At first it might seem a little strange…
The Gospel writer of John chose to unveil Jesus’ power of miracles at a wedding. This is no coincidence. The writer is using the narrative technique of foreshadowing. But in this case, rather than foreshadowing an event, it’s foreshadowing the esoteric symbolism of Jesus and what Jesus is.
In ancient scriptures, initiations, marriages, and sacred ceremonies symbolized something inwardly. If you focus on Jesus attending a literal marriage and turning literal water into wine, then you’ve missed the bigger picture and wisdom related through the Gospel narrative. It’s funny how the human mind can work; many religious authorities abhor alcohol, and yet they have to acknowledge that a literal reading shows Jesus turning enough water into wine to get dozens of people plastered! Some will try and sidestep the issue of God himself being responsible for something so wrong by saying the wine way back then was about 1/7 the strength of today. Regardless of whether that is true or not misses the point! Jesus wasn’t making the first equivalent of O’douls. No one in scripture actually DRINKS wine. Wine is a powerful symbol.
But I digress. If you read my last blog post on decoding the symbols in Genesis chapter one, then you’ll be ready for this one. Except this miracle is symbolic of actually fulfilling the potential within the human / temple blueprint we broke down in every verse of Genesis chapter one. I recommend reading that first HERE to understand this post better if you haven’t already. Now let’s jump into today’s content.
I’ve written about this subject before on the blog, but today’s post will go a little deeper. Wine is a symbol of the effects of spirit. More importantly, the effect that the higher spiritual Self has on the lower nature when consciousness expands its expression in our bodies. It can be described as intoxicating. Awareness expands, and the higher nature feels joyful, peace and contentment as wisdom and love is directly experienced. At the same rate, it can be said that the lower nature becomes dulled, and takes a back seat. (Funny how things in the natural world directly reflect higher spiritual realities!).
The Bhagavad-Gita states, “The wise man should raise the self by the Self; let him not suffer the Self to be lowered; for Self is the friend of self, and in like manner, self is it’s own enemy.” The lower self does not understand itself, but the higher Self does. The story here with Jesus at Cana is speaking the same wisdom. Jesus is the Self. As we’ll see, the water pots resemble all aspects of our natures, from the lower to the higher. The goal is that the lower self must be raised by the permanent Self, so that there is a union of the two. A marriage. And Jesus is at the marriage performing a miracle because through this miracle he makes the marriage of the two selves happen.
As I mentioned in a former post years ago, Jesus’ mother symbolizes the divine feminine. This is the receptive aspect of spirit. Seen as a mother symbol, it births and directs the evolution of human consciousness by intuition. In the natural world, loving mothers will push their children towards bettering themselves and teach them many important things about life through tender care and devotion. Jesus’ mother symbolizes this directing aspect of consciousness’s evolution at the wedding. Jesus tells her his hour is not yet come when she demands that people at the wedding do what Jesus (the higher Self principle) tells them. In other words, be obedient. And although Jesus states his hour is not yet come, he performs the miracle anyway. Can a child / man / truly resist the demanding nature of their mothers / spouses? (Maybe for a time:)
Jesus then orders them to bring six water pots and fill them to the brim with water. The six water pots symbolize all of our vehicles of conscious expression, from the physical to the spiritual. The six water pots also symbolize the six days of creation we looked at in Genesis chapter one from our last post. Remember those days show the blueprint of man’s soul? Those six days show the creation of each aspect of man’s soul. Jesus wants all of the water pots of stone filled. Each stone pot symbolizes the physical-etheric, emotional, lower mental, causal [upper mental], and buddic [Holy Spirit]. (Don’t let the above words be confusing. It’s just a way of expressing through language different aspects of conscious expression in the human temple. Read my post on Genesis chapter one to understand more). The water will be changed to wine when the Self (Jesus) has attained the resurrection within the soul, symbolized by the gift of the spirit that Christ sends. The process is symbolic of the natural man beings changed to the spiritual man. Jesus’ hour had not come yet because the narrative of John must show all that Jesus would do before the final resurrection, but the marriage miracle at Cana foreshadows the resurrecting power of the Self when the lower and higher union is consummated. And that is why Jesus’ first miracle (foreshadowing his power) must be told at a wedding! Remember, St. Paul tells us he’s never addressing literal men, women, and marriages. He is speaking about the bigger mystery (spiritual truth) of Christ (the true Self) and the Church (the permanent aspect of your soul within the Self).
