Psyche

As I mentioned before, the Greek word for 'butterfly' is 'psyche', which is also 'soul' or 'mind.' Therefore, butterflies are a symbol for the soul, and it is interesting to look at how butterflies appear in art, or even in the common world. For instance, I have just arrived in London, and the main exhibit at the Natural History Museum is about butterflies. Definitely a must-see while I'm here. The butterfly, incidentally, is one of the more common interpretations of some of the blots in the Rorschach test.

The legend of Psyche and Cupid is also worth a look. The story goes that Venus was awfully jealous of Psyche's beauty, so she sent her son Eros (Cupid) to make her fall in love with a hideous creature. He enters into her room, invisible, but Psyche startles him by waking up and looking him straight in the eyes, which causes him to accidentally prick himself with one of his arrows, making him fall in love with her.

Venus, angry at this, places a curse on Psyche, so that she is unable to find a husband. Cupid naturally hates this so he refuses to shoot at anything, meaning that no man or animal marries or mates. The world begins to become old, so after three months Venus allows Psyche to marry again, and all returns to normal. Psyche, however, still can't find a husband, so her parents see an oracle, who tells them to take her to the top of a mountain (Tower) and leave her there, for her beauty is too great for any mortal man. They do so, and then Zephyr, the West Wind, carries her to a valley, where she is attended to, and makes love to an invisible Cupid regularly.

Cupid tells her she can't see who he is yet, but Psyche's sisters convince her to try to find out, which she does. While she is doing so, however, she also accidentally pricks herself with one of Cupid's arrows, and falls madly in love with him. Psyche goes to Venus' temple after Cupid flies away, and asks her for help. Since she is still jealous, however, she orders Psyche to do a series of impossible tasks, but animals take pity of her for her beauty and help her. Interestingly, in one of the tasks she has to reach a location protected by snakes, and manages to do so thanks to an eagle.

Eventually, Venus tells Psyche that caring for her son, who has been depressed due to Psyche's actions, has worn some of her beauty out, so she orders her to steal some beauty from Persephone. Deciding that the quickest way to the Underworld was by dying, she climbs to a Tower to throw herself away. However, the tower itself speaks to her, showing her the way to the Underworld and what to do and what to avoid. She then successfully gets the beauty into the box given to her by Aphrodite. However, she peers into the box before returning it, and falls into a deep sleep as a result. Eros wakes her, and eventually Zeus solves the whole matter, turning Psyche into a goddess.

A painting by Raphael. Psyche is often depicted with buttefly wings.

Oh, and Psyche and Cupid have a daughter called Voluptas, which in Latin means 'pleasure' or 'bliss.' That is to say, the union of body and soul results in bliss. If we consider the Greek myths as symbolic (much like many consider the Old Testament to be symbolic) we see that they are not flights of fancy, but true Keys to understanding.

Since I mentioned the Underworld, I thought I would also explore some connections in that direction. The river Styx is the boundary between the Underworld and Earth (or Middle-Earth). It circles Hades nine times (in addition, the gods who break a promise sworn to by the river lose their voice for nine years). In the Divine Comedy, Virgil takes Dante through the nine circles of hell. Perhaps it might be meaningful to see Hades not as a physical hell, but simply the opposite of solar consciousness. In this perspective, Olympus would be more or less the equivalent to the Sun, the ego, while Hades is the unconscious, dark and murky. Remember Psyche has to wander into the Underworld before she can enter Olympus as a goddess.

Olympus is ruled above all by Zeus, but also by eleven other gods, bringing the total to twelve. This is, of course, the same number of signs in both the Western zodiac and the Chinese. It would be interesting to draw a parallel between the gods and the signs, but that is not the point here.

The twleve Olympian gods

Each sign is divided into three decanates, which correspond to the three signs of the element (earth, air, water and fire). We have thus a figure of three in one, or three from one (like Cerberus, who dwells in Hades), forming a tetrahedron. If we consider the six axes of the zodiac and the decanates of the signs, we have six double tetrahedrons, which consist of seven points if we consider the tetrahedrons as having the tip in common. That makes 6 x 7 = 42. I'll admit this is perhaps a stretch, but I'm still feeling my way around all of this, and it seems to fit Nassim Haramein's ideas, which I like a lot (though not necessarily 100%). Also, 42 could be seen as 4 x 2, that is, a tetrahedron twice.

