From Eclipse to Apocalypse
Part Five
Dear Friends,
Here is the fifth part of my editorial foreword to this year’s From Eclipse to Apocalypse: Star Wisdom vol VI, introducing themes I hope to explore with some of you at the Sophia Foundation’s retreat from October 12-16 in Osage Forest of Peace.
The previous sections can be found here:
Peace to you all,
Joel Matthew Park
V. The Future: Total Solar Eclipse of August 12, 2045
Now, we can consider the Age of Eclipse as a seven-year period in isolation, but we can also connect it into a larger period of development. There will be a third total solar eclipse that passes all the way across the contiguous United States, and then down into South America, on August 12, 2045, almost exactly 28 years after the solar eclipse of 2017.
We could hope that the crisis through which we have passed during these seven years are like the first seven years of childhood, while 2045 could represent achieving egohood at age 28. Note that the midpoint between these two is in 2031, during which time humanity has a great potential to experience the Parousia, Christ’s presence in the etheric, as this will be 100 years after his appearance in the 1930’s, and 100 years before his resurrection from the sub-earthly spheres in 2135.
The year 2045 is close to the year 2040, Christ’s deepest descent into the sub-earthly spheres, at which point he starts his process of reascent and return to humanity (leading up to 2135). It is also close to the year 2047, the end of humanity’s collective repetition of Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness—a time that began in AD 869, and has reached a fever pitch ever since 1929.
In terms of star memories, August 12, 2045 is almost exactly 100 years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. This is a dire warning—akin to those related to the fall of the spirits of darkness in reference to prior eclipses—of the disastrous results of technocracy.
On the other hand, August 13, 1905 was the 40th birthday of Ida Peerdeman, a Dutch Catholic who began to experience visions of Mary in the form of The Lady of All Nations—beginning in 1945! These visions lasted from 1945-59; over the course of them, The Lady of All Nations asked for an image to be made of her; for the rosary to be prayed daily for the salvation of the world; and for a particular prayer to be directed to her (given on February 11, 1951—just over 33 years after the apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima):
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Father,
Send now Your Spirit over the earth,
Let the Holy Spirit live in the hearts of all nations,
That they may be preserved
From degeneration, disasters and war.
May the Lady of All Nations, who once was Mary,
Be our Advocate, Amen.
She also emphasized that there must come about the proclamation of the fifth Marian Dogma. The four Marian dogmas that have been proclaimed thus far by the Catholic Church are: 1) Mary as the Mother of God, proclaimed at the Council of Ephesus in AD 431; 2) her Perpetual Virginity, recognized since at least the 3rd century; 3) her Immaculate Conception, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854; and her assumption into Heaven, proclaimed by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950 (see here). It is noteworthy that these last two are the only ex cathedra (i.e., infallible) proclamations made by the Pope since the dogma of papal infallibility was established by Pope Pius IX. Statements ex cathedra are thus far reserved for the Virgin Mary!
The Lady of All Nations requested that Mary officially be proclaimed in a threefold way: as Coredemptrix, Mediatrix, and Advocate. We might imagine that this threefold recognition is in some way related to Valentin Tomberg’s description of the Holy Trinosophia as a feminine triad that, as united with the masculine Holy Trinity, radiates as a “Luminous Holy Trinity” in the form of a six-pointed star. Perhaps we can consider the Daughter as coredemptrix with the Son; the Mother as Mediatrix of all graces; and the Holy Soul as the eternal Advocate for humanity.
Now, it is very interesting to note that it was the summer of 1945 that Valentin Tomberg became a Catholic. During this time period he was hard at work on his second volume on jurisprudence, which has recently been published in English for the first time by Angelico Press as Jus Humanitatis: The Right of Humankind as Foundation for International Law. This work was, in a way, Tomberg’s diagnosis and prescription for working towards world peace in the aftermath of the two World Wars.
As the years went on, the Catholic Valentin Tomberg became very interested in the visions of Ida Peerdeman. She lived in Amsterdam, where he and his family had lived from 1938-44; her two public visions took place in the Church of St. Thomas Aquinas, where Tomberg’s son, Alex, had been baptized. He eventually traveled back to Amsterdam himself to investigate the validity of these messages, and found them to be authentic.