The above is a very simplistic breakdown of the esoteric meaning within the story. But what is it saying on a deeper level? How can we make it somewhat practical to us today? I’ll share some of my own personal thoughts and opinions below which I think scriptures hint at, but you’ll have to discover for yourself.
God rests on the seventh day when the blueprint for man is completed. The sixth day, when man’s soul had all the ingredients needed (down to the astral and physical nature) to evolve with self-experiential knowledge integrated through the arena of life, God rests because it is in the stillness of God’s rest that we rest. In other words, our turning away from nagging desires of the lower nature gives way to the operation of the higher Self more fully expressing itself as rest, stillness, and peace through uplifting our lower nature. Why do we have these physical natures if we are not suppose to succumb to the illusory trap it conceals consciousness in?
I like to think of it as such: physical life is a beautiful thing. Consciousness discovers itself physically in ways in which other expressions of consciousness in higher realities could not. Some of the experiences are quite painful. Some joyful. But when we learn to direct the lower nature through correct aspirations, then the soul records a greater sense of Knowing the difference. It takes back the experiences from physical existence and adds them to the permanent causal self (the Church), symbolized also by the ark of the Covenant and Noah’s ark in the Old Testament. (Interestingly Noah also makes wine after the Ark, humanity’s causal body, is elevated above the highest mountain top). As consciousness evolves it becomes a more complex creator, and you are becoming an individualized creator. 2 Timothy states we will one day rule with Christ. Revelations mentions that those who overcome will rule nations. Nations are symbolic of qualities within the soul, both the higher and lower qualities. In other words, our destinies are to be rulers with Christ (the Self) and masters of our own vehicles of consciousness (in matter) by becoming creators in the image of God. Personally I believe we will become creators in higher realities. But it begins on earth. The meek shall inherit the earth. In other words, the meek shall inherit the wisdom the soul has acquired through this physical existence and be able to apply it later in a way that will be expressed through greater wisdom and love, as a creator. It is my personal belief that while we have some free will in this physical existence, the lessons we learn here, when directed by the higher Self, will allow us to have greater free will in higher realities. And the evolution of consciousness continues as a creator.
You are already a creator. You may have children, and you learn about yourself through raising them. You are creators in many other ways too. Your job, your household, your hobbies, etc. In a sense, life is about becoming a more responsible creator, as in the true image of God.
I talk about inner reflection and meditation on this site so much because I personally believe it is the method of accumulating wisdom to understand ourselves through our lessons in physical existence. If we don’t grasp physical existence, we aren’t ready yet to create in higher realities. Meditation helps us to shut out the noise of limited physical existence and better hear the noise of the Self through higher realities. Intuition then guides intelligence in new creative ways based on the truths in these higher realities, guided by the principles of love and wisdom. The marriage at Cana is the proper integration with love and wisdom of the Holy Spirit within the individualized permanent Self on the higher metal plane. Being still and knowing God has a profound effect on the psyche, through accumulated time of practice, and is the method for expanding conscious awareness.
I hope this post spoke something of meaning to you. Blessings!
Excellent article, Josh. If I may, Cana of Galilee is the center in Consciousness. In order for the changing of the life force or Water of Life into the wine of life, the Cana (Hollow Tube) which is symbolic of the spinal canal, must be absorbed and raised in the spinal cord and into the center of Galilee for the marriage to be consummated.
I truly appreciate your posts. I just needs to master meditation.
