2017
Capricorn - The Column of Consciousness
Image of the Month of Capricorn In the inner of the vertebral column there is the essential flow of awareness and light. It is like a lighted axis called Sushumna. We can enter into it and experience ourselves as a column of consciousness going from the top of the head to the base centre. This column is the central axis of our existence. The seven energy centres and the related planes of consciousness emerge from it. In our meditation, we can visualise that we move up and down in this column and ascend through it to the higher planes. A photo of the shaft of a water turbine served as the central axis surrounded by a spiral. I eliminated the rungs of the mount and created the conical shape of the central column of bluish white light. The Sushumna column is surrounded by a yellow and a…
The Cosmic Person
According to the wisdom teachings the basic pattern of the human being comes from the structure of the Cosmic Person called Purusha in the East. We as an inner person are in essence the same as the Cosmic Person. When we look within it creates the contact with the Person within and thereby opens the doors to meet the Cosmic Person outside. The Inner Person is called the Higher Self or the Soul. Its outer shade is the lower self or the personality. The outer Cosmic Person is called the Super-Soul. When we contemplate on the Person within we start realising our identity with the Cosmic Person. For the image “Sagittarius – Sagittarian Contemplation” I had created a silhouette of the Cosmic Person with a NASA photo of a star field in the Sagittarius constellation. I now took it as a…
Sagittarius – Sagittarian Contemplations
Image of the Month of Sagittarius We are a microcosm containing all the intelligences that constitute the Cosmic Person. When contemplating on this relation we realise that we are essentially the same as the cosmic being and we slowly regain the original perfection. Our body is anchored in matter at the Muladhara, the base centre. Esoterically, the higher Muladhara is linked to Sagittarius. It is presided by Ganesha, the cosmic Jupiterian principle. When worshipped, Ganesha enables experiencing the brilliant light inside the spinal column and a speedy upward movement from Muladhara to Sahasrara. The ascent of consciousness is symbolized by the eagle. I created a silhouette of the Cosmic Person with a NASA photo of a star field in the Sagittarius constellation. Since Sagittarius represents…
Scorpio - Fall of the Spirit and Birth into the Egg of Space
Image of the Month of Scorpio The activity of Scorpio is characterized as the spirit coming down into matter in the form of a converging spiral. From the higher planes, the consciousness falls into the dense material states and gets imprisoned in the space like in an egg. This fall is compared to an inverted cone with a coiled serpent hidden within. Likewise, when the human soul descends into the womb of the mother, it loses the spirit-consciousness. It takes eons of time until the soul overcomes the limitations of matter again and reaches its source, the union with the spirit. For illustrating the descent of the spirit from cosmic planes, I created a serpent-like spiral surrounded by star-dust. The shape of the inverted cone is formed with a picture of a mollusc shell. On both sides, it…
Libra – Nyasa Vidya, Adjusting to the Planes
Image of the Month of Libra The Eastern sages have developed a science of superimposition called Nyasa Vidya, where they imagine themselves permeating the whole earth or the cosmos. They meditate the North Pole in their head centre, the South Pole in their base centre, the equator in their solar plexus and the Himalayas in their heart. They inwardly study the currents of magnetism that flow around the earth and use them to purify the centres along their spine and to free the thoughts from personal influences. Likewise, correspondences can also be established between the parts of the body and the planets, the sun signs or the planes of consciousness. When our orientation to a larger system is complete, the energies of our system are rearranged in accordance with the larger system. Disorder…
Virgo - The World Mother and the Four States of the Word
Image of the Month of Virgo 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…
Leo – Hercules Conquering the Inner Lion
Image of the Month of Leo The story of Hercules is the symbolic journey of inner transformation and initiation. Hercules represents the aspirant becoming a disciple and realising himself as a soul. Later on, he further ascends to realise the Universal Soul. The Labours of Hercules are a journey through the zodiac and the fifth labour corresponds to Leo. Hercules is asked to kill the Nemean lion. The lion represents our lower nature, the personality. Killing the lion means overcoming our ego and realising our identity as a soul. The cave of the lion is the heart. We go inside and listen to the sound of respiration which is compared to the roar of the lion. By observing the pulsation we slowly get to the subtle pulsation; this is called "entering the cave within the cave". In a deep…
