The Devil is Your Daddy, pt. 2

The first post in the series had a generally optimistic view (as represented by the Nosferatu-to-Edward transition), but I'm afraid the lessons haven't been learned very well. Recent events, including the Aurora massacre and subsequent shootings, such as the Oak Creek gurudwara shooting and the assassination of a member of the congregation ten days later, have been cause for worry. This does provide us, however, with an opportunity to consider what the great Oak can teach us in these times of bloodletting.

First, however, let us take a look at Aurora. Known in Ancient Greece as Eos (famously rosy-fingered Dawn), she is the goddess (though she was a Titaness) of the dawn, of new days and new beginnings. There is no reason to ramble on lengthily, but I invite the reader the investigate further if it feels appropriate. Though Eos represents new beginnings, and, presumably, hope, her stories reveal otherwise.

Aurora Ascending the Heavens by Julien de Parme

If you'll notice the face of Aurora's young companion, he doesn't seem to be particularly thrilled. This is probably due to the fact that Eos was cursed by a jealous Aphrodite with an unsatisfiable sexual desire after she hooked up with Aphrodite's Romeo, Ares. Her subsequent affairs end in tragedy, notably the one with Tithonus: faced with the prospect that her lover would die, since he was a mere mortal, she asks Zeus to grant him eternal life; she failed, however, to ask for eternal youth, so Tithonus ages endlessly, until Eos transforms him into a grasshopper.

What can we learn here? That l/Love, essential, wonderful though it might be, goes nowhere if it is not tempered by Wisdom, and this is where the Devil comes in. Here we go back to Greek mythology, to the story of Persephone and Hades. As always, I recommend further inquiries on the reader's part, but to sum up, Persephone was the daughter of the goddess Demeter, Mother of the Earth. The stories vary slightly, but the important point is that Persephone is one day abducted by Hades to be his consort. Demeter becomes depressed, and, since she rules over the cycles of the Earth and all the crops, life begins to wither. It is only when a deal is struck that life returns: Persephone is to spend half the year in the Underworld with Hades (fall and winter, when Demeter is sad) and half the year above (spring and summer, when Demeter is with her daughter).

The return of Persephone, by Frederic Leighton

Persephone is astrologically linked to Virgo the maiden (with Demeter being associated with Taurus, ruling the cycles of the Earth). It is only after she is abducted into Hades (Scorpio) that she can move on to complete the yin cycle with Capricorn (material realization) and Pisces (mystical transcendence). Of course, this myth works in many layers, but one of the more important lessons is that it is necessary for a young wo/man to come into contact with the Devil before fulfilling his/her destiny/role. Keeping in mind that Cancer represents the Dark Night of the Soul and that the goat - Capricorn - is frequently associated with the Devil, we see our your virgin surrounded by all this darkness. It is no coincidence that the loss of virginity is so much more traumatic for women - they are confronting a Devil, whereas for a man this is usually seem as a positive step into adult manhood. This does not mean, of course, that men do not have to confront their own demons, but it has to be more of a conscious move on their part.*

This loss of contact with our shadow side has been the rule for many centuries, though you wouldn't get a retort from me if you were to say that we're headed to a more balanced attitude towards the masculine and the feminine (sadly, it's been a rough ride). One of the reasons women have been seen as inferior or as spawn of the devil is exactly because they tend to be much more in touch with their shadow side, which scares the living hell out of men who are caught up in their hubris. The first mistake made by Man was not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (the knowledge of the balance between yin and yang handed to a male human by a snake, another form of the Devil - the picture is getting quite clear here), as the elitists who co-opted monotheistic religious mythology would have you believe, but to assume that he is superior to other forms of life (known as hubris) - a message carefully added to the Bible by said elitists.

The appropriately named Titanic

Taken to the extreme, Man sees himself not only as superior to other forms of life, but sometimes even as an equal of the gods. The gods, however, in their w/Wisdom, have always warned us that we are not on par with them (any archetype - i.e. god - necessarily loses something when it becomes manifest in consensus reality) - a lesson we learned harshly when Zeus split formerly androgynous Man in two. This is what happens when Man relies too much on the masculine principles of rationality and action, while sensitivity and patience sit on the sideline. We must, therefore, come face to face with the Devil, often a traumatic experience exactly because we deny the Devil in us, before we are to make any leeway on the path to Godhood. Sadly, Man much prefers the sweet red apple to the bitter green apple.

