Reflections by: Olivia Robertson

Deity divides itself into two in order to experience joy, passions, controversy and adventure! Tears and laughter alternate with heavenly visions of perfection won through trials, courage and compassion. Deity manifests as loving Mothers and Fathers through all that is. However the whole Company of Heaven alarms us by being Creators – presumably our own creators! We have to be reminded sometimes that Divine Love is within us all, because we are part of the very mind of the Divine Father: the substance of the Divine Mother. So we too are eternal, travelling through time and place, which exists forever. We share divine love, learning to look after all our varied companions, animal, insect, plant on our earth. For we are learning to be Creators.

How do we distinguish between Divine Love and the creative process? One of the most moving of true life stories was told to me by my friend, the artist Desmond McCarthy. For me it unravelled the enigma of Gnosticism.

Before the Second World War, Desmond had a job in London working in an office. Now there is always someone in an office who is both liked and laughed at – a scapegoat. The victim in this case I shall call ‘Kevin’. He illustrated the unkind joke in a cartoon of a psychiatrist addressing a timid patient in a baggy suit. “You have not an inferiority syndrome. You ARE inferior…” Desmond noticed especially the ridiculous, ill-fitting wig Kevin wore to cover his scanty hair. No girl in the office would look at him.

Then suddenly his status shot up! He acquired a girl friend. His whole attitude changed. He found his fellow workers chatted to him in lunch hour. They wanted to hear him describe Leopoldine. Leopoldine was attractive – even beautiful in an unusual way. She was amusing – but kindly. And she was always having adventures – but survived them with unfailing good humour. Obviously Kevin was overcome by winning Leopoldine’s affections. He kept saying: “I don’t know why a girl like that goes out with me.”

Desmond was worried. A glamorous girl like Leopoldine might break Kevin’s heart by rejecting him for a more successful boy friend with money and position. Surely she would fall for a sophisticated man offering expensive restaurants – a grand holiday.

Ah! At first things were looking good. Kevin and Leopoldine went for a holiday together. This was marvellous. Desmond was touching wood. He was really fond of Kevin and couldn’t bear the thought of his being cruelly hurt.

I think it was this very compassion for Kevin that led to Desmond’s rising suspicion of Leopoldine. Was she an adventuress – the sort that leads men on to amuse herself? No, his suspicion was far, far more grave. Did Leopoldine exist?

I do not mean that he suspected her of being a Spirit of some sort. No. Stranger still. Had Kevin created her?

No one else had any such misgivings. Leopoldine was to them a real person. But Desmond’s doubts were confirmed. One day, casually glancing through the Financial Times, he noticed on a back page, “Shares in Leopoldine Mines.” This was a Belgian Mining company, obviously called after King Leopold.

Naturally Desmond never breathed a word about his suspicions. He had no proof anyway. So it was not his fault that led to poor Leopoldine falling very ill. The whole office was deeply concerned. Finally the awful climax came. Leopoldine was dead.

Kevin was inundated with sympathy. Desmond now was really worried. If Kevin had killed Leopoldine, whom he had created, he must be in despair. Desmond followed his career with concern.

It ended perfectly. Kevin, he told Desmond, had been travelling in a railway carriage one day, and found himself facing a very attractive woman. They fell into conversation. She revealed that she was a hairdresser. Warmly she recommended him to come to her salon in a neighbouring town – and to invest in a really modern wig. He accepted the offer.

So, in a short while, Kevin walked into the office wearing a very smart wig that toned in with his natural colouring. And his friends were so relieved to learn that he had recovered from the sad loss of Leopoldine. He was engaged to be married to the hairdresser! They duly were married, and Desmond with his fellow office workers attended the wedding.

Now this is what fascinates me. Did Kevin, like Pygmalion, create Leopoldine, who became alive as the hairdresser? Or, through his ardent longing, had he found his true love through no less than the Goddess of Love Herself, Venus? I rather think so.

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