Male and Female Incarnations: Their Rhythms and Causes

Pathwork Guide Lecture No. 10 | August 19, 1957

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Preface NoteIn this lecture there are one or more comments on homosexuality. The Guide’s words on homosexuality have been a source of controversy in the Pathwork community. These words can cause pain, especially given one’s sexual orientation and experience of historic and present-day bias. We remind everyone that on this topic, as on all topics, the Guide invites us to find our own inner authority (IPF Board of Trustees September 2022).

I greet you in God’s name, my dear friends. I bring you blessings.

It is generally difficult to understand the real meaning of the teaching that the Kingdom of God is within, just as Hell is within, too. You imagine that this refers to a mood and therefore to some unreal thing that cannot be grasped. People only take for real what they can see and touch; feeling states cannot be seen or touched. When we explain to you that thoughts and feelings are forms, it becomes somewhat easier for you to understand that these forms build corresponding spheres. Landscapes, surroundings, clothes, whatever it is, are in harmony or in disharmony with all the in-between gradations. This explanation, however, still may not make it clear how all this can exist within. Human beings believe that there is no space within for landscapes and spheres, and difficult as it is to explain this with words, I still want to try to lead you to further insight into spiritual states.

Just as time on earth is entirely different from its true reality in spirit, so it is with space also. Spatial dimensions like above, below, right, or left are concepts that you can grasp in your earthly habitat, but they do not exist in that way in the spiritual dimension. When human beings divest themselves of their bodies, they go inward into the spiritual worlds, because the whole universe is actually within the human being. This is a fact.

Maybe you can understand the concept if I give you an example, however insufficient:  Think of opera glasses into which you look from the wrong end so that everything becomes very small. Then this little picture will be the reality according to your understanding. Now, you might pose the question how the entire universe, with its vast size, could exist in every human being. I would answer you in the following manner:  Your earthly world is not the actual reality, not even in a figurative, symbolic sense; it is only a reflection, an image in a mirror, a projection of the real.

The body, which houses the spirit, brings about a separation. The moment the separating wall falls because you leave your body behind, the universe that exists in every single human being unifies—of course on condition that you have developed yourself far enough to reach the spheres where there is no longer any separation. The lower the sphere in which an entity finds itself—be it in the here-and-now or in the beyond—the more radical must be the separation.

Because of the limitations of human speech when spiritual matters are concerned, I can provide but a sketchy outline, which cannot be more than an analogy. It could, however, lead you to meditate on the idea that Heaven and Hell and all that is in-between is within you. What the teaching describes is not only an emotional state the way you people imagine it, neither is it something abstract. Everything that for you is an abstraction is concrete in spirit; everything that for you is formless, is form in spirit, form composed of higher matter. The difficulty you may first encounter in understanding that the earthly matter which you can touch is only a mirror image or reflection of the universe fully present in every single human soul, can perhaps be overcome to a certain degree by meditating on my words.

Is there a question on this topic?

QUESTION:  Yes. In connection with this idea, I would like to ask about the atom which cannot be seen by anybody. Scientists say that it is the smallest unit that may be grasped by the human brain, which means that there is nothing smaller. The statement was made that if humans can split the atom, they can come upon the secrets of the universe.

ANSWER:  As you understood correctly, the splitting of the atom is related to the idea which I have just attempted to describe, however imperfectly, that what you experience as matter is only a reflection of the universe within your soul. Perhaps an atomic physicist would understand it better, because he knows exactly what is the significance of the different orders of magnitude. To say that the atom is the smallest means, of course, that it is the smallest in human measurement; it is the smallest you can grasp. In spirit, however, the smallest is also the largest. For you this is difficult to comprehend, but you have intuited that the concepts are related. When one says that the splitting of the atoms will reveal the secrets of the universe, this is what is meant. All this opens the door somewhat; it raises the veil a little more.

