It is really nice to see all the spiritual takes on the Covid pandemic situation. From the Earth needing a break, to families needing to reconnect, to an illness getting us to finally turn within, as might happen with an individual who gets ill. I’m eager to add to the dialogue.

I have had the privilege in my time at the ARE to be recruited into positions that I otherwise wouldn’t have considered. For example, I was asked to facilitate ARE conferences, which I did for 4 years. I attended every conference given at ARE in those 4 years. Almost 100 conferences. I call it my metaphysical Ph.D. program! Then again recently, I was recruited to be the host of the ARE talk show – Reflections – The Wisdom of Edgar Cayce. It has afforded the unique opportunity to have enlightened conversations with the likes of Judith Orloff, Eben Alexander and John Holland, to just name a few. I would have to say that my most “enlightened conversations” have been with John Van Auken. John and I have built a friendship that has spanned my almost 20 years at ARE and about 10 ARE tours to Egypt together.

I recently interviewed John as a Facebook Live experience. We have had many great conversations, but this one really took off. I felt that “when two or more gather, I shall be in the midst of them” phenomena. We discussed a wide range of topics, including the metaphysical possibilities of the Covid situation, our dream messages and the Cayce readings. I left the conversation with so many insights and even more seed thoughts. Let me share some of those with you.

The title of this column, As Above, So Below, is in reference to the mystical mirror between the physical and the non-physical. For example, Jesus advised studying nature for its teachings, as in noticing how the lily comes from the swamp, just as He had risen out of Nazareth. A current example is the internet. It is a physical manifestation of the spiritual reality that we are all connected. As Cayce said, all subconscious minds are connected, and he gave the health readings by tuning into the subconscious mind of the person seeking the reading. What I took from the conversation with John, is how the Christ Consciousness, has historically solely been manifested through individuals. The Piscean Age can be seen as the Age of Self. The constellation of Pisces actually comprises 2 fish. The first fish correlates to the Age of Christ, and represents the selfless aspect, the Yin. The second fish, is the counter to the Christ, the Yang aspect so to speak, and can be called the Age of Self Glorification, the selfish aspect. In contrast, the Aquarian Age is the Age of Others, the truer Age of Christ or Oneness (I use Christ and Oneness interchangeably as Cayce defined the Christ Consciousness as the awakened consciousness of Oneness).

So in the Piscean Age, with Jesus as its spiritual core, the oneness was manifested in the individual. What Jesus taught has taken over 2,000 years to gestate. It would seem that the Aquarian Age is the age of the collective awakening to Oneness. As Cayce stated: “first to the individual, then to the group, then to the classes, then to the masses” (254-34). In this manner the “pandemic” mirror shows us how one person can infect another and this contagion can grow exponentially until almost all of us are infected, with only a few showing any “symptoms”. It can be interpreted that spiritually, we are all harboring the latent seeds of the Christ Oneness Consciousness and we are slowly awakening as a collective to it, one person to another. The Second Coming of Christ is not in His physical return but in our collective awakening to The Christ Consciousness. Becoming Christ Oneness Conscious families, workplaces, communities, cities, counties, countries and world. We awaken each other to the Oneness by our thoughts, behaviors, actions, and, most importantly, by our Ideals and by “touching” each other. Social distancing prevents a viral contamination but spiritual intimacy is required to pass the Oneness. We have seen this for years in our Search for God Study groups. Hugging is essential.

This period is being called “The Pause” and also “The Great Awakening”. I see humanity at an important juncture, an important transition. I like to think in metaphors as it is a helpful tool to help conceptualize complex subjects. I see the Age of Pisces like a ship that has been on its 2,500 year voyage. It is pulling into the dock and the passengers have to exit the ship and board the “USS Aquarius”, the new ship soon to leave port on its own 2,500 year voyage. Many don’t want to leave the age of (small s) self, the selfishness and greed, to embark on a voyage of Oneness and collective consciousness and responsibility. The Coronavirus Pandemic is the “as below” symbol of the inevitable “as above” spiritual “contagion” that must come to pass. In symbolic terms, the Latin root of the word corona means crown or wreath. One of the most powerful chapters on the Search for God material is the one titled, “The Cross and The Crown”. The chapter addresses our individual and collective need to “bear our crosses”, to face our karma, in our prodigal voyage home. We are all facing collective karma as we depart this previous age, as we would at any transition, and as we do at death. As Cayce spoke, “spiritual influences must come to rule the world”. We are clearing the spaces personally and collectively towards that aim. We are all the “chosen ones”, like John, making the way clear for the collective Christ/Oneness awakening. The Cayce work has been preparing us. As Cayce said, “the times and half times are over.” We are traversing the “as below” (small c) corona on our way to achieving the (big C) “Crown”. The metaphor of the physical contagion speaks well of the seeding of the spiritual enlightenment to come.

Let us all be both patient and active in keeping faith and moving along to the new Age of Aquarius, ready to start its voyage of Oneness. Let us cast out fear as we understand the greater movement afoot, as a mother would in birthing her child, and understanding the purposes and meaning of the short term pain and the long term blessings. And let us help the passengers board while leaving their baggage behind.