View allAll Photos Tagged greatwork
It is time for the daylilys here and they are blooming up a storm! Caught this shot yesterday afternoon. I'll be gone most of the day, I'll catch up with everyone tonight. Have a rocking good Saturday my friends!!!! Hugs!!
from the backside of the house
Sad to say but its not allowed to have pictures taken inside this wonderful house, Carl Larssons home 100 years ago.
The many teachings of Alchemy seek to instill in our members thoughtfulness towards others, compassion for our fellow humans, honesty in business, and courtesy in all things. These lessons have developed over centuries, draped in allegories, and illustrated through a cavalcade of symbols. While many of the symbols are drawn from the tools of stonemasons, such as the square and compasses, and the rough and smooth ashlars, there are others derived from the ancient and natural worlds as well.
One such symbol presents itself to alchemy soon after they first enter the lodge and begin participating in rituals and degree work: The Blazing Star. It has many meanings. For Colmar's alchemists, it is a symbol of Divine Providence, which helps to guide us on our journey through life, surrounded as we are by good and evil. It is also considered a symbol of light and signifies the alchemist who constantly seeks to perfect himself by seeking knowledge. In the blason of Colmar, it also represents the Sun, which sheds light on Earth, giving life to all things, including humanity.
Its through symbolic events mark a step like a rebirth, creator gushing immanent to life and the measured individuation forms that organize each world.Magic Gateway.Daniel HOURDE on the Pont des Arts.Tragik paradigm of creative life.
The Middle Pillar.“I will make the victor a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” Revelations 3:12
Several variations of the Middle Pillar Exercise exist, however their fundamentals remain the same. Whether or not one uses the Elements as suggested by Regardie in “True Art of Healing” or the Sepherothic/planetary correspondences as he later suggests (and is most commonly used) in his book “The Middle Pillar” is irrelevant. The methods used by the Arum Solis will also be considered as an alternative exercise.
The theoretical basis of the Middle Pillar is that through imagination, breath, and concentration, the psychic energy of creation, here principally Yetzirah, can be directed allowing for a purification of the Vital Energy that holds the Secret Fire in check. As our psychic centers are cleansed of emotional, moral, and materialistic residue, they better reflect the cosmic energy that works through them. Through its pre-described pattern of circulating the energy, the Middle Pillar assists in smoothing out the edges of our aura, as well as increasing the flow of energy in general directions, so that the psychic pathways, both large and small, can be purified and strengthened through an increase of Vital Energy.The pathways described for the Middle Pillar are circular in nature. They are for the most part large, clear, and bright, with a reflective quality too them. Regardie says that the psychic spheres should be imagined like large, clear, brilliant diamonds if no other color is known. Although, in the end, the entire sphere, or extended aura, of the practitioner should be imagined as a brilliant diamond radiating heat and light.The beauty of the Middle Pillar is that it, like many esoteric practices, is really a layered exercise. Containing an almost infinite amount of flexibility and growth potential. As the practitioner develops in skill and manipulation of the imagery, the amount of new possibilities increases.One of central movements of the Middle Pillar is the “Fountain of Light”. Here, the practitioner imagines a brilliant force of energy forcing its way up through the soles of their feet and out the top of their head, spraying along the edges of their aura, making it strong and clear of any roughness, and gathering again at their feet. This cyclic imagery is repeated several times. This key part of the exercise, is the central part that prepares the central pathways for the eventual release of the Secret Fire. It is also similar to Eastern practices as seen in Chinese Chi Kung, Indian Tantra, and Tibetan Vajrayana yoga.This being said, it is also clear that some differences exist between Eastern and Western methods of releasing the Secret Fire. The methods of direct work on the psychic centers, and an upward climbing of the spinal column is more traumatic than the more general work of the Middle Pillar. It is for this reason, that the techniques of yoga, save a few, that are aimed straight away at releasing the Secret Fire, require supervision of a guru. Being that they so restrict the activities of the practitioner, and require close supervision, they are also systems that are impractical for day to day life in American and European culture.
While similarities exist, and will be examined, the major differences appear to be the following:
1) Indian yoga is aimed principally at liberation from the physical realm in as quick a method as possible. Western esoteric practices are aimed at the perfection of matter and the psyche within the material world, and not an abandonment of it.
2) Chinese yoga, or Chi Kung, is more akin to Western practices, in that it is aimed at perfection of the material world, and even the spiritualizing of the body into a “Body of Light”. It, however, is more akin to Indian yoga, in that it starts at level of the etheric body (nadis or acupuncture points) and proceeds from there. This “from the bottom up, and inside out” approach is different from the Middle Pillars “top down, outside in” method. Because the etheric body is directly effected early on, the effects are more dramatic, as well as potentially traumatic for the unprepared. In the Middle Pillar, the etheric body is often the last thing effected. This is because the symbolism used, as well as the need to develop skills in concentration, visualization, and meditation effect primarily the mental outlook of the practitioner for a long period of time. Only after considerable practice, of a year or more, on a daily basis, do the effects of the Middle Pillar begin to sink into the astral body, and eventually filter into the etheric and physical bodies of the practitioner. It is stated in one source, that it takes a minimum of three years for even the most advanced yoga practitioner to release the Kundalini through special exercises. A ‘release’ which we have stated, is not a release per se, but the removal of obstacles to its natural expression. This is a critical point, since it is often said that to experience kundalini it will often take twenty years of practice of esoteric exercises, or even Hatha Yoga, the same amount of time it took Nicholas Flamel to confect The Philosopher’s Stone. During a recent workshop, Jean Dubuis stated that it may be possible to complete the extremely dangerous Flamel Method in three years. It may be that for the alchemist, the interior creation of the Philosopher’s Stone is nothing short of the kundalini experience, and the exterior creation of the Stone is the ability to direct this Cosmic creative energy at will.
3) Tibetan systems run somewhere between the Chinese and Indian, in that they are concerned with liberation, but also with the creation of an etherial body made from their bodily essences. This Diamond Body, or Rainbow Body, is pure light and can materialize at the will of the adept. Like the Chinese and Indian systems, the Tibetan system uses rituals for the purification of the mind and emotions of the practitioners, as well as the visual images in both anthropomorphic deities and abstract geometric forms. The Rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram fulfill this function when performing the Middle Pillar.
Thus, we can see, the major differences in Eastern and Western practices can be summarized in function and reference point of origin. The East seeks liberation through progressive untying of the knots of ignorance that bind humanity to incarnation. The West seeks to perfect the material world making material reality a reflection of spiritual reality. Once accomplished, the adept can then proceed to dis-incarnate at will. The Western approach seeks to be more active in the world and to transform it, while the Eastern approach is to see the world as an illusion that is impermanent, and as such, is more passive. Such philosophies, like all beliefs and cultures, reflect the physical environment of their earliest origin. In tropical and sub-tropical zones the concern with time is less important that in the Northern hemisphere where a winter without food stores means death for the community. The cold, harsh realities of arctic zones produce a different theory and technique, and as such, different ideal (gods) than agricultural areas. Whether one is a hunter nomad or an established agrarian society is reflective of the physical landscape they live in, and as such effects values, needs, and spiritual philosophy and technique.
This is of critical concern whenever one is considering adopting the esoteric practices on another land or culture. Why did it arise, and under what circumstances? Are those same conditions applicable today, and in the life of the potential practitioner? In view of current conditions, are the practices being considered progressive or regressive in nature? That is, are they forward moving, or simply an idealization of a mythical past ‘golden age’?
It is easier and cheaper for photographers to have their works showcased on the internet nowadays. But nothing can beat the beauty of a large print in terms of photographic display.
It is extremely extremely hard to get published (in the form of books) or to display the works in art gallery, museum or exhibition unless you possess most of the following qualities.
- Money (if you choose to self publish or paying all the costs of an exhibition)
- Hard work (I admire the work of editor and gallery curator!)
- Great artistic talent
- Great portfolio of works
- Good fame and reputation
- Good socializing skills and networking in the arts circles
I don't have any of these. However I am lucky to be participating in the Richmond City Street Banner program and now I have two pictures displayed as banners on the streets.
This is like an open air gallery display to me. Thanks to to the tip from my Flickr friend Clayton. I found my banner hanged up in the section of Minoru Boulevard between Alderbridge Way and Westminster Highway.
Please come by and take a look if you live in Vancouver area.
I took a picture of it for my own.
Happy weekend!
In Alchemy y, the motto is a common component of the symbolic “Chamber of reflection,” where alchemist contemplates and reflects on the nature of death. In both Alchemy, the motto refers to a process of internal, spiritual purification.
From the Middle Ages to the late 17th-century, the so-called “philosopher’s stone” was the most sought-after goal in the world of alchemy, the medieval ancestor of chemistry. According to legend, the philosopher’s stone was a substance that could turn ordinary metals such as iron, tin, lead, zinc, nickel or copper into precious metals like gold and silver. It also acted as an elixir of life, with the power to cure illness, renew the properties of youth and even grant immortality to those who possessed it. The philosopher’s stone may not have been a stone at all, but a powder or other type of substance; it was variously known as “the tincture,” “the powder” or “materia prima.” In their quest to find it, alchemists examined countless substances in their laboratories, building a base of knowledge that would spawn the fields of chemistry, pharmacology and metallurgy.In chemistry, vitriol is iron or copper sulfate salts and their derivative, sulfuric acid. The name comes from the Latin for “glassy,” after the resemblance of iron sulfate to shards of green glass. Vitriol is symbolized alchemically as the “green lion,” a poisonous substance that appears when metal is degraded by acid. Sulfuric acid, or oil of vitriol, was used in the synthesis of the lapis philosophorum- the Philosopher’s Stone. One unique peoperty of sulfuric acid is the dissolution of metals- all except for gold, on which it has no effect. The alchemical motto for vitriol is “Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem,” “Visit the interior of the earth and rectifying (purifying) you will find the hidden stone.” The motto originated in L’Azoth des Philosophes by the 15th Century alchemist Basilius Valentinus. Many of the Western world’s most brilliant minds searched for the philosopher’s stone over the centuries, including Roger Boyle, the father of modern chemistry, and even Sir Isaac Newton, whose secretive dabblings in alchemy are well known by now. Long before Newton, however, there was Nicolas Flamel, a French bookseller and notary who lived in Paris during the 14th and early 15th centuries. In 1382, Flamel claimed to have transformed lead into gold after decoding an ancient book of alchemy with the help of a Spanish scholar familiar with the mystic Hebrew texts known as the Kabbala. Whether this was true or not, the historical record shows that Flamel did come into considerable wealth around this time, and donated his riches to charity. Harry Potter fans might recognize the name, as J.K. Rowling incorporated Nicolas Flamel into the first book in her world-famous series. Originally titled “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” in the United Kingdom, it was renamed “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” for U.S. publication.
The philosopher's stone, or stone of the philosophers (Latin: lapis philosophorum) is a legendary alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (chrysopoeia, from the Greek χρυσός khrusos, "gold", and ποιεῖν poiēin, "to make") or silver. It is also called the elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and for achieving immortality; for many centuries, it was the most sought goal in alchemy. The philosopher's stone was the central symbol of the mystical terminology of alchemy, symbolizing perfection at its finest, enlightenment, and heavenly bliss. Efforts to discover the philosopher's stone were known as the Magnum Opus ("Great Work").It’s a great fear widespreading within your entire being, while you wait in the “Chamber of reflection” the call from the Temple, and the chamber of reflection is outside the Masonic Temple/Lodge, but the waiting lasts too long, felt like externally, and your dear friend, who invited you to become one, is passing from time to time, saying,”It’s not to late, you still can vanish and no one will say a word, it’s normal…”. Being said like a calming words, but indeed they provide the fear, knowing, being told many times, that the process (The Acceptance Rite) is irreversible, and once being passed the tough and enormously challiging your entire being Acceptance Rite, there would be no turning back. At the time in the “Chamber of reflection” in practice, being said in true alchemical language, the VITRIOL, that burns your heart with hyper anxious fear, that something fatal would happen, and you still can stand up and go out free, … this is the Spiritual vitriol, that burns all your human personality, to the degree, that if you really have a proper idea, where you’re about to be invited for an Acceptance by the first and most important Rite in Alchemy, as so, as if you are a true seeker, you should know through those hundreds of books... So, when you strive to get yourself together and accumulate such a True Grit, like you are waiting on a death row to be hanged – the feeling in the Chamber of reflection is as such, especially, when by 15en minutes, someone empathetic to your little you is coming to say, that it’s not late to get up and exit as a man throughout the he door…All of your unholly metalls burns, as by litteraly the V.I.T.R.I.O.L – the biggest written word inside, which you don’t know a sh°t about…Untill they call you with a high, strong and manly Nobile voice to come in front of the Temple’s doors. At this moment, psychologically – and then you just feel it by your entire self – SPIRITUALLY – YOU ARE THE PURE SPIRIT, THAT YOU ALWAYS HAVE BEEN -indeed, long before your birth, but this you SEE AND UNDERATAND MUCH LATER – so, at that point, as a pure Spirit (Gold), cleaned by all the unpure metals built-over You for the entire life of yours – of course by the “Green Lion” you are ready to pass the process of your Initiation means, Spiritually. It’s the most glory day of your life. You are being initiated and invented to the Temple of God – which symbolize the Lodge’s inside hall (the Temple of Solomon, built, as a Home where G-d shall live… And all of that is so symbolical, that, I would said, there isn’t a single mistake in Alchemy. All is as natural, as posible, but that natural for the Spirit things are hard to be accepted by an non-purified by vitriol and then wormly accepted in the House of G-d mortals, who can’t believe, that a little part of their personality is an immortal being and their essential true Self, Who deserves the all ages motto, Know ThySelf, to be a subject of a deeper meditatation – as the Tibetan Monks are doing.
