Day #5 was a Traveler adventure for all of us in Sofia. We started out our journey with Inge Loewenstein calling us forward into the Light in German. Like yesterday, we were all still for a few minutes after that. It was a moment of attunement in the Spirit and a great way to prepare inwardly for the day to come.
Sofia is the capital of Bulgaria and an opportunity to spread Light and love in an important center of the country. Our first stop was the National Historical Museum. The museum was the former residence of the last communist leader in Bulgaria and the outside was a bit – um – imposing, yet the inside was open and full of historic relics. A nice tour guide walked us around the ancient times in Bulgaria and pointed out important customs of the times, such as the gold ornaments in a casket from the Bronze Age that served as offerings to Spirit.
One highlight of the tour was an exquisite room in the back of the museum. Parties are hosted here for diplomats etc. in this room, and no wonder! There were floor to ceiling windows, an ornate ceiling, and an outdoor view of lush green trees and fountains. It was such a beautiful spot that we took a group photo right outside. David Sand put us all in perfect configuration and told a joke so we’d laugh as he took our photo.
We then moved on to a magnificent square with churches, elegant buildings and more. We visited a big church with a long line of people waiting to pray in front of an icon of Madonna and child. This is because today was a big holiday to celebrate Mother Mary––and so lots of folks showed up to open their hearts, give her flowers, and ask for blessings. It was sacred to gather as a group of Light bearers during this experience.
Already it was time for lunch! We walked through a cute outdoor flea market to a great Italian restaurant. They fed us a fantastic salad with avocado (first time for avocado during the trip), pasta, and ice cream that was outstanding. At that point, we said goodbye to Marcos and Moira, who needed to return home to Spain.
The rest of the day was mostly a walking tour through this area of Sofia, passing by outdoor fountains, ancient churches and government buildings. One particularly noteworthy stop was at a church to honor St. Nicholas. Downstairs, there’s a crypt where we each could write a prayer to St. Seraphim and place it into a box. Paper and pens were provided for us, and it felt sacred and sweet to ask for what was in our hearts.
And as we walked, our presence brought the vibration of love to this old city. John Morton was with us as our physical Traveler – thank you John for all the ways you show up to support us as Light Ambassadors!
All in all, we laughed, we saw sights, we shared the loving, and gave our peace.
When we got back to the hotel, we saw a movie on the Paneurhythmy, the dance of the White Brotherhood, in preparation for tomorrow’s hike to witness the dance live. Their teachings are similar to what we study in MSIA, and the explanation in the video had many commonalities. Each move of the dance signifies a quality to help people become aware of who they are as divine and included things like “Awakening”, “Ascending”, and “Giving”. They talked about opening to God’s divine love and lifting up in higher consciousness for our liberation, and this is what the dance helps us to do.
After the movie, John ordained one of the group members as an MSIA minister – yay! – and we began preparing for the next day’s early departure. We’ll be on the bus and ready to go at 6am to make our way to the Rila Lakes to watch the dance. More to come in tomorrow’s update!!
