January-March 2021

CONTENTS:

Editorial — Spiritual Portals
The start of a new year always brings renewed hope with the opportunity of fresh beginnings. January stands like an open door onto a new landscape that is alive with possibilities. This month is often associated with the auspicious Roman god, Janus with his two faces – one looking forward to the future while the other looks back at what has transpired. Due to the crises in 2020, we also find ourselves, perhaps more than ever, standing like Janus, reviewing what has been, and planning for a better future with renewed vision.

Problems of Mystics Connected with Present Ray Influences — Djwhal Khul
The seventh ray, working as it does through the centre at the base of the spine, will in time have a peculiar effect upon the entire circulatory system, for this basic centre is connected with the life-force and, as you know, the “blood is the life”. It works with the highest centre in the body and is therefore related to the entire problem of the polarities. It is consequently one of the factors which will increase the difficulties connected with the various psychological “cleavages” with which we have earlier dealt. It concerns the human triplicity of spirit-soul-body, the duality of soul and personality and the major aspects of Deity, spirit and matter, as well as the many groupings of the pairs of opposites with which the mystic is so constantly concerned and which he has eventually to resolve into a unity.

Look for the Sign of Divinity in All —  John Rasmussen
From the material viewpoint, signs of divinity may be classified as beyond human comprehension and considered inaccessible. On this view, because, the divine essence is greater than and different from what is finite, the intellect may never understand it. How could human beings witness the awful reality of the divine? We may receive signs of divinity, but these will and must be symbolic and dualistic phenomena, and not of the world of God. On this view, human minds are simply unable to function on the summit of holiness. What sign of divinity could be perceived from this standpoint?

Black Lives Matter — Clarence Harvey
The protest phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ has emerged out of the Black American experience of an ongoing story of race-based discrimination, violence and injustice systemically meted out against this section of American society – deemed to be one of the most advanced nations in our modern world. Over recent years, an extraordinary number of incidents of killings of Black people by police have been captured and made visible for the world to see via social media, prompting outrage and protests not only in America but around the world. The problem of racial antipathy – anywhere this occurs – highlights one of the fissures in human consciousness that must be addressed by those learning to see with the healing eyes of the Soul.

Nations, Astrology and Great Britain — Nigel Gray
In considering the question ‘How does a nation begin?’ Rudolf Steiner, through his own clairvoyant insights, informs us that Archangels are responsible for bringing nations into being, and are in fact the souls of nations. By ensouling a national group, an Archangel inspires and oversees its development. It does this by directing particular astrological energies into the etheric body of an embryonic nation; creating an etheric aura that is individual to that nation, and exoterically, creating a definite temperament and national characteristics. Each individual’s etheric body forms a part of the larger etheric body of the nation.

Musings on Heart — Catherine Crews
When God created the pairs of opposites, He found them good. Not one good and the other evil, but both good. Good not only in themselves, but also in their paired-ness. The exception was the creation of male and female, in His image. Here He made two pairs of opposites: God and Humanity, and male and female. These He found to be very good, each in itself and each in belonging to the other.

The Occultism in Job, Part 1 — Alice Bailey
The present generation is faced with a new and complex problem. Our modern civilisation has dowered the race with enormous material assets, and the moral training and development given in these days has built up a standard of ethics and right living which (though not yet fully expressed by the race) underlies the structure of our daily life.

Carl Gustav Jung 1875-1961 – A Forerunner — Barbara Allen
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist who is principally remembered, together with Sigmund Freud, as one of the founding fathers of Western psychology. The professional association between Jung and Freud diverged at the juncture where Jung developed analytical psychology as distinct from psychoanalysis. Jung’s work continues to influence modern psychiatry and psychology, as well as philosophy and literature. He created many modern psychological concepts: archetypal phenomena, the collective unconscious, introversion, extraversion and synchronicity, to mention but a few.