Light, Love and Power
September 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This is the first painting which came after an intense inner experience full of fire lasting for several days. It was be beginning of a deep transformation.
The painting shows the downpour of energies from the Point of Light, as it says in The Great Invocation. The Light, Love and Power pour down and ignite the hearts of mankind, represented here by the sea of flames. You see the protecting hand of the forces of Light on the left side and a cascade of fiery energy flowing down from out of the Divine Eye, the doorway to the Beyond.
The Cosmic Person
8 September 1981, A4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This is the second fiery painting of the new series of Early Paintings. Like the other paintings, it was done quite fast and when I was in a kind of rapture.
The picture shows Purusha, the cosmic person.
Creator Animae - Forming of the Soul
14 September 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This is the third picture of the Fiery Paintings, done about a week after the profound inner experiences which triggered all these paintings.
There was the feeling that the soul is being "impressed" or formed, and at the same time there was the question about how we as souls got formed. The light of our I AM is being infused into the causal body, from out of the higher light and the ocean of existence. You see here the "Lord of the Flame" at work; his Eastern name is "Agnishvatta", as I found out later. According to the Wisdom Teachings, he infuses / stimulates the divine spark in us.
Choir of Angels
10 November 1981, A4, liquid glazing paint on paper
I painted this picture after a deep meditation experience. It was a time shortly after my MA exam and before moving away from the place where I studied.
Angels
27 January 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This painting meant (and means) very much to me. Having grown up in a very catholic family and environment - which I left later - the existence of angels was something very natural for me. They appear in streams of fiery light, which from very subtle white and yellow condenses to more flame-like structures in the lower part of the picture, and the white flames of the blessing hands. They give their presence through intensely vibrating energies, and at the same time radiating a soft, soothing light - a fire which isn't burning, but gives strength and upliftment.
Meditation 1
13 December 1981 A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This picture tries to express the opening into inner spaces.
The inner experiences I had deeply disturbed my settings of understanding and explanations I had. They did not fit into the concepts I knew. For years, I searched for answers in different teachings and tried to bring an order into questions which deranged my world-view. On a surface level I found theories, but I was stirred up to a deeper search which drove me to dive into different spiritual movements and to try to put missing pieces together.
Meditation 2
17 January 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
Like the first painting of the Meditation series, this picture shows the opening to inner dimensions.
Though I didn't know the "Occult Meditations" by Master EK / Master KPK at that time, the painting reminds me of meditation No 25, where it says, "...In Him verily we live until He opens His eye in us."
The meditator is one with the Eye which is "observing" him, so there is no more observer and observed, just the process of observing. This is expressed through the upward and downward triangles fusing with each other - the human ascending and the Divine descending, and a fiery line anchoring in the head at the Ajna centre on the front. Focussed attention is "shooting upward" and fiery energies are pouring downward.
And while the human eyes are closed, there are in the fusing triangles are wide open, radiating light from beyond.
So there are energy structures, which aren't static, but highly dynamic, in ordered rhythm.
Meditation 3
19 January 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This is the last painting of the Meditation series. It shows the process of invocation and evocation: The meditator sitting below opens up through his fiery call towards the Divine being, and from the higher circles there comes the response as a downpour of energies of love and light. It is much stronger than what an individual can reach for, and it opens inner spaces which break up the narrow ring-pass-not of the limited consciousness.
You see movements of energy, and at the same time the Divine being in white light appears out of the circumscriptions of golden-yellow light on the background: I painted it by leaving away the colour, just giving the contour. I also used this technique in some other pictures that followed. The meditator, in his etheric frame, appears in golden-yellow light, surrounded by a darker golden-yellow aura.
Transition
16 January 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
I was fascinated by the etheric structure of the pyramid and the double pyramid manifesting in space. For me, it was like a portal into another dimension, and at the same time a basic brick of the manifestation of the cosmos. In India, the double pyramid is considered as a form of the Lingam of Lord Shiva, and, when visualised around oneself, as a structure of protection.