Blessings, Ken
Ken…
You always may. I wish SOS to be a place where ideas are shared, discussed, and analyzed and integrated, even if we all don’t always agree.
But back to your comment: I very much like this, and am going to have to think about this. You’re dealing with a 4th level deeper interpretation that goes into the mechanics of the body / temple, which is a subject I enjoy very much. I would say initially that your comment is spot on. I was reading “Stalking the Wild Pendulum” this weekend by Itzhak Bentov. Some amazing insights that connects the physical sciences to spiritual concepts, and he discusses the workings of the physical body quite a bit, although I was disappointed that he didn’t get into the milk and honey / cerebral-spinal fluid and the third ventricle / pineal / pituitary gland connections with kundalini as I had hoped, because of the beginning of his chapters are so good. The Old Testament is certainly full of this knowledge on the deepest levels, but it’s difficult to draw it out.
Anyway, thanks for the comment!
Thanks Josh,
I am still studying your previous article on Genesis, apparently i am a slow student.
Again i oppose the idea of meditation as the miracle way to salvation. In my opinion activating the neutral wittness in all daily activities is the way to go. Then at the end of the day reflect on that, forgive yourself for the mistakes. Activate an intent to improve. Create a safe place for your body so it can recover, leave and go to the origin to find/install tomorrow’s experience. Then next morning wake up refreshed and start a now day ( new day :).
The miracle at Cana is imo a sample of what is to come at a later stage. All these happenings described in the sacred texts have a ‘correspondence’ in the seven bodies. Trying to make one narrative that explains all is imo futile because of the billions levels of interpretation (as result of the individual netting).
I am missing some things that (for me) need more clearing (slow student). One is the role of the opposition. Jesus rebukes his ‘followers’ on many occasions. In this story he tells his mother ‘now is not the time ….’.
Leo…
Nothing pointing to slow student. For one thing, I’m no master and you have divergent ideas that you are trying to assimilate with the intellect, which takes time and you will come to different conclusions based on your own experiences – which is an awesome thing to discuss and to learn from. Many from SOS have already stated in lots of posts how they appreciate the discussions, and this will be no different. So let’s explore a little bit for the sake of that and maybe we will all learn something, or at the very least reinforce our own ideas. Hopefully some more will chime in on the discussion!
You state: “Again i oppose the idea of meditation as the miracle way to salvation. In my opinion activating the neutral wittness in all daily activities is the way to go. Then at the end of the day reflect on that, forgive yourself for the mistakes. Activate an intent to improve. Create a safe place for your body so it can recover, leave and go to the origin to find/install tomorrow’s experience. Then next morning wake up refreshed and start a now day ( new day :).”
As to your first sentence, I do believe that meditation isn’t the only way. Since I am convinced we manifest our own reality to a large degree, in a sense that which we consciously observe in others (and become highly aware of) means that we still exhibit that within ourselves. Meaning, if I observe in someone else an action which brings me consternation, I am aware of it (to differing degrees) because it is still within myself. Therefore I can choose, as you say, to forgive it, love it, and then move on. This is one way to become more conscious and reflects an ancient Polynesian belief system which I feel is very valid. However, I see meditation as a way of setting up the soul to observe this more carefully in day to day life. The same lessons can be learned in becoming a servant to the growth of humanity, as we observe the “needs” of others. The main point being in both examples that we don’t serve the lower nature.
For me, meditation is a quicker way to more free will and freedom because it induces a shift in awareness from the outer reality to the inner reality, where everything stems from – our own conscious experience, and in the lower realities of physical matter, everything is relative simply because it changes.
I agree with you that what happens at Cana is a sample of what is to later come, for most of us anyway. That’s the foreshadowing aspect of what Christ, this conscious power within us, is. But the scripture is told in a narrative fashion because it builds upon what the potential of consciousness can become (the I AM) through its different stages of evolution. Each character, from Adam / Eve, Cain / Abel, Noah / Abraham, Jacob / Esau, King David / Solomon, etc., shows what we should and ought to become and do in order to pursue a spiritual life. And even if we don’t “choose” it, what will happen in the evolution of consciousness on the grander scale. However, some will progress faster than others depending on their own free will.
