Usually, the accepted consensus is that indigenous cultures of the past worshiped the sun and moon as the primary deities. But that was not the case. Worship of the lord of light, sometimes known as the “Sun behind the sun” predates the worship of the sun and moon. With no doubt, the returning heroes were known as the “light-bringers.” These lords of light were also lords of wind such as Quetzalcóatl and Jesus. These light-bringers brought the knowledge that the light within them, their light body, was also within all others.

The Pearl of Light

Pearl symbolism is closely associated with the shell and represents moonlight, purity, tears, wealth, the power of the waters, and wisdom; believed to be the result of lightning penetrating the oyster, and as such, regarded as the union of fire and water.

The pearl is first embedded in a mass of live but corruptible flesh, then separated and cleansed from its surroundings so that it can appear in its purity and beauty. So, it is with our divine spark/starlight. It is deeply cloaked in a mystery and must be awakened. As long as the pearl (divine light) remains cloaked in the oyster (the flesh) it is of no value.

The production of the pearl is a gradual, even tedious, process. Slowly, the oyster adds layer after thin layer of nacre until the iridescent pearl is transformed. So, it is with the human body.

Light Body Equals Radical Nonduality

With the awakening of our light body, we awaken to the consciousness of radical nonduality. Basically, radical nonduality is the union of opposites. It occurs when subject and object blend together: us blends with them, the union or interpenetration of spirit and matter, fire and water, body and mind, and our seen world and unseen Otherworld. All as a blended totality.

Keep in mind that we are said to be the fluidity of water, the heat of fire, the power of the wind to move, the power of the earth to hold and the power of space to pervade or permeate. This acknowledges our ability to awaken our divine spark/fire of our heart, which blends/permeates with our watery body. We achieve the unity of the perceiver and the perceived—an awakened divine human, a feathered serpent.

The Divine Human—the Awakened Light Body

Many cultures of the ancient world believed that humans have with­in them a divine element, a spark from the fire of the Divine. Once awakened this spark/starlight/divine fire within our heart awakens our light body. The process in awakening our light body is to be found within the wisdom of primordial knowledge or “first knowledge,” which is woven throughout and found in all the first peoples’ spiritual and religious traditions on this Earth.

This knowledge reveals the teaching focused on the transformation or transmutation of the serpent or dragon energy locked away within our first chakra. This begins the process of awakening our divine fire within our heart as the serpent energy ascends through our body until it reaches our “cave of spirit” and our sixth chakra. Paradoxically, in our sixth chakra, we have two chakra centers: One is the Ajna (sun) chakra situated approximately behind the forehead between the eyebrows and is often referred to as the “third eye.” Its counterpart in the back of the head below Crown Chakra is known as the Soma (moon) chakra referred to as the “mouth of God.” The “cave of spirit” is the entrance into the Soma Chakra. Ajna symbolizes fire; Soma symbolizes water; it is here where the blending of fire and water occurs beginning the awakening of our pineal gland (the body’s light receptor), and our light body, which at the same time awakens our heart’s divine fire/spark/starlight. With the awakening of our light body, we achieve “spiritual brilliance – a radiance of self.”

In accordance with ancient indigenous wisdom, with the awakening of our pineal gland, our serpent energy metaphorically sprouts feathered wings with the illumination of our “light body.” In other words, we are birthed as a Feathered Serpent.  The Feathered Serpent is the Archetype of the Divine Human. It is the union of heaven (divine) and earth (human), the divine-human. The Feathered Serpent was known to the Mesoamericans as Quetzalcóatl.

Jesus and Quetzalcóatl

Awakening and Increasing the divinity (light) within each person—could change the world. Jesus brought this knowledge of purification, light, and resurrection to his people. But he was not the only spiritual teacher to bring this knowledge. Quetzalcóatl also taught his people the importance of symbolic death and re-birth through ritualistic water immersions—a resurrection of spirit. In addition, like Jesus, he brought the knowledge of the “light body.” Every day the light of dawn precedes the rising of the sun. It is the light that comes out of the dark of the night. This is Venus in her phase as the morning star.

The light-bringers of humanity, past and present, are that light. It has been prophesized that Quetzalcóatl, like Jesus, is destined to return when the world is at its darkest. Are we in the darkest of times? Both Jesus and Quetzalcóatl were known as the Morning Star.

“The herald of the light is the morning star. This way man and woman approach the dawn of knowledge, because in it is the germ of life, being a blessing of the eternal.” (Haji Ibrahim of Kerbala)

Morning Star

With the morning star shining in the east as first light broke through the darkness of night, Jesus experienced his spiritual awakening with a vision of the Otherworld and the descent of spirit (the dove representative of the morning-star aspect of Venus) into his body.

“I, Jesus, sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star.” Revelation 22:1653 (Please note that the “root” of David is divine nature, and the “offspring” of David is human nature).

As well as this: It is told that sitting meditation in the predawn hours of the morning the Buddha looked up and saw the morning star, a sight that occasioned his enlightenment. With the sun crawling up from the eastern mountains, he called out into the dawn, crying, “I am awakened together with the whole of the great earth and all its beings.”

The vision of the morning star and the descent of spirit was the moment of awakening and enlightenment for Jesus, just as it was for Gautama, the historical Buddha, and Kōbō Daishi, founder of Shingon Esoteric Buddhism.

Baptism of Light

Our heart’s divine fire represents light in the broadest sense, which includes the light of perception and the light of consciousness. Water is the medium on which light can be reflected, which is ultimately a quality of light itself. In other words, not only the awakening light body, but the mind and ultimately, the reflective power of consciousness itself.

Our “baptism of light,” is ritually portrayed and achieved through water baptism, or bathing, which is immersion in flowing “living waters.” This ritualistic act assists us in awakening our heart and our inner body of light.

Ritualistic immersion in running water (a stream or river) or the ocean is one of the oldest forms of initiation and symbolic death and rebirth. It is one of the essential steps in awakening, frightening but necessary. We need to symbolically “die” to the old to be “born again” – our second birth. Furthermore, this second birth may be referred to as a “virgin birth.” As we can see, it is not membership in an earthly or religious institution. It is the beginning of an awakening to the truth of the world and one’s authentic self.

According to ancient Vedic knowledge, both light and water are essentially the same. Water is simply a more solidified or denser form of light. They both have heavenly origins. Vedic philosophy goes on to bestow a sacred character on water, which is then identified as a medium to attain spiritual enlightenment. The concept of purification in early Vedic texts was essentially spiritual, rather than moral and/or physical. The Vedas (texts) identified water as the very essence of spiritual sacrifice or “the first door to attain the divine order.” The act of bathing was considered intensely spiritual, and it was believed that physical acts of imperfection were removed and spiritual oneness with the Eternal Self was attained during the process.