“The Infinite Unity, or Ain-Suph, is ever placed outside human thought and appreciation; and in Sepher Jetzirah we see the Spirit of God - the Logos, not the Deity itself - One is the Spirit of the Living God . . Who liveth forever. Voice, Spirit, [of the spirit], and Word: this is the Holy Spirit, [ Mishna, i. 9.] Three-in-one and Four and the Quaternary. From this Cube emanates the whole Kosmos. Says the Secret Doctrine: «It is called to life. The mystic Cube in which rests the Creative Idea, the manifesting Mantra [or articulate speech - Vâch] and the holy Pûrusha [both radiations of prima material] exist in the Eternity in the Divine Substance in their latent state» - during Pralaya.” - Secret Doctrine III<
Emanation
18 January 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This painting tries to illustrate how from the Eternal One, which opens like an eye from the beyond, the creation manifests. The down-pouring flames emanate the forms, the quaternary, the pyramid. At the time of painting, I hadn’t yet studied the Secret Doctrine, but found the parallels much later.
“It is in the quaternary that the first solid figure is found, the universal symbol of immortality, the Pyramid, ‘whose first syllable means fire.’ “ - Secret Doctrine III<
Ray of the Spirit
18 December 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This picture shows the downpour as a ray of the spirit, symbolised by a group of 9 white doves swooping down into a sphere of darker golden-yellow and beaming down flames of fire. I didn't know why I painted 9 doves, but later I came to know that 9 is the number of the complete creation.
Divine Mother 1
25 October 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
From October to November of 1981, I did a series of 5 paintings on "The Divine Mother". In Christian tradition, the female aspect of the divine is personified by Holy Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. The present series of "The Divine Mother" is fiery, with mostly golden yellow, white, and sometimes a bit blue and golden colour. The paintings were done in the flow of the after-effects of the strong spiritual experience of September 1981, very rapidly (approximately 1 hour each) and in a state of rapture.
Ever since my early-most childhood, this form aspect of divine feminity is very close to me. I only came to know later that the iconography of Holy Mary absorbed other forms of the female aspect of the divine and that also in man there is "wo-man", a feminine aspect. I searched it in the eastern and western expressions and was fascinated by Sri Kumar's seminars on Saraswathi and Sri Suktam.
Divine Mother 2
07 November 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint and gold colour on paper
The picture shows the Mother as the World Mother, standing on top of the sphere of creation, clad in dark blue, like the background from where She emerges, with a crown of light and surrounded by an orange / golden yellow aura and an aura of gold - the colours of the higher mental and buddhic planes of pure energy. Again and again I paint images with radiant auras of energy, they keep fascinating me. The Mother is blessing the world / creation with her hands and her presence. I didn't paint a face, for it is just a non-personal expression of the divine feminity.
The picture was done together with another one, which I called Roi de l'Univers (King of the Universe), the male aspect of the divine male-female expression. It is published later, after this series.
Divine Mother 3
08 November 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
The picture shows the mother with the child in a drop of light. For me, the form of the drop has always been the shape of the soul; this form already came in paintings in the early and mid-70s. Here the mother and the Christ-Child at her breast are like an opening to the background of blue from where the manifestation comes. The mother protecting and nurturing the incarnated soul bringing the light down to earth is the gesture of this picture and full of warmth and flowing radiation.
I did 3 paintings the same day - it was a totally inspired situation.
Divine Mother 4
08 November 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint and golden colour on paper
The picture shows the mother in a direct view, surrounded by an aura of light and golden radiation on a golden-yellow background.
When I did this picture, I was deeply touched by the look which came through the eyes.
This is the first picture of the Fiery Paintings, where a face appears, though resting vaguely in a sense. With the previous pictures, I hesitated and tried to avoid the concretion of a face into a form. I felt it is somehow limiting the universal aspect of pure energy. At the same time the look strongly increases the impact; it touches the observer. In the next picture, there is also the concretion of a face. And you will find eyes in other pictures that follow.
