Virgo - The Splendour of the Soul
13 June 2024, coloured pencils and photo work
Virgo stands for the purity and sublimity of virginal nature. The soul can shine through pure matter and let the splendour of its light radiate. It is through the soul that the light of universal consciousness, also known as the World Mother, makes its appearance.
In Eastern wisdom, the light of the soul is also called Buddhi and the soul itself is called Atma, the I AM. The light of Virgo is described as the pure, milky-white light from which the brilliance of the rainbow colours emerges. The interpenetration of creation with universal consciousness is symbolised by the Sri Yantra. It is a symbol of sacred geometry which contains 45 triangles.
In Western astrological symbolism in earlier centuries, Virgo and its supernatural nature were often represented by an angel. Late summer is characterised by Virgo’s golden light, a time when the fruits of nature are harvested.
To illustrate this symbolism, I merged the photo of a fruit-bearing apple tree, where the glow of the white sunlight iridesced into multicoloured rays, with a photo of glowing apples. I superimposed the edited image of a Sri Yantra.
For the angel of the Virgo symbol, I reworked the etching by Jacob de Gheyn II (c. 1565 -1629) on the constellation of Virgo from Hugo Grotius' book 'Syntagma Arateorum' from 1600. The female angel figure now carries in her right hand a lily, symbolising purity, and in her left hand a staff of Hermes/Mercury, symbolising Mercury, the ruler of the sign of Virgo.
Virgo - The World Mother and the Seven Seers
7 June 2023, pencils and photo work
Virgo helps us to develop virgin energies within us. Virginity is a state of purity in thought, word and deed, through which we can attain connection with profound wisdom. On every plane we are guided by teachers as we undertake to transform ourselves to become more refined beings.
Because of the subtlety or density of matter, there are seven planes of existence. Thus, Seven Seers or Rishis have appeared in creation. They are related to the Seven Rays and exist within us as the seven centres. The Seven Seers work on all seven planes for the Mother of the World.
We are highly recommended to acknowledge the presence of the Seven Seers in our being on a daily basis. We can visualize the Seven Seers from the head centre to the base centre and also feel their existence on the planet. This will gradually establish a connection with these most exalted beings of the planet.
For the dome of stars of the background, I used the stage design for The Magic Flute, Hall of Stars in the Palace of the Queen of the Night, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1847-49). I designed the World Mother with photos of a statue of Mary and a depiction of Mary.
The illustration of the Seven Seers builds on a photo by Dslcards / Wikimedia of the Apostles frieze in the Baltaha Monastery, Portugal, and a column statue of an apostle from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A Himalayan scene shimmers in the background and the constellation of the Great Bear, the cosmic equivalent of the Seven Rishis, can be seen in the upper right.
Virgo - Meditation on the World Mother
8 June 2022, pencils and photo work
The work of Virgo is that of protection, nurturing and inner maturing so that the soul can shine forth. Virgo represents the World Mother, the universal divine consciousness that expresses itself through the seven colours, seven sounds and seven planes of creation. This Mother of the World is the subtle light behind the material forms. By meditating on the Mother, her light and splendour can radiate through us, and we begin to merge with Her.
The image shows a representation of Goddess Lakshmi pouring out abundance with her right hand and blessing with her left. Instead of lotuses, the Eastern symbol of unfoldment, Lakshmi now holds roses in her other two hands. Her seat was also designed with a rose instead of a lotus.
I placed the divine Mother in a cornfield. The grain is an expression of the principle of abundance and multiplication: Through growth and ripening, numerous grains emerge from one grain and give us nourishment. I created the light of the background with several photos of sunrises. It shines through the figure of the Mother and merges with her.
Virgo - Ydun giving the Apples of Immortality
26 May 2021, pencils and photo work
Creation comes forth from the light called Aditi or the Mother of the World in the Vedas. We are part of this original light and are, by our very nature, immortal beings of light. However, we have assumed a false identity and thus, we have become mortal. Whenever violation of the natural law threatens to lead to self-destruction, immortal divine beings descend to earth to once again give the law and help humanity to recognise its original identity. The immortals pave a way through which mortals can find a new access to the subtle. Once the etheric body is formed of golden light, we can experience immortality again.
