Derek’s Newsletter – April 2021
Hello Friends/Clients & Welcome to my April Newsletter!
As I write we are currently experiencing the Easter holy-days and the high-point of the Christian calender, the culmination of the ministry of Jesus the Christ – his Crucifixtion and Resurrection.
I am not a Christian as most of you know, but a pagan esotericist, so I am the first to declare that the “….last Christian died in the Cross”. But I am the first to honour the amazing manifestation of greater livingness in the life and journey of Jesus the Christ. As an esotericist, I recognize that the entire evolutionary process, built around 5 major initiations (the Birth, the Baptism, the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection & Ascension) which is our universal heritage, was built around the life story of Jesus, the perfected man, overshadowed by the Christ spirit. Such are the initiations, or expansions of consciousness through which all men & women must some day pass. To bring about this divine expression in our daily lives take the utmost that is in us.
The Christian faith asks you to accept that Jesus was God’s only son. This is a good reason for me not being identified as a Christian because I recognize that there have been many such illuminated Sons of God and we cannot make a universal inheritance for humanity the personal property of one viewpoint, tribe, nation or religion. It is the common glory of all mankind that we are celebrating.
We are in process of passing from one religious age into another. However, it is essential to grasp the difference between Eternal Wisdom Teachings and that which is temporary. The Carpenter from Nazareth demonstrated in himself the full expression of Divinity and then challenged his Disciples that they should go and do the same. It is this Spirit of the Christ that is undying and is an Eternal Revelation, and the Master Jesus went through all the processes which are the destiny of every son & daughter of God.
The Mystery Teachings of the past were enacted in secret and the uniqueness of Christ’s work lay in the fact that He was the first to enact the whole of the initiation rites publicly, thus giving to humanity a demonstration of divinity centered in one person, so that all could see, could know, believe and follow in His steps.
I point this out because the great continuity of Revelation is our most priceless possession. Unless this continuity of revelation is recognised and emphasized, and the place of the Christian faith in it truly seen, then the place of Christianity as the fulfillment of the past and as a stepping stone to the future, will pass unrecognized. God has never left Himself without witness.
The exoteric teachings of all world religions always seek to emphasize the Orthodox and theological presentations, and the obvious result is that the inner wisdom teaching is forgotten and the esoteric side is ignored, so that the spirit and living experimental experience disappears.
We have been busy fighting over the non-essentials of traditional interpretation, over-emphasizing the doctrinal and dogmatic aspects and have forgotten to teach the secret and the technique for authentic “Christian” living.
We are free to choose and to reject – but let us see that we choose with eyes open and with a wisdom which is the hallmark of those who have penetrated a considerable way along the Path of Return.
The same stories are told of the Greek Hercules, of Scandinavian Baldur, of the Persian Mithra, of the Roman Bacchus, and of the Egyptian Lord of Light, Osiris, to mention only a few of a large number. One of the early Church Fathers, Firmicus Maternus, tells us that the mysteries of Osiris bear a close resemblance to the Christian teaching, including his death and rebirth. Indeed, I would be so bold to declare that all the so-called unique characteristics of Christianity (i.e. Baptism, the Immaculate Conception, the Eucharist, the World Saviour etc.) already existed in the ancient Egyptian Religion of Osiris.
When I take Scandinavian groups to the temples of Egypt, I have been making these connections for the past 25 years – perhaps showing all these correspondences between the Egyptian Mystery Teachings and Christianity will probably be one of my future books.
OSIRIS: The King of Light in the Otherworld/The Underworld of Eternal Egypt
In this format of a Newsletter, I can only point your awareness to certain reference points, and so the one I choose today is the fact that our yearly celebration of Easter is in fact determined in the Christian calender by the Full Moon in Aries.
What date in late March/early April every year that the culminating monthly full moon occurs determines the Easter celebrations.
Ask any Christian priest why this is so and the reply will be a simple “Because it is so – we are following tradition!”
But you know that every month there is a Full Moon, which means the Sun and Moon forms a culminating opposition aspect, and our planet, the Earth, is in the middle. This is a time of great light and especially light in the darkness. We can directly approach the Sun (spirit), the source of all Light, without going through the channel of the Moon (ego-personality). So basically a full moon period is a time for us to approach the divine presence.
