Aurora Gatherings

Why choose the name of Aurora?

Three years ago, whilst I was searching for ways to continue with Cygnus Books, I had a suggestion from some members.  Could Cygnus arrange for them to meet other members in their locality? Their request was very specific and I was doubtful we could help.  They wanted to meet others without the constraints of dogmas, belief systems or agendas getting in the way of simple heart-to-heart conversations. We experimented. It did work! It was possible to meet without a programme or agenda contrary to my expectations.

Sometime later I left the Cygnus team and decided to concentrate on exploring this new type of meeting “without agendas”. I discovered that all we needed to do was to trust in the Universe that the highest good would prevail at each meeting. Simple, but unfamiliar to me at that time.

We spent quite some time wondering what name to give this new type of meeting. The intention was to start with some fresh name that would enhance what we were setting out to do. Having discarded hundreds of names that refer to Light or spirituality, an old friend suggested we might like to consider Aurora.  It immediately felt just right and gave me a warm feeling in my chest. I took note, why does this word conjure up this feeling that hundreds of others have not?

Unwrapping the meaning of Aurora

We wanted to understand more clearly why it felt so appropriate.  We did some research. Aurora is a name for the goddess of the dawn.  Yet the meaning of the Aurora seemed to combine a balance of both spirit and matter.

We are immersed in matter whilst we are here on the earthly plane. So what and where is our connection to our spiritual life?    Can we point to our own personal connection with the spiritual world?   Sooner or later the majority of people tap their chest and say tentatively,  Is it here?  Is it in my heart?   A few other identify other parts of their torso.

So, Let’s consider the attributes of the material sun and see how they relate to our spiritual lives.

1. How far away is the spiritual sun from us?

Well, some say that the longest distance a human has to travel is from their head to their heart, yet on the other hand, it is just about 8 inches away too! Mmm, what a paradox, just like the physical Sun. Its rays take only a few minutes to reach us yet is also millions of miles away at the same time!

2. Consider, is your spiritual sun ALWAYS shining, like the physical one? How does this make you feel, that your very own connection to the spiritual world is always “on”?

3. So our Spiritual Sun is always illuminating us from within.  It is just that we often don’t perceive it because it is obscured by our very own homegrown clouds, our emotional debris or it is blocked by our conditioning, our self-doubt and negative talkback loops.

4. Just as we know the physical sun will always rise “in the morning”  our Inner Sun will always rise too if we let it.  It is always ready to shine and illumine our paths, provided we are open to it and are not distracted by the endless monologues rattling away within our skulls.

5. You may want to ponder over the possibility of our inner sun being the primary source of our spiritual life, rather than the external gurus or teachers who act as intermediaries who bear more resemblance to the moon: their light is only the reflected light of the Sun.  We can still be grateful for the secondhand light, whenever we lose touch with our own source of Light.

6. Everything we are in terms of consciousness springs from our inner fountain. It might be tainted at present but when the turbulence settles we can become still and allow the light to shine out.

7. Naturally, our inner sun can sustain us too, if we are open to its unconditional, unwavering help.

I could carry on with exploration, but you’ve got to explore this for yourselves.

Now that we have considered the possibility that what goes on in our version of the material world may actually be a metaphor of our inner spiritual reality, let’s turn our attention to what Aurora may be able to draw out of us.  One dictionary definition tells us that Aurora means:

The first rays of the sun that chase away the dark night sky, 

before the orb of the sun breaks over the horizon.

What a beautiful description!  So the darkest hour before dawn is ALWAYS chased away by the first rays of the Sun. They bleach and dissolve the dark black backdrop of our dark nights of the soul.  Take a few moments to consider what this may mean to you, now.

• What are these first rays within me?
• What is the dark night sky representing for me, inwardly today?
• And how do I comprehend what the moment of sunrise is, in a spiritual sense?

These questions are so intriguing. In fact, it can really be helpful just to hold such questions in our hearts without clutching for quick answers, trusting that the answers will appear when the time is right.

For myself, I have to admit that I had allowed my heart to shut down for many years.  I didn’t do it intentionally, I suppose it closed from lack of use. I was so intensely involved in running our business, chasing my tail and not giving myself any time for inner reflection, I just lost touch.

Fortunately, the material image of the first rays of the sun is clear to imagine. In fact, it’s a wonderful help to get up in the darkest hours of the night and watch the process unfold in its own time.  It’s breathtaking to realise as you watch the horizon that the procession of dawn chasing away the dark night cannot be stopped!

What happens?  Well, you’ll notice that each dawn is different, unique, just as we are all unique so the unfolding of our own enlightening will be unique too.

For many of us, talk of an inner spiritual sun seems more like a fairytale, hardly believable in a world of concrete, glass, Brexit and Trump.  Yet, what if each of us already has hardwired, so to speak, our own connection to the Heart of All?  Then, all we need to do is to remove the debris of suppressed emotions and conditioning from years of should’s and should-nots that have filled up our own well of wisdom.

The purpose of the Aurora Gatherings is simply to “be” together, in order to assist this awakening.  Simply allowing ourselves to be our inner-authentic selves, with others of like mind and heart, is sufficient.  We have the opportunity to listen with our hearts and on occasion speak from our hearts to the hearts of those sitting with us in a circle.

During the conversations, every so often someone may share an experience, a trauma or realisation that rings true to the core. And another will feel, “This could be me, that is just how I experienced this too!  I thought I was alone, but now I see that I am not the only one bringing this trauma out of the Dark into the Light of Consciousness of the Heart. Once this happens in a group there is no turning back. The space has become a safe space to share what is real and in the present.  The magic of healing begins……

Geoff Napier