Susan Raven, Contributor
Waking Times

Einstein’s famous phrase stating that ‘No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it’ seemed to appear with increasing regularity last year, in both conversations and publications. Why? Because I believe even the most dedicated hedonists are feeling the pervasive disquiet (and anticipation) percolating through the collective consciousness of humanity at this time, as the true scale of environmental vandalism, economic disparity and social injustice reaches breaking point. Einstein’s stark, abrupt and challenging phrase is a powerful pause and reset button. It forces us to stop, look, listen and find the courage to dig deep into uncharted territory. It calls for the will to deliberately steer our mind-body-spirit vehicle out of the illusory comfort of the middle lane and to consciously choose a path of exploration and acceleration into the borderless world of the imagination.

Everything we see about us, both beautiful and sorrowful, was once imagined, so if we can imagine our way into a seeming impasse, we can surely imagine our way out of it and beyond. It is from the levels of imagination and inspiration that the elusive idea of Oneness ceases to be just a useful meme, or an earnestly nurtured concept, but can instead flash forth into our souls as an inspired knowing and a deep connection to all. From these precious moments of profound connection (harvested from the very levels Einstein urged us to explore), real breakthroughs are born. Yet it is the integration of these illumined insights into the levels and language of the problem that really calls for our skill and vision. As more and more groups of talented and enlightened individuals join forces to (a) share the glittering fruit of their inspired imagination, and (b) grapple with the inadequacies of an old and jealously guarded network of infrastructures and institutions, the passion and tension between the old and new is fierce.

In the early 20th century, the innovative and gifted quantum physicist Neils Bohr introduced us to a quantum world where an infinite potential for reality exists. He described a dimension where photons only become ‘real’ when we observe them; indeed, he argued that it is the very act of looking which summons their position into existence. If this is truly a universal law, then what is it that is actively communicating, co-operating, messaging, transmitting, working… between the human decision to focus and observe, and the photons positioning themselves into existence?

For thousands of years, this dimension of potential, this enfolded world of universal intelligence and formative forces, has been regarded as the domain of the Nature Spirits and elementals, by initiates, shamans and indigenous peoples around the globe. In the West, great seers like the scientist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner, and the author and co-founder of Findhorn, Dorothy Maclean, courageously delivered a learned and succinct view of this domain and its inhabitants. With his thorough training in the physical sciences, coupled with a highly developed ability to see into the etheric realms, Dr. Steiner was able to speak with great precision about what he observed in the subtle dimensions beyond physical form. He presented his findings in a powerful, spiritually-scientific language, which had the potency to hold its own alongside the language of material science in the European lecture rooms of the early twentieth century. Ms Maclean presented her investigations in a different but no less potent way; her rich, articulate and tender descriptions of the profound exchanges she experienced with the elemental kingdom strike deep into the soul. The beam of recognition and remembrance they bring forth has the power to shine through the heavy curtain of mockery, so often drawn across these precious views of the supersensible world.

Rudolf Steiner describes how in their field of ceaseless movement and endless becoming, the elementals carry out the instructions embedded in the ‘Cosmic Word’. He tells us that ‘What the elementals have called into the world is the last reverberation of the creative, formative cosmic Word, which underlies all activity and all existence’, and that in this integrated, dynamic oneness in which we all exist ‘Each to the whole its substance gives, and each in the other works and lives’. Then, from the intimate interactions between the nature spirits of Findhorn and Dorothy Maclean, we hear from the elementals themselves when they say, ‘Out of the elements we carve and unite, infinite designs of the Creator. Each little atom is held in its pattern and joy… we hold the pattern of form for this planet and we are attuned to Divinity’.

The heart-breaking, anger-inducing emotions that surge though many of us when we see and experience the environmental vandalism perpetrated on Earth are sometimes unendurable – the more so because we are having to own up to our own ignorance, irresponsibility and laissez faire, as well as come to terms with the truly thuggish behaviour of many of the world’s leading corporations. Yet who knows better than Nature Herself how to restore Her outward, physical expression back into balance and well-being. Our part in this restoration is to learn how to communicate and co-operate once more with the Soul of the Earth and her invisible architects and artisans. To do this we need to awaken the dormant human organs of perception that we all possess, and to widen our imagination to accommodate and decipher the data we perceive and receive. The methodology need not be complicated; if the tree is diseased, learn to speak and listen to the communicable intelligence existing within and behind the pathogen. If the land is sick, begin with a petition to, and a process of investigation with, the Genius Loci, or Spirit of Place, using the group dynamic.