Interpretations
The various names and attributes assigned to the philosopher's stone has led to long-standing speculation on its composition and source. Esoteric candidates have been found in metals, plants, rocks, chemical compounds, and bodily products such as hair, urine, and eggs. Justus von Liebig states that 'it was indispensable that every substance accessible... should be observed and examined'. Alchemists once thought a key component in the creation of the stone was a mythical element named carmot.
Esoteric hermetic alchemists may reject work on exoteric substances, instead directing their search for the philosopher's stone inward. Though esoteric and exoteric approaches are sometimes mixed, it is clear that some authors "are not concerned with material substances but are employing the language of exoteric alchemy for the sole purpose of expressing theological, philosophical, or mystical beliefs and aspirations". New interpretations continue to be developed around spagyric, chemical, and esoteric schools of thought.
Appearance
The first key of Basil Valentine, emblem associated with the 'Great Work' of obtaining the Philosopher's stone (Twelve Keys of Basil Valentine). Descriptions of the Philosopher's Stone are numerous and various. According to alchemical texts, the stone of the philosophers came in two varieties, prepared by an almost identical method: white (for the purpose of making silver), and red (for the purpose of making gold), the white stone being a less matured version of the red stone. Some ancient and medieval alchemical texts leave clues to the physical appearance of the stone of the philosophers, specifically the red stone. It is often said to be orange (saffron colored) or red when ground to powder. Or in a solid form, an intermediate between red and purple, transparent and glass-like.The weight is spoken of as being heavier than gold, and it is soluble in any liquid, yet incombustible in fire. Alchemical authors sometimes suggest that the stone's descriptors are metaphorical. The appearance is expressed geometrically in Michael Maier's Atalanta Fugiens. "Make of a man and woman a circle; then a quadrangle; out of this a triangle; make again a circle, and you will have the Stone of the Wise. Thus is made the stone, which thou canst not discover, unless you, through diligence, learn to understand this geometrical teaching." Rupescissa uses the imagery of the Christian passion, telling us it ascends "from the sepulcher of the Most Excellent King, shining and glorious, resuscitated from the dead and wearing a red diadem...".
Properties
The most commonly mentioned properties are the ability to transmute base metals into gold or silver, and the ability to heal all forms of illness and prolong the life of any person who consumes a small part of the philosopher's stone.[ Other mentioned properties include: creation of perpetually burning lamps, transmutation of common crystals into precious stones and diamonds, reviving of dead plants, creation of flexible or malleable glass, or the creation of a clone or homunculus.
Names
Numerous synonyms were used to make oblique reference to the stone, such as "white stone" (calculus albus, identified with the calculus candidus of Revelation 2:17 which was taken as a symbol of the glory of heaven, vitriol (as expressed in the backronym Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem), also lapis noster, lapis occultus, in water at the box, and numerous oblique, mystical or mythological references such as Adam, Aer, Animal, Alkahest, Antidotus, Antimonium, Aqua benedicta, Aqua volans per aeram, Arcanum, Atramentum, Autumnus, Basilicus, Brutorum cor, Bufo, Capillus, Capistrum auri, Carbones, Cerberus, Chaos, Cinis cineris, Crocus, Dominus philosophorum, Divine quintessence, Draco elixir, Filius ignis, Fimus, Folium, Frater, Granum, Granum frumenti, Haematites, Hepar, Herba, Herbalis, Lac, Melancholia, Ovum philosophorum, Panacea salutifera, Pandora, Phoenix, Philosophic mercury, Pyrites, Radices arboris solares, Regina, Rex regum, Sal metallorum, Salvator terrenus, Talcum, Thesaurus, Ventus hermetis. Many of the medieval allegories for a Christ were adopted for the lapis, and the Christ and the Stone were indeed taken as identical in a mystical sense. The name of "Stone" or lapis itself is informed by early Christian allegory, such as Priscillian (4th century), who stated Unicornis est Deus, nobis petra Christus, nobis lapis angularis Jesus, nobis hominum homo Christus. In some texts it is simply called 'stone', or our stone, or in the case of Thomas Norton's Ordinal, "oure delycious stone". The stone was frequently praised and referred to in such terms.
It needs to be noted that philosophorum does not mean "of the philosopher" or "the philosopher's" in the sense of a single philosopher. It means "of the philosophers" in the sense of a plurality of philosophers.
Shot with Canon EOS 400D + Canon 18-55mm
Many more details visible in Large
I just recognized that I only posted shots from inside scotland yet even though those were only 3 days of our trip. So I decided to upload a shot from the city of cities: LONDON. I somehow fell in love with the scene when I stood there and the result pretty much shows what I saw. I really like all about this shot. Even though its not full of a story such as the others I posted.
For a look behind the scenes of my photography
please visit My Blog
2004 Oakland, CA, US
The Grand Lake theatre has used it's maarquee to push a peace position for several years. Somtimes straight and direct some times as subtle as a sledge hammer.
See also Lake Merrit montage
The Great Work of Alchemy Is about the relationship between man and the cosmos. The creation of an immortal “body of light”, the integration of body, soul and spirit and the
conscious reunion with the unus mundus or the divine ground of being
An Emerging Concept of God or Spirit.. We participate in a Cosmic Consciousness or Intelligence which is co-inherent with every particle of our being and every particle of matter. God or Spirit or Divine Mind is not something transcendent to ourselves. We are co-inherent with it, at the very heart of It. Spirit, so long projected onto a transcendent Creator, remote from our world, is the quintessential consciousness which is awaiting discovery both in nature and ourselves. This is one of the great revelations of our time. We have the extraordinary responsibility of helping Spirit to become conscious in this material level of reality. All life is an alchemical process of birth, death and regeneration. Although the gradient for the increase of consciousness in
humanity is so slow and arduous, we are all participating in and contributing to a stupendous Cosmic Great Work. This is something the alchemists understood and was the foundation of all their work.Within Manifest Life is a Hidden Reality of the Highest Order The cosmos calls to us to become aware that we participate in its life, that everything is sacred and connected, that the cosmos has a soul and that we can learn how to communicate with that soul. There has always been a chain of teachers (known as the Golden Chain or catena d’oro) who have transmitted their knowledge and insight from generation to generation over thousands of years. Two great streams of alchemical knowledge, one flowing from Egypt and the other from Persia, Arabia and Islamic Spain, came together in Europe in the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. There were some 4000 alchemists working in Europe between 1200 and 1650 and they created dozens of alchemical texts and images. Many kabbalists were alchemists and vice-versa. This image is a Kabbalistic one where two men are sharing a vision of the higher worlds. In the central circle are the zodiacal signs.What is the treasure that Western civilisation has ignored or overlooked? What
is the gold that is not the common gold? The Great work of Alchemy tells us that we have our source in the starry ground of the Cosmos, that we are literally star-life in every cell of our being. The whole of cosmic and planetary evolution is an alchemical process, an ongoing process of creation and transformation, of dissolution and regeneration. The Cosmos calls to us to be aware that we participate in its life, that everything is sacred and connected—one life, one source, one spirit. The Great Work of Alchemy refines the base metal of our understanding so that we – evolved from the fiery substance of the stars – can know ourselves as spirit. It heals the deep wound in the human soul that has come into being because of a sense of alienation, loneliness and separation from the divine. It tells us who we are and why we are here.
Mercurius in Sea of Being. Alchemy and Kabbalah kept alive the idea that spirit is present in nature.This is an image of Mercurius in the sea of the Soul with the words Filius Noster
– Our Son above it. The origin of Mercurius goes back to Hermes or the Egyptian Thoth, the guide to the underworld. But he also descends from the Green Man and the dying and resurrected gods of Bronze Age lunar mythology. Mercurius represents the other Son or Daughter, that lost aspect of spirit that is hidden in Nature. The teachers of the School of Chartres believed that the Liberal Art of Dialectica led to his sphere of influence. Many alchemical images portray Mercurius or Hermes with a caduceus and its entwined serpents which suggest a connection to the Kabbalah and the Indian tradition of Kundalini Yoga where two serpents are entwined around the central channel of the sushuma..The alchemists named Mercurius the living gold, the divine fire, the Lumen Naturae — the creative spirit hidden within matter, within all of Nature. However, and this is the Mystery Mercurius is the divine fire of the spirit as well as the subtle body of the soul. He or she (because he could often take a feminine form) is the primal matter that is to be transformed by spirit, the agent of transformation as well as the goal of the longed-for treasure — the philosophical gold, elixir or stone. What the alchemists are saying is that Mercurius is everything and everything is spirit viewed at different stages of its
own transformation.
Rainbow Bridge. Alchemy threw a rainbow bridge between matter and spirit, holding the
connection between the seen and the unseen, the Above and the Below So the alchemists said: “Whoever shall make the hidden manifest knoweth the whole work.”
So much of what they discovered is coming into consciousness now, at this time of humanity’s awakening.The alchemists saw the Nigredo or Separatio as the state of blind suffering and ignorance before the dawning of awareness. They also called this state the unio naturalis — meaning the state where we live from day to day, responding to events as they happen; where we believe we have control of our lives but are the victim of events, and the complexes, beliefs, archaic drives and instinctual habits which control us. In this state the spirit is not awake, not free, but is the prisoner or victim of all these things. To awaken from this state involves the separation of the conscious and unconscious aspects of the soul that have been bound together in a kind of incestuous union where the conscious mind or ego that has emerged from the matrix of nature, is still unconsciously bound to it. So the Nigredo is the phase of the ego’s dying and death as it gives up its illusion of freedom, supremacy, power and control and becomes aware of a
deeper dimension of the psyche which may come as a great shock to it. It also involves the encounter with the dragon or the primordial soul that I talked about in Day 3 on the Shadow. Making it conscious.Separatio involves conflict and suffering and bewilderment. The original sense
of the oneness of our being is split into two. Yet, paradoxically, this work of differentiation is the first stage of reuniting the conscious solar aspect of the psyche with the instinctual lunar aspect.
www.annebaring.com/images/Chartres_text_05.pdf
sculptor
The Great Architect of the Universe (also Grand Architect of the Universe or Supreme Architect of the Universe) is a conception of God discussed by many Christian theologians and apologists. As a designation it is used within Freemasonry to represent deity neutrally (in whatever form, and by whatever name each member may individually believe in). It is also a Rosicrucian conception of God, as expressed by Max Heindel. The concept of the demiurge as a grand architect or a great architect also occurs in gnosticism and other religious and philosophical systems.
