Taken From Psychic News, December 21, 1935
GUIDE TELLS OF OTHER-SIDE FESTIVAL XMAS “GREETINGS” BY A GUIDE
Christmas is celebrated not only on this earth, but in the spirit world—though there it has a different significance.
Twice every year, at Christmas and at Easter, those guides who belong to the older races on earth, such as Indian, Egyptian and Chinese, together with some of the more advanced of the “newer” races, gather at huge conferences in the spheres, where past work is reviewed and future work is planned.
At the last sitting of Hannen Swaffer’s home circle, Silver Birch, one of the Indian guides, spoke of the coming gathering.
“We are looking forward with great joy to our coming festival on our inner planes,” he said. “We all look forward to this, the greatest festival of all, to go back where we belong for a short while and to gain a few glimpses of a beauty that is not known to your world of matter, to meet, to exchange views, to confer, to see how far we have succeeded or failed in our missions, to hear of new plans, to learn of the progress in other places and other directions.”
“Why is Christmas the greatest festival?” asked one of the sitters.
“These festivals have been held for many thousands of years, before the Nazarene came to your world,” replied the guide.
“It is all based on natural law, for at this time is the birth of the sun. This time is chosen because all of us are associated with races whose religions were founded upon the laws of nature. To us, the festival of the birth of the sun was the greatest of all because it represented the beginning of a new era. It is the end of the cycle, and the new cycle begins.”
“Because these festivals were held in the world of matter, they are celebrated in the world of spirit. A spiritual meaning has now come out of them and, instead of celebrating the dawn of the new life, we now use it to withdraw from the world of matter to get new power of the spirit so that we can bring new light to your world.”
“For whom is the festival held?” Silver Birch was asked.
“It is largely for the Indians and for the guides who belong to the older races,” he replied. “All of the western world is new in comparison with these races, and for those who dwell in the West our festival has no significance.”
Silver Birch always opens the sittings with prayer. At these circles he has offered many scores of invocations, always couched in varying phraseology, but stressing the omnipotence of God.
“Let us pray to the Great Spirit,” he said.
“Oh, Great White Spirit, the whole of life revolves around Thee, and Thou dost hold in the embrace of Thy love the whole of humanity, whether it expresses itself in the world of matter or in the world of spirit.
“Oh, Great White Spirit, Thou art the centre of all life, for Thy Being is expressed in all life. Thy spirit giveth life and Thou art life itself, for with Thee there is life, and without Thee, there is nought.
“Oh, Great White Spirit, Thy love sustains all things. Thy wisdom has created all things and Thy purpose shapes all things. Thy plan gradually comes into fulfilment as it expresses itself throughout all the spheres of existence.
“Thou art the Great Spirit, Who art so great that no mind, however exalted, can understand Thy fullness. Thou art the Great Spirit, and yet Thou art within the smallest of the small as Thou art expressed in the greatest of the great.
“Nothing happens in the whole universe that Thou dost not know, for Thy laws embrace all life and Thou, Great Spirit, art everywhere, for Thy spirit pervadeth all things.
“And we, who are Thy servants and who seek to express Thy laws, ask of Thee for that power which will enable us to work in co-operation with all willing souls in the world of matter, that we can build stronger bridges between the plane of matter and the plane of spirit, over which many more messengers can return, bringing Thy message of love and good will and peace to the world of matter.
“Over these bridges may there return not only Thy messengers but also those who belong to those still in the world of matter.
“We ask at this time, when all thoughts are centred on the one who came to earth to demonstrate Thy love and Thy power, that the children of earth shall remember that within them is Thy power, which will enable them to sweep away all the obstacles that prevent peace in their world. If they would but reveal Thee in their lives and in their actions, then Thy will would be done.
“This is the prayer of Thy Indian servant, who seeks to serve.”
SPIRIT ENCOURAGES CIRCLE SITTERS
It is Silver Birch’s custom, before he leaves for the Christmas festival, to give each sitter a message of encouragement. He expressed these so movingly that, accustomed as the circle is to his weekly talks, his words left a profound impression.