Now to your last and most important statement about opposition. You state, “I am missing some things that (for me) need more clearing (slow student). One is the role of the opposition. Jesus rebukes his ‘followers’ on many occasions. In this story he tells his mother ‘now is not the time ….”
Opposition is the means to growth. What is this physical existence except complete opposition? It is the journey of consciousness in a world of opposites (the tree of knowledge of good and evil). Jesus came to bring division, because he is symbolic of that aspect which strives against the lower nature. The higher and lower are both needed because it is the strife of the lower nature to be separate that causes it to realize in reality it is not in the end. Empledocles the Greek philosopher once stated, “In strife all things are endued with form and separate from each other; but they come together in love and are desired by each other.” Jesus rebukes his followers for many reasons, but one is the simple fact that we all must be rebuked at some time or another, even as a follower who does not yet understand. He also tells them they are hard of hearing and seeing.
Perhaps I have misunderstood your questions, so please feel free to question more. As always, your comments are appreciated Leo. Blessings.
Thanks Josh,
I reread your previous post (2013) on this subject and Anny’s comment for me feels real.
My simple interpretation of this : Mary, representing the lower realm has to do things first, then the Jesus (a higher realm) will kick in.
Anny’s comment from that post
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anny says
August 31, 2013 at 11:25 am
Hello Joshua,
The Bible is really telling the same stories over and over again, each time in a different version, in order for us to be able to tumble to the truth, for once you have understood one thing, more and more will follow.
This story is about a wedding and that image is often used for the final reunion of the two sides of polarity, the male and the female. In this case it is a wedding where the groom is hardly mentioned and the bride not at all, if I remember correctly. Instead there are Jesus and Mary. The disciples are mentioned but do not really figure in the story.
When there is no more wine, Mary seems to think that Jesus should do something about it.
Could it be that here they are the male and the female, or the Christ to be birthed and the nefesj, the soul of man, which has to give birth to him?
There is talk of water and wine, but who is the one who has to change the water of the ego/emotions into the wine of the Christ being born? Is it Jesus or is it Mary?
It seems very unkind what Jesus says to his mother: “Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come”. But I have heard that in the original Greek (and indeed in the Hebrew translation it says the same) it says: What is for you and what is for me? In other words, what is your task and what is mine at this stage? It is up to you now and when you have finished your task, crucified all your emotions, then it will be my time.
Mary understands and sets to work. This is put in the form of Mary telling the servants to do whatever Jesus will tell them to do. Why would they even listen to her if she were just a guest? Telling the servants to listen to Jesus and follow his commands means abandoning all power of the ego by making it a servant of the Christ. And then the time of Jesus has come and the ego listens to the Christ waiting to be born and pours out the water of the emotions in the vessels of the six bodies which then is transformed to the wine of divine consciousness.
The word for servant here is in the Hebrew translation sjarat, 300-200-400, which means the last three characters of the Hebrew alphabet. You could see this as the last three things to do in this world before crossing over into the world of divine consciousness which is signified by 500 but is not a character.
The same three characters in another order form the word resjet, which is the fishing net in which the 153 fish were caught in the last chapter of John. Of course the fish in the sea is everything that moves in the waters of the ego and that has to be fished up and eaten/processed. According to prof. Weinreb there are 17 phases necessary to do that before you can call the result good, tov, 17. When you add all these phases together 1 plus 2 plus 3 plus .. plus 17, you get 153. There are other ways to get to this number but they all point to completion of the process.
Of course all this does not mean that your interpretation is not right. The beauty (and difficulty) of these stories is that they can be interpreted in many different ways which however will never contradict each other but just show different sides of the process.