Contents1Christianity2Freemasonry3Hermeticism4Rosicrucianism5Gnosticism6Others7See also8ReferencesChristianity.The concept of God as the (Great) Architect of the Universe has been employed many times in Christianity. An illustration of God as the architect of the universe can be found in a Bible from the Middle Ages[1] and the comparison of God to an architect has been used by Christian apologists and teachers. Saint Thomas Aquinas said in the Summa: "God, Who is the first principle of all things, may be compared to things created as the architect is to things designed (ut artifex ad artificiata)."Commentators have pointed out that the assertion that the Grand Architect of the Universe is the Christian God "is not evident on the basis of 'natural theology' alone but requires an additional 'leap of faith' based on the revelation of the Bible".John Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536), repeatedly calls the Christian God "the Architect of the Universe", also referring to his works as "Architecture of the Universe", and in his commentary on Psalm 19 refers to the Christian God as the "Great Architect" or "Architect of the Universe".Freemasonry;Masonic historians such as William Bissey,Gary Leazer (quoting Coil's Masonic Encyclopaedia),[5] and S. Brent Morris,assert that "the Masonic abbreviation G.A.O.T.U., meaning the Great Architect of the Universe, continues a long tradition of using an allegorical name for the Deity." They trace how the name and the abbreviation entered Masonic tradition from the Book of Constitutions written in 1723 by the Reverend James Anderson. They also note that Anderson, a Calvinist minister, probably took the term from Calvin's usage.Christopher Haffner's own explanation of how the Masonic concept of a Great Architect of the Universe, as a placeholder for the Supreme Being of one's choice, is given in Workman Unashamed:"Now imagine me standing in lodge with my head bowed in prayer between Brother Mohammed Bokhary and Brother Arjun Melwani. To neither of them is the Great Architect of the Universe perceived as the Holy Trinity. To Brother Bokhary He has been revealed as Allah; to Brother Melwani He is probably perceived as Vishnu. Since I believe that there is only one God, I am confronted with three possibilities:They are praying to the devil whilst I am praying to God;They are praying to nothing, as their Gods do not exist;They are praying to the same God as I, yet their understanding of His nature is partly incomplete (as indeed is mine — 1 Cor 13:12)It is without hesitation that I accept the third possibility.." Christopher Haffner, Workman Unashamed: The Testimony of a Christian Freemason, Lewis Masonic, 1989, p.39
The Swedish Rite, which has the prerequisite of professing to Christian Faith, uses the form "The Threefold Great Architect of the Universe".Hermeticism; The Great Architect may also be a metaphor alluding to the godhead potentiality of every individual. "(God)... That invisible power which all know does exist, but understood by many different names, such as God, Spirit, Supreme Being, Intelligence, Mind, Energy, Nature and so forth." In the Hermetic Tradition, each and every person has the potential to become God, this idea or concept of God is perceived as internal rather than external. The Great Architect is also an allusion to the observer created universe. We create our own reality; hence we are the architect. Another way would be to say that the mind is the builder.Rosicrucianism; In Heindel's exposition, the Great Architect of the Universe is the Supreme Being, who proceeds from The Absolute, at the dawn of manifestation. For a detailed discussion, see The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception.Gnosticism; The concept of the Great Architect of the Universe occurs in gnosticism. The Demiurge is The Great Architect of the Universe, the God of Old Testament, in opposition to Christ and Sophia, messengers of Gnosis of the True God. For example: Gnostics such as the Nasoræans believe the Pira Rabba is the source, origin, and container of all things, which is filled by the Mânâ Rabbâ, the Great Spirit, from which emanates the First Life. The First Life prays for companionship and progeny, whereupon the Second Life, the Ultra Mkayyema or World-constituting Æon, the Architect of the Universe, comes into being. From this architect come a number of æons, who erect the universe under the foremanship of the Mandâ d'Hayye or gnôsis zoês, the Personified Knowledge of Life.[8]
Others; James Hopwood Jeans, in his book The Mysterious Universe, also employs the concept of a Great Architect of the Universe, saying at one point "Lapsing back again into the crudely anthropomorphic language we have already used, we may say that we have already considered with disfavour the possibility of the universe having been planned by a biologist or an engineer; from the intrinsic evidence of his creation, the Great Architect of the Universe now begins to appear as a pure mathematician."To that Jinarajadasa adds his observation that the Great Architect is "also a Grand Geometrician. For in some manner or other, whether obvious or hidden, there seems to be a geometric basis to every object in the universe."The concept of the Demiurge as a benevolent great architect or grand architect of matter occurs in the writings of Plato, including in the Timaeus. The concept of a Great Architect of the Universe also occurs in Martinism. Martinist doctrine is that the Great Architect must not be worshipped. Martinists hold that whilst it is possible to "invoque" Him, it is not to adore Him.
References
Jump up ^ Hog, Erik. "The depth of the heavens: Belief and knowledge during 2500 years" (pdf file) Europhysics News, (2004), 35(3), p. 78, .
Jump up ^ Summa Theologica I. 27, 1, r.o. 3.
Jump up ^ Stephen A. Richards (2006). "Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)". Theology. Pelusa Media Group.
Jump up ^ William K. Bissey (Spring 1997). "G.A.O.T.U.". The Indiana Freemason.
Jump up ^ Gary Leazer (2001). "Praying in Lodge". Masonic Research. Archived from the original on 13 August 2006.
Jump up ^ S. Brent Morris (2006). The Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry. Alpha/Penguin Books. p. 212. ISBN 1-59257-490-4.
Jump up ^ Mary Ann Slipper, The Symbolism of the Eastern Star Pages 35 and 36.
Jump up ^ Wikisource-logo.svg Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Nasoræans". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Jump up ^ JOC/EFR (February 2006). "Quotations by James Jeans".
Jump up ^ "Mathematics and Mysticism". Wisdom's Frame of Reference. Advaita Vedanta. 2005-11-04.
Jump up ^ Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa (1950-11-17). "Introduction to the third edition". Occult Chemistry.
Jump up ^ Aurifer (2005-09-11). "The Martinist Doctrine". Sovereign Grand Lodge of the Ancient Martinist Order.
I've posted an earlier view of this scene, but this view from a few minutes later on that evening perhaps is also worth seeing....
Dieter Buchhart has been called the world’s leading Jean-Michel Basquiat expert. He’s curated or co-curated nearly all of the late New York artist’s major institutional shows this decade, including retrospectives at the Fondation Beyeler in 2010, the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2015, and the Barbican in London in 2017.
So I was bit taken aback when, in a recent phone conversation, the planet’s top Basquiat authority informed me that the rapturously received 120-work Basquiat retrospective he curated at the Fondation Louis Vuitton (up at the Paris museum until January 21st) is not only more extensively sourced and thorough than any show of the artist staged before, but also probably the last time a show of its scale will ever be staged.
“This is the most comprehensive Basquiat show, and perhaps one day, one of the other great museums will try it again, but it will be very, very, very hard. It will kind of be a ‘Mission: Impossible,’” Buchhart said during a phone call from Paris. “It was already now a sort of ‘Mission: Impossible,’ and of course, in a couple of years, it will be even more of a ‘Mission: Impossible.’”
I initially took this as hyperbole—star curators are nothing if not enthusiastic in their proclamations. But having seen the show, which is spread generously through the 126,000-square-foot Frank Gehry–designed space that opened in a woodsy part of the 16th Arrondissement in 2014, it occured to me that perhaps it’s true that such a gobsmacking array of Basquiat’s best paintings could never be assembled again. Buchhart insisted this was the case, and ticked off the reasons why. Basquiat’s market has shot up in the last few years, he said, and a show of 120 works needs a massively well-endowed museum to cover the insurance costs of shipping and hosting dozens of paintings that could be worth more than $10 million, and at least one that is worth much more than that: the untitled 1982 skull painting Yusaku Maezawa bought at Sotheby’s New York in May 2017 for $110.5 million. The lack of institutional interest in Basquiat during his lifetime and in the decades when the late’s artist’s work was relatively affordable means that the bulk of his work is still in the hands of private collectors, many of whom are reticent to let the public see their holdings, or even send them away on loans.
Unlike the institutions that passed on Basquiat for years, the Fondation Louis Vuitton has amassed an impressive trove of the artist’s work, including Grillo (1984), a showstopper that depicts two figures across four linked canvases stretching more than 17 feet, and Negro Period (1986), a tryptic that features tangled drawings of black cultural figures on two of its three panels, and then a striking portrait on its rightmost panel.
The exhibition’s curators also had access to even more rare works through the largess of the Fondation’s president, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault, who has collected Basquiat for decades and showed immense enthusiasm for his works years before they became must-haves for any world-class contemporary collection.
“Basquiat! I have a deep and personal passion for the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose works I first discovered in New York in the late 1980s,” Arnault wrote in the exhibition catalogue. Arnault began planning the world’s grandest Basquiat exhibition nearly a decade ago, when Gehry’s spasmodic sketches of undulating waves had yet to be turned into a real building. The first order of business was asking Buchhart to put the show together, alongside the museum’s artistic director, Suzanne Pagé. Even at that early stage, he knew his exceptional Basquiat holdings gave him a leg-up in staging a once-in-a-lifetime show.
Some of Arnault’s Basquiats remain in his name, as opposed to the Fondation’s collection, and the luxury goods billionaire loaned work from his personal trove—which adorns walls of such properties as his Saint-Tropez home, his apartment in Paris, his penthouse at 50 Central Park West, his multiple houses in Beverly Hills, and perhaps even his yacht—even if he insisted on incognito wall text attributing them to “a private collection.”
When Arnault tapped Buchhart to organize the exhibition, the curator immediately set out to do something more ambitious than past shows, which typically tracked the artist’s meteoric rise and tragic death over a too-short career. Instead of being organized chronologically, the show’s 120 works are presented in thematic clusters: large head paintings; smaller head drawings; depictions of Basquiat’s “heroes and warriors,” which include bebop titans and boxing champions; paintings that rely heavily on text; history paintings; paintings that take stock of the African diaspora and slave trade routes; collaborations with Andy Warhol; and his final works—including the late masterpiece Riding with Death (1988), which rarely leaves its very private collection, and is on display in Paris for the first time. The unorthodox sequencing pays off in a big way. Right out the gate, there are three massive skull works hung in a small cupola that will wow Basquiat fans and win over any skeptic: Maezawa’s record-breaking, black-on-cerulean face with teeth gnashing; the somber yellow-lined skull from 1981 that’s been a highlight of The Broad in Los Angeles since it opened in 2015; and In This Case (1983), a red-washed noggin with a rain cloud for an eyeball that’s owned by Giancarlo Giammetti, the business partner of fashion designer Valentino Garavani.
“It was very important for me to break with the usual retrospective, where you start with the early works, and then you go on, so I started with one of the strongest expressions of humanism, the strongest expression of existential fear—the three heads,” Buchhart said. “It was to mark the genius of Basquiat, and also give [visitors], at the entrance, an idea of the masterpieces he created.”
As you continue through the show, the sequencing of works strengthens the main argument Buchhart set out to make: that Basquiat was not really a Neo-Expressionist revitalizing a bombastic aesthetic, but a conceptual artist threading the context of where he came from into the narrative of his life’s work.
While discussing this conceptual framing, I floated a theory by Buchhart: that Basquiat was a canny observer of the way the market responded to his work, and would have marveled at the Fondation’s staffers crisscrossing the globe to track down his works in the vacation homes of collectors. Basquiat would have seen the international dissemination of his now-pricey paintings as a parallel to the global tradewinds he mapped in his works—particularly the paintings dealing with the slave trade, a market he compared to the art market on many occasions, portraying men in hats selling both people and pictures.
Buchhart agreed with the idea, noting that in addition to the collectors who did advertise their loans in the wall text—including prominent players such as Eli and Edythe Broad in Los Angeles, Peter M. Brant from Greenwich, Connecticut, and others as far-flung as Heidi Horten in Vienna, Yoav Harlap in Israel, and the Mugrabi family—there were dozens of others who stayed anonymous. “He’s really global—Hong Kong, Australia, of course you have South America, Japan, other parts of Asia, Indonesia, many private collections in Europe, even smaller holdings in Africa,” Buchhart said.
While many collectors are willing to loan work for large portions of the year—Maezawa’s masterpiece was at the Brooklyn Museum and the Seattle Art Museum before it went to Paris, meaning it’s been traveling for most of the roughly 20 months he’s owned it—some have started to worry about shipping increasingly valuable canvases.
“It was difficult,” Buchhart said. “People are much less generous in lending, because now the value is so high. People started having more concerns than they did in the past.”
Still, after more than a decade of putting together ambitious Basquiat shows, Buchhart has become good at knowing who to turn to when there’s a specific piece that scratches a curatorial itch or fills a narrative gap. He said he was able to offer primo real estate to collectors who were reluctant to share their works, enticing them with the promise that certain overlooked parts of the artist’s practice would get their star turn in this exhibition’s rejiggered format.
But some resistant collectors took more persuading. To entice would-be lenders into handing over their prized possessions for a few months, Arnault himself sent handwritten letters offering them the pick of the litter from his own personal collection to fill the white space on their walls for the duration of the show.
The surging Basquiat market has also created the problem of putting up the daunting insurance money needed to house so many blue-chip works. Buchhart claimed he didn’t know the total estimate for what the works in the show would hypothetically cost, and thus didn’t know the indemnity that had been assigned to the exhibition so that it could be staged. Dealers familiar with the Basquiat market said they had not looked at all 120 works closely enough to go on the record with a ballpark estimate.
But there’s no doubt that 120 of the greatest Basquiats in existence amount to a whole lot of money. Since 2007, nearly 40 of his paintings, drawings, and canvases on mounted wood have sold for more than $10 million. And accordingly, the two large-scale head paintings in the show not owned by Maezawa would have to be considered $100 million pictures; the 25 or so large-scale paintings are at least equal to those that have recently sold in the range of $30 million. No large-scale, four- or five-paneled works like the ones in the Fondation’s collection have come to auction, but they could conceivably break $50 million given their sheer size. In addition to these knockouts, there are dozens of smaller paintings and drawings that would collectively bring in a hefty sum. All told, it seems reasonable to estimate that the total value of the works in the exhibition could approach $2 billion. Insurance for this kind of exhibition would be prohibitive for most private museums. In 2011, when the National Gallery in London staged a show of nine works by Leonardo da Vinci, the indemnity was a whopping £3.3 billion, and it was halfway covered by taxpayers.
