An address given by the Christ messenger Zodiac through the deep trance mediumship of Miss Winifred Moyes,
at the Zodiac Circle, 15 Nightingale Square, London, SW12, on Sunday, 7th December, 1924.
"Father of Infinite Love, we gather together once more in faith, in hope and in response to the promise that Thou hast made - that it only needs for Thy children to ask to receive, and that Thy power and guidance and protection is always at hand to succour and relieve.
"O Christ, we thank Thee ever and ever again - thank Thee that Thou art so understanding, so far-seeing, so tender beyond expression. We take of Thy love with great gratitude and with the wish in heart and mind to do better in the days to come.
"And we know that because Thou art our God, our Saviour and our Father, forgiveness between us and Thee is a word that has no meaning for we are Thy children, and as Thy children we throw ourselves again and again upon Thy most compassionate Love; and thus healed, comforted, restored, we take up our life once more hoping that within ourselves the understanding may come to see in the storm victory over self, and that the darkness does but screen the Light until we are able to look into that Light and not turn aside...
"Send down Thy power, O God, and grant that each one may contribute to the best of their ability, so that the evening may be carried through without any restraint and without the hampering ropes of sad thoughts which ever and ever again the shadows use to hinder us on our quest...
"Most gracious Father, we are waiting for Thy word, waiting for the peace to descend upon us, waiting for the strength to be forthcoming so that Thy Will may be done on earth as it is in heaven...
"...My children, I shall want your best attention tonight to help me through, and I shall want you to throw off as much sympathy as you can towards my child in order that the weakness on the physical side may be overcome. As you have been told before, I do not work directly against nature, although the power is mine to do so if I would. But such things - when they are done - are not pleasing to the Father, and so for ever are ruled out of these evenings, when we meet together to learn a little more about Him and His loving thoughts.
"You must know, all of you, that physical life presents many problems which have never been solved by the mind of man. Things are done as a matter of course, and very few seek to dig down under the surface to find the why and the wherefore of their actions.
"You see, dear children, taking humanity as a whole, the things which are seen - those which are tangible - are the only ones which have any place of importance and which are considered worthy of notice.
"It is difficult in dealing with the physical mind to detach it sufficiently from traditional thinking, from the ideas which are time-honoured, and which, apparently, are immovable. Yet, as you must know, one of the purposes of my coming into your midst in this way was, and is, to show you a portrait - so far as you can grasp - of things as they are, and not of things as they appear to the physical sight and understanding...
"From the beginning you have noticed that again and again I have had to tell you to reverse your opinions - I have said to you: 'Turn from the earth point of view and look at things as Christ taught them, and in the way which reflects the Mind of the Master.'
"Tonight then, dear children, I think we will discuss, for a little while, another subject which arises out of the story of Judas - I refer to his act of, as you would say, taking his own life.
"There are many divergent opinions as to the seriousness of an action of this kind. In the minds of some it is regarded as a crime; to others it appears as a catastrophe, in the sense that life should have proved so hard...
"Well, dear children, the only way in which I can explain to you the nature of the act of so-called 'suicide' is to tell you what happens when the spirit is so summarily released. But, first of all, we will get into our minds something of that vast conglomeration of influences, as well as of incidents, which leads our brothers and our sisters to take this desperate course.
"I want you to allow your imagination to roam a little. I want you, in mind, to go over, step by step, the road that these travel as a rule... I am not referring to the poor sufferer whose mind has been damaged either directly or indirectly by others or by circumstances - I am dealing tonight with the lonely soul, with he or she who has found the hill too steep; and I want you to understand that although - at the time - the mind may be unhinged by grief or by physical suffering, such as these cannot be classed among those whom you call 'the insane'.
"As a rule, dear children, acts of suicide are divided sharply into two categories. On the one hand, the idea has long found a hold on the physical mind, and not being expelled at last gains such proportion of power that the other thoughts are completely swamped by it. This is a serious case to deal with, as you will see.
"The second is in the nature rather of a sudden revolt or a feeling of dynamical despair, when - for the time - everything else has been stunned by the sense of struggling against overwhelming odds. In cases such as these, the deed is done entirely on the impulse of the moment, and those who read the circumstances feel that indeed the brain was turned by that which it had to grapple with.
"My children I am obliged to treat this subject rather laboriously, but I want you to follow me in thought as much as you are able. I will deal with the former case first.
