Welcome, friends, to the Easter Festival, the first of the three major spiritual Festivals which we observe each year at the Aries, Taurus and Gemini full moons. This year we have the unusual opportunity – an opportunity that comes only once every nineteen years or so of two full moons in Taurus. So the period called the "higher interlude", in terms of the inflow of spiritual energy, a period which normally spans three full moons lasting two months from beginning to end, will this year span three months and four full moons. This will demand more of the worldwide group which seeks to cooperate in the creation of the channel for the inflow of spiritual energies directed towards our planet at this time each year. Our goal is to participate in the construction of a channel in human consciousness which will bridge to the highest realms of consciousness available on our planet, while reaching directly into human consciousness where the minds of intelligent men and women of goodwill can be inspired and stimulated, will require more discipline, the sustaining of a more prolonged spiritual tension, on the part of the worldwide group seeking to cooperate with some degree of understanding in this planetary service.

Easter is the first of these full moons. Traditionally it’s associated with Christianity and is the great Western religious festival, yet esoterically it is viewed quite differently than orthodox Christians understand it. This is important to realise, just as it’s vital to keep in mind that we aren’t endeavouring to make contact with the life and consciousness of the Christ, as we will this evening, in terms of his association and relationship with the Christian religion. We are working with a planetary event, one which the Christ foresaw when he said, "Other sheep have I, not of this fold. Them also must I bring." He came for all humanity and he has promised to return to all humanity, not only to the followers of the Christian religion which has developed in his name.

The expectancy of a World Saviour runs through many of the great world religions. The Imam Mahdi expected by the Shi’ite Moslems, the Maitreya awaited by the Buddhists, and Kalki Avatar whose appearance is foreseen in Hinduism, are all variations, different facets, one could say, of humanity’s collective recognition of the need for a World Saviour in the evolutionary process. Not to "save us from ourselves", for only we can do that, individually and through Self-effort, but to quicken, stimulate and energize the soul of humanity to take its next step in evolution as part of the planetary triangle formed by the centres Shamballa, Hierarchy and Humanity.

The goal of the higher interludes which play such a powerful role in our planet’s evolution, year after year, is unification, leading to a recognition of the underlying synthesis which unites all aspects of our planetary life in a wholeness that is sometimes called the web of life. It’s futile to try to express in words this intricate interrelationship of our planetary life, but it means, for one thing, that each of us is a part of an energy distribution in which even "the least of us" can play a part in this Festival and cooperate with far more advanced Beings in an act of planetary salvation.

What we are participating in is beautifully described by the Tibetan teacher who wrote Telepathy and the Etheric Vehicle. In this book an Ashram is described as a centre of spiritual consciousness working directly under the supervision and influence of one or more Masters of the Wisdom, and whose radius reaches outward into our planetary life just as far as members of humanity can, from their end, extend even a filament of the bridge in consciousness from human minds to the Ashram. That is where we and our fellow meditators come in: We, as members of humanity living in the world and participating in the human experience of life on earth, have the opportunity to cooperate in a gigantic planetary meditation through the use of our creative imaginations. We can serve as "a strand of loving energy within the stream of love divine", as the Affirmation of the Disciple puts it. Let us take a moment now to link up with our fellow meditators throughout the world in shared dedication to cooperation with the Great Ones, and let us say together the Affirmation of the Disciple.

I am a point of light within a greater Light.
I am a strand of loving energy within the stream of love divine.
I am a point of sacrificial Fire, focussed within the fiery Will of God.
And thus I stand.

I am a way by which men may achieve.
I am a source of strength, enabling them to stand.
I am a beam of light, shining upon their way.
And thus I stand.

And standing thus revolve
And tread this way the ways of men,
And know the ways of God.
And thus I stand.

This affirmation expresses something of the objective of the Ashram, which is to serve as "an emanating source of hierarchical impression upon the world". Its efforts are directed toward the expansion of human consciousness. The Ashram is composed of the magnetic lives of the group members who carry on their duties, obligations and responsibilities in the outer world, and also by the steady vibratory activity of the members of the Ashram who are not in physical incarnation.

"The members of the Ashram constitute a united channel for the new energies which are, at this time, entering the world", the Tibetan wrote. "These energies pour dynamically from the Ashram out into the world. They streamwith potency through the Master at the heart of the Ashram; they move with ‘luminous speed’ throughout the inner circle; they are stepped down by those who constitute the outer circle, and this is right and good; they are delayed by the beginner and the new disciple from breaking forth into the world of men, and this is not so good. They are delayed because the new disciple has turned his back upon the world of men and his eyes are fastened upon the inner goal and not upon the outer service; they remain fixed upon the Master and His senior disciples and workers, and not upon the mass of human need.

"It is essential that servers everywhere get a grasp, fresh and clear, of the work to be done and that they become ‘relaying channels and not delaying points of selfish interest’ in the divine flow. This takes vision and courage. It takes courage to adjust their lives—daily and in all relations—to the need of the hour and to the service of mankind; it takes courage to attack life problems on behalf of others and to obliterate one's own personal wishes in the emergency and need, and to do so consistently and persistently. However, there is much to encourage the server. Humanity has now reached a point in development where there is a definite grasp of the Plan of the Hierarchy—call it brotherhood, sharing, internationalism, unity or what you will." This is the Tibetan’s plea.