But again the hand of synchronicity waves its wand. I started writing this post yesterday, and news came out that astronomers discovered a new Moon in Pluto, the planet named after our famous Hades. My money is on the name being Cerberus, but that might be just too deliciously sweet. Additionally, though it is unrelated here, Neptune recently completed one full orbit from its discovery in 1846. Neptune seems angry, though...perhaps because no one offered him any gifts? Oh, and just to add the icing on the cake, yesterday it was 42 years since Buzz Aldrin first stepped on the Moon...(and peed on it, which is interesting in light of this Pluto news, given that Pluto is the planet associated with the excretory system)

The Nine and the Tower

Ah, synchronicity never fails. This morning, after my post last night on the Rainbow Bridge, I stumble upon a new TV show called the Nine Lives of Chloe King. 9 lives of KK Chloe King, are you kidding me? The story is about a girl who, upon her 16th birthday (i.e. at the beginning of her 17th year) discovers that she has cat-like superpowers. It turns out that she is descended from a race of ancient gods who interacted with humans a long time ago (reference is made to Ancient Egypt, for instance). She is a Mai (My?), a cross between gods and humans. And here is where it gets interesting.

The poster itself is interesting enough, with the green eyes and three scratches, not to mention that the show starts at 9. I think, however, it's also interesting to take a look at some of the connections to tarot. Keeping in mind that Tuesday is the day of the god of war, that is, Mars' day, let's look at the description of the meaning of the 16th card of the major arcana, the Tower:

With Mars as its ruling planet, the Tower is a card about war, a war between the structures of lies and the lightning flash of truth. This is a card about anything we believe to be true, but later learn is false. This realization usually comes as a shock, hence, the violent image. It is, quite simply, that moment in any story where someone finds out a shocking truth, one that shatters their perceptions and makes them reassess their beliefs. (from Aeclectic Tarot) 

Why is this curious? Well, in the pilot for the series, Kloe King begins to realise that there is something different about her, around her 16th birthday. However, she also starts being followed by a mysterious scarred man, who it turns out is intent on killing her. Nine times. He actually succeeds in the first attempt, and how? By throwing her off a tower! This tower is Coit Tower, in San Francisco, where the show takes place (the same location where the old TV series Charmed took place). In addition to having some interesting murals, which remind me of the Denver airport murals, the tower always shows a 3-3 configuration:

And here's an interesting tidbit from Wikipedia: "On the season finale of the CBS reality television program The Amazing Race 16, airing on May 9, 2010, Coit Tower was the site of the first task of that episode of the program, whereby one member of each of the three final teams had to climb up and back down Coit tower, with the clue obtained from the top of the tower in hand, in order to proceed to the next task or clue."

Coit Tower was named after Lillie Coit, an androgynous socialite, and it was founded in, well, 1933! In addition, the murals are open to the public on Saturndays at 11 a.m. (11 = K). Etemenanki has some interesting thoughts on 11:11. To top it all off, there is a statue of none other than Columbus himself in front of the statue. Here's a link to a Google image search if you want to check out the Coit Tower murals.

So we have a cat-like warrior (who, in addition to the nine lives, has claws and feline agility) falling from the tower. The Ancient Egyptian word for cat is myw, which is probably why these Star Children are called the Mai. It's also interesting to note that cats were the personification of the Sun god Ra...

Returning to Kloe, she has just turned 16, ergo, has just started her 17th year of life. The 17th card in tarot is the Star. Once again from Aeclectic:

With Aquarius as its ruling sign, The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing, even unexpected help to offer us sustenance in bleak times. 

