The performance began with the Overture of Fidelio. This magical piece of music seemed to really lift me up in a spiritual way: I felt so alive and so peaceful. The wonder of life resonated in this music. Following that was ‘Ah, Perfido,’ which was sung beautifully.

After intermission, we heard the full ninth symphony in all its glory! I’m just mesmerized at how Beethoven’s pieces seamlessly transition from the dramatic and exalted to the calm and gentle. There’s so much variety in the music, yet it all flows together in such a smooth way.

It was as though I were showering in sheer beauty, as the melodies poured gracefully over my ears. Every moment of that music was special, conveying, through feeling, that which cannot be put into words.

Throughout the night I also gained a far deeper appreciation for the importance of really listening to music, without my thoughts filtering it or distracting me. When I was completely focused, it was totally blissful. When I was thinking about the music, all the beauty was gone.

I hope there are some more beautiful classics coming up this year, and that we can have another outing very soon. If you’re in the Vancouver area and would like to join us for an upcoming course or event, keep an eye on our group homepage for information about our events.

On Thursday, December 10, we have a Self-Knowledge workshop. In this workshop, you can come out and learn the basic tools for self-knowledge and what is necessary to attain inner peace. The workshop will take place at Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, in Vancouver, from 8 – 9 PM.

On Tuesday, December 15, we have a workshop entitled ‘What is Gnosis?’ where you can learn some Gnostic techniques to explore profound esoteric truths. This workshop will be at Roundhouse Community Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews, in Vancouver, from 7:30 – 8:30 PM.

In the new year, on Wednesday, January 6, we have the Self-Knowledge workshop in Surrey. It will take place at the Strawberry Hill Branch of the Surrey Public Library at 7399-122nd Street from 7 – 8 PM.

Then on Friday, January 8, we will run the ‘What is Gnosis?’ workshop in North Vancouver. The workshop will be at the Capilano Branch of the North Vancouver Public Library at 3045 Highland Blvd from 7 – 8 PM.

I hope we can see some of you at one of our events!

Our fundraiser was devoted towards raising support and resources for the North American Gnostic Retreat campaign. And I was inspired to see that the topic of retreats crept into all our discussions in a very natural way.

People who had never been on a retreat before asked about what it was like, what they might experience, and whether it was helpful.

Seasoned retreat veterans shared their memories and experiences — from all-night meditation practices, to awareness walks in nature, to insightful learning opportunities found in the most unexpected places.

Before our feature film, we had a discussion and shared views about the real importance and value of retreats.

• How they provide a spiritual space, free of the heavier energies and distractions of the city — a space surrounded by the living beauty of nature.
• How they provide the opportunity for intensive spiritual practice.
• How they create experiences and knowledge that can really transform someone’s life.

It definitely struck me in those moments how valuable this goal is — and how achievable it can be with so many people sharing the vision and working towards it.

And although it can’t be done in one night, we’re now somewhat closer to our goal.

Fundraising totals

• Almost $1,200 raised
• Three new donors reserved their free spot at the North American retreat
• Increased awareness and motivation to make our vision a reality

Enjoy some photos of our night!

Our welcome table, with some neat mini-pumpkins.

These later did double-duty as visualization objects at our Saturday practice!

 

Nourishing vegetables, good for the body

 

Some tasty cookies and chocolate squares

 

Carrot cupcakes with cream-cheese icing

 

Valerie made a superb information corner to explain what the retreat project is all about

 

And here are Mike and Valerie — neither could resist reserving their free spot at the next retreat!

 

The group settles in to watch the interesting Halloween film

 

Mosaic-Making

The art of making mosaics is thousands of years old. Throughout various cultures we can see these intricate patterns of tile, ranging from simple patterns to depictions of very detailed faces, symbols, etc.

In this fundraiser, we got together on a relaxed Saturday afternoon to explore the creativity of our consciousness: we considered our designs carefully, selected tiles from a beautiful tapestry of different colours and shapes, and created our own artistic pieces. By the end, some splendid artwork was created.

Some pictures below illustrate the event:

Tools and setup:

Workstations all set up for participants

Thousands of broken tiles

Bag of orange tiles

Examples of Mosaics

The process:

A palatte of tiles

Partial group shot of everyone at work

Mosaic midway to completion - pieces are glued in place

I had the pleasure of grouting the projects... the grout is what holds the tiles together

Some finished pieces:

Some projects drying after being grouted

A finished piece of artwork

Another beautiful piece

Incense-Making Workshop

The burning of incense is another ancient practice and the fragrant aromas have perfumed the pages of man’s history. Nowadays, we just buy sticks of incense in the store, but rarely do we know what’s in it or the process involved in making it.

