The Blessed Gardens of Montsalvat

THE WAY OF THE GRAIL – SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS – March 29, 2021

Czech original: Požehnané Zahrady Montsalvatu · cesta-gralu.cz

Only with difficulty can earthly words capture the splendour of the blessed gardens which spread around the place where the luminous castle of the created spirits stands – Montsalvat

Encircling the highest place in Paradise, the luminous gardens bear in their nature a reflection of the mission of the primordially created islands, just as Montsalvat itself bears it, which is a replica of the Castle of the Grail in Primordial Creation

They are gardens of the womanly weaving of purity, of loving-kindness and of faithful service

Only the purest of pure women may become handmaidens in these magnificent gardens of Montsalvat

If a spiritual visitor may ever enter here, then his inner being must first be pervaded by the most genuine reverence towards God

From the beginning of their arising, Purity grants these places a protection which is formed into a high silver-golden lattice that encircles and guards these gardens all around

Into the far distance stretch these high dividing walls, which in all their parts bear forms of the most perfect workmanship, as though they had come from the hands of a supreme artist

We find here scenes of pictures, of patterns of flowers and of animals of the highest splendour, of which earthmen have not the slightest inkling

The lattice is the expression of the fact that a dividing line arises here in the working of the luminous Power, which is of one kind before the wall, while a vibration of another kind passes through the gardens behind the walls

Through this ornamented lattice many may also sometimes delight their gaze, those who have been enabled to bear the higher degree of the spiritual surroundings which prevail here in these places

Peacefulness and peace of the most blessed kind are what waft from these gardens to everyone who draws near to them

Also a distant dignity, a royal greatness and a cooling purity

At the same time we find here childlikeness of the most lovable kind

Those who may draw near behold here a higher degree of fulfilled being, which, like everything in these places, presupposes nothing less than the complete faithfulness of a spiritual surrender to crystal-clear, sublime service

The gardens spread into the far distance and contain within them whole landscapes, in which at particular places there are the primary receiving points, which we may designate as the strongest elevations, upon whose summits stand the temples of pure divine service

Above the landscape and above the temples there hovers a delicate haze which makes the golden Light that irradiates everything stand out

The articulation of the places resolves itself into three main kinds of gardens

Besides these there are then several further parts, but the basic gardens are three

As has already been said, these gardens are in a certain sense replicas of the archetypes from Primordial Creation, and they bear within them as their basic division Purity, Love and Faithfulness

Without perhaps knowing it, a visitor to the gardens would at once recognise in which garden he stands, for the appearance and the atmosphere of the place always express the kind of service clearly

To these main parts there cling at the same time the places of the blessed upbringing of young childlike spirits, which, as in other places in the work of Creation also, stand under a certain special protection of Purity and of Love

Here, in the places of these gardens, we would find for the human-spiritual kind that which may be called the happiest childhood development, for the spirits who awaken to consciousness here are tended with the best exemplary care that can be imagined for all that is human-spiritual

The care is tender, yet at the same time it leads unyieldingly forward and is subject to a certain urgent pressure which does not allow indolence to arise, that highest bane of all human spirits developing in the planes of the Subsequent Creation

Because, however, everything here in the blessed gardens of Montsalvat vibrates only in the purest weaving, this care is always perceived above all as wholly filled with love, and not one of the children here sees for even a moment in the tasks to which they are led anything burdensome or unwanted

The all-irradiating Light makes of every activity of the children always only the most attractive game, in which the abilities and skills of the spiritual inner being of each participating child awaken and grow

Besides this, the working of the principle of example is always strongly present here through all those who are here as helpers in the upbringing

In this example there is naturally contained only the noblest volition, which, already in the full possession of spiritual abilities, proceeds perfectly and thereby works as a unique kind of example

Thus here in those parts of these gardens where the spiritually childlike moves, we find only joyfulness and a pure will for development

This development is then kindly guided, and at the given moment there opens before each of the children exactly that which is needful for its advance in maturity

All this is bound up with the complete trust of the childlike spirits in those who accompany them in their development, and therefore all the little spiritual children find in them only the dearest leaders and helpers

If only earthmen would let these places inspire their ways of education, then everything in earthly schooling and upbringing would swiftly undergo changes such as today can hardly even be imagined

The emphasis would be laid upon the spiritual personality and upon the true recognition of the state in which each particular child stands

