Written from India in 1935, shortly after his visit to the Holy Land, to all students and friends of Self-Realization Fellowship

From Jerusalem and India, reinforced by the perception of the Great Ones, I bring unto you a new message of Spirit. Blessed is my soul to be thus an instrument of the Divine.

The pen of thought writes on the dark page of ether and makes the Spirit-Truth invisibly visible, and my fountain pen makes the unseen thoughts visible. So on this page I am painting God — with ink, thoughts, and Self-realization — that all may behold His glory.

As Truth peeps through the window of thoughts and words, so God manifests through Christ Intelligence and vibratory creation. When the beads of nations are not held together by the thread of universal perception of Christ Consciousness, of Christ Peace, they fall apart, knocking and scattering on the rocks of selfishness. The Christ of Christmas must be celebrated in the hearts’ love of all races for one another.

I pray Christ be born in the cradle of a new international understanding; that out of the dark night of war, the star of Christ Love may illumine a new United World. I pray Christ be born in all nations as love of unity, in all men as spiritual ambition, in true friends as the Divine Friend, in students of this path as Self-realization, and in all deep devotees as eternal, ever new Joy and perpetual Wisdom.

Earth-bound possessions and glory all fade away, but God-bound possessions hold through eternity, serving with supreme usefulness. Why worship material comfort on the altar of change? Learn to adore spiritual comfort in the temple of indestructibility. The best way to convert earthly accumulations into imperishable heavenly treasure is to use them for spiritual service. Christ must be lived to be known. In all good actions, in every material and spiritual service, and in the manger of meditation, the immortal Cosmic Christ is born anew.

None can know about that Christ by reading books on theology; one must feel his presence in the bower of deep meditation. In the cradle of meditation-tuned thoughts, woven with tender twigs of devotion, behold the newborn Christ, lulled by the cooing dove of inner peace.

In these twenty centuries Christmas has been celebrated 1,935 times — yet how few have realized the true significance of the birth of Jesus! Every year, God and the angels recognize this occasion with celestial celebrations for the good of all. So let each one of you, by prior weeks of deep meditation, prepare his consciousness to celebrate this coming Christmas. The arrival of the newborn Christ Consciousness in the hamlet of your meditation will be indescribably fascinating, uplifting, and expanding to your soul. Prepare for Christ by decorating the spinal Christmas tree* of your meditating consciousness with many new perceptions of the divine Christ, with ever-twinkling stars of wisdom and lotus blossoms of divine love. At the foot of this inner Christmas tree lay all your material desires, to be presented once and forever to the Christ Joy within you.

When Joseph Smith Saw a Vision of

Heavenly Mother

This article which was written by Danielle B. Wagner appeared in the 23 June 2016 online edition of LDS Living Magazine.

“As with many other truths of the gospel, our present knowledge about a Mother in Heaven is limited,” the Church’s Gospel Topics Essay “Mother in Heaven” states:

While we do have quotes from Church leaders that give us insight into Her nature and role in our lives, many understand our unique knowledge of Her is sacred.

However, the First Presidency shared in 1909 that “all men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother, and are literally the sons and daughters of Deity,” and in 1995 the First Presidency declared in “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” ” Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.”

While we might not know as much about our Heavenly Mother as we do our Heavenly Father, the words of prophets and apostles, as well as Church records still provide a surprising amount of information about our other divine Parent.

For instance, the LDS archives contain a journal entry from Abraham H. Cannon, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and son of George Q. Cannon. On August 25, 1880, Abraham Cannon recorded a time when the Prophet Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Zebedee Coltrin saw a vision of our Heavenly Mother:

One day the Prophet Joseph Smith asked him (Zebedee Coltrin) and Sidney Rigdon to accompany him into the woods to pray. When they had reached a secluded spot Joseph laid down on his back and stretched out his arms. He told the brethren to lie one on each arm and then shut their eyes.

After they had prayed he told them to open their eyes. They did so and they saw a brilliant light surrounding a pedestal which seemed to rest on the ground. They closed their eyes and again prayed. They then saw, on opening them, the Father seated upon a throne; they prayed again and on looking saw the Mother also; after praying and looking the fourth time they saw the Savior added to the group. He had auburn brown, rather long, wavy hair and appeared quite young” (Journal of Abraham H. Cannon , 25 Aug. 1880, LDS archives).

Though rare, this vision might not have been a singular occurrence. The Church’s Gospel Topics Essay “Mother in Heaven” states, “Susa Young Gates, a prominent leader in the Church, wrote in 1920 that Joseph Smith’s visions and teachings revealed the truth that ‘the divine Mother, [is] side by side with the divine Father’” (emphasis added).

The use of the plural in this case suggests that Joseph Smith may have had other visions in which Heavenly Mother was revealed to him, which means other prophets and apostles could have been blessed with such a divine visitations.

But whether or not others have seen our Heavenly Mother, many Church leaders have talked about her great influence in our lives. According to an article published in BYU Studies, “‘A Mother There’: A Survey of Historical Teachings about Mother in Heaven,” Susa Young Gates called Heavenly Mother a great “molder,” who watches over us with “watchful care” and provides “careful training.” In addition, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” teaches us that we were born to Heavenly Parents who guided and reared us in the pre-existence.

* A reference to man’s seven cerebrospinal centers of spiritual intelligence and energy, manifesting as lights to the inner sight of deeply meditating devotees. In Hindu scriptures, these centers are often described as “lotuses”; in the Book of Revelation, St. John refers to their bright rays as “seven stars.”

To be continued in Part II – The Great Mormon Mystery

 Join me as we

Explore and Expose what happened to Joseph Smith and his Original Teachings vs Brigham Young who later came across

the land to Salt Lake City after Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered in Nauvoo, Illinois

Hint:

A large memorial dedicated in 1947 marks the spot of Brigham Young’s historic arrival.

Surprisingly, the monument also includes …

Father Pierre-Jean De Smet,

a 19th-century Jesuit missionary and explorer.

Onward and Upward,

Gabrielle