Easter Date is determined by the Full Moon in Aries each year
This diagram helps to explain this astronomical phenomena. Under any Full Moon climax, it is as if a Gate opens and extra inter-planetary forces stream forth into our part of the cosmos and can make direct contact with our collective human consciousness.
In esoteric work, there is the day before the Full Moon for inner preparation, the day of the Full Moon itself for making contact, and the third day, the day after the full moon for distributing the contacted energies.
But why does the Christian faith determine the Easter date through this Aries Full Moon – what are the qualities of this zodiacal sign?
Yes – the Aries Ram, is also seen as the Lamb of Christ – but is that the reason? More important is the fact that ARIES IS THE FIRST SIGN OF THE ZODIAC – IT LEADS THE WAY FOR THE REST OF THE ZODIAC.
Easter Day is always decided astronomically. This information should be in the hands of all Christian people, because then and only then can they arrive at a full and clear understanding of what, in His Cosmic nature, Christ came to Earth to do. That event was of far greater importance than simply bringing about the salvation of any individual human being. After the advent of Christ, the door stood wide open for all time, and the 5th. Kingdom of Nature, the Kingdom of Souls, began to form on Earth. The wonder of Christ’s mission lay in the fact that, though He was one of a long continuity of perfected divine men, He had a unique function. He summed up in Himself and brought to a conclusion the symbolic presentation of God’s eternal presence, sacrificed upon the Fixed Cross of the Heavens, the Cross of Love, to which the stars bear testimony and which the history of religion has so successfully veiled and today refuses to recognize.
The Crucifixion is called the Great Renunciation in the Orient, with its lesson of sacrifice and its call to the death of the lower nature.
This was the lesson which Saint Paul knew and the goal towards which he strove, “I die daily”, he said, for only in the practice of death daily undergone can the final Death be met and endured.
The Crucifixion and the Cross of Christ are as old as humanity itself.
In the above illustration you see 3 types of crosses – there are many variations on this basic theme. Did you know that the ancient Egyptian Ankh cross is the oldest cross in existence? It pre-dates the Christian Cross by more than a thousand years. Look at the shape and recognize that the cosmic egg touches the cross of matter. Egyptian civilization was a demonstration of the marriage between the Upper Worlds and the physical dimension, As Above, So Below. Where they meet flowers the Rose of great Beauty, which is the Rosicrucian Cross to the right and the Celtic Sun Cross to the left. What revelations would students of life come too if they were to explore the many different types of crosses that humanity has produced. For the ancient Egyptians the ANKH or looped cross, is the KEY OF LIFE – and no Pharaoh, God or Goddess could function without carrying the Key of Life in their hand.
And the ANKH Cross is very similar to the astrological symbol for VENUS, planet of Love & Relationships. Is your cross a symbol of pain & suffering or love, joy & beauty? What do you wish to focus upon?
The truth which Jesus the Christ embodies, is so old that there has never been a time when it was not present as a need in the human consciousness – and yet it is so new that there will never be a time when the story of the birth & the death of the world Saviour will not be of utmost importance to humanity. Both are symbols of the eternal sacrifice of God as He immerses Himself in the form aspect of nature. North, South, East and West stands the Cosmic Christ upon what is called “The Fixed Cross of the Heavens”.
And then the Resurrection and Ascension, which represents the final triumph over the material world view.
So when we celebrate Easter, let us not forget that this is the mature, fully developed soul-personality of the Master Jesus, overshowed by the Christ spirit. The holy-days of Christmas and December was the birth of the infant and now we have the mature soul-infused personality at Easter April.
So yes, let’s break open those Easter eggs, the life within has been
incubating and now it’s time for manifestation of that light upon the outer physical dimension! Spring is here – it is time for new life and livingness!
The New World Religion in the Aquarian Age & the celebration of the 12 Full Moon Festivals
I will need to repeat what I have said earlier - We are in process of passing from one religious age into another.
What does the orthodox theologian and churchman mean when he uses the words: “A new Heaven and a new Earth are on their way”? These words signal something entirely new and a new conception as to the world of spiritual realities. Consider this: at present, the Christian religion has its great festivals, the Buddhist keeps his different set of spiritual events, and the Hindu has still another list of holy days. In the future world, all men & women of spiritual inclination and motivation everywhere will keep the same holy days. This will bring about a pooling of spiritual resources and a united spiritual effort, plus a simultaneous spiritual invocation. The obvious potency of this will be apparent.
