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!