Hi y'all. I was in a dark place the other day. So I got to organizing and pulled boxes out that held my Mom's astrological library. My son came home and I suggested we both go through them and he can see what strikes his fancy. My son has a fascination with religions and psychology but not astrology. However, my mother was interested in all three. Anyhow, he chose some books, I reorganized them and pulled some to read for myself. There was one book that was inscribed by the author to her - a first edition called Evolutionary Astrology by Raymond Merriman copyrighted back in the 1970s. (Mr. Merriman has since specialized in financial/stock market astrological analysis and made quite a name for himself). Anyway, the introduction of this book made me think of all of you. He dedicated the book to the Essenes (who are thought to author The Dead Sea Scrolls) but not for that reason.
As this is out of print, I am going to share what he wrote and you will probably feel as I do, a deep sense of alignment/attunement:
"Long ago, in an area extending from the Dead Sea southward through the Nile River Valley in Egypt, a community of individuals once gathered. They were highly skilled and talented individuals as far as the affairs of the world were concerned. But one day, each made a commitment - a commitment that not only affected the rest of their lives, but as well the lives of many people for centuries to come. Each of the members of this community decided to give up their skills and talents for their own ends along, and to come together with a unified purpose in a band which has come to be known as the Essenes."
"The time began around 500 B.C. The planet Earth was entering into a critical cycle. The Age of Aries was drawing to a close and the Age of Pisces was fast approaching. A change--nay, a great change--could be felt in the air. People were confused and frightened, for things which they could not understand were happening so fast. All the prophecies of old seemed to be manifesting at once, with one exception: the birth of a great savior."
' "Where is our Savior?" was the cry heard across the lands.'
"Then, one by one, the saviors began arriving: Bodhidharma in the Far East, Siddartha Guatama (The Buddha) and Mahavira in India, Lao Tzu and Confucious in China, Zoroaster in the Middle East.
But the Essenes were looking for another yet, one who would appear according to the prophecies of the Old Testament, and according to the prophecies of the their own wise men known as the Magi."
"They knew the time was upon them to prepare for the advent of this new age, for the presence of a Great One. They knew a new age of devotion, self-sacrifice and love for all people was necessary for the Earth's evolution--in fact, it was necessary in order for this planet to remain in balance with the Universe itself."
"So they made a commitment. They would band together and be the examples of the new age. They would give up their selfish pursuits and begin using their skills and talents for the good of the community which they would form. The would become Love & Devotion in action And they promised to devote their lives to successfully usher in the new age and a new savior for Humankind.
"For centuries their community prospered and grew. It grew in the bond of the commitment, in the faith of a promise, they made and kept to one another. And then one day the prophecies of the Magi came to be. The bright star, the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the sign of the Fish, hovered above in the evening skies. A sign , an omen, long awaited" for signaled not only the end of waiting and preparation, but the beginning of a great task which now lay before them. The Essenes were to be the teachers of Jesus of Nazareth. An age hand come to an end, and a new age had finally arrived."
"... And within one century after the birth of Jesus, their purpose at this point completed, the Essenes vanished from the face of the Earth... The Essenes made a promise. A promise to commit themselves as workers for a Universe of Love, Peace & Harmony. They promised to work against all the forces of negativity by concentrating their efforts totally towards the creative, positive forces within he Universe and this promise was made for eternity."
I just think this is a timely story right before Christmas... but the author continues in his Preface to discuss an evolving Earth and the evolving souls who manifest in it. As one "earns the right to reincarnate at a given specific moment in which the quality of the Universe is in harmony with the prior actions of that Soul...."
And he goes on to talk about Universal Laws -- those of attraction and retribution (Karma) and the perils of limiting ourselves with separation and alienation.
So this is where I felt the thrum...
"What if a number of souls became out of balance to an extreme? What if a group of souls occupying the planet at once continued in a direction away from balance? ... And what do we see happening? We see atrocities all about us. We see innocent citizens slaughtered in senseless wars. We see young people in the universities murdered for expressing outwardly their beliefs and ideologies. We see dishonesty and corruption in our governments. It cruses our very Spirit to see Man fighting against Man, exploiting one another, taking advantage of each other."
...
"Many of you reading this book see these things happening ... We are a people with a hope, a dream, an ideal. Many of us are seekers, seeking some peace, some love... We are discovering that we are not alone, that there are others like us--compatriots of the Universe-- who are on the same journey. We are beginning to discover that we can make things happen.... life is not meaningless.. purposeless... we are not helpless... there is a reason we are born now, into this time of great change and flux. It is the dawning of a new age. Changes are rapidly taking place. The consciousness of the people upon this Earth is beginning to transform. It is no coincidence that you are here now It was no coincidence that you were here 2000 years ago. You made a commitment for eternity and your time has come again."
