Modern Prophets: Cycles Of Karmic Retribution
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
Following the lead of Jewish and Christian covenant theology discussed previously, some New Age thinkers have taken up the idea that the universe records the karmic value of human actions and that divine forces return this karma to those who created it after a certain amount of time has passed. The time of karmic retribution and the type of karma to be returned might be foreseen through astrological calculations, as well as by means of prophecies. Those who heed the warnings of impending doom can mitigate or expiate their own karmic debt through sincere prayers, a renewal of faith, righteous deeds, and repentance. Thus, prophecies are never set in stone. On the contrary, they offer divine mercy by giving those about to be punished a chance to change their ways and be spared thereby. As Elizabeth Clare Prophet writes in her book, St. Germain’s Prophecy For The New Millenium (1999), “Heaven has allowed the prophets a rare glimpse of what the future may hold so that we can transmute our negatives before the handwriting in the book of life becomes an indelible record and we reap the full consequences of our actions.”
A Biblical precedent for this idea can be found in the Book of Jonah. In this story, Jonah refused to tell the people of Ninevah of the doom that he foresaw for them if they did not repent of their wicked ways. Jonah wanted God to destroy Ninevah, and so he tried to escape from his duty as a prophet by fleeing on a ship. However, God’s will could not be thwarted so easily. A storm overtook the ship, and Jonah was thrown overboard to be swallowed by a giant fish. Eventually the fish spat him up on shore, and Jonah journeyed to Ninevah to deliver his prophecy to the people there. Much to Jonah’s disappointment, the poeple of Ninevah repented and were spared. Thus the Bible supports the idea that karmic retribution, or the wrath of God, can be averted through prophecy and repentance.
In addition to the negative karma each of us must individually be held accountable for in this lifetime, we all must collectively face the karma of the world and nations into which we were born. As Prophet writes in St. Germain’s Prophecy For The New Millenium (1999), “The negative karma of those who live on earth has been held in abeyance for thousands of years by the spiritual consciousness of the great lights of East and West. The end of the age of Pisces marks the day when we must carry the full momentum of our past karma, which is why the prophecies for this time of transition are so very sobering.” An examination of current and approaching astrological cycles may help us to prepare for this world transition that will affect all of us to a greater or lesser degree. One of the major planetary conjunctions occurred on May 3, 2000. At that time the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were all in the sign of Taurus. Some of these planets formed 90 degree squares with Neptune and Uranus in Aquarius. These squares indicated that the old social consensus will be broken, and that the old order will pass away.
The ongoing wars sparked by the attacks of September 11, 2001 would seem to coincide with the beginning of the end for the old order, but the passing away of the current powers that be may take quite some time. As we read in St. Germain’s Prophecy For The New Millenium (1999), “Although the Taurus megaconjunction exists in the heavens for only a short period of time, its influence and effects will play out and be felt over a very long period of time. It will be a turning point in astrological history.”
Other major astrological transits include the passage of Uranus through the sign of Pisces from 2003 to 2011. Uranus symbolizes sudden breakthroughs and scientific advancements, while Pisces represents mysticism and self-transcendance. Thus, great progress in the metaphysical sciences can be expected during this period. Neptune also moves into Pisces beginning in 2012 and stays there until 2026.This transit will intensify society’s impulse toward mysticial pursuits.
Self-transcendance will be the keynote of this cycle. As St. Germain’s Prophecy For The New Millenium (1999) tells us, “The critical path to self-transcendance is self-actualization (to be who we really are) and service to others (to give who we really are). In this cycle, our collective initiation will be to serve others, to reach out and take some gift of the self and use it to help others so that they too can self-actualize and self-transcend.”
The last major transit, Pluto in Capricorn from 2008 to 2024, indicates a redistribution of power. Struggles between the old power structure and the newly arising wielders of force will ensue, as the old order collapses and the new one crystallizes. These sixteen years will be crucial for those who wish to see new political ideas come to fruition, and conflicts will naturally arise over who will decide what the new political landscape will look like in the 2020’s and beyond.
