Creation in Taoist tradition and European tradition

First the TAOist creation of the Three Logoi:

▪️ Tao gives birth to One,
▪️ One gives birth to Two,
▪️ The Two gives birth to Three,
▪️ The Three gives birth to all universal things.

All universal things shoulder the Yin and embrace the Yang.
The Yin and Yang mingle and mix with each other to beget the harmony.

The picture shows the universe in a symbolic way through the Yin-Yang symbol. The dark Yin is the not yet transformed and the Yang is the transformed Yin so we transform from left to right. The imaginary line between yin and yang is TAO, the soul, the true power of the universe.

▪️ The physical world and body (Xun) is the most difficult to transform and first in a far future can we transform it fully.
▪️ The etheric world and body (Kan) is not as hard and therefore easier to transform, but still, we will first be ready to make the transformation in the future.
▪️ The astral world and body is what we work with now, it’s here the ego with it’s karma is purified, transformed from the youngest daughter (Dui) to the youngest son (Gen), from left to right, to Manas.

The white in the soul also tells how developed each part are in the current part of the development. The soul is our central part, our sun, our heart, and it’s where we find God.

Here the creation in detail (Book of Change), how the eight Trigrams are created in the above figure representing the planetary powers working on earth and humanity:

▪️ The Creative (☰ Qian) is heaven, therefore, it is called the father.
▪️ The Receptive (☷ Kun) is the earth, therefore, it is called the mother.
▪️ In the Trigram of the Arousing (☳ Zhen,) she seeks for the first time the power of the male and receives a son. Therefore, the Arousing is called the Eldest Son. [The highest spiritual principle in man, Atma.]
▪️ In the Trigram of the Gentle (☴ Xun) the male seeks for the first time the power of the female and receives a daughter. Therefore, the Gentle is called the Eldest Daughter. [The lowest principle in man, the physical.]
▪️ In the Trigram of the Abysmal (☵ Kan) she seeks for a second time and receives a son. Therefore, it is called the Middle Son. [The second lowest principle, the etheric.]
▪️ In the Trigram of the Clinging (☲ Li) he seeks for a second time and receives a daughter. Therefore, it is called the Middle Daughter. [The second highest principle, Buddhi.]
▪️ In the Trigram of Keeping (☶ Gen) Still she seeks for a third time and receives a son. Therefore, it is called the Youngest Son. [The third highest principle, Manas.]
▪️ In the Trigram of the Joyous (☱ Dui) he seeks for a third time and receives a daughter. Therefore, it is called the Youngest Daughter. [The third lowest principle, the Astral.]

See also The Taoist Triad and the Three Logoi

Here the same described in western terminology:

▪️ First came the Father, he created the physical world out of himself, he is Atma.
▪️ Then came the Son, (s)he created the etheric world out of herself, she is Buddhi.
▪️ Last came the Holy Spirit, he created the astral world out of himself, he is Manas.

So the rows defines each Logos, where creation starts from below.

▪️ The Holy Spirit is the master over the physical world. The Son and Father works through the Holy Spirit within the physical world.
▪️ The Son is master of the Soul, central creative power of creation, as shown through the whiteness in the YinYang symbol, and therefore the leading spiritual being, who is called the Logos in Saint John’s gospel.
▪️ The Father is master of the spiritual world, but not as developed as the soul, we haven’t transformed much of the physical yet.

See eventually Sophia, Created in the Beginning

Shiva – Creator and Destroyer

The Earth evolution started within the existing universe, with center in the sun, and the planet Earth was constructed as a crucible where the seed for the new universe was placed.

Shiva, the Luciferic powers, were the creators of the old universe; together with Brahma and Vishnu they were the old universe. See also The Origin of Lucifer – Shiva.

In the crucible the new began to take form, Krishna, the transformed Lucifer, became stronger and stronger and the old Lucifer, Shiva became smaller and smaller, through the development of man.

When the new universe was developed far enough, the transformed gods died in the old universe, and they resurrected/incarnated into the new universe, from being outside the physical body of man, they became soul and spirit in man, what we see outside is the dead body of the gods, the new universe is inside man.

From Wikipedia:

At the highest level, Shiva is regarded as limitless, transcendent, unchanging and formless. Shiva also has many benevolent and fearsome forms.

In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an omniscient Yogi who lives an ascetic life on Mount Kailash, as well as a householder with wife Parvati and his two children, Ganesha and Kartikeya, and in fierce aspects, he is often depicted slaying demons. Shiva is also regarded as the patron god of yoga and arts.

