Part II: The Interpretation of the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries

Saying the Rosary as a Meditation

Using the rosary as a meditation tool can be quite rewarding. There are two ways that this can be done. The first technique that I will explain comes from a spiritual discipline called japa.  It is quite commonly practiced in the East especially in India. The word japa is Sanskrit and is derived from the root word jap-, which means “to utter in a low voice or repeat internally”. Traditionally it is used to chant a mantra or name of a divine power and can be said softly, within the mind, or with a group as part of formal worship. It can be said while sitting in a meditative position or while performing other activities. Whenever I am stressed I find that saying the rosary as a japa makes me calm almost immediately.

Oftentimes, however, I say the rosary as a devotional to keep me focused on my spiritual path. For instance when I say the Sign of the Cross, I think about my connection to God and the Holy Spirit, and when I say the Apostle’s Creed or the Our Father, I contemplate what each line of the prayer means to me in my life as I am living it. As I recite the Our Father, 10 Hail Marys, and the Glory Be when I say each of the Mysteries, I spend more time meditating on the mystical meaning of that Mystery as it applies to my life. (The process is longer and avails itself to a deeper meditation than the introductory prayers.) When I say the Fatima Prayer, I always pray and send healing energy to every soul, living or dead. Sometimes I will dedicate a rosary to someone I know who is suffering or whenever I hear of tragedies in the news I will say at least one rosary to assist the people involved (i.e. fires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, bombings, etc.). This of course is a traditional Catholic practice.

How I say a rosary depends upon what I spiritually need in the moment. I try to say one complete rosary daily but whenever I get really busy I might only say five or ten decades, depending upon how much time I have. If for instance if I recite the Joyful and Sorrowful Mysteries I might say the first to clear out any negative energy that I might have in my aura and then I will say the second set of Mysteries as a prayer for everyone in the world.

While many of us were taught that there is a right way and a wrong way to pray, I think that intention is the most important guide in what works for each individual person. If you choose to say the rosary the way I do then great but more importantly discover what works for you and this may become as sacred an activity as it is for me and by the way you don’t have to be Catholic to say the rosary. You only need to have a deep desire for the mystical path.

My Guidelines for Saying the Rosary as a Meditation

Sign of the Cross
Think about: Your own connection to God and the Holy Spirit.

Apostle’s Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth;
      Think about: Devotion to God.
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord;
      Think about: Following in the footsteps of Jesus the Christ.
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
      Think about: Receiving the Holy Spirit.
born of the Virgin Mary,
      Think about: The birth of the Christ Consciousness within.
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
      Think about: Willingness to go through the trials and tests of daily life in order to overcome our lower selves.
was crucified,
      Think about: Sacrificing the Ego to God’s will. died
      Think about: Death of the Ego so that the spirit can live eternally. and was buried. He descended into hell;
      Think about: Transcending the lower nature.
the third day He arose again from the dead;
      Think about: Atonement with God.
He ascended into heaven,
     Think about: The Ascension of the lower self so that the soul can ascend to heaven.
sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.
      Think about: The belief that you are able to receive the Holy Spirit and that Heavenly assistance is available to help you to eventually overcome any obstacles that might prevent your own resurrection out of the Wheel of Life and Death.

Our Father
Think about what you are saying when you say this lovely prayer.

3 Hail Marys

Feel in your heart: Love, Hope, and Faith

Glory Be

Feel in your heart: Your devotion to the Holy Spirit and God.

THE JOYFUL MYSTERIES

The Joyful Mysteries are the events that led to the birth of Jesus and spiritually prepared him for his earthly mission. In our lives this is symbolic of the preparation that must be made in order to find eternal life with God. It begins with cleansing and purification of the body, emotions, and mind. The process then continues with extensive training so that we will eventually be able to control the inner nature which includes not only the mind and the emotions but also the will. Once the training has been completed then the tests and trials of the Sorrowful Mysteries can be taken. If passed these will lead to immortality of the soul that is indicated by the Glorious Mysteries.

