Sabian Symbols: An Easter sunrise service
This universal idea is best expressed through planets in
Sagittarius 17 (16° - 17°)RENEWAL OF THE URGE TO LIVE
Without ritual remembrance may forget all too easily that life is a great gift, a miracle and a joy "Remembrance of sacredness" Winter tends to put us into closer awareness of hardship because it’s cold and dark and nothing is growing in the garden. Life is only cruel for so long, then a reprieve is granted, dawn after a dark night or springtime after a cold winter. The celebration of rebirth is powerfully ritualised at Easter for Christians, and strongly underlines the spiritual aspect of this message: that we do not die; the essence of who we are is above death.
Rudhyar: AN EASTER SUNRISE SERVICE DRAWS A LARGE CROWD |
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An Easter sunrise service draws a large crowd
Rebirth |
Our life path is the reconciliation of two forces – individual fulfilment and spiritual fellowship
Those things that we do only on special occasions, with ritual and a poignancy of feeling, are meant to be kept special. Their specialness would dissolve and become unavailable to us if we allowed ourselves to become overly concerned with form and ceremony. Easter – and sunrise – has magical power only when celebrated infrequently. Expansion of awareness, and the related capacity for acuity of perception, is facilitated by moving attention towards a focus different from what our conditioned upbringing suggests. To realise the fullest extent of our immortal resources, we have to give up the senseless struggle for ephemeral awards – fame and fortune lead us nowhere in the cosmic scheme of things. Nor is it enough simply to collect skills and explanations. Without the ability to employ them wisely, such preoccupations are as cups and certificates decorating the living room. Wisdom goes beyond them, as fruit goes beyond plant, and is held as the position of poise where head and heart have equal attention. This attitude of attention is not just another skill; it is a new dimension of being – a place of highest consciousness, which supports the constant process of self-renewal and acts as a catalyst for everyone we meet to awaken, reborn. Easter speaks to us not only of spiritual fellowship, but also of redemption and its consequential purification. Disregarding the dogma that religionists use to enslave minds, we act in good faith and project into the world our highest sense of eternal values, which endure even as empires and papal supremacy eventually collapse. Our deepest urgency aligns with our basic sense of racial identity – we are human first and foremost, so we serve humanity’s survival and prosperity. Yet we are of spirit, eternal and free, so we align with our desire for individual fulfilment. The reconciliation of these two forces is our life path. We find that our contribution to the human estate is of greatest general importance and actually optimized – as is everyone’s – by finding a way fully to serve ourselves and our community at the same time. |