The picture oscillates between the concrete and the abstract. There is a flow of energy expressed in the flow of hair and the beginning torso. And the golden radiation is transcending the borders of the picture.
All the time I tried to paint light, not colour on paper, though it wasn't possible. So I made slides from the pictures, looked at them as light - but nevertheless only the reflection on matter brings forth the light.
Divine Mother 5
12 November 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This picture of The Divine Mother series was, for me, the most intensive one. It came out nearly in one stroke, very rapidly and in some kind of ecstasy. The entire painting is a flow of energy, and from out of a cascade of fast brush strokes came forth the fiery face of the mother tenderly looking towards her child in her arms. Her hand holds the head in a gesture of protection. The infant turns his head towards his mother's face, in intimate unison, lying open in her arms.
After finishing the painting, I couldn't turn away my eyes - the expression of this scene impregnated me and came again and again before my mind's eye the next few days.
Divine Mother 7 - The Family
12 December 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
The painting shows Jesus together with Mary and Joseph, as the representants of the Holy Family in fiery flames.
King of the Universe
08 November 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint and gold colour on paper
This painting was done together with the painting Divine Mother 2; it is the counterpart of the masculine aspect of divinity. In the oval form of the vagina of the World Mother, the figure of Christ or the consciousness aspect in creation appears. He is sitting on a fiery arc, which represents the sphere of creation, and gives his blessing. The aura of fiery red is surrounded by an aura of golden radiation on a background of blue, being the background from where creation enters into manifestation. So consciousness, the Second Logos (the Son, Christ), comes forth from the "marriage" of the First Logos (The Father, the Divine Will) and the Third Logos (The Mother, matter), and it penetrates the entire creation. Thus consciousness "rules" over all the expressions of creation.
Divine Eye 1
08 November 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This picture was done on the same day as "Divine Mother 3" - very intense days. Though the symbol is "classical" and used in churches as well as in freemasonry, I didn't take care of these "parallel uses", but tried to see it anew.
The eye has a white centre, the point in the triangle, the entrance point of the spirit, expressing as the three great principles also called rays or logoi - Will, Love and Active Intelligence, or Father, Mother and Son. The eye is also an expression of "personalisation" of the most abstract, giving a human, though super-human approach to the background from where it emerges. The white is pure energy, concretising and differentiating into fire, and from there it becomes more condensed into the aura of golden flames, on a background of golden-yellow radiation.
You can look into the centre of the eye, and from there you can try to go beyond. It is a good symbol for meditation. This entrance is also called the Eye of Shiva - through this passage the God beyond creation enters into creation. It is above the Ajna centre and is also called The Aquarian Passage, from seeming nothingness to apparent something.
Divine Eye 2
04 December 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint, gold and silver colour on paper
Here you see the Divine Eye - the white point in the centre surrounded by an eye-shaped aura of blue, resembling in the vertical to a womb-like opening, from where the manifestation starts. The golden yellow flames resemble the emanations of the divine beings from out of the Origin and enlivening the entire creation. They spread light and love coming all from out of the centre, the background from where the eye is opening.
Divine Eye 3
16 December 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint and golden colour on paper
In this painting of the Divine Eye series, you see the central point which expresses as the one eye surrounded by an energy vortex of golden-yellow and white. The two triangles in the upward and downward direction inter-penetrate and form a six-pointed star with the eye in the centre as the seventh point - representing the 7 rays or planes of creation, with the divine will as the central point. The whole is surrounded by a golden circle representing the unity, the oneness of existence, radiating golden and golden-yellow rays in every direction, while in the centre the background is just in a darker golden-yellow movement.
At every point of the six-pointed stars, you see the formation of three eyes - the one centre becoming many centres or points of expression, all surrounded by their individual radiation of gold. All together they form 18 eyes plus the one in the middle. 18 is 1 + 8 = 9, for the perfect creation, plus the one in the centre which is manifest and at the same time unmanifest. So 9 + 1 = 10, representing 1 + 0 = 1, the One expressing as all there is. The many eyes also remind of the description of the Cosmic Person, Purusha, in the Veda: Thousand headed, thousand eyed, thousand feeted is Purusha.
