Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to our celebration of the sign of Pisces. The exact time of the full moon occurs at 6:18 p.m. this evening, so we are now working in meditation well within the high point of the energy flow. We will also be working in together with hundreds of other meditating groups around the world. Altogether we form a subjective network of light, along which flows the energy of love and goodwill. Our work in meditation is therefore greatly strengthened by the presence of this network because it allows for the energy we generate to circulate more widely into human consciousness. That is the purpose of these meetings. So let's take a moment to link up in thought as a group with this network and visualize lines of light and love radiating throughout the world. And then we will sound together the inspiring words of the Gayatri.

O Thou Who givest sustenance to the universe,
From Whom all things proceed,
To Whom all things return
Unveil to us the face of the true Spiritual Sun
Hidden by a disc of golden Light
That we may know the Truth
And do our whole duty
As we journey to Thy sacred feet.

"I leave the Father’s home and turning back, I save." This is the keynote of Pisces that inspires and motivates the soul to imprison itself in some material form, over and over, lifetime after lifetime. The operative word is of course, "I save." To save is what brings us—individually and as a group—into the world. That is our great service, whether we know it or not. The soul knows and that impulse to serve is passed to us as we work to integrate and synchronize with this higher, more refined vibrating quality. But before we reach this stage of synchronicity we experience a considerable amount of struggle and pain associated with the bonding of the higher self with our very inadequate physical expression. And this struggle is expressed in the three keynotes of Pisces: 1) bondage or captivity; 2) renunciation or detachment; 3) sacrifice and death.

These three keynotes sum up the great sacrificial work of the soul on this planet. It is a journey we are all taking together. We are all the Prodigal Son. We left the Father's home many ages ago. But ingrained in our spiritual programming (our spiritual operating system) is the directive that once we turn back towards home, we save. In the first leg of the journey the soul itself is in captivity to substance; it has come down into the prison house of matter and linked itself to form. This condition is depicted in the symbol of Pisces - the two fish linked together by a band. One fish stands for the soul and the other for the personality or form nature, and between them is to be found the "thread or sutratma", the silver cord which keeps them bound to each other throughout the cycle of manifested life. This cycle lasts for eons. At first, the soul is held in captivity by the personality. But once the reversal on the wheel takes place the relationship is reversed: the personality is brought into captivity by the soul.

Now at a certain stage in this long process, the second keynote of Pisces--renunciation and detachment--comes into play. It, too, seems to be a built-in spiritual characteristic that provides the incentive for escape. There are two major experiences of renunciation that the soul is called upon to accomplish in its long journey. First, at the beginning of its journey of loving sacrifice the soul renounces the life and light of the Monad, its source (symbolized by the words "the Father's home"), and descends into the ocean of matter; then, reversing itself, after many lifetimes of experience, the soul renounces the life of form, the personality centre. The soul detaches itself (in consciousness) from the Monad, the One, and functions from its own centre, making its own new and material attachments. Then, upon the reversal of the wheel, it proceeds to detach itself from the personality and re-attach itself in consciousness to the One Who sent it forth. Such is the climaxing story of Pisces. It is further summed up in the words: "The Lords of Will and Sacrifice come down into manifestation, sacrificing their high position and opportunities upon the higher planes of manifestation in order to redeem matter and raise the lives by which it is informed...to the status of Themselves...This is the subjective purpose underlying the sacrifice of these divine Lives Who are ourselves essentially, Who are qualified by knowledge, love and will, and animated by ceaseless devotion. They seek to bring about the death of the form in its occult significance and the consequent release of the indwelling lives into a higher state of consciousness."

Now here we have summed up the whole purpose of our being in the world. It is the same purpose that has motivated all world Saviours--like the Buddha and the Christ--since the founding of the spiritual Hierarchy on this planet millions of years ago, for the redemption and release of the indwelling lives into a higher state of consciousness. This is a huge planetary service project. And this is why the Tibetan is constantly emphasizing service. "The life of service and the directed intention to serve constitutes a scientific mode of achieving release." This is why the ideal of selfless service is the primary path to freedom. In the initial state of the journey of the soul into imprisonment of the form the lesson of servitude is learned. But once the reversal on the wheel takes place, servitude is transformed into service. This constitutes the original impulse of our being.

It is the same impulse that underlies the so-called "fallen angel." The fallen angel is essentially all of us. Seeing it from the perspective of the Father, we have fallen not because we have been bad children. Quite the contrary, it seems; we have come with the Father to help Him and work with Him in a supreme effort of redemption. We have not so much "fallen into sin", but have more likely made a deliberate and loving plunge into this ocean of unredeemed matter. And by engaging in this great redemptive service we are learning a universal, cosmic lesson of sacrifice. But it is sacrifice meaning not simply giving up something of value, but rather a "taking over" the task of "making sacred" that which is corrupt and unrefined. It is a painful process for those of us who are not yet free. But pain is the mother of beauty which, in eons to come, will demonstrate with magnificent splendor on planet Earth. But in order for that day to come, we need to begin phasing out the worship of God and return to the original intent of working with God in His great Service. That is why it says in the Great Invocation "Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on earth." The Great Invocation is a great reminder of our divine mission. Now, at this time, when we (humanity) are beginning to make a reversal on the wheel of rebirth, we need to shift our emphasis and to focus on re-attaching again to the soul and to restore--to remember--our original duty to the Father. As we say in the Gayatri "and do our whole duty as we journey to Thy sacred feet." And as we are also reminded in the Pisces keynote: "and turning back, I save." And we shouldn't forget the injunction that we have sounded in the Lord's Prayer for the last 2000 years: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." There are many reminders around about our duty and our responsibility to work out the Will of God here on earth. There is a definite plan of work that God has undertaken and humanity is the key player in this endeavor.

