WISDOM CALLS Spring 2018 Vol. 25 No.1

Self-Examination

Wisdom Calls is the

bulletin of the Queen of

Heaven Gnostic Church

Chief Editor: Steven

Marshall

Rector:

Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall,

Bishop

Rev. Linda Dies, Priest

Rev. Joseph Wolf, Priest

Web Design:

allcreativemedia.com

Deadline for changes or

submissions for the

Summer 2018 bulletin is

May 14th

Queen of Heaven

Gnostic Church

5815 NE Everett St.

Portland, OR 97213

Email:

Portland@gnosis.org

Phone:

503.233.0854

Web:

gnosticchurchportland.org

Regular Events

Gnostic Holy Eucharist

High Mass with Homily,

Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall,

Celebrant

Every Sunday 11 AM

Our real nature is divine. Because we are divine, we have infinite

strength and wisdom at our command, provided we can free

ourselves of the obstacles in our personality, which stand in the

way of our conscious union with the indwelling God.

The Holy Eucharist [or Mass] is so designed that it may remove the

barriers separating the human and divine natures in ourselves. The

Queen of Heaven Gnostic Church of the Ecclesia Gnostica invites

all who seek this mystic union, to partake of the Eucharist, and of

the other mysteries [sacraments] which it administers. No barrier

of creed, race, or status is erected around the altar of the Gnosis.

Please join us for this traditional and inspiring service.

Gnostic Healing Service - Every 2nd Sunday

On the 2nd Sunday of each month of this quarter the Gnostic

Healing Service will be inserted into the regular Mass. The Healing

Service includes a sacramental anointing with Holy oil and

imposition of the hands, which constitutes one of the seven

sacraments of the Gnosis. Please join us in receiving this special

sacrament.

ALL EVENTS THIS QUARTER, UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE WILL

TAKE PLACE AT THE CHURCH ADDRESS

WATCH EMAIL ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR SCHEDULE CHANGES

2018 Queen of Heaven Gnostic Church

mailto:Portland@gnosis.org

A Homily for 1st Sunday in Lent

Self-Examination

By Rt Rev Steven Marshall

The season of Lent extends from Ash Wednesday up

to the eve of Easter Sunday. The word "lent" comes

from a German word meaning "spring." It is a time of

purification and introspection in preparation for the

renewal in spring. The first day of Lent occurs on

Ash Wednesday, 40 days before Easter Sunday. The

number forty has much significance in relation to the

mythic story of Jesus and the preparation of Lent.

According to scripture and tradition, Jesus was forty

hours in the tomb before his resurrection and forty

days fasting in the wilderness before undertaking his

public mission.

The forty days before Easter is a time for us to also

fast from the outer world. In an agricultural society,

Lent is the time in the year when the winter stores are

dwindling and it becomes time to tighten one's belt,

until the food stores can be renewed in the spring. It

represents a period of self-examination, rest and

introspection prior to the arrival of spring. In our self-

examination, it is a time to work on overcoming our

weaknesses, rather than a time to mourn over our past

errors - a time to die to the old in preparation for the

renewal in spring.

As we turn our attention inward in self-examination,

psychological energies are stimulated that lead us

toward a reconciliation of the Shadow elements in

our psyche. We experience a tension and dynamic

resolution of the opposites and a unification with the

contrasexual image within ourselves. As stated in the

Gospel of Thomas: "when you make the two one, and

when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as

the inner and the above as the below, and when you

make the male and female into a single one,...then

shall you enter the Kingdom."

Introspective self-examination helps to bring the

contents of the unconscious into consciousness,

which results in a conjunction of the opposites. When

we make the two one, when we unite the opposites,

something new arises within the psyche on a higher

level of manifestation. We meet a transcendent and

transpersonal being within us. Gnostics have

compared this experience to viewing a twin-image of

oneself in a mirror. "...when you make eyes in the

place of an eye, a hand in the place of a hand, and a

foot in the place of a foot, and an image in the place

of an image, then shall you enter the Kingdom." The

Jewish Gnostics write about a stage in Kabbalistic

meditation where one meets a figure of light

resembling oneself, a light twin, that is necessary

before one can ascend in the Divine Chariot

(Mercavah) to the place of light.

