It is the Christmas season again here at Violet Flame World. And if you are a regular reader of our blog posts, you know it is one of our very favorite times of the year!
One tradition associated with Christmastime is gift giving. This custom in part originates from the Three Wise Men who brought gifts for the Christ child.
You may know the Wise Men were also known as Magi. Who were the Magi? They were the priest class of Persia who were the keepers of the sacred things, the learned of the people, the philosophers and servants of God, who also practiced the art of divination, soothsaying and astrology. During the Persian empire, they were advisers of kings, educators of princes, and were held in highest reverence.
Gift giving is a wonderful tradition. In its ideal expression, it can uplift others and bring out great generosity and humility to both giver and recipient. In this blog post we hope to bring the concept of gift giving to an even higher expression and understanding. And it begins with a story…
The Juggler
I want to tell you the story of the juggler because some of you know it and some of you don't.
And I think it's a very beautiful story and particularly so because of the picture that I have of the juggler. He has seven balls, each one for one of the color rays, an orange of course is in there and an apple and all these different things. He's juggling all his fruit.
But it seems there was a monastery connected with a big church.
And this brother monk came there and he got to the church and some of the brothers there were bakers and some of them were candlestick makers and some of them were cooks and some of them were workers in the field and a few of them prayed.
And so what actually happened is really very funny. This Monk, the only thing he could do was juggle and juggle he did to the amusement of the brothers.
He was juggling all the time, and each time they saw him they got a little impatient with his juggling.
And they assigned him first to the bakery and he failed in the bakery. And then they assigned him to the fields and he failed in the fields. And then they assigned him to washing pots and pans and he wasn't too happy there.
All he wanted to do was juggle. And so the word got around, passed all around among the monks.
So finally one day, one of the monks who was quite close to the Abbot, the head man in that monastery, came to the door of the chapel.
And there before the statue of the Blessed Virgin, this monk was standing juggling to it. Why he was horrified. What a terrible sacrilege. He couldn't even wait a minute to look.
He closed the door quickly and rushed up the stairs, the stone stairs up the tower of the Abbot's office and knocked. He hardly waited for an answer before rushing in.
The Abbot was there, and the monk told him terrible things were happening. He continued, I can't even tell you about it, just come with me. So the Abbot got all agitated and confused and down the stairs they went and they came to the door of the chapel.
And there was the juggler. By this time he'd worked up a sweat and the sweat was pouring down his face as he was juggling.
And the monk said, here Father, just look. They opened the door of the chapel and they looked and could hardly believe their eyes what was happening.
For he was juggling and as they watched his juggling and the sweat pouring down his face, all at once, Mary, the mother of Jesus, the statue, began to move.
And down she came from the pedestal and reached into her robe. She pulled out a little handkerchief and proceeded to wipe the sweat off the jugular's face.
And the Abbot and his friend stole silently up the stairs. The End.
There are several lessons contained in this brief but profound story. For now, we will concentrate on the act of giving or offering one’s gift. Somewhere along the way the juggler had learned or was simply aware of what his gift was.
For those of us still searching or developing their own gift we offer a few hopefully helpful keys.
• Develop an awareness of a vision, calling, or desire to express. It can be big or small like the juggler, but ultimately it doesn’t matter because your gift is uniquely yours to give!
• Worthiness / humility. This one can sometimes be a challenge and we often need to grow in wisdom and overcome pridefulness or a sense of unworthiness of not being good enough to give our gift.
• Selflessness. In the esoteric classic Brother of the Third Degree, the author shares wise words about selflessness or forgetting self: “The secret of happiness lies in forgetting self, and any slight diversion, business or amusement, which brings this end, brings a proportioned happiness; but the happiness which comes from a willful and conscious forgetfulness of self exceeds all others…”
One calling we have here at Violet Flame World is inspiring others to give 15 minutes or more of violet flame each day. For those who share and participate in this calling, you can expect to begin to experience change, profound change!
Why is the violet flame such a profound gift? It is because the violet flame can help you achieve your ultimate freedom from negative karma – the things which hold us back from better health, relationships, and more pleasant circumstances.
As you continue giving the violet flame, your positive karma begins to increase and your negative karma decreases. And at some point, you will establish a point of transition between the place where you are now and the place you desire to be, which is the next level, or gradation, of the vibration of Light. This in turn will free you to explore and serve in other worlds of profound beauty, culture, and consciousness. And this, friends, is indeed why the violet flame is the greatest gift of all.
Until next time… Merry Christmas!
Credits and other Resources
Painting - The Magi Journeying by James Tissot
Recommended listening:
The story of The Juggler is adapted from a story told by Mark Prophet. Mark was born on Christmas Eve and later founded the Summit Lighthouse in 1958. He worked tirelessly and with great joy for many years to bring the gift of the violet flame to people worldwide. Listen to the story of The Juggler as orignally told by Mark:
Recommended reading:
The Other Wise Man by Henry van Dyke
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
Brother of the Third Degree by Will Garver