The Modern Order of Essenes: Introduction to the Apprentice Grade

[ecosophia]

If you have studied and practiced the materials already presented in this sequence, you've fulfilled the requirements for advancement to the Apprentice Grade of the MOE. The following paper by John Gilbert was the first instruction that new Apprentices received. 

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Introductory Apprentice Lecture

You’ve already learned the Essene Blessing Walk and the Essene Healing Breath.  (If you haven’t, please stop here, go back to the previous papers, and do that right now.) Once you know and use these two important techniques, please take the time to understand the Essene healing philosophy and the Essene healing paradigm.  This is our understanding of how the Universe works to help people heal themselves.

Healing Philosophy of the Modern Essenes

In our experience, all healing is spiritual healing.  In our intuitive insights, all healing is spiritual healing.  In our hearts, all healing is spiritual healing.  In our belief, all healing is spiritual healing.  In our opinion, all healing is spiritual healing.  Everything we can imagine that can be wrong with a human being appears to be healed by Divine intervention; and without this Divine intervention it appears nothing is ever healed.

Underlying every physical ailment known to humanity is an emotional issue.  Resolve the emotional issue and you heal the physical ailment.  Typical emotional issues include anger, anxiety, grief or sorrow, resentments, blame, shame or guilt.

Underlying every emotional issue known to humanity is a mental block.  Resolve this mental block and you heal the emotional issue.  This mental block is usually associated with denial and not accepting life, self and others, not forgiving self and others, and not being lovingly kind to self and others. 

Underlying every mental block known to humanity is an intuitive (psychological) error.  Resolve this intuitive error and you heal the mental block.  Most intuitive errors have to do with ignoring our intuitive insights or doing the opposite.  .

Underlying every intuitive error known to humanity is a spiritual disconnection.  Resolve this spiritual disconnection and you heal the intuitive error.  Spiritual disconnections happen when we separate ourselves from the Divine.  All spiritual disconnections are real.  Everything else is a symptom.  Physical ailments, emotional issues, mental blocks and intuitive or psychological errors are all symptoms.  These symptoms tell us we are distancing ourselves from the Divine.  We are separating ourselves from the Divine.  The teachings of the Modern Essenes are designed to help us reconnect with the Divine.

All healing is spiritual healing.  When we distance ourselves from the Divine, we cut ourselves off from the spiritual energy we need to survive as vibrantly healthy, mentally alert, emotionally stable, psychologically sound, intuitive human beings.  This lack of spiritual energy is the cause of all our psychological (intuitive), mental, emotional and physical ills.  Once we restore our connection to the Divine and start replenishing our spiritual energy, we heal.  We heal on every level of our being.  This healing is called spiritual healing.  The end product of all spiritual healing is spiritual health.  Abundant spiritual health is our goal.

The Essene Healing Paradigm

Rule One: The Law of Earth - Underlying and supporting every physical ailment is an emotional issue.  Find and resolve this emotional issue and the physical ailment is healed.

Emotional issues include all forms of anger, anxiety or fear, sorrow or depression, resentments, blaming others, seeking revenge, guilt, shame and any other obstructive emotion.

Rule Two: The Law of Water - Underlying and supporting every emotional issue is a mental block.  Find and remove this mental block and the emotional issue is healed.

Mental blocks are generally hidden because we deny them.  Denial is a way of avoiding our issues and the reality of our life.  We think that if we don’t see it or pay attention to it, we don’t have a problem.  The problem is we don’t see it and we don’t pay attention to it.

Rule Three: The Law of Air - Underlying and supporting every mental block is an intuitive error.  Find and reverse this intuitive error and the mental block is healed.

We are all intuitive all the time.  When we don’t listen to our intuitive insights or pay any attention to them, we are committing an intuitive error.  When we do any thing contrary to our intuitive insights, we are making an intuitive error.

Rule Four: The Law of Fire - Underlying and supporting every intuitive error is a spiritual disconnection.  When you find this conflict and connect once again to the Divine, the whole person is healed on every level of being.

Anytime we’re not in communion with the Divine, we are disconnected from the Divine.  This is our choice and we can return to Divine any time.  The choice is ours and ours alone.

Rule Five: The Law of Spirit - All healing of every kind is spiritual healing.