Cancer - Artemis, Layers of Reflection
Image of the Month of Cancer The visible Moon is just the physical body containing the Moon principle. Moon is the Lord of Cancer and it is related to our mind. Like the Moon reflects the light of the Sun, our mind reflects the solar light of the internal Sun principle, the soul. Moon also reflects the light of the higher Moon called Soma in the Eastern scriptures. Soma, the divine musician, presides over the cosmic mind; his rays are received by the Moon via Neptune. Moon stands for the female principle, the mother. It stimulates the fertilisation and the birth and growth of the fauna and flora on earth. Cats attract the magnetism of the Moon; therefore the Egyptians considered them as sacred. Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt and of the Moon, can be understood as a symbol of the…
Gemini – Ardhanari, the Male-Female God
Image of the Month of Gemini When creation comes forth from the background of absolute existence, it manifests as existence with awareness. It is also called Father-Mother, the interplay of the male-female God. We don’t say it is male and female because it is an inseparable unity. It is the Ardhanari of the Indians, the Hebrew Adonai or the Greek Hermaphroditus. Ardhanari is usually depicted with the right side being the male Shiva and the left side being his consort Shakti, his energy. In astrology, the male-female God is called the soli-lunar principle, the light and its reflection. It is associated with Gemini, where the unity is bifurcated into two. In our body, the left eye is associated with the Mother, the lunar principle and the Ida Nadi (subtle nerve); the right eye is associated…
Taurus - Krishna's Flute, Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Centres
Image of the Month of Taurus Eastern wisdom knows seven sensitive points, the seven chakras, along the vertebral column and in the head. They are compared to Lord Krishna’s flute with which he is enchanting the fellow-beings. The seven centres are again contained in the region between the throat centre and a point just above the Ajna-centre called the birthplace of Indra. There are seven other centres above the neck, the area governed by Taurus. On the solar-cosmic level, these centres are related to the seven stars of the constellation of Pleiades. The secretions of the glands in that region of the body are called the spiritual foods with which Pleiades feeds the disciple. According to ‘Spiritual Astrology’, the Pleiades are described as the wives of the seven great seers forming the…
Aries - Permeation
Image of the Month of Aries The ancient Vedic seers described profound wisdom with the help of symbols. They saw the manifestation of a new creation as coming out of a Golden Egg and permeating the different dimensions of space. They visualised the beginning of a new cycle with the story of how the head of the proud Daksha was cut and replaced by the head of a ram, the symbol of Aries, the power of stepping forth and penetrating. They further took the horse as a symbol for the life force and they saw Aries as the head of the horse. The sunrays, the transmitter of life force, are called horses and the seven rays are seen as seven horses drawing the chariot of the sun. The sunrays are understood as permeating space, being at the same time present in the Sun, on Earth and in between. The…
Pisces - The Great Fish and the Seed of the Universe
Image of the Month of Pisces Pisces represents the dissolution of an old state followed by a gap and the beginning of a new cycle. The stories of smaller and bigger deluges correspond to the monthly cycles of new moon and full moon or the ending and beginning of the solar year. The Wisdom Teachings explain that the Earth, the solar system and also the universe go through such cycles. There are periodical dissolutions called Pralayas. The seeds of the previous creation are preserved through the “flood” in a vehicle symbolised by a ship, and the Lord in the form of a Great Fish takes the seeds to the new creation. I visualised the cycle by a circle with a central point, symbol of the Sun. At the same time the central point is also like a Sun from where a stream comes forth. The water of the…
Aquarius - The Aquarian Pot and the Eternal Dancer
Image of the Month of Aquarius The Wisdom Teachings describe the process of manifestation as a tunnel, where on one side there is the creation and on the other side there is a seeming vacuum, the potential space. This is illustrated by the symbol of the Aquarian pot. It has two openings: from one side you see a continuous downpour of water, but on the other side there is no water coming in. It seems that it is coming from out of nowhere and that some magic is giving birth to the creation. The waves of the ocean of space are coming from that source in rhythmic, dancing-like movements. The Lord of this vibrating principle in creation is Shiva as the eternal dancer called Nataraja. If he concludes his dance, the creation comes to an end. For the image, I took the photo of a statue of the…