Play and the effect of example would swiftly become the most important thing in every direction of upbringing and education

But precisely because here on earth hardly any radiant examples among men are any longer to be found, the helping influence of the schools, and likewise any influence upon children in the family and in the state, may be regarded as almost lost from the outset

A change in the earthly upbringing of children towards more penetrating results rests above all upon the natural arising of examples among adults

If at least one generation raises itself more towards nobility of character and honourableness in conduct, then at once, with sufficient influence in society, there will come as a self-acting consequence an upswing of ascent for the following generations of children

Of course this proceeds from the assumption that the children coming to earth will not be from the darkest planes of ethereal substance

This, however, will be brought about with certainty only by the right attitude of earthly womanhood, which needs to swing itself up more towards purity in the receptivity for its luminous task on earth

If this is observed, then no black sheep will be born into earthly families

Thereby the way will open for that natural following of all that is brighter among the children

This is because in the development of a pure spiritual spark there is always only the longing for ascent, the longing for the experiencing of joy and of honourable striving

That is the natural Law working in the whole work of Creation, which manifests itself everywhere in all places

And for such children there should be here in advance, visible everywhere, the personalities of adults who will be healthy examples for life

That is something which works as a happening of attraction of all that is spiritually stronger

If therefore we wish to bring up healthy generations of children, it is necessary that there be strong examples of honourableness and of pure conduct among men on earth

The condition is therefore the example resting in the adults on earth

A lame man surely cannot teach the best style of running if he himself cannot demonstrate it to his listeners in countless variations of movement

It is exactly the same with all examples of honourableness and of loving-kindness in conduct in many directions among men on earth

It may be said that here that pointing of Jesus holds good, that the spiritually dead will always lead others only to the same result, namely to spiritual fall and death

At the same time it may thereby be said that the nation which has at its core enough spiritually healthy, awakened people has the precondition for further spiritual as well as earthly ascent

For the present, alas, most nations on earth are heading towards decline, for in them no visible examples of true humanity and spirituality are to be found

This, however, does not hold in the places of the blessed gardens of Montsalvat, where on the contrary the most natural kind of exemplariness of the leading spirits and helpers works in many directions upon the developing spiritual children as the strongest effect of a strengthening pressure towards healthy development

With this, however, we have paused only at one of the many parts of the mentioned sections of the Light-irradiated gardens of Montsalvat

These parts do not belong to the actual tasks of the gardens either, but have a certain supplementary task of this place, which offers so much that is blessed for every development in the spiritual worlds of Paradise

The chief mission of the gardens is service to the Light in the purest fulfilment

In this service there is also contained everything else which separates itself out of it as a natural continuing happening, to which, as one of its forms, belongs the upbringing of the spiritual children in these places

As is already rightly evident in advance to many a living reader, the predominant inhabitants of these gardens are womanly spiritual beings who arose here directly to their service, or who reached here through their long fervent devotion to the service of the Light

But to only a few human-spiritual women do the gates of these gardens open, that they may step in here and become part of this Light-irradiated place in Creation

This is because the inner will for this glorious service needs to be the truly highest thing that burns within the inner being of a woman

At the same time, however, it is always possible for every woman to ripen through long striving in her genuine volition for pure service to the Light to that degree at which her inner joy and fulfilment will open to her one of the golden gates of these higher gardens in the nearness of Montsalvat

It will still be necessary to speak more of these places, so that earthmen may make it clearer to themselves that everything spiritual is at the same time real, and that entry into the spiritual world in fact signifies only the beginning of the truly conscious existence of the human spirit in Creation

For earthly words it is very hard to capture that splendour of Light which irradiates it all and lends it a breath of the most masterly colours and shades, whose earthly comparison always only drags down the concept of beauty or of splendour

Alas, readers most often associate with these concepts only their knowledge of what is earthly here, and thereby veil in advance all pictures and conceptions in a dimness and a certain ponderousness over against the crystal clarity, the lightness and the fresh, refreshing beauty which is the inseparable companion of all happening in the spiritual realm

Thus the whole manner of life and its fulfilment in all places in the spiritual realm may be called the most fully valuable, the most genuine for all the senses of man

To this, however, all the abilities must be added which arise out of the nature of a mature spirit and out of its adaptation to the conditions there, and again any conception at once moves completely away from the earthly