In Norse mythology, Ydun is the goddess of immortality. She guards the golden apples that confer eternal youth and thus immortality. The figure of Ydun in the centre of the painting was created using a photo of a statue of Ydun by the Danish sculptor Herman Wilhelm Bissen (1798 - 1868). Ydun descends from the golden light to grant again access to immortality with her apples. The sphere of the upper part of the picture shows the subtle world, the lower part of the picture indicates the dense physical world - both created with images from the virtual globe "NASA World Wind". The light structures at the bottom were designed with autumn-coloured leaves of the Virginia creeper.
Virgo - Blessing of the Mother
21 May 2020, pencils and photo work
For the divine light to express itself through us, a pure virginal mind is the prerequisite. Virgo is sign and time, when the germ of the soul matures - the probationary period on the spiritual path. After proper preparation through inner purification, the divine light can shine through us. Thus, the divine can descend into us to bless and uplift through the eyes and the voice.
It is said that the Father blesses through the Mother and thus gives birth to the Son of God in man. This is the Immaculate Conception and birth. The seven colours of the rainbow represent the unfolding grace of the Divine. The one white ray manifests through the seven colours of the rainbow.
On the left side of the picture you can see the profile of a statue of the World Mother, created with the help of the photo of a Durga statue in the Blue Mountains of South India. The germs of the maturing souls in the sphere of the earth were created with the help of the photo of a flower at the San Francisco airport. This sphere is limited by the rainbow against the vastness of blue space. Its seven colours stand for the seven planes of existence, whose seventh plane is the radiant light of the universe, which we perceive as darkness. In this darkness we can see the glyph and the stars of the constellation Virgo.
Virgo – The World Mother, Planetary Chains and Root Races
09 May 2019, pencils and photo work
From the background of space, there are periodic emanations of creation. They are seen as the radiations of the World Mother coming down through seven planes and in seven colours. Therefore, the Mother is symbolically depicted with a rainbow around her head. The Secret Doctrine speaks of sequences of time periods with a periodicity of seven like the biblical seven days of creation. There are units of seven planetary incarnations called a planetary chain and seven great cycles of humanity called the root races.
To illustrate the World Mother, I transformed a picture of Mary into the blue colour of the background. She is surrounded by a rainbow and seven globes of the planetary chain of our Earth. The globe at the bottom symbolises the physical manifestation of the fourth globe.
Radiant orbs around the Earth indicate the different stages of matter. The chain of seven smaller orbs above the Earth stands for the descent and ascent through the seven root races; the chain carries the glyph of Virgo. At the upper right corner, you can see the outline of the constellation.
Virgo - Spiritual Light and Spiritual Food of Mankind
18 May 2018, pencils and photo work
Virgo represents the “womb of time” wherein the spiritual seeker is slowly matured through profound crises. He needs to grow into the light of knowledge and learn to use his free will in a responsible way. When nature considers him mature she leaves him to himself for further evolution to higher consciousness. Our earth is also in a slow process of ripening in the womb of the Mother Nature.
Virgo stands for the virgin nature of the Divine Mother. She is depicted with an ear of corn in one hand and a light in the other. They symbolise the spiritual food for the souls and the spiritual light which lightens the way.
For the illustration of the Virgin I reworked a photo (by Sailko, Wikimedia) of a statue of Hera, the Greek queen of the gods. In her womb I placed a human silhouette on the globe surrounded by a field of light. The goddess is walking on a forest path. In her right hand she carries two ears of corn and in her left hand she carries a flame lighting the way. The ears are pointing to the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, the mothers of the seven aspects of form life. In esoteric astrology, this constellation is deeply linked to Virgo.
