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, 27th September, 1925.
"Father of Infinite Love, we approach Thee tonight in faith, and we ask that Thou mayst give us the greater vision, that Thou mayst show us that broad and glorious path which lies before us.
"O God, bestow upon us understanding, that which shall teach us why this Holy gift has been entrusted in our care. Grant that we may extricate ourselves from the lesser self, and that as obedient children of the Most High - conscious of the link there is between us and Thee - we may accomplish the work which Thou hast allowed us to undertake.
"Saviour Christ, be with us now and always, and grant that the consciousness of Thy most blessed Presence may pierce the mind of the body, so that henceforth loneliness and isolation will be no more...
"O God, lead us, guide us, control us, because Thy Love only is able to release us from the things which bind, Thy Love only is able to show us the Vision Glorious... When this is our own, we know that all else will fall aside in the one desire to show that Beauty to others...
"In faith, in trust, in perfect confidence, we commence Thy work tonight, Father of Love and Understanding...
"...My little children all, we are drawn together tonight for a purpose. You have been invited by that stronger self which is within, to come into this sacred gathering and to glean a little of that 'much' which lies in front. I ask you tonight, to attune your hearts and minds to that which is Spirit indeed, to put aside all those things which seek to come in between, and to visualise yourselves as in the bright realms listening - by God's grace - to those who speak for the Master direct.
"This, dear children, should be your attitude always towards this sacred gift; the attitude of veneration - that love which is reverence, and the reverence which is love; to realise that because you belong to the Most High, He lays aside His Godhead and invites you to come to Him, even as the Master gathered the children to Him during His sojourn in the physical body.
"Children, I said that tonight we are met together for a purpose, and I want you to remember this evening in something of its spiritual significance. I want you to be able to say: 'Ah from that time onward I saw a little more clearly, from that time I understood God a little better'.
"It is in regard to understanding something of the Divine Mind, that I entreat all who will listen to pause and think things out for themselves.
"Do you not understand that this little life - so brief, so passing - is but preparation for the real life, for the life which has no end? Does it not strike you then that, more than anything else, you should be able to understand something of the Mind of the Beloved? For when you go hence - by your work, by your effort, by your wish for service - you shall pass through the Summerland, abiding not, and enter those realms which are Spirit indeed.
"Children, cannot you grasp the importance of being able to interpret 'Spirit' in something of its spiritual significance? Cannot you realise that unless you are able - in a measure - to view things through the Divine Mind, you will be at a loss indeed? The things of the earth - good and useful as they are - these things, once the body is laid aside, will be shown to you in an aspect so different, that your memory of earth conditions will avail you not at all...
"There are some, who recall those who have passed beyond the earth plane, who come back and describe scenes so familiar - so reflecting earth conditions - that they are scarce aware that the transition has taken place.
"Ah, my children, pity such as these, for I must tell you that many of those conceptions of so-called Spirit Life are but confined to those planes which are only just outside your little earth, and which, in some cases, are less beautiful than the earth, less pure, less indicating God and the purpose before you all.
"When there are those who come back and speak of physical things in a physical guise which they are enjoying - pity them indeed, for they are chained to the things of the earth, and know not that they are bound...
"For you, my little children, I crave so much better than that. Many have found that the so-called possessions of the earth are as dry dust, that the ambitions which fire the brains of men - these lead them to despair and loss - despair, because they have missed the road to the happiness which lasts, and loss, because those precious years have been used in the pursuit of that which is hideous to look upon when spiritual sight is their own.
"Fix your desires on attaining something which reflects God; allow not yourself to be dissuaded from the hard path by those pictures - and pictures alone are they - of creature comforts, of what appeals only to the senses even when the body is laid aside...
"These, dear children, are as chains, just in the same way as if it were possible to fetter a songster of your world to the earth - it cannot sing because its sense of bondage is too strong; it cannot fly because it has been bound.
"The significance of these desires it is impossible to impart, except in miniature, but tonight I want to speak to you of the great Transition, that change of scene - as it should be - as well as change of body.
"Children, you have read in your Sacred Record that there are bodies terrestrial and bodies celestial; and I want my children, when they pass hence, to forever bid farewell to that which denotes the earth. I want you to prepare yourselves ever more assiduously for the great work which lies in front; to remember that those aspirations which arise in the physical mind - passed on from the spiritual - that these indicate those with whom you mingle during the sleep state...
"Ah, here lies a great responsibility indeed. Children, has it ever occurred to you that there are those who pass out of this little earth life, who find themselves in terrible company indeed? You know a little of this side of experience - but only just a fragment.
"There they lie finding, for the most part, neither the will nor the strength even to make an attempt to crawl out of the awful conditions which have been built up around them, solely and only by their own thoughts, by their own desires, during the physical stages.