But in this case, the museum in question is sponsored by LVMH, which has assets of €68.6 billion ($82.2 billion). Buchhart says having such a backer is a huge help, but it’s also another reason why it will be difficult to stage such a show again, especially as Basquiat’s prices continue to rise.
“The insurance value of a show like this is very high, so it limits the opportunities,” Buchhart said. “On the good side, there is the recognition that comes with the high prices, but there is also the downside—the exhibitions become very expensive to do, which limits the options to do these shows.”
In March, a selection of the works—about 70 of the 120—will travel to New York to inaugurate the Brant Foundation’s first Manhattan gallery space, in Walter De Maria’s old studio in the East Village. Appropriately enough, the location is in Basquiat’s old stomping grounds, right around the corner from the Pyramid Club and other old and bygone 1980s venues where the artist jammed with his band Gray and left endless tags on the walls and bathrooms.
Until then, there’s no doubt that the full show in Paris will be as mobbed as it was on the brisk Saturday in October when I visited. There were lines around the sprawling concourse in the Bois de Boulogne then, and the visitors standing in them looked giddy, despite the hours of waiting that lay ahead.
Some of the younger people in the queue wore Basquiat shirts and were clearly very eager to witness for the first time a complete show of his work. I mentioned this to Buchhart and he said that he had noticed the kids, too. He talked about those who had heard of Basquiat, double-tapped pictures of Basquiat on Instagram, read about Basquiat, but never actually seen a Basquiat.
“It marks a global change in the reception of Basquiat, and educates many more people about what he actually did,” he said.
Bridges as Tarot symbols build up their presence in our readings when our attention needs to be focused on opportunities that help us overcome obstacles. There are tools at our disposal that can make a bridge over troubled waters. These tools come mostly in the form of higher knowing, spiritual awareness, or simply faith in the goodness of life..Among all the various Tarot symbols, the bridge is a profound indicator in your readings because it points our focus on concepts such as:Connections,Direction,Assistance
,Stability,Crossing,Progress,Spanning the Gap
It's this last symbolic meaning of "Spanning the Gap" that's particularly intriguing. Every human encounters some kind of hiccup on their life path. I'm talking about an obstacle or conflict. Likewise, every human comes equipped with a metaphorical bridge to span the gap.We could say bridges are symbolic of divine intervention. When the surface in our readings it is a sign that we have the capability of walking through every hardship we are faced with in life - we just need to keep our eyes open for the proper avenues to either detour further conflict, or find the bridges to rise above difficulties.Tarot Symbols: Bridge. We all have moments of tribulation - it is the way of human life. But seeing other avenues (opportunities, solutions, perspectives, different ways of viewing life, etc) can bridge the gap between living in misery and living in harmony.So then next time you're contemplating Tarot symbols in your readings, think of the bridge as your divine connection between polarities of experience - with one side of the gap representing harmony and the other side misery. Which direction are you walking on the bridge of your life? What kind of progress are you making? Is your destination joy or its opposite?
History Repeats itself... today was the same kind of day hot hazy fog. I also love the poem that Bird left me when I posted this 4 years ago.
Muggy day, a streamer of fog just along the ground by the east shore.... setting sun shining through the trees of Hills Island.
Here is hoping our kids and grandkids can experience this peace and beauty!
A GIFT FROM BIRD
spirits in the water
flashing like eyes
in a dimly lit nightclub
spirits floating
under the moment
of inspiration
waiting to touch
small tendrils of thought
for one instant speaking peace
capturing the heart
of the reality
blowing away the belief
that each minute
is chaos but for now
there is not a sound
except the quiet motion
of waves hitting shore
B I R D
Poem Copyright
©2006 Frederick D. Perry, All Rights Reserved
Soul Travel is a little different from Astral Travel where you are working from your astral body and are aware of your body below you, moving through objects and going to places that relate often in a more worldly sense on Earth or in the Astral Planes. Soul Travel is when you are travelling in your Light Body and at a Soul level, so you will not be aware of your body as you are in the higher vibrations of yourself and so one with everything, being your multi-dimensional self. So you are not aware of leaving your physical body or going through walls and all the lower dimensional experiences, instead of going out of body, you go within and through your Light Body you are in the Now, all worlds and dimensions at once, there is no separation. Soul Travel in your Body of Light is from unity consciousness and you are not actually travelling anywhere, because you are there already and everywhere. In Astral Travel you are operating through the Astral Body, which is vibrating at a lower frequency than the Soul. So you will see more of your physical world and what is happening in it, from day to day experiences, places and people and there are many books on how to do this. I am not going to mention how to Astral Travel here, as I do not do this type of travel myself. When Astral Travelling you may go somewhere on the planet or see friends or family, but you can also do this on a Soul level, and only if you need to and not out of curiosity. With Soul Travel you are Light and travel in Liquid Light Plasma, you are at a high frequency and are out of the gravitational pull, it is multi-dimensional travel. When you work at a soul level and with your Light Body you are connected to Source and your I Am, and work at that level for the upliftment of yourself, humanity and in the bigger picture and grand cycles. As with travelling in the Astral Body you perceive information, but it has a direct link with your soul, you are clear about what is taking place and are able to heal and complete through your I Am presence as the multi-dimensional experience/hologram is happening, especially if you are doing this while awake and conscious in a meditation. You are working through time and space with no limitations, and you aware other dimensions, planes, through vortexes, into Inner Earth, the Councils of Light, and Light Cities, civilisations that have moved into the higher frequencies and dimensions, the Milky Way, Star Systems and Galaxies. For example connecting to other civilisations in other cycles, or to stars, or other dimensional places to receive information, complete missions or remember and awaken within you and your body, codings of information that are for grid work, the shift in consciousness and new cycle, New Earth and Solar System. When you Soul Travel you are usually triggered in some way by your Higher/Inner Self, or Divine Beings will suggest travelling/awakening to a certain star, portal point or ancient civilisation. You may not know before hand why, but will find out later why it is so important. My first conscious Soul Travel many years ago, was when I read an article on Moon City in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia in a magazine. I knew instantly that I had lived there; this was a great city from another cycle on Earth. When I travelled there on a Soul Travel I saw the whole place as it had been at that time in the Third World, we are in the Forth World going into the Fifth, with a new root race. I saw myself as I had come in from the Stars there, and I saw how it was destroyed by a nuclear holocaust. Since then I have done a lot of work there on the inner planes and assisted the beings trapped there. I have been on countless Soul Travels since that time consciously, but always from being guided from my Heart and Inner Self when it is appropriate for some understanding, healing and resolution, or to create the new from the lessons of the old civilisation. Needless to say just as in past life regression you learn a lot about history, but not his-story as the controllers of the planet want us to know it, and not history from just recent times, but from different worlds and cycles on Earth. In some of the workshops I facilitate in different countries we go as a soul group on a Soul Travel together, through a portal where we are physically located together and into a previous civilisation that is now in light, or into Lemuria, Atlantis or the Egyptian pyramids, or an Ancient Civilization from another cycle maybe even millions of years ago in the concept of 3D time. Or to the Councils of Light, or to another Star System to complete something as a group and to heal, awaken, bring back the gifts or resolve what may have been left from the collapse of that time. This is important now as we come to the end of this cycle and the end of much greater cycles, there is a lot of completing going on before we all shift cycles again.
“Gateways of Unity, Inner and Natural Healing”.
REASONS SOUL TRAVEL
1. To access information, remember or complete something from an ancient civilisation or place, or other cycle on Earth.
2. To connect to a soul or souls who may not be living or humanoid, to heal or exchange information for healing, planetary work or to complete.
3. To awaken the Light Being you are in the Light Ship and/or the Councils of Light for important work that you do from your over soul self at this time of change in cycle.
4. To connect to someone here and now on Earth to communicate to them from a soul level, to be of service in some way and share.
5. To be at and open up to a place on the planet that has energies or codes that are part of your mission, often we do this physically but can do it also in our Light Body.
6. To be at cosmic schools or healing temples, or other worlds or dimensions to learn.
7. Accessing the inner dimensional worlds within the Earth, Inner Earth, the sea, planets, different star systems to re-connect, learn, share, work together, complete and unify.
8. To be one in time and space to unify, heal and transmute part of yourself still fragmented in a past/now/future Earth life or in Parallel Worlds.
9. To remember and awaken your gifts and multi-dimensional aspects and to allow them to be fully integrated in your body and energy field, being fully present in your life, service and experience on the earth plane now.
Soul Travel is a way to assist you to become more aware of your multi-dimensional self and what you do on Inner Planes, worlds and dimensions. You start to take more responsibility for yourself on all levels, as some of aspects of self can still be in duality and in other worlds of illusion or the astral planes. Through you connection in Oneness with Source and your hearts desire to heal, unify and be your full divinity these aspects become at peace and unified by your love and acceptance of yourself exactly as you are.
Please see more on this in the “Inner Union” chapter or my book “Gateways of Unity, Inner and Natural Healing ”, the chapter on ‘The Aura and Astral’ about Astral Hooks.
An example of this is a friend of mine and fellow multi-dimensional anchor who went to China to release a seal over Light at a particular place that had been sealed 13,000 years ago. As the world could not handle the frequencies then, as we went through the Photon Belt the last time and into fear and density, but the world is ready again now to be open to the Light. There were three Tibetan Lamas that had walked for one whole year to get to the same place at the same time, only for a day before turning around and walking back to Tibet! They were there for the same reason, but quietly, unseen by all except the one they worked with and even then she only saw one in passing. Such is the way of the true work that is done by those who are in Divine Will and of service here on this planet, to assist the shift in consciousness and return of the Golden Age, the real work is done on the Inner Planes and on the outer world quietly by those who are connected and conscious.
If you feel you are busy working at night or get people telling you they channel you, see you helping in dreams or they call out to you for help make sure you are Connected and in the higher energies of your divine self. It is a good idea to imagine you are within the Golden Octahedron, unified frequencies of cosmic life force energy, the top apex at Cosmic Gateway and the bottom at Earth Star, do this night and day until you feel you have unified to the point where you are aligned on all levels in oneness and divine love. This just keeps you unnecessarily out of the lower Astral worlds while you are still unifying yourself. You will still have your hooks in the Astral while you are running victim/victimiser and fear issues but the Golden Octahedron will keep that energy from distracting you, while you do your higher work and also help you be in a calm and centred space to unify the astral hooks you may still have. Also if you find at times that you do not feel like doing much, instead of thinking of yourself as lazy or lost it, realise that most of your energy is actually off working on other levels assisting in some way, so just allow yourself to be. The universe will always provide for you and you will have what you need in regards material things so you can do this work. There is much work going on at present as the higher light octaves are blasting through from the Source and the Greater Central Sun and Galactic Centre, through the star and planetary alignments, eclipses and cyclic doorways of the equinox and solstices. The pulse for the Galactic Centre which is what the Mayan Calendar represents has passed the middle of the Galactic Underworld now as we open up our frequencies of ‘who we truly are’, We move into the ninth step of the pyramid and Universal Underworld on 11. 02. 2011, it ends 28.10. 2011 when we complete creation according to the calendar and the pyramids; that were built to represent this journey into the higher dimensions and Light are a vehicle created to move through the doorway. Of course the pyramid is each of us, the crystal, the Earth, the Solar System and beyond, multi-prismed facets from the prism of Light of Source. Many are leaving Earth as they have chosen not be here physically for the great shift that is happening, and there are many things occurring with the Earth herself as she throws off all the toxins. But instead of fearing the future or changes; breath love and acceptance into the fear, until it is gone as there is only Love, the Love you are takes you into the New Earth, your Heart is the doorway. In your Soul Travels once you awaken enough to know to do them; and when and where you are to be, you will feel only joy for what is taking place as you work with the Councils of Light, Councils of Elders and Ancient Ones, Light Beings and Guardians on the Earth, the Dragon and Serpent People and are aware of the Inner Earth and the beings there as we merge the Inner and Outer as one, the New Earth is birthed.
You will know from your heart the appropriate time and place to do Soul Travel, it is not an ego thing and something that is to be controlled and manipulated. The work you do is not interfering and changing energies, it is simply being the divine being you are, fully conscious as you experience the lower energies to illuminate them through your being. You are the go-between, the one that through your choice of being in a physical body at this time give the gift through your being of unifying Heaven and Earth, spirit and matter. This process takes place through you becoming your Body of Light, being fully present and aware, not by doing magic or manipulating energies, this is the old path and the new is from Love, Acceptance and Allowing, by simply Being….aware, alive, radiant. So either through choice as you awaken, or through circumstances such as losing a job, a relationship, loss of a loved one, health problem or accident your Soul is guiding you into self healing, realisation and service to others, selfless surrender to the divine self. You can Soul Travel in your sleep, or while meditating or being still within. You need to know where it is you wish to go; this often comes as a message from your Inner/Higher Self. For example you may need to be through the Belt of Orion, or into Lemuria, you may be directly there or go through a doorway portal like the Giza Pyramids for Orion, or Easter Island for Lemuria first. Or you may want to go into a mountain near where you live, or into the Serpent tunnels in the Inner Earth, or to a particular Star, or to the Galactic Federation, to the Council of Light, or a Light Ship that is in your area.