"You all know that certain experiences have a way of undermining, not only the physical resources of the person concerned, but still more so the nervous organism which controls that person's life. It is indeed a sad plight for anyone to be in - I mean it is terribly sad to us to think that over months, and even years, certain souls are allowed to struggle on unaided by their companions upon earth. If you could look into the hearts and minds of countless thousands today, you would see that during certain periods of their life they lived and had their being in a state of isolation.
"In thinking this matter over, you must remember that it is against every instinct of physical life to wish to give it up; and when the feeling comes that earthly existence cannot be borne any longer, not only is the responsibility of that final act upon the sufferer, but indeed, it is upon those who met them in their daily life.
"I say that humanity today is starving for kindness. I say that men and women are in the throes of an overwhelming despair because of the hardness of heart of their brothers and sisters who live side by side with them.
"Now, dear children, of course the thought rises in your mind as to why we cannot do more; and yet does it not tell you that we have done a considerable amount when I can say that the tendency, in many cases, is staved off throughout the physical career. Nothing but God's protection could make this possible. Over and over again have we been able to turn that dangerous corner - have been able to force upon consciousness hope for the days to come; and that faint hope - the hope that sooner or later the darkness will break - has been sufficient, for the time, to keep the travellers on their uphill way.
"With regard to those who act on impulse: I think you will find, dear children, that they are souls who, for the most part, have been unprepared for the discipline of life. You see, you require practice to suffer. It is a point that is constantly overlooked by psychologists, and by your medical men of today. In order to come through great physical suffering or mental strain successfully, you need practice...
"It is a dreadful thing to say - so it appears from the outside point of view - but, children, not from the spiritual point of view. In the case of the impulsive, the preparation for suffering was not there, not only from the spiritual aspect but even from the elementary physical aspect as well. Like children living under the perpetual sun, one day they wake up and find that instead of the blue, the storm is upon them - and like a tree without a staff, they fall to the ground with no wish to put up any fight at all.
"You see, dear children, that I have only touched upon two examples. There is, of course, the illustration with which we started - that of remorse. But in the world today remorse for wrong done to another, seldom takes that form. Now and again, of course, a case could be found, but in the main, self is stronger than anything else - and to the mind which has so let itself go, repentance does not come during the physical stages...
"And now, to go a step further: When the spirit is so suddenly released, you can understand that a great sense of shock is felt; and as you have been told before, the physical experiences undertaken are not interfered with - except to the extent that the protection of the body has been thrown aside.
"In many cases, dear children, those who have taken the law into their own hands in this way, very soon come to their senses, as it were, and, in spite of the adverse position into which they have forced themselves, they set to work anew - and it should not be necessary for me to say that all the help that can be imagined is there at their disposal...
"But I want you to try and grasp, if you can, the terrible damage which such an act does to the struggling soul within. You must remember that no spirit enters on the physical stage without understanding fully all that it is going to mean - and yet when trouble comes, and, for the time, the shadows block out the vision of God's protecting care, they throw aside their most valuable tool (the physical body). The earth experiences are not dispensed with, as you have been told before, but they have to be worked out under conditions far more difficult still.
"In a blind way, man has sought to do what he can to prevent this colossal blunder; and so it is that suicide is classed as crime, and if the attempt is unsuccessful, is treated as such as a warning to others... My children, I will not attempt to go into this point of view tonight - it has its merits and its demerits, as you will see. If a man-made law has a deterrent effect, then, so far as that goes, it is on the good side. But 'punishment' has no place in the Mind of the Divine, and not one soul who has thrown off the body in this way has ever met anything but love from us - and I need not add that Christ's Love is around them all the time.
"Children, this is a very sad subject on which to speak, but I am forced to go into it because there are misconceptions as to the effect of such an act - and these sin against the Love of God as well as bring added unhappiness to those who have them. Yet believe me that there is no act that anyone can commit - short of taking the life of another - that has so retarding an effect on the individual soul.
"You cannot escape from the experiences which you have taken on, and many there are, who, when they have freed themselves from the earth-life - so they think - are broken-hearted to find that but a pace or two ahead, the Light was shining for them once more.