"And then think what might be there. My children, as the man or the woman who has tried to love God passes out of the tabernacle of the flesh, a vision of beauty and of holiness is theirs on the instant. Even before the physical breath has passed away, the eyes of the spirit, freed from the body, look round on the angel throng; and that dark and lonely river - or, as some prefer to call it, the twilight through which all must pass before they reach God's land - this does not, and could not exist, because with Christ, there is Light for ever more.
"Children, if it were possible for you - and it is possible for those still bound by the flesh - to watch with the eyes of the spirit the transition from the physical world to spiritual realms, you would see much that would make you ponder; you would see the slow release, you would see with some - nay, with all who have not known this Truth - the bewilderment, the amazement.
"And then, with those who knew their God, the joy which no words can express. You would see not only ministering angels, but those linked to them by the strong ties of the Spirit; you would see also, from afar off, an ever-growing company who take it as their most welcome duty to meet the newcomers and to show them that loneliness is of the earth alone...
"As I speak, I see from all quarters, little companies wending their way - and I should like to tell you at this stage that they are coming to meet and to be with you. I would tell you also, that however far off they may be, because I am doing God's work, so my words reach even the farthest ones; for in the Spirit, space, distance - all that variety of physical obstruction - ceases to exist. We are working on the vibrations of Spirit, which, uninterrupted, flow out from the child which I use, and - as a fan - are able to reach all those who wish to listen...
"Children, these companions, these welcomers, this gathering together of Love - it is going on all the time; and I would have you remember that to us the sleep state, in many cases, is even as that final slipping off of the body of flesh. Oh, if you could only visualise - if you cannot see - that transition from one set of conditions into another, which should be infinitely purer, infinitely holier than those left behind.
"Never pity the dying. Ah, some of you have envied them instead, and yet, dear children, I beg you not to do that because it indicates that the weariness of the heart and mind has grown so strong that you long to lay aside your burdens and to walk where gladness only has a place... A little while you must remain, a little while the body works on - and you should know that the Master must have these ready tools on earth.
"Yet tonight, I speak with great seriousness on that transition which comes to all. Children, there have not been two who, on passing out, have seen the same sight. This sounds to you an exaggerated statement to make, but I repeat it; and when your time comes - because your definitions of beauty are different - although each one will step into loveliness, it will be into that loveliness for which your heart cries out the most.
"But here it is that an element of danger arises. The physical mind - so used to dominate, so used to influencing the desires and the ideas of each one - unconsciously to you, steps in and takes part of the place which should be reserved only for the mind of the spirit.
"Children, there have been those - knowing that death as death does not exist - who have allowed themselves to build up images of this and of that, in which beauty of nature, colour and sweetness had full play. And when they passed hence, they stepped, literally, into the conditions which their thoughts had built up round them and for them.
"There the danger lies. The mind of the body, swayed by desire and by the sense of possession, unconsciously, as I said, has built up for itself not images of gold, but images none the less - images which must be cast from them before they can step into the presence of those who are of the Christ Mind - of the Christ attitude towards life, whether it be the life of the earth or whether it be concerned with that great Eternity which lies before each one...
"The Christ Mind - ah, back again we come to understanding a little more of the One who created us all. In the Christ Mind, you find this and this alone, because all else is subservient to it, controlled by it: You find love and service for others.
"You see the danger? Between that and you, like rocks, lie those fancy visions of the joys of Paradise, and rocks they are which must be climbed over with bleeding hands and feet, before you can be used by the Great Consoler.
"Yes, dear children, we come back to Reality; we come back to the purpose of your physical training; we come back to God's great purpose for the upraising and the uplifting of His children who, as yet, understand Him not at all...
"Joys and beauties, sweetness and fragrance - ah, these in a way impossible to describe, are everywhere in those realms which are Spirit; but they are there, only and solely, by the self-sacrifice of the soaring soul...
"Oh, my children, get this right ere it is too late. Because you have listened to the Voice of the Spirit, when spiritual sight is your own, all that you will want will be to kneel at the Saviour's Feet. Gifts, possessions, beauties, glories - these will be as nothing. And the desires - those images which may have found a place in your mind - they will present barriers between you and your spirit's desire...
"At the Feet of Christ: There we find ourselves, there we find the fulfilment of that happiness which is joy in the Spirit way, and all else is as nothing - nothing. We wait the word which shall tell us that we, even we, can be used by the Mind of Love in the furtherance of His mighty plan...
"My children, spread it far and wide; open the eyes of the blind and teach them, if they will listen, that how'er it be, the only thing worth having, the only thing which brings peace and sweet content, is to do the Master's work in the Master's way.
"Tonight I tell you that there will not be one of my children, wherever they may be, who will not willingly and thankfully extricate themselves from personal desire, even though that desire may take the form of longing for spiritual attainment. And this, dear children, is another truth to be revealed to those, linked to God, who pass out of your little earth: That the personal spiritual attainment - on which they concentrated so much effort, so much thought - that, again, will be seen as not reflecting God but, as it were, veiling the brightness of His Face.