I find when I go to sacred sites, vortexes, ruins and dimensional portals and pyramids my Inner Self will often ask me to travel back there in a Soul Travel that night, as I gain more awareness and move into the other dimensions more easily. Often I return on a Soul level many times after I have visited a place physically; for example after being in the sarcophagus in the Kings Chamber and in the Queens Chamber at the great Pyramid at Giza, I often travel in my Light Body there and also take others on the inner there as well, or other locations. As well as painting the Inner Planes in a mandala or activation painting, as a doorway to assist others to open up to the Light Codes and portals there, and in many other pyramids and vortexes. On one occasion after visiting the Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, I was at vortex called Moran and the energy was so powerful it almost knocked me over. I was to soul travel back there that evening, and I was staying near Sedona which was quiet a drive. I had hardly got back to where I was staying and into my room and my head on the pillow when I was off back to Moran on the inner to meet with Council of Elders through the Inner Earth doorway there and got downloaded with lots of information. But when I was physically at the location as I stood at the vortex, at the edge of the great cliffs, the energy was so intense and I was just there briefly and got nudged to go. Often I just have to be in the place to absorb the light codes and energies then do the rest on the Inner Planes away for the actual location. But I will also often stay at a place for hours or return many times over days, weeks and years to Soul Travel into the dimensional worlds within the sacred site or vortex to awaken to the next level of light codes. Use the pendulum or muscle test if you are not sure and check whether it is appropriate to go there. Soul Travel is for a purpose that has Divine Will aligned to it. It will be for your healing or completion of some mission, or to receive more wisdom, information and codings. Or to learn at a higher frequency plane, your next step in your initiation process, or for Planetary or Cosmic awareness of the Cyclic Shift and Bigger Pictures and you work with the Councils of Light. If you are in doubt ask if there is anywhere at this time where you are meant to go; it maybe to a healing temple in a higher dimension, or a higher dimensional school for learning and awakening your consciousness. Or in unlimited ways of service such as teaching others on the Inner Planes, or going into the Underworld to assist those who have asked for help. As well as to hold the beam of high frequency divine light and love, unified energy in a battlefield, or disaster to help all souls to transmute the fear and horror. You may also be going on Soul Travels but not be conscious of this, if you feel this is happening you can connect and tune in and see what comes into your awareness. If you are not meant to know, there is usually a good reason for this. It could be that your ego will get in the way, or you will tell others and lose the energy, or others on whatever level may hear and cause mischief, or it may simply be that you are not ready to understand consciously yet. When you have been guided, or chosen where you are to go, in alignment with Divine Will, then if you are doing this as a meditation while awake follow the next section ‘Aligning and Connecting for your Soul Travel” and then simply go there. Your intention takes you straight there; open up your awareness by simply trusting what you intuit is happening. You will be conscious of what is going on and you can also ask and guide yourself with relevant questions such as:
· “Do I need to heal anything here?” If yes, and you are not sure how, send Golden Light into it and Love from your Heart until it is healed and glowing golden. · “Do I need to complete anything here?” If yes, then ask your Inner/Higher Self to take you to the place and time, see or sense what it is you need to do to complete. Just trust what ever it is you get a sense of. · “Do I need to receive anything from here; an object, codings, awareness…?” Then ask your Inner/Higher Self to take you to the time and place where you need to be, to receive what it is. Trust whatever you get. · “Do I need to return anything to this place or time?” If yes trust whatever it is you get a sense of, it maybe a crystal you took at the end of Atlantis, or a ray of energy from an ancient pyramid site. What ever it is you get a sense of then ask your Higher/Inner Self to guide you back to the place in your Soul Travel where you need to put it back. · “Do I need to resolve anything?” You may go to a place where there has been destruction and beings, or part of your multi-dimensional self is trapped. If you get a sense of this then send love into them until you can see or get a sense that they are free. If there are other beings, send Love and Golden Light to them until they are free to go back to their Source, which maybe another world. · You can also go with a group on a Soul Travel to a particular cycle, dimensional world, star system or place and you may need to unify as a group something you left unfinished as the same group in that parallel time. “Do we need to do something as a group, what happened, what do we need to remember or complete? Sometimes it takes a long time of clearing yourself and getting lighter before you are able to access a particular doorway, star system, or vortex. For example for years I had been wanting to go through the Southern Cross, but I even had to go to Uluru on a Blue Full Moon and Equinox to make the star essences of the Southern Cross with rock and flowers on the rock, and still was not ready to go through the doorway. When I finally was ready as I went through Southern Cross doorway, the dimensional facets of light that got activated in me were vast, and I could see why it had taken so long for it to happen, I had to get my frequency high enough to hold the energies. You will know where it is you are to go as described previously, then get into bed and do the alignment as described in ‘Aligning and Connecting for your Soul Travel’ before going to sleep. You well probably have a very deep sleep, as you travel in your Light Body you will usually not be consciously aware of anything except maybe Light or Golden Light. Make sure you have enough warm bedding on as often the body can get cold as most of your energy and life force is being used on your travel. I have never been on a Soul Travel in my sleep yet that I remember, as it is happening. Usually because it is on such a deep level and the conscious mind is nicely asleep while it is going on. Often if I have taken other people with me, sometimes they have said they were aware of a Golden Light coming to them. Or we have gone travelling yet I may still be awake, I am aware that it is going on, but not conscious as I go to bed to sleep. But I get clarity in the morning when I tune into it.
In the morning or when you get a chance, tune in and see what comes up for you about your journey. Sit and get connected, go within, deep into your inner self and ask to be shown what happened. If you are visual you will see your journey in your inner vision. If not then you may get a knowing - trust it. Or you can get a pen and paper and write it down, or go and type up what comes with out thinking, on the computer. Trust what you get and allow it to unfold. Then if any of it needs to be unified or completed you can follow the guideline of the questions that are in the ‘Soul Travel in Meditation’ section just previous. Ask in prayer and with intention to be connected to your Source in Divine Love, and Oneness through the Sun, Central Sun and Greater Central Sun, your Inner Self, Solar Self and Earth. Know that you are in the Golden Light of Source and the Golden Beings from the Great Central Sun and Councils of Light are with you. After you have stated this then connect the Golden Light from Source and the Suns through your Crown, into your Heart Chakra, and down through your body and into the Earth. Then that energy from the Earth back up through your Heart and out to Source. Then imagine or see within, all your Chakras spinning and Light, go up them from Earth Star to Cosmic Gateway, (if you are not sure see the diagram in the Chakra chapter on page 55), as each one sparkles and radiates in Light…….. When they are all sparkling and Light be aware of them merging into One Chakra of Light…….then out through all your physical body…etheric body…emotional body…mental bodies…spiritual bodies…you are one Body of Light…..Open up to the full spectrum of Light Codings to your Christ/White Light Body…Now you are ready to go…. So put out clearly where you are off to· If you are doing this in your sleep then just go to sleep. If you are doing this in a meditation then allow yourself to be there and trust what you perceive no matter how subtle, just follow what happens. If you find you need more Light then you can imagine that you are surrounded and filled with a portal or column of Divine Light….You are within this spiralling column of Divine, radiant Light as it connects you to the Light Grid around the planet and you open up to the Light Grid, matrix of Light as you travel in Light through the Light Grid to where you choose to go. Whether you are fully conscious of it or not, you will be there, so trust your imagination and what ever you sense, feel, know or see. Happy travelling through the journey of your Soul. At first you may become aware that you work with the Councils of Light through Soul Travel, or aware that you are busy working at night in your sleep. You then start to become more aware of yourself, as you are on the planes of Light any time of the day or night, you now become conscious. The more you do this the more you become, and are aligned in Divine Will, becoming more compassionate, loving, accepting, humble and in the world but not of it, out of the illusion. You now operate from the Bigger Picture and the Inner Planes as your frequency has heightened and you have graduated to a new level of awareness. The first time I learned to astral travel or what some will call inter dimensional travel, was from my Spirit Guide Lucifer. He introduced me to it last year. As a matter of fact he is the main being in my life that has helped opened up my psychic abilities. This experience happened one morning when I awoke and was rushing to get to school because I was very late. Lucifer has some strange timing in appearing to me. While I was combing my hair I saw his presence in my mirror. I was like 'what now I am busy come back later.' He responded that he could not come back later and that he needed to teach me something now. I said that I am late for school. He said this was very important because he does not want me to depend on him alone for knowledge, but to go and experience things for myself throughout the planes in the spirit world. After our little spat he convinced me to stay home for a half hour later to teach me astral projection. Well the lesson took hours and I missed school that day. Fortunately the class was canceled. At the beginning I needed help from him to astral travel because I was a newbie at it. But after awhile I was able to do it on my own because of more practice. The wonderful thing about astral travel is that you meet a lot of various non-human entities. One of the most lasting memories of my travel was at this place where I encountered a very humble man who was a tall blond. Lucifer was not with me at this time but the man was very gracious towards me.
I asked him 'what do you call this place?' He answered Aldebaran. When I came back from astral traveling I realized that what felt like seven days in Aldebaran seemed to be thirty minutes on this physical plane. I was totally exhausted. I did some research on the name and came up with the name of a very giant orange star in our galaxy that is about 65 light years away located in the zodiac constellation of Taurus. It is even larger than our sun.
Great Work (Latin: magnum opus) is a term used in Hermeticism and occult traditions descended from it, such as Thelema.Accomplishing the Great Work, symbolized as the creation of the philosopher's stone, represents the culmination of the spiritual path, the attainment of enlightenment, or the rescue of the human soul from the unconscious forces which bind it. The Great Work signifies the spiritual path towards self-transcendence in its entirety. This is the process of bringing unconscious complexes into the conscious awareness, in order to integrate them back into oneself. Within Thelema, the Great Work is generally defined as those spiritual practices leading to the mystical union of the Self and the All through the accomplishment of True Will. Its founder, author and occultist Aleister Crowley, re-iterated the idea of the unification of opposites, saying in his book Magick Without Tears:
The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego."
Although the Great Work can describe specifically the moment of union between the self and the divine, it can also deal with the spiritual process in its entirety. Crowley also speaks on the Great Work as the conscious process of spiritual growth. The aspect of conscious devotion to the Great Work is very important.[2][better source needed] By purposefully, consciously turning inward and choosing to pursue self-realization, the seeker seals themselves in their very own vas hermeticum, their very own alchemical vessel. This attitude of deliberate turning within is necessary for the Great Work. By consciously devoting oneself to the Great Work, and therefore sealing oneself within one's own vas hermeticum, the inner heat of psychic struggle which is generated from this aids in the dissolution of ego boundaries and the integration of what is unconscious.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Work_(Hermeticism)
Within Thelema, the Great Work is generally defined as those spiritual practices leading to the accomplishment of the True Will of one's Self in mystical union with the All. Its founder, author and occultist Aleister Crowley, based this path of mystical attainment or enlightenment on his studies in Hermetic alchemy and the Hermetic Qabalah, particularly as they were expounded by Eliphas Levi in the 19th century and later by various members in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an occult society of which had Crowley had been a member.
Crowley wrote that in 1904 he heard and transcribed, from an entity called Aiwass, a book which came to be titled The Book of the Law. Crowley made this book the central sacred text of his new religious movement called Thelema, which he believed heralded a new Aeon for mankind. Between 1907 and 1911, Crowley wrote a series of other small texts which he considered to be inspired, written through him rather than by him, which he afterwards collected together in an anthology now called The Holy Books of Thelema. These texts formed the mystical backbone of Crowley's system, on which he elaborated in his extensive writings on magick, mysticism, and occult subjects.
True Will and Union
Thelema is a path intended to do two interrelated things: to enable one to learn one's 'True Will'; and to achieve union with 'the All'.[1] This unification of opposites, the individual and the universal, is reiterated by Crowley in his book Magick Without Tears:
The Great Work is the uniting of opposites. It may mean the uniting of the soul with God, of the microcosm with the macrocosm, of the female with the male, of the ego with the non-ego.