 First Joyful Mystery is the Annunciation

The Archangel Gabriel tells Mary that she is to bear the Son of God. The reason that she was chosen was because of her purity. The Catholic Church teaches that she was born without sin, including the Original Sin, which was Adam and Eve’s fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. I interpret this to mean that she had never incarnated prior to her lifetime as Jesus’ mother. It is the descent into a physical body that takes the soul out of the state of perfection, or symbolically the Garden of Eden. Being at-one with the God the Source of all creation is a state of “beingness”. In order to experience the self, one must separate from that “Oneness” and in doing so can experience the self as a creative being. So yes, the serpent did tempt Adam and Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit but it was necessary if the soul wanted to experience life in human form.

From the Eastern perspective, the mythical serpent or its real counterpart the snake represent wisdom. The symbol for the kundalini, which I call the “Spark of God”, is a coiled snake that rests at the base of our spine until through spiritual practice it gradually ascends to the crown. When this process is complete, knowledge of God results. Remember that it was the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that grew the forbidden fruit.

Mary’s purity is symbolic of the need to be pure in order to give birth to the Christ Consciousness that can be found within each and every human. The Baptism by Water is a ritual that symbolically cleanses the soul in preparation for the Baptism of Fire, which is the rising of the kundalini to the crown allowing one to know God.

When people truly desire to know God, they are naturally drawn to spiritual teachings and practices that eventually lead to cleansing of the body, mind, and emotions. Most people change their diets by eating pure foods that carry more life-force. Oftentimes fasting, which can purify not only the body but the mind and emotions as well becomes part of the regimen. This practice along with the abstinence of meat can be seen in rituals of the Catholic Church as well as Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. It is also part of the foundation of yoga. The translation of hatha yoga is the yoking (yoga) of the sun and moon (ha-tha) or the ida and the pingala that are two of the three main channels through which the kundalini rises. Hatha yoga prepare the body physically for this occurrence.

Additionally hatha yoga includes the practice of doing asanas, which is a form of movement that infuses the body with life-force. This can also be achieved through tai chi and other forms of movement that teach discipline of the mind and body.

Most people begin a practice of prayer and meditation that involves reflection and mindfulness. One can improve oneself by reflecting on how ones emotions and thinking created the circumstances experienced whether in ease or in challenge.

This cleansing process can last years, first in preparing the individual for the crown to open, then during the kundalini experience, and even after it has risen to the crown for if one is in a physical body, one is subject to emotional and mental imbalance.

Meditate on: Purifying and Cleansing of the Body, Mind, and Emotions.

Second Joyful Mystery is the Visitation

 The Bible speaks of a pregnant Mary visiting her considerably older cousin Elizabeth who is also pregnant with the holy child who will become John the Baptist. The Bible doesn’t explain why but I theorize that it is for a few reasons. One, to meditate about her carrying Jesus although she has not yet married her betrothed Joseph. Secondly, even today it is not unusual for a pregnant woman in her latter months to receive help from relatives. I interpret the Visitation to exemplify the need to keep fellowship with others of like mind. In our own lives this is the point where we begin to attract people who have the same interests. They go to the same church, take the same classes, shop at the same spiritual stores, or join the same groups. We may find that we have outgrown old friends because now our interests have expanded beyond their interests and we no longer have much in common with them. However unless they pull us back into old earthly ways or dysfunctional patterns and activities that keep us from growing, those relationships do not need to end. You will find that you will not want to spend as much time with them.

Another aspect of this Mystery is that once we step onto the path of Initiation, we begin to serve our fellow man and our community. This is a part of right fellowship and part of the purpose of life, second only to finding union with God. However one cannot truly be devoted to God without serving mankind.

In the Gnostic Gospels, the reason that Lucifer fell from Grace was because he refused God’s request for him to bow down to man. It was his arrogance that made him fall. Like Lucifer if we think that serving only God and not man is the right course of action then we too are never going to be one with God. To serve mankind is to serve God.

