Very truly yours in Light+,

Gene

The Thirteenth Saying is quite lengthy – both the Saying itself and the accompanying commentary – so we will take several weeks to review it. Personally, I find it quite beautiful and inspiring. At the beginning of the Saying, The Man reminisces about his first voyage aboard the Feathered Serpent I, or Kuviqu as it was named – after the Priest-king Kukulkan/Viracocha/Quetzalcoatl. This incredible story is told in the 1974 book On The Trail of the Feathered Serpent, which can be found online at Thriftbooks, Goodreads, Ebay and Amazon. If you do not have a copy, I highly recommend getting one.

And, now, on to…

The Thirteenth Saying (Part 1)

“And so it was that the Ship of Light remained in Panamanian waters for the greater part of a year undergoing repairs. And The Mariners labored daily making her ready for the voyage to the islands of the Pacific. Being Companions of the Way and members of the Guild of Great Learning, each returned to the Community Center at times to share in the spiritual regeneration of fellowship. And they were cheered by this companionship, for they had missed the spiritual renewal that comes with community. And they enjoyed the cool air of the uplands of the Sierra Nevada, reveling in the snow and rebuilding their strength for their duties to the ship that would return them to tropical regions and many months at sea.

“And it came to pass that The Man returned to the Ship of Light to join his companions. The date was September 16, 1978, the ship being four hundred fifty-seven days out of its home port. And there was great joy aboard the ship; they were glad at being all together again.

“They weighed anchor sailing from Taboga out of the Bay of Panama to the Archipielago de las Perlas, which is to say Islands of the Pearls, under a full moon. That night they dropped anchor in a quiet lagoon on the lee side of the island of Pedro Gonzalez. Soon the ship was quiescent under a sky of brilliant stars, rocking gently in a calm sea away from the wind.

“At first light they set a course to the southwest with the island of the King off the port beam. Puffs of white clouds floating lazily against an azure blue sky embraced golden sunbeams. The ship’s bow cut through the green water sending up a fine spray of salt and foam. And the crew busied themselves on deck, each quietly going about the routine tasks that make life on shipboard tolerable.

“And when they rounded Punta Cocos they made for the Serrania del Sapo and the coast between Punta Caracoles and Punta Garachine. They were now in the Gulf of Panama, retracing the route of the Feathered Serpent I which had carried The Man from Peru to Panama nine years before. It had been built near the pyramids of the Sun and Moon at Moche where it was fashioned out of reeds and bamboo cane after the tradition of the Mochica mariners who had built such ships in olden times when a Priest-king from Peru, called Viracocha, had sailed this way. Viracocha left a rich tradition of his memorable voyage which still survives in the folklore and oral tradition of the Indians. He had sailed from Panama to the lands of the Mayas and the Toltecs to the north where he was known to them as Kukulcan or Quetzalcoatl, the latter meaning Feathered Serpent. And The Man had named the reed boat in memory of the Priest-king; and the second ship, the Ship of Light also, for Viracocha had instructed the people in light, and love, and peace.

“And because they were leaving these waters, The Man had a wish to retrace the last part of the voyage he had made when following the route of the ancient religious figure.

“When they approached the coast, The Man told The Mariners of his experiences on the reed boat; how he had gone aground not more than seventy miles to the south following a violent storm. He told of the struggle to free the ship, and how after days of despair he and his crew had managed to get off the reef, make repairs and, using the current, sail into the Bay of Panama.

“He told of his adventures in Panama and Mexico when he had gone overland visiting the many temples and pyramids erected in memory of the great teacher who had taught the people how to build them. And when The Man had returned to Panama to continue the voyage on the reed boat, he found that the Feathered Serpent had broken its moorings and sailed away out to sea never to be seen again. Some thought she had been broken up by a severe storm, others speculated the ship of ancient design sailed away into the Pacific, colored sails and pennants flying, as if on the trail of her namesake. He told the men that sailors had reported her at sea, but that its whereabouts have remained a mystery to this day.

“And now the Feathered Serpent II had come to these waters to continue from where the first ship had ended her voyage. The Feathered Serpent II would sail north along the coast to Mexico, the original course set for Feathered Serpent I. After this they would set sail for the Pacific Islands.

“They spent the greater part of the day sharing in The Man’s reminiscences of his earlier voyage in the primitive vessel made for him by the Indians of the northern coasts of Peru.

“And that night, guided by the stars and the light of a brilliant moon, they returned to the Island of the King, dropping anchor in the calm expanse of Ensenada Santelmo which had given sanctuary from the winds that blew in from the Pacific to ancient ships in olden times when the Priest-king and teacher had visited the islands so many centuries ago. The island had been used much later by Spanish galleons for quite another purpose prior to their conquest of the Incas of Peru. And now the natural harbor gave refuge to the Ship of Light.

“Later that night the seafarers grouped themselves on deck listening to the soft calls of night birds wafting over the still waters from the forested isle.”

This week – in the popular churches of the West (Catholic and Protestant) – is Holy Week. Next week, the Orthodox churches will observe Easter. Later this week, I will touch on this ancient tradition and how it relates to us in the Second Advent Church Community. Stay safe and healthy!

