A Tip of The Veil Lifted
Here follows an introduction to my job. Let me use the day as an example of the work I do.
Today is Holy Day 5, in the series of the Twelve Days of Christmas; often we speak only of the 12 Holy Nights, because most soul searching is about going through the dark night. We then count the first Holy Night on the Eve of Christmas (24th) with the first Holy Day on 25th; then keep on counting till 6thJanuary, Epiphany, with the preceding night as the 12th, giving a 13th Holy Day (unless you started counting Holy Days on 25th, like I chose to do, this year). Don’t freak out over the no. 13, by the way: it has a particularly wise, sophia-power. This was well known to wise (shamanic) women of lore (witches), hence mistrusted/misunderstood by supposed “holy” men and turned superstitiously into a bad-luck number (in patriarchal societies in Europe). Look at it this way, Christ was also the 13th amongst the twelve disciples, as Alpha and Omega, the centre, the all, the last.
What’s to celebrate?
There, that’s the simple explanation for the 12 Holy Nights! What to do with these nights/days? No special cakes to bake for them (except, on Three Kings, in some countries, a cake is made with a bean, symbolising the Christ child, hidden away in its mixture for the lucky finder – teeth permitting….), nor gifts to unwrap (except, in some countries its the Très Reyes who come bearing gifs and not the secular Santa); however within the Waldorf/Steiner tradition “advent-type” calenders can be made with 12 doors to open, revealing a scene from nature (for the youngest, or from the life of Christ for the older children) correlating to the 12 months of the year. That would give for us, today, the month of May.
My word, I can hear some of you cry, all that on top of Christmas pudding and crackers? Why bring spring into the dead of winter?!
It gets complicated
Anything spiritual is going to be complicated. Angels do not live in houses like ours, wattled and daubed, with chocolate box rose gardens; nor do they wear raiments made of linnen or Egyptian organic cotton. For, and this should be obvious, man is too close to the animal kingdom to be like angels. It means we don’t speak or understand “angelic” too well, if at all, anymore. It used to be different (let’s assume by traces of evidence). We do not even come from the lowest rung of the Cosmic Hierarchies (according to the Dionysian model there are nine). Life on Earth is all about building up a tenth Hierarchy, a platform for Mankind-Eternal.
In olden times, when there were Mystery Centres, shamans and Pythias and the like, people received spiritual information subconsciously (dreamscapes), in trance, or after an initiation ceremony for the elite student (clairvoyantly). Nowadays we live on a more physical (less etheric) thinking that is narrowly bound to the nervous (cerebreal) system. Out of this type of consciousness we can only comprehend matter, substance, particles and not that which comes to us intangibly. At best, we call such notions feelings, but they will usually still be thoughts (incl. emotions) only less concrete.
New ways of knowing
It is not innate to our physical bodies to hear and see the spiritual. We need to develop special sensory functions for this. This is to discipline the mind and train it to think imaginatively, inspirationally, and intuitively. Artists often do this without knowing it. Genius minds may touch upon it (although this capacity should not be confused with a high IQ, which is an artificial measurement of a computational brain).
Spirit-speak is a language we have to learn to see and hear with so-called spiritual organs. Perhaps, inbetween life and death we have a command of a spiritual language (certainly of no other type!), but even then, it is most likely that few of us ever master it well enough for indepth communications with higher beings. In any case, after we enter a fleshy vessle we have at our command only coarser alphabets for the qualities that are the vowels of the planets and the consonants of the zodiac (details to be found in sources by Steiner, cum suis).
Spiritual exercises (etheric training, astral strengthening) loosens the etheric and the astral body from the physical to enable us to better reach the spiritual impulse behind the spoken word and physical manifestations. This will spiritualise our speech and increase our creative productivity and open up wider channels (build bridges) between the different worlds or realities beyond the superficial one of surfaces we call the real-physical (material) world.
Why all the gobbledy-gook?
