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December 23 through December 29, 2024

The Libra Moon will set the tone for the first two days of the week, casting a calm and peaceful mood over all our activities. Relationships will thrive and our appreciation of the gifts they bring into our lives will deepen. Wednesday and Thursday’s Scorpio Moon will highlight the spiritual tones of the season, reminding us to be grateful for all we have and everyone we share it with. Giving us the ability to look at our lives with a higher perspective allows the soulful tones of Scorpio to transform us on the innermost of levels. Once the Moon moves into Sagittarius for the rest of the week, our focus will be on the future and what we hope to create and accomplish in the new year ahead. I wish everyone a joyful and safe holiday, as we bring 2024 to a close and make plans for a glowing future.

Western Tradition and Mandalas, by Jean-Louis de Biasi

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Spiritual traditions are part of the human DNA. Despite all the good arguments coming from atheism, the presence of an invisible world has been a belief shared by human beings from the time they began walking on their two legs to discover the world.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, eastern spiritualties have won a clear popularity among people eager to lift the veil on religious mysteries. For the Theosophical movement, for example, Tibet, the Himalayas, and India were places where Spiritual Masters were supposed to live. The mystical center of the world and the mysterious subterranean city called Agartha were in the Himalayas. Buddhists and Hindus perpetuated advanced techniques of meditation and the development of inner powers. Meanwhile in the Western World, monotheistic religions continued to control the minds of Westerners by imposing religious dogmas, shaping a strong hierarchy of powers descending from God, to the Pope and Cardinals (Priests), then to Kings, and then the people. Monks kept a kind of independence vis-à-vis the religious establishment. Occult groups perpetuating Hermeticism, Theurgy, Kabbalah, and the Rose Cross tried for hundreds of years to keep the ancient Western Traditions alive. Some of these occult groups are still alive, and I have the privilege to be the head of two of them, the Aurum Solis and the Kabbalistic Order of the Rose Cross. Learning Western Philosophy and esoteric traditions helped me develop the ability to recognize hidden messages left by ancient initiates.

Speaking about messages, we are often thinking about ancient books, parchments, secret codes, etc. In fact, art and architecture have been a wonderful way to pass down such an ancient heritage coming from a time before the rise of monotheistic religions. Most of this heritage is often hidden in plain sight, and it is wonderful to still be able to decipher it. The main difference between Eastern and Western traditions has been this concealment of esoteric teachings. This is also one of the reasons why Buddhism and Hinduism have become so popular. One of the most obvious subjects that links spiritual practice and art has been mandalas, the most famous of which are authentic Tibetan mandalas. As you may know, they are symbolic representations of the universe. The belief is that this beautiful artwork is not a simple drawing or sand painting, but the representation of a spiritual vision that can be seen also as the reflection of our inner world. The process of creating it in a specific way, using prayers, mantras, and visualization while mixing pigments and painting it, creates a performative artwork. This results in a real invisible power that can act as a catalyst of energies capable of modifying your state of consciousness. What I mean is that you can just look at an authentic mandala made according to the occult rules, and you will experience a complete spiritual experience. An authentic mandala is multi-dimensional. It exists in this world as a beautiful piece of art, but it should be seen also as a gate to the spiritual world, symbolically illustrated. A meditation will allow you to go from this world to another on a real shamanic journey. Of course, knowing the pronunciation of the mantras, the names of the divinities, and the secret words of power may help. However, I can assure you that just being in the presence of such a mandala is capable of modifying the energy of a place and consequently affecting your state of consciousness. It could be surprising to know that such symbolic representations of the universe are not limited to these Eastern traditions. I can give you two examples among many. The first one can be found in the tradition of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States. The Hopi and Zuni tribes have developed a specific kind of painting that has exactly the same purpose and process as the Tibetan Mandalas. In the Western world, various kinds of symbolic representations of the Universe can be found in religious buildings: ceilings, stained glass, and pavements. In The Hidden Mandala Coloring Book, that has been just published, I chose to focus on the latter. While traveling all around the Mediterranean world, I have been surprised to see a real continuity in the patterns used by the masters. From the early Roman world to the Renaissance and beyond, we can easily recognize similar interlacing. Even if the purpose was not the same, we can see such designs in the Celtic and Gallic arts.

