exploring the patterns of the universe - cosmic creativity, astrology, sacred geometry, alchemy, symbolism, archetypes, love, synchronicity, transformation, and other wisdoms within the self...
I am so grateful to be a part of this collaboration with such amazing, beautiful, insightful individuals. It has been churning and crystallizing, and is finally here!
"26 bloggers/writers/artists share their experiences and perspectives on the strange and beautiful universe in which we live."
Alan Abbadessa-Green + Goro Adachi + Jason Barrera + Douglas Bolles + Peg Carter + Tommy Fulks + Kevin Halcott + Kyle Hunt + Sibyl Hunter + Stefan Jablonski + Jeremy + Andras Jones + Crystal Kanarr + Jon Kidd + Jake Kotze + Neil Kramer + Rammer Martínez Sánchez + Justin Gray Morgan + Will Morgan + Christopher "C" Myers + Eunus Noe + Jennifer Palmer + Jim Sanders+ Michael Schacht + Toure + Steve Willner
Since we entered the sign of Virgo in late August, the High Priestess archetype has been all around us. The High Priestess in the Tarot is associated with the Moon (which is the esoteric ruling planet of Virgo).
"The moon reflected on the surface of the water symbolizes the idea that is reflected in the form." ~ The Crowley Tarot
It is all too appropriate that The Sync Book would come to fruition during the Full Harvest Moon (in Pisces), but even more special is that today I realized that the book was conceived on the exact day of the New Moon in Pisces back in March. The new moon corresponds to the time of seeding new ideas, putting our hopes and dreams into the womb of the mother, so that we may start the process of nourishing that which we wish to manifest. The full moon corresponds to the part of the cycle in which the fruit of our hard work has fully formed and ready to be harvested. The sign that the moon is traveling in at these potent parts of the cycle, shows the energetic expression of that which is manifesting. The cycle is always happening, whether we are consciously working with it or not. This book is the perfect example of what inspiration, vision, intention, love and effort can bring!
Pisces is a mystical, intuitive, water sign, resonating with the collective unity of all things, which the subject of the book, synchronicity, continually expresses.
"Pisces, last of the water signs and the completion of the zodiacal cycle, embodies all that is most compassionate, most universal and most deeply connected with that deeper reality which underpins the whole of existence." ~Liz Greene, Mythic Astrology
La Lune/The Moon - the tarot card associated with the sign of PISCES, and the Hebrew letter Qoph
The Sync Book definitely embodies this energy through and through, I have no doubt that you will be inspired and embraced by the words of all of the individuals who put their hearts and minds into its pages.
I have begun to have a greater appreciation for the connection between the fiery creative energy and nature's law of cutting/dividing.
The Hebrew letter Shin, (representing the element of Fire and Spirit and associated with the Judgment/Aeon card in the tarot) means 'tooth'. Teeth cut through things too! They are tools for cutting and chewing our food in preparation for the transformation of energy. (There are also teeth on a saw).
Hmmm, perhaps this is one reason why in recent weeks the Red Key of the local Key Bank keeps catching my eye in various locations...
Red is the color often associated with fire, and also the color connected to the root chakra.
A key is a tool for separating 2 parts that are locked together, much like a sword, and is symbolic of knowledge, mystery, initiation.
Within the spelling of Shin (ShYN ) is the Yod which means hand, it is an instrument of creation and a flame from which all of the Hebrew letters are born. Yod also represents the sign of Virgo, which is traditionally ruled by MERCURY, and the Hermit card in the tarot.
The other letter within the spelling of Shin is Nun. Nun means fish and like fertilizer is both decay and growth. It symbolizes the sign of Scorpio, and the Death card in the tarot.
So within the letter Shin, is the firey, creative spirit which burns to bring about transformation and growth!
The path of Shin on the Qabalistic Tree of Life connects Kingdom (which is representative of the condensed, earthy physical realm that we are familiar, much like the root chakra) to Splendor (associated with Mercury/Hermes/Thoth).
"'The Splendor of the Material World. Mercury acting through Fire, upon the Cosmic elements.' In other words this path serves to awaken the Intellectual center (Mercury) in the psyche (Cosmic elements) of the initiate using Yod energy."~
(*It seems fitting that MERCURY happens to be in the FIRE sign of Aries presently.)
The wordSplendor means brilliance, bright and shining. It's interesting that the root of the word Black is also to burn, gleam, shine, flash. What burns (breaks earth down), is flashy and brilliant? Yes indeed, Fire!