We are spiritual beings and we can heal ourselves anyway we decide.  But no matter what we decide, all healing is spiritual healing.  We can choose to heal ourselves on any level, or any group of levels, of our being.  What we choose is what will be healed.

Essene Gnostic Beliefs

What follows is an outline of the ideas traditionally taught by the Modern Order of Essenes. You are not required to believe these ideas in order to proceed through the Essene training, but you are expected to understand them and reflect on them.

1. The Divine is Everything

The Divine is everything.  There is no thought, no thought form, no holographic projection, no illusion that is not a part of the Divine.  We are a part of the Divine.  We exist in the Divine Mind just as everything in existence does.  There is nothing that is not a part of the Divine, contained within the Divine Mind.

The Divine is all matter and all forms created from matter.  The Divine is all energy and all expressions of force created by matter and energy.  The Divine is Light and this light is a symbol of knowledge.  The Divine is Sound, Vibration, Light, Energy and Matter because all these things are mind stuff.  The Divine is Love because love is a decision and the Divine chooses to love just as the Divine chooses to create.  The creation itself is an expression of love.

The problem is that to choose to love means there is something opposite to love that can also be chosen.  The Divine created love just as it created to opposite to love.  The Divine created all emotions and the opposite to each and every one.   It is because of this duality the Divine has the ability to choose.  It is because of this duality that everything in the creation has the ability to choose.

2. The Divine Created All That Exists

The Divine conceived everything that is.  There is nothing that is not conceived by the Divine.  That means everything is created by the Divine.   Love and hatred, abundance and poverty, health and illness, light and darkness, knowledge and ignorance, freedom and bondage are all part of the creation.  So are you and I.

We were created by the Divine and we were empowered by the Divine to choose how we would live our own lives.  This freedom of choice is the same freedom expressed by the Divine.  This right to choose is a part of the creation because the Divine thought the creation into existence in this way.  It could have been different, but it is exactly as the Divine created it to be.

3. We Can Create Our Own Lives

As a Child of the Divine we all have the right to create our own lives according to our own will.  The problem is we’re a very complex creation and we live in a world of complex creatures all doing what they want to do.  Sometimes what they want to do impacts us for good or ill.  So we create and recreate our own lives many times each lifetime.

We also have to heal ourselves when other people impact us for ill, when others cause us injury of some kind.  We heal ourselves spiritually, mentally, emotionally, psychologically and physically to the best of out ability all the time.  As we mature spiritually we heal ourselves better and better.  This is how we create ourselves over and over, how we create our own lives.

4. Healing is Creation

If we become aware something needs to be healed, intend to heal it and believe we can heal it, we will manifest healing in our life.  This is the basis of all spiritual healing.  All healing starts with the awareness something that is currently wrong and that can be made right.  Once we intend to heal it and believe it can be healed, healing will become manifest in whatever requires healing.

All of Creation is a matter of first an intention, secondly a belief and finally the manifestation of this intention and belief.

The Essence of Deity

All healing depends upon the essence of Deity.  The essence of Deity is unconditional love.  This unconditional love is the key to how we create our own lives and how we heal ourselves.  Unconditional love is expressed as acceptance, forgiveness and love.  The creative and healing power of the universe is the essence of Deity.

The Divine is unconditionally loving, all-accepting and all-forgiving.  Divine Acceptance allows us to accept ourselves and others.  Divine Forgiveness allows us to forgive ourselves and others.  Thus we learn how to love in our own lives.

Learning to love ourselves and others is a natural consequence of accepting and forgiving ourselves and others.  Loving ourselves and others is the key to all spiritual healing, because the Divine is unconditional love and the Divine heals all things.  We become an instrument for the Love of the Divine when we help other people heal themselves. 

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The following techniques are introduced in the Apprentice Grade.

Essene Healing Hands

While you’re learning and practicing the Essene Blessing Walk and the Essene Healing Breath, we encourage you to learn and practice the Essene Healing Hands technique.  This is a way of using healing centers in the palms to direct spiritual healing energy toward yourself or other people. As noted in an earlier paper, it is the central healing practice of the Modern Order of Essenes and should be practiced daily.

The technique is different from several other energy healing techniques in that once the healing energy starts flowing, we remove ourselves from the equation.  The healing energy continues to flow where we sent it and we go about our life.  By combining this technique with our daily Essene Blessing Walk and Healing Breath or other meditative practice, we’re able to heal ourselves and help others heal themselves.