Virgo - The World Mother and the Four States of the Word
17 May 2017, pencils and photo work
The World Mother is the most sublime aspect of creation. She is the unlimited light of consciousness that emerges from the background of existence as the pure virgin nature. Virgo represents this aspect of the Logos as Mother. From there, the creation emerges in four states. They are called the stages of utterance of the Creator. The objectivity is the fourth state; three states of emanation of the Word are hidden in the subjectivity. The objective state is like the vocal sentence of our speech. Prior to that, there is the mental sentence coming from an idea, and prior to that the idea emerges from consciousness.
To depict the World Mother I transformed the photo of a statue of the Mother standing at the Godavari River in Rajahmundry, India. The four states of the Word are illustrated by different circles. At the heart centre and in the background you see the Sri Yantra, a symbol of the Mother, which contains the wisdom of the goddess.
The “landscape” where the Mother is standing is created with a lotus flower. For the background colours I used the photo of a sunrise in the Nilagiris. The stars of the Pleiades constellation, the seven Mothers, are generated with the help of the Stellarium software.
Virgo – The Rainbow Aura of the World Mother
14 May 2016, pencils and photo work
Virgo is the month of the World Mother, the universal awareness or the basis of creation. She is called Gayatri in the Vedas, the Light of the World, and worshipped with the famous Gayatri mantra. She is depicted with five visible faces and a sixth invisible one. Of the five faces, the one on the extreme right represents the brilliant solar light and the face on the extreme left the soothing light of the moon. In between there are the three faces of the primary colours in the order of red, golden yellow and blue. The invisible face in the background stands for the absolute light of the background.
The World Mother is depicted with the aura of the rainbow indicating the seven planes of existence or the seven rays of the original Light. Each plane is subdivided again into seven sub-planes creating the kaleidoscopic beauty of creation.
To depict the World Mother, I used an Indian image of the Mother and transformed it by changing the colours and replacing the faces with extracts of women portraits of Western painters mainly from the 19th century. I kept the colour expression of the faces. Then I created a circular rainbow aura around the Mother and added seven rainbow hemispheres on a blue starry background indicating the expansion of universal awareness through all the planes of creation.
Virgo – Mother Nature Protecting the Solar Child
14 May 2015, pencils and photo work
Occult symbolism is a way of describing subtle truths, which to a common understanding appear as contradictory or nonsense. An intuitive approach helps gain deeper insights.
Virgo stands for the slow unfoldment of the soul on the spiritual path, secretly growing through crises in the womb of material life. The aspirant is compared to a child, whose soul / Sun silently develops a pure, virginal nature under the protection of Mother Nature. Nature again is a reflection of the spirit and thus is compared to the Moon, who is the ruler of Virgo on the subtle planes.
Meditating on the painting for the month of Virgo, I received the image of a chasm at the bottom in which there was the soul and at the top the head of the Divine Mother. The chasm was like penetrating through the seven planes of creation. A few days later the hint came, Isis and Osiris. I googled for a statue of these Egyptian gods and studied about their symbolism. In the plethora of meanings I found that Osiris, the “Lord of Truth”, is compared to the Sun. Isis is described as his wife, his sister and even his mother, and also as the Virgin Earth. I found the image of a grey stone statue with Isis protecting the child Osiris. Her headgear is like a solar disc hiding the true spiritual sun, thus being the “moon” to the higher sun, which is carried by Mother Nature. Osiris wears a headgear like a receptacle receiving the divine flame.
I transformed the statue into golden colour and did some digital restoration. I then created the chasm penetrating through the seven planes and surrounded Isis-Osiris by an aura of radiating energy - the veil unveiled. When the clouds of conceptualisation are left aside, the symbolic presentation provides a view of Mother Nature protecting the Solar Child.
Virgo – The Mother and the Maturing of the Souls
10 May 2014, pencils and photo work
The earthy sign of Virgo symbolizes the slow growth in the “womb of time” through conflicts and crises to reach the light of the soul. When we have gained a pure mind, it can reflect the divine Light. When the Light gets born in the virgin mind, this is called the “birth in Light”. The light of primordial nature is described as the Mother of the World. She penetrates all the seven planes of existence. These planes are said to be the veils of the Mother, and they are also depicted as a rainbow around her head. It says that her eyes transmit the rays of grace uplifting the souls to their pristine nature.