It is therefore necessary for all who strive seriously to begin to seek in this direction a real connection with the spiritual planes, for only in this seeking will their spirit become more open to the streams in which a vibration of real experience from the higher planes of the spirit may sometimes come

At the same time it is not possible to force this by power like some exercise, but it can be unfolded only freely and unconstrainedly in the inner humility and purest longing of man

Of course the foundation for this needs to be in man the soil which he lives as a truly spiritual inhabitant of Creation, who experiences all that takes place around him and within himself through the spiritual knowledge of the work of Creation

Only thus can man gradually advance in his receptivity through intuitive perception and so become an ever more conscious participant in that which otherwise remains for other people still beyond the boundary of their earthly sight

Thereby there will gradually open to him the view beyond this part of the Subsequent Creation, and he will be able at least in part to grasp the splendour and greatness which fills the life of the pure spirits in Paradise

It is something indescribably blessed to be permitted to dwell even only in the nearness of the Light-flooded gardens of Montsalvat

As has been said, these gardens are divided in their main articulation into three parts, each of which bears within it a certain mission that links further also with the parts working below in the Paradise of human spirits itself

Following the archetypes of the islands in the primordially created heights, these gardens have in their parts temples where the purest service to God is carried out by the handmaidens present there

It has already been written that the divine service of the knights in the halls of Montsalvat signifies the liveliest, most active movement and activity

And in the same way here too in the gardens of Montsalvat we again find the highest living activity as the true expression of the pure divine service of the womanly inhabitants here

We find here a constant active movement of the handmaidens, who devote themselves either to receiving or to passing on all that comes or is sent onward as help in the lower grades of Creation

This kind of service is something which men are still unable to picture rightly, for it is a real form of fulfilling service, in which what is received is at the same time experienced, and through the experiencing in the vibrations of the inner being it is worked over so that it may be sent onward

In everything we must look only for the highest harmony and concord, which make every movement of these places into true beauty, which make them a perfectly glorious flowing of fulfilling earnestness, while at the same time everything is inseparably permeated by happiness and childlike joy

Every happening here has at once a living expression and is formed into a picture which is immediately mediated as knowing recognition, which further hands at once take hold of for new working over in places where this can bring strengthening or inspiration for further faithful service to the Light

It is like an unceasing weaving of radiant chains of powers which pass from one being to another, in which each of the handmaidens always adds to it a unique portion of her fervent fellowship

Already in the experiencing itself lies a part of the fulfilment of the service, for the experiencing is in its full value forming and creating onward for those places which of their own strength would not suffice for it

It is therefore a forming and a transforming in one experiencing, which through the fervent strengthening added to it at once becomes something that may bring blessing and strengthening to further places

Earthman cannot picture this to himself, for out of himself he will always attach to it the conception of work in thoughts, and to this he has never yet on earth been able to attach sufficient earnestness, since thoughts are to him something secondary in their immateriality

Here, however, it must be recalled that in the spiritual realm every stirring of the spiritual inner being is at the same time already a deed, which sooner or later is expressed in some form as a magnitude that works and creates further independently

In the spiritual realm, therefore, there is no such separation as there is here on earth, where men attach far less earnestness to thoughts than to the gross material deed

Thereby, however, they make a great mistake here too, for in the earthly realm also, however much weaker the power of thoughts is than in the spiritual worlds, there prevails here likewise a connection between everything that man begets in thoughts and his further path in life

That most people are not aware of it changes nothing in the fact that their path of fate is formed through the kinds of thoughts which they thus nourish irresponsibly and without restraint

In the spiritual realm, however, it is otherwise, for the power of the spirit in its inner work is at the same time a happening which is immediately a living fulfilment, and this fulfilment, together with the added power of the spirit, hastens irresistibly towards a self-acting form which then lives on from the power laid into it

Thus everything that takes place here is at the same time inward and outward work

Out of this there then arises a concord and also a power of which earthmen can only dream, because for the most part they are not capable of anything of the kind

Only very few people carry within them a conviction of their volition so strong that it becomes convincing also in their deeds at every moment of their life

Yet something of the kind is possible in the earthly realm too, and every man should attain to it in his maturity, so that he can fully express outwardly his innermost impulses

Alas, for the present, however, fragmentation and duplicity prevail in the greatest part of all men, for the spirit does not govern the body, and still less the intellect as the instrument of its thinking