Essene Foot Reflexology

Another healing technique taught by the Order is called Essene foot reflexology.  Reflexology is an alternative healing art that has become very widely used around the world, both on its own and as an adjunct to other healing methods, including medical modalities. Certified professional reflexologists can be found in many communities, and qualifying for this certificate takes a great deal of study and practice under the supervision of qualified teachers. However, there are also many books, websites, and classes available to laypeople teaching them how to use reflexology to help themselves deal with minor conditions and maintain good health.

Essene foot reflexology belongs to this second category. It is a simple process, performed daily, that uses reflexology principles to clear blockages of spiritual energy from the feet and the body. It is easy to perform and easy to teach to other people so that they can use it for their own benefit. While it does not replace treatment by a professional reflexologist, it can supplement such treatments and it can also be used on its own for ordinary ailments, of the kind that most people treat with over-the-counter medicines.

Essene Applied Kinesiology

Applied kinesiology is a method of divination that allows you to access information from your own subconscious mind.

The Essenes believed that different methods worked for different people.  The Modern Essenes believe we can accommodate individual differences by providing a number of applied kinesiology techniques to allow each person find a technique that works for them.

Preparation for Attunement

As a Candidate to become an Apprentice Essene Healer your first task will be to activate your Healing Hands every morning.  We suggest doing this as a ritual.  We suggest performing a Sphere of Protection ritual of some kind first, before activating your Healing Hands, to protect yourself from both astral and psychic attacks as well as protecting yourself from the diseases, illnesses, emotional and psychological issues of your clients.

Your second task is to perform some form of meditation daily. The Essene Healing Breath meditation is recommended for members of the Modern Order of Essenes, but any form of meditation will qualify. You will need to meditate daily for at least a month before you will be prepared for your attunement.

Your third task is to perform Essene Foot Reflexology on yourself every day. This takes only a few minutes and will begin the process of clearing away spiritual blockages from your subtle bodies so that you can experience spiritual healing yourself and also provide the same help for other people.

Note that these three tasks are easy to combine into a single morning practice. If you choose to do this, perform a Sphere of Protection ritual, then meditate, then awaken your Healing Hands, then perform Essene Foot Reflexology. This makes a fine daily practice and will provide great benefits for your spiritual life as well as your capacity to heal.

Your fourth task is to prepare yourself for your attunement.  To do that, you’ll need to study the following lectures:

       1.           Introductory  Apprentice Lecture

       2.          Essene Healing Hands  Lecture

       3.          Essene Foot Reflexology Lecture

       4.          Essene Applied Kinesiology Lecture     

Once you understand the material covered in these lectures and you feel confident in your ability to do the following, you will be ready for your attunement.  Before your attunement, you should be able to do all the following things without having to look up the details.

       1.          Protect yourself inside a Sphere of Protection

       2.          Activate your Healing Hands

       3.          Perform and describe the Essene Healing Breath

       4.          Demonstrate and explain Essene Foot Reflexology

       5.          Perform and demonstrate an Essene Blessing Walk

       6.          Perform and demonstrate one form of Essene Kinesiology

       7.          Explain what you understand from the Introductory Apprentice Lecture

Attunement can be performed at a distance and I will offer it at regular intervals as we proceed.

Comments

[arth_cerdded]

JMG,

I find myself waiting with great anticipation every week for these to be posted.

Many thanks for this! It has been an enlightening experience to work with these over the last few weeks. It's still amazing to me that something so simple can be so powerful.

Regards,
-Bert

[jprussell]

A perhaps overly-pedantic question, but I'm excited by this course of practice and want to make sure I get it right as I follow along:

If you are taking the option of "some other form of daily meditation" besides the Essene healing breath, is it still necessary to perform and describe the full Essene Healing Breath meditation to be ready for attunement?

Secondly, more out of curiosity: it strikes me as not quite obvious that the Law of Water regards "mental blocks", whereas the Law of Air speaks of "intuitive errors". My first impression would be that "intuition" is waterier, and "mental" is airier. Is there anything going on here besides a good theme for meditation?

Thanks much,
Jeff

[ecosophia]

Glad to hear it. There's a lot more still to be posted.