At this point we would do well to remember that astrological cycles indicate tendencies and probabilities, but cannot dictate the course of events. Planetary transits are like the winds and tides. People and nations are like ships on the sea: affected by the weather and currents, but ultimately under the direction of human will. In reference to the 20th century prophet Edgar Cayce, St. Germain’s Prophecy For The New Millenium (1999) notes, “Cayce said that we are not ruled by the world, our environment or even ‘planetary influences,’ but by our own free will. When we disregard divine law, we bring ‘chaos and destructive forces’ into our life; when we are in harmony with the divine, we create ‘order out of chaos.’” Just as a sleeping helmsman can steer a ship onto the rocks even in the calmest weather, so can a brave and competent captain guide his ship safely through the worst of storms. So it is with our own lives. The law of karmic returns will destroy us if we come into conflict with it, or shower us with blessings if we live righteously. The choice ultimately lies with us. However, right living can be a great challenge in the troublesome times in which we now find ourselves. The seas have grown rough, and great skill will be required if we are to avoid being smashed on the rocks of world karma. Wars, natural disasters, economic pressures, and governmental oppression all seem to intensify and occur with increasing frequency as we go further into the new millenium. No wonder so many people are turning to prophets for answers at this time. These prophets may indeed be able to provide us with some insights that will enable us to face the challenges ahead with greater confidence, so long as we can avoid the danger of relying on predictions to dictate the course of events in our own lives.
How can the increasing frequency and intensity of personal and outer world disasters at this time in history be accounted for? Elizabeth Clare Prophet explains this by means of a series of visions concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In St. Germain’s Prophecy For The New Millenium (1999) she explains, “The Four Horsemen are delivering the negative karma mankind have made over the past 25,800 years in each of the four levels of existente―fire (etheric), air (mental), water (astral), and earth (physical)... As they move through time they deliver the karma in cycles, and the cycles are getting shorter, taking less time to complete.” The impersonal law of karma returns whatever we send. We reap what we sow. As the end of the current astrological age of Pisces approaches, karmic returns get faster and faster until we reach what rock singer John Lennon called “instant karma.”
The age of Aquarius represents a higher stage in our spiritual evolution. Before we are ready to pass on to this higher stage, we must reap the karma of past ages so that we and the world can be purified. Once we have been freed of past karma, we will be able to master the next higher level of existence. Prophet, in St. Germain’s Prophecy For The New Millenium (1999), explains it this way: “In more precise karmic terms, our final exams require us to resolve unresolved issues of karma not just from the last 2,000 years but from the last 25,800 years. Why 25,800? It is one cycle around the cycle. It takes approximately 2,150 (one astrological age) to go through thirty degrees of the zodiac, or one astrological sign, and about 25,800 years for the earth to move through all twelve astrological signs. So today we are completing our unfinished business not only from the Piscean age, but from the previous eleven ages as well. What’s more, we have the awesome opportunity to pioneer not just the new age of Aquarius but an entirely new 25,800-year cycle.” This karma consists of both personal and planetary lessons, and the deliverance of such karma constitutes our own personal and collective Apocalypses.
Can the effects of the negative karma that we and the world have created somehow be avoided? Can the disasters waiting in the wings for us on the individual and group levels be somehow averted? The answers are: yes; and, not necessarily. In order for the effects of bad karma to be mitigated for us as individuals, we must cease to create such karma (i.e. repent or change our ways) and make amends for our past misdeeds. In order for collective disasters to be avoided, entire groups and nations must also change and make amends. On the individual level such a turnaround can be accomplished, provided that the will of the individual in question is strong enough to make the change, and that the weight of past misdeeds can still be balanced out by positive action before it is too late. Otherwise, some amount of negative karma will crystallize into the physical world and the individual will experience this as some form of personal Armageddon. On the group level, turnarounds will be much more difficult. However, if we hope to avoid collective disasters, groups and nations must also change their ways. Prophecy has long been one of the most effective ways to change the actions and habits of large groups of people. Therefore, it may be beneficial to mankind for some prophecies to be printed here.