There is a deeper significance to all of this, which we can bring into relationship with the cosmic rhythm associated with the birth of Kalki Avatar. Valentin Tomberg brings into relationship the path of the Avatars and the path of the Buddhas. From his perspective, the Avatars are beings of revelation and grace from above. They are the semi-archangelic beings who inspire the bodhisattvas on their paths to enlightenment, whereas the bodhisattvas themselves represent the stream of human effort and experience. The eventual attainment of Buddhahood, in the final incarnation of a bodhisattva, represents the final and complete union between the inspiring Avatar being above (on a path of descent) and the striving human bodhisattva below (on a path of ascent). He specifically refers to the eventual union of Maitreya Buddha and Kalki Avatar as one being on the historical plane. For those of us who consider Valentin Tomberg to be an incarnation of the Maitreya Boddhisatva, it makes sense to take his charactization seriously—“from the horse’s mouth”, so to speak!
Rudolf Steiner indicated that for a boddhisatva, between the ages of 30-33 a great change comes over the individual. The “normal” ego of the individual leaves completely and a transcendent ego is able to descend (what Tomberg would characterize as the Avatar). Steiner indicates that in the final incarnation of Maitreya Buddha, rather than the personal ego needing to leave to make room for the transcendent one, when this inspiring ego descends it finally unites completely with the personal ego of the Maitreya, the culmination of a 5,000 year process (he indicates this Buddhahood will be achieved approximately 2,400 years from now). This is essentially the same picture as that given by Valentin Tomberg.
Now, my own perspective, using Tomberg’s language and based out of his perspective, is something a bit more nuanced and fluid. In what follows I will refer to the transcendent, archangelic aspect of the Buddha-in-becoming as Kalki Avatar, and the reincarnating human individuality as Maitreya Bodhisattva. Please, do not let there be any confusion that when I refer to Maitreya I mean anything transcendent. I am writing in Tomberg’s own terms, according to which Maitreya is a “mere man” going through many, many lifetimes of struggle in order to—through a Faustian effort, so to speak—attain to Buddhahood.
In any given lifetime, around the ages of 30-33, the Kalki Avatar makes a partial descent towards Maitreya. He can only come into as close a contact as this vessel is prepared to allow, through destiny and through his own efforts. And this “touching in” of Kalki Avatar into the life of Maitreya may or may not last for the remainder of the incarnation, in spite of what Rudolf Steiner indicates. It is by no means a linear path to Buddhahood. All that can be sure is that in the final incarnation, the Avatar is able to approach completely, and to merge completely with the struggling ego of Maitreya. In the meantime, and as a preparation, we must think of this struggling Maitreya as a kind of gestating child in a womb. He is surrounded and formed by a karmic community that radiates its impulses into him in his various incarnations. This karmic community is inspired and guided by Kalki Avatar (let us remember that archangelic beings find their expression on the material plane in communities, nations, languages, peoples). And so it also depends—up until the final incarnation—to what extent the karmic community surrounding the focal point of Maitreya is prepared, by destiny and by their own efforts, to receive the guiding impulses of Kalki Avatar.
We can carry this image of Kalki working through a karmic circle, radiating his forces and guidance into Maitreya in the center, as akin to the incarnation of Christian Rosenkruez in the 13th century, when as a child he was surrounded by the “circle of twelve” who radiated into his being their particular experiences, wisdom, and capacities acquired over the ages. We can then imagine the final incarnation of Maitreya Buddha as akin to the reincarnation of Christian Rosenkreutz who was active in the 15th century as the founder of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood—all of the capacities that had been radiated into him in his prior life could now operate through him completely naturally, as a gift of grace.
This “touching in” or “birth” of the Kalki Avatar is related to certain cosmic phenomena. According to an ancient Hindu prophecy, Kalki Avatar will appear among men as the restorer of true religion at the close of Kali Yuga (which ended in 1899), when the Sun, Jupiter and the Moon stand together in Cancer (specifically in the Lunar Mansion Pushya, 4°-17° Cancer). We can imagine that each time this configuration occurs, an opportunity is given for the overlighting Kalki Avatar to influence the life of the Maitreya individuality and his or her community. When we bring this cosmic indication into connection with the earthly lives of Maitreya Boddhisatva, this individuality’s relationship to the Catholic Church, and developments within the Catholic Church herself, we are guided to a particular imagination around the year 2045.
According to the karmic research of Robert Powell, Valentin Tomberg incarnated in the 19th century as Princess Marie Amelie of Baden, born October 11, 1817. She was the younger sister of Kaspar Hauser, and perhaps would have been of great support to him had he lived. The Kalki Avatar alignment took place on July 30, 1848, when she was 30 years of age: Jupiter was 10° Cancer, Sun was 14° Cancer, and the Moon travelled through them. No later than 1853 had she converted to Catholicism (it was only in 1853 that it was first publicly reported). In 1854, Pope Pius IX pronounced the 3rd Marian Dogma, that of the Immaculate Conception (as noted above). Pope Pius IX was also known for organizing the First Vatican Council in the 1860s—it was held from 1868-70 after four years of planning. The hallmark of this Council was to reinforce the tradition of the Catholic Church in the face of rising materialism and liberalism. It resulted in the official dogma of papal infallibility (applied retroactively to the Marian Dogma pronounced by Pius IX sixteen years prior).