The study of Comparative Religion has demonstrated that the foundational truths in every faith are identical.
It is this universality that needs to become the cornerstone of the New Aquarian World Religion – and the only factor which works against this spiritual unity is the clerical organisations and their almost militant attitude to religions and faiths other than their own.
In the world of esotercism, the keynote of this New World Religion is Divine Approach.
Prayer will be expanded into meditation and the group will approach a closer contact with divinity at the times of the monthly Full Moons. As we draw nearer to God, so does God draw closer to us and in our 21st. Century we will experience a totally new approach to making contact with God and our Divinity. These full moon approaches also invite cosmic forces to enter our planetary aura, for a door which normally remains closed is opened at such times. Such a world religion is no idle dream, but something which is definitely forming today.
For more than 25 years here in Copenhagen, we have been gathering a monthly group of around 100 people to meditate as an act of service at the time of the Full Moon. And we have been just one group among many thousands scattered all around the world who have manifested this embryonic form of the New World Religion.
If the Full Moon in Aries is associated with Easter, the high point of the Christian calender, the death & resurrection of the Christ, then the next in this series will be Taurus and this is associated with the great spiritual Festival of Wesak in the East and the Enlightenment of Lord Buddha (a title which means “awakened”).
Here at the start of our astronomical and spiritual new year may you be blessed with increased livingness and increased awareness!
The Egyptian Goddess of Joy & Goddess of the West: HATHOR
And now we make another intuitive jump to invite ancient Egypt into this Newsletter.
When you look at ancient Egyptian Gods & Goddesses you will always recognize who they are by identifying the crown on their head. This is a statement about specific energies that this diety has brought to fruition, their crowing achievement. So when you look at the crown for the Goddess Hathor, you will quickly establish that it is the symbol of the Sun atop a lunar crescent. You could also see it as the Sun emerging from the Moon.
In the sophisticated cosmology of the Egyptians, the Sun travels through the night sky, through the body of the Great Mother Goddess Hathor, and emerges out of the womb every morning with sunrise. When a person died they wanted to enlist the help of the Goddess Hathor, to come under her protection and successfully reach the Otherworld. You will see paintings of the winged Goddess Hathor in all coffins, as the deceased is enveloped in her protective arms & wings to make the journey to the Land of Light.
Yet Hathor was not only the Goddess of the Western Lands, for she was also the Goddess of Joy & of Livingness, so that music, dance, entertainment, beauty, art forms, jewellry, all forms of pleasure, including eating & love-making came under her domain.
And so the apparent complexities of partnering both Life & Death are symbolized for us by the coming together of the Sun & Moon on her headdress. Isn’t this a wonderful image to reflect upon? Yes it is! And Hathor was married to the hawk-headed Sun God Horus.
In Astrology we would identify Hathor, who was also the Patron of Astrology, as the Venus principle. Whatever your understanding of Venus is, know that she represents the Energy dynamics of Relationship, the relationship between man & woman, between parents and their children, the relationship between colours, shape & form, to produce a beautiful design, and ultimately the relationship between Above & Below and the individual with the Universal.
Here is a statue of the Goddess Herself: Hathor
So now I would like to draw your attention to a unique 3-day period here in April, which only occurs one time each year – and which offers us a wonderful window of opportunity for raising our frequency so we might enter into an alchemical upgrading of our male & female parts of our psyche.
Sun in Aries – Moon in Taurus 12-14 April
“The Alchemical Wedding”
Planets and their location in the 12 zodiacal signs is like a good or not-so-good marriage. Planetary principles work well in some signs and not so well in other signs.
So for example, the rejuvenating power of the Sun finds its best expression when located in the fiery pioneering sign of Aries, and the Moon’s form-building power, finds its best expression when located in the fertile and highly productive Earth sign of Taurus. This is a traditional system known as “Exaltations”.
So when the transit of the Sun is moving through Aries for one month and is joined by the Moon travelling through the sign Taurus for 2½-days each month, this sets up a powerful alchemical opportunity to bring forth an inner marriage between the masculine & feminine sides of our identity. and this one time a year event will occur from Monday 12th. through to Wednesday 14th. April.