For this picture I used the image of a little statue of the Virgin with a star-filled veil. Around her head you see the colours of a huge rainbow, the planes of creation. In the background I placed two galaxies from the constellation of Virgo, depicting the cosmic eyes of the Virgin.
In the lower sphere I arranged an extract of a group photo and on each person’s face I placed a layer of a sunrise, illustrating the reflection of the divine Light in the human minds. They are the souls maturing in the matter to experience the birth in the Light.
Virgo: The Sons and Daughters of the Virgin
12 April 2013, pencils and photo work
The book “Spiritual Astrology” is a storehouse of profound concepts of wisdom, which let images come to my mind’s eye. Thus when reading the chapter on Virgo impressions came to me of purity and virginity, of the world saviours as the Sons of the Virgin, of the rainbow of creation, the veil of the Mother of the World.
I wanted to give a new perspective to the often misunderstood concept of the Virgin and to replace the child with a group of great messengers of God and World Saviours.
I used a painting of Fra Angelico for the central figure of the Virgin. I added a helix galaxy structure and a rainbow in the background above her head, forming the Eye of God. The head and the halo of the Virgin at the centre symbolise that the World Mother is the first emanation from the background of creation. She is sitting on a red and golden veil, the sheath covering the pure existence and giving rise to the multitude of expressions in space. Full of loving attention the Mother is looking at the group of messengers of the pure Light, which are inserted into the form of the infant Jesus, who is holding in his left hand the ball of the globe. Wrapped into her blue robe you see smiling people who feel blessed and protected through her presence. Her Light is radiating into all directions.
Virgo – Kwan-Yin, the Mother of Grace
12 May 2012, pencils, crayons and photo work
Kwan Yin is a female figure of the Buddha of compassion. She came to me mind while I was searching for a picture for Virgo.
I took the photo of a statue of Kwan Yin in the house of a friend. Her look is totally turned inwards. Above her head you see the light of the sun in a huge flower. The light is pouring down on her right and left, I represented it with the picture of a waterfall. Her head is surrounded by spheres of light, from where emerges a circle of moon phases, with the full moon / new moon behind her head. The warm golden yellow symbolises the power of her loving compassion for all beings.
Virgo – Purity and Holiness of Virgin Nature
19 June 2011, pencils, crayons and photo work
Virgo is the sign of the original nature, which is also called the virgin nature. She is an expression of sublime purity and transparency. She is the guardian of the spirit descended into matter and ripening there in silence and secrecy. So you see her represented as a woman radiating light and purity. She is sitting amidst withering flowers indicating that the heat of the summer is over and that the seeds are ready to fall down and go into the ground. She is holding an ear of corn in one hand and a flame of light in the other, the symbol of the light of consciousness, which is brought down by Mercury, the messenger of the Gods. He is the ruler of the sign of Virgo.
Virgo – The Light in Matter
18 July 2010, pencils, crayons and photo work
I used a photo of a rose lily as a symbol of purity and virgin Nature. The figure of the Virgin merges with the lily with the pistil at her womb, a sign of her creative power.
The Virgin holds an ear of corn in her right hand, to nourish the world, and in her left the symbol of Mercury, as a lamp of spiritual light. Mercury is the ruler of Virgo.
Above her head you see seven stars, presenting the seven rays of light, and from the centre the light descends upon her and surrounds her. She is the representative of the Mother of the World, from whom the entire creation manifests through seven planes. So she is surrounded by the seven colours of the rainbow on the blue background, the cosmic consciousness. Behind the Virgin you see the sphere of the earth in red with seven seeds, germinating for future harvests. Around the lily you see a meadow with flowers on a reddish background, signs of the growth of spiritual unfoldment.