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Greetings, Respected Members and Friends of AMORC!
In many areas of the country, AMORC Affiliated Bodies are reopening for in-person events. During the 2020 pandemic, Affiliated Bodies were closed, and the Grand Lodge and most local regions of AMORC hosted online “Zoom” meetings. These meetings are a great way for Rosicrucians and students of mysticism to commune. While I encourage you to continue attending the Zoom meetings that will continue into the future, I would also like to invite you (if you feel safe and healthy in doing so) to also support your local Affiliated Body by attending their events. After so long being closed, the Affiliated Bodies need your support. I recently attended my local Affiliated Body, and the feeling of attending a Rosicrucian event again was... incredible! The smell of incense, the sound of members intoning vowels, the visual symbolism of the temple, and the vibrations of the space created a long-missed feeling of attunement with the Rosicrucian egregore.
Recently, I attended a memorial service for a beloved Soror. There will be another, Rosicrucian, service soon. If you ever have the occasion to attend a Rosicrucian service, you will find it most inspiring. Anyway... as I reflected on the feeling of sorrow, I realized that it was because I would no longer share in the joy she brought to so many of us. Some of Khalil Gibran’s thoughts on Joy and Sorrow came to mind. I would like to share his beautiful expression of this seeming dichotomy:
“Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow.
And he answered:
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with
your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s
oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with
knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that
which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth
you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the
greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember
that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.
Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.
When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must
your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.”
-- Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
May the Cosmic bless you with great prosperity in all dimensions of your life!
Bill Hallett
Grand Councilor, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest Region AMORC
cologc777@gmail.com
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