What then, exactly, is the etheric and astral body I speak of? Plenty of literature abounds, detailing these bodies (and more) but, trust you me, you’ll still have trouble distinguishing your this from your that with tidy descriptions to serve only your comprehension, and hardly hanging concrete labels on body parts. Even if you do know what you know, try explaining or sharing it with others. Still, without introducing some esoteric (specialised) terminology we cannot ever escape the narrow confines of our pragmatic-cognitive language of the mundane. This is not to say, we cannot use the vernacular and “real-life” examples to indicate how a new fine-tuning might work. But where we don’t succeed, just know, we don’t intend to mystify or obfuscate.
Not infrequently, they who have been able to perfect their spirtiual organs and use their spiritual faculties effectively have given us teachings and exercises by which to try and attain the same level of conscious expansion. Some work for some and not for others, who need to keep looking elsewhere. Some never find any that work for them (or fail to put in the necessary work that gets results). Inversely, it is my humble opinion, that some teachers or mediums are barking up the wrong tree and their exercises lead to self-hypnosis and delusion, not to mention arrogance, vanity and untruthfulness.
Job description of the spiritual researcher
It is the self-appointed task of a spiritual researcher to offer some kind of quality control and suggest workable routes. Above all, they can be useful in weeding out the charlatans, the spurious, and the hysterical. It is not their aim to convert, persuade or preach. We are not crusaders, although we have been often called that! There is, true enough, a sense of urgency and vigilance that goes into making a dedicated researcher.
There is some sort of mission or vocation which is pretty much innate, and it resembles a religious zeal only for the “spiritual tie” that apparently binds them to their cause. It is often this very apron string that becomes the focal point of their research. More often than not these researchers have no organised religion, or systematic faith to begin with, and they cultivate an academic (critical) modus to prevent slipping into any cubby hole for safe keeping. They have to maintain a certain degree of independence, and above all must stand astride with a leg in both worlds, bothe equally as firmly planted. To the material world the spiritual leg will seem suspicious, to the believers the material one will often feel too cumbersome.
Spirital researchers need a fair bit of grounding and must refuse the tendency to fly too high (and melt the wax of their make-shift wings). That which is embedded in time is helpful in tracing etheric pathways, like the 12 Holy Days. Natural cycles and the progression of the stars and planets are favorite patterns to follow because they are so incredibly diverse and anchored to living organisms, so that you are less likely to become over-confident about your expertise in matters as dubious as immortality and eternity. Knowledge is always just a temporary rung in the ladders to and from the spiritual reality we must climb daily if we are to arrive anywhere.
In short, spiritual researchers find themselves all over the place and without a community to support them fully, and may be likened to a free-lance journalist content to be accredited for their independence and objectivity with the twist of an inspired perspective. They do not exactly free-wheel, however, and are steered by a sixth sense that must be kept sharp – which is a day job in and of itself.
Things better left to one side
The findings of a spiritual researcher differ markedly but compete to an extent with communications conveyed from a spiritual entity by a medium directly. These are basically worthless to the spiritual researcher, however valuable they are deemed by the individual recipient. Indeed, it takes priority to assess whether new findings speak of personal belief or adopted notions. Only the beliefs of a fellow mortal are of interest to the researcher. Post-mortal communications with deceased teachers and scientists are problematic to study and are necessarily must be preceded by investigations into the medium.
It is one of the spiritual researcher’s premises that the spirits currently actively involved with one-upping us do therefore not speak through mediums, and it is advised by anthroposophists, but also many modern priesthoods, to seek your own relationship to the archangels or Christ (or a master of your own choice). You are better off following a teacher than using a medium. But there ought to be a rough guide to good teachers…. Or better still, a personal consultation with someone who can tell you, like an experienced grandmother, whether your spiritual organs are informing you accurately or whether you are only wishful thinking (a dangerous intoxication).