It is after this moment that Kloe receives help from some fellow Mai. The association to Aquarius is also interesting in that Aquarius represents the shadow leader, in this case opposed to the main bad guy. Kloe is the saviour, the One/Neo/Jesus who comes to our world to protect us. She cannot, however, do it alone, and this is in the true spirit of Aquarius. As you can see in the card, there is the central, brightest star, but it is flanked by 7 other stars. Remember, Jesus had his apostles, and Neo had his own gang as well. This is not a Leo hero, who does it alone, like the fairy-tale prince charmings.

This is indeed the beginning of the Age of Aquarius. Will we see a Star-Child hero rise to save us?

Edit: just in case it wasn't clear, the connection to my previous post lies in the number 9 - the 9 lives of KK, the 9 worlds of Yggdrasil, death and rebirth as a higher consciousness... 

The Rainbow Bridge

a.k.a. the rabbit hole, a.k.a. the wormhole. I strongly recommend you watch this compilation by the author of the Sync Whole. It shows the essence of what I'm going to talk about. The gist of it is that we exist here as consciousnesses, but which can achieve a higher level (although it's hard to say what this higher level actually is, at least based on our current understanding), and this path is through the rainbow bridge, or to reach beyond the influence of Jupiter and Saturn, i.e. the collective consciousness. I began to ponder this after watching the movie Thor, which is essentially a re-reading of Norse mythology. The gods reside in Asgard, or this higher level of consciousness, and can be transported to Earth (Midgard, or Middle Earth - The Lord of the Rings was heavily influenced by Norse myths) via the Bifrost, the rainbow bridge. As a matter of fact, there are nine worlds, or states of consciouness (or what have you), all of which are connected by Yggdrasil, the tree of life. Obvious Tree of Life connections exist in Genesis, and in the film The Fountain, for example.

*spoiler alert - but if you haven't seen the movie, do so*

In the film The Nines, the main character, played by Ryan Reynolds (most recently the Green Lantern), is actually a higher form of consciousness - he's a Nine. Ergo, there are nine levels of consciousness, and we here on Earth are but in the middle of the path toward the ninth level.

Illumination is the key to attaining a higher level of being. The Arcade Fire song "My Body Is a Cage" (originally by Peter Gabriel) explores this theme:

My body is a cage that keeps me
From dancing with the one I love
But my mind holds the key

Ah, the infamous key. The key is the Eye/I inside, which resides in the mind. The questions of how one sees or reaches this is not the issue here, though. I know merely that there is the key to unlocking the Bifrost. It's interesting to take a look at a crop circle in the shape of a key:

I find the configuration of the spheres reminiscent of representations of Yggdrasil. Another idea I have been exploring lately is that of the butterfly as a representation of the soul (in fact, the Greek word for 'soul', psyche, also means 'butterfly'). Butteflies are intrinsically connected to rainbows as well, especially due to the variety of colours they display on their wings. Many artists have explored this idea, such as Salvador Dali (in fact, I have only recently really discovered Dali, and I am utterly fascinated by his work) and Vladimir Kush. Below is the latter's painting, Departure of the Winged Ship:

Another artist who worked with this idea is Stanley Kubrick, in his masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey. When the protagonist reaches Jupiter, the first of the twin pillars of the gate to the beyond, along with Saturn, he goes through the stargate in a psychedelic path. Naturally, this scene brings up discussion of LSD, and it has been referred to as an 'acid trip'. Check out Christopher Knowles' The Secret Sun for thoughts on entheogens, ultraterrestrials (perhaps aliens, perhaps higher beings...) and myth, including wonderful musings on The Nines and 2001.

Perhaps the idea of a Stargate, already much explored in art and in the alternative/truth blogosphere, is not so much a physical one as a mental, or spiritual one. The band Train also goes to Jupiter...

It's hard to tell to which point the song's lyrics were consciously chosen. It even begs the question of whether there's a difference if an idea comes from an individual mind or from the collective mind. Either way, it's definitely there, whether it is recognised or not.

One of NoMII's favourite's, the Flaming Lips, also ride the same wave, in a video I've referenced earlier:

Remember the duration of 3:33? My original post talks about the number 33 as related to illumination, and it's interesting to note that 3 x 3 = 9...

One final remark, from the Bible (Book of Revelations, 1:17-18) - Jesus said: "I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."