our vitality, and diminish our radiance.)
The challenge of releasing our ego is the core of our second adult life-journey.
We have three journeys – plus a “zero-th journey” that simply gets us into the game.
Our “zero-th” journey is one that most of us already know – it’s the Hero’s (or Heroine’s) Quest, first identified as a monomyth by Joseph Campbell. This journey takes us from Innocent and Wanderer to emergence as a powerful Magician, able to create reality according to will and intention.
Once we complete this, though, our real adult work lies ahead. The names for these three distinct Journeys are ones introduced by Rachel Pollack, in Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom:
- The Worldy Sequence – from Magician to fully integrated person, characterized by the Winged Goddess (Chariot), and having all of our archetypes under our command (not just Magician),
- Turning Inwards – moving from basic integration (Winged Goddess/Chariot) to second-stage integration (Strength) and ultimately to being able to do energy work – the real Fountain of Youth (Temperence); in the midst of all of this we start releasing our egos, and finally
- The Great Journey – culminating in Judgment and then The World.
Judgment – Major Arcana Card XX – represents a call to our Higher Self.
Judgment is depicted in the image on the right.
It’s not just the Final Judgment, as many of us think – and as expressed in Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians (and then used in part of Handel’s Messiah).
Instead, Judgment is a call to respond to our Higher Self. It’s heeding the trumpet, when it sounds.
Judgment is breakthrough time; one of the last and greatest breakthrough stages of our lives. (Of course, we experience all our Journeys holographically – or all of them, all at once. So we heed the trumpet’s call many times in our lives.)
For a good interpretation, read this description of Judgment.
A Relevant Sidenote: History of the Major Arcana, and Why They are Useful Today
It’s worth noting that the first Tarot card depictions came in the 15the century (mid-to-late 1400’s). Tarot-like themes were expressed in other artwork of that time – particularly Italian art showing Tarot-like images.
During the same time, the Inquisition was going through various stages. In particular, the Inquisition – at various times – targeted both the Jews (who often were intellectuals and philosophers as well as bankers and merchants) as well as leading scientists (such as Galileo).
A Wikipedia summary of the history of the Jews notes:
[the happy migration of certain Spanish Jews to Italy] was counterbalanced by the deep grief into which they were plunged by the conversion to Christianity of two grandsons of Elijah Levita, Leone Romano and Vittorio Eliano. One became a canon of the Church; the other, a Jesuit. They heavily criticized the Talmud to Pope Julius III and the Inquisition; and as a consequence the pope pronounced the sentence of destruction against this work, to the printing of which one of his predecessors, Leo X, had given his sanction. On the Jewish New Year’s Day (9 September), 1553, all the copies of the Talmud in the principal cities of Italy, in the printing establishments of Venice, and even in the distant island of Candia (Crete), were burned. In 1555, Pope Marcellus II wished to exile the Jews of Rome on a ritual murder accusation. He was restrained from the execution of the scheme by Cardinal Alexander Farnese who succeeded in bringing to light the true culprit.
The key factor here is that for the first time in all the varied persecutions of the Jews, for the first time, the Talmud was being targeted.
Various other Jewish texts would likely have come under attack at the same time, just as the Jewish people were again facing poverty, famine, and diaspora. This is a time when the Kabbalah was also being expressed in mystical Jewish texts such as the Zohar.
It seems likely – this is a hypothesis, but a likely one – that certain psychological insights that date from at least this time, and possibly much earlier – were expressed as the Major Arcana of the Tarot. It is even possible that they were put into this form as a sort of time capsule; a means of keeping at least the core ideas intact (in pictographic form) if all the teachers and their lineage were to be lost.
Whether or not this historical sequence bears out, the images shown in the Major Arcana have substantial psychological impact. This has nothing to do with whether we ever use the cards for divination. Instead, we are looking at them here as a pictorial representation of adult human personal growth, at a level of surprisng spiritual and psychological depth.
Context for Judgment
Judgment – rising above ourselves – is a very advanced growth step. Jesus did it (literally) when he ascended to Heaven. Christian teaching tells us that we will all (if we follow our spiritual path) ascend to be with God – and that we will even be able to claim bodies!
A more immediate meaning is that we respond to the the trumpet’s sound many times in our lives – whenever we heed Spirit’s call; whenever we dial into our true purpose for being here.
Well before then, we start working with our egos much more objectively. We begin to see them for what they are: they helped us gain a sense of self as children, teenagers, and young adults – but are not necessarily advantageous as we mature in our spiritual path.
In fact, the more that we wish to truly love ourselves, the more we disengage from our egos.
This is a substantial study.
Obviously, we’re not going to do all of this in twelve days.
A Course in Miracles – sometimes described as spiritual psychotherapy – is one vehicle that leads us to understanding the role of ego in our lives.
One of the lessons that we keep receiving in A Course in Miracles is that we each say I am as God created me.
Isn’t this – literally – magnificent?
Doesn’t this help us start to shed a great deal of junk? Opinions, judgments (the negative sort), all sorts of things that keep us earth-bound.
If we are – literally – as God created us – and made in the image and likeness of God – how can we possibly not fall in love with ourselves? We are of the same essence as is God; we are the children of God. Children share in the nature of their parents.
So – our Lesson for today – is to open ourselves to our oneness with God. To have conversations with God.
God really doesn’t mind if we come to Him (Her/It) with complaints, questions, frustrations. So long as there’s a dialogue, it is good.
I remember that my relationship with my mother changed when I was about sixteen, and we started to have human-to-human discourse. We’d talk about things that were a bit more abstract, or more practical – but which were not just a mother teaching a child. Instead, it was two people, sharing points of view.
Mom enjoyed these conversations as much as I did. It’s one of the things that I miss the most about her.
In a similar way, God enjoys conversations with us.
If you have had a child, you can possibly recall how much you appreciated and enjoyed when your child brought their issues and concerns to you. It didn’t matter if your child wasn’t happy, of if he or she was frustrated or upset. The important thing was – they were talking with you.
Similarly, God created us in order to experience being us (because we are the image and likeness of God, and God can experience itself through us). Also, to have the experience of connecting with us – as a parent does with a child. God welcomes our questions, concerns, frustrations, and vents. And also our deeper questions. And our expressions of pleasure and appreciation.
So – as a step towards loving ourselves more – on this Christmas day, when many of us recognize God’s immanence in a very special way – let’s get into more frequent conversations with God. Just keep God in the loop, and keep listening.
The more that this relationship develops, the more that we’ll experience love, especially the love that God has for us.
From there, it follows naturally that we’ll be able to love ourselves more.
Makes sense, doesn’t it?
Might take a lifetime (or several) to get this, but why don’t we just start now?
Much love, dear one.
And merry (even if belated!) Christmas.
yours – Alianna/Alay’nya