But let us return to the places of the blessed gardens in the nearness of Montsalvat, the castle of Light in the Paradise of human spirits

The gardens, which are divided into three basic parts, have three summit temples where pure spiritual handmaidens render faithful service to the Light

Adjoining these temples are then whole landscapes resembling the loveliest places, with plants, animals, buildings and inhabitants

The first of the gardens mentioned is connected with the island of roses in Primordial Creation, and its highest handmaiden is subject to the guidance from this island lying far higher in the heights of the primordially spiritual Light

The next garden is the garden of pure service, vibrating in the streams which descend to it from the heights of the island of the Lilies

The third garden is then connected with the island of the Swan Maidens

Its mission here in these places, however, bears besides the weaving of faithful service also a connection with a certain royal form of faithfulness to Justice

In the highest places in the gardens there are therefore three temples, where handmaidens chosen for it by the Light serve

They are always surrounded by a host of their faithful spiritual women and maidens, who either arose to their consciousness directly in this place, or who passed through the development of the human-spiritual kind and whose fervent longing prepared their inner being so that the wish they had carried within them since a certain awakening might be granted to them

Through these hosts there always penetrates concord, lightness, peace-filled joy and at the same time a kind of highest dignity of being such as can only be imagined in womanly activity

The gardens spreading out to the sides from the brightly radiating temples are then always filled predominantly with those kinds of blossoms which belong to the kind of service

Thus in the garden consecrated to the service of the Love of God we find a multitude of blooming roses of the most magnificent shades, such as the earthly eye does not know

In the nearness of the temple itself, however, we find places where great shrubs spread, almost resembling trees, which are laden with perpetually blooming rose blossoms of a ruby shade

Out of these blossoms there rises a fragrance which we shall never catch in earthly roses

This fragrance holds even a certain intoxicating quality, which also fills the halls of the temple, where the divine services are fulfilled with the singing of the women and maidens present

In the garden of the Lilies great shrubs again predominate, with the white-shining chalices of lily blossoms, which again breathe a fragrance of a supra-earthly kind

The third garden has a connection with the blue colour of blossoms, which have a more delicate appearance of chalice and come close to the earthly appearance of gentian flowers

This garden too is filled with a peculiar fragrance which uplifts the inner being of those present to a fulfilling divine service

The highest places, which are always formed into the shape of magnificent snow-white temples, are joined by terraced stairways leading upwards to the castle of Montsalvat

By these the chosen ones among the women ascend always at the time when out of the opened heavens of the heights of Light the dove descends, which brings power to the sacred places here and to the whole spiritual Paradise

The halls of Montsalvat are at that time filled with knights and with noble women

All these come in order that in a common divine service they may experience anew the grace of God's influx of life-giving power

The spirits thus graced may experience the sublime union with the nearness of God, in order then, strengthened, to return to their places, where they work in the purest helping service for all who need for their development the intermediate stage of their spiritual activity

Thus everything in these places weaves gloriously and forms shapes of life which we may truly call blissful and blessed by the Light

And below beneath these gardens there spreads that fabled City of the Golden Streets, in which dwell countless spirits who have completed their development and have become mature in their spiritual nature

The City of the Golden Streets is continually expanding, for in its promise from the beginning there lay the assurance that it would never reach limits which would not permit further newcomers from the Subsequent Creation, who have reached the gates of Paradise, to enter

For a right conception of these places it is necessary to take as a measure the concept of the inexhaustibility of the inflowing Power of God

Only therein can we find the foundation for the understanding of these places, where there is so much of which most people in the earthly world have not the slightest inkling

Thus the luminous castle Montsalvat and the gardens adjoining it, which we have brought closer in outline, are again only the description of one part of the great reality of splendour, which here in Paradise has countless shapes and forms of life

Montsalvat is important, and the blessed gardens of luminous service too have a great task for the whole Subsequent Creation, for to the human spirit which finds itself upon the paths of its maturing they can be a great support through the linking with the threads which from these places incline continually down into the depths of the materialities to help many seekers

Whoever seeks with his inner being the spiritual vibrations of purity, of love and of faithfulness to the Light may unite himself with the service of the noble handmaidens and knights working continually in the mentioned places of Light

May this connection therefore be used as abundantly as possible for the good and the ascent of this world of men on earth