Of course, we can find mosaic floors with human and animal representations. However, labyrinths and other interlacing constitutes a very rich symbolic language. Mathematics and geometry have been used for these creations. In the introduction of this coloring book, I talked about the symbolism of numbers and shapes. While traveling in Italy with my wife, who is a talented mosaicist, I took hundreds of photos of these ancient pavements, some of them partially destroyed. Then I recreated the original patterns, completing the missing parts. Doing that has been very rewarding. I realized even more deeply the purpose of the numbers and the interlacing. There is a real connection between our minds, our souls, and these symbolic patterns. Every time we use them, whether by drawing or coloring, our heart begins to slow down, our blood pressure decreases, and our mind reaches a state of balance and peace. Hundreds of coloring books have been published in recent years. I can assure you that coloring stars, flowers, angels, or unicorns has no effect whatsoever on your state of consciousness. Of course, someone doing that will be more relaxed only by the fact that he is focusing on an artistic activity and avoiding the usual daily stress. Using symbolic patterns that have been inherited for ancient masters is totally different. Anyone can feel the difference after a few minutes of coloring.

As I explain this process, I am looking at a few designs that are in this coloring book and I want to give you right now the opportunity to begin your inner experience. I just chose for you a representation of one of the mosaics that comes from Ravenna in Italy. The numbers are important in this pattern. To access, simply join the public Hidden Mandalas Facebook Group; once you've joined the group, you will be able to download this mandala in a PDF format. This sample is slightly different from the one you will find in the book itself, but the symbols and numbers are similar.

After downloading the mandala and printing it on heavy paper, you can prepare your coloring time and proceed. As a suggestion, I would like to give you a short ritual process you can use for this one.

Choose eight beeswax candles and natural incense. You can choose the latter in relation to the Egyptian God Thot (Djehuti), who is also called Lord of Khemenu. Place your chair facing east, along with the table you will use for coloring the mandala. Your colored pencils and pencil eraser should be ready on the table.

Stand up and declaim:

"Thot, noble Ibis, I call upon you!
Manifest your presence!
O God who loves Knoum;
O writer of the Ennead;
Great God who resides in the sacred city of Hermopolis, manifest yourself at this instant!
Hear my call!
Let your manifestation be powerful and let it make me great!
O Thot may we speak of your valiant actions and tell you with the multitude: 'Great are you
Thot and great are your acts!'"

Light the eight candles from the right (south) to the left (north).

Sit and color the mandala. I recommend coloring this specific one from the center to the exterior circle. If you do not achieve the mandala in one period, you should use the opening again, to declaim the hymn.

When your coloring process is achieved, you can proceed with the closing.

Stand up and declaim the following prayer of closing.

"O Eternal, we have known thy light supreme, which can be seen only by the spirit. We have understood thee, O Life of Life, O Thou who bring all into being. We have known in thee the eternal permanence of all nature. O God, let this hymn, this whole-hearted adoration, be an expression of our love.
We ask of thee only one favor, O Eternal One: that Thou wilt keep us constant in our Love of knowing thee, and that we will never be far from this kind of life."

Then extinguish the candles.

I would like to finish this article by an inviting you to send in your colored mandala to the Hidden Mandala Facebook group, either by scanning it or taking a photo of it. On February 1, 2017, I will open an online vote for your artistic interpretations of this Italian mandala. I will personally send a copy of my signed Hidden Mandala Coloring Book to the person who colored the mandala selected by your votes.

Once the book has been released, I invite you to continue to post your colored mandalas in the same Facebook group. We will also have the opportunity to post information about mandalas, to have discussions, to share Western Mandalas, and more.

I wish you a very good spiritual and artistic journey in this amazing world of Western Mandalas.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2016. All rights reserved.