If you'll consider the points made in the first part of the series, it's high time we stopped seeing the Devil as something to avoid and started instead to integrate the Devil with Jesus, the inner demon with the inner saint. When we fail to do this, when we project our Devils onto other people or even onto fictional characters (the Joker and Bane are obvious, recent fodders), the Devil feels neglected, and comes out in a wholly unhealthful way, to put it mildly. If we were to take the social memory of Earth into a therapist's office, there would be much to be said about the Earth learning to consciously integrate the shadow side it has long neglected and which keeps manifesting through unconscious outlets. We must remember that Prometheus gave us fire, that is l/Light, l/Love, the ambition to seek Godhood, to serve this purpose, whether through oneself or through others, but not necessarily the w/Wisdom that should go with it. We must not confuse, then, knowledge, which is attained with masculine, active investigation, with w/Wisdom, which is attained with feminine, passive pondering and digestion (note that Cancer rules the stomach). While we do, great advancements in science will always be followed by terrible crimes**.

This is why it is important to see what we can learn from the Devil after it has come out, to let the memes and the ideas sink in, to integrate it so that violence and chaos are used for noble ends. Thus, we move from the goddess Aurora to the mighty oak tree. The Oak was understandably revered by the Celts as a symbol of honour, wisdom and strength. Oaks have been long associated with royalty (the Round Table is supposed to have been made of oak) - oaks are known to be frequently struck with lightning, symbolizing their access to the heavens. In my view, however, the lightning also gives us a warning: grow too tall and you'll pay the price.

The 16th trump of the Tarot, the Tower (previously discussed here), illustrates this. The main lesson in this trump is that we must be careful not to forget yin when we are out yanging. When we have not learned the lessons of the 15th trump, the Devil, we will inevitably be struck with lightning thrown by dispute-settler Zeus. Lightning also brings us back to Prometheus and our misuse of the divine Fire. There is no need to move in circles here, I believe.

This is not to say that lightning is always bad (one could argue there is no such thing). The oak tree was known to the Celts as the door to the inner planes - accessing this higher consciousness was described as "opening the oak door." The point is to remember that being struck by lightning should not be seen as a failure, but rather as a contact with something higher trying to tell us something.

This brings us back to the recent tragic events. It is clear, in both the events of the crimes and the popular/media response, that lightning still causes us to cower in fear. The mainstream media's reporting has been thoroughly superficial, and the alternative seems to be focusing on all the wrong issues (covered here by Chris Knowles). Both analyse these events with a complete lack of l/Love, that is, sending messages of fear (remember that "the only thing to be feared is fear itself). The former describes the murderers as deranged lunatics who could strike anywhere at any time, while the latter describe them as pawns of a sinister group who could strike anywhere at any time. While both pretend to be applying an investigative lens to the tragedies, we clearly see that the focus is truly elsewhere. The bread crumbs lead us to the extreme right and the gun lobby, but the media are clearly still busy discussing the finer points of bread crumb analysis.

While takes us to Milwaukee, the third act in this drama. The origin of the city's name is contested, but there are clear associations to "a beautiful land," "a land by the river," and a "council place." What we can learn here, then, is that we must once again remember to conciliate solid earth with liquid water, cold facts with warm intuition. What we choose to do instead is to bury our heads in the sand. Sadly, this is not to access what might lie underneath, but simply to avoid being struck by lightning.

Milwaukee, complete with phallic Tower and passive water

Wisdom without l/Love (distrusting the consensus, but in fear) leads nowhere, and neither does l/Love without w/Wisdom (passionately defending an unresearched point of view). The Devil is trying to teach us to heed both, but to little avail. Free yourself, then, from the bonds of fear. Look the Devil in the eye, and hear what he has to say. We must all remember that there is indeed a Devil, both inside and out, but this only means that the Devil is a part of ourselves and a part of the world. The key word missing here is responsibility, the concept that will be explored in the third part of the series. For a brief preview of the ideas, check this out. 

One final look through the astrological lens: the Earth is represented in the sign of Cancer, the Imum Coeli of the zodiac wheel. This 4th sign indicates the solid ground we stand on and feed from, our mother (archetypical, not necessarily literal). The opposite sign is that of Capricorn, and it is related, as I've mentioned to the Devil. It is outer achievement and material action (contrary to the emotional digestion of Cancer), the father that kicks us out of the house so that we can make something of ourselves. If the Earth is your mother, don't forget the Devil is your daddy.

The Pisces Particle

The recent announcement of the alleged discovery of the Higgs boson particle has been met mostly with celebration and reverence, but also with some controversy. In order to understand what's happening, which always goes deeper than what you hear about in the media, I'm going to take a look at the astrological correlations regarding this event.