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Leo…
Thanks for reminding us of Anny’s perspective and your questions. It is these type of discussions which we can all learn from and probe further and come to our own conclusions 🙂
For me, it is interesting to note in John’s Gospel (which has a more Gnostic / mystic flavor to it than the synoptic gospels), it is emphasized that the “mother” of Jesus went, and that is what is emphasized. Personally, that is important to me, and lends me an important interpretive clue. The symbol for “mother” here is used as the divine feminine. It represents intuition which unites wisdom and love, manifested in Christ of course. This is truly what directs the course of the evolution of consciousness. But Jesus himself is the higher consciousness that the divine feminine is able to birth. I hold to this interpretation because the mother of Jesus “births” the son of God in what some term the immaculate conception. Jesus’ mother invites Jesus to perform the miracle, because it is the divine buddhic nature which does this.
However, I do see a lot of value in Anny’s interpretation as well, especially when it comes to Mary (not to be confused with Jesus’ mother) and Martha. Here the two sisters are the emotions, one purified, one cumbered with the labor with which works in the lower emotions through duty, the other love. Mary here signifying the emotions which have been cleansed or changed, and Martha signifying the lower emotions of course.
This does not mean I disagree with Anny. I always find her comments insightful. But I do think in this case, in the Gospel of John, it is the divine feminine being spoken of. Where I find Anny’s comment useful is in the fact that the lower emotions (and astral nature) must be purified and raised by the Christ, so the same truth still exist within the story. And the rest of Anny’s comment is also very pertinent and I believe correct.
I will add one further thought: Jesus did say, “Woman” what have I do to with thee. It is here that I can see Anny’s comment as valid. I have placed woman in italics because woman in scripture does symbolize the lower emotion and “man” is mind. They are both transmuted by the Spirit, so that does lend of a lot of credence to Anny’s interpretation. Perhaps we could say both viewpoints are present.
I hope that makes sense at least.
Again, great discussion, Leo!
Hi Josh,
Another well worked out article, with lots of meat for chewing. In this sentence, near the end of the article, you state: “Meditation helps us to shut out the noise of limited physical existence and better hear the noise of the Self through higher realities”. Yes, this is true. And just to add, the term ‘meditation’ is an umbrella word referring to the many different routes and approaches to the same Summit. Meditation, in whatever format we adapt, simply clears the mental clouds, stills the chattering thought-clutter, so that we may experience the ever-present Sun.
Meditation in itself of course doesn’t give us the higher Self, the higher Self was always present within, and always will be. By clearing the clouds, stilling the mental activity, the higher Self can then raise the lower self (the relative mind) to experience higher states of divine consciousness, which the limited mono lower self mind cannot.
After sustained and repeated practice, a level of higher Self or divine nature awareness comes about, becomes established as permanent Presence. This Presence within feels like Immutable moving silence as a separate background dynamic from the noise of the chaotic relative world — a Presence which never becomes ruffled by circumstances. Thus the higher and lower selves have befriended each other, serving now in a mutual relationship of fostering harmonious divine nature on all levels of mind, body. soul.
This indeed is the consummation of the higher and lower self, the inner marriage, which now has to be lived and expressed through the physiology. Making it experiential, not only as intellectual mind content, but also in the heart as directly experienced Unconditional love. This integrated state of consciousness is also referred to as cosmic consciousness, meaning, all-embracing, universal, beyond limitation, or, eternal existence.
Through our repeated chosen meditation, cosmic consciousness comes about gradually and naturally, it experiences like expended consciousness: consciousness beyond the clinging cyclical nature of the lower sensory levels, or material world attachment. Freedom out of this level, of lower sensory self nature, is the purpose behind all meditation and Yogic practices — Yoga meaning unity. Any mind-centering practice that stills the surface levels of lower self mind, gradually, over time, produces the same end goal awareness of higher and lower self integration.
