Anne Patterson, Graced with Light (installation in Grace Cathedral – San Francisco)
On the day of the heliocentric alignment between the Master of Harmony Mercury and the asteroid/Muse Thalia* in Sagittarius, let us sow the ‘special wisdom’ of Joy, the Way of Salvation.
If We say, “Do not have desire,” it does not mean to be insensate. On the contrary, replace desire with the irresistible command of a pure thought. In this command you invoke all the powers of Light, and you make their currents act in correlation with your pure striving.
Be, be, be joyous; not through desire, but through the striving of spirit. Be joyous; not through ancestral desires, but through the command of the entire consciousness, in order to create that luminous thread which unites all worlds. Be joyous; not because of the success of works already decayed, but in knowledge of the predestined and of that already inscribed in the scrolls of the future. Be joyous; not in the desire for repose, but because of the agitation of the elements, since only the agitation of the elements will serve you; for one cannot command the dead to revivify the living. Thus, understand that joy is a special wisdom, and do not abandon the fires of light above the crumbs of the feast.
That which is felt by the earthly senses is not significant; but let us apply the co-service of all the particles of Light. You await Me. You await the manifestation of help. But you do not know when help is needed and when the final hour of battle rings out. Yet, fixing upon Us your entire consciousness, aware that We shall not delay, you are building an indestructible bridge, and you are gathering the treasures of Might.
Perhaps the help is greatly needed. Let Us judge, because the time is ripe, and beyond the sea the pillars of Light already arise!
(Hierarchy § 96)
* Thalia (she who is festive): comedy, celebration. Art of divergence-entertainment – Joy, irony.
Thàlia (Ancient Greek: Θάλεια, Tháleia) means ‘feast’ and in its etymon refers to that which ‘grows’ and ‘develops’ in abundance and splendour. It thus presides over comedy in Greek mythology; but it is also associated with the severest satire as in the poem Musogonia by Vincenzo Monti: “e Talìa che l’error flagella e ride (and Talìa who scourges error and laughs at it)” (verse 200).
She is depicted as a cheerful-looking girl, wearing an ivy crown on her head and holding a mask in her hand.
As a form of self-expression, Thalia is associated with the art of diverging (in Italian from the same root comes divertimento, merryment), with wit, with the joy of detachment brought by intelligent irony, with the refinement of one’s wits and skills.
Laughter has always been important to me. Provided it is caused by harmlessness, it is uplifting and uniting.