Introduction

In one of the most poetic and inspiring visions in The Revelation, St. John describes the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with 144,000 people having his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads and singing a new song:

Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion; with him were 144,000 people who have his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven that sounded like a roaring waterfall, like a loud peal of thunder. It sounded like the music made by musicians playing their harps. The 144,000 people stood before the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders; they were singing a new song, which only they could learn. (Revelation 14: 1-3)

All the images in this celestial vision have a deep symbolic meaning and can be interpreted in relation to the coming new epoch of Aquarius.

The Lamb is the glorious and victorious Cosmic Christ who will live with His people forever. Mount Zion is a symbol of the spiritual centre of the Universe from where the whole of Creation can be observed. Above Mount Zion is only the Throne of God - the Primal Cause, the Origin of Being, the Absolute. Below Mount Zion is the whole descending structure of Creation with its numerous planes.

The '144,000 people' is the archetypal number of initiates from all world religions. The fact that all of them were with the Lamb, 'stood before the throne of God' , and 'had the name of the Lamb and his Father's name written on their foreheads' signifies that they know the ultimate truth about God and Creation, and have become Christ-like beings.

The song which the 144,000 were singing ('which only they could learn') is the 'initiatic song' for the coming new epoch of Aquarius. The epoch of Aquarius is the epoch of the Holy Spirit, the great cosmic-spiritual Spring in life when humankind returns back to the Kingdom of God. There is an ancient proverb: 'When Nature renews itself, the birds sing. At the beginning of every Divine culture human beings sing. When the world is re-created, the angels sing'. Hence, the 144,000 fully enlightened human beings around Christ, and all the angels in Heaven, sing the song of the great renewal of the world and the dawning of the new epoch in the history of humankind.

It is a staggering coincidence that in a completely different tradition - that of the American Indians - we find similar archetypal images. The Hopi prophecy says:

144,000 Sun Dance enlightened teachers will totally awaken in their dream mindbodies. They will begin to meet in their own feathered serpent or winged serpent wheels and become a major force of the light to help the rest of humanity to dance their dream awake. A Sun Dance teacher is any human being who has awakened, who has balanced their shields, who has gained the dream mindbody and who honours all paths, all teachers, and all ways.    (A Hope Prophecy, Acorn Publishing, Glastonbury) 

In August 1987 millions of spiritual people celebrated the end of a great cycle of time - 22,880 years (covering practically all of human history) - and the beginning of a new one associated with the ascent of humankind to a new state of cosmic consciousness. A beautiful vision based on the Hopi prophecy says that 144,000 Sun Dance enlightened teachers (representing all humankind) are invited to dance at sacred places all over the Earth and celebrate the beginning of the new epoch in human history.

Both visions - that of St. John from The Revelation and that of the Hopi prophecy - belong to completely different traditions and are separated by hundreds of years, but nonetheless they have much in common: the 144,000 initiates, the full enlightenment of each human being, the cosmic-spiritual music and dance in Divine service, the feelings of joy and ecstasy in anticipating the return of humankind to the Kingdom of God.

The Paneurhythmy - a circle dance created by the great Bulgarian spiritual Master Peter Deunov - is like an earthly reflection of the new song sung by the 144,000 initiates in Heaven.

The Paneurhythmy is the gateway to the reality of the Kingdom of God, which is woven by heavenly music, spiritual colour rays of light, and sacred words. The Paneurhythmy reflects the 'dance' and the cosmic-spiritual rhythm of life in all planes of the Universe; it is an earthly reflection of the harmony and music in the celestial spheres. By dancing the Paneurhythmy we link with the living energies of Nature, the Sun and the Earth, and with the higher spiritual worlds. Thus, we transform ourselves, the spiritual community and the whole physical environment. As a result, the Paneurhythmy becomes a heavenly dance on sacred Earth and it is like the new song for the coming epoch of Aquarius.

 

The Spiritual Legacy of the Master Peter Deunov 

 

The Paneurhythmy was created by the great Bulgarian

 

The New Manifestation of the World TeacherBeinsa Douno

spiritual Master Peter Deunov (1864 - 1944).  It is a synthesis of the entire Teaching of the Master and contains the living seeds for the new epoch.  The spiritual legacy of the Master includes more than 6,000 lectures comprising of about 100,000 pages, 150 original songs, the circle dance Paneurhythmy, thousands of spiritual exercises and experiments, and advice for practically every aspect of human life on Earth.