I was going to post a video as an introduction, but as I opened the YouTube main page, I saw this video. I will post the other one further on, as this is not only the excellent Rap News (which I really recommend, if you haven't seen it yet), but it also sums up the issues pretty nicely.

So the central issue is the Higgs boson, controversially referred to as the 'God particle,' which is the last remaining particle to be proven in the Standard Model of Physics. As we will see, I think it's unlikely that this will ever be confirmed beyond any doubt, as the Higgs boson is associated with Pisces. But first, I'd like to take a look at the video I was originally going to post first.

Who appears on the video preview? None other than God himself.

What strikes me about this Symphony of Science series (if you haven't, check out the other ones) is how distinctly alchemical these videos feel. They take quotations from prominent atheists and scientists and turn them into something that's almost magical. Thus, we can see that what's really at the heart of the matter is not so much a dispute between science and metaphysics, but condescending and defensive mindsets, because all is One. This shows that it's possible to embrace both science and poetry, and that both are really two different ways of seeing the same thing.

You'll notice what Brian Cox talks about: 12 particles of matter, 4 forces of nature. I don't understand how this doesn't seem amazing to anyone who knows their basic astrology. The astrological cycle is composed of 12 numbers (Aries - 1 to Pisces - 12), divided into 4 elements (Earth, Air, Water, Fire). Since the Higgs boson is the last particle to be discovered, we can associate it to the sign of Pisces, the last step of the Zodiac.

The associations go further than that. From the previously linked article, we have this nifty paragraph:

What CERN announced last week was the discovery of a new particle in the correct mass range to be the Higgs, but further analysis of the data from particle physicists at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois suggests that CERN is just about as likely to have found evidence for more exotic varieties of the Higgs particle, called Higgs doublets or Higgs triplets. These "impostor" Higgs particles are part of a non-Standard Model interpretation of the Higgs concept, where a bunch of different Higgs-type particles (instead of just one) are together responsible for the Higgs field.

This perfectly fits the idea of Pisces, one of dissolution and lack of monads. Pisces is all about merging with the Collective, about surrendering your ego. Pisces, for instance, rules asylums and prisons, where everyone has equal status and is practically anonymous. This is why I believe we're never really going to find one Higgs boson particle, and this concept of a multi-particled Higgs field fits perfectly.

But let's get back to the event. I have superimposed the chart for the public announcement of the particle, on July 4, with the transits representing the one whom the boson is named after, Peter Higgs.

• What jumps out at first I think is Higgs's Sun @ 7Gem conjoining fortuitous Venus @8Gem and Jupiter @4Gem in the 10th House of public relations. Obviously, he's the star of the event, basically the Father of this particle. This is truly his moment to shine, as Venus (social events) is in close sextile with both Mercury @8Leo (communication, announcements) and Uranus @8Ari (breakthroughs, discoveries). Higgs's North Node @20Tau, less than one degree from the Mid-Heaven, indicates that this is really his crowning achievement.

• It's also an important moment for materialism, as highlighted by the Mid-Heaven @21Tau. If the Higgs boson is confirmed, so is the Standard Model of Physics.

• Mars @0Lib in the Second House of money and possessions indicates that there is money to be made in the announcement, as no doubt endless grants will flow towards the LHC and CERN. It is, however, opposite Uranus in the Eighth House of deals and shared capital, so in this moment of economic crisis, essential funds being diverted to theoretical pursuits might not please a whole lot of people.

• Saturn @22Lib is in the Third House of press and divulging, which fits with an announcement coming from the scientific authorities. It is, however, square the Moon @20Cap, the significator of the public, which shows that the relationship between the public and the figureheads of science might be a bit strained in the long run.

• This is corroborated by Higgs's Neptune @28Leo conjunct the announcement's Ascendant @29Leo, not to mention the mundane Neptune @2Pis close to the Descendant. This means the waters are being muddied so that someone may profit from the situation, especially in terms of calling for attention. 

• Higgs is quite close to his Uranus return, but this seems, due to the shades of Scorpio surrounding this aspect, to be foreshadowing a situation where Higgs will die soon, and be posthumously awarded the Nobel prize in Physics, regardless of how this boson situation will end up.

• Mercury in the Twelfth House of secrets also sets off alarm bells as far as the veracity of the announcement is concerned. This house rules secret enemies, and it seems that the scientific authorities involved in this announcement are concerned with something other than the benefit of the public. This is further corroborated by the Sun @12Can being opposite to the Moon (in fact, some have speculated that the full Moon may have influenced the measurements).