Two years ago I started meditating. I've had visions I experienced during meditation come true, and quickie visions or thoughts I had while awake come to pass. I've realized that I'm clairvoyant, though so far this is nothing major - just the occasional prophetic dream, vision, or sense of when things will happen. I'm highly imaginative, can visualize anything, and am a strong empath. For many years, I've noticed that as I'm falling asleep, I'll have these very quick but clear images or visions. I'll hear and see a scene just as if it were a clip of a movie or a commercial. There are many of them and then I'm awake again, remembering the images. This happens within a minute of me turning the light out and also when meditating. Then my eyes slide open again, so I'm not asleep yet I'm not awake. I heard once that the name for this is hypnagogic images. Of course, the scientific theory is that it has nothing to do with psychic information, though many people claim otherwise. Is this a common experience? Is it clairvoyant information? If so, what am I to do with it? I was born 5/21/68.

Kathy

Astrea:

People born on your birth date are especially gifted in the very ways you describe. Being born on that Gemini/Taurus cusp makes you three times more receptive than most of us because you have both of your Gemini twins and your Taurus to weigh and evaluate the things you see and hear on a psychic level.

If they take the time and use their energy wisely, most cusp people prove to be very psychically adept. This comes from having more than one personality perceiving and evaluating the things they psychically pick up. Tuning in is the hardest part, but the Taurus in you should be able to quiet the Geminis enough so that you can get to the bottom of things.

Between the time we are awake and the time we fall asleep, our minds enter that hypnogogic phase. At that time, we lose touch with waking reality and move into the world of psychic vision. Everyone experiences this but not everyone notices or learns how to consciously work with it.

Many people may disagree with me, but based on many years of experience, I NEVER discount things like those images you receive no matter how trivial they may seem at the time. Even if a specific situation or event isn't revealed clearly in those momentary visions, something can always be gleaned from the things we mentally see as we are falling asleep or waking up.

I experience these sorts of visions more often right before I wake up, which is fortunate, because it makes it much easier to write them down right away. I assume you're saving yours on paper too. It's extremely important to record those visions so that you can learn how to use them to your best advantage.

Since the things you see in those moments tend to come true, it would be wise to expand upon them by stringing them together so you can figure out what they're trying to tell you. Even the tiniest thing can be important in the big picture of your life, so write down everything you see under the assumption that everything is valuable.

Sometimes it's better not to ruminate too much on the MEANING of things, and to allow insights and understanding to come about naturally. You'll learn to sort things out as more information comes in, and soon you'll be able to string whole visions together from the tiny gleanings you receive from day to day.

*****

Susyn:

The period between being awake and asleep is known as the alpha state. Powerful insights, visions and psychic messages tend to appear during this stage of consciousness. Though scientific theories may try to explain these experiences away, most of the visions we perceive during this state can't be dismissed as meaningless because they often prove accurate.

Though this is a common experience, most people pay little attention to it. Now that you've become aware of it, the accuracy of your visions should increase.

One of the most powerful experiences I had during an alpha state came in the form of a dream in which I was talking with my mother who had died a few months before. In this state, she called me on my cell phone and we carried on a conversation. I was very aware that she was calling me from the spirit world, and could actually feel the phone pressed up against my ear.

When our conversation ended, I awoke and could still feel the phone against my cheek, but when I went to reach for it, it wasn't there. I realized right away that this wasn't a dream, but rather an experience in which she was able to communicate with me. I asked her if she was all right and whether she could call me or if I could call her on my cell even though she'd passed away. I was awake but not awake, and profoundly moved.

Your emotional state is one way to identify if what you are experiencing is a dream or clairvoyant vision, for normally, these events will create strong emotions that stay with you throughout the day.

You can develop this gift by recording the images you receive and monitoring how often they come true. As you do, their frequency may increase. Once your subconscious mind and spirit guides realize you are paying attention, more information will come. As you work with these messages, your abilities will increase, which will make it easier to determine if you should share your insights with others or keep them to yourself.

Continue to develop your meditation abilities, and watch for evidence of astral projection, another practice that tends to arise from this alpha state. This is just the beginning. As more of your psychic powers emerge and you continue to awaken, the transformational process you're involved in will point you in a clear new direction.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.