Thursday morning when I couldn't sleep I wrote down some thoughts: Nature creates by dividing. Things must be broken to pieces in order to put them together again in a new way. Our purpose is to create our self. If the point was to arrive at an end point, where we can experience total unity and bliss, free of hardship, than there would be no need to experience, change, evolve, create - for the peaceful loving union is already the primal nature of the universe/god/all/nothing. In order to experience all of the infinite possibilities and facets of our Self, our higher intelligence urges us to seek destruction so that we may have ingredients to play and build with.
On a personal level, what scorches you, beats you up, and breaks you down is most definitely what will lead you to growth, greater understanding, and fuel your creativity. Facing your fear and pain is your initiation, your ignition.
Now I'm finding it interesting to read the first chapter of Genesis with a different view of the word 'saw', as a tool of dividing, which shows us how we see the world in parts rather than a whole. Also interesting is that the inverse of SAW is WAS. It gives new perspective to, "...and God saw that it wasgood."
spirit/nothing(God) divided(saw) that it could experience/unite/be(was) spirit/everything(good/god)
My Love for God and God's Love for Me springs from
the Great Secret we share.
The Secret is
God and I will achieve Supreme Enlightenment
at the same moment."
~ Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford (aka Lon Milo Duquette in his delightful work, The Chicken Qabalah)
"For I am divided for love's sake, for the chance of union. This is the creation of the world, that the pain of division is as nothing, and the joy of dissolution all." ~Aiwass, The Book of the Law written by Aleister Crowley
I guess because of being inspired by these connections I have been singing "This Little Light of Mine" lately. Today I looked up the song lyrics to see if they are the same as I remember learning them in Sunday school as a 3 or 4 year old, and in the process was pointed to the clip of Christina Ricci singing the song in the movie Black Snake Moan:
And this prompted me to remember that in that film, Christina plays the character Rae (meaning, 'beam of light'), who is chained to a RADIATOR (fitting with the current radiation crisis happening after the recent devastating quake and tsunami in Japan) by a blues man named Lazarus (the well known name of the dead man brought back to life by Christ. Some have also made the comparison to the Egyptian deity Osiris).
Recently watched the dvd series "The Pyramid Code" with the husband. The documentary series, produced by professor, author, researcher, explorer and filmmaker Carmen Boulter, is amazing and ground breaking! It explores the scientific indications that the pyramids were power sources (not tombs) among many other things.Watch the trailer below. Then watch the full series on YouTube if you like. And visit the website. You also might be interested in taking a listen to this interview on Red Ice Radio.
We often look to visual artwork, movies, commercials, poems, songs, etc., as expressions of ideas with the use of symbolism. But lately I'm thinking about this 3 dimensional realm that we live in, and that literally everything that we see and touch around us is a symbol for an idea, a collective belief that we all have. We create/manifest our thoughts into material existence. Some people reject this idea, thinking that this statement implies that when you think something it instantly appears. Following this line of thinking - seeing as that this obviously doesn't seem to happen for most of us (based on our definition of "instant" in our concept of time), the statement doesn't seem plausible. But who decided that manifestation had to be instantaneous? Every object around us has originated with a thought, something non-material. First came the idea/thought/belief, then came the act of using our tools to build something based on that vision. So we literally do manifest our reality, whether it takes billions of years, or some amount of months, or a 30 minute meal. So I am interested in the part of the physical reality that most of us can't see - the slippery, elusive thought matter behind every thing we have created.
con*cep*tion [kuh n-sep-shuh n] -noun 1. the act of conceiving; the state of being conceived. 2. fertilization; inception of pregnancy. 3. a notion; idea; concept: She has some odd conceptions about life. 4. something that is conceived: The machine is the conception of a genius. 5. origination; beginning 6. a design; plan. 7. the act or power of forming notions, ideas, or concepts.
"...We work with being, but nonbeing is what we use." Lao Tzu
While having the stream of thoughts flow through my mind, my eyes focused in on the railing around our porch, which I normally don't even acknowledge or think about. "What does a railing symbolize?" I thought to myself. It signifies our belief that we need a boundary wherever we find a railing, that for whatever reason we believe that we need a reminder that without that boundary we may find or inflict harm or discomfort if we go there (wherever there is). That there is a need to keep something in, or keep something out. The belief that we can separate inner from outer. If we did not have these beliefs, we would not have created railings and fences, for there would be no reason for them, as it would not yet have become our conviction that we needed to attempt to isolate one part from another. In exploring the symbolism of the railing, we can ask:
What would the world be like without boundaries? What was it like before we brought about this symbol of separation? And if we removed such a symbol, would it alter our belief that we need such boundaries?