The main iconographical attributes of Shiva are the third eye on his forehead, the snake Vasuki around his neck, the adorning crescent moon, the holy river Ganga flowing from his matted hair, the trishula as his weapon and the damaru as his musical instrument. Shiva is usually worshiped in the aniconic form of Lingam.

According to Wendy Doniger, the Puranic Shiva is a continuation of the Vedic Indra. Doniger gives several reasons for her hypothesis. Both are associated with mountains, rivers, male fertility, fierceness, fearlessness, warfare, transgression of established mores, the Aum sound, the Supreme Self. In the Rig Veda the term śiva is used to refer to Indra.  Indra, like Shiva, is likened to a bull.

Nandī, also known as “Nandin”, is the name of the bull that serves as Shiva’s mount. Shiva’s association with cattle is reflected in his name Paśupati, or Pashupati, translated by Sharma as “lord of cattle” and by Kramrisch as “lord of animals”, who notes that it is particularly used as an epithet of Rudra. “Rishabha” or the bull represents Dharma Devata (lord). Lord Siva rides on the bull. This denotes that Lord Siva is the protector of Dharma, is an embodiment of Dharma or righteousness.

All this is happening in the period of the bull, the symbol connected with both Lucifer and Shiva.

Shiva and Brahma

Shiva

Brahma creates order in the world through rules, are the world, where Shiva brings the ideas for the creation, but to create new, the old rules of Brahma must be destroyed, so Shiva destroy to make room for new ideas.

Shiva ist kein Gott der Ruhe und Kontemplation, sondern der Meister der Ekstase.

 Oft wird er als tanzender Gott dargestellt. Sein Tanz symbolisiert den Kreislauf der Zeiten und wenn er sich zur ekstatischen Raserei steigert, offenbart sich Shiva als Zerstörer, garantiert aber gerade dadurch, dass die Schöpfung nicht im fertig geschaffenen Sein erstickt, sondern dass das Geschaffene auch immer wieder aufgelöst wird und so den Raum für einen neuen schöpferischen Einschlag frei gibt.

So erweist er sich zuletzt als der gütige Freund, der den Schöpfungsvorgang immer wieder neu belebt und es ist die feste Überzeugung der Shivaiten, dass sein Tanz die Welt erhält.

From AnthroWiki

Through time these ideas are implemented as rules by Brahma, and then they become a straightjacket for evolution through decay. We know also Brahma under the name of Jahve or Sophia, or in its negative aspect as Ahriman.

Das Göttliche teilt sich für den Brahmanismus in drei Aspekte, in Brahma, Vishnu und Shiva.

Brahma nennt man mit Recht den großen Baumeister der Welt, der Ordnung und Harmonie in der Welt bewirkt. Vishnu bezeichnet man als eine Art Erlöser, Befreier, Erwecker des schlummernden Lebens, und Shiva ist derjenige, der das von Vishnu erweckte schlummernde Leben segnet und emporhebt zu den Höhen, zu denen man es überhaupt erheben kann. See Vishnu.

From AnthroWiki

Shiva Lingam

The Shiva lingam describes the world, Shiva [Yang or Lucifer] is the etheric world, Brahma [Yin or Ahriman] is the physical world and Vishnu [TAO of Son of God] is man, in the middle between the two.

It’s also a representation of Axis Mundi, the world pillar or world tree.

The three powers in Hegelian view

If we see it from a Hegelian view, Shiva is the Thesis, Brahma is the Antithesis and Vishnu is the Synthesis:

Shakti

Shakti represents the physical world, and Shiva manifest through her, he needs the physical world to create.

Shiva forms a Tantric couple with Shakti, the embodiment of energy, dynamism, and the motivating force behind all action and existence in the material universe.

Shiva is her transcendent masculine aspect of Shakti, providing the divine ground of all being.

Shakti manifests in several female deities. Sati and Parvati are the main consorts of Shiva. She is also referred to as Uma, Durga (Parvati,) Kali and Chandika.

Kali is the manifestation of Shakti in her dreadful aspect. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Since Shiva is called Kāla, the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means “Time” or “Death” (as in “time has come”). Various Shakta Hindu cosmologies, as well as Shākta Tantric beliefs, worship her as the ultimate reality or Brahman. She is also revered as Bhavatārini (literally “redeemer of the universe”). Kālī is represented as the consort of Lord Shiva, on whose body she is often seen standing or dancing.

