During May we celebrate the Festival of Wesak, the spiritual high point of the year. At this time the Forces of Enlightenment pour into the world, and our task is to endeavor to hold them throughout the month until the full moon of Gemini, the Festival of Goodwill, which is also known as the Festival of the Christ. The School�s annual Subjective Group Conference is a useful means to swing the Group Mind into a receptive, synchronized state of receptivity to enlightenment. All who participate contribute their individual measure of light to the whole. That the whole is greater than the sum of the parts is evident in the group report - a manifestation of the group enlightenment on paper - that is compiled after the end of the Festival period. This seems to be a particularly Taurian process, because for disciples Taurus leads the way toward enlightenment.

In Esoteric Astrology (pp. 374�375) we read the following:

"Just as the Aquarian Age is coming into manifestation for our planet as a whole, bringing in its wake universal awareness and the new modes of expressing world synthesis, human interests and the world religion, so humanity, the world disciple, is beginning to come under the influence of Taurus. It is this influence that will bring about at this time the reversal of the wheel of life for those in the human family who are ready (and their numbers are now very great). This is happening and the results are inevitable and cannot be evaded.  The great question is: Will this Taurian influence, increased as it is by the incoming Shamballa forces, produce the floodlight of illumination of which Taurus is the custodian, or will it simply foment desire, increase selfishness and bring humanity to the 'fiery heights of self-interest' instead of to the mountain of vision and initiation?

"This is the situation that confronts the Knowers of the race in their various grades of knowledge and illumination at this time. Neither of these influences � the Taurian or the Aquarian � can be avoided. Taurus forges the instruments of constructive living or of destruction; it forges the chains that bind or creates the key that unlocks the mystery of life; it is this forging process, with its consequent clamor, that is going on at this time in a most potent manner." 

The two keynotes for Taurus express the transformation of desire to aspiration. The keynote of Taurus in form is Let struggle be undismayed. In other words, obstinate, driving, persistent, determined personal will. But the keynote of the Soul in Taurus is I see and when the eye is opened, all is light. What does the awakened eye reveal? Buddha said, �I am awake,� and we understand that he was awakened to the possibility of redemptive living, right here on Earth. That seems to be the core of his message � that Nirvana was nowhere else but here on Earth. Not there, not tomorrow, not in the future, but here and now and we must awaken to see it. I see and when the eye is opened, all is light. We must awaken to this lighted world for the relief of the suffering of all living things who still live in darkness. 

All knowledge is a form of light because it throws light into areas of awareness that we have hitherto been unconscious of. All wisdom is a form of light because it reveals to us the world of meaning that lies behind the outer form. And all understanding is a form of light because it causes us to become aware of the causes that are producing the outer forms around us. All of this is illumination and light. The last hundred years, when we think about it, has seen a tremendous inflow of light, from the discoveries of Thomas Edison, who literally lighted the world along with his co-workers, to the release of atomic power, which is another expression of light. Now there is laser surgery and probably other light developments yet to be discovered. 

Just as the light bulb illumines a darkened area, so in meditation the practice of visualization illumines darkened areas of consciousness. The Buddha said, �be a lamp unto your own feet,� referring to this process of meditation and visualization. The Buddha is the expression of the past achievement of humanity, the establishment of the Third Aspect � the Intelligence principle � in matter. He expressed the significance of light in matter and the intelligent principle in form. And he anchored on the mental plane the blazing light of enlightenment. 

Christ, in the same way, embodied the peace of inclusiveness that comes from the touch of divine acquiescence. He embodied the principle of love and carried the divine approach to the astral plane of humanity. The accomplishment of these two great Beings, through the descent of the divinity They brought into Earth experience, anchored these energies on the plane of manifestation. This act of sacrifice may also contain a clue about the changing keynote of Wesak that we are told to listen for. As many of us know, the Tibetan wrote that from 1981 on the keynote of Wesak would change because humanity is changing. The needs of the world are evolving. It is difficult to put down in words what the new keynote will be, but it�s something that can be discovered by us, as a group, working year after year and listening for what this new note might signify. 