The qualties of a good researcher
There are two main qualities to bear in mind when you judge a spiritual researcher, are they good (very precise) wordsmiths and do they only ever convey what they see? A Spiritual Researcher is not a psychic, clairvoyant or medium, yet, ultimately, I would say, has access to the same spiritual information. They merely walk a different path, one that fits our age of cognitive faculties. They do not mean to supplant mediums, and even may endorse them, for the more angles we can get on the same landscape the better. On the other hand they adopt strict criteria for approving visions and prophesies as spiritual facts.
... working out of love
It may sound confusing, after the previous statement that one must believe to see, but to attain spiritual knowledge, one must guard against believing in anything. One may however fall safely in love with someone to follow them with such belief that makes the unseen visible. This state of love is a type of clear-seeing. Some spiritual researchers (nuns!) will fall in love with Christ,e.g. It is quite as earnest - but passionate - a deal as that. The reason for this "teaming up" is explained in the formula of "where two or more are gathered, the Christ-light can enter". To establish a core of light it is necessary to build indellible constellations, often begining with a pair, but always with a third at hand. It lends new meaning to the ménage a trois.... Sisterhoods and brotherhoods (religious orders) are no longer as powerful as they used to be, nor tailored specifically for the individulaisation era we are currently going through. New formats will have to come into being.
It should be possible to achieve a similar nuculeus between so-called twin souls or spiritually aligned spirit-selves. Nine out of ten love-relationships, however, are not so-called (Light)Work-pairs, for it requires no small amount of dedication and sacrifice to do such selfless work in the name of Spirit.
This Mood of Love is unconditional and all-encompassing, literally enshrouding or swaddling one’s soul and one can approach any living being in it. Needless to say, beware of infatuation or plain lustful temptations! We know its all-consuming power from the extreme experience of souls falling in love with eachother; in an ideal world this does not serve to satisfy the indivdual but sets up a work sphere in which two can invite the Christ light. Much more research and experimentation is necessary on this front!
... trusting their feelings
The spiritual researcher may have been born with a strong tendency to think and feel and want with their spiritual self, but they will also have been planted firmly in the material world where the work of fresh discernment, new conscience, and higher cognition is most needed. They shall heed against the mental handicap that is hyper-sensitivity (hyper is never good) and work intensively to transform this sensitivity into reliable, steady imaginative thinking.
Several filters will have to be put in place, which may lend a frustration or sobriety, at least, that comes with such restrictions that veil the spiritual world. However, this training serves them much in later stead. On a veritable down-side, the path this takes is unenviable and not everybody makes it along this rocky and lonesome road. I have seen more than a handful of casualties, kidnappings of the soul and deep despair.
The input
Wherever there is animosity or hatred there is blindness. The spiritual researcher wishes to resolve such blindness or fight The Lie born out of ignorance and neglect with a tremendous passion. Graham Greene’s novel “The Power and the Glory” (not one of his “entertainments”) may not be a favorite with his greater audience, with its Catholic priestly theme, but it explores poignantly the difficulties of faith within and without the believer; the oppression against the “fairy-tale” elitism; as well as its own authority for the relationship maintained with the Mystery and All-Father (or Logos) for better and worse. At the heart of the novel is a plea to lift the blindness. This is achieved by believing. The spiritual researcher’s work approaches that of the novelist’s ardent challenge to himself to rhyme the cons of Catholicism and artificial morality with the pro’s of believing spiritual reality.
The starting point of the spiritual researcher, therefore must be (or else they are a sceptic) to first believe in order to see. This does not sit well with modern ratio! Unfortnately, not much can be said to justify this approach to spiritual science. There is little point in telling you to rest assured that much like a good priest, a spiritual researcher will not accept second-hand platitudes or foster traditional and conventional thinking. Authenticity and individuality are key signatures of their work.
Anything that falls into that category of the miraculous, magical, mysterious and believable makes for interesting subject matter. How does it tie us “back” (on track) and to what path forwards?
Once you allow for the premise that the spiritual researcher already comes to the table with insider-knowledge, even if it doesn’t feel particularly exceptional to them, and even if it generally gives concerns about their levels of normalcy if not sanity, and futher allow for the difficulties in breaking everything down to bite-sized particles – a form of translation in which much tends to get lost – then you may liken spiritual researchers to any other scientist. Great educational scientists have the ability to communicate in plain language, but even they will lose most of us somewhere down the line of quantum physics.
