Master Omraam celebrated many joyful, musical Christmases with his disciple- brothers and sisters and gave numerous talks on the spiritual and mystical meaning of Christmas in the initiatic tradition. He explained the birth of Christ as a universal phenomenon of cosmic significance and showed how the same initiatic truths are present in other spiritual traditions, such as Buddhism. Every detail of the nativity story that is so familiar to those of us in Christian cultures is deep with mystical symbolism, but the holy family is especially so.
Although Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus are all historical figures, the story of the nativity also symbolises the birth that will take place within the soul of every human being. We will all, one day, give birth to the divine principle, the Christ, within ourselves. It will happen once we are finally capable of attaining the love and wisdom we need for ‘the divine child’ to be born within us.
These two extracts from the book, ‘Christmas and Easter in the Initiatic Tradition’, are about the new consciousness that is born within men and women when they succeed in uniting with their higher self, in a union of the soul and spirit. This union is what Jesus called the ‘second birth’ It is necessary before a person can attain divine consciousness or ‘enter the kingdom of God’.
The meaning of Christmas in the initiatic tradition
What do we celebrate at Christmas? The union of the soul and spirit. They unite to give birth to a seed which is the beginning of a new consciousness within us. This consciousness manifests as an inner light that dispels all darkness, just like heat of such intensity that, even if the whole world abandons us, we never feel alone, like an abundant life that bursts forth wherever our feet take us.
This consciousness is also accompanied by an influx of energies that we wish to consecrate to the edification and construction of the kingdom of God. At the same time, we also discover the extraordinary joy of feeling ourselves connected to the whole universe and to all evolved souls, of being part of this immensity, and we are certain that no one can take this joy from us.
In India, this state is called the Buddhic consciousness and Christians call it the birth of Christ.
What is the ‘Second Birth’?
When Jesus said, “Except a person be born of water and of the spirit, they cannot enter the Kingdom of God” it means that they cannot be reborn unless they have within them the two principles, masculine and feminine. The second birth is the birth of Jesus, but the birth of Jesus implies your birth as well. The mother is water, love, purity, life; the father is if fire, light, spirit. Unless you possess the principles of love which is the feminine principle, and wisdom which is the masculine principle, you cannot be born a second time.
When there is a child, there must be a mother and father, and if love and wisdom are missing there are no parents, the child cannot appear. You are born, it is true, but you are not born of love and wisdom. To be born a second time in the form of the Christ Child, you need a higher, more evolved mother and father than the physical parents, you need love and wisdom, and the child will then be born of truth, with fullness of life, everything that is real and truthful.
Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov Christmas and Easter in the Initiatic Tradition
If you would like to read the first chapter of ‘Christmas and Easter in the Initiatic Tradition‘, follow the link to Prosveta Uk
To read more about the symbolism of the Christmas story such as the star, the shepherds, the gifts of the wise men, the manger and the animals in the stable, you can browse the Christmas themed extracts on
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