Until now people were influenced by the doctrines of the churches to believe that everything is outside:  Hell beneath and Heaven above. When people read in Scripture that Heaven is within, they think that only a mood is meant. So here is a contradiction. Actually, nuclear physics casts a light on the contradiction that reveals that both talk about the same:  that emotional states are actually spiritual spheres which are found within the human being.

Beyond a certain development, every single spiritual being reaches a stage of purification where it is capable of surrendering to the divine flow, dissolve itself, and melt into it. And it can also reconstitute these fluid threads so that it again becomes an entity of form and shape—although of such fine substance that beings who have not yet reached a high state of development cannot perceive it.

Everyone can experience a faint echo of this blissful feeling of melting into oneness when overtaken by a feeling of immense bliss. You can perhaps sense how much longing there is in you to dissolve the self, not only in the union of love, but also in all the great experiences of the soul when it is lifted high and close to God, in whatever way this may happen, through nature, music, meditation, or simply when the breath of God touches the human being. Then you really feel that your body limits you, and you wish to break the limits so that you can surrender to the stream and mingle with it. Perhaps you have never thought of it in these terms, but you probably will confirm that at times you have known such feelings.

The less purified the soul is—and I do not only refer to faults and weaknesses but also to anxieties and unhealthy currents—the more the person fears self-surrender, in spite of yearning for it. The more spiritualized the soul, the less it will stem against the surrender. Some human philosophies have actually grasped this. Through such insight, these philosophies have come to the conclusion that this state is the final destination of humanity. However, this is not true. Although there is a melting and dissolving, the individuality, the I-consciousness is not lost. Again and again, as I said before, those beings will contract the fluidal threads and from the state of pure being move into the state of doing. In the state of doing one has to become a complete and harmonious form. And since God is creator—that is, doer—this process takes place in Him, too. The active element of God that creates contracts over and over again into the purest and most perfect form. Thus the element of God that simply is and sustains, consequently also dissolves itself. These concepts are extremely difficult for you human beings to integrate into your understanding, but I hope my words can spark a flash of insight. And perhaps they might also answer a question one of my dear friends once asked me and that I did not completely answer at the time. Do you understand?

RESPONSE:  Yes. In Indian philosophy, it is clearly expressed, as far as we can understand it.

ANSWER:  Yes. At the same time, I am explaining a contradiction that is inherent in human understanding. It also touches on the subject of dualism and monism. People who have had a God-experience in the state of being, in the state of dissolution, suppose that that is the only and final truth. Others, however, who have experienced God in His other manifestation, as form, as creator, believe that this is the ultimate truth. Here is the origin of the contradiction, and I tell you that both God-experiences are equally true.

Each divine aspect must also contain beingness, but not always, for from time to time it can be dissolved. This does not happen arbitrarily, but in a lawful rhythm, as it is with all higher beings. These aspects of God are what you would call personalities.

QUESTION:  Is this what is meant with the inbreath and outbreath of prana, that is connected with our own breathing in a certain rhythm?

ANSWER:  Quite true. And your rhythm can be plugged into the cosmic rhythm.

QUESTION:  And because of this the prana and the breathing are the most important life functions.

ANSWER:  Right. You can find many more insights when you meditate on these words.

And now, my dear ones, as you may have many questions of general importance, I would like to continue in the question and answer form.

QUESTION:  As an authority whose opinion I hold in high regard, would you say that it is desirable for Westerners to meditate on the drop and the iceberg or on the iceberg and the water, which in Indian teachings is very much recommended?  Or is this perhaps not good for Westerners?

ANSWER:  I cannot generalize. It depends totally on the individual. A meditation like that can be a key for a particular individual. However, if one gave such a meditation to a person who has not reached a particular level, or else is of a different character type, the meditation would not be of any real help. Here too one has to rely on intuition and inspiration.

QUESTION:  Perhaps he would need loosening exercises?

ANSWER:  Yes, very true. It always depends on what the person’s problems are. One should never assign meditation on a rigid pattern rather than considering what the person’s problem is. Above everything else, where are the inner blocks, faults, and weaknesses?  The chief life-conflicts always originate there.