"Oh, my children, let me not leave on your minds tonight anything but understanding, anything but a reflection of the all-Pervading Love of the Father. Those poor creatures who have sought to shut the door on physical life, call forth the compassion of everyone - and it is a double compassion as well: Compassion because such as these heroically took upon themselves more than they found they were able to grapple with - and a greater compassion still, because, by their act, they have hindered the progress which they had so deeply at heart when they entered into the temple of the flesh...
"And then from the distressing side I would turn your thoughts to the brighter, which is, that even such as these - and I use the word 'even' in the earth sense - that even such as these can do wonderful service for God before the period of their physical existence has been overtaken. Children, remember that despair, that an hour of darkness from God, does not change a man or a woman's character - they are what they were before, except for the one retrograde step...
"You cannot wipe out what has been; you cannot overlook the struggle and the victories, aye, and the rising up after countless failures. All this stands; and so I would impress upon you that these, by reason of their knowledge of such anguish, can set to work almost at once to relieve the sorrows of others - and in so doing, the strength which was missing in themselves can be made good...
"You see, dear children, that it is a most difficult subject to try and explain to those upon earth. You have got to view things in a purely spiritual way - physical standards only confuse you. You have got to sum up in your mind's eye, the lives of those concerned. Hardly a day passes when you do not read the details of such cases. You have to go over, in imagination, the thoughts and the suffering which, in the end, produced that blow to the spirit within.
"Keep the balance in your mind: God has nothing but compassion and understanding for them; yet it is not in His power to interfere with the quest of the spirit - with the freewill of the individual. That spirit has chosen certain experiences; and if, in the process, the physical betrays - then the spirit, of necessity, goes back on its tracks again and again - until the weakness is turned into strength.
"When they come here - by which I mean have the gift of spiritual sight - they are strong again in the strength which is of God. And though they suffer acutely over the sacrifice of this precious opportunity for progress which they have cast aside, yet such are the spiritual laws that, in time to come, by service to others the act can be wiped out as though it had never been.
"Oh, my children, more and more I beg you to pour out your sympathy on the strugglers. Cannot you grasp - and by 'you', I speak to all who read these records - cannot you grasp that no one with a glimmering of hope would wish to take so drastic a course? Why is the hope not there? Why is it that despair has the upper hand? Why is it that there is not another human heart they can go to in trust and in faith?...
"I say that there would never be a case of suicide, if in the heart and mind of one other, real understanding could be found. It is the loneliness that does it. It is that terrible isolation of the soul. The spirit is at one with its Maker, but the soul - by reason of the very experience it is going through - is conscious of separation from love in every sense there could be.
"I have told you not to commiserate with those who have taken the steeper side. But I tell you all to beware of not rising to your responsibilities - your responsibilities in connection with your brother and your sister, even though they may be separated from you by space and by environment.
"There are many ways of helping, and I know it only needs for me to talk on a subject of this kind for the great longing to help to arise in your minds. My children, you can help those that you know in one way only - by love. And those that you don't know, you can help by your prayers.
"I want you to remember to include in your prayers regularly the lonely - those who are isolated by the very experiences they have taken on; those lonely, wandering souls who, so far as the physical mind is concerned, are unaware what it is all about. They suffer but they see not God in the struggle; they wait and know not why the answering Voice cannot be heard.
"These, dear children, need your prayers. Pray for those who are physically alone and friendless, and then pray for those who, shut up in the isolation of their solitary quest, are experiencing much which will not come your way during the earth stages.
"On another occasion I want to speak to you about that which is represented to you under the term of 'insanity', but not tonight. Tonight, I want to leave in your minds two things of great importance:
"First, that the damage in regard to the progress of the spirit is of a very serious character when the physical body is thrown aside by the person to whom it belongs.
"And then, as a contrast to that, the wonderful hope in the thought that, even so, such are gathered close under the wings of Divine Love. And that these, although they cannot escape the experiences from which they long to separate themselves, yet in the carrying on of the burden in slightly different conditions, can still do God's work and be used as tools by Him to help others.
"Side by side you get the mistake and the rectification of that mistake by the Father. And I want you to think it over in quietness, when you are alone, and to let your mind sift out the different points which I have tried to bring out tonight. And above all to shoulder your responsibilities, and to promise yourselves - that greater, nobler self within - that by your prayers and your influence, you will try to prevent others from making that great mistake.
"And if you will send out love along those lines of Light which you have been told about, I can promise you, in God's Name, that though you send it to a complete stranger, yet the strength shall reach them and shall have the power of diverting them from their purpose...