Are you ready to grasp the opportunity being presented in these coming days?
Use your imagination and prepare some form of ritual. This could be strengthening your bonds to your existing partner, or if you are single, attracting one. There is so much that you could set into motion during these days and so enjoy an alchemical healing between the polarity of your inner male & inner female.
And once you have understood the energies you are working with, then you could also mark in the diary another significant future 3-Day period this year, when transit Sun enters its own sign of Leo and transit Moon enters its own sign of Cancer, providing you with another exceptional opportunity for this “inner marriage”.
Sun in Leo – Moon in Cancer: 5-7 August
Derek & Jacob Moth’s Series of
“Magical Tarot in The Magic Garden” – Key 21: The Universe
Episode 8
Live Streaming 12 April 2021 11am CEDT
This will be our final Episode now we have reached the last card of the Major Arcana – Key 21: The Universe or it’s traditional title, The World.
Join the dynamic duo, Jacob & Derek for an enlightening journey, as we explore this card and its location in The Magic Garden.
Become a member of The Magic Garden tribe and gain access to all 8 highly professionally produced presentations – Welcome!
The Last Tarot card & the First Tarot card:
Key 21: The Universe & Key 0: The Fool
And from the last numbered Tarot card of the Major Arcana, to the very first (and last) card: the Tarot Fool.
Those of you who own a deck of Tarot cards will soon come to know that the only unnumbered card, Key 0 or Zero, “nothing”, The Fool, is the greatest and most powerful card of all. The other 77 cards all emanate directly from this one card.
How is this so? Well, as card Zero or no-thing, we are seeing the Western Mystery traditions teachings about the nature of spirit, it contains all, beyond all description, cannot be limited by word, thought or number. And when the number sequence begins, we are defining aspects of the one reality. The zero or circle is clearly making a statement about the nature of spirit. And the image of the tarot Fool is the clearest teaching about Spirit that our Western Mystery Traditions have produced. This is truely worthy of some study.
Did you know that this Tarot card exists today in our modern playing cards as “The Joker” – and true to the character of this card, it can be “wild”, so if the Joker turns up in your game it can become any card you are missing or desire to have. In such a way do we have the teaching of The Tarot Fool played out in our modern playing cards.
When you work with the Tarot cards you will find that The Fool doesn’t appear very often in a spread – yet when it does, it makes a powerful statement about newness, a radical new start, a leap of faith into the unknown, a fresh page, a new Chapter in our Book of Life. Just like Aries and the start of a New Year, The Fool challenges us to take a risk, to show courage, to do things differently. It is a wonderful image of true authentic freedom – which is why society will automatically label such a person as being “a fool” or just quite mad, doing crazy things.
Look at the eyes of The Fool in the Crowley Thoth version – look at the intense presence of this green figure, and notice that his feet do not touch the ground – and entwined around him are four spiral-formed loops, which are divided into four circles or spiritual levels. His mad gaze goes past the observer, for we cannot look directly into his eyes because his visual axis is slightly shifted.
A wonderful big cluster of grapes falls over his left shoulder and in his right hand he holds an upside-down chalice, while in his left hand there is a flaming pine cone – and beneath the grapes we see gold coins imprinted with astrological symbols are raining down.
And between his thighs there is a strange flower form, while in the center of this figure a Sun is displayed. What wonderful symbols of creativity & abundant fertility!
Hooray – let’s welcome this crazy wisdom of The Tarot Fool, here at the start of the New spiritual Year, this month of Aries. Let’s open out to the new amazing possibilities that await us during this year, for the Fool is not only the beginning that must come to be, but also the end that must pass away in order to become new again.
And of course you did remember 1st. April is traditionally seen as April Fool’s Day, so we trick and tease people with some crazy made-up story. This is a celebration of the Tarot Fool.
And so too is the Green Man of Spring that heralds the bursting forth of Nature and new life at the start of every new year after the winter season. Here is one picture to enjoy:
The Green Man of Spring
And here are more pictures, this time see how the wild forces of Spring, Nature and the Spirit Breath of the Tarot Fool are being harnessed by the Church buildings:
You will see these carvings of The Green Man of Spring (alias The Tarot Fool) in medieval Churches all over Europe. It was a statement about controlling and harnessing these more “pagan” energies, putting the life-force to work in the “House of God”. When you explore more deeply the symbolism involved you will better appreciate the rhythmic dance between spirit & matter, life taking a form. This is why the Wheel of Tarot starts with the ecstatic dance of the Tarot Fool and end’s with the Cosmic Dancer blending all the 4 Elements together in the final card of the Major sequence, Key 21: The Universe. This reminds us to keep all things moving and to enjoy the dance of life and not get stuck or over-identified with a frozen viewpoint. Stuckness is a mind-set based upon our limited view of life.