"Here, dear children, we stand free, and we know and we see that concentrating on forcing on the spiritual advancement of yourself can indeed block your way - if it is not worked out in serving others. Here you have the key: Your thoughts should not be on the self within, your thoughts should be focussed on that brother or sister a little weaker, a little farther off than yourself. Pray not for yourself so much as pray for those others. In healing them of their infirmities, so you will find that your own cease to exist...
"Children, you see the point. You see that starting from the highest - from the One who is All-Purity, All-Holiness, All-Love, right down to the weakest, to the frailest - the Christ Mind can be reflected, even if it be in miniature, by that simple thought, that half-formed desire: 'Help me to help others', not: 'Help me to help myself', because Christ works not in that way...
"Oh, can you not see the underlying meaning of that beautiful phrase that: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'? It is the short, straight road to spiritual attainment, to the throwing off of the lesser self, to the healing of those wounds - whether they be of the mind or of the soul-body - that helping others, that thought of sympathy, that little prayer, that giving and hoping and wishing that another's lot might be lightened...
"And when my children come here, they shall look back and marvel; they shall marvel at their prayers for personal purity, for faith, for trust, for understanding. Those who prayed and yet it seemed that their prayers remained unanswered, they shall see that by and through their thoughts, their work, their understanding of others - all along they were free from those chains that appeared to bind them to the earth and to forbid their entry into Spirit conditions; they shall see that this was but a trick of the shadows to wound and to dishearten.
"And, dear children, it is of the utmost importance that all should realise this - which is an immutable spiritual law: You cannot cleanse yourself except by helping to cleanse others; you cannot bring to yourself one atom of faith unless you are able to give faith to another who was faithless; you cannot climb that further ridge towards the Brightness which calls you on, without stooping down and lifting another one step farther on... This is a spiritual law working absolutely untouched by anything else; and until the world can grasp it, so it blunders along in the valley - and when the earth life is over, still the valley claims its own...
"Children, I entreat you - I implore all who read these words - to try and understand a little more about the Mind of God, a little more of that which awaits them in the inevitable by and by; to ponder on the transition from their present conditions to those which await them, and to extricate themselves, while there is time, from everything which stands between them and Christ. Yes, from every desire - whether it comes under the heading of spiritual attainment or not - to cast aside those cravings for knowledge of the Bright Spheres, to stand free from wishing that their spiritual body should be beautiful and should express the beauty that is within. The only beauty which is real beauty over here, is the obedient heart, is the humble heart, is the loving heart - and these we lay at the Feet of Christ for Him to use at His will...
"I speak tonight of things as they are, stripped of all ornament - grand and holy because they are true. I speak tonight of the Greater Life, of those conditions far, far beyond the pleasant plane which lies outside this little earth - that state where desire has to be worked out. There, by the satiation of desire, the soaring soul can see the worthlessness of it all...
"Oh, prepare yourselves, prepare yourselves for the only joy which is joy; prepare yourselves for the only companionship that will satisfy, which is to be with those who are like-minded - like-minded, it is true, in a tiny degree - like-minded to the Shepherd who sought for the lost sheep and would not return without it.
"That is the Christ path - there is no other. Many years pass, many experiences are followed through, which, as it were, they go back again on their own tracks and take the traveller scarce an inch farther on his way, for until you have that word 'Service' written on your heart and mind - until that is there - you have not found the short, straight path to God.
"The Shepherd who sought until the wanderer was found - that expresses the Christ Mind, that only expresses the Christ way. Seek then, for those who have strayed, and seek until they are found...
"And now, my children, I will leave you, but I want you to hold fast to the holiness which is here. You can do this, as you know full well, by love and sympathy - by laying aside self for the good of all..."
(Others then spoke...)
CARDINAL NEWMAN...
"...Friends, it is a stranger - a stranger it would seem to you, and yet there is not one who is not connected with me by a love which is real and definite in the Spirit...
"While on earth they called me Newman; but to you, my friends, I wish to be known only by the simple words which God allowed me to put together: 'Lead kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom - lead Thou me on'.
"Tonight, I have a confession to make, and I make it to you because there is more than one who will be able to enter into my attitude of mind.
"To many, it would seem that the penning of those words was an expression of faith. Tonight, I have to say, that this was not the case. It was that stretching out for the faith I had not got. That 'submission', dear friends, again was only a longing that submission might be mine.
"I ask you to think with me for a little while. During my life, I was strangely troubled by thoughts which came I knew not from where. I was in touch with something which I could not fathom. At night, strange music seemed to float about my room, and the brightness - which so many of you have experienced - the brightness came and went, elusive; and I was troubled much by the thought that: 'Yes, perhaps the mind was not so well balanced as it might be'.
