Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
Christmas
and Easter in the Initiatic Tradition
“The birth of Jesus must be understood in all three worlds: as an
historical phenomenon, as a psychic, mystical phenomenon, and as a Cosmic
phenomenon. Today I am concerned with the mystical phenomenon.
St Luke was the most scholarly of the Evangelists. In his telling of
the birth of Jesus, he revealed the events that take place in the soul
of every human being in the form of images. It is these symbolic images
that I want to show you now.
Conception and birth
For the Christ Child to be born, there must be parents, a father and
mother: the father, Joseph, is the mind, the spirit; the mother, Mary,
is the heart, the soul. When the heart and soul are pure, then the Child
is born, not of the mind and spirit, but of the Universal Soul, the
Holy Spirit in the form of Fire, or Divine Love... a pure flame that
invades and fertilizes the human heart and soul. The soul and heart
represent the feminine receptive principle, whereas the mind and spirit
represent the masculine principle, and together they prepare the conditions
for the Holy Spirit, Universal Soul, or Fire, to take possession of
the soul of Mary. That is when the Christ Child is born. But as this
birth must take place in all three worlds, the child must also be born
on the physical plane. You see, it is much more complex than you imagined.
No room at the inn
When Mary and Joseph sought refuge at the inn, there was no room for
them, that is, human beings who are too busy eating and drinking and
amusing themselves, have no room for the Initiate who has received the
Child. This Divine Child which is conceived in him as a Light may be
an ideal he has long cherished and nourished, but where can he go with
It? No one will open the door to him, that is, no one understands him.
But wait, yonder is a stable. The stable and its manger are symbolic,
first of all, of poverty, of difficulty with material conditions. Yes,
for one who is inhabited by the Spirit it will always be thus: humans
will never appreciate him, they will always refuse to receive him, but
thanks to the Light projected by him around the manger, he will be seen
from afar by others who will come and visit him.
The five-pointed star
This Light represented by a star with five points is an absolute reality:
it shines above the head of every Initiate whose feminine principle
(that is, whose heart and soul) has given birth to the Christ Child,
conceived by the Holy Spirit. Then the mind, Joseph, instead of being
jealous and repudiating Mary as a gross man might ('This child you have
given birth to is not mine, get out!'), must bow before her and say,
'It must be God Himself who has brought this efflorescence to the heart
and soul of Mary. I am not capable of that.' The mind must not be resentful
or angry, but rather be understanding and think, 'This is something
beyond my understanding...,' and be willing to shelter and protect Mary.
To repudiate Mary is to repudiate half one's being, to become like those
who are purely intellectual and rational, having banished all emotion,
all receptivity, all gentleness, humility, and kindness. Many people
have repudiated Mary because she chose to receive the Holy Spirit.
You must understand that Mary and Joseph are symbols of the inner life:
those who deny Mary are dry and cold, their mind is critical, discontented,
destructive... Joseph was not this way, on the contrary, he respected
Mary and kept her with him, saying to himself, 'Oh, she is expecting
a child... I will protect her because she needs my help.'
And what is the Star? It is a phenomenon that inevitably occurs in the
life of a true mystic, a true Initiate. Above his head appears a star,
a luminous pentacle. 'That which is above is like that which is below,
and that which is below is like that which is above': the pentacle must
therefore exist doubly for man is himself a living pentacle, and when
he has fully developed the five virtues of kindness, justice, love,
wisdom and truth, another pentacle appears in the form of light, to
represent him in the higher spheres.
This light, this Star that shines above the stable means that every
Initiate who has in him the Living Christ, shines with a light that
appeases and nourishes, a comforting, healing, purifying, revitalizing
light. When this light shines brightly enough to be seen from afar by
others, they know that something special is manifesting itself through
that being. It is the Christ.
The stable
Now let us go back to the stable. In this stable there were neither
shepherds nor flocks, only the ox and the ass. Why? The story has been
repeated again and again over the centuries without being understood,
because the knowledge of universal symbolism has been lost. The stable
represents the physical body, and we know that in ancient days, the
ox, the bull, stood for the principle of generation. In Egypt, for instance,
the bull Apis was the symbol of fertility and fecundity. The bull is
under the influence of Venus and represents sexual force; the ass is
under the influence of Saturn and represents the personality, man's
lower nature, the old Adam, headstrong and stubborn but a good servant.
Here are the two animals, waiting to serve Jesus. But serve him how?
I will now reveal a tremendous mystery to you.
When man begins the work of making himself more perfect, he comes into
conflict with his personality and his sensuality. The Initiate is one
who has been able to master these two forces and put them to work for
him, not by annihilating them... the two beasts are not chased away
or killed... they are there, present at the Birth, but what do they
do? They breathe on the Christ Child and warm him with their breath!
When the Initiate is able to transform the ass and the ox within himself
by putting them to work for him they warm the newborn child with their
breath. The forces are no longer there to torment him, lead him astray
or cause him suffering... no, they are now life-giving forces. Breath
is life! You see, the breath of the ass and ox is reminiscent of the
Breath of God which brought Life to the first man. The ox and the ass
serve the Christ Child, meaning that all who have the Christ within
them will be served by their personality and sensuality, and once you
put them to work, these are extraordinarily useful forces.