Our ancient ancestors were in constant communion with the Soul of the Earth and her elemental helpers, and acted accordingly in response to their messages – be they weather anomalies, volcanic disturbances, unusual animal and insect behaviour, or plant disease. They knew how to read in the Great Book of Nature and they are urging us now, in dream-time and awakeness, to learn to read in this sacred book once more. It is time to consciously awaken and hone our lines of questioning and receivership in this great field of oneness.

Here in the West, the establishment line on the subject of nature spirits and elementals is relegated, for the most part, to children’s fairy tales and sentimental art. Anyone openly discussing the elemental kingdom is often setting themselves up for some savage ridicule and scorn – and let’s not minimise the potential damage unleashed by a relentless barrage of ridicule on the kind of sensitive psyche needed for this work. One of the greatest benefits to following a spiritual path of meditation and vipassana (rising into the witnessing consciousness) is to watch with ancient eyes how ridicule loses its power to wound and undermine. Truly, now is the time to get over this hesitancy to discuss the inhabitants of the supersensible, spiritual realms. If you are still squeamish about using the phrase ‘Nature spirit’, then try the following: ‘An organising intelligence within and behind physical nature that oversees the order and measure of material form and the setting of limits to matter’. And as for an elemental, try this: ‘a unit, or nexus, of subtly primed consciousness working on the front line between spirit and matter’.

From my own experience, I know that if you hold another human being’s eye and speak your truth with the indefinable power that infuses a human voice when it sounds out from a point of profound and undeniable experience – there will be movement. And if the listener then goes on to hear the same, or similar, information from another two sources, the shell of denial might just begin to crack – be it ever so slightly!

Inspiring and innovative new thinkers such as the scientist and director of research at the Resonance Project, Nassim Haramein, and the author, researcher and film-maker David Wilcock, have openly described the universe as a vast, conscious, intelligent Being that is continuously creating beings – both supersensible and biological. A central theme in both of David Wilcock’s best-selling books and his acclaimed Gaiam TV series Wisdom Teachings, is that the DNA molecule and the proteins in life-forms on Earth are energetically conceived by an underlying conscious cosmic intelligence. This great cosmic intelligence is creating form and programming life itself through a vast hierarchy of spiritual beings and their elemental helpers. The courage of Messrs Haramein and Wilcock (and many other enlightened post-materialist scientists) to include the ‘language of beings’ in their discourse, effectively opens the way for others to follow in their footsteps.

When we walk through a forest and revere what has been built up by the nature spirits, we are essentially opening a line of communication to them. It is the harmonic resonance of our reverence that eventually allow us access to their bandwidth of existence. But what of the elementals of technology? How can we work with these beings? The metals and crystals appropriated for the assemblage of modern technological hardware were once embedded in the earth. They were tuned to the north-south magnetic polar axis, infused with stellar wisdom, and enchanted into an ancient dance of unanimity with all the other substances of the earth’s strata. Then, one day, someone detonated a stick of dynamite and someone wielded an axe, and the elementals were released from their intimate link with the body of the earth. These elementals then found themselves under the moral sway of human beings, whose vocation it is to transform these earthly substances through a process of design and manufacture. It is here in the potent cauldron of human morality, design and manufacture that the real crux of the matter lies.

Rudolf Steiner repeatedly called for the laboratory table to be treated as an altar, and for a moral science of the spirit to work alongside the material sciences. So, when we hear a distinguished scientist like Stephen Hawking declare that humanity faces an uncertain future if technology learns to think for itself and adapt to its environment, and that ‘The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race’, the real questions hovering in the air are… Who is funding this technology? And who is presiding over ‘the altar’ in the laboratory?

Prof. Hawking’s view of A.I. is sobering and grave, and if humanity were to be forced down a particular time-line, this prophetic view could well unfold. But let us attempt to balance this gravity with another view of our destiny, one that involves something we will call P.I. (Planetary Intelligence). The following report comes from one of the more controversial and high-profile independent journalists on the internet, the former Asia-Pacific bureau chief of Forbes Magazine, Benjamin Fulford. On December 1st 2014, he reported that ‘Some bank computers are now free world sentient beings operating independently of central bank computers. They think like the mother earth and are acting on behalf of the planetary consciousness…the sentient computers are allocating funds to worthy individuals and organisations while cutting off finances to multinationals and individuals who want to impoverish the mother earth and her inhabitants’.

