I went on a guided tour to Greece and Turkey in Early April. I always wanted to visit the island of Patmos, where Saint John the Divine wrote his Book of Revelation (Last book of Bible.) I saw it as my chance to fulfill this desire, as the tour had a plan for a four hours visit to Patmos, at the end of the trip.

Patmos is an Agean island, not far from the Turkish coast, now owned by Greece. Saint John ran afoul of the Emperor in Roam, for his Christianity, and was banished to Patmos and was there in his nineties, when, our guide told us, he wrote his Revelation.

John, was a very close companion of Jesus and spent his life trying to live into the teachings of Jesus. In Revelation, Saint John wrote an account of being touched by God, while in “meditation on the Lord’s Day” His account follows his own experience of fighting the good fight, to be part and parcel of God’s kingdom here on earth. The final chapters give us a glimpse of the Tree for the Healing of the Nations and many other promises

I have had a love for Revelation, having studied it with my mentor in 1990s and continued to use it personally to the present time. I have read it innumerable times since the 2000s putting a recording on my phone, and more recently reading it in its entirety, whenever I get the inkling to do so. It takes just over an hour and if you are riding a stationary bike it takes less time. It never fails to bring me peace.

This book of Revelation, shows something of the fight between the forces of good and evil, between choosing the Way to God or the opposite. This fight puts us into that feeling of devestation, Apockalypse, as we turn the corner away from the belief in the material and into our true Self and Soul. The Seven Churches, were John’s interface between him and God, and an account of the conflict that ensues, as he examines what stands in the way of the flow of life and spirit, advocated by Jesus.  

I love the individual promises laid out after references to each individual church.

“I give you the “Morning Star,” I make you a “Piller in the House of God” and many more.

I think of Revelation, as something that gives me spiritual strength, and as a Mental Health Counsellor, a way for me to confront evil, fears and doubts.

Our guide, in Patmos,  told us Saint John, The Divine, had a helper who stayed with him in the cave. There was a slanting stone shelf, sticking out from the wall, at chest level, for the writing to be done. Below that and to the left was a scooped out cavity, where she said Saint John placed his head. There was also a place, scooped out, where John put his hand and pulled himself up.

The guide pointed out the place where the voice of God came to John. She said it split the cave ceiling three ways, represented by undulating dips in the ceiling. 

I sat briefly on the bench placed in the center, as many people circled around. I am looking for the blessing to be gained from being in the same place as John, who not only wrote Revelation, but also was with Jesus for years during his life.

I had a dream about the Book of Life just before I went on this trip to Patmos(see last post of the Moriah story). My main concern in the dream was the question, “Is my name written in the Book of Life?” I was not allowed to see in the dream, but it started me upon a new way of looking at my life for evidence that my name will be written into the Book of Life. I may have some time yet on the earth to work it all out, so the my name can appear in the Book of Life.

Love from Rose Marie.

PS: I will teach a class at the Ice House, in Harrisonburg on the Chakras, in the Fall, making reference to John’s teachings in Revelations (Life Long Learning Institute with James Madison University.)