The Master Peter Deunov was born on 12th July 1864, in a small village near Varna, Bulgaria, into the family of a distinguished Christian priest.  He studied for about seven years in the United States (Doctor of Medicine and Theology) where he established important connections with American esoteric spiritual groups and societies.  After returning to Bulgaria in 1898, he received an enlightenment about his mission and wrote A Proclamation to the Bulgarian People announcing his Divine task.

At the beginning of the twentieth century (in 1901) the Master Peter Deunov started to travel around Bulgaria (giving lectures on phrenology and education) and began to spread the message about the new epoch.  Later, he began to gather his first disciples for a spiritual assembly every Summer.  In 1914 the Master started his public activities with the lecture 'Here is the Man' (alluding to Christ).   In  1922 he opened the spiritual School  which  lasted for 22 years  (a very symbolic number of years from a  spiritual  point of view).  In the 1920's a spiritual community called 'Sunrise' was formed by the Master.  In this community he unfolded a wonderfully rich, intensive and inspiring Divine work.

The mission of the Master was to open the epoch of the cosmic-spiritual Spring and to give practical knowledge for the ascent of humanity to the Kingdom of God.  From a mythological point of view, the whole human culture is like a grain of wheat which now starts to sprout into the Divine world.  This great transformation affects all three levels of life - the microcosmos of the human being, the cosmos of human culture, and the macrocosmos of Heaven and Earth.

On the microcosmic level the Master led the human being beyond the ordinary path of evolution and introduced the Path of the Divine Disciple.  He opened a spiritual School which for twenty two years shed Light on the daily life of the disciples, on their relationships and on their entire existence.  He imparted knowledge concerning the principles, methods and means for the successful resolution of the problems which beset the disciple in the various situations in life.  He blessed the path of the disciple with Love - the great alchemical stone which transforms life on Earth into a celestial life.

It is by following the path of the disciple that the human soul blossoms.  The Master revealed the great treasury of human virtues which originate in the aura of Christ.  By developing these virtues, the celestial gifts which lie dormant in the human soul are awakened and enable the disciple to overcome the narrow selfconsciousness and achieve superconsciousness.  Thus, the disciple spiritualises his or her own life and enters into the Garden of Paradise.

For the disciple who is linked with the living Word of the Master, all the forces in Nature and space are animated and filled with Light - the Sun , the Earth, the elements and even the food become an ocean of living energies, from which Divine sustenance for physical, psychic and spiritual development is received.  The Teaching of the Master contains an immense treasury of principles, knowledge, rules, recommendations, exercises, advice and methods for spiritual work with all natural and cosmic forces.

As a great worker in the Divine field, the Master ploughed and weeded the human mind and the earthly culture in order to sow and nurture the seeds of the new epoch.  He did enormous work to counteract the injustice and imperfection caused by egoism, dogmatism and illusion.  While maintaining innumerable spiritual ties   with  the  existing  social  and  cultural  structures,  he  worked unceasingly for their transformation and spiritualisation.  In this area  the task of the Master was to establish on Earth a new celestial foundation for all human life - a task which can be achieved only by the World Teacher turning the 'Wheel of Eternal Life'.

The Teaching and Work of the Master sowed the seeds for the coming Sixth Race, the race of the sons and daughters of God, newly born in the Spirit with blossoming souls.  This Sixth Race will bring the culture of love and fellowship to humankind and it was for this purpose that the Master formed the 'Brotherhood' - a rich, creative laboratory where he worked with many people of different age groups and professions in order to establish the principles and living structures for the new solar culture.

During the epoch of the Holy Spirit the new humankind will become a part of the Universal Brotherhood.  The Master revealed magnificent images of the souls linked with the Universal Brotherhood who, like birds flying from epoch to epoch, bring new impulses for the development of humankind.  He introduced many new ideas, principles and laws for life in the celestial Kingdom of the Universal Brotherhood, with an emphasis on the importance of 'Life for the Whole'.  Furthermore, the Master disclosed the mystical depths of the Teaching of Jesus Christ - the great spiritual transformer of human history and Head of the Universal Brotherhood.

Growing like grains of wheat in the cosmic-spiritual Spring, human beings ascend to the Divine world of the New Heaven and the New Earth.  During this process, the Master, as a great cosmic-spiritual Sun, shines to warm and awaken human souls and to illuminate the reality of the New World.  He described countless spiritual worlds and explained the basic principles and laws which operate in the Universe.  He painted a magnificent picture of the whole of Creation, linking the physical, angelic and Divine realms.  The Master shed great light on the Divine worlds of Love, Wisdom and Truth.