This of course, is just one example of the symbolism that is all around us. Paying attention to the meaning inherent in every structure gives new perspective and profound meaning to the world. It makes you think about what your beliefs really are, and what you want them to be. If we want to change our collective beliefs, then manifesting a physical structure - or maybe more importantly removing structures and things that aren't relevant anymore, is our task. Of course, this brings us to the realization that there are some groups of individuals that are well versed in shaping the collective belief systems simply by introducing the idea into our physical environment. (One obvious means of doing this is through the use of media). This you probably recognize, also happens to be explored in the movie "Inception".
*update 9/16/10* Today I read this quote which is all too fitting with the subject of this post! "...everything on the material plane takes on new meaning because it is seen as a symbol for an inner quality or state of being." Liz Greene, from her book Saturn: A New Look at an Old Devil
What do we believe? We can see by looking at what objects and symbols we surround ourselves with. And what do we want to believe? What ideas and frameworks still have value, and which ones are outmoded and should be deconstructed to build something new? Hmmmm...
And who knew a porch railing could be so mentally stimulating?
Recommendations:
*The previous post "crystallization" also relates.
*For further exploration of the power of your beliefs, I always highly recommend the work of Dr. Bruce Lipton.
*The work of Michael Tsarion and his study of symbols, words and history has also enriched my life and added perspective.
*The work of the individuals over at the The Sync Whole (and the myriad of other blogs that interweave there), make amazing connections and decipher symbolism through the observation of film, pop culture and more. Their stream of connections is enlightening, but is also just plain fun and inspiring!
"...Water shows us through science that our thoughts have an effect on our external reality. Imagine the possibilities when people realize their own potential for creativity..." Deepak Chopra
We are all, at the very least, partially aware of the pollution and destruction of our most precious resource. And most of us have heard that our body's water content mimics the Earth's own composition. I think most of us learned in elementary school that there is a certain amount of water on our planet and it follows a certain cycle. And we know that all living things on the Earth need some amount of water for survival. These are the basics of water, of which we take for granted most of the time, but there are many other qualities of water that most of us are not conscious of. The documentary Water: The Great Mystery probes the common element further, with insights from researchers and scientists from all over the world who are finding and showing many facets of water that we did not see before. Most intriguing to me is that water has memory, contains information, and it is something that we all share.
Dr. Gabriel Cousens touches on the work of a number of scientific researchers that support the statements of the above mentioned documentary in his book Spiritual Nutrition. In summary he states that "water: (1) can carry both positive and negative information; (2) has a memory; (3) has a memory that can be erased; and (4) can transfer that vibrational information." Dr. Cousens goes on to write about the "Cosmic Meaning of Water":
"In essence, water is like the Divine Presence in living creatures. It vibrates within all life as the blood of Nature that takes on many forms: a glass of water, the vast oceans, turbulent mountain streams, or even the blood in our bodies. Water and life are synonymous. Yet playing different roles, it remains one essence - moving as the play of consciousness. Symbolically, water may be considered the movement of consciousness on the planet. It is the foundation of life on the Earth and resonates in constant harmony with the universe, holding the solar energy of the sun and stars, the lunar energies, and the energies of the Earth. In that process, water changes its properties. Depending on what energies it absorbs and carries, water can be either a benifit or a harm to people, making them well or ill. It can give off positive or negative energy, healing or disease-producing energy."
So what are we doing to the water? It seems to me that the corruption of our water is the most direct attack on ourselves, for if the water is polluted than so are we. What we drink and what we bathe in no doubt has an effect on the health and well being of our body, mind and soul. But now we are seeing that what we think, feel and do has an effect on the water that permeates almost everything in our lives. Which can make one think, what came first, the pollution of our water or the pollution of our mind/heart/soul/desire/intentions?