This metamorphosis or transformation out of knowing only one state of awareness, into knowing two states simultaneously, takes place transcendentally. In other words, the coexistence within consciousness, of the relative lower self and eternal higher Self, is a process which cannot be coerced humanly, by attitudes of conditioned ego, as was made clear by Jesus at this inner marriage event. The conduit being mental silence or mental non-doing.
For the record, Josh, The Bhagavad-Gita quote, in your article, is from chapter 6 verse 5: “The wise man should raise the self by the Self; let him not suffer the Self to be lowered; for Self is the friend of self, and in like manner, self is it’s own enemy”
Verse 6 is an extension of vs 5 and adds even further wonderful understanding in this area.
Thanks again for this really insightful article.
Blessings
Raymond…
As always you provide valuable information about meditation and I always learn something from your post and comments. Thank you, my friend.
Firstly I would like to thank Joshua for giving us this opportunity to share our views and hopefully learn from each other.
Secondly, I feel the wedding scenario is all about the journey of the soul which undergoes a transformation from the lower realms to a higher consciousness. The wedding is the union of the lower and higher self as already been discussed. The reason why the mother is mentioned is because it is all about her (the soul, the church) and her journey.
All the characters portray a different side to her and how each aspect plays a different part in the development. The word church in Greek is ekklesia which comes from a verb to “call out”, an invitation to the wedding feast, to come out from the lower self and join to the higher self.
The reason why Jesus refers to her as “woman” is because she is still governed by her lower realms and is not ready to lay down her ego, Christ crucified, hence why Jesus’ hour had not yet come. He is signifying that unless she undergoes the purification of the Jews, a form of cleansing, a cleansing of emotions and thought processes whereby she is able and willing to lay down her ego, she will not be able to birth the Christ within, becoming a mother.
After she gives birth and this is controversial, but bear in mind this is not physical, she becomes the bride. There are 3 stages of development, the woman, the mother, the bride.
The wedding takes place on the 3rd day. Christ is raised on the 3rd day. The raising or the transformation of the lower self to the higher self. There were 6 stones jars lying down or reclining, in Greek keimenai, which refers Adam in a deep sleep.
The 6 jars point to the six days of creation, the period of time which the soul takes to fully awaken. The jars contained 2 or 3 measures, which represent 2 or 3 witnesses; Moses, Prophets and Christ the fulfilment and third measure. They all represent depths of knowledge or understanding.
This particular storyline has so much depth and many hidden truths to be extracted which in fact need to be connected with other scripture to truly appreciate its deep meanings.
The 6 stone jars containing 2 or 3 measures is connected to 1kings 18:32-35 whereby Elijah fills the water jars for the trench. He is demonstrating the 2 measures and the wedding is demonstrating 3 measures. Elijah fills 4 jars 3 times, 12 jars altogether, 6 for Moses and 6 for the prophets and the last set of 6 is used in the wedding feast for Christ.
Therefore we have 6+6+6 which takes us to Revelations 13:17-18 the three levels of knowledge required to overcome the beast, the ego.
The numbers connect throughout scripture like a tapestry, building such a detailed picture that is undeniably devised by a higher power.
regards
Kris…
Thanks for the awesome comment, giving additional info to consider as well. I especially enjoyed this statement:
“He is signifying that unless she undergoes the purification of the Jews, a form of cleansing, a cleansing of emotions and thought processes whereby she is able and willing to lay down her ego, she will not be able to birth the Christ within, becoming a mother.”
This would also line up with Anny seeing his mother here as the lower nature needing to be joined to the higher.
Nice writing Josh. This first miracle by the LORD has always fascinated me. Pastor Hagee said
that HE left the groom and bride a great wedding gift as they could fetch a good shekel for fine
wine. Perhaps. I think the 6 jugs represent 6 days of creation, the servants in the household help in the preparation of the wine like servants who help prepare for the LORD’s soon return. I can go on but the fine wine is brought out towards the end as in the book of truth now open (mostly in daniel’s 11 truth. Thanks for the blog and allowing my post.
Thanks for commenting, Pete. And good point about the servants.