QUESTION:  People who are too strongly rooted in matter and have many earth signs in their astrological chart can tolerate this kind of meditation better than people who have more water or fire signs. Where there is too much of air, water, and fire, this meditation will be wrong. Is this correct?

ANSWER:  Yes, this is very true.

QUESTION:  Can I ask the following question:  The general conception and teaching is that incarnations change from male incarnation to female and vice versa. Can you clarify this point for me?

ANSWER:  Fundamentally, each being is male or female, and in most incarnations the entities follow their basic nature. However, in some cases it is necessary to experience incarnating as the other sex. Let me explain:  Before the Fall—the separation from God—all beings were unified, encompassing within themselves both the active and receptive, that is, male and female, aspects. You all know that ultimately unification must happen and the separated halves will come together and form one being. This happens only after the necessity to incarnate has been overcome—often even much later, when the male and female elements have become one. The Fall is the separation from the One, from God, and at the same time a breaking into two followed by many further splits and fragmentations. This explains the origin of the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms. There the splits extend further and further into smaller and smaller parts.

This, however, is an additional explanation. Now I return to your question. Imagine the unified being, in which the male and female parts are integrated, in the shape of a ball—but please do not take this too literally. I cannot present this otherwise, because if I tried, you would lack the concepts and I the words. One side of the ball is the positive, masculine principle, the other the negative, feminine principle—and I ask you not to take the word “negative” as a value judgment. The male element is the creator, the positive, active principle. When God, with the purpose of active creation, contracts into form, then the masculine principle is at work. The feminine, receptive principle, is what dissolves itself, slowly and continuously building, growing. It exists in nature as the mothering principle which does not create with one act but is continuously affecting everything, and that simply rests in its being.

Both principles can be found in endless diversity in all creative manifestations. Consequently, they can also be found in the integrated twin entities in which both the male and female poles are contained. God has created them both in perfection, each in its own essence. Therefore, it is not right for the male principle to take on female functions, and vice versa.

Think back again to the ball. One side is the positive, masculine principle, the other side the negative, feminine principle. When they are brought into unity, they both work in complete harmony. As the splitting took place, the halves were rarely split apart exactly in the middle. The breaking apart was the result of the separation from God, and this was a chaotic event which did not belong in God’s perfect order. As a result, the break did not occur either in an orderly fashion. Therefore the fault could apportion to the feminine part what should be masculine, and vice versa, in an arbitrary fashion.

In the development that takes the spirits back to God the split has to even out:  What belongs to the masculine principle but has gone over to the feminine side has to incarnate in the opposite side, that is, as a man. The more irregular the splitting, the more often the entity has to incarnate as a man to establish the original balance. If you knew how many incarnations you lived as a male or a female, you would know in what manner your splitting occurred. To repeat:  Every being represents fundamentally either the male or the female principle and either the one or the other dominates his or her being. It would not make sense for the healthy and harmonious feminine to change over to the masculine, for both are divine and each in its own way is perfect.

QUESTION:  Must not everyone go through the experience of what it means to be a woman or a man?

ANSWER:  No, not necessarily. If the split took place exactly along the halfway line, the incarnation as the opposite sex would not be necessary.

QUESTION:  Are there entities who split exactly along the middle?

ANSWER:  Hardly; very rarely. But as I said, there are splits where the angle is not so wide, where the deviations from the middle line are relatively small, and where less of a compensation is needed. The purpose of alternating incarnations is not to gather experiences. If you meditate on this, you will have to realize that the experience in the spirit, the spiritual development toward perfection has nothing to do with being a man or a woman, and you will intuitively feel what you are in essence, masculine or feminine. The development will bring you to perfection as a man or as a woman.