In medieval times, Lent was a period of bitter fasting

and self-mortification. Self-punishment and

intentional suffering was considered an act of piety

pleasing to Deity. This idea sprang from the Old

Testament concept of a jealous God, jealous of the

good fortune and happiness of humanity. The theory

arose that, if our life was too good, we would forget

about the gods, and thus the gods would visit

adversity upon us to make us need them again. If we

voluntarily took on suffering we could escape the

jealous God and prevent him from visiting evil or

punishment upon us to remind us of his existence and

power. The medieval idea of penance was that, if we

took it into our hands to punish ourselves, we could

escape the punishment of God in the hereafter.

There is some truth to this conception, in that the evil

or punishing circumstances in our lives are often the

result of the activity of the gods of the unconscious

that we have ignored. Yet our austerities and

mortifications will never be effective, unless they can

bring the gods of the unconscious into consciousness.

In this instance, the jealous gods are but the inversion

of the helpful powers of the unconscious. "Diabola

est Deus Inversus." (The Devil is the inverse of God)

The religious practice of fasting is universal and not a

phenomenon of Christianity alone. The initiation of a

shaman is generally preceded by a three day fast.

There are many references to this three-day period

throughout the Biblical literature. Jonah spends three

days in the belly of the great fish "Dag Gudul,three

days elapse between the Crucifixion and the

Resurrection of Jesus and St Paul is blind three days

after his encounter on the road to Damascus. The

ordeal of the fast in the Native American practice of

the vision quest produces the experience of a

visionary death and rebirth in which the young

shaman finds his or her helping spirit and other spirit

powers.

In our modern culture, it is difficult to artificially

create the conditions necessary to call forth these

helpful powers. It cannot be made to happen by self-

serving or self-deprecating acts of mortification. Such

acts become another manipulative act of the ego

personality, which inevitably fails, somewhat like the

child who attempts to get what it wants by holding its

breath until it turns blue. Eventually it passes out and

begins to breath again.

The personal sacrifice and austerities of the Native

American vision quest is intended to bring one to the

brink of death. When one comes to the lowest point,

when the ego is at its wits end, then one calls forth

the healing powers of the psyche. In the vision quest,

the Native American youth goes out into the

wilderness alone. He fasts and prays, offering himself

up to the elements of nature and the higher powers.

He continues to fast and suffer until the higher

powers take pity on him. When the spirits come to

him he gives prayers of thanksgiving not self

deprecation. The dual qualities of spiritual courage

and humble emptying are required to make this

sacrifice of self to Self. The Elder Edda describes this

initiation. "I know that I hung on the wind-swept

Tree for nine full nights wounded with a spear, and

given to Odin, myself to myself, on that Tree from

which none know of which root it rises."

Christian mystics have also used fasting to stimulate

mystical experience. The prayers of the Christian

mystics are filled with wonder, love and

thanksgiving, not self-deprecation and confessions of

guilt. We must first feel that we are a worthy offering

before we can courageously empty ourselves in

humble sacrifice and thanksgiving. When we offer

our inner first fruits upon the altar of our hearts, we

experience a mystical transformation and rebirth.

What originally was thought to be so important about

one's life is no longer so important. We find the

hidden pearl within. We find that we have gained the

spiritual treasure that eclipses all worldly treasures.

This loss of self-importance and discovery of Self is a

continuous process. It is not done once and for all

time, with a receipt of perfect Gnosis. If approached

with the appropriate psychological intent, a retreat to

the wilderness and short period of fasting may indeed

call forth the helpful and instructive powers of the

unconscious. The key to the retreat and fasting is to

lose one's self-importance. Isolation and austerity in

voluntarily giving oneself over to a symbolic death is

an aid to this psychological preparation. Coming to

the powers of the unconscious with a planned agenda

or desire to wrest away some importance from the

experience only leads to failure.