In this event, starting with the raw resins, woods, and herbs, we explored the scents and history of the various ingredients, decided on our own proportions, and made ourselves real combustible incense. The store-bought aromas can’t do justice to the authentic, hand-made incense.

I’d like to thank Frankincense and Myrrh in North Vancouver for generously donating some high-quality fresh materials to us.

And again, here are some pictures:

A few attendees listening to the how-to's of incense-making

Some ingredients and tools:

Fresh copal resin

Ground patchouli, one of the herbs we used

Assortment of stirring spoons, woods, and herbs

The mortar and pestle that was used to grind the ingredients beforehand... until the pleasant discovery of an electric coffee grinder

Some finished work:

Some newly made incense

Close-up of some sticks and cones

Some discs and cones

A lot of incense sticks

That’s all to share for now. I hope to see some of you at the fundraiser. You can learn how to sign-up for it here.

I had a really exciting investigation recently and I wanted to share my experiences. The chapter for the week was chapter 10, “The Psychological Self.” The chapter highlighted the need to study oneself, and to break out of the various theories or beliefs we may have about ourselves.

One of the most interesting points for me was how “many things which we believe we have, we do not have, and many things which we do not believe we have, we actually have.”

I also really liked how Samael wrote: “we have formed false concepts about ourselves and we must therefore make an inventory to measure what we have in surplus and what we lack.”

I decided to investigate the teachings in my own life. For starters, I felt that the basic tools I needed were awareness and self-observation. Only in this way can I actually see myself for who I am.

Each day I fought hard to get those basics right. I saw such interesting things. In one situation, a friend of mine very innocently made me feel a little hurt – my friend had done nothing wrong, but something within me felt hurt. As I observed this, I also saw how a feeling of resentment began to replace the hurt feeling. In such a simple situation, I was seeing a lot of inner darkness: I began to see that I had a surplus of negativity.

In making efforts to eliminate the negativity, I was immediately put in a position where I needed to interact with my friend. But having eliminated the resentment and hurt feelings, I was able to speak with a greater peace within, and even feel compassion and love.

Another occasion came up that really surprised me. As part of my work, I had to deal with a difficult individual. This individual came to me with a really negative attitude, kept cutting me off when I spoke, and even interrupted me when I was talking to other people.

I could perceive the irritation within myself, but I kept observing it, eliminating it, and bringing myself to a state of awareness.

I was surprised to see how our interaction developed. I began to feel greater patience with this person, and even feel understanding for them. In the end, we had a breakthrough in communicating and things turned out really nicely. Until I was given that situation, I didn’t even knew I was capable to dealing with people in that way.

The last experience I wanted to share was a simple, yet powerful moment for me. I was on the bus, again really trying to be aware. I wanted to see who I truly was.

I’d been bringing myself back to awareness repeatedly, battling a stream of thoughts, emotions, and feelings. Again and again and again… At one point, I was standing in the crowded bus, but all I felt was peace. It was exhilarating to perceive all that I could through my senses, to feel the air on my skin, the temperature of the metal bar I was holding onto, and to just be alive on that bus.

My explorations barely scratched the surface of what Samael wrote in the chapter, but investigating and experiencing the teachings within spiritual texts brings them to life in a whole new way.

Each year has given me so much. Over the course of the retreats, I was able to break out of the drag of city life to be immersed in the beauty of nature. I was with a large group of committed students and teachers, where from dusk till dawn, and sometimes throughout the night, we practiced mantras, astral projection practices, meditations, walking meditations, yoga postures, and so much more. We also had plenty of time for friendly discussions, and deeply inspiring spiritual talks.

Right now, The Gnostic Movement is carrying out some exciting projects to find permanent gnostic retreat locations. I think this is a wonderful goal to work towards.

Up to now, the various retreats have all been run on commercial sites that were rented out for our groups. But in the end this is rather expensive, and we wind up only having three short retreats per year, each about 6 days long: one in the USA, one in Europe, and one in Australia.

With our own land, however, we could have many more retreats each year, for longer durations, and ultimately at a lower cost. I’m really looking forward to a nice, long retreat, on land that we can call our own.

Head over to the Gnostic Awakenings Retreat Page to learn more about the projects and to get involved!