[ecosophia]

1) Nope. You just need to be practicing some form of daily meditation in the weeks immediately before the attunement.

2) Unfortunately the author of the paper is no longer available to explain, so it's probably a good theme for meditation.

[(Anonymous)]

Just the blessing walk has started some pretty exciting changes. If this scales up like I hope it does then Thursdays are going to be my new favorite day.

[(Anonymous)]

Looking forward to the next chapters. I find these practices easy to integrate into a daily routine, specially if you already do a set of spiritual practices, and so far very rewarding.

Guillem.

[ecosophia]

I'll be interested in what you think of the rest of the material. Keep in mind that even if what's to come isn't to your taste, the blessing walk is a fine standalone practice -- and yes, it can catalyze potent changes.

[ecosophia]

The ease of integration with other practices isn't accidental. To the best of my memory, everyone else I knew who practiced the Essene work was also doing something else -- usually the Magickal Order of the Golden Dawn (precursor to the FHR) or the Universal Gnostic Church -- and the Essene work was very much presented as something to do alongside the rest of your spiritual life.

Sphere of Protection

[(Anonymous)]

This course as well as others would require creating many spheres of protection around one self a week. Do these spheres disappear or disintegrate so fast?

Re: Sphere of Protection

[ecosophia]

The Sphere of Protection exercise, in any of its forms, should be practiced daily. That wouldn't be necessary if we lived in an energetically clean environment, but, um, we don't. So regular cleansing is a good idea!

[(Anonymous)]

We’re going to the store later. I can’t smile at everyone because of masking requirements (flu, this time), but I’ll think blessings at them and report back.

—Princess Cutekitten

Morning vs. Evening Practice?

[(Anonymous)]

Hi JMG,

My morning routine is Heathen LBRP and Heathen Middle Pillar, followed by 10 minutes of discursive meditation and ended with prayer. I tend to send Reiki to my mother in the early evening, so have inserted the Essene Healing Breath meditation to the time before I send Reiki.

Would it be okay to do the Essene program in the early evening, rather than morning?

I'm looking forward to continuing, and am especially interested in the reflexology part just now. My feet have been tense since forever. Any idea what they may be telling me?

Thanks!
OtterGirl

Re: Morning vs. Evening Practice?

[ecosophia]

1) You can certainly do your Essene practices in the evening instead of the morning -- the morning is simply the most convenient time for most people. You may also find that even if you do the rest of your practices in the evening, it works better to empower your hands in the morning -- we'll get to that next week. It doesn't take long.

2) Most people in industrial countries have tense feet -- hard-soled shoes and hard floors are not very good for feet! We'll get to the reflexology method in a couple of weeks, and at that point you should be able to start figuring out what's going on, by doing the daily practice.

[(Anonymous)]

Shopping got postponed till tomorrow, because, instead of the fog coming in on little cat feet, it stomped in on great big rhinoceros 🦏 feet. For a while we couldn’t see across the street.

—Princess Cutekitten

[ganeshling]

1) Would there be any problem with tacking the hands activation exercise to an end of an already established daily practice? In my case it's the CGD and, folowing your advise, I've been keeping it separate from everything else. Would this be one of the few exeptions to the rule?

I'm definitely going to do a meditation and divination on it. Just trying to be very cautious by asking here as well.

[ecosophia]

That is in fact standard -- John advised students of the Essene work to empower their hands immediately after whatever form of daily meditation they practiced. It seems to work well with just about everything -- and yes, that makes it an exception to the usual rules.

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, am I missing something? The Law of Earth provides an explanation for physical problems; the Law of Water provides one for emotional problems; the Law of Air provides one for mental blocks; etc. It seems consistent with the standard elemental correspondences from that perspective.

-Translucent Jejune Octopus

PS - It seems if I'm going to sit still with my eyes closed for 20 minutes I need to employ someone to come and hit me with a hammer.

[jprussell]

Ah, thanks for this comment, as it helped clarify things for me. I was initially reading the emphasis in each law on the part that was "underlying and supporting". For example, in the Law of Air, it says "Underlying and supporting every mental block is an intuitive error", where my focus was on the "intuitive error" bit, rather than on the "mental block" bit. That change in emphasis, combined with their sequencing makes better sense to me now.