Sovereignty
Temple – Bridal Chamber, Inner Sanctuary, Cave
The journey from the Head to the Heart is one of the most profound initiations on the Path of the Initiate. It is in the Heart that the deepest most profound alchemy occurs and it is within this most sacred space that we die to all that we have been before. The River of Light that is Heaven melts into the molten gold of the Earth and in this alchemical union we are born into the Embodiment of our Holiness.
“This Magnificent Refuge is inside of you.
Enter. Shatter the Darkness that Shrouds the Doorway.
Be Bold. Be humble.”
Saint Teresa of Avila
In Daniel Odier’s book Tantric Quest – an Encounter with Absolute Love – the Yogini Lalita Devi teaches him about this inner sanctuary of Consciousness. “Guard the Silent Empty Open Temple” she warns. “What does the worshiper do? He cleans the temple. How? By asking all who have been sitting there forever to leave so he can sweep, throw fresh water drawn from the river on the stones, scatter rose petals.”
The seat of consciousness is this Inner Temple, this cave of the Heart – the womb where Consciousness is seeded and rooted. Who then are these silent ones who obscure the Radiance of this Love? These are the rusted, corroded conditionings, the social mores and regulations, the rigid defences, the relentless noise in our heads, the walls – and the psychic debris that have made their home in our hearts for eons. How do we wash down the temple? We dissolve these voices – caste out the illusions and meet the Beloved in the fresh open spaciousness of our Inner Refuge – our Temple.
“Washing down the Temple of Consciousness
Scattering Rose Petals”
Our Embodiment holds this sacredness – The heart of Heaven is not “out there” –the Holy of Holies is within. In Tantra the material world is suffused with this Love, a quantum field of Power, Grace and Wisdom known to Christian mystics as Sophia. The body holds the precious heart which is a portal to accessing this Grace as is – its Holy Breath.
Sophia
“The Garden of Your Body holds Your Precious Heart”
What are the sacrificial offerings placed on the alter of this most Holy Living Temple? The offerings are all the threads of our conditioned self preservation —the force of the egoic mind that obscures that which is Eternal Union – the Flame of Love – Union with the Beloved – this is the Sacrement, this is the Consecration, this is the Holy Vow. The mind with all its control, all its projections, all its worries can never know the logic of this alchemy. It is only the courageous heart that can take that leap – that can risk everything in its Desire for Union, its Desire for Freedom and its Desire for Sovereignty.
At this narrow part of the journey some of the “edgy” questions we might ask are:
Am I willing to let go of my desire for security in the world and my constant need to ensure it?
Am I willing to let go of my desire for affection/validation from others outside of myself?
Am I willing to let go of my desire to control my life and everything and everyone in it?
Am I willing to allow situations to be as they are without trying to change them?
Am I willing to be present in “this moment” to Reality – no matter how it is showing up?
Am I willing to unclench my fist, my mind, my body – and relax into and trust the invisible presence of the Beloved holding me close in this moment?
This deep allowance of Life to be Lived through the Living Heart can only take place in a mind Surrendered to Truth and Desiring of a Love that knows no end. To let go of likes and dislikes and to open to what is happening in this moment in daily life is the practice that finally allows for the slow dissolution into the Eternal Silence and Beauty of the Heart where the Eternal Lover awaits us.
“Eternal Silence and Beauty of the Bridal Chamber”
“At the very core of your heart, entombed in the shadow, is the ineffable diamond of Christ, who is pure Beauty. You are Mary, waiting at dawn. The stone has already been rolled aside. Meet the Beloved in the garden of your body. ”
Fred Le Motte
The Teachings of the Scarlet Sutra is dedicated to the Red Goddess Lalita, Sophia, Mary Magdalene, the 64 Yoginis and The Red Priestesses from all Traditions throughout the Ages.
Prem Moodaley
Copyright 2019
Full Moon May 2019
Resources:
Tantric Quest – An Encounter with Absolute Love Inner Traditions 1997
Fred Lamotte – Poetry – amongst other beautiful books – “Savour Eternity One Moment At A Time” – St. Julian Press 2016
Alchemy: transmuting, transformation, blending, magic, third force, fire, chaos, base metals into gold, eternality
tapas
In the last sutra – I wrote about “The Firepit of Consciousness” – in this sutra, we explore alchemy, which is a stage of the journey where intense transformation takes place deep within and beyond the playground of duality. There is a beautiful Sanskrit word that describes “Alchemy” it is called “Tapas”
Shambhavi Lorain Chopra in her gorgeous book “Yogini” speaks about this fiery transformation – “Real tapas is more than any enforced asceticism. It is the heat that rises from a passionate form of the Divine energy seeking to transcend all limitations. Tapas is the heat of spiritual inquiry and aspiration that makes the sadhaka consume all the fleeting needs and desires in life. The fire in the soul connects with the life-fire in the body, finding expression through the heart, leading one to liberate or detach oneself from illusion, creating the way to self-realization. This is the real inner movement of tapas.”
“You are a Ruby in the Heart of Granite – how long will you try to deceive us? “- Rumi
Alchemy is the testing ground on the path of Sovereignty, Awakening and Freedom as it burns away all that does not serve the evolution of the Soul. For a moment, let me describe the three layers of the personality that I have encountered –
At the level of the first layer of the personality – we are totally hooked into the collective unconscious and our personal story. The collective unconscious – is the place where duality is most active, with its numerous distractions, pushes and pulls, stories and games. Everything is divided and separate – and “I”, “Me” and “Mine” is most important to the personality. Attachment and judgement underlies everything. There is a total identification with name, form and personal history.
The middle layer of the personality is less dense but there is still identification with name and form. This is the layer of the seeker. The personality seeks to discover the answers to the deeper questions of life. We explore who we are beyond our personality through teachers, workshops and books. This is a very tender and beautiful space but we still can get caught in the collective mindset, the values of the patriarchy and the “survival of me”
The inner layer of the personality is the most tender, vulnerable and naked space. In this space one has seen through the illusions, and the Soul has started to manifest on a conscious level in the life of the seeker who has had a glimpse of the treasure within. The Soul is now shining through the many veils and shrouds that has veiled its Luminous Presence and most importantly – the personality has chosen the Soul – also known as the “Inner Beloved”.
burning the veils of Illusion
Its at this inner layer where the process of alchemy ignites the fire of transformation and we are remade and reborn “In the Firepit of Consciousness”. We feel exposed, vulnerable and tested and it takes the courage and grit of the Spiritual Warrior to bear with the process of the heat of transformation. We are cleansed of all that is illusionary and there are whispers of the holy marriage within. Andrew Harvey speaks of this in his book – The Way of Passion – A Celebration of Rumi – “Purification is frightening, because in the fire there is a lot of spitting and black smoke, a lot of difficulty happens. Then, expansion: the fire enters the log and the Light enters, you burn in the fire and the blaze is without interference now because the impurities have been burned away.” You close your ears to the “noise” of the world and you claim your Sovereignty.
The writings of the Scarlet Sutra is dedicated to The Red Goddess – Lalita, Sophia, Mary Magdalene, The Yoginis and The Red Priestesses of all traditions throughout the ages.
References:
Andrew Harvey: The Way of Passion – A Celebration of Rumi – Frog Ltd. 1994
Shambhavi Chopra: Yogini – Wisdom Tree 2006
Copyright Prem Moodaley 2016
Samhain 31 October 2016