An Elder of the Brule Sioux describes the necessary

humility and self sacrifice to obtain a vision and

discover one's Self in a story of a young man's failure

on a vision quest. "You went after your vision like a

hunter after buffalo, or a warrior after scalps. You

were fighting the spirits. You thought they owed you

a vision. Suffering alone brings no vision nor does

courage, nor does sheer will power. A vision comes

as a gift born of humility, of wisdom, and of patience.

If from your vision quest you have learned nothing

but this, then you have already learned much."

It might be thought strange that I should compare

Native American shamanism with classical

Gnosticism, for, in the popular view, Native

Americans are earth-worshippers and Gnostics earth-

haters. Yet, a deeper appreciation of both begins to

demonstrate their kinship, and to reveal that neither

dichotomy is accurate. The Happy Hunting Ground

of the Native American is not a place in this world,

nor was the Gnostic paradise. The Native Americans

respected the earth because their life depended on it,

yet, in the extremities of the vision quest, the earth is

acknowledged as a place of suffering, a place to

perform one's earthly and spiritual calling until the

time comes to join the Sky People of their ancestors.

So, why do we not suggest that we all leave this vale

of woe in some mass suicide? Because there is

something yet very precious about human

consciousness-there is an insight, a resurrection, a

Gnosis that can only be achieved in this embodied

consciousness. This Gnosis not only liberates one

from the attachments and snares of the world but also

awakens a compassion for all sentient beings and a

desire to remain and help others with the task of Self-

knowledge. Liberation from the chains of attainment

frees us from bondage to our demiurgic egos. The

fasting and mortifications of the vision quest

comprise one of the ways that have been used to

burst these bonds of the Demiurge who says "I am

the only god." Under this tyranny a vision of Gnosis

cannot come.

An extended fast is only one means of producing the

altered state of consciousness that can knock the ego-

personality out of its autonomous tyranny of self-

importance. Until the autonomy and resistance of the

ego is broken down, there is no place for the helpful

powers to come forth and communicate. According

to the teachings of Don Juan in the writings of Carlos

Castaneda, we find our personal power when we

loose our self-importance. The oppressive

circumstances of our lives, the petty tyrants and

jealous gods that we meet, help us to lose our self-

importance and to find our personal power. When we

lose our self-importance, all the things that push our

buttons no longer affect us. The archons (the jealous

gods) have no power over us. We find the personal

power to transcend the petty archons and ascend to

the realms of light.

We lose the self-importance of the ego-personality to

find the Self. According the Gospel of John,

"whosoever shall lose his life shall gain it." Self-

importance is not the same as self-worth. We find

something we think will make us important in order

to cover a lack of self-worth. When we release the

self-importance of our ego-personality we find the

worth we have in the eyes of the Father from the

beginning. In the death and rebirth experience of

Gnosis, we lose our life in order to gain it.

The visionary experience of shamanic initiation is a

vision of dismemberment and death. The shaman

sees his or her body hollowed out and filled with

crystals, wounded and healed, in order that he or she

might heal others. From the wounding of Jesus upon

the Cross to the stigmata of the saints, the wounded

healer remains an archetype of our own death and

rebirth in Gnosis.

In this day and age, we can come to this experience

of death and rebirth through invocation and prayer.

We can invoke the helpful powers of the unconscious

into consciousness. Such a prayer opens a direct line

to the driver of the cosmic dump truck wherein is

accumulated all of our lifetimes of psychic and

karmic refuse. Such a prayer sends out a call that we

are ready for it to fall on us. This is what the helpful

powers are for. This is why they are called forth; to

help us take care of our accumulated garbage, to

polish the glass of our spiritual vision, to purify our

refuse in the furnace of our fiery being, composted

and compressed into crystal, to fashion the diamond

body; to make of it a bright and pellucid mirror,

reflecting to us the radiance of our Divine Self.

