The Festivals of Ascension and Whitsun, and Cosmic Energies

At the end of May, we have just celebrated the Feast of the Ascension. Today, the 31st, commemorates the visit of Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth, who was to be the mother of John the Baptist, and Elizabeth's greeting of her, which forms the first part of the Hail Mary prayer. 

Then, at the weekend, we will be moving firmly into early summer with the Festival of Whitsun, or Pentecost, celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit as the disciples, together with Mary, waited in the Upper Room at Jerusalem as they had been told to do.

Pentecost comes 50 days after the Resurrection, and 50 is a number of great significance in esoteric studies. It symbolizes a great change, a freedom from the past, and a time of celebrating and feasting. Today, in Israel, the entire nation is celebrating a Jubilee Year, and the Jubilee of Jerusalem is especially important in the mystical teachings of esoteric Judaism. 

To Christians in the United Kingdom, the Feast of Pentecost has always been marked with special celebrations. Until recently, it was the custom for Christians in the North of England to hold parades, complete with brass bands, when families would all put on new clothes for Whitsun, and mark the birthday of the church with parties and dances. My own parents and their brothers and sisters would recall these festivities, which were a huge break from everyday life, and impressed on the children the importance of  Pentecost.

We can see this mood enhanced and reflected in the weather as the seasons change from late spring to early summer. The lengthening of the day is very obvious now; the sun is stronger; the countryside, the town parks and individual gardens are full of flowers and scents, as though Nature herself were joining in the celebrations of this great and ancient feast.

We can see how the Earth, turning now towards the Sun and towards the centre of our galaxy, is receiving special influences, from closer at hand than before. There is a real difference in the energies that permeate the very elements at this time, and these changes are the real reason why this time of year was the start of something quite new. Especially are we graced with fresh energies from the Sun, and from the Sun's Sun, as it were, the Dog Star, Sirius.

Our Sun revolves around Sirius, as we have been noticing. And Sirius, in turn, revolves around an even greater Sun, so that the entire galaxy is in motion, in a perpetual dance of joy and celebration.

Recall that we've passed the past eight months in focused, concentrated, inner work.

Since the Feast of St Michael at the end of September, and the harvest festivals and Jewish New Year of the September/October period, we've been remembering the eternal truths which Christianity, Judaism and the Work all teach us. 

We've been reminded of our own death; of the new birth which takes place at Christmas for those who have worked for it; of the celebrations of this new life and its beginnings in the world; and of the period of fasting and abstinence in Lent which prepares us for the Easter Passion Drama. 

We've recognized the changing seasons, their different energies, and the cosmic patterns which fit us for different types of work on ourselves as the year progresses.

Now, after the huge, most important time of all - the Easter drama, the Resurrection and the Ascension - we can have reached the time of Pentecost.

From the furthest reaches of space, from other suns and faraway galaxies, those of us who  are sensitive to such changes have experienced this whole time as especially propitious for our own personal work on ourselves.

When Pentecost comes, the emphasis falls differently. We now take all that we have learned and received from this remarkable journey and practice it as best we can in the external world. The time is now ripe for groups, for gatherings of all kinds, and for group work.

In our own lives, we try especially to live what we have learned, to practice external considering, to transform our mechanical reactions into the conscious reception of impressions. We need to do this all year, of course, but now, as the seasons propel us into summer, we emphasize putting it all together in a very real and practical way among our friends, our families, our colleagues, our fellow Work students. And as we do so, so others also gain the possibility of transformation.

Each season is different and unique, but each offers a particular way to practice the Work.

Looking at the cosmic dance of Suns and planets, we understand why it is most appropriate that the Ascension has recently taken place. Just as Christ ascends to heaven, so the extra-terrestrial, even extra-galactic, energies recede from us so that we can no longer directly perceive or experience them.

Jesus Christ returns to the Father; the influences from far, far afield - even from the sphere of the Most Holy Sun Absolute - seem now to return to their source. Of course, it is we, on our small and insignificant planet, who have moved. We are powerless to resist the changes, but we can benefit from the new and different influences that are apparent now.

 We cherish all that we have learned and assimilated, and take it into the world around us during the summer season.

The flames of Pentecost are reflected in the hotter, warmer sunshine we often experience. But even when the weather disappoints us, we can still feel the underlying shift of emphasis in the energies of this season, and if we are more awake we respond to it through our Higher Centres.

And as we remember this Feast, we can understand what a tremendous shock it gave those first disciples.

Nothing like it had ever happened in the world. Just as Jesus's entire ministry and Passion were unique and pioneering, so was - and is - Pentecost, for us as for them.

The first disciples were suddenly given the power to do. They began to communicate in unheard-of ways, to experience new emotions and new powers. Before Pentecost, they had been meeting together in prayer every day, but with no understanding or expectation of what was to come.

Because they were gathered together as a group, the shock they received was all the more powerful. They were welded together as a group, as the first church, and they were able - thanks to the shock of the Holy Spirit - to go out into the world and evangelize, just as they had been instructed. 

Before Pentecost, they could not do much. Afterwards, the entire world was changed.

This is the meaning of this very important festival, and how we may celebrate it today - by going out into the world and putting into practice what we have so arduously learned. And as we do so, we will receive exactly the energies and powers that Conscious Humanity knows we will need. It is not given until it is needed, but then it is poured out generously and freely and is available to all those who are able to receive it.