The Wesak Festival
The ancient ritual of the Wesak Festival is believed to have come to our world through the Masters of the Himalayan Mountains. Alice Bailey, the astrologer, writer and Christian mystic wove Eastern traditions into her work and so helped to popularise this festival in the Western world. For anyone who is also looking at our earthly existence from the spiritual viewpoint, this festival provides an opportunity for finding a better understanding of this special time of the year on the Universal level.
The Wesak Festival consists not merely of one day. It covers the whole of the three month period between the Aries Full Moon – which each year coincides with the Jewish feast of Passover – and the Gemini Full Moon. The day of its occurrence for this year is mentioned in the previous chapter. The full Moon in Taurus is the highest point of the Wesak festival, during which every year God and the Angels are presenting us with opportunities for projecting our personal group and planetary soul petitions for change and healing into the Universe.
It is no a coincidence that the Jewish Passover, the Christian holiday of Easter, the Wesak Festival and the Spring Equinox are based on the same themes: death of the old which is followed by the renewal and rebirth of life’s forces. In our world it takes place every year in springtime. This is in keeping with God’s great plan of life and with Angelic help happens on every level of life. In the Aztec Temples of Mexico, the architecture of Chitzenitza was designed around the day of the Spring Equinox. At sunrise only on that day, the shadow of the serpent – the people’s symbol of the life force, known as Chi, Kundalini or Shefa of other traditions, was seen moving up the temple walls, and the renewed life force pouring itself into the Earth was felt. The symbolic meanings of the resurrection of Easter, the freedom from persecution of Passover, the rites of the renewal of life in spring, all carry with them these energies of a new beginning after the cold and darkness of the winter months.
All manner of spring cleaning actions – inner as well as in the world around us – are most beneficial at this time. Here are a few suggestions:
• Write a petition or prayer to the Highest and put it in a place where it can be left untouched until the same time next year.
• Use one of the dates given to begin a new health practice that appeals to you, maybe a daily workout, yoga or one of the martial arts.
• Gather around you a group of friends for meditation and together pray for the blessing and healing of our world and every form of life it contains.
• Feed the homeless and/or visit a community of elderly people.
• Wesak is a good time for the renewal of old friendships, healing family wounds and making amends with those who have become alienated. Even if the falling out was not your fault, bear in mind that far too many people hand back their physical bodies to Mother Earth without having been reconciled with loved ones they are leaving behind.
• Make time to find out more about a tradition or spiritual practice that has interested you for a long time, but you never got round to studying it. Choose one and stay with it for a while.
• As the energies for new beginnings of all kinds are with us very powerfully at this time of the year, try to make good use of it, if only by going somewhere you have always wanted to see.
May the blessings of this season of rebirth and renewal
be with you and your loved ones,
for the whole of humankind and our world.
The above is a chapter from ‘The Astro Files – Special Events’.
If it has whetted your appetite to read more, please follow the link below:
‘The Astro Files – Special Events’