The techniques for accomplishing these goals Crowley referred to as 'Magick,' a word he used to describe Western ceremonial magic (especially invocations and eucharistic ceremonies) supported by Buddhist meditation, Hermetic Qabalah, English Qaballa, tarot, and yoga, all set in the context of the worship of Nuit, the goddess of "Infinite Stars and Infinite Space"
Within the system of the magical Order A∴A∴, the Great Work of the Probationer Grade is considered to be the pursuit of self-knowledge to, as Crowley said in The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, "obtain the knowledge of the nature and powers of my own being."However, Crowley continues, the Great Work should also be something that is integrated into the daily life of all. Although Crowley often discussed the idea of "succeeding" or "accomplishing" in the Great Work, he also recognized that the process is ongoing.
The ability to accomplish the Great Work requires a great deal of preparation and effort, according to Crowley's system. The programme consists of several key elements, including a thorough knowledge of the Hermetic Qabalah (especially the Tree of Life), disciplined concentration (i.e. meditation), the development of one's body of light (in order to experience other planes) and the consistent and regular invocation of certain deities or spiritual beings ('assumption of godforms').
Within the mystical and philosophical system developed by Crowley, the core task for a practitioner is the discovery and manifestation of True Will. The realisation of this True Will is itself the Great Work, as expressed in the Benediction at the end of Crowley's Gnostic Mass, where the Priest blesses the congregation with the words:
The LORD bring you to the accomplishment of your true Wills, the Great Work, the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom and Perfect Happiness.
Methods
Tree of Life[edit]
The Tree of Life is a tool used to categorize and organize various mystical concepts. At its most simple level it is composed of ten spheres, or emanations, called sephiroth (sing. "sephira") which are connected by twenty-two paths. The sephiroth are represented by the planets and the paths by the characters of the Hebrew alphabet, which are subdivided by the five elements, the seven classical planets, and the twelve signs of the Zodiac.
Within the Western magical tradition, the Tree is used as a kind of conceptual filing cabinet. Each sephira and path is assigned various ideas, such as gods, cards of the Tarot, astrological planets and signs, elements, and so forth. Crowley's Liber 777 is one of the most comprehensive collections of such qabalistic correspondences.[7] Other authors have written on the topic, including Eliphas Levi,[citation needed] Israel Regardie,[citation needed] and Gareth Knight.
The path of attainment is largely defined by the Tree of Life. The aspirant begins in Malkuth, which is the everyday material world of phenomena, with the ultimate goal being at Kether, the sphere of Unity with the All. Through various exercises and practices, the aspirant attains certain spiritual and mental states that are characterized by the various sephiroth that ascend the Tree. Crowley considered a deep understanding of the Qabalah to be essential to the Thelemite. The practice of the Middle Pillar is especially important.
Qabalah is key to understanding Thelemic texts and scriptures, many of which, including The Book of the Law, are written in abstract, poetic, and often cryptic language. Through the use of the Qabalah, and especially the function of gematria (a form of numerology), the normally opaque meaning of the texts can be made clear. Thelemites can also make use of gematria to link words and concepts and to validate revelations given to them in magical operations, such as astral travel.
Concentration
Another key element to Thelemic mysticism is the ability to concentrate. This skill has two modalities: the first is the rapid, accurate, and efficient movement of thought (which is the realm of magick) and the other is the stopping of thought altogether (which is accomplished in Yoga). In the first, it is the manipulation of all ideas into one idea, and in the second is the taking of that one thought and reducing it to nothing.
Concentration is essentially the prerequisite for all sustained success, not only in spiritual practices, but in day-to-day life as well. The general program for developing concentration is borrowed almost completely from the practice of Yoga within the Hindu and Buddhist systems. Crowley gives a general overview of the techniques in two books: Eight Lectures on Yoga and in the section called "Mysticism" in Magick
Body of light
Main article: Body of light
Crowley referred to the 'augoeides', a Greek term for the body of light, and connected it with 'the Knowledge & Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel' associated with each human being. He stressed that the body of light must be built up though the use of imagination, and that it must then be animated, exercised, and disciplined.According to Asprem (2017):
The practice of creating a "body of light” in imagination builds on the body-image system, potentially working with alterations across all of its three modalities (perceptual, conceptual, and affective): an idealized body is produced (body-image model), new conceptual structures are attached to it (e.g., the doctrine of multiple, separable bodies), while emotional attachments of awe, dignity, and fear responses are cultivated through the performance of astral rituals and protections from "astral dangers" through the simulation of symbols and magical weapons.
Crowley explains that the most important practices for developing the Body of Light are:
1. The fortification of the Body of Light by the constant use of rituals, by the assumption of god-forms, and by the right use of the Eucharist. 2. The purification and consecration and exaltation of that Body by the use of rituals of invocation. 3. The education of that Body by experience. It must learn to travel on every plane; to break down every obstacle which may confront it.
According to Crowley, the role of the body of light is broader than simply being a vehicle for astral travel — he writes that it is also the storehouse of all experience.
The benefit of astral travel is essentially one of education: it is akin to exploring one's own spiritual universe[g] and understanding its fundamental components so that the one can eventually master it. The general object is the "control of the Astral Plane, the ability to find one's way about it, to penetrate such sanctuaries as are guarded from the profane, [and] to make such relations with its inhabitants as may avail to acquire knowledge and power, or to command service". Also, "one's apprehension of the Astral Plane must be accurate, for Angels, Archangels, and Gods are derived therefrom by analysis. One must have pure materials if one wishes to brew pure beer".
Crowley believed that what was experienced during "astral travel" was not relevant in terms of what is "real" or "unreal". He thought that the only value to this practice is in the utility it provides to the practitioner.[h] He believed that the body of light is more important than simply for astral travel—that it is also the storehouse of all experiences.[i]
Magick
Main article: Ceremonial magic
According to Crowley, there is a single definition of the purpose for ritual magick: to achieve Union with God through "the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm". Since this process is so arduous, it is also acceptable to use magick to develop the self (i.e. one's body of light) or to create ideal circumstances for the Work (e.g. having access to a place in which to do ritual undisturbed). There are many kinds of magick, but the categories of ritual that are recommended by Crowley include banishing unwanted forces, various forms of invocation, and the eucharist, which "consists in taking common things, transmuting them into things divine, and consuming them".
Milestone
Further information: A∴A∴ § Initiatory structure
Crowley often wrote that every practitioners's path will be unique. He also wrote that two major milestones are fundamental to Thelemic mysticism, which he called the knowledge of and conversation with one's Holy Guardian Angel and the crossing of the Abyss. Crowley wrote, "the two crises—the Angel and the Abyss—are necessary features in every career. The other tasks are not always accomplished in [any given order]".
Holy Guardian Angel
Main article: Holy Guardian Angel
Even though the Holy Guardian Angel (or HGA) is, in a sense, the “higher self”, it is often experienced as a separate being, independent from the experiencer. In the system of the A∴A∴ magical order, the single most important goal is to consciously connect with one's HGA, a process termed “Knowledge and Conversation.” By doing so, a magician becomes fully aware of their own True Will. For Crowley, this event was the single most important goal of any practitioner of magick.
In most of his writings, Crowley described the Holy Guardian Angel as one's "Silent Self", at times equitable with one's deepest unconscious. In later writings, he insisted that the HGA is an entirely separate and objective being. Whichever position is taken, the object remains the same—to gain an intimate spiritual connection so that one's True Will can become fully known and manifested. When using the Tree of Life as a guide, this event occurs in the Sphere of Tiphareth.
Crowley wrote Liber Samekh as an example of a ritual designed specifically for attaining the Knowledge and Conversation with one's HGA. In his notes to this ritual, Crowley sums up the key to success: “INVOKE OFTEN.” Another detailed description of the general operation is given in The Vision and the Voice, Aethyr 8.
Crossing the Abyss
Main article: Abyss (Thelema)
After one attains Knowledge and Conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel, a practitioner may choose to then reach the next major milestone: the crossing of the Abyss, the great gulf or void between the phenomenal world of manifestation and its noumenal source, that great spiritual wilderness which must be crossed by the practitioner to attain mastery.
According to Crowley, Choronzon is the Dweller in the Abyss; he is there as the final obstruction. If he is met with the proper preparation, then he is there to destroy the ego, which allows the practitioner to move beyond the Abyss. If unprepared, then the unfortunate traveller will be utterly dispersed into annihilation. Both Choronzon and the Abyss are discussed in Crowley's Confessions (ch. 66).
However, just on the other side of the Abyss awaits Babalon (in the sphere of Binah on the Tree of Life). She calls the practitioner to surrender completely, so that they may cross over.[citation needed]
City of the Pyramids and the Night of Pan
Main article: Night of Pan
If a practitioner gives themselves to Babalon, as symbolised by the pouring of the practitioners' blood into Babalon's graal, they become impregnated in her, becoming a "Babe of the Abyss" who is then reborn as a Master and a Saint that dwells in the City of the Pyramids.
The City of the Pyramids is the home to those practitioners that have crossed the great Abyss, having spilled all their blood in the Graal of Babalon. They have destroyed their earthly ego-identities, becoming nothing more than piles of dust (i.e. the remaining aspects of their True Selves without the self-sense of "I"). Within, they take on the name or title of Saint or Nemo (Latin for No-Man or No-One). In the system of A∴A∴ they are called Masters of the Temple. It is a step along the path of spiritual purification, and a spiritual resting place for those who have successfully shed their attachments to the mundane world.
The City exists under the Night of Pan, or N.O.X. The playful and lecherous Pan is the Greek god of nature, lust, and the masculine generative power. The Greek word Pan also translates as All, and so he is “a symbol of the Universal, a personification of Nature; both Pangenetor, "all-begetter," and Panphage, "all-devourer".[21][better source needed] Pan is both the giver and the taker of life, and his Night is that time of symbolic death where the practitioner experiences unification with the All through the ecstatic destruction of the ego-self. In a less poetic symbolic sense, this is the state where one transcends all limitations and experiences oneness with the universe.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Work_(Thelema)
..The ink washes and amorphous brush strokes are employed to model surfaces that suggest the veiling effects of the atmosphere,system of five phases was used for describing interactions and relationships. This picture intrigues me for a long time, at the beginning I have been obliged to find the four figures of the movement of air and water; It is really necessary to reverse it in NEIDAN mode to pinch the meaning of the White Tiger, as its claw leaves the stratus, they announce the rain and the good crops of the spring after the winters it is the awakening of the divinities, please help me L..
Guo Xi (c. 1020–c. 1090) Chinese landscape painter from Henan Province who lived during the Northern Song dynasty. One text entitled "The Lofty Message of Forest and Streams" (Linquan Gaozhi 林泉高致) is attributed to him. The work covers a variety of themes centered around the appropriate way of painting a landscape. He was a court professional, a literati, well-educated painter who developed an incredibly detailed system of idiomatic brushstrokes which became important for later painters. His most famous work is Early Spring, dated 1072. The work demonstrates his innovative techniques for producing multiple perspectives which he called "the angle of totality." This type of visual representation is also called "Floating Perspective," a technique which displaces the static eye of the viewer and highlights the differences between Chinese and Western modes of spatial representation. (→Guo Xi).
commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Guo_Xi
Neidan, or internal alchemy (simplified Chinese: 內丹术; traditional Chinese: 內丹術; pinyin: nèidān shù), is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death (Skar and Pregadio 2000, 464). Also known as Jindan (金丹 "golden elixir"), inner alchemy combines theories derived from external alchemy (waidan 外丹), correlative cosmology (including the Five Phases), the emblems of the Yijing, and medical theory, with techniques of Daoist meditation, daoyin gymnastics, and sexual hygiene (Baldrian-Hussein 2008, 762).
In Neidan the human body becomes a cauldron (or "ding") in which the Three Treasures of Jing ("Essence"), Qi ("Breath") and Shen ("Spirit") are cultivated for the purpose of improving physical, emotional and mental health, and ultimately returning to the primordial unity of the Tao, i.e., becoming an Immortal. It is believed the Xiuzhen Tu is such a cultivation map. In China, it is an important form of practice for most schools of Taoism.
Liu Haichan, a Taoist immortal
related to several alchemical traditions
Taoist alchemy has a history of more than two thousand years, recorded from the 2nd century BCE to the present day. Its two main branches, known as Waidan, or External Alchemy (lit., "external elixir"), and Neidan, or Internal Alchemy (lit., "internal elixir"), partly share their doctrinal foundations but differ in the respective practices.
Waidan, which arose earlier, is based on the compounding of elixirs through the manipulation of natural substances and the heating of ingredients in a crucible. Its texts contain recipes, descriptions of ingredients, ritual rules, and passages concerned with the cosmological associations of minerals, metals, instruments, and operations.
Neidan developed, as far as we know, from the 8th century CE. It borrows a significant part of its vocabulary and imagery from Waidan, but it aims to produce the elixir within the alchemist's person, using the primary components of the cosmos and the human being as ingredients. Neidan texts cover a wider spectrum of subjects compared to Waidan. At its ends are, on the one hand, teachings on the Dao (the principle at the basis of the manifested world) and, on the other, descriptions of practices.