• The Ascendant @29Leo is quite intriguing. What this seems to signify (I just read a wonderful article about the meanings of the extreme degrees) is that the public is just about fed up with pompous declarations, and will begin to investigate (Virgo) the matter more carefully. I think this will be especially true when it becomes widely known that this confirmation wasn't as final as most have thought.

• In the end, I believe this will be in the interest of the people (North Node in the Fourth House), but not necessarily in an obvious manner, and certainly won't be immediate (North Node opposite Jupiter and square Neptune). We will come out of this whole story having learned not to trust extravagant declarations made by the scientific elite, but most of this figures to happen quite unconsciously. I can only hope we will figure it out, at any rate.

In conclusion, the general idea seems to be that this announcement is quite significant, but especially for the intelligentsia itself. The public might be celebrating this news at first, but as news trickles in about potential problems or misinterpretations with the Higgs discovery, we will begin to question what's really going on. The more we try to get a grasp on the Higgs boson, the more frustrated we will becomes, and we will hopefully come to a conclusion that sometimes taking things on faith (Pisces) is not just a good idea, it's necessary.

Hat tip to Jeremy Puma at the Secret Sun.

The Devil is Your Daddy, pt.1

Today I would like to discuss one of the most important archetypes out there, the Devil. This figure features prominently in all mythologies, from the god Set in Ancient Egypt to the classic horns-and-tail Satan. It is also possibly the most misunderstood out there. The Devil is typically associated with evil, with sin, with arrogance (and all the other negative traits), with dark sides. It tends to be a very negative image. However, like the figure of Death, the bad side is just one half of the coin. The Devil is not all hellfire, and is actually a very transformative archetype, dealing with the union of opposites (as do all of them to some level).

The Devil is actually a means to an end, and is a necessary part of every process. If we split the world into the dualities of light, reason and logic on one side and darkness, spirituality and emotions on the other, the Devil would not actually represent the latter, but a means of reaching the latter through the former. A very simple example can be seen in the Moon Landing (whether it actually happened or not is irrelevant here, since we are dealing with memes more than with facts). The Moon represents the female side of Man, as the Sun represents the male. Yet for centuries all the human race could do was gaze at the Moon, although it was indeed a source of great inspiration. We finally did reach the Moon on July 20, 1969 (not coincidentally, Woodstock would occur less than a month later), and how? Through the use of technology, of rationality driven to its utmost. The Devil, then, teaches us to shine a light on our unconscious. We must, however, be careful not to fall into temptation.

Notice how Neil Armstrong's face is clearly divided in two: one half dark and the other golden.

The Devil's power has forever been tempting us. From the Temptation of Christ in the Bible to Goethe's seminal Faust, there are countless examples and cautionary tales on the Devil's influence. The Devil is charming and seductive, as represented by his Succubus/Incubus manifestations. One very simple manifestation can be seen in the corporate globalist elite, who have almost literally sold their souls to the Devil for material gains. Taking rationality to the extreme takes one to hedonism and survival of the fittest (that is, back to the jungle - if you go all the way to the edge of a coin you'll end up right on the other side), and that is clearly what we are seeing: corporations and career politicians destroying the life of the average citizen for a purely financial gain - but all of this is bound to blow up in their faces, sooner or later, as it has a great deal of times before (the Roman Empire, the French Revolution...). Inevitably, though, this will all lead us, though at great cost, to further advancement in the spiritual realm. Remember how one of the consequences of the Industrial Revolution was a boom in spiritual studies and an interest in the paranormal. This is still going on, actually, which can be seen in the explosion in fantasy and paranormal stories (The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Twilight, et al).

Speaking of Twilight, it can be shown that Man is starting to come to terms with his own Moon/shadow side, with the evolution of the Vampire archetype, an offshot of the Devil. The first incarnations of the Vampire were extremely dark. They were hideous and only came out at night, they killed people to satisfy their own needs, they transformed into bats. This figure, however, has been slowly evolving, and now the most prevalent Vampire is handsome, avoids killing humans and actually shines in the sunlight. I hope it's a good sign.

From this...

...to this.

The Devil is also associated with the bat, depicted for example in William Blake's Satan Exulting over Eve:

The bat was, and still is, though to a lesser extent, considered a frightening creature. It only comes out at night, and spreads disease and sometimes even sucks blood. It's a creature of darkness. Studying the bat, however, that is, applying the male Logos to it, it was discovered that they actually use a sonar to navigate through the air, using sound waves to make up for their blindness. Bats are also useful in combatting pests.