Meditate on: Right Fellowship and Service

Third Joyful Mystery is the Birth of Jesus

 The Birth of Jesus represents the birth of the Christ Consciousness within our own hearts and souls. The Magi, also known as the Wise Men came from the east.  The word “magi” means magician and as they were priests and sages they understood all the spiritual and earthly ramifications of the birth of a king. As magician/priests they knew astrology and in ancient times, astrology was used differently that it is used today. It was used to predict affairs of the state and so the birth of a king would be foretold by the portents seen in the sky. By following the celestial body or star, the Magi were able to find Jesus. The Magi were not only wise and learned but they were mystics as well and in their knowing they understood the significance of Jesus’ birth.

While it is most likely that they did indeed come from the East, the sun also rises in the east. The sun has always been associated with God. In pagan religion God was often worshiped as the sun or sun god. In our own lives this represents the rising of God’s light within that will lead to the wisdom that is waiting to be accessed. If we allow the light of God to rise inside us, the Christ Consciousness will be birthed, then we will be able to receive the gifts of the Magi. Those gifts are:

•    Gold that is symbolic of the attainment of God’s gifts and spiritual rewards.

•    Frankincense represents the transmutation of the physical into the spiritual.

•    Myrrh is an allegory of the surrender of the mind to spirit, the resurrecting power of love, and the eternity of the spirit.

Meditate on:  Birth of the Christ Consciousness Within

Fourth Joyful Mystery is the Presentation

According to Jewish Law Mary and Joseph were required to present the infant Jesus to the Temple for his circumcision when he was eight days old. Circumcision for gentiles today is done for physical reasons and is an option as opposed to a necessity. However for Jews, it is not merely a medical procedure, but a religious ritual.

Having been raised Catholic with a Buddhist mother, I have never studied Judaic Law, but understanding spiritual symbolism I surmised that cutting away the foreskin on the phallus represents a form of cleansing and sacrifice to God. The phallus is a symbol of manhood and on a deeper level represents the masculine characteristics of will. Symbolically the cutting away of the foreskin represents the cutting away of man’s will and in doing so, a person can then be consecrated to the Temple, the House of God. It is where God lives.

Mystically, God lives within us so whether we are a man or a woman, we are consecrating ourselves to a spiritual path, to live by God’s Laws. We are cutting away that which is not “clean” in energy and keeps us from truly finding God within. God’s Law only asks us to do that which will make us “holy”. Anything that is out of harmony with the Law of Perfection keeps us from knowing God. In other words, following God’s Law opens up the crown and allows the kundalini to rise bringing enlightenment.

Meditate on: Controlling the Desire Nature and Obeying the Laws of God (The Codes of Conduct as described in the great religions and philosophies of the world.)

 Fifth Joyful Mystery is Finding the Child Jesus in the Temple

Jesus is twelve years old and interestingly, this is the last we hear of him in the Bible until he is 30 years old. Astrologically speaking, at age twelve he was experiencing his Jupiter return and Jupiter among other things signifies expansion through the knowledge of God. It rules the ninth house of higher mind, religion, and philosophy. People whose charts have a prominent Jupiter or ninth house show interest in spirituality and knowledge of God. (The age of thirty indicated that Jesus had completed his Saturn return that marks a time of spiritual maturation so he was then ready to accomplish his mission.) The Doctors of the Temple were amazed at the questions that Jesus asked and the knowledge that he had. It was obvious to them that he had a deeper understanding behind the spiritual teachings. “Jesus listened and asked questions of the teachers; they were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”

This Mystery speaks of a need to search beyond that which is written in spiritual texts, to search deep within for the most profound of meanings. That is what the path of Initiation asks of us. In the ancient pagan mystery schools, the Lesser Mysteries were open to all and expounded the codes of conduct, but the Greater Mysteries would only be offered to those who would ask questions and search for the profundity of spiritual meaning in order to know God.