Okay I know this is kind of heavy... lots of woo (at least that was what Mom would say, she was very scientific with her psychology/astrology) but seriously, I thank Mr. Merriman for writing this and getting it published back in 1977. I'm glad he was a friend to my mother and I happily anticipate reading this book and getting through what I would call the "astrologese" that my Mom always fell into (I would say "ok Mom, translate the astrologese please") and gain greater understanding. He most certainly elucidated my feelings about this group and the diverse individuals I have made connections with all over the country.. even the world. I thank you. Jeanne for making this place and for everyone here so much for being my community, willing partners to focus and invite the light and love and balance back into the universe because although I know we focus on the US a lot, what we are going through is also reflected in Europe, the Middle East, Great Britain etc. We are not in a vacuum. Anyway, I love you all.
And we all love you!
Great symbolic resonance here including some of my most deeply held symbols and imagery that were given to me during deep meditative trance states learning medical and walking chi gong with an Italian dr.chi gong and acupuncture teacher who taught all over the world at major institutions but *just happened" to come to Oregon to teach a handful of people selected as students of an ancient form. Fascinating connections here for me that I can't descibe.
I used to read about the Essenes and the Dead Sea Scrolls on National Geographic decades and decades and decades ago and was immensely drawn to them, still am to this day.
Fascinating TV special on PBS Nova recently Do you know that something like 90% of the found scrolls/mostly remnants were purchased, and even illegally in some some cases, by the billionaire owner of Hobby Lobby. Highly conservative Christian.(the Green family patriarch) Problem is fakeries abound and really, reslly good fakes.
Blew my mind and makes my gut clench to think about how he has gained control of them now and what is the overriding intent? They created a Museum of the Bible for one thing but there is far more involved.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/dead-sea-scroll-detectives/?linkId=76304928
https://theconversation.com/the-dead-sea-scrolls-are-a-priceless-link-to-the-bibles-past-105770
Wow Rowsella, thank you for taking the time to transcribe all of that. And I don't mind the woo. That's just a word we use to describe those aspects of the universe that our science is not evolved enough to integrate yet. Really, life would be BORING if existence only entailed those physical laws that can be proved with our current paradigm of the scientific method. We need people like Merriman to remind us just how magical life really is.
It is no coincidence that you are here now It was no coincidence that you were here 2000 years ago. You made a commitment for eternity and your time has come again.
I'll admit, my eyes watered a bit when I read these sentences. I've only woken up in the past few months to the possibility that all of the challenges in my life have been to a purpose I consciously chose, so anything that confirms that intuition of mine is a huge gift. Thank you!
When I was fumbling through my dark night of the soul in the early days of 2017, I read an essay on a different psychic's website about how, right now, souls from all over the universe are clamoring to be born on Earth at this juncture in time. The psychic explained how Earth is currently playing host to a quantum leap in spiritual evolution for its inhabitants, and many people alive today are part of an elite group of individuals who have earned the right to aid in this collective transition. Well, reading all of that did not prevent me from going off the rails when I nearly tried to take my life one month later. But the universe intervened and blocked me from carrying out my suicidal intentions, and perhaps that was because I made a promise to work for the universal creative unfolding taking place on this planet...
That was very interesting. I am familiar with Mr. Merriman's financial postings.
This information about the Essenes was particularly interesting to me because I have read Dolores Cannon's book about Jesus and the Essenes. Her books are based on her past life regressions and this was a really fascinating book on the subject of how they participated in Jesus' education.
You need to check in here and be reading and commenting. We are both part of this along with @Rowsella and @coyote and others here. @vestralux too
But you @bluebelle for obvious reasons ? besides another one whose gone through fire and suffering and the clarion calls coming out now.
The depths of suffering, the dark nights of the soul, the descent into almost madness
@coyote . Many here have walked through that fire as you have. I always knew my role and my secrets but others have deeper routes without the guides and guardians along the way.
All you say, believe and know in your soul is true and very real
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evolutionary-Astrology-Journey-Through-Consciousness/dp/0930706188
I admit, I had not heard of the Essenes until opening this book. I had heard about The Dead Sea Scrolls but in - "I saw a title a book" kind of manner. I often have a really hard time reading through channeled text stuff like those from Matthew etc. --something in my head just tells me to stop so it is hard to focus on it as a result, I just felt it was not important for me to read or spirit would guide me to it.