Neither alchemy as a whole, nor Waidan or Neidan individually, constitutes a "school" with a definite textual corpus and a single line of transmission. On the contrary, each of the two main branches displays a remarkable variety of teachings and practice.
Yet, beyond its different and almost endless formulations, the Way of the Golden Elixir is characterized by a foundation in the doctrinal principles set out in the main texts of Taoism — especially the Daode jing (Book of the Way and Its Virtue) — concerning the relation between the Dao and the world. The cosmos as we know it is seen as the last stage in a series of transformations from Non-Being (wu) to Unity (yi), duality (Yin and Yang), and finally multiplicity (wanwu, the "ten thousand things"). The alchemist intends to trace this process backwards—from the "ten thousand things" to the Dao. The practice should be performed under the close supervision of a master, who provides the "oral instructions" (koujue) necessary to understand the processes that one performs with minerals and metals, or undergoes within oneself.
In both Waidan and Neidan, the practice is variously said to grant transcendence (a state described by such expressions as "joining with the Dao"), immortality (usually meant as a spiritual condition), longevity, healing (either in a broad sense or with regard to specific illnesses), and — particularly in Waidan — communication with the gods of the celestial pantheon and protection from spirits, demons, and other malignant entities.
The main names of the elixir are huandan, or Reverted Elixir, and — especially in the "internal" branch — jindan, or Golden Elixir. Gold (jin) represents the state of constancy and immutability beyond the change and transiency that characterize the cosmos. As for dan ("elixir"), this word means "essence": in other words, the reality, principle, or true nature of an entity, or its most basic and significant element, quality, or property. On the basis of this term, the authors of alchemical texts often call their tradition "Way of the Golden Elixir" (jindan zhi dao).
While the Tang (7th-10th centuries) period has been called the "golden age" of Waidan, it also marked the stage of transition to Neidan. Among the forerunners of Neidan is the Shangqing (Highest Clarity) tradition of Taoism. Based on revelations that occurred in the 4th century, this school attributes particular importance to meditation, but also includes the compounding of elixirs among its practices; and in this context, it displays the earliest traces of the interiorizazion of alchemy. Among the texts used by Shangqing is the Huangting jing (Scripture of the Yellow Court), a meditation manual often quoted in later Neidan texts.
In Neidan, the practitioner's person performs the role that natural substances and instruments play in Waidan. In doing so, Neidan avails itself — in ways and degrees that vary among different subtraditions — of traditional Chinese doctrines about the analogy between macrocosm and microcosm and of earlier practices of meditation on the inner gods, adapted to the new purposes (and involving, in fact, the virtual disappearance of the inner gods themselves). The text that played the main role in the shift from Waidan to Neidan is the Cantong qi (The Seal of the Unity the Three), traditionally dated to the 2nd century CE but actually written in its present form at least three centuries later, and possibly more.
If you are serious about wanting to study Nei Dan but do not have a teacher, then the best advice I can give without knowing you personally would be to establish a diligent Qigong practice of some sort. By diligent I mean daily and committed. A committed daily practice is essential for success in any art, especially internal cultivation. There is a saying “Those who start are as numerous as the hairs on the ox. Those who finish are as rare as the phoenix‘s feathers and the unicorn‘s horns” (闻道者多如牛毛，得道者凤毛麟角, Wen Dao Zhe Duo Ru Niu Mao, De Dao Zhe Feng Mao Lin Jiao). That is, many people learn it, but few are committed enough to follow through with the practice. If you have established a good daily practice ethic, you will have a good foundation to learn Internal Alchemy when the time, place, and people are right.
Author of the seminal work From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans Dr. John Hope Franklin( (Biography) at 90 years old, has just published his latest book entitled Mirror to America : The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin We were privileged to be among 200 or so people that got to hear him speak on his life and his life's work. The setting was a lecture followed by a book signing sponsored by one of the Bay Area's premium book sellers Cody's Books.
National Public Radio Interview
Dr. Franklin was one of my childhood heroes who brought the history of African Americans to life. Hearing him speak at 90 years old still able to roll out the facts and dates of his life, that spanned from 1915 to the present, was incredible. He is both a historian and a shaper of history eloquent and humorous at turns.
DR. FRANKLIN: "What we are trying to understand about our present, and our future, de
ends on what we know about our past, and the kind of past that we have here, of the beginning of the Middle Passage, to the establishment of the slave institution in the United States and in the New World, generally, has much to do with the way we think about ourselves, the way we think about our institutions, indeed, the way we think about our country." From A PBS Documentary Tutu and Franklin: A Journey to Peace Read the Transcript
He made a special point during his presentation to acknowledge a group of kids from a who came from Camp Sweeney Juvenile Hall program in Alameda County Jail. He said, talking directly to about 20 of them in the front rows of Berkeley's United Presbyterian Church; he would have been happy if it was just him and these young men here. "Even if no one else had come tonight I would have been happy. Your presence here, he said "gives me hope."
Photo Credit: Frederick Douglass Perry - Text: Frederick Douglass Perry
from time to time
we take light
as a given
somewhat incidental only
it is there on the scene
to illuminate,
to give dimension
or a cover for the surface
but it shows itself to us
many times as its opposite
shadows, darkness, shade
the opposite side of the texture
it moves as your hands moves
but there is evidence of light
everywhere
even if we cannot see
the source
the point of origin
the reason
for a while all we can do
is just look to evidence
what the light does around us
to see that natural
or artificial
we attempt
to wrap ourselves
in light
to remind and comfort us
we have awakened into a world
plunged into darkness
surrounded by light
BIRD
Poem Copyright
©2007 Frederick Douglass Perry, All Rights Reserved
IF YOU LOVE THE FIRST LOOK OF MY CRAFTS
YOU WILL LOVE MOST OFMY COLLECTIONS
FEEL FREE TO EXPLORE MORE ON MY PHOTOSTREAM IN THIS WAY
CRAFT REVOLUTION / MOSAIC APPLICATION IN A PATCHWORK APPROACH, A TRULLY NEW LINE IN A ROW
Doing things like no other before is like walking in another line, why we need to do being different from them, how do we see things in another side? Is this possible to have a new line in a row?
I attend seminars about Quality Control, this seminars tackles the main cause of the real problem is in the organization itself, yes, and is true no need to attend seminar for this, if we know ourselves is our best enemy, but how we need to know more ourselves, our environment dictates us to be being with them, and our mind action accordingly in this way of thinking.
Working in an Export Company for long years as a research and product development officer is not a good job, but paying you a lot sometimes per project, and your Boss saying you always; “our sale will get high after this project out of the market! You can go to vacation after this! Yes vacation after finish the particular project, hmm sound nice, as I said this is not a good job after all. Vacation is also not good in this kind of works. Why I say this. How you can say you are free after your kids out in school and you are watching American idol and praying for the artist you want to be declared as a real winner,
How can we say we are free and in vacation with family and thinking what you can do to be more careful for the kids if all with you, or even if you alone and feel bored and open your pc for something else just to get out of your mind, how?
Being free is acceptance just live with them walk with them and feel with them, my master in this seminar put this thing in our mind , the second things he share to us is everybody need a free space for our self, as a person and different from the other person.
He share to us a line in a bible , I forgot the pages and the verses, but something like this I am not particular in the bible things and thoughts but the messages is clear, you are so special from the other person in your words ,in your thought , in your actions too,
And he shouting to all of us saying hey get out of the box his face look like red and I feel he is angry for what ever reason,
Then he put here things in the bag and walking outside the hall never turn back and go to small coffee table and put some head set on his ear, we all get shock we feel confuse, me I am thinking he get mad to someone , that time the seminar is running up to more hours and this person sitting , look like relax and we are thinking what s wrong , the company paying much for him, and the 2 long hours to wait him , feel more confusing , I see also he snap a bit and his eyes is close for almost 15 minute , and we are so silent , and no body want to talk , hey what’s wrong , I go to the other side of the room and I fall asleep, somebody doing that things and fall asleep too, but the only thing I notice no one get out of the room , we are all waiting for something, boring and everybody no one to talk just the eyes talking that time and our lips add some smile,
Time running and one of the participant decide to talk to all of us and saying we don’t need him in this kind of seminar , he never say anything to us just sip his coffee for long hours and we left nothing to do. and one of my colleagues saying , how can we say it in a nice way, everybody saying something ,suggesting , and one off the participant crumble the papers and want to throw to the master , that moment we are all smile and saying yes do it if you can! But after that no one, want to do that kind of things to his master after all,
Or maybe being polite much better that throwing things as our action for that particular situation and the message is clear , everybody even they have a good actions they don’t want to go out of the box,
New line in a row is a fresh and clear action ,as an artist , as a creator of this particular crafts , I love to share what I have after my long journey , this world is so fast in many particular , technology ,development, high-rise building new phone , everything that we can consider as our home outside our home or a chips on our big pockets , weight less but full of everything what we put inside that chips for our own purposes,
This new craft was born in this particular world of arts but I found out, this craft is out of the line , the material is there , the colors is in there, the meaning is there , the message is there , everything is there , and still I cannot fine the right line for this particular crafts,
I start doing craft on my early age, I still remembering cutting pages of full colored magazine cut in a small piece and paste it, collect all the colored papers and cut and paste it just my start, I love to draw plant animals flowers birds everything about nature, and this track considering of my actions whom I am now, in my own world,
I never finish college, as my root, but I take a fine arts courses in one best school in Philippines (U.S.T. University Of Santo Tomas) Manila the oldest School in Asia the school for Architecture and Fine Arts, that time I feel bless, it because I never dream to get enter in that school, I walk barefooted in my young age, I never dream one day I was in one of the room in there. In my teenage days I was always in a church I am a member of a choir group, but my voice is not good at that time, but I feel important when I am part of this group , our master telling me you are part of this group and your voice is to important to us, I joint also a theater club my master told me , here in our company money is hard to find and the only things I can share to you is how they praise you after the production is done, this group is a community base just for a public information and services, and that’s true I feel different from other person when I joint in this group I have many friends , they all like me as a devil in my characters I always portray , this group give ME more opportunity to explore my space more on the way I never do and think before, or maybe I get out of that box I never notice in this way, or I walk in a new line in a row ,
This group also sent me to college, and I walk out in this group and stop my study up to 2nd years in colleges of course the main reason is money, yes this is my hard times at that moment I need to decide which way I need to walk, to finish or make another way like a new line in a row, I need to force my self to work hard for my daily bread.
New line in a row is a formation of things on how we see and need to act patiently specially in our materials that surround us. Or a CALL on how we make a line in a way we can move perfectly, and this is what I want to share to you,
New line in a row is my greatest achievement, after searching and looking for arts and crafts, i look more books, searching more artist, looking for the master, site in the internet, regarding arts and crafts, and still I never see anything that need to compare on my crafts, but this crafts more on mosaic, patchwork, color pixel in our computer and idea coming from cross stitching, and how it make it different from them,?
Mosaic is a form of arts more on glass and stone or anything that form pattern and pastes it,
Patchwork is a form of arts too start from our old clothes recycled it and form pattern too.
Cross stitching is also form of arts that need to count and have pattern too.
Color pixel normally found in our computer if we want to see or using magnifying glass to see thing clear.
I never research much on this particular meaning (mosaic, patchwork, cross stitching, pixels,) suggestion is always welcome or comment to this particular is will help much,
This kind of words build my composition and remind me, where I start thinking and looking in different way, how can I called my crafts , or where can I place it , I thinking is there a room for me, the answer is YES , I can place it in a galleries of mosaic,
In a patchwork, in pixel room, but not in a wall that hangs cross stitching arts,
But more on more that way, my experiment get more wild and run, colored pixel is always many colors in his single square form, I decide to get out in this category,
I try more research about patchwork , and I see more clear things in this room , the next things I open my mind to the mosaic room and get involved more on more , and I notice a clear picture and help me to categories my craft more in this way.
I draw another line, a new line in a row
After fifteen years searching for the soul of my arts, I try to make room for them, I want to be different from them, I want to be more careful and I want to have a free form from them,
Arts is copying nature I thought, and maybe I think in this way, but copying is like doing things you admire and seeing things that guide us, copying is the only easy way to make us more competitive or maybe more to be exact, new line in a row starting in this way collect the things that have a connection on me make a clear picture and transform in a way I do now,
New line in a row is a form of arts with the relationship to the crafts world,
Arts is different from the crafts, arts is unique form and creation of human no same things have in common with out copying using special tools we have..
Crafts are more on copying have pattern to create more precise and get to perfectly conclusion.
New line in a row is my first step to get out of the box, I never notice for long way before.
New line in a row is a form of CRAFTS after all!