“I want to say to you before I go,” he said to the trumpet medium of the circle, “how happy I have been to work with you and to have taken advantage of the power which has come from you to me. This I have done, of course, with the permission of White Shadow (chief guide of the circle), but you have set the example of perfect willingness to co-operate with the spirit world. You have reached a perfect attunement with your own guide, and that is a great unfoldment.
“I can tell you that there are many hearts in the world of spirit who are happy because, through your powers, they have been enabled to have some contact with the world of matter—many of whom you know and many whom you do not know.
“As you know, I am only the mouthpiece, but I want you to know that White Shadow, who uses you, is counted as very great in my world and you should regard it as a privilege to be his instrument. And he is happy to have found so willing an instrument, so that together you can work out the Great Spirit’s plans.”
PERFECT TRUST
“You have seen in the past few months how the power of the spirit can move many obstacles in the world of matter,” he told the trumpet medium’s husband. “You have seen the fulfilment of that which has been promised to you. You have seen how perfect trust in the Great Spirit and His messengers can lead you out of the troubles of worldly things into the peace of the Great Spirit.
“I ask you to return thanks to the Great Spirit and to have even greater aspirations in your heart, so that you can attune even still further with the power of the Great Spirit, because you will have a great work to do in helping your wife, as part of her preparation for the work she does for my world.”
To another sitter he said, “You do not talk much, but your heart is full to overflowing, and you are grateful to the Great Spirit, Who answers your silent prayers.
“You know that you are a great asset to us, for you possess a power which, in conjunction with the other sitters, enables us to get very close to you.”
“I told you last time before I went, of a great work you had to do,” the guide said to the next sitter. “As yet, little of that has been revealed, but now the pathway comes nearer to you. You have been equipped gradually, for you have now an understanding of the things of the spirit that you did not have before.
“I ask you to examine well, to learn and to acquire knowledge, for it will be very necessary for you.
“You have seen how you have been guided. Try to trust that power even more by having perfect faith that, if you open your heart and your soul and do that which is right, then there is nothing in your world of matter that can turn you to the left or the right.”
“You know that as much as I love all those who are there, they will not be hurt if I say that I love you more,” said Silver Birch, addressing the wife of his own medium, “because I have known you for so many years and have worked with you for so long. And I have been happy to have been of service to you, returning that service which my medium has given to me.
“It is the greatest sweetness of all that I have experienced to meet that perfect knowledge that comes from inside your soul, that stretches out to me and shows that love, that pure love which is the greatest thing in the world of matter or in the world of spirit.”
THE ABSENT MEMBER
Then the guide gave a message for an absent sitter.
“I want you to send a message to him for me,” he said, “and to say that it has made my heart rejoice to see how much he has been the servant of the Great Spirit, fulfilling His tasks, bringing light and knowledge and helping to free the bonds of those still enslaved in the world of matter.
“His work is not yet done, for he has yet to make a greater mark in the world of matter than he has done.”
And yet there are critics who maintain that these guides are agents of the Devil.
Addressing us all, he said, “I have told you all before that you have all rendered great service, because the work we have done here—even though for a while it has been that of marking time—has been a great encouragement to thousands of others in your world of matter, who have been spurred on, who have tried to obtain a closer touch with us and who, in their turn, have enabled bridges to be built between the world of matter and the world of spirit.
“GREATER THINGS—”
“Great as is the work that we have done, greater things shall yet be done out of the perfect co-operation of us all.
“Like the many who work with you here, I go back to the spheres, there to gain greater power. I leave you all with the blessing of the Great Spirit in your midst.
“You have the knowledge, you have the understanding, you have begun to learn the laws of the Great Spirit and, more than all these things, you have begun to apply them in your lives, to show that day by day you are the instruments of the Great Spirit.
“May you always look up and face the sun, and allow its rays to fill your being. May you never be cast down and dejected. May you always realise how great is the love which enfolds and sustains you and the shelter that the arms of the Great Spirit have for you.
“May you realise that you are never alone, never forsaken, never deserted, but that the Great Spirit and His messengers are always with you, always seeking to uplift you, always seeking to draw you nearer and nearer to Him Who is the Father of us all. May the power of the Great Spirit bless you always.”