Christs Temptation in the Wilderness

Juan De Flandes

Schedule Spring 2018

FEBRUARY Sunday, February 4th, 2018 11:00 am Candlemas Intent: Kindling a Light in the Darkness Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall (Please bring your candles to be blessed for the upcoming year.) Sunday, February 11th, 2018 11:00am Quinquagesima Sunday Intent: Holy Spirit as the Fire of Love Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall MONDAY, February 12th, 2018 7pm Womens Divination Group We will be doing tarot, angel cards, pendulums, etc. Come and join in, if you dont know how, come and learn! Sunday, February 18th, 2018 11:00 am First Sunday in Lent Intent: Self-Examination Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall (Blessing and Signing of the Ashes) FRIDAY, February 23rd, 2018 7pm Sophia Devotional Service Celebrant: Rev. Linda Dies Our celebration of the Divine Feminine. Come and receive the Blessing of the Rose. Sunday, February 25th, 2018 11:00 am 2nd Sunday in Lent Intent: Yearning for God Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall MARCH Sunday, March 4th, 2017 11:00 am Third Sunday in Lent Intent: Understanding Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall

Sunday, March 11th, 2018 11:00 am 4th Sunday in Lent Intent: Spiritual Refreshment Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall MONDAY, March 12th, 2018 7pm Womens Divination Group We will be doing tarot, angel cards, pendulums, etc. Come and join in, if you dont know how, come and learn! Sunday, March 18th, 2018 11:00 am Sunday after Montsegur Day Intent: Holy Cathar Martyrs of Montsegur Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall Todays Mass commemorates the date in 1244 AD when the last of the Holy Cathars were burnt at the stake. Remembering them makes us mindful of the noble struggles and sacrifices that have been made to keep the Light of Gnosis alive. FRIDAY, March 23rd, 2018 7pm Sophia Devotional Service Celebrant: Rev. Linda Dies Our celebration of the Divine Feminine. Come and receive the Blessing of the Rose. Sunday, March 25th, 2018 11:00 am Palm Sunday Intent: Temporary Triumph of the Light Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall

APRIL

SEE HOLY WEEK OBSERVANCE PAGE

Sunday, April 1st, 2018 11:00 am Easter Sunday Subject: The Inner Resurrection Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall Sunday, April 8th, 2018 11:00 am 1st Sunday After Easter Intent: Wealth of the Spirit Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall MONDAY, April 9th, 2018 7pm Womens Divination Group We will be doing tarot, angel cards, pendulums, etc. Come and join in, if you dont know how, come and learn! Sunday, April 15th, 2018 11:00 am 2nd Sunday After Easter Intent: Divine Grace Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall FRIDAY, April 20th, 2018 7:00 pm Sophia Devotional Service Celebrant: Rev. Linda Dies Our celebration of the Divine Feminine. Come and receive the Blessing of the Rose. Sunday, April 22nd, 2018 11:00 am 3rd Sunday after Easter Intent: Divine Protection Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall Sunday, April 29th, 2018 11am 4th Sunday after Easter Intent: Divine Aid toward Liberation Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall MAY Sunday, May 6th, 2018 11am 5th Sunday after Easter Intent: The Human Potential for Liberation Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall Sunday, May 13th, 2018 11am Ascension Sunday Subject: Return to the Light Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall

MONDAY May 14th, 2018 7pm Womens Divination Group We will be doing tarot, angel cards, pendulums, etc. Come and join in, if you dont know how, come and learn! FRIDAY, May 18th, 2018 7:00 pm Sophia Devotional Service Celebrant: Rev. Linda Dies Our celebration of the Divine Feminine. Sunday, May 20th, 2018 11:00 am Pentecost Sunday Subject: Coming of the Holy Spirit Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall (Confirmations - Please call Father Steven if you are interested 503 233 0854) Sunday, May 27th, 2018 11am Trinity Sunday Intent: Devotion to the Triune Deity Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall Sunday, May 21st, 2017 11am 5th Sunday after Easter Intent: The Human Potential for Liberation Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall Sunday, May 28th, 2017 11am Ascension Sunday Subject: Return to the Light Celebrant: Rt. Rev. Steven Marshall