Understanding the true nature of the Will of God has been problematical for us in the human kingdom, primarily because of the emotional focus of our consciousness. It has led to much distortion in our interpretation of such words as sacrifice and death and salvation. This was inevitable, given the emotional and devotional focus of the Piscean age mentality. Interpretation of these Piscean ideals has come primarily through the self-centered personality; they have been, and still are, expressed with fanatical extreme. But they are ideals that originate from a divine source and therefore in the coming age they should be given a more true expression as impulses of the group conscious soul. Words like `sacrifice' and `death' must also undergo redemption and refinement and be understood in the light of new meaning, from the realm of meaning, the realm of the soul.

For example, sacrifice has its roots in a divine Law, the Law of Sacrifice. It is the first Law governing the life of the soul. It is the first of the seven laws of the soul to be grasped by human intelligence and is therefore the easiest for humans to understand. It is a law that is qualified by the energy of the fourth ray of harmony through conflict. This is the same ray that governs humanity; it is therefore easy for us to grasp. This law has always been functioning as an active ideal in the world and has been expressed in all the major world religions. It has undergone considerable distortion in meaning and expression during the Piscean age. But the truth remains that this dominant world law governs the appearing and the disappearing of universes, of solar systems, of races and of nations, of world leaders and of world rulers, of incarnating human beings and of revealing Sons of God. It is in reality the expression of a divine impulse. And it was this aspect of sacrifice which led to the creation of the worlds and to the manifestation of the divine Creator.

Sacrifice means the impulse of giving. This impulse has been grossly distorted by the separative, self-centred actions of mankind during the Piscean age as it fell under the glamour and illusion of the astral plane. But, not withstanding this distortion, it was based on a true impulse. The same impulse to give drives a solar Deity to give His life to a solar system, to a planet and to all manifested worlds. It is said that the Cosmic Christ is crucified upon the cross of matter, and by that great sacrifice opportunity is offered to all evolving lives in all kingdoms of nature and in all created worlds. Thus they can progress. It is for the benefit of the "lesser lives" that a Deity gives His life. He chooses to make a major sacrifice and to be crucified upon the Cardinal Cross of the Heavens and thereby pass through a cosmic initiation. This is the case with our own planetary Logos, and the purpose being (as far as we can understand it) to bring about the developed consciousness, the increasing refinement of form, and the intensification of life within the form.

As mentioned earlier, the energy of the fourth ray of Harmony Through Conflict is related to this Law of Sacrifice. The ray is a major controlling factor in our earth evolution and in the evolution of our solar system, which is one of the fourth order. We are told that because of the relationship of the fourth ray of conflict with the Law of Sacrifice, these forces are dominating factors in the fourth kingdom in nature, the human kingdom. A specific purpose is apparently working out at this time through us. What that purpose is, ultimately, is unknown to us, but these words from the Tibetan may give us a clue. "It must never be forgotten", he says, "that this fourth ray of conflict is the rays whose energies, rightly applied and understood, bring about harmony and at-one-ment. The result of this harmonising activity is beauty, but it is a beauty that is achieved through struggle. This produces a livingness through death, a harmony through strife, a Union through diversity and adversity."

The revelation of beauty and the intensification of life is our hidden purpose. It is this impulse that leads the solar angel to "choose to die" in form, which is the esoteric name for the Law of Sacrifice. The solar angels (who are really ourselves) choose to die in order that lesser lives might live, and this sacrifice has made possible the evolution of the indwelling consciousness of Deity. As angels, as incarnating souls, we choose to die and in dying, live. Through this sacrifice, matter is lifted up into Heaven.

But for us, being so identified with our personality nature, this raising up of matter is not without a certain amount of pain. But pain also has an esoteric meaning and purpose which is worth thinking about. "Pain", says the Tibetan, "is the journeying into the far country, resulting in the welcome to the Father's Home; pain is the illusion of the Father's disowning, which drives the prodigal straight to the Father's heart; pain is the cross of utter loss, that renders back the riches of the eternal bounty; pain is the whip that drives the struggling builder to "carry to utter perfection the building of the Temple". The uses of pain are many, and they lead the soul out of darkness into light, out of bondage into liberation, out of agony into peace. That peace, that light and that liberation, within the ordered harmony of the cosmos, are for all the sons of men."

So we return to the keynote "I leave the Father's home and turning back, I save." We, as souls engaged in the work of salvaging, have deliberately left the Father's home, we have deliberately detached ourselves from the consciousness of the Father in order to gain full experience in the world of material form. But the lifeline from the Father has always been attached to assure us of a passage home. We have chosen to die again and again in order to eventually shatter the illusion of death. Sacrifice, bondage, death, struggle, pain -- all lead ultimately to the creation of beauty on a planet made sacred by love. Behind it all, behind the soul’s actions lies the divine energy of Love. That is the energy we must try to reach and express.

Dale McKechnie
Festival of Pisces
New York March 3, 2007