Wesak is both an approach to and a response from divinity, as the Wesak ceremony itself enacts. The Buddha has returned each year as a channel for the blessing of Shamballa, and the appeal of humanity is focused by the Christ, who serves as the recipient of the Shamballa force held by Him in tension until the Christ�s Festival, and so they have served all these many centuries as intermediaries or mediators on humanity�s behalf. But now, we find a hint in the changing pattern of the inflow of energy at Wesak in a new mediatorship that is beginning to develop. It�s mentioned briefly in the teachings. We are told that after 1936 the Buddha, as planetary mediator, began attempting to contact certain �Spiritual Beings� in order to bring Them into touch with Earth�s Hierarchy, and that this is creating a great alignment. The Buddha and the Christ began undergoing special training to enable them to present themselves to these Spiritual Beings as more adequate channels of service. And in turn the alignment that is being set up involves three Masters from each ray group, along with the Hierarchy as a whole, which is involved in preparation for the whole intensive month of Taurus. About this the Tibetan hints, �the service is new and peculiar and as to its particular nature there is no need for me to explain as I should not be understood.� That is all He says, but we can evoke enlightenment, as He implies that we are to do. (See Esoteric Psychology, Vol. 2, pp. 684�686.) 

The Hierarchy, to continue and complete this alignment, is calling upon all mentally focused initiates, disciples and aspirants to cooperate as fully as possible to increase the receptivity of humanity as a whole to these new forces that can then be released to perform their beneficent work. It remains for the disciples of the world and the New Group of World Servers to act as the medium of transmission and communication between the world thinkers and this inner spiritual group of workers. 

Here may be another clue as to the changing keynote of Wesak. We�ve noticed an emphasis on descent, the descent to Earth of Buddha and the Christ to manifest divinity on Earth in human experience. That�s one indication. Another clue may be in the water ceremony of Wesak, when the water that has been blessed by the Buddha is then shared by the attendees with each other. We know that in the Aquarian Age the symbol of the world server will be the Water Bearer holding the water pot, pouring forth water in limitless flow to needy humanity. It�s logical that the new keynote of Wesak should set the tone of the Aquarian Age which will last 2,000 to 2,500 years, and which we know will be ruled by the Seventh Ray of the Fusion of Spirit and Matter. In this new age the Great Invocation, described as Christ�s own mantra, is to be the major utterance of the Christ for the Aquarian age. The last line, the culmination of that Invocation, says Let Light and Love and Power restore the Plan on Earth. On Earth, again suggesting the anchorage on Earth of divinity through the cooperation of divinity. 

Other clues are found in the fact that the Earth is ruled by the Third Ray of Active Intelligence, and that humanity is the fourth or mediating kingdom on our planet. These factors give insight into the message of Wesak and of the Buddha to use the intelligence to be a lamp unto your own feet, and of St. Paul: �Be ye therefore transformed by the renewing of your mind.� The transformation of life on Earth depends upon the human mind to be awake and upon the role of humanity as a whole to be a mediating kingdom. It depends on us, not because we are so important but because we are a mediating link and the big question mark. The role of humanity as this mediating kingdom is one that is a mystery and is fascinating to ponder because we know from the teachings that everything that lives on Earth has been, is, or will be human. The fact of humanity and of that for which humanity stands is said to be the primary and major aspect of the divine Purpose. D.K. says that the keynote of the Lord of the World is humanity, for it is the basis, the goal and the essential inner structure of all being. Humanity and the human experience constitute a continuum and a uniformity that make contact and impression possible. We are told that the lives in Shamballa can impress the Hierarchy because its Members share a common humanity from the past. They all were human and the residue of that experience is what enables that impression to occur. Humanity in its turn is the goal of the lower kingdoms. 

So, humanity as the mediating kingdom is the field of experiment for relationships, and Earth is the plane of demonstration for these relationships because the medium of relationship is substance. Relationship has to be demonstrated in substantial expression. This gives us insight into a profound mystery because light and substance are synonymous, whereas darkness is pure spirit. In the Aquarian Age, when the fusion of spirit and matter will be potent in expression, it will be easier to understand that light and substance are equivalent. Taurus, being an earth sign, affirms from deepest, densest matter that I see, and when the eye is opened, all is light. All is redeemed, all is holy, right here on Earth for those who have eyes to see, like the Buddha who said, �I am awake.� Can we as a group be awakened to the crying need of humanity for illumination upon its way? 

Perhaps we can gain strength and inspiration from the knowledge that we are part of a great channel that is always open, always flowing with transformative energy. We work not alone, but side by side with the Hierarchy and our many co-workers in all fields throughout the world.