Those who have to go through compensatory incarnations in which they are not born according to their original sexual identity can become aware of this through meditation. Of course, experience has to be gathered, but not so that the perfect masculine being must become feminine or vice versa. To believe this is human error. Just as God is perfect in His/Her masculine and feminine aspects, each one as such, without having to alternate them, each creating harmoniously in its own mode and function, so it is with all other beings. Harmony and experience must be gathered and realized during the course of development to regain divine perfection.

QUESTION:  Does the separation between the feminine and the masculine continue all through the incarnational cycle?  Does the androgynous union happen only in the spirit world?

ANSWER:  Union must happen in the spirit world.

QUESTION:  Does it happen only when one does not have to incarnate anymore?

ANSWER:  Only then. As long as incarnations are necessary, the unification in the form of spiritual merging cannot take place.

QUESTION:  May I ask a very occult question?  It has preoccupied me for long. [Yes.]  Does it connect to the refusal of the Makama that the split was made in the constellation of the Eagle?

ANSWER:  There is a simultaneity. Hints have been given continuously in the entire Creation.

QUESTION:  You have explained to us that our reality is only a mirror of the true reality. I cannot understand this. When we touch a tree, for example, the bark is so real to us. Somehow I cannot grasp what you mean. I am not quite there yet.

ANSWER:  Perhaps you and your friends could talk about it after the session and that may help you to come closer to understanding it. It is just as difficult to clarify this as to understand it. And if you cannot grasp it today, that does not matter. Later—maybe in one or two or five years—suddenly a light will be shed on the problem. You will have an inkling, a  sense of what it means. And beyond that no one can go. Then these words will affect you in a very different way.

Certainly, what you touch is real or seems to you real. When you touch a mirror, that is also real. You feel the mirror. Let us assume you do not know that the living being reflected in the mirror is warm and blood flows in its veins and thus you do not know how that being is factually experienced in touch. You could then mistake the mirror image for the real person. Imagine the relationship between the two realities somewhat like this. You do not know how anything in the reality of which you are not conscious feels to the touch, looks to the eye, and sounds to the ear. For you, the ultimate criterion is in touching, hearing, or seeing, because you have no basis of comparison and lack higher spiritual perception.

QUESTION:  When a person is incarnated as a female, but feels herself more masculine, is it a sin against the incarnation or is it perhaps an indication of what you have explained earlier?

ANSWER:  I would not say sin. When a woman rebels against her femininity it is a deviation, if only on the emotional level. In this rebellion is contained a rebellion against God, against creation, against her destiny. And this is always a sign that there is something unhealthy in the soul. Eventually this must be healed. Everyone can find perfect happiness only by fully accepting and saying yes to the life given in an incarnation and by fulfilling whatever purpose the incarnation is supposed to serve. The first step has to be to find one’s calling, to know one’s task, and this can be very easily discovered on this path. A person who does not follow his or her destiny will always be inwardly unhappy, plagued by problems, and feel unfulfilled even when successful and doing some good. Unfortunately, people do not draw the right conclusions from their unhappiness, which actually is a message of their very own essence. They ascribe their unhappiness to all kinds of external circumstances and conjecture about every kind of possibility except the message that comes from the deepest place in themselves. When a person is unhappy she or he must know that so far she or he has not fulfilled her destiny to its full potential. When problems exist, it does not make sense to solely eliminate their outer manifestation; the root of the problem has to be unearthed. One has to find to what extent one has fulfilled one’s life task and where one still lacks in this respect. This is the only remedy of unhappiness and of the gnawing discontentment with the self.

QUESTION:  How can one fulfill one’s task to develop one’s proper masculinity or femininity when the split we have just discussed is not in balance and therefore people have to live contrary to their basic nature without having caused it or being able to do anything about it?  Take for instance a woman who has so much masculinity in her that she is unable to develop her femininity, or only with great difficulty.

ANSWER:  This is a good question, but I will correct a misunderstanding. The assumption that people find themselves in any situation without their fault is not true. There is no such thing. The split happened because of their own decision at the time of the Fall, so far back that the everyday consciousness does not know it anymore. The spirit remembers, although it does not allow the memory to reach the surface.