So the image expressed fullness expressing as fullness: THIS is fullness and THAT is fullness: Purnamadah Purnamidam...
Divine Eye 4
July 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint and fast glue on paper
This painting visualises the Divine Eye as a portal to enter into the subtle spheres and the path which leads into the light. It is surrounded by three eyes representing the three aspects of the Divine – Will, Love and Light. The sperm-like forms in the periphery of the circle represent the souls which have taken through the portal and now are in the Light.
“The Pineal Gland is that which the Eastern Occultist calls Devâksha, the “Divine Eye.” To this day, it is the chief organ of spirituality in the human brain, the seat of genius, the magical Sesame uttered by the purified will of the Mystic, which opens all the avenues of truth for him who knows how to use it.” - Secret Doctrine III
Sons of Light 1 - Blessing
29 October 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
In this painting you see the triangle with the Divine Eye in the background, surrounded by the waters of space and energies radiating forth. The head of the blessing figure is like the circle coming out of the centre of the eye - the son of light emerging from the divine centre. There is no difference in the colour - it is all fire, just shades of manifestation appearing as forms, being nearly no forms at all. The Son of Light sits in a meditation posture - he is not absorbed, but sheds his blessings to the observer.
Sons of Light 2 - The Five-Pointed Star
05 January 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint and golden colour on paper
This painting shows a white figure in the position of the five-pointed star in a field of golden-yellow-flames and outlined by a golden coloured frame which again radiates flames of gold and golden yellow. Over the head of the figure there is a crown of flames.
At that time, I only vaguely knew the symbolism of this figure, about which Sri K. Parvathi Kumar has often spoken:
In Eastern wisdom, standing in the position of the five-pointed star is called the dragon, the symbol of wisdom, or "Makara", the Sanskrit name for Capricorn, which again symbolises the release of spirit from matter. Man with his five senses has gained purity.
The golden or golden yellow star stands for the heart, whereas the white star full of light is referred to as the "Glorious White Robe", the "Antahkarana Sarira", the Body of Light or the perfect etheric body.
Sons of Light 3 - Meeting
19 January 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
In this painting, you see the triangle transformed into a pyramid. There is no more the central eye, but the Son of Light stepped forth, surrounded by an aura of golden yellow flames. Over his head, there is a crown, sign of the opened head centre, and above that, there are white flames, the fire of the spirit. Around these flames there is the shape of a big drop, symbol of the soul. Here the universal soul expresses through the individual. The cosmic consciousness - symbolised by the seven stars - descends through the pyramid down to earth. In front of the Son of Light, you see a path of white light. It is the lighted path we can walk to approach and meet the Son of Light and to enter into the Light.
In the background you see two radiant eyes with a white centre: You are observing and being observed by the One in the background. The difference between the observer and the observed is only a seeming difference, in reality they are just one.
Sons of Light 4 - The Cosmic Christ
29 January 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This painting shows the white figure of Christ in a blessing position. He emerges from the flames of the surrounding fiery aura. And there is an aura of white light surrounding his upper half, from where the form of the cross appears. It is not a position of suffering on the cross, but of the cross of matter transformed into the light structure of the horizontal and vertical dimensions of material incarnation. You might compare it to the painting of the Birth of Christ - The Logos, reminding of the sacrifice of the Cosmic Man, Purusha, to manifest the planes of creation.
There is no face, no structure of the body; it is just light, like the light of the background, having gained form through the circumscribing outlines.
Sons of Light 5 - OM
16 September 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
In this painting, you see the form of the OM symbol emerging from the waters of space, all in radiant flames. Behind the OM, you see a blessing figure in the shape of Sri Satya Sai Baba.
At that time, I just was about to fly to India, on a very short notice, to visit Sai Baba.