So take out your Tarot cards and find the tarot Fool – then enjoy the next 2 weeks carrying this card on you, in your jacket pocket or handbag, or place it in a prominent position in your home, where you see it everyday – thus evoking & bringing this magical talisman into your life!
To honour and to finish our celebration of this month of Aries and the Tarot Fool, I present you with a series of questions to ask yourself and for reflection:
Divinatory questions for Key 0: The Fool
Are new vistas about to open for you?
Could you be experiencing more trust in the divine order of things? Where is your soul taking you?
Is your trust based upon fact or fantasy?
Are you feeling more adventurous than usual?
What cliff are you afraid of going over?
Are you daring to do something you have always dreamed of but have hesitated to do because you feared other’s reactions?
Are you stepping beyond confining thoughts and emotions?
Might you be listening to the sound of a different drummer?
Are you experiencing the budding awareness that God/dess is everywhere at all times?
Is this a time to open to higher insight and inspiration?
Could all your experiences be divine lessons & blessings?
Might revolutionary (rapid) or evolutionary (slow & more organic) thinking & behaviour be in order?
Are you seeking to live life from the greater rather than the lesser perspective?
Are you preparing to live your daily life as a spiritual adventure?
Do you consider yourself to be especially honest and open?
Do you feel that someone has taken unfair advantage of your openness?
Do you tend to act impulsively or prematurely?
Have you had a sudden influx of insight or spiritual energy that has provided you with a sense of your past lives and how they fit into the present?
Might others consider you foolish or eccentric for your spiritual pursuits?
Are you preparing to live your daily life as a spiritual adventure?
Derek’s new book:
Astrology, Tarot, Tree of Life & YOU - Book 1”
I have been very busy during the past years’ Covid lockdown and one result of my activity is the manifestation of a new book – Book 1 of a Triology that explores the 3 disciplines that has shaped my entire career, Tarot, Astrology and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Here in April the final editing has been done of my 400-page book: “Astrology, Tarot, Tree of Life & YOU”.
This is a cause for celebration because the birth of this book has taken many years. The main focus of this first book revolves around the simple fact that we are born on a certain Day and during a specific Hour. This is where the combination of planets comes in.
Then we find what Pathway on the Tree of Life does this planetary focus direct our attention, in order that we can better appreciate the soul’s task. In some cases we shall find that a person is born with both the Day & the Hour ruled by the same planet, which places great emphasis upon one of the 10 Spheres on the Tree of Life.
The book explores the links of our Pathway to a specific Tarot card, shamanistic directions, what compass points are activated, what Pillars on the Tree, and what areas of our psyche becomes our major life themes. Along the way the book introduces the reader to the 7 classical planets of the ancient world and their links to the 7 Double Letters of the Hebrew Alphabet. Part of this journey unfolds with a series of Visualization Exercises that seeks to promote better integration of these principles within our psyche.
The main goal of Book 1 is to introduce the reader to a new way of working with Astrology and our horoscope by placing this upon the Tree of Life, thus creating our own personal Flow Chart or Mandala. And to help achieve this I also synthesize the archetypal images of the Tarot, psychology and the science of Numerology, so the book becomes a new 21st. Century Aquarian discipline.
The Book is packed with many illuminating examples of famous people that illustrate the various principles. It is my hope that this book will bridge-build between these various disciplines, providing the reader with a magical taste of the fruit of the Tree of Life, which is a blueprint of the Cosmos, combined with your own horoscope. Truly fascinating and may I say myself, inspirational!
I have 2 well-known Publishing Houses in USA that have expressed interest in the material, so as I write, we are at the early stages. This means that it will take some time in the future before it comes a printed book.
In the meantime I am organizing the material to be available as an ebook on my website next month. If you are interested then let me know and as soon as the ebook becomes available for distribution you will be informed.