Shiva is the masculine force, the power of peace, while Shakti translates to power, and is considered as the feminine force. In the Vaishnava tradition, these realities are portrayed as Vishnu and Laxmi, or Radha and Krishna. These are differences in formulation rather than a fundamental difference in the principles.

Both Shiva and Shakti have various forms. Shiva has forms like Yogi Raj (the common image of Himself meditating in the Himalayas), Rudra (a wrathful form) and Nataraj (Shiva’s dance are the Lasya – the gentle form of dance, associated with the creation of the world, and the Tandava – the violent and dangerous dance, associated with the destruction of weary world views – weary perspectives and lifestyles).

The female forms are all aspects of the physical world.

The five mantras

Shiva is defined as the etheric world, and consists of five sub planes, where the physical is the fifth and lowest:

Five is a sacred number for Shiva. One of his most important mantras has five syllables (namaḥ śivāya).

Shiva’s body is said to consist of five mantras, called the pañcabrahmans. As forms of God, each of these have their own names and distinct iconography:

• Sadyojāta
• Vāmadeva
• Aghora
• Tatpuruṣa
• Īsāna

These are represented as the five faces of Shiva and are associated with the five elements, the five senses, the five organs of perception, and the five organs of action.

Shiva and Krishna

Shiva is the etheric world as it was at the beginning of the Earth development, the untransformed Lucifer, where Krishna is the transformed etheric world, the transformed Lucifer.

Shiva is the ideas behind materialism, his followers are physically rich, where Krishna have the inner richness, and his followers are poor in materialistic goods, Krishna introduces Love and Joy into humanity, we shouldn’t work in blood, sweat and tears any longer.

Our etheric body consists of two kinds, the karmic beings that are not yet transformed, our karma, and the beings that we have transformed through understanding, the first is Shiva the last ist Krishna, the first is materialistic the second is spiritual.

When we have transformed most of our karma we can create an etheric body fully out of our own transformed ether, out etheric body is part of Krishna, who are the sum of the humanity’s etheric bodies.

See also Krishna and the Holy Spirit and Krishna as Teacher of Love.

The Art of Asha, an Analysis

“The Art of Asha” are the origin of chess and was introduced by Zarathustra as a kind of teaching aid describing the spiritual powers or hierarchies behind the physical world. Professor Edmond Bordeaux Székely have described the The Art of Asha in “The Essene Book of Asha“.

Today most knowledge of Ashas spiritual background have been lost, only names, a few comments about each piece and the movement rules are known, as they are the same as for chess today.

It has irritated me for some time that nothing more was known, it sounded interesting. As all religions and esoteric traditions are different facets of the same reality, it should be possible to find the meaning behind the Art of Asha.

In a contemplation a week ago I found the key, and I quickly found the relation to Kabbalah, and one key is that man is an inverted plant, what both Hinduism, Kabbalah and Rudolf Steiner states.

Board for the The Art of Asha

Here the positions and the names of the forces of Ahura Mazda and Ahriman, the white and dark powers:

As all religious and spiritual traditions describe the same reality it should be possible to find it’s relation to other more known systems, like Kaballah.

And it was not so difficult to find the right positions when I had placed the King/Creator/Man at the bottom of the tree, and Eternal Life just above in the Angels sephira, the puzzle pieces found their places naturally.

I placed the Queen/Preserver at the top, but it was wrong in many ways, so she moved into the center, that expressed her strength much better, just as the weakness of the king was clear through his position outside the ring.

Looking at the meaning of the Asha pieces and the corresponding Sephira they seem to match beautifully.

The symmetry of the pieces is also perfect, so I think it’s a very good theory of the relation.

I have not unraveled how it should be used, there are possibilities for some experimenting, like following the play of two persons around some topic, seeing how it develops, how it ends.

First model – the Pieces of Asha in The Tree of Life

This is the result of the first contemplation, here we have the pieces placed on the Tree of Life. The King is the head of the reverse tree.

Second model – Planets and Life Periods

Further contemplation gave this new version, where our development cycle is added, together with chakras and planets.

More on the chakras here “Some Results of the Initiation“

Libra – an explanation through teamwork

I had some years ago a good idea exchange on Johfra’s beautiful picture of Libra, and bring it here as it is illuminating.

