Last week I was in Baerenthal, the Vosges for the May Call Day celebration. Baerenthal (“bear valley”) is a little village in north-eastern France, situated in the natural park of the northern Vosges. And the May Call Day is a festival of group initiation started by Master CVV in 1910 and now celebrated in many parts of the world. It is for receiving and expressing the energies of synthesis.
The last 25 years the May Call Day had been celebrated in the West. This year Sri Kumar celebrated it in Bangalore, India, and many group members, who couldn’t join, came together for local or regional celebrations, or joined the online transmissions.
We met already on Sunday in the house of Martine for the final preparations. From Monday afternoon till Thursday there was the group living in the Youth Centre for French-German friendship. The weeks before, Doris, Günter, Martine and me had prepared the program and discussed the organisation. Now, 20-26 group members from France, Germany and Switzerland were coming for this seminar. After some rainy days, even the sun was coming out to give a warm welcome.
I was inspired for this pic of the violet rhododendron flower in front of the house of Martine by some lines Sri Kumar spoke about Master CVV at last year’s May Call celebration in Flüeli-Ranft, Switzerland:
“CVV stands for Cosmic Violet Vibration, it is the way of the cosmic system. The 7th ray on the planet is violet, represented by the most sublime and noblest Master, Master Count Saint Germain. From cosmic vibration of violet to planetary vibration of violet a channel has been established by the great initiate coming from Master Jupiter’s ashram. Master Jupiter is known in the oriental scriptures as the great sage Agastya. The advent of the cosmic violet vibration was as per the plan to lift up humanity. The lift up is something when humanity can experience within him and around him the beauty of the kingdom of God. From the Avatar of Synthesis who is around, may the energy pour down in all kingdoms of nature.”
The house in Baerenthal
Buddha meditating in front of the house
Writing e-mails at the breakfast table
Martine had organised the seminar in the Youth Centre for French-German friendship. It was founded in the 60s and is dedicated to the furtherance of mutual understanding. We shared the center with 2 school classes and a group of future midwives – a good surrounding: the ones preparing the entrance of souls into the body, the others, growing up, and our group, for the growth of awareness. It was a very friendly get-together.
In the dining-hall of the centre
The group living started with a reception in the garden of Martine’s house. It already set the tone of the meeting: joyful sharing.
We returned to the center for evening meditation. And a special surprise was waiting outside: Around sun-set time the children of one of the classes were playing outside with a huge parachute cloth a colourful team game. And they spontaneously invited some of our group members to join them, to lie under the parachute:
The Youth Centre, surrounded by forests
In the evening we gathered again in the hall for a water ritual conducted by Doris:
On Tuesday we had exchanges and group study. In the afternoon Thot, a French astrologer who had come from the Pyrenees, gave a very interesting explanation of the astrological charts of Europe and of France and the relation to Germany. He showed that though Europe is going through tense times, an upliftment is to be expected from the next year on, as evidenced by the progressive chart.
Thot and Martine
Explaining the chart of Europe
Wednesday morning we started the May Call Day celebration with a fire ritual. It had rained all night long, but stopped in the morning. However, it was quite fresh when we started around 6 o’clock.
After breakfast we met for the seminar, starting with a candle-light ceremony.
The candles in front of the hall, with the painting “Lifting up the Earth to the Kings of Beauty”.
A candle was lit at the candle in the center and the light was shared with all. Then the candle were put on the table at the center.
Afterwards Doris and Günter conducted a little cake-cutting ceremony. I was reminded of the words of Sri Kumar from last year, that cutting a cake is like the sacrifice of Purusha, the Cosmic Person, representing the Oneness, which is sacrificing itself to form creation.
Different gifts prepared by members were shared afterwards
In the afternoon there was the launch of my new book on “Paintings”. It was a great moment for me. I tried to share the process of inner image building with the group with a little experiment: I read some passages from “Spiritual Astrology” by Master EK, with music of Davide Swarup, which I always hear while painting. Then we spoke about the inner images arising through the text, and I explained with the help of some of my paintings how the creative process developed.
The new books at the altar
In the evening we had another talk by Thot on the energies of the May Call day, 29 May 13. The time flew by fast, and Thursday at noon, after meditations and further exchanges, it was time to return home, filled with the lightful, electric energies of this beautiful celebration.
A rainbow over the valley. On the left at the bottom, the assembly hall