As far as your question is concerned I say this:  You know—and psychology has recognized this—that there are in all men feminine elements and in all women masculine elements. This even appears in astrology, which our friend here can bear witness to. A man can be born under a feminine sign and yet be an entirely healthy man; the same holds for the woman who was born under a masculine sign. If a man is completely healthy and integrated—which means he is fulfilling his destiny by carrying out his own development to its maximum—then the feminine tendencies that are in him will never be in the way of the fullest unfolding of his masculine identity, and vice versa. Instead, the tendencies of the other sex will further and complete the unfolding of the personality. For example, when a masculine element in a woman is troubling and problematic, she does not live in the fullest spiritual sense. But the same element will have a supporting influence and even change into a positive, good quality when the woman develops herself spiritually. The more this happens, the more harmoniously each soul current and tendency will meld and the whole personality will reach a higher degree of integration.

Here again everything depends solely on the entity’s free will.

It is not what one brings into this life or what one has acquired—advantages or disadvantages, positive or negative factors looking at it from the human point of view—that is decisive, but what one does with it. When you go on your spiritual path in the most intensive way, then any disturbing element, be it inner or outer, becomes an advantage. When you do not enter the spiritual path, even an advantage must turn into a disadvantage and a problem. In this case the masculine elements in the woman will act in contradiction, leading to great inner conflicts that will create disharmony. All depends on how much one wills one’s own development. Do you understand?

QUESTIONER:  Not entirely. But I will think about it. What we have here is an ongoing polarization, I believe.

ANSWER:  Yes, but there is more.

QUESTION:  Is this a process of complementing, of bringing together the opposites?

ANSWER:  Just so. You know that each element in the process is neutral in itself. When put into relationship it can act favorably or unfavorably. It can be formed in this way or that way. It can become harmful or beneficial. When a masculine element seems to hinder a woman, her development lies in purification, overcoming, healing, and integrating. This change can only be accomplished through her deliberate decision to go this way. She has the choice to not do anything about it or to go the path of purification. It was not by accident that the splitting became so irregular. It happened due to the person’s free will or, more precisely, the choice to go into a direction that seemed most comfortable at the time. Therefore the development back to God must always consist in conquering the difficulties one has originally created.

QUESTION:  Does this refer to the problem of the career woman?

ANSWER:  Yes.

QUESTION:  Is it at all possible that in the incarnation a technical error may occur?

ANSWER:  No, no. This is not possible.

QUESTION:  I have met people who were entirely feminine in the best sense of the word and yet lived as men. My question has nothing to do with homosexuality. I am only interested in the spiritual meaning, not the physical.

ANSWER:  Such a case can be the result of some karma which has nothing to do with the topic we are addressing, or if it does, it is only an indirect connection. If a person in an earlier incarnation has accumulated much karma through offensive behavior toward his or her own sex—and we will not go into details—a woman must be incarnated as a man, and vice versa. That has to be endured.

QUESTIONER:  The people I was referring to did not suffer at all, they were even very happy.

ANSWER:  First of all, karma does not always have to do with suffering. Karma is also the good; it means simply cause and effect. But in this case, it is not so. Even though you do not see the pain or the problem in it, believe me, this kind of life is not easy.

QUESTION:  What then is the case with hermaphrodites, where you can also distinguish between feminine and masculine types. Scientific records, I believe, indicate the existence of only one perfect hermaphrodite, who was half man and half woman. Maybe even that proportion was not exactly perfect.

ANSWER:  You have brought up a very interesting question that can provide a key. Science has already found much that could be informative, if only science would connect the results with the basic questions of Creation.

The reason why such a painful incarnation must occur is always karmic. Its exact roots would need a far-reaching explanation which we cannot give at this point. In time, however, you will perhaps, through examples and certain explanations, better understand what circumstances can cause such an incarnation to happen. But there can be no error.

QUESTION:  Is there absolutely no error of any kind in Creation?  Is there a hundred percent infallibility?