The white figure is behind the OM, being the expression from cosmic consciousness. The presence of the universal soul is hinted at through the surrounding aura in the form of a drop.
Sons of Light 7 - Triumph
08 November 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
This painting shows the final victory of Jesus Christ over the death of the physical body, creating a tremendous release of light.
“The words “My God, my Sun, thou hast poured thy radiance upon me,” were the final words that concluded the thanksgiving prayer of the Initiate, “the Son and the glorified Elect of the Sun.” They were pronounced after the terrible trials of Initiation, and were still fresh in the memory of some of the “Fathers” when the Gospel of Matthew was edited into the Greek language.” - Secret Doctrine III
Sons of Light 7 - Fiery Metamorphosis
24 October 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
At this time, I was discovering the existence of the Cosmic Christ in relation to the individuality of Jesus Christ. This painting expresses the release of energy which happened through the transformation Jesus Christ underwent through the crucifixion manifesting most sublime energies onto the physical. The cross, symbol of his initiation, is in connection with the fiery world, and through his body, there is an inpour of light. The elements are in a state of turmoil and the forms, the imprisoned souls, are waiting for their release.
“From the beginning of Humanity the Cross, or Man, with his arms stretched out horizontally, typifying his kosmic origin, was connected with his psychic nature and with the struggles which lead to Initiation.” - Secret Doctrine III
Sons of Light 9 - Self-Giving
10 December 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
The painting shows the self-giving of the lower to the higher self, of the personality to the Divine.
“The ‘harvest of life’ consists of the finest spiritual thoughts, of the memory or the noblest and most unselfish deeds of the personality, and the constant presence during its bliss after death of all those it loved with divine, spiritual devotion. Remember the teaching: The Human Soul, lower Manas, is the only and direct mediator between the personality and the Divine Ego.” - Secret Doctrine III
Spiritual Hierarchy 1 - The Assembly
18 November 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint on paper
In this first of five paintings on Spiritual Hierarchy, you see in the upper part the Divine Eye surrounded by concentric circles emanating from the white centre; so this painting also belongs to the “Divine Eye” series. There are 5 flames above the eye like a crown of fire. From the centre of the eye, a triangle is projected downward, manifesting in the form of a pyramid. A downpour of light enters into a smaller triangle / pyramid, which has a white opening surrounded by a fiery aura. It is like a vagina or the divine eye in a vertical form, resembling the pyramid in the painting "Sons of Light 3 - Meeting". There is a connection between the two spheres, where you see the rainbow bridge, the colourful veil of the Mother of the World. In the centre of the picture, you see a path of white light leading to the fiery pyramid, drawing the observer's eye inside and upwards to the point from where the energy is pouring down. The space opening before the pyramid is surrounded by an assembly of 24 drop-like flames, reminding of the biblical 24 Elders before the Throne. It also hints at the assembly of the Dhyani Buddhas in deep meditation around Sanat Kumara, the Lord of the Planet, gathered at Shamballa, in the ethers of Gobi Desert.
Spiritual Hierarchy 2 - The Birth of Hierarchy
09 December 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint and golden colour on paper
This picture shows the Divine Eye at the top and golden and golden-yellow rays emanating from its circumference, as well as the rainbow of the veil of the Mother of the World - the layers of creation. It is in a way the continuation of the first picture of this series.
The rays don't radiate out, but surround and hold the creation. The rainbow now forms a vessel-like space, also called an argha (ark) which holds the creation. There you see the shades of blue emerging from the background.
In the centre, you see a downpour of light from the one eye, and in the flow you see eyes and flames coming up - the One Eye becomes many eyes, many centres of light; the one Monad becomes many monads. They are the light-bringers, the guiding lights, observing and nurturing the beings on the path, to uplift them and to show them the way. So this is the birth of Spiritual Hierarchy - the Masters of Wisdom being the incarnations of Light.
Like the first painting of this series, this one is also an expression of the Divine Eye series. It is the last one of these fiery paintings of 1981. The quality of colours changes with the following pictures of 1982.