Introducing the basics of meditation and how to experience peace within:

Meditation for Inner Peace , a free workshop in Vancouver on September 22, 2009 at 8:00 pm

Meditation for Inner Peace, a free workshop in North Vancouver on September 28. 2009 at 7:00 pm

Learn about mantra meditation, and experience the power of sound:

Mantra Meditation, a free workshop in Vancouver on September 24, 2009 at 7:30 pm

Mantra Meditation, a free workshop in Burnaby on September 29, 2009 at 7:30 pm

Learn to understand your own psychology and activate the consciousness, your spiritual essence:

Self-Discovery and Peace, a free 9-week course in Vancouver starting October 13, 2009 at 7:00 pm

Learn powerful and simple techniques to explore the world of spirituality for yourself:

The Power of Gnostic Practice, a free 9-week course in Vancouver starting October 13, 2009 at 8:30 pm

Self-Discovery Course in Vancouver

For about two years now, The Gnostic Movement has been running various free courses on spirituality for residents of the Greater Vancouver area. We’ve had a number of different venues from neighbhourhood houses to library meeting rooms and everything in between.

It has been wonderful to see so many participants come out to the courses and experience what Gnosis has to offer. But we now really want to take things to the next level here and get ourselves a Gnostic Centre: a place to call our own.

Behind the scenes, we’ve been researching various areas, looking into property listings, and checking out places. We still haven’t found a permanent home for the Gnostic Movement in Vancouver, but I wanted to share with you a little bit of our vision…

We want a special place, where people from all over can take a break from the stresses of life, come together, and experience the spiritual in their lives.

The Gnostic Centre in Berkeley

We want a place where we can hold a variety of activities throughout the week and on weekends. We could have spiritual movie nights, social dinners, mantra sessions, out-of-body experience practices going through the night, and much more.

We want a place that is filled with positive, uplifting energy: the type of energy that makes you want to get down to practices and explore mystical realms – the energy that is built up over time by group practices.

An ideal center is a beacon of light in the mostly dark, material world, helping individuals to discover the light within themselves.

A light to the world

In what will hopefully not be too long, we look forward to opening the Vancouver Gnostic Center.

On these mindfulness walks, the aim is simply to enjoy the peace and serenity of the forest in awareness, experiencing the five senses without getting distracted by thoughts, worries, daydreams, and so on.

Trail in Stanley Park, by x3nomik

Setting out, we had a special goal to make use of every moment of the walk — to take each step in awareness and to detach ourselves from thoughts each time a distraction took place.

Everyone gained something interesting from this walk, as we explored the intricacies of consciousness and the mind in such a beautiful setting.

The plaque describing the Seven Sisters

Mid-way through, we took a break to chat about our experiences at the site of ‘The Seven Sisters’.

These were a series of seven massive trees that used to reside in the wilderness of the park. As the plaque describes it, they reached the end of their life-cycle and had to be removed.

All that remains of these original seven trees were massive stumps, which are already providing a place for new plants to grow.

Me inside a tree

I find nature is such a wonderful place for spiritual practices, as the energy of the forest really seems to resonate with the spiritual within.

The very large and ancient trees are especially powerful — lucky us to have them so close home.

I tried to go inside one.

I was also amazed to reflect how long these trees have grown to reach this size – hundreds of years – and how something can start as a minuscule seed and become such massive and awe-inspiring life forms.

For a historical perspective, compare with this picture circa 1897 (!), where a lady examines a very similar tree in Stanley Park.

Ceder Tree and Lady, Stanley Park, 1897

(My hiking gear looks a lot more comfortable, doesn’t it?)

On the way back out, we walked across the path leading to the Rose Garden (which was in spectacular bloom).

We paused when we saw some small birds darting about. Perhaps a dozen of these creatures flew around the lawn, almost faster than your eye could follow, and they passed only a few inches above the surface of the ground.

A Swallow, by Eric Bégin

Incredible speed, and stamina too, as they flew endlessly around and around the great lawn without pause, circling each other and around trees with expert precision.

As we stood marveling at them, the birds suddenly came closer to us and begin to fly around us. For a brief while, they circled around and even flew between us, weaving around us as we watched in amazement.

Then they were off to another part of the lawn.

It’s these moments of wonder, where you can gaze almost childlike at the things of nature, that I find so worthwhile. Every walk is like a journey of exploration — into yourself and the world around you.

Had we been lost in thought or preoccupied by worries, the birds would have flown by unnoticed, and this experience would have never occurred.

Check out Vancouver Gnostic Meetup group to join in our next walk!

Thanks for stopping by, and hope to see you in person one day in our beautiful city.