"Another thing which troubled me in a measure impossible to express, was the Unknown - by which I mean physical death. It troubled me in this way: I thought of God as so all-Powerful, so terribly, terribly Holy, and I thought of myself - of my weaknesses, my many straying thoughts, my indecisions, my seeking after I knew not what - and I feared God with all my heart...
"I tell you this, my friends, because I want to show you something of the mighty Love of God. Those fears, those apprehensions, those many misgivings of the mind, they came and went during the whole of my physical life. Sometimes I grew strangely free; that happiness which is not of the world claimed my soul, and at those moments I felt that I'd found God - found God after all...
"And then the shadows gathered again. I was tortured by thoughts which I know now were part of the training, part of the testing, but which I regarded then as indicating the suppressed evil which was within me...
"When my life in the body was ended, I stepped out, not into a judgment hall, but into a peace which is inexplicable because of its strength and beauty. I found then, that blunderingly - yes, ignorantly though I might have stumbled along the way, Christ, by His Father-Heart, had led me not only into realms of bliss but into those conditions where I might work for Him...
"And yet, friends, on looking back, although all those penances, all those supplications to be washed clean, had worked out something and had worked in something, I found that the few words I had put together - not as an expression of faith but as a longing to possess the faith I knew should be there - that that, by the help they had given and would bring, that and other things of a like kind, enabled me to work for my Lord when the body was laid aside...
"When next you sing those lines, remember the man who wrote them; remember his longing after perfect faith, and remember that God, because He is a God of Love, used those very doubts of his to pen something which should bring faith and support to others... Now, with all my heart and soul - with a faith that nothing can touch - I can say: 'O'er crag and torrent, lead Thou me on'.
"My friends, I am afraid I have brought myself in rather too much tonight - another time I shall be different, but this evening it was necessary that I should build up some link of sympathy, that you should be able to regard me as someone who had suffered like yourselves, someone who had failed - as you regard it - like yourselves, someone who had seen faith as a vision glorious out on the far horizon, but who knelt in shadow-land himself...
"That was the man I represented, and tonight I stand here, once more, as a definite demonstration of the enveloping Love of my Father and my God... Love! Ah, there are no words to express the love which rushes out from us when we see, and still more so, when we receive from Christ His word of peace.
"Pardon does not enter into it; we ask for that, but once you have looked in the eyes of Love, you realise that 'forgiveness' is almost an insult. Yes, I repeat it - the word 'forgiveness' is almost as an insult before that Perfection of Love.
"Goodnight, my friends. It has been inexpressible happiness to come tonight, and I want you to think of me as a friend - as one who understands, and as one who - because he understands by personal experience - can help you to emerge from things as they seem, into the glories of things as they are... Goodnight..."
(When all had spoken, Zodiac returned and continued...)
"...Well, my children, you have been patient and faithful all through; you have given of your attention, your sympathy and your love, and you carry away with you the blessing of God because you have joined together in this sacred work - this unfoldment of the Truth, this necessary unveiling regarding the only Life which is Life indeed; this preparation for that labour of love which awaits you when the body is laid aside. Yes, you have helped us, and I repeat once more that though you have received, you have given of your best, and it is more blessed to give than to receive.
"Tonight then, we part not only in perfect sympathy, but on the highest note of hope. We have sensed - ah, it may be only in a little way - but we have sensed something of the bright tomorrow, something of the purpose of the training, of the preparation, of the laying aside of this and of that, something which is Divine working within each one...
"And now, my children, I am going to say 'Goodnight'. The power has been given to us by God; each message has fulfilled its purpose and the working out of that purpose lies in the by and by. Those who have come to you, have demonstrated that Christ is in your midst.
"You will have perceived that self as self is rigidly barred from our conversation together, that service - and service alone - is the object, is the aim of those who speak. Therefore, as comrades and companions, we continue the climb of the steep hillside, and as comrades and friends, we work out that part of the pattern which God, in His goodness, has entrusted to us...
"Rest you in peace, gather comfort to your heart and mind, and pray ever and again that realisation of your greater self may come to you ere the body is laid aside - come to you so that when you are free, you may have the exquisite joy of seeing that the body played its part with courage, and assisted the spirit in the way which only the bodily experience can do.
"God bless you all and gather you in, bestowing on you those good gifts - peace and love for ever and for ever...
"And now, Goodnight, my children; we shall meet again with something to show for the work which has been done... Goodnight."
Download Nine Volumes of Zodiac Messages (book-form PDFs)
Download nine printable PDF books of Zodiac Messages containing unaltered
chronologically-ordered scripts from the Zodiac Circle before the first public appearance
(New Revelation, 1923-1928)
Download an executable file of every Zodiac Message on this website to read on a computer
(ranging from 1923-1957)