When we look 95 years later, we come once again to this Kalki Avatar configuration: on August 1, 1943, Jupiter was 12° Cancer, Sun was 14° Cancer and the Moon travelled through them. Valentin Tomberg was 43 years of age. Shortly after this time period (the summer of 1945, as noted above) he converted to Catholicism—approximately 95 years after Princess Marie Amelie of Baden. Exactly 95 years after the proclamation of the 3rd Marian Dogma, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the 4th Marian Dogma—that of the Assumption. And exactly 95 years after the First Vatican Council was the Second Vatican Council (popularly referred to as “Vatican I and Vatican II”). It was prepared 1959-62, and took place from 1962-65; in sharp contrast to Vatican I, which was highly traditional and conservative, Vatican II saw the Church attempting to expand their horizons, keep up with the times, and become more inclusive—what many perceived (including Valentin Tomberg) as a radically progressive Council as opposed to the traditionalism of the first.
Now, when we look to our own time, we see that another Kalki Avatar configuration will occur, again with the rhythm of 95 years. On August 1, 2038, Jupiter will be 15°, Sun will be 13° Cancer, and the Moon will travel through them. (Note that here we have four significant seven year cycles: 2017-24; 2024-31; 2031-38; and 2038-45). Perhaps, if he is once again incarnated, the Maitreya individuality will find him or herself drawn back to the Catholic Church in the years following this alignment? Time will tell. More importantly, however, we can see that exactly 95 years after the proclamation of the 4th Marian Dogma by Pope Pius XII is the year 2045! It is “written in the stars” and in a sense incumbent on us, that we inwardly and outwardly work towards the official proclamation of the 5th Marian Dogma in the year 2045. This would in a certain sense enshrine the threefold Mary (the Most Holy Trinosophia—an esoteric reality) as official doctrine of the exoteric church.
Beyond this, perhaps we can imagine and pray into being a Third Vatican Council, sometime around 2054-2060; perhaps this Vatican III could find the middle path that is truer and deeper than the hardness of traditionalism to the right and the dissolution of progressivism to the left. Can the Church (and thereby the world) be renewed—regenerated—through Mary in the 21st century?
(It is well outside the scope of this article, but perhaps worth pointing out that 95 years after 2038, there will be another Kalki Avatar alignment, on August 1, 2133—very close to the time of Christ’s re-emergence from the sub-earthly spheres.)
In last year’s editorial foreword to The Turning Point, I highlighted the fact that we are currently in the midst of a “4th Turning”, a collective crisis point that lasts from approximately 2010-2030. By the year 2045, we will be well into the culmination of a “1st Turning”, a time period of renewal and reconstruction (the 2030s and ‘40s). Let us pray and work to contribute in anyway that we are able, to realize the mandate of The Lady of All Nations, and to bring to reality Tomberg’s vision of world peace and international order as described in his Jus Humanitatis. Indeed, between the years 1917-24, Rudolf Steiner laid out his vision for social renewal in the form of his Threefold Social Organism. It was around the year 1945 (specifically between the years 1944-52) that Valentin Tomberg focused almost entirely on the regeneration of jurisprudence as informed by his newfound devotion to Catholicism. Social renewal born out of spiritual perception and inspiration is a key hallmark of this time from Eclipse to Apocalypse.
In summary, then, the key points of focus that emerge from the star memories of all of these cosmic events revolve around:
The Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Knock, Our Lady of Fátima, The Lady of All Nations, The New Isis and the Search for the Divine Sophia, Our Lady of Guadalupe)
Archangel Michael (The Fall of the Spirits of Darkness, The Four Seasons and the Archangels, the Prayer of Pope Leo XIII)
Christ in His Second Coming (The Divine Mercy)
Christian Rosenkreuz (The Raising of Lazarus, Our Lady of Knock, Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreuz, the Three Patriarchs)
Zarathustra (The Star of the Magi and the Visitation of the Magi)
Social Renewal in opposition to Bolshevism (Rudolf Steiner’s Threefold Social Organism, Valentin Tomberg’s Regeneration of Jurisprudence)
Catholicism and the Kalki Avatar