Meditate on: Asking the Right Questions and Searching for Deeper Spiritual Meaning

THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES

The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary are the events surrounding the trial, torture, crucifixion, and death of Jesus. In our own lives they represent our own trials and ordeals that include the adversities and challenges that cause great suffering but must be met and successfully overcome. However, the lesson is more than facing the hardship but also requires making the higher choices when doing so.

First Sorrowful Mystery is the Agony in the Garden

The Biblical texts speak of Jesus’ isolation and pain while he was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the last night of his life. This reveals to us that even the Great Master experienced pain but in his agony he chose to surrender his will to God and accept his fate. Symbolically, it is indicative of the need to accept the adversity that is presented to us. It sometimes requires making the hard choices between what is easy and what is right.

There are two forms of adversity. One kind stems from within oneself usually caused by the adherence to faulty belief systems and the choices made as a result of having those beliefs. The second form of adversity comes from without. War or the grave illness or death of a loved one comes to mind to describe this category. Even though there may be nothing that a person can do to prevent this type of adversity, the antidote for it is the same as it is for the kind that arises from personal choices. The answer lies in how we look at and handle the suffering that is experienced as a result of misfortune. Finding peace within is the universal answer. Remember too that it may be easier to handle some situations in your life than others. Gracefully handling adversity and finding peace within may take experience but it will only develop if you are able to admit that you or the situation can change and then release the pain to a higher power.

The Great Initiation in the Mystery Schools involved facing death. After an intense period of training had been completed, the Initiate would experience trials that tested his or her will, strength, and resolve. The final test was to face an apparent or sometimes actual death if the ordeal was not passed. During our lifetime the test is symbolic of the need to allow the ego to die so that the soul can eventually find eternal life in heaven.

Meditate on: Willingness to surrender your will to God and face all adversity so that you can spiritually grow.

Second Sorrowful Mystery is the Scourging at the Pillar

Very little is said in the Bible regarding the scourging. John 19:1 relates the most on this subject of the four gospels. “Pilate’s next move was to take Jesus and have him scourged.”  The word scourge in not commonly used today, probably because it is a form of punishment that is no longer employed at least in the United States and other western cultures. What does scourging mean? It means that Jesus was tied to a pillar and beaten with a whip. Scourging is an incredibly painful punishment but Jesus endured it and kept his dignity in the process.

While we are not likely to be scourged literally, this act symbolically refers to the need to willingly endure the pain of any suffering that is the result from your past choices and actions. This doesn’t mean that you need to endure abuse or dysfunctional relationships or worse yet to do as some devout Catholics did years ago by scourging themselves or creating other forms of physical pain in repentance (as seen in the movie The Da Vinci Code). However, it means to be responsible for all past choices and actions that have created suffering for yourself or others but it does include being responsible for those in your care. It may mean that if the adversity that you are facing comes from someone else’s actions that you set boundaries with them or do whatever is in your power to correct the wrong. The bottom line is that if you are suffering something needs to change and that change may be in the way that you view your suffering. More than anything else it is about accepting the adversity and learning from it so that you can grow.

 Mediate on: Enduring the Pain of Your Suffering.

Third Sorrowful Mystery is Crowning with Thorns

Immediately after the scourging, Jesus was crowned with thorns that was plaited by the soldiers who put it upon his head and arrayed him in a purple robe in mockery and presented him to the Jewish priests who demanded his crucifixion. When Pilate questioned Jesus, his response was “You would have no power over me unless it had been given from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin”.

The head is representative of the mind. Although Jesus had been tortured and mocked he is able to understand what is truly happening. What this symbolically means is that it is necessary to see beyond the pain that we are experiencing to understand the lesson that is behind the pain. The pain then can become a tool for spiritual growth.

Meditate on: Transmuting Pain into Understanding.

Fourth Sorrowful Mystery is Carrying of the Cross

After Pilate sentenced Jesus to crucifixion, “They took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the Place of the Skull, called in Hebrew, Golgotha”. The saying “bearing your cross” is rooted in this passage. It has come to mean that life is not without burdens and that it is important to carry the burdens of your life and not withdraw into yourself when times get tough. It is at this time that one needs to rely on ones faith in God and also in oneself that you have the strength within to overcome any hardship. Doing so will build strength of character and will result in great growth both emotionally and spiritually.