ANSWER:  Absolutely.

INTERJECTION:  The reason for each catastrophe is that again the law be fulfilled.

ANSWER:  Just so.

In most cases, when human theories about Creation diverge and contradict each other, each of the conflicting theories can contain a kernel of truth. This also pertains to the question whether incarnations occur alternating as male and female as against the supposition that there are only masculine and feminine beings and no changeover. The same is valid for the human inclination to worship God as a person as against experiencing Him in dissolution and formlessness. We can notice again and again that when it comes to two different opinions there is always a core of truth that underlies the seemingly contradictory positions. As far as masculine and feminine incarnations go, you can come to realize that both are right. If you meditate about it, my friend, and weigh everything you have learned and recognized, and in addition think about the many parallels that point to this truth, you will come to see that it has to be this way and cannot be different. Words are, as usual, inadequate; it is hard to force the concepts into your language, so infinitely hard. In order to understand what I am really talking about, it is of paramount importance that you do not cling to the exact denotation of a word but take it in its larger meaning and connect your knowledge with your feeling. Then insight will grow in you, for which no words can substitute.

QUESTION:  Very little has been written about these things. We must make our own recognitions with the help of guidance. Isn’t it so?

ANSWER:  But in the various areas of the humanities—and also elsewhere—there are hints and parallels which can be connected to the prevailing philosophies and also to the teachings given here. Only when you bring together knowledge and feeling will you gain insights by reading inspired literature and philosophy.

QUESTION:  I would like to ask a final question relating to this topic. I have come to the conclusion that the continual, spiritual growth of a being is not dependent on whether the body is male or female. The basic principle of the masculine persists even when incarnated as a woman. The temporary womanhood does not change the fact that he is a man. This is the essential truth I believe.

ANSWER:  Yes, but it always depends on what the human beings do with their lives and how they use the given conditions—the difficulties as well as whatever makes their lives easier or more beautiful.

QUESTION:  Are there not two kinds of meditation, the spiritually active and another, more emotional?  For example, meditating on “Be still and know that I am God,” without thinking, simply allowing the eternal principle of God to penetrate into the soul?  Is that right?

ANSWER:  Quite right. Again, there is a parallel to what we talked about before. Even in the form of meditation we find the masculine and the feminine principles. The one is intellectually active and involved with thought, therefore masculine; the other is emotional and flowing, therefore feminine. Both of them are important. In a particular developmental phase one of them can be emphasized and in the next one the other, until balancing and fusion can take place even in this. The kind of meditation that should be mostly cultivated is always the one which you find more difficult, because this indicates that the quality to be cultivated is lacking for the ultimate merging.

QUESTION:  I heard that according to some Eastern teachings a person can incarnate again into a past lifetime. Is this correct?

ANSWER:  No, this is not correct.

QUESTION:  The metaphysical bent within a person is God’s gift, because through it he or she has the opportunity to get closer to God, provided the quest is diligently pursued. Do the people who are chosen to have such a disposition earn it in an earlier incarnation or are they given this advantage as a test?  And if they will not use the talent, it will not be given to them in the next incarnation?

ANSWER:  Here are two questions combined into one and I will answer them in turn. As to the first part of your question:  Both situations occur. When someone has worked and fought for the metaphysical connection, he or she will bring the fruits into the next lifetime. You can also notice this in people’s astrological charts. The talent can open up easily in one case, while another person has to struggle to acquire it. If he or she does that, then perhaps in the next life everything will open up without any difficulty.

