The Northern School of Esoteric Wisdom
In one sense we are Theosophists, in another sense, we practise both Vajarayana Buddhism along with the self-observation techniques of the Gurdjieff/Ouspensky Work ideas. We found the knowledge and practicality of the Gurdjieff/Ouspensky Work cuts through to the bare bones of the human machine and in a no-nonsense way breaks down the glamours of the spiritual path. We studied the esoteric ideas of Theosophy and included the works of the Tibetan Master through Alice A. Bailey as Theosophy. We were not glued to traditional Theosophy, which focuses primarily on Blavatsky. We followed the trend of esoteric thought as it evolved in the West. For practical work, the technology of awakening, we studied the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
The Esoteric Work is based on 5th Ray, or exact knowledge, 7th Ray discipline, ritual or harmonious living, and 2nd Ray which is the underlying energy of intelligent action or Wisdom, and Compassion. What we were interested in, is breaking everything down into its ‘essence’, to its simplest form that could be applied to increase our knowledge and know how in practice.
We are a school of esoteric meditation, study, and service. Our purpose is to further the teachings of the Esoteric Tradition, making them practical for aspirants living and working on a day-to-day basis in our fast moving world.
The group at our first retreat this past September 25-27/20 at Fells Meadows Retreat Center.
Some thoughts on advanced Group Work
The group that I belonged to for over 30 years, was blessed by the mantric power of one of the Masters; I wrote about this in detail in my book, “Living on the Inner Edge”. It was a small group, all of us had attained a certain degree of soul alignment through intense training in meditation and ‘mantrayana’(path of mantra). The resulting constant play of Soul-shakti caused much turmoil, as the personality is shaken up, so to speak, bringing sub-conscious, past-life ‘samskaras’ or ancient tendencies to the surface. The past re-awakens in the present. These must be faced with the eye of the awakened awareness. One of the important aspects of Group Work is to transform past undesirable personality characteristics. This created a battle (on the astral plane) and many times the negative qualities of the personality (klesas…a yogic term/dweller) clouds the soul’s control, causing even more turmoil. It is through this turmoil that opportunity opens her door. When group members can work together in harmony, overcoming the flaws of the personality, then a real ‘soul’ relationship between members is the result.
But as the Master DK points out…it is because of a lack of love that these things occur. Aspirants today throw this word ‘love’ around like a baseball, bouncing it everywhere thinking they know what it means in an esoteric sense… the truth of the matter is so different on the path of Initiation. The power of past negative personality kama-rupas/kleasa that awaken on the path of Initiation totally block one’s soul flow…that’s why it’s called the battleground (kurushetra), and when one gets carried away, over identifying, then one’s love aspect appears to dim in this process…there is a danger here, thus the Master DK talks about the possibility of astral drowning. This is also one of the reasons the Master DK initially employed correspondence courses to limit this effect that is magnified when the group is in physical contact. Yet, I believe, today, as there are many advanced souls, that the Next Step is to build physical plane esoteric groups to help accelerate one’s spiritual awakening and initiation through Group Work and Group Invocation. Aspirants, today who have a strong inner awakening, searching for knowledge, should make every possible effort to come together, making the sacrifice to travel or whatever it takes, to be part of an esoteric group on the physical plane.
Training in Group Work is now available at Northern School of Esoteric Wisdom.
For more information Contact Us.