Some of the prophecies channeled from the spirit being called “St. Germain” appear in St. Germain’s Prophecy For The New Millenium (1999): “If you who know better do not engage in serious karma balancing, giving powerful fiats [short, dynamic commands or affirmations] to the violet flame for world transmutation, you could very well see come to pass that cataclysm that has been predicted for so long. And if it come to pass, the advances civilization has achieved to this hour could take thousands of years to regain, depending on the severity of earth changes. Continents could be severed and nations divided... Some of you have entered in to this materialistic civilization, and it has cost you. For you have been driven this way and that way, looking to outer things, forgetting that you once knew and tended the flame on the altar of the heart... Alas, it is late in the centuries, and some of those who have come to be reborn here to build America in this century and the last have not fulfilled their reason for being. Some have entered into the same old [Atlantean] spirals of deception, the abuse of power and money, and have therefore turned around what might have been truly by this day a golden age in America... Economic debacle is foreseen. Prepare. Setbacks will be sudden. Many band-aids upon the economy, the money system, the banking houses. These will not prevent the collapse of nations and banking houses built on sands of human greed, ambition and manipulation of the lifeblood of the people of God...What is noteworthy, beloved, is that in all areas of crisis and ultimate catastrophe, it has taken but a few lightbearers to save a situation and but a few spoilers to ruin all for the people. Thus, understand that key figures play their parts this day, even as chessmen on the board of life... Recognize that in you the light is the majority... Your actions, choices, moves and decisions will truly affect the fate of earth and her destiny for centuries to come.” The concept of the violet flame that St. Germain mentions will be explored in more detail below.
The central message of his prophecy seems to be that the preoccupation with materialist pursuits has led us to this current karmic impasse as a people here in the Americas. To avert the coming catastrophe, we must awaken and become “lightbearers.” In other words, we must undergo, as individuals a spiritual awakening. This awakening has also been called “self-realization” or “self-transcendance.” The goal of the second half of this course will be to guide the student through the karmic returns that constitute the personal Apocalypse, and to provide a method for spiritual awakening, self-realization, and self-transcendance. In this way, a few of us may become bearers of the light and help to avert the worst effects of the karmic disaster that we now collectively face.
The first step on the path to spiritual awakening consists of finding a way to free ourselves from negative karma so that we are free to act and direct our energies toward positive goals. The “violet flame” mentioned above can be visualized and invoked by means of prayers and incantations. This “flame” can be thought of as a subtle energy, similar or identical to the “chi” energy used in certain forms of healing and martial arts. The violet flame can be directed and channeled to dispel negative karma. As the prophetic spirit in St. Germain’s Prophecies For The New Millenium (1999) tells us, “Karma is the weight that prevents the soul from flying. Karma affects all choices. It affects contracts―business, marriage, and otherwise―those who are drawn to your life and those who cannot be, the children you may give birth to. Every day as percentages of your karma pass through the violet flame and you ratify that transmutation by good deeds, words and works of love and service, you are lightening the load and therefore rising to new planes of realization, new associations... The less karma you have, the greater your opportunity day by day.”
In order to invoke the violet flame, visualize yourself enfolded in a field of blazing indigo fire that warms but does not burn you.While holding this image clearly in your mind, say the following invocation: “Holy flame burning bright, Round me seal your field of light, From ascended master flame, Called forth now by Divine Name, Let it keep my temple free, From all discord sent to me. I Am calling forth violet fire, To fuel and transmute true desire, Keeping on in freedom’s name, Till I Am one with the violet flame.”When the flame has been invoked, bring it down into your head and let it burn away all of your negative thoughts, clearing away the darkness that covers your third eye. Then draw the flame down further, into your heart chakra, and allow the flame to burn up all the pain, anger, and sadness held there. Lastly, let the flame flow down into your hands, and from there imagine yourself directing it out into the world to dissolve the karma of your past misdeeds.
Karmic retribution occurs in a karmic cycle. This idea, which is a tenet of metaphysical science, can be found in the book of Jonah. The writings of Saint Germain explore many interesting ideas such as self transcendence, fiats, and elements of covenant theology.