There are also cases where the metaphysical bent is used as a test, where an experience of metaphysical reality is offered with the purpose to further an accelerated development. This might happen in the following way:  Someone may have earned certain merits in a lifetime which may not necessarily be connected with a gift for spirituality. As this entity enters the spirit world, the merits earned will work themselves out exactly according to law. When the next incarnation is discussed—every incarnation is carefully planned, and often, especially from a certain stage on, the individual being can participate in the planning—the decision of how to enjoy the fruits of the merits of the past lifetime in the next incarnation is entrusted to the individual. Although the particular being may not have earned by his or her own labor the grace of a spiritual opening, he or she can desire a metaphysical experience to take place in the next life on the basis of past merits. When the desire has a positive result and creates the ability to experience spiritually, the experience does not have to come through a successful struggle to open up the spiritual contact. As one person can wish for good health and another for prosperity, so can yet another wish for an opportunity for rapid spiritual advancement, having already come to understand that the temporary comforts of earth life matter little in comparison with the happiness of spiritual ascent.

Thus, the beings who make the decisions for the next incarnation would say, “We cannot give you effortless unfolding of the spirit. On the basis of your merits, however, we can help you so that in your next life you can exercise your free will to seize the opportunities offered to you in this direction. The decision must be made by you, the struggle must be won by you, so that you can come to the bliss of spiritual liberation.”  This, then, is different from the first case.

And now to the second part of your question. Of course it is so. When a human being has the opportunity to go on this path and does not take advantage of it, then the door to the spiritual experience will have to be shut for quite a long time. I do not have to confirm this. If you think about it, you will realize that it cannot be any other way. The person does not take advantage of the possibilities to reach this wonderful goal, for whatever reasons—laziness, love of comfort, vanity, or shame—all of which make him or her feel that it is impossible to open up. When that is the case, a personal fault is always responsible, however great the self-deception. Faults need to be overcome, especially those that bolt the door to the spiritual path. This must have its consequences. Such a person will have to fight harder for a spiritual opening; the overcoming will prove to be more difficult and in no way diminished for the delay. It is, however, only a delay. The experience of the spirit cannot be ultimately prevented.

Yes, my dear ones, I know you do not like to hear this. Nobody likes to hear it who has not already fought through a large part of the way. Yet, this is the way it is. And I tell you, verily, it is not unjust. The greatest and highest happiness that a human being can attain—his or her own development—must be fought for. And if you are helped to the extent of being guided, and you still don’t do your best, then—you have to admit—cause and effect must work accordingly, and it is just and right to be so.

QUESTION:  In connection with the feminine and masculine principles, is it true that even historical epochs can be feminine or masculine?

ANSWER:  Yes, that is true. Such influences manifest in different periods. Certain spiritual beings work especially strongly in this respect. Also, such cycles are governed by spiritual law because it is for the good of the development of humanity.

QUESTION:  Is it true, for example, that the twentieth century brings the feminine element more into the foreground?

ANSWER:  Yes, it is very true. This also serves the necessary movement of equalization.

QUESTION:  Today’s lecture is very close to my heart. And you seem to have difficulties to manifest through the medium. Why is this so?

ANSWER:  The difficulties do not lie in the meaning of my words; they are coming through to a certain degree. You perceive perhaps more of a problem than there is. I am able to get through. Of course, we deal with such difficult concepts that it is not so easy to penetrate the medium. All this is strange to her, causing, of course, obstacles which I have to circumvent.

QUESTION:  When a person dies and the spirit reenters the spheres of the beyond, is this entry always accompanied by pain?

ANSWER:  No.

QUESTION:  You mean not necessarily?

ANSWER:  No, not at all. There are many instances where this is absolutely not the case.

QUESTION:  Is a painless return a grace that one has merited?

ANSWER:  I would describe it as cause and effect—or as grace. It can be both, it can be a merit that comes to fruition in this way. Or it can be the effect of a self-created cause through a particular way of life.

QUESTION:  When one has sinned and sincerely repents in one’s heart and then tries to make restitution and better oneself, does one still have to accept the consequences?

ANSWER:  No. When one truly repents and by this development overcomes the fault that caused the sin, the sin is extinguished. Every karma can be erased. And this is even more applicable to something you have caused in this life.

And now, my dear ones, I withdraw, giving God’s blessings to each one of you. May His love strengthen you, open you up, and guide you to spiritual growth, so that you will be ever more happy children of God.