I am going to check your links. Really there is more to wonder about than we ever can know!
In the 2000s I became very restless in my life. Some ideas took root and feelings of being caught in a machine or set of rituals that was no longer serving me but also was not serving all the other parties involved--it was just serving an institution/feeding the factory. I felt perhaps I could bring some hope, some love, some positivity--humanity into what felt like a doomed cycle repeating over and over and make room for some moments, some meaning, calm and recentering, and acknowledgement of our place there, and where we were in a large schema. At the time I was working on an acute oncology floor. 9/11 was still fresh. I was on the Democratic Underground boards then and there was this psychic collective that surfaced on the astrology board there who had positive predictions irt Obama. Something happened and they stopped posting there, I don't remember what it was. Anyhow, I always feel like some of the people are here from that group and I am glad for it and it comforts me.
After my father died, I could no longer work in nursing because emotionally, I was drained. I had to stop for a couple of years to grieve and rebuild. I decided to go back to nursing when the thought of it didn't make me ill. During this time I took a Reiki course (just a first level). I painted. I sewed. I met a wonderful woman who had healing gifts and was very much in tune with her guides and she became my best friend. She is gone now too from breast cancer. Despite all the great advice from her guides and me, she still was pretty stubborn. People with gifts are just as human and prone to mistakes like everyone else and sometimes it really does not matter what the facts are, you have to make allowances for a person's belief system and consider that they have to be met and respected where they are even if you know where that will lead them.
This time of the Aquarian Age, (some say it happened in 2012 but I think it has not really started yet) we are all part of preparing the way for it. So I am finally getting the whole point of the Trump and his band of meaney men...and his despotic friends and minions. We are becoming a post-Savior world. We already have everything we need within ourselves. All the power posturing on the Hill is really kind of like these people want to captivate us, want to distract us into believing they have the answers and the wisdom and most of all that we need them. We don't. They are swiftly turning into an anachronism, they are symbols of fear (most decidedly Trump is).
@michele-b-here-in-the-forum
Rowsella, Thank for starting this forum topic. Um. Wow.
Everything you've posted here resonates with me. My "thrum" is physical in that I start having chills and that's what happened when I started reading these posts. At my age, I actually remember the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls and read a lot about them in the decade or so after they were recovered. However, I had forgotten about the Essenes until this post. (And, to be honest, I'm horrified that the Hobby Lobby people own many of these scrolls.)
Christianity has played a large role in my life and I think it is the best way to live in harmony and peace with others, putting love above all other virtues and strengths. Even now, even as I experience expanded consciousness beyond my Christian upbringing, I wake in the night silently singing the doxology: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost." This has been going on for several weeks now, night after night. It's a comfort to me during these stressful and depressing days and weeks. I need to know that we have a purpose living in this lifetime during this frightening turn towards darkness.
I never heard of Ray Merriman (ahem, thank you Michele) and his astrological financial writing. Will be reading more about him and the Essenes.
Back to Christianity, I lived for a while in a suburb of Atlanta where I was the only Democrat I knew amidst the religious political cult known as the Evangelical South. Frankly, I could not accept the perverted Christianity of the Evangelicals and at the same time, felt in my deepest soul that I needed to speak out about the liberal Jesus who cared for the poor and down trodden. (This made for much awkwardness.) In my mind, the Jesus of the New Testament had nothing to do with the prosperity doctrine of the Southern megachurches or the political beliefs of the hard right wingers. My personal challenge was to love and care for those with whom I did not agree. However, I digress.
Rowsella, you have opened my mind about the Essenes and echoed how I feel about the members of our group here. We are here for a reason. We have discovered each other for a reason. We will work together to bring love and light and positive energy back into our world and help our world find its balance again. Reincarnation makes sense to me and quantum physics supports the theory. It wouldn't surprise me if we have known each other before. Many thanks to you, @JeanneMayell for building and nurturing this community. I find such love and hope here.
Feelin' the love honey girl. Keep it coming and much being sent to you and yours, especially your sister and your mini-me of you (daughter, granddaughter ?) I am picking up who needs lots of love.
PS on Winter Solstice
I always celebrate them, mark them on my heart and make holy water that I leave out all night to collect all lunar holi-days energies,. More importantly I live on the 45th parallel. Should be a factor of my position on and with energetic emotive media influencer things...ha!
☺?☺⚡?⚡???