Meditate on: The strength to carry the burdens of your trials and tests no matter how difficult or painful.

Fifth Sorrowful Mystery is the Crucifixion

“…Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the scripture), I thirst. A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge of vinegar on a reed and held it to his mouth. When Jesus has received the vinegar, he said, it is finished; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Jesus died saying that his work on earth was finally complete, but in his death comes the Resurrection and then the Ascension to be with the father once more. It is only when we allow the ego to die can we truly be at-one with God.

Meditate on: Letting the Ego Die.

 THE GLORIOUS MYSTERIES

The Glorious Mysteries are the events that describe the Glory of God and the Holy Spirit. They cannot be explained from the physical perspective to a person who only perceives what can be seen, heard, and touched for they are of the spirit and are mystical in nature. 

First Glorious Mystery is the Resurrection

The resurrection of Jesus is a major tenet of the Christian religion and a part of both the Nicene and Apostle’s Creeds. It is the belief that after Jesus was crucified and died to take the punishment for the sins of the world, he arose again from the dead. While there are written records to support the actual resurrection no one knows for sure whether it was literal or allegorical. Although the Catholic Church denies that it was once a Mystery School the major experiences of Jesus’ life follows the allegorical path of the god/heroes/king in the mythologies of the pagan Mysteries.

In these mythologies the sun god, the son or brother consort of the goddess, or the yearly king would be sacrificed to save the land from the eternal darkness of winter and in doing so guaranteed the fecundity of the land to feed and support its people. Combine this theme with the old Jewish custom of projecting sins onto a scapegoat or sacrificial lamb which was then sacrificed to God to save man from his sins and you have the major dogma of Christianity.

However, even in the Mysteries, the resurrection is more than an allegory of the rebirth of the land in the spring after the darkness and barrenness of winter. It represents the soul’s revival out of spiritual death that can only be resurrected once one willingly allows the ego to die by surrendering it to God. This was the deeper underlying message that I surmise had been taught in the Greater Mysteries of the pagan religions. Thy will, not mine are the key words that one uses to do this. In doing so one opens oneself up to the glory and the grace of God and interestingly life becomes easier and better.

Meditate on: Opening yourself to the glory and grace of God.

Second Glorious Mystery is the Ascension

After the resurrection, Jesus according to Acts 1:3 “…showed himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them by the space of forty days, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.”  After the forty days according to Luke 24:50-52 “And he led them out until they were over against Bethany; and he lifted his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up to heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”

The number forty is mentioned in the Bible 146 times to indicate one of the following: a time of preparation, cleansing, probation, or trials and testing.  It was most likely symbolic of a period of completion rather than a literal measurement of time. It is interesting that it takes the body forty days to completely turn over all cells for according to Earlyne Chaney in her book The Mystery of Death & Dying before the soul can ascend out of the physical plane it must recreate its new astral body based upon the lowest desires that the soul had in the previous incarnation.

In this book she explains the ascension process at the moment of death, which is the Death Initiation and is tied to the rising of the kundalini. Most souls have to go through a three-step process that corresponds to the three days in Hell that the Tibetan Book of the Dead call the Bardo experience. The Apostle’s Creed professed that Jesus experienced three days in Hell before he was resurrected and then ascended into Heaven.

The first thing that the newly deceased soul experiences is the first Light, the dazzling, blinding tunnel of light into Heaven. If the soul has lived a pure and spiritual life it can merge with the light and liberate itself from the Wheel of Life and Death never to incarnate again. Just prior to seeing the first Light, the kundalini rises to the crown and as it does all karma is released and the soul experiences salvation from all past sins. This is the Assumption, which is the ability to die in full consciousness.