The Devil is also manifested in the figure of the Dark Magician, which I've explored before. The DM takes the Logos to the extreme, and a great representative is Saruman, from The Lord of the Rings. He succumbed to the Devil's seduction.

This does not mean, though, that the Devil should be ignored or shunned. The trick is to access your own dark side, to face your shadow, but in your own terms. While denying our own shadow can lead it to be manifested externally (wars, corruption, poverty - Hiroshima is an excellent example), doing only its bidding leads to terrible loss as well, as I've explained above.

The Matrix provides a good analogy. Neo, or Thomas Anderson (or Twin Son-of-Man) gains access to the "real" world through his technological explorations, his hacking. Without computers, he never would have been found by Morpheus. However, he must still confront the Devil, in the form of the Machine (ultimate rationality) to gain access to the REAL real world.

Neo is right to be cautious

This whole adventure, I think, started with a dream I had:

We were in some sort of virtual/artificial world, trapped by the devil. It’s not quite hell, but there isn’t much to do. We’re in a shabby house, very narrow with many floors, and I can’t figure out where I’m going to sleep. Later, we’re having dinner at a restaurant, and then I look at my father and realise that he was the devil in disguise, because he was the only one who was allowed to do fun stuff in that world. He then does reveal himself as the devil, and he’s furious.

Needless to say, there's a personal layer here, although I would say it's not quite what Freud would point out here. However, I believe there's also a deeper meaning at hand. This dream occurred while I was reading The Gnostic Jung and the Seven Sermons to the Dead, by Stephan A. Hoeller. In the Seven Sermons, Jung mentions the idea that, while we tend to associate the male with the sky and the female with the earth (Uranus and Gaia, for instance), the opposite is also true (everything is also it's opposite). The female can be seen as the sky, and the male as the earth - symbolised by the snake (we'll get to the Eden story soon). After all, the male Logos represents rational thinking, logic, mathematics, but as we've been discussing, there's a dark side to all of this, and this dark side lies underneath, not above.

Abraxas represents the energy of the union of opposites

If we think of the role of the parents in psychology, the mother is the one who nurtures and gives affection, while the father is the one who teaches the child operate in the outside world. In fact, whereas the mother is the womb, the home, the father is the one who compels the child out of the home (through sexual initiation, apprenticeship at the business, and so on). The male parental figure provides the child with rationality. The mother role is essential, though, to remind the future adult to balance his rationality with his emotional side (I wonder how many career politicians and CEOs haven't had mommy issues - or an absent father, for that matter, causing them to compensate with excessive Logos).

We must be careful then, as always, to balance things out. I have also just read Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End, which also adds to this theme (the title itself is already very provocative). If you don't want spoilers, skip ahead. The gist of the plot is that a race of superadvanced aliens appears on Earth, and begins to take the reins of the planet, albeit beneficially. They get rid of war and disease, and although there is always a resistance movement, things go on well for 50 years. The catch was that the aliens didn't reveal themselves, and would only do so when humanity was ready for it. It becomes clear why when it happens: the aliens, the Overlords, are essentially demons, horns, wings and tail. It turns out that these Overlords, while possessing extremely advances intellects, are basically soulless, and only exist to serve the Overmind, which one could say is the collective for all the souls of the Universe. The task of the Overlords is to guide humanity to its next stage of evolution, wherein it will come together with the Overmind as one. The first manifestation of this next generation of Man is through psychic powers, such as telepathy and remote viewing. You can draw your own conclusions, but the connections to the theme I'm exploring are obvious.

Tarot also cautions us about approaching the Devil carefully, but adamantly. I will later expand on this, but you can already check out Aeclectic for a good basic idea, and Sallie Nichols' Jung and Tarot: an Archetypal Journey. It's always good, though, to make your own associations first:

More coming soon.

The Rule of Three

It is hard to define precisely what the universe is, or what our existence means, but one thing I am sure of is that it is made of patterns. The thing is that it is quite hard to see these patterns, for they appear in a number of unconventional ways, that is to say, it is difficult to see patterns that are not the basic patterns we need for our survival.

One such example is the rule of three. I does seem to be very vague or general, but I see it as one of the most basic patterns out of which others unfold. Astrology explains that this rule of three is divided into the Cardinal, the Fixed and the Mutable. With one of each for each of the four elements (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) we have the resulting twelve signs. Aquarius, for instance, is the Fixed Air sign, and it displays characteristics of both.