The angel, the shepherds and the lambs
Now an Angel appears to the shepherds whose stable it is, as they watch
their sheep in the fields, and announces the birth of Jesus. They are
amazed and prostrate themselves before picking up their lambs and bringing
them to Jesus as an offering. This means that all who have a share in
our physical body, that is, our family spirits (incarnated or not) and
our worldly goods (symbolically represented by the sheep, dogs and lambs)
are warned of what has happened. They are warned because they have participated
in the formation of this stable (the physical body) and they come running,
exclaiming to themselves, 'Oh, my! Never did we dream such an honour
would be bestowed on our stable!'
Everyone is eager to serve the Child. When the familiar spirits on earth
and in the beyond are told the news of the splendid event that has occurred
in your heart and soul, they come to bring you gifts and bow down before
you. Yes, everyone in the world is eager to serve the Child. But as
long as you have not given birth to it, do not count on any help...
the Angels are there to serve those in whom the Christ Child is born,
not you yourself, but the Divine Principle, the Christ, the Son of God.
The manger
Now let us look at the symbolism of the manger. Yes, why was Jesus born
in a manger on a pile of straw, and not in a palace or a magnificent
temple? Everything is symbolic about the Gospel tale of the birth of
Jesus in a manger, but few people suspect the deeper meaning. You will
understand where, in what part of your body this manger is, if you recall
my talks on the Hara centre in which I explained the role it plays in
the spiritual life of the Initiate, once he knows how to work with it.
Hara signifies the belly, the centre a few centimetres below the navel
known principally to the Japanese. In the past it was known by every
Initiate; Jesus referred to it when he said, '...out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water...' This is the Hara centre, the manger
in which Christ is born, between the bull and the ass... or the liver
and the spleen.
I see you are astonished. You think that Jesus should be born in the
head, the mind. Have you ever seen a baby born from its mother's head?
No one thinks of that, the stomach and intestines, the belly, are considered
dirty and disgusting places but the fact remains that God chose that
place for the perpetuation of mankind. There, in the Hara centre, the
disciple must bring his new consciousness, the Christ Child, to birth.
Nothing is more important, nothing is higher than to work for the birth
of the Divine Child within you. When you reach your goal, Heaven and
earth will sing for joy, from the four corners of the earth Beings will
see that a new Light is born and will bring you presents.
Herod
Of course, Herod (for there is always a Herod) will be furious and will
try to kill the Child, he will tell the Wise Men, 'Go and search diligently
for the young child, and when ye have found him, bring me word again
that I may come and worship him also.' Happily, there will be Angels
to warn you as the Angel warned Joseph, 'Arise, and take the young child
and his mother and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring
thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.' The
Wise Men also received an order not to return to Herod, and they left
for their own country by another route. This means that all who are
near Jesus, near to the Christ Principle, will no longer be able to
follow the same road as before, they will have to take another direction.
You had not thought of that had you? Everything is so profound, so mysterious!
To me, it is unbelievably extraordinary! And believe me, I do not invent
anything, I am transmitting the Science exactly as I received it, the
veritable Science. The Gospel stories satisfy the majority of people
with a more or less superficial, limited point of view, but the contents
of the stories, the meaning, is for Initiates.
The birth of Jesus can occur in everyone
I will not interpret the entire chapter of St Luke for you. I simply
want to enlighten a corner of your inner life, to show you that the
birth of Jesus is a mystical event that can occur in everyone. If you
keep in mind this image of the manger with Joseph, Mary and the Child
between the ox and the ass and the Star shining above the stable, you
will in time understand its meaning". Extract from the book "Christmas
and Easter in the Initiatic Tradition" by O.M..Aïvanhov - Prosveta
Christmas
and Easter in the Initiatic Tradition
The Feasts of Christmas and Easter, celebrated every year throughout Christendom to commemorate the birth and resurrection of Jesus, are part of an ancient esoteric tradition which existed long before the Christian era. The fact that they coincide with the winter solstice and the spring equinox is evidence of their cosmic significance and shows that human beings, who are also part of cosmic reality, are intimately associated with the processes of gestation, birth, and blossoming that take place in nature. Christmas and Easter, the second birth and the resurrection, are two different ways of celebrating the regeneration of human beings and their birth into the spiritual world.
Table of Contents: The Feast of the Nativity, The Second Birth, Birth on the Different Planes of Being, Except Ye Die Ye Shall not Live', The Resurrection and the Last Judgment, The Body of Glory. Also available in French, German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
Books O.M. Aïvanhov published on Sacred Texts
- New Light on the Gospels
- The True Meaning of Christ's Teaching
- The Book of Revelations - A Commentary
- "You Are Gods" Psalm 82: 6, St John's Gospel 10: 34
- The Philosopher's Stone In the Gospels and in Alchemy
- Christmas and Easter in the Initiatic Tradition
- The Second Birth Love, Wisdom, Truth