The output
The most practical work we do is check materials revealed or “downloaded” for flaws and inconsistencies and translate information that is likely to be of use to a greater good. We check the science behind the theory and evaluate the efficaciousness of therapies, medical treatments, educational/training tools and may advocate or warn against further socio-psychological applications.
We may be seen as seated on a selection board and are required to have eclectic tastes (or better still objective judgement). We are administrators, in that sense, to prophets and mystics (rishis or masters), representing the potential for higher consciousness in the lay-man, as available to the dilligent student, at the given time. There is a bottom line, below which we do not cater to, for it would be “to cast pearls before swine” and in violation of certain spiritual laws.
I hate to sound like I’m copping out last minute, but there is also a science behind their being no vernacular for certain aspects of spiritual reality. If we take the Latin for “science” and understand it to refer to “knowing”, we simply come to a point when there is nothing more that can be said about anything much at all. That’s when the 30 blows from the Zen master’s stick come in handy.…
The advanced spiritual researcher is able to spot spiritual messages (manifestations) of significance, and they must be selective to zoom in on those that are most relevant to our time. This is not meant to disparrage how everything means something to someone. But part of the job description is to keep eveybody on their toes. If you want to be lulled into a comfort zone you need to drink tea with your guru.
Downsides: no work place / poor wages
Most spiritual researchers cannot wait to be "promoted" to a semi-retired position where one may "work from home" more as an acolyte to the spirits guides, more a surveyor than an administrator to the humans. However, it is also the sign that you are no longer up to the job!
It can turn out to have been a rather unsatisfying job making you wonder what on earth you've done with your time! One is often a kill-joy out in the real world, where one tries to protect and rescue, by handing out facts and cleaner reading. Many young acolytes who just want a spiritual path regardless of it's destination hurtle themselves off cliffs without even knowing it. It is tragic to witness this. But someone also has to and these witness-duties tend to fall part to the spiritual researcher because they have the necessary skill-set to report accurately.
One of the greatest problems for the spiritual researcher is channels of distribution for their work. There isn't a forum or journal for spiritual research, and unless one rewrites existing manuals one is only ever responding to individual cases and momentary issues. One works on demand, which is never stable and regular. At the same time, there is no such thing as a hotline to a spiritual researcher, so they have to find alternative ways to integrate into society and make your services available. It can be problematic to enter through New Age channels, which are often intolerably contaminated (and not spiritual at all). You would like your "office space" to reflect the quality of your work. At present, spiritual researchers operate most frequently amongst specific groups of believers as moderators and, if they are well enough connected, content curators. An ideal work-space would be the breakfast table...
To end with a personal introduction
My field of operation has come to rest within Anthroposophical medicine, gardening, nutrition, education, eurythmy and veil-painting, and Steiner's Christology, but my background is in myth (notably Norse, Celtic, Sumerian, Egyptian and Vedic), hermeticism, and alchemical-rosicrucian and Kabalah studies on the one hand and Taoism, Zen-buddhism, J.Krishnamurti on the other. In addition I have researched Taoist and Ayurvedic and macrobiotic diets, various complementary therapies and diagnostic methods, specifically aromatherapy, Bach Flower remedies, Schussler Salts, Touch For Health, crystals, and Reiki. My studies further have brought me to learn the (pictoral) languages of Tarot, Runes, and my first love, astrology. For fun, I enjoy art, literature, poetry, music and the life of plants and insects. And no, I don't have much time left for a social life... for there is also this tiny thing called autism dotted around my life making quite a few demands on my time (and patience)....
My current project...
is to explore the possibilities for creating a virtual breakfast table around which the spiritual researchers and their guests may assemble for an appraisal of their current spiritual itinery and state of soul and a reassessment of their spiritual aims as held up against all that can be currently known about our spiritual nature and man's destiny...
. . . just another little thing.