Now, in the immense wealth of lectures, talks, prayers and songs of the Master, poets can find perfect poetry, musicians - inspired music, philosophers - deep philosophy, scientists - living science and theologians can find an enormous treasury of Divine Wisdom and Truth.  The Teaching of the Master brings light and knowledge to the  many domains of human life on Earth.  It helps to open the 'closed structures' of the existing human culture, thus enabling the disciple to embrace the wholeness of life and to receive  the  new  Divine  impulse.   In  this  way,  by working on the three  levels  -  the  microcosmos of  human life,  the cosmos of cultural life and the macrocosmos of the entire spiritual Universe - the Master gave a  powerful new impulse  (following  that  given by Jesus Christ) for the elevation of humankind.  He opened the epoch of the Holy Spirit and prepared the soil for the coming of the Kingdom of God on Earth.  The impulse of resurrection and salvation was given to humankind by Jesus Christ, but the Master, whose work could be described as 'turning the Wheel of Eternal Life', revealed the new reality of life from all aspects.

In the spiritual legacy of the Master the Paneurhythmy plays an extremely important role.  It is the focus of the whole Teaching of the Master.  The dance represents an organic synthesis of such important celestial components as spiritual music, colour rays of light, sacred words, basic movements and archetypal ideas related to the dawning of the cosmic-spiritual Spring.  Performed in the context of the appropriate style of life of the spiritual disciple, the dance aims at the blossoming of the human soul and becomes a path of ascent and transfiguration.  The Paneurhythmy in its wholeness follows the stream of the evolutionary ascent of humankind in the cosmic-spiritual Spring and can be considered as a new, original form of yoga practice, tailored for the coming Age of Aquarius.

The Paneurhythmy as a circle dance was created by the Master between 1928 and 1932 with the enthusiasm and appreciation of the spiritual community.  It takes about one hour and a half to perform and consists of three main parts.  The first part, the Paneurhythmy in its essential form, takes forty five minutes and includes twenty six different movements with their own music and text.1  It finishes with a breathing exercise and a prayer-formula:  'May the  Peace of God and the pure Joy of God live in our hearts forever'.

The second part is called 'Sunbeams' and is a dance imitating the radiation of the sunbeams from the centre of the Source of Life.  In contact with the Source of Life we obtain the freedom of our souls and fly as birds in the celestial worlds.  The third part is called 'The Pentagram' and it is performed by groups of five couples, each forming a living pentagram in movement which symbolises the cosmic-spiritual being (with a head, two arms and two feet) on his or her endless path of evolution.  (There is a very interesting interpretation of the ten sefiroth in the Kabbalah which all together form a similar cosmological figure)

The Paneurhythmy is performed from the 22nd of March until the 22nd of September (in harmony with the outward-flowing energies of the Spring and Summer seasons of Nature), in the morning, in the open air, by a group of people.  The Paneurhythmy has its greatest effect and power when it is performed in correlation with the spiritual style of life of the disciple.  The Master suggested several golden rules:

-   Observe a vegetarian diet (following the principle of ahimsa - non-violence or non-killing proclaimed in the Hindu Scriptures as the highest form of duty - no harm to any living creature).

-   Abstain from alcohol, drugs and smoking, all of which abuse the body and contravene the aims of the Paneurhythmy - the healing, purification and illumination of our physical nature.

-   Develop the highest human virtues such as love, friendship, peace, joy, harmony and many others.  The virtues enable us to open our souls in order to blossom in the higher realms of Being.

-   Make daily life a spiritual school.  Every relationship and every situation in our life contains a precious spiritual lesson which must be learned and correctly resolved in accordance with the principles of Divine Love, Wisdom and Truth.  This rule necessitates attention to the smallest details in life.

-   Live a healthy, wholesome life in harmony with Nature, with frequent excursions to natural settings, Summer encampments, and other outdoor spiritual activities.

-   Meet the sunrise whenever possible with appropriate prayers, songs, meditations and spiritual ceremonies, given by the Master.  Sunrise is the most powerfully energetic time of the day/night cycle and marks the spiritual dawning of the day in many traditions.

In the Teaching of the Master, the meeting of the sunrise is observed by contemplation of Christ as the Solar Logos and of the dawning of the new solar culture.  Usually the Paneurhythmy is danced after the sunrise ceremony and forms an organic cycle with it.  Certainly, the ceremony of meeting the sunrise (lasting one hour and a half), and dancing the Paneurhythmy (which itself lasts forty-five minutes, or an hour and a half if all three sections are performed) become the most important spiritual event of the day, the great morning Mass of communion with the sacredness of life on all levels.