To play his part in this transmission of spiritual energies, the disciple has to take himself as he is, and then proceeds to subordinate himself, his affairs and his time to the need of the hour—particularly during a group, national or world crisis. When he succeeds in doing this, he discovers that his own private affairs are taken care of, his capacities are increased and his limitations are forgotten. Surely this description of need should be sufficient to inspire our commitment to assisting the new group of world servers in the meeting of the present crisis. The thrust of the new group of world servers’ work is "to link hierarchical intent with human aspiration and thus bring humanity nearer to its goal. The intent of the Hierarchy is to increase men's capacity for freedom". We hear so much about freedom today – it’s become the rallying cry of the current administration to justify and mobilize support for its international policies. Freedom is assumed to be the highest aspiration of every human being, and perhaps it is, but there are many ways to interpret freedom. We cannot assume that all people understand this deep, fundamental human aspiration in the same way; and here I’m not speaking just of cultural and historical differences, but of differences in levels of consciousness.

Alice Bailey links the capacity for freedom to receptivity to the "life more abundantly" which the Christ will bring and "which demands that the spirit of man be free—free to approach divinity and free also to choose the Way of that approach." Isn’t this demand for spiritual freedom what lies behind so much of the turmoil that humanity is enduring today? The old religious doctrines no longer inspire everyone nor hold them in the grip of fear sufficient to enlist their submission. Today people of spiritual aspiration and intelligence are demanding a new approach to the divinity which they sense lies at the core of life’s meaning. They want the freedom to pursue that divinity in ways that coincide with their present spiritual understanding. This urge is an intrinsic part of the Easter Festival, when the Forces of Reconstruction are uniquely available to our planet. These forces are associated with the restoration not of the old order or the resurrection of old forms and institutions, but of human aspiration, true idealism, and dedicated humanitarianism.

These forces are uniquely associated with Aries, the sign in which the Festival of Easter occurs, because Aries is known as "the birthplace of ideas". Its keynote is "I come forth and from the plane of mind, I rule." All initiatives begin with an idea, and Aries is said to be the source, the beginning and the initiator of the New Age and the coming civilisations, which will lead to the appearance of the Kingdom of God on earth. Last year’s keynote touched upon this: Let the group reveal the fact of the kingdom of God, the planetary Hierarchy. Now with this Festival we begin to work with a new keynote: When a human crisis and a hierarchical crisis coincide, an hour of opportunity emerges. Let the group respond. Crisis is a dominant theme in the world at present, and when we trace the link between crisis, the capacity for freedom, the Christ’s promise of "life more abundantly", and the Forces of Restoration, we gain a deeper understanding of the wonderful opportunity that the present world crisis is offering humanity.

Under spiritual law, and perhaps surprisingly, crisis and conflict can be the source of the quest for harmony, for right human relations and the growth of the universal spirit of goodwill among people. Increasingly, that which is old and no longer constructive is coming to recognition, and here I’m speaking not only of institutions and customs, but also of attitudes and beliefs. Today, every human being is being forced to examine his own heart and mind for the possible presence of attitudes and beliefs that constitute an obstruction to the renewal of life. A powerful example was Barack Obama’s speech on race relations in America, in which he attempted to address a subject that is a powerful source of pain, misunderstanding, silent resentment and mistrust for so many Americans. Imagine what possibilities might lie ahead if we all could think about the subject of race in a completely new way, with a deep trust in the essential decency and goodwill of most human beings, in their capacity to respond to reason, and with willingness to understand an intrinsic aspect of the national consciousness in a totally new way, with renewed minds and hearts? What Senator Obama is calling for can only be accomplished if we obey St. Paul’s command: "Be ye therefore transformed by the renewing of your mind." The energies of Easter and of Aries make this possible.

The power to transform one’s very life through the renewal of one’s thinking lies at the heart of the human potential for evolutionary development. It is possible to all who can release the powerful conditioning of old prevailing thoughtforms about life, the world, other human beings—all the litany of grievances, dashed hopes and old hurts that so many people drag around. There is a wonderful mantram that the Tibetan gave to one of his group which expresses the renewal of the mind released from the conditioning of the past and dread of the future: "The past has gone. I am that past. It makes me what I am. The future comes. I also am the coming destiny and, therefore, I am that. The present flows from out the past. The future colours that which is. I make the future also by my present knowledge of the past and the beauty of the present. And, therefore, I am that I am."

Easter is the festival of resurrection, renewal, rebirth—all of which touch on the release from materialism. That is what true death is; entombment in the desire for material things, because it’s selfish and short-sighted. What most awaits rebirth is the Christ principle in the hearts of men. This is what bestows life more abundant, this is what brings the life-bearing energies of Aquarius. We will know that the Aquarian Christ is nearing humanity when we see growing evidence of the willingness—even the need—to share.

The present crisis is highlighting that which impedes the Plan, a Plan which must be worked out, manifested, on earth. As we go into our meditation now, let’s ponder on the demand of the Great Invocation for Light to descend on earth, for Christ to return to Earth, for Purpose to guide the little wills of men, for the Plan of Love and Light to work out on Earth, and for Light and Love and Power to restore the Plan on earth. In this way, the revelation of life and "life more abundantly", which the Christ promised when last on earth, will give the thinkers and idealists and disciples of the world that spiritual energy which will foster right activity and inspired living. "It is light and ‘life more abundantly’ which the Christ will bring, the Tibetan says, "and we know not what it signifies. But through Him, light and life are on their way, to be interpreted and applied in terms of goodwill and right human relations", he said. Let us work for that goal.

Sarah McKechnie

Easter Festival in Aries
New York,
March 20 2008