"This is a subject of which, as yet, I have taught you little. But later on, as you grow ready for it, I want to show you the power lent by God, which lies hidden in each one. I want to show you that it is possible, by sending out thoughts of hope and of courage, to literally 'save' a stranger whom you have never seen, and whose circumstances are unknown to your physical mind.
"My children, we shall not be able to do very much more tonight, because of the intense cold which my child is conscious of, and her lack of physical vitality, which is making it very difficult for me to get through with clearness that which I wish to teach.
"Yet with your help we shall continue, and I would add just this: That those who read these records very seldom pause to consider how it has been made possible for these communications to be received - the years of preparation, and even the physical discomfort of allowing others to speak through a body which has already had considerable inroads made upon it... My children, you must have wondered at my hesitation here, but my child was not certain that it was wise that these remarks should be made. I take full responsibility for them, for I think that those who read these 'messages' should know - or, at any rate, have some faint conception of - what is exacted in order to produce them.
"And now, my children, I will leave you for a little while, and when I come back again, I think I shall be able to break the lingering sadness which I find here tonight - and so we shall part, as usual, in joy and in happiness that we have met together in this sacred communion... "
(Others then spoke...)
MRS. BROOKES...
"...I am quite a stranger to you all, but I hope you will include me with the rest... I ask you to send your minds back to a church, familiar by the associations of friendship and of teaching, and then to follow on in thought those who came after - and here I find my place. It is Mrs. Brookes, and the tie between us is slender indeed.
"I am allowed to come this evening to add a word of reassurance in regard to those who, through conditions over which they had no control, lived under the shadow of a mind that was not normal. I recall myself to your memory, and particularly to Winnie's memory, because once our eyes met and we each found sympathy there.
"I recall my case because I want you to know how wonderful are the ways of God; how He watches over us in all our foolish ways, and even if circumstances prove too strong for us, still we are protected by Him; and when we come here, we see that all the time it was well - well with us.
"I want you to think of me in a garden all my own; I want you to forget the little tragedy that darkened the last part of my life on earth, and, in future, to associate me with sunshine, with music and with those 'messengers of God' - the flowers which bloom and never fade.
"In my garden there are many varieties, but each has its work to do; and I wish you would try and adopt this attitude too in regard to the flowers you have upon earth. Each flower, could you but see it, has its place in creation - its part in the Great Plan on which God works - but the flowers are used in other ways as well, and I want to tell you tonight why it is that I have been given a garden of my own.
"You see, those upon earth who love beauty and sweetness, and find that both are missing, are conscious always of a great loss; and, again, you have heard how those who are in the Spirit bring gifts of flowers and of beauty of all kinds, and build them up around those they love. And over here 'those we love' takes in all those who are in need whom we can reach.
"So you see, I have plenty to do; and my flowers and I are always on terms of the greatest harmony and understanding. They know their part and I know mine; and next time you get, as some of you do, that wonderful wave of fragrance passing before you, think of the side of the flowers - think of it like this: That the flowers too have their place in God's scheme, and in giving to the soul of one even that faint reflection of joy, so they have played their part, and so they will do so again and again.
"And then I would like to say one word in regard to those lonely ones that you have heard so much about tonight - there are many here in this room - they come flocking to meetings like this because it is such an enormous help to them - it gives them courage to 'try again'. Those once lonely souls have a great work for God to carry out, and you would be surprised how instinctively they turn to beauty of all kinds in order to equip themselves with the necessary beauty of mind - without which it is impossible to help those on earth.
"It has been a little difficult to get this message through, but I am not at all discouraged, and if only I can leave behind an impression of the sweetness that is everywhere - not only in the Realms of the Spirit but right through the physical planes - I shall be happy indeed. In my garden there are flowers surpassing anything your imagination could conjure up; and next time you see a child or a poor old man or woman selling their wares in the gutter, or searching for food amongst the refuse, think of the flowers, because they will be there.
"It is the sense of contrast that is so hard to grasp. Poverty and dirt and squalor, from the physical standpoint, don't harmonise with beauty and freshness and young life. But just because in the gutter those things are so sadly missing, so it is that we bring and build up round each one that which is of God.