However if the soul has led a good life but not focused on the spiritual life, it will need to go through the judgment to view or relive experiences of the lifetime and even sometimes past lives. Those who did not live a good life will be required to face the dark thought-forms that were created from their thoughts, words, and deeds. Sometimes if the soul developed negative habits and attachments to earthly living, it will be required to remain in a plane that the Catholics call Purgatory to allow it to purge out those habits and desires. During the third stage of the Bardo experience, the soul will have visions of swirling, spinning forms that appear to be copulating. If the soul has not completely released earthly desires, it may at this point come back into another incarnation. Only when the soul has purged of all its earthly desires can it merge with the second Light, which will take the soul to a beautiful state of being but not liberate it from the cycles of reincarnation. Jesus went through these stages not because he was impure, but because he was the prototype of “man” and to become a true Christian is to walk in the footsteps of Christ.

Meditate on:  Activation of the kundalini when the physical body is ready so that it can ascend to the crown.

Third Glorious Mystery is the Descent of the Holy Spirit

After the Crucifixion, the disciples were in the Cenacle to celebrate Pentecost, which means fifty, and is also known as Shavuot or the Festival of Weeks, the Jewish harvest festival. Traditionally it was a celebration that commemorated God giving the Ten Commandments to Moses at Mt. Sinai fifty days after the Exodus. The Cenacle was also known as the Upper Room where they celebrated the Last Supper and received the highest teachings from Jesus the night before the crucifixion. It was these teachings that prepared them for the descent of the Holy Spirit. It is also believed that it was where Jesus made his ascension as well as made many resurrection appearances. Additionally, it was where the Apostles stayed when they were in Jerusalem and the Catholic Encyclopedia calls it the first Christian Church. The name Upper Room is symbolic for it denotes a higher place of being. It also connotes that the apostles had higher spiritual knowledge and understanding.

There were about 120 of Jesus’ followers that included the Apostles, Mary the Blessed Mother, Jesus’s brothers and various women disciples when they experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is described in Act 2:1-6. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. And when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because every man heard them speak in his own language.”

From an esoteric perspective, the tongues of flames represent the risen kundalini that can only rise to the crown through spiritual discipline that will lead to deeper understanding and knowledge. Interestingly the words discipline, disciple, and discern are related and all come from the same root word discipulus meaning pupil. The disciple is the student, discipline is the course of study, and discernment is the ability to comprehend what is obscure. The Apostles were students of Jesus who as Initiates of the Mysteries were taught the discipline needed to discern spiritual truth, which in itself cannot be taught but can only be attained through deep inner searching.

When the kundalini rises to the third eye, the seeker has access to spiritual truth, and then when it ascends to the crown the knowledge of God is accessible. In the Hindu perspective the kundalini is Shakti, which is the divine feminine creative power that is associated with the Holy Spirit that resides in the root chakra. When it is awakened through spiritual practice it begins to rise up through the chakras that represents the tests and trials of daily life until it is joined with its divine counterpart Shiva the masculine aspect of God that is pure consciousness and which resides in the crown. Together they are the mother and father aspects of God that separated to create duality and their symbolic reunion in the crown is the Sacred Marriage that joins together the human and divine consciousness so that knowledge, the knower, and the object of knowledge become one.

When the Bible speaks of the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit I feel it is referring to the joining of the kundalini, the Divine Feminine with God the Divine Consciousness. The disciples were then able to speak about other things that they previously did not understand (other languages) that came from the Holy Spirit as higher knowledge (as the Spirit gave them utterance). When the disciples took their teachings out into the world “every man heard them speak in his own language” refers to the ability that a minister or spiritual teacher has when guided in meditation to give a sermon that touches everyone in the congregation at a deep level. I remember this happening when I attended the Church of Religious Science in Huntington Beach and it felt that Dr. Peggy Bassett was speaking directly to me and my friend also felt the same way about her sermon. This ability is a gift of God that comes through the Holy Spirit.

Meditate on:  Opening up to the Higher Knowledge that is the reward of all the disciplines practiced to gain Enlightenment.