We can, however, see how this patterns shows itself in different manners. Let us consider for instance the cycle of rain. The Cardinal rivers flow until they reach bodies of water or underground reserves. Interestingly, the Cardinal Water is Cancer, and crabs dwell in or near fresh water, or close to the coast. The water then lies in the Fixed body of water until it rises and becomes a Mutable cloud. The clouds are moved by the Aquarian wind, ruled by Uranus, god of the masses. Of course, two frequent descriptions of Aquarians and Pisceans is that they have their head in the clouds.

This pattern can be found in the fauna as well. The most obvious is the cycle of life of the butterfly. It starts out as a caterpillar (Cardinal), then transforms into a cocoon (Fixed), out of which comes the winged (Mutable) butterfly. The butterfly is a recurring theme here in NoMII, naturally. The cycle works both ways, though, and we see it in pretty much every living species. The Cardinal Egg becomes the Fixed (cannot fly) chick, followed by the winged (Mutable) chick. A human being starts out as a Cardinal baby, turns into a Mutable adolescent and ends as a Fixed adult. Trees are first Cardinal seeds, then grow (Mutable) into full-grown Fixed plants. Insects go from Cardinal egg to Fixed larva and then Mutable adult.

Of course, this doesn't mean that the lengths of these parts should be equal. A man is usually an adult for much longer than he is a baby, for instance. But this fundamental division in three is present everywhere. Matter exists in essentially three phases: Cardinal liquid, Fixed solid and Mutable gas. Even God is divided into three: the Cardinal father, the Fixed (i.e.: comes to Earth) son and the Mutable Holy Ghost. Notice in the picture below how the godhead is divided into three parts, with Jesus carrying a wooden (Fixed) cross and the the Holy Ghost depicted as a winged (Mutable) dove.

Green = Earth, and Cardinal Earth is Capricorn (= old man/father)
Red = Fire, and Fixed Fire is Leo (=jesus)
Yellow = Air, and Mutable Air is Gemini (=messenger-bird)

We can consider, speaking of religion, the division in three between Hades, (Middle) Earth and Olympus. Hell is frequently associated with caves, and rivers are all over it, making it clearly Cardinal, while Heaven is in the clouds, that is, it is Mutable. We are left stuck (Fixed) here on Earth for now.

There is also the essential family unit of Fixed father, Mutable Mother and Cardinal child. The child then becomes either Fixed father or Mutable mother, who then creates another Cardinal child, and so on and so forth. This is where it becomes interesting to consider mythology in archetypal terms, that is, based on the fundamental patterns of the Universe. The pattern is God, simply. Or, if you prefer, God is the pattern. God is not a separate, individual mind, but just a way of showing the essential underneath it all.

This reminds me of the connections I was trying to make between the Planets and the Greek gods of old, which are just different manifestations of a pattern of a higher level. It is hard to really see all of this because our minds are so focused on the three spatial dimensions. Putting all of this into words is quite complicated (thanks Mercury in Pisces), but hopefully this will all give you a glimpse of how I see things, and a (Cardinal) seed will be planted in your brain, growing (Mutable) over time until it becomes a coherent (Fixed) idea.

The most basic pattern is the pattern of two (Yin-Yang, Sun-Moon, dualism and all that jazz I've been talking about), which unfolds into a double pattern of two, that is a cross (gee, where have I seen that idea before?). Dr. Roderick Peters mentions in his book Living with Dreams this archetypal cross, explaining how we tend to divide allness into four, as Jung said. Quartering the circle, that is. This can be seen in the four elements and in the points of the compass.

The Celtic Cross

If we apply the rule of three on the Sun Circle, we get the tetrahedron (i.e. four triangles, giving us the same number as the zodiac, the hours on a clock and so on do) inside the sphere, that is, the minimum and maximum volumes. Nassim Haramein gets into more detail about this, if you have the patience. Maybe you will disagree with some of what he argues, but that this idea seems pervasive is undeniable. Perhaps you can see a little bit where I'm going with this? I'm not entirely sure myself, but I'm sure we'll get there.

Update: right after posting I read in the Modern Mythology blog:

Geometries branch. The one world becomes two, and the two becomes eight billion—without ever ceasing to be two. As to the order that hides behind the panoramic flux, Heraclitus says, “The transformations of fire—first, sea; and of sea, half becomes earth and half the lightning flash.” (emphasis mine)

Cardinal sea becomes either Fixed earth or Mutable lightning and...oh, you get it

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."