What are the celebrations today, October 17, 2026?
Today is the 28th birthday of our Esoteric & Astrological Institute, opened on a Sunday in 1998, after many years of holding our classes here, there & everywhere – in elementary schools, at Montessori school, at Pacific Harbor Travel offices, at the Barn & at various other places in Santa Cruz.

One day driving around downtown Santa Cruz, I spotted a crooked little building, attached to a dentist’s office. The building was empty, big dusty glass window in the front, at 523 Center Street at the corner of New Street, next to a Baptist church & a Yoga Studio. I said to Alexis who was driving – “That’s it! That’s our school!”

There was no for rent sign in the window so I went to the county courthouse to find out who owned the building & found his name – a dentist, Dr. Moria. I called him at his home & asked about the building & he said yes he would rent it. It used to be the office of a tax man, the letters of his business still shadowed & imprinted on the glass. There was a gated backyard & the square footage was 600 sq. ft.

It was autumn in Santa Cruz & before we could begin to prepare the room for classes the rains began. It rained & rained & rained & then the town flooded & the waters seeped under the front door of the building, through the room & out the back door. Due to the flooding we couldn’t prepare the room for weeks & weeks.

We pulled up the old rug, washed down the walls, a new bathroom was installed, and Rebecca (her birthday is tomorrow) & her daughters painted the walls a golden yellow. Another student set up the bookshelves with donated esoteric books. There was no furniture. Just a new rug with large tatami pillows on the floor & a big white board on the wall facing the Baptist Church, facing west actually, towards the ocean (7 blocks away).
I had been teaching years before we found our building so when our building was ready for classes, the students began to arrive. We began with our Esoteric students (who had studied basic astrology for several years beforehand).

It was a Sunday – as I began to teach, we heard these sounds – drums, trumpets, fifes, bells, xylophones, etc. outside our big clear glass window. I stopped the class & we walked outside to the sidewalk. In front of us, passing in front of our little Mystery School were High School Bands from all parts of California – there were drums & fifes & trumpets & saxophones, oboes, bassoons, horns, trombones, flutes & glockenspiels, snare, tenor & bass drums and marching cymbals. A color guard & flags & a drum majorette with batons twirled & thrown in the air! It was an ensemble – synchronized rhythms & visuals but really a cacophony of sound all around.

On that day of our opening, 55 marching bands passed by our center. Those same bands are in Santa Cruz, today, marching once again by our center. On that day 28 years ago, we felt it was the Hierarchy who sent those bands, celebrating & congratulating us for opening the newest Ashram, Mystery School, Ancient Wisdom & Astrology center for humanity & for the young ones.

So today is our 28th birthday celebration. Our sun & Venus in Libra, Scorpio rising.
We turn to the Hierarchy on this day of our birthday & ask that a new building, new lands, a village & community be founded (given) so we may continue our education of humanity for the renewal of the Earth & for the renewal of the Mysteries – heart to heart, soul to soul. The Garden humanity needs to return to. Creating it with the Hierarchy. Our birthday vision for the new year.

We live in the Temple Ashram. Life becomes a car festival. A meditation given by Lord Krishna – fulfilling the disciple living in the Temple – our human body – the creation of the body from the divine all parts of the body, the elements all created by the divine. We are God’s reflection, made in the image & likeness of God. He is the original.
We are His reflection – our existence is His existence. He opens His eyes in us – our Ajna center & so in our Temples (bodies) He lives. Then there is no more illusion, the truth is realized.
The phantom of the personality falls away. It has no existence, it is a mere reflection. “Til the illusion is cast out, realizing the personality is a reflection only, we try to see Him as we look at & see each other. This is a joyful play in the fields of the Lord.
We listen to Him as we listen to each other. Then life is a festival like a car festival. No longer a war festival.
We wait, a quality of discipleship – like the ability to receive. Life offers through time & we receive. We pause, have poise then we receive & we have a rhythmic life. Poise, pause, possibilities. love, Risa

Graphics:
Our Esoteric Astrological Group Chart.
The Ashram of Study.
The Garden humanity needs to return to the vision for our new year. Under the direction of Hierarchy.