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Wednesday, June 10, 2015

The Outer Guardian ...of Doom

Suggested Soundtrack: Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks

I’m nearing a whole year of being in San Diego in pursuit of Theosophical aspirations. I’m certainly not the person I was when I left. For good or bad, as the Oracle says: some bits you lose, some bits you keep.

A new perspective of Ojai

Before talking about the Outer Guardian, Amber and I recently went on another fun trip to Ojai. The primary reason was to see P. Krishna’s lecture on Krishnamurti and Theosophy, but we made a weekend out of it.

This was a time of reminiscing even though I wasn’t intending it to be such. That Amber and I could drive around seeing the sights made me feel much like I did a year ago on our cross country trip. Mostly we just travelled through Oxnard and parts of Ventura County. We drove along the Malibu beaches and through the mountains.




As we were visiting the beaches of Malibu I suddenly recognized that this was close to where Pablo, Michele, and I went to the beach the first time I came to Ojai in 2012. I picked them up from L.A. airport and we took our time driving up the coast. I still have the stone I picked out of the ocean on that trip.

P. Krishna


The lecture was very good. P. Krishna is a widely celebrated author and speaker in both the Theosophical community and the Krishnamurti foundation. If I had to summarize his points I would say: (1) Krishnamurti taught that in order to realize transformational truth, we have to let go of our conditioning which we perceive as our past, and (2) what Krishnamurti teaches is fully compatible with what H.P. Blavatsky teaches and with what Annie Besant teaches.

Lakshmi with P. Krishna

More than just the lecture itself it was nice to be among Theosophists that Amber and I know very well. They are always kind in Krotona and very generous. We got to visit a little with Elena and Pablo Minniti in their home and with other community members in the school.

Outer Guardian


The Outer Guardian, to me, sounds like some stalwart gatekeeper - like the black knight from Monty Python’s Holy Grail, ominously saying phrases like, “None shall pass.” It is an initiation of the Minor Orders of Friarship in the Paracelsian Order. More accurately it is the Minor Order I am currently on.

I really like the system of progress from one stepping stone to the next with Theosophical studies. It helps give focus to the lessons currently being learned. The Minor Orders, progressively, are: Watcher, Outer Guardian, Lector, Inner Guardian, and Acolyte. Each initiation focuses on a different lesson, and as Sally explained in a recent study group, they “initiate” a specific energy in our lives. The Watcher puts great focus on observation and mindfulness. The Outer Guardian puts great emphasis on discernment and judgment.


There is also a cross section of Theosophical principles with each one - Watcher in physical, OG is emotional, Lector is mental, IG is intuitive, and Acolyte is what Theosophists call Atma roughly translating from sanskrit as “One Spirit”. These stages or initiations were put together by several people including John Drais at the formation of the Paracelsian Order and the Johannine Catholic Church.


It just so happens that we decided to have an Outer Guardian study group recently, in some part because Allison and I were having such massive karma play out that it was frightening Amber. That is to say, Amber was considering never taking the Outer Guarding initiation to avoid the juju. I think it was when Allison got bit by a rattlesnake that Amber really felt shaken up.


Like all spiritual pursuits, the initiations are what you make of it. For me and what I make of San Diego, I consider myself profoundly luck to be in the place that I am, and profoundly fortunate to have a wife like Amber to share in my spiritual path.

As for Brutus, even though we are living in San Diego, we found a grassy area in our back alley. Sometimes I go out there with him to read or meditate. I am thankful for him too.


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