Cathars

They never called themselves Cathars: they were Good Men (and women). They had lived their normal lives, raising children and being human, and then they chose a higher calling in their later years.

The name Cathar probably came from the Catholic Church which saw their beliefs as “The Great Heresy” and decided to eradicate them from the Earth by giving them a choice: relinquish their faith or die on a flaming pyre. They chose the fire.

These days, the choices aren’t so stark, but the implication is that what you believe in can cause the ‘powers that be’ to try to convert you to their way of thinking. Every day we are being tested to see what we’re made of.

The Refiner’s Fire

In 1991, I took a series of quotations and strung them together using the Tarot as the link to demonstrate what mystics and poets had tried to explain over the centuries about God. Years later, I created a booklet that was available through Fountain International and can now be accessed here.

The simplest answer as to what the Refiner’s Fire is? Love. And God is Love itself.

When our lives are going along ‘tickedy-boo’ we have no ‘need’ of God. God knows that. That is why Satan is allowed to ‘test’ us with adversity: to see if we are for ‘turning’. Funny, isn’t it?

In the story of Job, God gives Satan the freedom to do what he wants with Job, to prove how God-fearing he is. In the end, Job questions God directly about what is going on.

The story may have been an allegory, but the implication is clear: God needs us as much as we need God.

Rosicrucians

My own experience of reaching the end of my tether in this life brought me in line with a truth about a past life. I belonged to the Rosicrucians. I needed to reach my lowest point to appreciate this truth.

We really don’t appreciate what we’ve got until it’s gone.

Forest Fires

Need I say anything more?