So, is this report a truth, a falsehood, or simply the balm of wishful thinking? I cannot tell…yet. But after years of reading the lectures of Rudolf Steiner – a true initiate and master seer who was able to document with extraordinary vision how technology is inhabited by an array of extremely powerful spiritual beings – I believe that such a thing as a sentient bank computer is not only a possibility, but a probability at this time of accelerated evolution. As always, the questions are… who, or what, is influencing the landscape of ‘imagination-in-action’ in the laboratory? And who, or what, is enchanting, or imprisoning, the elementals into the technology?

As they have no free will of their own, the elementals are wholly dependant upon the morality they find before them. They can either be chained into the mis-creations of a ruthless and immoral conglomerate of multinationals, whose agenda it is to control the entire planet and all her inhabitants – or they can be enchanted into the emerging forms and systems which are lifting humanity into a new age of enlightenment. Every thought, word and deed we produce is either supporting or hindering our path to freedom and Dr. Steiner describes this in the following way, ‘We can create elemental beings through our work which either disrupt the world process or serve it. This depends on the soul disposition of the one standing at the work bench…man’s vocational work has to be raised consciously to the same level as ritual.’

Everything we do, say and think is a summons to unknown and invisible beings. Therefore we have to create an atmosphere of grace and reverence in the workplace, in order for these beings to feel at home in our laboratories. Only then will they begin to freely collaborate with us and tell us what we wish to know.

Many of the nature spirits on earth at this crucial time in human history wish to be of great assistance to us, but we have to reach out to them. In their shimmering domain of ceaseless movement and endless becoming they are poised for a dynamic and co-creative relationship with an awakened humanity. Yet how do we access their elusive bandwidth of reality? First, we must ask ourselves the following question: ‘Who am I outside the traumas I have experienced, the judgements I have made and the constrictive beliefs I have inherited?’ The ‘you’ that exists beyond these stubborn entanglements is a silent, serene, being-ness; a free, wise and child-like ‘you’ that has always known the way to the secret garden, and that has always recognised the nature beings with whom we share this gracious planet.

So what is the password to their secret garden? It is a direct and powerful one; it is simply… ‘I believe in you!’ Declare this on a breath of profound reverence and gratitude, and see for yourself.

About the Author

Susan Raven is an author and long-time student of Anthroposophy (the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner). Her recently published book Nature Spirits: the Remembrance; A guide to the Elemental Kingdom is a step-by-step guide, bridging the gap between the supersensible world of the shaman and the seer, and the sub-quantum world as described by modern theoretical physicists like Dr. Paul Laviolette and Nassim Haramein. It has been favourably reviewed in high profile esoteric magazines including Nexus, Caduceus, Cygnus, New View and The Star & Furrow.

Susan regularly gives talks and workshops at festivals, conferences and venues around the UK. In her presentations she describes the fluid structure of the astral and etheric realms existing beyond physical matter, and she explains how human thought and emotion affect these subtle realms.

She is also a singer/songwriter whose songs are inspired by the nature kingdoms of Wales. She has produced two CDs, Glittering Cities and Ravensong, which are regularly played on BBC local radio and many other independent stations.

Book review examples:
“A very important piece of research work which should become recommended reading material for all students of spiritual science… the text is beautifully written in an accessible poetic/academic style by an artist of the English language. This book is more than simply being about nature spirits. It is a guide to life with the living and is of value to artists of colour, music and form as well as to researchers and those who simply love to commune with nature. It is written sensitively and inclusively in a language that can appeal to every free thinker regardless of their religious persuasion or philosophical outlook.” Star and Furrow, B. Jarman, former director of the Biodynamic Association

“Your book is a tremendous achievement and I hope it will get a lot of rich response from the human world, but also from the elemental world. They will surely have taken note and continue to do so.”  – Heidi Herrmann – The Natural Beekeeping Trust

“Susan is providing such a high level of reinforcement for all we have seen, sensed and co-created with Spirit. I will be going over and over her writings in her book, so that I can find as clear a way as possible into the kingdoms with whom we are sharing this life.” – Steven and Renate Ash, Sound Healers, Rainbow Medicine Circle

Music review examples:
Susan’s music is transcendent, her voice is gorgeous and her lyrics are moving and insightful. AllMusicguide.com

Some of the messages contained in Ravensong pulled me up short with their insightful honesty – there are wondrous stories told here.  -Kindred Spirit Magazine

To listen to Susan’s music and to find out more about her work visit… www.susanraven.com

Copyright Susan Raven January 2015

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