February 14, 2014

To find the Other is to find Oneself

 
"To find the Other is to find Oneself:
All Nature is expressed in one loved face."

"So says the Bard of the Druids in our Isis Wedding Rite. To unite with another soul is the goal of the Lover: through this devotion selfishness and loneliness fade away. When twin souls unite in Divine Union, it is through discovery of The Immortal Beloved that they find their own real selves. Such is the truth underlying the Egyptian myth of Isis and Osiris, perfect wife and husband. In classical Greece Plato brought forth the ideal of twin souls divided and discovering reunion through love. Centuries later medieval troubadours travelled throughout Europe singing of fulfilment through the romantic devotion of lovers. Within our secret dreams, we have this knowledge in ourselves. But one is not for ever able to concentrate on one other person, excluding all others! To find the other is indeed to find oneself. But this very love is creative, and kindles a like flame in receptive hearts. Families become friendly. Children are drawn into incarnation. Friendship expands to include animals, birds, trees and flowers, in an ever widening circle.
 
"Through this increasing community, an elaborate interrelationship is woven; a tapestry of glowing colours and intricate design. Each new friendly connexion makes an additional knot in this tapestry of life. The good in any true relationship cannot be undone or broken, because by its very nature it belongs to the eternal Sphere of Archetypes. No annulment, no divorce exists in the Web of the Universe. That which is ugly, unnecessary or diseased has no part in this manifestation of the Divine Plan. We lose nothing that is a living part of ourselves or of others. What is lost could never have had real value.  Through the understanding gained of how to live pleasantly with those around us, cosmic awareness begins to dawn. This is a natural awakening of the soul, as a plant grows, flowers and bears fruit. This community of souls interconnected through love and wisdom has been symbolized by medieval philosophers as 'Rosa Mundi', a rambling rose bush that grows throughout all spheres, and flowers in the hearts of all beings and existences."

Olivia Robertson,
Introduction to the "Isis Wedding Rite"

(Painting of Osiris born again by the Winged Isis by Olivia Robertson, Castle Temple)

Liturgy of the Fellowship of Isis