"Think of me in this way: That all that I wanted to be when upon earth and couldn't rise to - all those fantasies and day-dreams which surrounded my life - that all these have now been turned into concrete fact, and even the so-called affliction that struck me later on, I see now was just that I should bring a little more with me when I came here... And when I came here I stepped into the radiance that was God's Love, and I can't think now of anything but beauty and brightness; and power has been given to me in order that I may pass on some of those good gifts to others, and so reveal God's Love to those who know Him not...
"It is difficult speaking tonight... It is not only my lack of concentration. Mrs. Moyes, I think you will be able to recall me, and I am sure that Winnie will give me my place in this sacred circle - the circle of Love which is going to throw off its brightness to those who are out in the darkness...
"Thank you very much! Next time the conditions will be different and there is much I would like to say in regard to the place which flowers have in physical life, but that must wait... "
(After others had spoken, Zodiac returned and continued...)
"...My children, we must close tonight because I cannot hold together sufficient power to continue without undue strain upon my child. It is purely a passing experience - next week we shall be as usual - but tonight a sense of strain and effort is there, and it is difficult to use the physical organs - which I am bound to, as you know, in these evenings.
"My last word tonight is not of the earth, it is not of the sea, but it is of the air - it is of wings that I would speak, and I want you, in thought, to get into the way of sending your mind out, as it were, on wings - and let those wings be of the Spirit...
"The daily round, the duties which crowd so quickly one upon the other, have a way sometimes of shutting out the Vision Glorious; and so I want to divert you from that which, of necessity, is concerned with material things. I want you, in thought, to soar far and wide, not only to your loved ones on this side, but to the many spheres which are open to those who wish to serve God...
"To you who are fond of music, then allow your mind on its own to seek out those planes where music abounds on every side, where every harebell expresses melody of such exquisite beauty that no words can be found to describe it... In those conditions find your rest from toil, from the lack of harmony in your surroundings, from the limitations of your shut-in lives...
"And then to you who would find beauty expressed in many forms - in that of service, of healing, and of re-creating hope in the hopeless - send out your minds to reach that Fountain of New Life which shall give of its power and its strength to you, so that you may pass on to others that which stands to you as an ideal.
"My children, there is nothing that you could think of in the way of beauty, of purity, and of holiness, that you cannot contact with instantly as the wish arises in the mind. I want you to get away from the idea that you have to wait until the physical body is laid aside before you can contact with the things of the Spirit.
"They are at your side here and now - they are within your grasp the moment the prayer comes into your mind. Never has the wish arisen for anything that represented beauty, as created by God - whether in sound, in form, or in thought - without it being instantly at your disposal, not only for personal use but to give to others - to give to all those who wish to climb...
"My children, tonight it seems to you that perhaps the conditions have been too much for us - but I say: No - I say that in spite of weakness, of weariness, and that sense of isolation - that in spite of these hindrances, we have contacted with that which is Divine. And this being so, the blessing rests on all; and I say to you that stronger and stronger still are the bands of love around you. And the time shall come - the time shall come - when never again shall either of my children feel that they are alone. Yet it is an experience which all must go through - but once the lesson has been learnt, so it passes out of memory and the wounds are healed.
"In the springtime of life's experience, the soul is untrained; in the summertime, then it faints a little by the way; in the autumn, so the weariness grows; and when winter comes, it seems, sometimes, that hope and courage are even as the dead leaves on either side. But once the cycle of experience has been completed, lo, a second spring arrives - the spring of Revelation.
"Out of your suffering, contacting with Love Divine, you start to live the life that your Father intended. And to that time, dear children, I direct your thoughts - to your re-birth, to that re-creation of strength, when you are a little nearer to the greater, nobler self within. Once that era is started, autumn and winter are known no more. Like a flower, you emerge from the bud stage into the full beauty of blossom, and that beauty renews itself again and again, even as the flowers on this side. So is the spirit able to hold that which it has purchased so dearly, and so is the spirit able to pass on to others something of its own brightness and holiness.
"Therefore, let not your hearts be troubled; have faith in God, and know that this stage of your experience, of necessity, must lead on to the spring - the spring of Revelation, of Love Divine.
"God bless you all and gather you in. God give you strength to pour out on others that which you have gained yourself. God open your hearts to Love - to the wider, bigger Love, when self ceases to exist because all your joy comes in serving... God bless you with your soul's desire, which is unity with Him for ever more... Amen."
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