In The Christian Community there are special prayers for each season known as the Epistles. These prayers are not the traditonal letters of the New Testament that are normally meant when we use the word Epistle. They are a whole new ‘letter’ from the spiritual world to humanity. They are unique seasonal prayers that, given contemplation, reveal to us a renewed religous exprience of the spiritual world and Christ’s being in us today. In the Michaelmass Epistle we hear of a developmnet or evolution of the workings of Michael with the Dragon. Yes, imagine a Christian liturgy that accepts the reality of Dragons!
The interesting picture given in the Epistle is that we can consider that when we perceive Michael today we see how his working has changed and how he lifts his hand away from the Dragon. Until now the imagination of Michael fighting or holding the Dragon’s power in check was a reality. Now it has evolved. The time has come, the conditons are ripe, for a releasing of the Dragon from Michael’s hold. Is that not what happens when we remove a hand from something we hold? Does it not get unleashed in a new way? Sometimes this unleashing can be overwhelming and it behoves us to consider that the conditons for meeting the released force can be met. Has Michael thought of humanity in this relasing of the dragon’s power into the world again? We do not need to go too far from our own life or society to feel the turbulenet effects of this changed working of the spirtual world.
There is an added dynamic that Michael also forms his hand to beckon and points to the human being. How do we picture this reality? Who is Michael pointing to, or speaking to when the Epistle says; Follow me….
It is possible that we hear Michael beckoning to the human being to lead us into deepr understanding of the transformative forces of Golgotha in and through the human being. We can consider it to be a a great heralding of our human nature in the final words resounding from the altar as the cycle of the year draws to its fulfillment.
It is also possible to picture this moment as Michael beckoning to the Dragon and pointing to humanity in a way that says to the Dragon to follow him and transform through a deeper understanding of the power of heavenly light at work in humanity. These words that resound at the end of a year’s journey are possibly addressed to the forces that we might call the dark forces and a path is given by placing our humanity into a new transforming relationship with the Dragon.
Michael percieves the spitual evolution of humanity and leads the Dragon to higher understanding in the service of the heavenly light within the earthly light.
A mighty and chaleenging task meets us in this Epistle. It is not a comfotable fulfillment of our humanity as a light worker, but a new challenge on our journey as cusdtodians of the Mystery of Golgotha working in us and through us to bring light to life. This is not just a passive shining of spiritual glory, but a deeply personal creative power that will transform Dragons.