Fourth Glorious Mystery is the Assumption

The difference between the Ascension and the Assumption is in the way that Jesus and Mary were taken into heaven. In spiritual terms ascension is the process of going back to God. It is the exit out of physical life into spiritual immortality, in other words going to Heaven. The Assumption is the immediate merging with the first Light at the moment of death that occurs for those who have already experienced the kundalini rising to the crown during the lifetime prior to death. Since the soul already has done all the spiritual work so that the kundalini can rise, it doesn’t have to experience the three stages of the Bardo experience that is associated with the three days in Hell.

The doctrines of the Catholic Church claims that Mary was sinless and that she was even born without Original Sin. Regardless of whether this is only dogma or whether it is truth, we as mystics have faith in the belief that Mary was a spiritual master so I feel the Assumption means that Mary had been assumed into Heaven without having to descend into Hell.

It wasn’t until November 1950 that Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary as dogma when he stated “…that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.” This decree however leaves open whether Mary died before her Assumption or was taken into Heaven while still in physical embodiment leaving the dogma open to debate. The debate has no bearing symbolically for the meaning of the Assumption has a far greater allegorical significance than it might in reality for it allows for the pure soul to find immortality without having to go through a period of purging and reflection in the state of being that the Catholics call Purgatory.

Meditate on: Living a Spiritual Life so that you can merge with the first Light of God and liberate yourself from the Wheel of Life and Death.

 Fifth Glorious Mystery is the Coronation

The Coronation of Mary is not recounted in scripture however there is a passage in The Book of Revelation (12:1-3) that refers to a woman wearing a crown of 12 stars with the moon under her feet. It states, “A great portent appeared in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth.” The Church assigned this description to Mary, the mother of Jesus, for the passage continues with the appearance of a red dragon who as Satan tries to devour her male child. When the angels in heaven throw down the dragon to the earth “he pursued the woman who had borne the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.”

Many Christians believe that Mary was the woman who is mentioned in this passage. It is this passage that gives rise to her crowning as the Queen of Heaven and it dates back at least to the 12th century. However this title belonged to many goddesses before the time of Mary. Not only did these goddesses govern over heaven, earth, but some ruled over all three worlds to include the underworld as well. Innana/Ishtar, Astarte/Ashtoreth, Anat, Isis, Hera/Juno, and Frigg/Freya all carried the title of Queen of Heaven. Additionally Isis rode a crescent moon. All of these goddesses were aspects of the Great Mother or Great Goddess who played a key role in the Mysteries. It would then make sense that the role of the Mother of the World would be assigned to the mother of Jesus for she is the same archetype as the pagan mother of god.

The symbolism of the crown in general represents pre-eminence and is a visible sign of success because it rests above the body. The metal crown, the diadem, with its rays of light represent light and spiritual enlightenment. Mary’s crowning signifies all these things.

There is a passage from Judith 15: 9-10 in the Catholic Bible that is often associated with the Fifth Glorious Mystery: “You are the glory of Jerusalem…you are the splendid boast of our people…God is pleased with what you have wrought. May you be blessed by the Lord Almighty forever and ever.” This passage aptly describes the meaning of this Mystery not only for Mary but for all those who are on a spiritual path for when one has lived a good life, one can enter into Heaven and experience immortality of the soul. The crowning of Mary also represents the radiating aura from the risen kundalini of those who have achieved God’s glory and grace.

Meditate on: Your own connection to God and the Holy Spirit.

In closing, if you choose to say the rosary remember that the words that you have just read are just a starting point for you to see the rosary in a different light. There is a deeper spiritual significance to what the Mysteries of the Rosary and the Christian teachings mean. To understand those meanings is to be a mystic. The most important thing is for you to get what you want out of it. Meditate on what it means to YOU not me or the Church.

NEXT MONTH’S BLOG:

Tarot, the Mysteries, and Initiation

Deanna Frank

916.206.0464

www.sophiawisdomteachings.com