I called this crafts MOSAIC CLOTH IN A PATCHWORK APPROACH
A truly NEW LINE IN A RAW
Only the dead man can make his canvass clear and white
I choice freedom that make my life to be complicated and open for more restriction after all
Oktavdsaint
The author
Birth of the mysterious Alchemical Sentinels
3 months working day and night with an exceptional “dream team"… a big thank you to ACS, Luc, my trusty Giant who could lift a juggernaut onto a balcony (QED Thierry Loir) Thomas Cart'1, Goin, and of course Marc for the paints.
I have managed to set up my installation of 99 raw steel sculptures with an incredibly demanding specification: none of the 3600 work on the DDC site were to be hidden… we had to think about power sources, water crossings, access for construction machinery including the telescopic booms (3m wide)… public safety, ERP museum standards, etc, ... constantly alternating between the visible and the invisible...
Are they inhabited? I don’t know. One thing is certain: each sentinel stands as a unique sculpture in terms of its alchemical elements and paintwork (either with anti-rust paint or voluntarily with paints that do not resist rust). This autumn, each sentinel will reveal – with the acid rain – different interpretations, depending on the paints and solvents used, making each one different, with stratifications that future archaeologists will decipher.
But my most perilous challenge was to create a giant (9000 m²) installation that envelops the Abode of Chaos with dozens of tons of steel, so that my visitors, from any angle, enter a dreamlike fantasy and where the world of the Abode of Chaos on the one hand and that of the 99 monumental sculptures (named "Alchemical Sentinels" during an extremely busy night ) intersect like the Inframince defined by Marcel Duchamp (or, how to build intensities by subtraction).
These 99 Alchemical Sentinels are now the guardians of the Sanctuary that the Abode of Chaos has become. I designed them as veritable quantum energy wells that we placed with patience and wisdom at different spots all over the Abode of Chaos.
There are 99 in total, made of 10mm rough steel (50 tons), welded to form perfect equilateral triangles. Each of the three sides constituting an Alchemical Sentinel is itself cut to reveal a meurtrière, again in the shape of an equilateral triangle, presenting a superb Euclidean geometry to the visitor.
These 99 Alchemical Sentinels are each placed at specific energy points on the 9000 m² of the Abode of Chaos. Some are hidden by vegetation or natural landforms or are placed in relation to existing works. Others are located in our private and professionals spaces.
In my alchemical work that began on 9 December 1999, the three gates arranged in an equilateral triangle with one vertex pointing upwards, form the luminous delta. They represent the three elements that alchemists work with. These three elements are sulphur, mercury and salt.
Note that the three elements found in the Prima Materia (or Alchemical Chaos) are very closely related. The point triangle is also the symbol of the fire philosophers.
The equilateral triangle resting on its base – like the three points – is the symbol of the fire element, one of the four elements that the alchemist works with in the laboratory.
The geometric properties of the equilateral triangle evoke absolute perfection by their spiritual strength and their age-old symbolism going back to ancient Egypt… strength, beauty and harmony.
They will remain for a thousand years as witnesses to a civilization lost through the folly of men.
thierry Ehrmann
-------------------------------------------------
3 mois de travail jour et nuit, une "dream team" hors du commun, un grand merci à ACS, Luc, mon fidèle Géant qui poserait un 38 T. sur un balcon (cqfd Thierry Loir) Thomas, Cart'1, Goin et bien sûr Marc pour les peintures.
Je suis arrivé à poser mon installation de 99 sculptures d'acier brut avec un cahier des charges de ouf, aucune des 3600 œuvres de la DDC ne devaient être occultées, penser aux sources électriques, les passages d'eau, les voies de transport pour engin de chantier, les nacelles télescopiques (3m de large), protéger le grand public, respecter les normes ERP muséales, etc… Alterner en permanence monstration et effacement…
Sont-elles habitées ? Je l'ignore. Une chose certaine est que chacune, par les éléments alchimiques et les codes peints soit à l'antirouille soit volontairement avec des peintures dégradables par la rouille avec le temps, rend chaque sentinelle comme une sculpture unique. Cet automne chaque sentinelle va laisser apparaître, avec les pluies acides, différents niveaux de lecture, selon les peintures et solvants utilisés, les rendant singulières avec des stratifications que les archéologues des temps futurs décrypteront...
Mais mon défi le plus périlleux, était de créer une installation géante de 9000 m2 qui enveloppe, par des dizaines de tonnes d'acier, la Demeure du Chaos pour que mes visiteurs sur 360 degrés, plongent dans un univers onirique et fantasmagorique où les deux univers que sont la Demeure du Chaos d'une part et d'autre part l'installation des 99 sculptures monumentales (baptisées par une nuit très agitée "Sentinelles Alchimiques") s'entrecroisent selon l'Inframince définit par Marcel Duchamp (ou comment construire des intensités par soustraction).
Ces 99 Sentinelles Alchimiques sont désormais les gardiennes du Sanctuaire que représente la Demeure du Chaos. Je les ai conçus comme de véritable puits d’énergie quantique que je pose avec patience et sagesse sur l’ensemble de la Demeure du Chaos.
Elles sont au nombre de 99, faites d’acier brut de 10 mm (50 tonnes) soudées pour former un triangle équilatéral parfait. Chacun des 3 pans constituant une Sentinelle Alchimique, est lui même découpé pour laisser entrevoir une mystérieuse meurtrière, elle même en forme de triangle équilatéral, donnant ainsi une géométrie Euclidienne au regard du visiteur.
Ces 99 Sentinelles Alchimiques sont chacune à des points d’énergie particuliers de la Demeure du Chaos sur 9000 m2. Certaines se dissimulent par la végétation ou les reliefs naturels ou bien en écho aux autres œuvres, d’autres sont dans les espaces privatifs ou professionnels.
Dans mon travail alchimique démarré le 9 décembre 1999, les trois portes disposées en triangle équilatéral, dont un sommet est dirigé vers le haut, forment le delta lumineux. Elle sont les trois corps sur lesquels l’alchimiste va œuvrer. Ces trois corps sont le soufre, le mercure et le sel.
Soulignons que les trois corps présents dans la Materia Prima ou Chaos alchimique sont étroitement mélangés. Le triangle de point est aussi la marque des philosophes par le feu.
Le triangle équilatéral reposant sur sa base, à la manière des trois points, est le symbole de l’élément feu, l’un des quatre éléments avec lequel l’alchimiste travaille au laboratoire.
Les propriétés géométriques du triangle équilatéral relèvent de la perfection absolue par sa force spirituelle, son symbolisme de la nuit des temps notamment dans l’ancienne Egypte, il est force, beauté et harmonie.
Elles resteront durant mille ans comme les témoins d’une civilisation disparue par la folie des hommes
thierry Ehrmann
Birth of the mysterious Alchemical Sentinels
3 months working day and night with an exceptional “dream team"… a big thank you to ACS, Luc, my trusty Giant who could lift a juggernaut onto a balcony (QED Thierry Loir) Thomas Cart'1, Goin, and of course Marc for the paints.
I have managed to set up my installation of 99 raw steel sculptures with an incredibly demanding specification: none of the 3600 work on the DDC site were to be hidden… we had to think about power sources, water crossings, access for construction machinery including the telescopic booms (3m wide)… public safety, ERP museum standards, etc, ... constantly alternating between the visible and the invisible...
Are they inhabited? I don’t know. One thing is certain: each sentinel stands as a unique sculpture in terms of its alchemical elements and paintwork (either with anti-rust paint or voluntarily with paints that do not resist rust). This autumn, each sentinel will reveal – with the acid rain – different interpretations, depending on the paints and solvents used, making each one different, with stratifications that future archaeologists will decipher.
But my most perilous challenge was to create a giant (9000 m²) installation that envelops the Abode of Chaos with dozens of tons of steel, so that my visitors, from any angle, enter a dreamlike fantasy and where the world of the Abode of Chaos on the one hand and that of the 99 monumental sculptures (named "Alchemical Sentinels" during an extremely busy night ) intersect like the Inframince defined by Marcel Duchamp (or, how to build intensities by subtraction).
These 99 Alchemical Sentinels are now the guardians of the Sanctuary that the Abode of Chaos has become. I designed them as veritable quantum energy wells that we placed with patience and wisdom at different spots all over the Abode of Chaos.
There are 99 in total, made of 10mm rough steel (50 tons), welded to form perfect equilateral triangles. Each of the three sides constituting an Alchemical Sentinel is itself cut to reveal a meurtrière, again in the shape of an equilateral triangle, presenting a superb Euclidean geometry to the visitor.
These 99 Alchemical Sentinels are each placed at specific energy points on the 9000 m² of the Abode of Chaos. Some are hidden by vegetation or natural landforms or are placed in relation to existing works. Others are located in our private and professionals spaces.
In my alchemical work that began on 9 December 1999, the three gates arranged in an equilateral triangle with one vertex pointing upwards, form the luminous delta. They represent the three elements that alchemists work with. These three elements are sulphur, mercury and salt.
Note that the three elements found in the Prima Materia (or Alchemical Chaos) are very closely related. The point triangle is also the symbol of the fire philosophers.
The equilateral triangle resting on its base – like the three points – is the symbol of the fire element, one of the four elements that the alchemist works with in the laboratory.
The geometric properties of the equilateral triangle evoke absolute perfection by their spiritual strength and their age-old symbolism going back to ancient Egypt… strength, beauty and harmony.
They will remain for a thousand years as witnesses to a civilization lost through the folly of men.
thierry Ehrmann
-------------------------------------------------
3 mois de travail jour et nuit, une "dream team" hors du commun, un grand merci à ACS, Luc, mon fidèle Géant qui poserait un 38 T. sur un balcon (cqfd Thierry Loir) Thomas, Cart'1, Goin et bien sûr Marc pour les peintures.
Je suis arrivé à poser mon installation de 99 sculptures d'acier brut avec un cahier des charges de ouf, aucune des 3600 œuvres de la DDC ne devaient être occultées, penser aux sources électriques, les passages d'eau, les voies de transport pour engin de chantier, les nacelles télescopiques (3m de large), protéger le grand public, respecter les normes ERP muséales, etc… Alterner en permanence monstration et effacement…
Sont-elles habitées ? Je l'ignore. Une chose certaine est que chacune, par les éléments alchimiques et les codes peints soit à l'antirouille soit volontairement avec des peintures dégradables par la rouille avec le temps, rend chaque sentinelle comme une sculpture unique. Cet automne chaque sentinelle va laisser apparaître, avec les pluies acides, différents niveaux de lecture, selon les peintures et solvants utilisés, les rendant singulières avec des stratifications que les archéologues des temps futurs décrypteront...
Mais mon défi le plus périlleux, était de créer une installation géante de 9000 m2 qui enveloppe, par des dizaines de tonnes d'acier, la Demeure du Chaos pour que mes visiteurs sur 360 degrés, plongent dans un univers onirique et fantasmagorique où les deux univers que sont la Demeure du Chaos d'une part et d'autre part l'installation des 99 sculptures monumentales (baptisées par une nuit très agitée "Sentinelles Alchimiques") s'entrecroisent selon l'Inframince définit par Marcel Duchamp (ou comment construire des intensités par soustraction).
Ces 99 Sentinelles Alchimiques sont désormais les gardiennes du Sanctuaire que représente la Demeure du Chaos. Je les ai conçus comme de véritable puits d’énergie quantique que je pose avec patience et sagesse sur l’ensemble de la Demeure du Chaos.
Elles sont au nombre de 99, faites d’acier brut de 10 mm (50 tonnes) soudées pour former un triangle équilatéral parfait. Chacun des 3 pans constituant une Sentinelle Alchimique, est lui même découpé pour laisser entrevoir une mystérieuse meurtrière, elle même en forme de triangle équilatéral, donnant ainsi une géométrie Euclidienne au regard du visiteur.
Ces 99 Sentinelles Alchimiques sont chacune à des points d’énergie particuliers de la Demeure du Chaos sur 9000 m2. Certaines se dissimulent par la végétation ou les reliefs naturels ou bien en écho aux autres œuvres, d’autres sont dans les espaces privatifs ou professionnels.
Dans mon travail alchimique démarré le 9 décembre 1999, les trois portes disposées en triangle équilatéral, dont un sommet est dirigé vers le haut, forment le delta lumineux. Elle sont les trois corps sur lesquels l’alchimiste va œuvrer. Ces trois corps sont le soufre, le mercure et le sel.
Soulignons que les trois corps présents dans la Materia Prima ou Chaos alchimique sont étroitement mélangés. Le triangle de point est aussi la marque des philosophes par le feu.
Le triangle équilatéral reposant sur sa base, à la manière des trois points, est le symbole de l’élément feu, l’un des quatre éléments avec lequel l’alchimiste travaille au laboratoire.
Les propriétés géométriques du triangle équilatéral relèvent de la perfection absolue par sa force spirituelle, son symbolisme de la nuit des temps notamment dans l’ancienne Egypte, il est force, beauté et harmonie.
Elles resteront durant mille ans comme les témoins d’une civilisation disparue par la folie des hommes
thierry Ehrmann