My previous posts listen to your heart and the heart of the matter also relate here, for as we know, water is related to the Moon, and those posts describe the connections of the Moon to the heart as well. Through the gravitational interaction between the Moon and the Earth we see the tides of the oceans fluctuate, rise and fall. We can see further connections in looking at symbolism as well. In the Tarot, the suit of Cups is associated with the element of water. The cards of this suit describe emotional and intuitive experience, and our unconscious, private self. In astrology, the 12 signs of the zodiac fall under the ruling of one of the four elements, with Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces being the water signs. Each sign also has a ruling planet; Cancer is ruled by the Moon, Scorpio is ruled by Pluto, and Pisces is ruled by Neptune. All of these planets associated with the water signs share some astrological associations such as intuition, emotions, and sort of the hidden undercurrent of everything (pun intended). There are also 12 houses in the astrological natal chart that represent the different realms of experience in life. The houses also have elemental qualities, with the 4th, 8th, and 12th houses being the water houses and thus ruled by Cancer/Moon (4th house), Scorpio/ Pluto (8th house), and Pisces/Neptune (12th house). For more in-depth explanation, Stephen Arroyo's books Chart Interpretation Handbook and Astrology, Psychology and the Four Elements, both serve as great sources for understanding the connections to the elements in astrology. It could take a very long time to explore each of the signs, planets and houses, so let's just take a surface look at the Moon, Cancer, and 4th house in connection to water for now. The Moon represents our past, memories, predisposition, the experiences that have shaped us and imprinted us (a quality we share with water as mentioned above). The sign that we find the Moon in at the time of our birth shows how we express our instincts, and what makes us feel secure - based on our previous experience. The Moon represents the subconscious part of ourselves, the way that we instinctively operate and act without consciously thinking. In connection to the Moon and the sign of Cancer, the 4th house represents the realm of experience in our lives that has to do with our home base, where we are coming from. In our personal birth chart, any planet in this house would show subconscious energies, possibly things that we have formed an attachment to and need to assimilate and let go of. Looking at symbolism helps us to see a direct connection between water, our emotions and our subconscious. Our own tears show us this connection very well. Even if we cannot wrap our minds around the meaning of the connections, we can see that they are definitely there.
If you watched any of the videos or listened to the interviews with Dr. Bruce Lipton in my last post, he talks about how our beliefs create health or disease, not only within us, but everything around us as well. He also speaks of learning to be more conscious, rather than living out of our subconscious. Living out of the subconscious continuously, without thinking, creates more of the same. However we can live with the conscious intention to change ourselves and our environment and eventually, through living out those actions, it will become second nature, creating a whole new reality. It has been scientifically proven that the observer affects the experiment, it seems it is just taking a little while for everyone to accept this as truth, just as it took hundreds of years for people to acknowledge that the Earth wasn't flat. We like to feel secure, so we think and act based on what we "know", but one of the fundamental "laws" of nature is that it is always changing, so what we "know" is not permanent. We need to become more flexible and mutable, to flow harmoniously with nature. However we can only do this through intention and effort, to continuously make conscious choices, balancing and creating. Water is reflecting more than our mere physical image when we gaze into it. The quality of the Earth's water is our subconscious staring back at us, showing us what we are doing to ourselves. The deterioration is a direct result of our patterns of destruction. But the beauty of water is that it has a built in balancing process, and if we can make the conscious effort to change our patterns of behavior, to treat water with respect and love - with the return to the natural state of water, we return to our natural, healthy state as well. And that is empowering. Of course this is something that requires so much more exploration, but it is truly exciting and inspiring.
Dr. Bruce Lipton discusses his work with cell biology and the subject of his book The Biology of Belief in the short and sweet videos below. Take your pick! They all pack a punch of empowering information about how genes don't control life as previously believed, but that in fact environment/thoughts/beliefs instruct the genes. The power to heal is within all of us. Listening to his findings and thoughts is inspiring and shows how amazing we really are!
Listen here: This link is audio from an excellent interview that Bruce Lipton did with one of my favorite mind expanding sources Red Ice Creations Radio:
I'm excited to watch the complete series "Dimensions", which can be found in full here. The Spirit of Ma'at website described the series perfectly: "A group of French film makers got together and created an amazing series of videos that will help anyone who wants to get a feel for the difference between one dimension and another to have a clearer sense of how these things work. "Dimensions" is so well done it covers everything you want to know from the perspective of mathematics and sacred geometry. A truly mind blowing effort; if you're curious about the logistics behind and the connections between the various levels of existence we are sure that you will want to watch this one over and over again."
I think this video, which is part 2 of the series, shows through the use of geometry, a good example, of what Dane Rudhyar was communicating when he said, "No astrologer - and as well no psychoanalyst - can interpret a life and destiny at a level higher than that at which he himself functions."
*And obviously that said goes for the rest of us non-astrologer/psychoanalysts as well. :)