Again, if I may be of any personal service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours in Light+,

Gene

This week, hundreds of millions of Christians of the Western traditions around the world – mainly Catholic and Protestant but a myriad of others – are observing Holy Week (albeit mostly in the privacy of their homes) in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Next week, millions of Eastern Orthodox Christians around the world will do the same.

However, we in the Second Advent Church Community observe Easter on a fixed date – April 18 – each year according to the solar, not lunar, calendar. And, of course, we do so in an entirely different way and with an entirely unique message. Most importantly, we do not recognize or teach the resurrection of the physical body, only the resurrection of the reborn spiritual or Light Body. Of course, this concept in and of itself; would have gotten us all burned at the stake or hanged not so long ago.

You may have heard me say this before, but I emphasize this point and make the distinction of the English root of the word “Easter” because it differs substantially from the word Pascha and its meaning as relative to the Jewish Passover. For instance, in Spanish Easter is “Pascua,” and in French it is “Pâques.”

I will not get into the details here of the Last Supper and how it was a sacred Essene pannuches meal centered around the 50-day pentacontad cycle (during which Jesus declared himself to be the Messiah of Aaron and Israel;) and that it was not related to the Jewish Passover, as is accepted in the Pauline churches. Needless to say, this important distinction alone separates us from the rest of Christianity.

So, to get back to the point, the word “Easter” in English comes from the Anglo-Saxon Eostre, which can be traced to an important goddess called Hausos. The goddess comes from the proto-Indo European religion, and she is the Goddess of the Dawn. Her name was reconstructed as Ausos, and in India she is referred to as Usas; in Greek Eos; and in Latin Aurora.

The name was derived from the root “to Shine,” thus, translating to “The Shining One.” The English word “East” is derived from this word; and so is the Latin “Aurum” meaning gold. The dawn goddess was also the Goddess of Spring. In the Anglo-Saxon world, and also in the Germanic world, this time – this Easter or Eostre – was called Eosturmonath – or Easter Month – which was celebrated for the entire month of April. The Goddess of Spring was involved in the mythology of the Indo-European new year where the Dawn Goddess was liberated by God from imprisonment. She is known in the Rig Veda as Indra and in ancient Greek mythology as Dionysus. So we see that it is a very important time of the year going back thousands of years before the time of Jesus.

So how do we in the Second Advent/Cosolargy Community reconcile ourselves with this ancient observance? How do we – who do not accept the physical resurrection of the body – harmonize ourselves with this “holy week” which emphasizes the pain, sorrow, suffering, and death of Jesus? How do we – who do not teach that he was the sacrificial Passover lamb, an offering acceptable to God whose blood is shed daily on the altars of churches around the world everywhere and that the shedding of his blood, however ritualistically – was an atonement for the sins of the world? How do we come to terms with those many, many millions of people who do? And, how do we – who reject that Christ’s crucifixion was “good” or that it was the Will of God, holding instead that it was the murder of a Son of Light by the civil and religious authorities of the day – how do we bring that into accord with our own teaching and theology?

For example, the other day I heard an evangelical pastor on the news saying that God had sent the coronavirus. Let me repeat that: God has sent COVID-19, and just as the Israelites had been protected in their homes by God with the blood of the lamb during the Passover, Christians staying at home this Holy Week are and will be protected by God by the blood of Christ as the paschal sacrificial lamb. I hope you see what I’m getting at. It is, in all honesty, a disgusting concept.

So how do we reconcile ourselves with this? We do so by emphasizing what we know to be Christ’s true message: First, that we are all endowed by the Creator of our Spiritual Beings with an eternal and immortal Soul, if we but cause that divine generative force – Christ or the Word – to penetrate into the spiritual womb. Second, that once we consent to the Word of God – the Logos – being allowed to impregnate our Spirit, that Spirit becomes animated by the Thought and Will of God the Father and becomes a living, breathing, Conscious Soul able to reason on heavenly things. Third, that once imbued with Christ Consciousness, the Soul, released from the cycle of generated existence, recalls and remembers its history and origin and consciously participates in the Worlds of Light, continually partaking of a divine Communion.

This was the message of Christ Jesus. This is what was symbolized by the Last Supper – the act of the reborn, Conscious Soul partaking of the True Communion, feeding off the Word of God – the Bread from Heaven – and drinking from the Cup filled with God’s Living Waters – which is Divine Light. And this is also the message of the Messianic Church of the Second Advent.

The beauty of it all is that it can be done in the here and now – that our spiritual immortality and divinity can be realized while we exist in this world. And if that is accomplished, one has received the gift of the resurrection – not as something abstract to wonder about before death, but something one can experience and participate in while one lives in this world. But what we must do– and this may be the most difficult of lessons – is to learn to accomplish our spiritual quest in the way that Jesus exemplified his: with peace, love and joy.

I will continue on this theme next week as we approach True Easter on April 18th. We will also continue with our review of the Thirteenth Saying of Jamil. In the meantime, I wish you a very happy Eosturmonath.

Again, if I may be of any personal service to you, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Very truly yours in Light+,

Gene