Easter Services 2018

Queen of Heaven Gnostic Church

5815 NE Everett St. Portland, Oregon 97213

503-233-0854

Holy Week Begins

Palm Sunday Service

Sunday, March 25th , 2018 11:00 am

Please join us for this holiday Mass with the blessing and procession of the palms to commemorate the

triumphal entry of the Light into the Heavenly City. Palm Sunday marks an important initiation of our

mystical participation in Holy Week.

Maundy Thursday Eucharist

Thursday, March 29th, 2018 7:30 pm

The Eucharist is preceded by the Ceremony of the Washing of the Feet in commemoration of the Last

Supper. A procession of the most holy sacrament in the monstrance is enacted.

Good Friday Service

Friday, March 30th, 2018 7:30 pm This Gnostic service is restored from the Gnostic Acts of John and contains the sacred dance often

translated as the Hymn of Jesus. Scholars believe that this simple dance is a mystery ritual and may be one

of the earliest Christian rituals.

Holy Saturday Vigil

Saturday, March 31st, 2018 7:30 pm

This service includes the Blessing of the New Fire with the lighting of the Paschal Candle, the Blessing of

the Baptismal Water, Baptisms and concluding with the Easter Praeconium. Holy Saturday celebrates the

timeless story of the Harrowing of Hell from the Acts of John. In this story, the spirit of Jesus descends into

the underworld to rescue Adam and Eve and a host of ancient spirits from the bondage of the Archon.

Festival of the Risen Light

Sunday, April 1st 2018 11:00 am

In this Festival of the Risen Light, we celebrate the Resurrection of our own spiritual natures, as

exemplified in the story of the resurrection of Jesus. The triumphant culmination of the archetypal events of

Holy Week brings a precious opportunity to enter the dimension of the sacred in a mystical apotheosis and

transformation of consciousness.

Church News

Our assistant priests have celebrated these past few months. Father Joe for the

anniversary of his priestly ordination on the Sunday following, on December 17th

and Reverend Linda Dies on the Sunday preceding, on October 8th. Thanks so

much to both of them for their help.

Chapel Cleaning Day was held on November 12th. Many thanks to all that

assisted in preparing the chapel for the holidays. A special thanks to Stevan for

decorating the chapel so beautifully.

Epiphany Sunday was held on January 7th. Bran was baptised in a lovely

ceremony. Many blessings and good wishes to Bran. A grand time was had by all

concluding with the holiday party and gift exchange. The grand prize was won by

Seth this year.

Rev Jan Saether and Very Reverend Charles Wells passed into the Light beyond

shadow this month (January). They will be sorely missed. May their paths be

illumined by the Divine Light.

Father Steven will be traveling to Seattles Hagia Sophia Gnostic Church over the

last weekend in January for a long overdue visit to our sister church there. Safe

travels, Father Steven.

Note: The Queen of Heaven Gnostic Church is the Portland parish of the Ecclesia Gnostica, a

Christian Gnostic sacramental church, with its headquarters based in Los Angeles, CA. As a

sacramental, liturgical church, we employ chant, candles, incense, bells, vestments, and other

accoutrements for the purpose of elevating consciousness out of the ordinary. The structure and

content of our liturgies are age old and inspired by the practices and metaphorical writings of the

early Gnostics of the 1st through 4th centuries.

We continue an established and recognized, apostolic tradition without moralizing judgments or

dogmatic statements of belief in a setting that fosters mystical inquiry and spiritual

understanding. We retain the early gnostic practice of ordaining women on an equal basis with

men and revere the feminine aspect of Deity in the fashion of our Gnostic forebears.

For more information please visit the Gnostic Archives: gnosis.org

www.gnosticchurchportland.org