Libra by
Franciscus Johannes Gijsbertus van den Berg – Johfra

More star-sign pictures here:  http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39381&id=1839344728&l=af168900b8

From  October 2, 2010

Maya

This one is very interesting.

Kim

It is, see the colors, in the top it’s blue to the left and red to the right as in the Gemini picture, but the sphinxes below have the opposite colors. And Sun and Moon opposite also.

We have Seth to the left with two snakes wound around him as the Asclepius staff. He holds the “Crux Ansata” ☥ in his hand, connected to the intellectual soul, the Ego.
The Sun and Moon are placed in paths formed like the eternity symbol.
To the right we have Isis with the cow horns.
http://Kimgraaemunch.wordpress.com/tag/sophia/

Maya

Aha, but these are the obvious things … my eyes go to the flowers and what is on the scale … i think that’s the story behind. 🙂

Kim, look at the god-form closer … is that an ibis head maybe .. cause sethian form has squared ears and a long, down-turned snout, a canine body with a tail. It’s the god of destruction, turmoil, illness … i’m not sure that would be allowed with that temper to do the weighing 😉 … though he did like the company of fair Isis .. but his main thing is to cause chaos (he has put him beneath you so that he can lift you up. He will groan beneath you as an earthquake … – Pyramid Texts, Spell 356) .. the flower is, I think, the white lily, which has great alchemical significance .. nymphea flower that Egyptians used in ceremony rites..

Kim

Of course, but my experience tells me that it’s better to start with the simple, partly because you get some success in the start, partly because the rest become smaller each time 🙂

It’s difficult to see what’s in the scales, but a cobra in the left, an urn in the right? and why?

Maat was both the goddess and the personification of truth and justice. Her ostrich feather represents truth.

Maya

Yes looks to me like that, instead of a Maats feather a white cobra like figure .. hard to see yes, on the other side, maybe a scarabeo in red representing the heart, cause it had that representation in the funerary ceremony rites, Isis and god-advocate .. that speaks for the person. why? – ha, to tell you the truth I think i never answered any question that started with why 😉

Kim

Maats feather sounds perfectly right to me, even managed the why. I didn’t know about Maat feathers! Wiki: “the Ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice.” And the heart sounds also perfectly right.
Justice without Compassion is unjust.
I think the whys are pretty interesting; why do people say and do what they do.

And you are right in Thoth too. Symbolizing mind. The heart of Ra.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoth

Maya

I see how it can be mistaken for Seth easily, cause has the same crux ansata as Seth in the hand, while Thoth is usually depicted with a scroll.

Kim

Has Thoth anything common with Scorpio?
Isis is familiar to Virgo, so on one side we have Virgo and on the other side we have Scorpio. Seth is more like Capricorn.

Maya

I’m not sure with that actually, that’s your lore.

Kim

It states that he became associated with “the judgment of the dead” and that is a Scorpio thing: if the heart is sick, take it out.
Two star signs following each other are their direct opposites, Virgo is the opposite of Libra, and Libra is the opposite of Scorpio, but that don’t make Virgo and Scorpio the same, the sting are different.

Steiner mentions something about the sphinx’s stands for man’s four lowest sheath or bodies, what we have with us down to Earth.
The sphinx to the right is feminine I think, also in blue.

Maya

Silver! :))

Kim

I am gone a little dead now, but we still have a lot of details in the lower part we have to understand and integrate, but otherwise a nice job until now 🙂

The lily then represents Sophia, Mary or Isis, above we have the Rosicrucian Rose representing the Son, Horus and Jesus.
So the mother contains the lower part where the Son contains the upper part. The physical (sphinx=phys, ether, astral, soul) and the spiritual world.
Glass square = physical world.
Circle containing a Seven star containing the scales? Seven planets signifying the planetary powers within the Zodiac.

Maya

You made a great analysis, glass square seems physical world yes, inside of which is a star with seven points (planets, metals-chakras) so reminds me of square-circle combination in Vitruvi’s microcosm macrocosm .. so with that analogy glass square may be representing a man, that has inside of him the little universe resembling the big .. And from which a rose springs and blooms.

Kim

Yes, beautiful, the circle are a micro-zodiac and the star, the seven planets or chakras, together the microcosm, in the cube which are the physical man.
And the rose springs and blooms in the spiritual world.
The two sphinx’ are the powers which manifest in the physical world who Steiner calls Lucifer and Ahriman.
What about the two hands?

Maya

I’ve just been thinking most of the morning how the glass cube is very genius, and, has its own story with layers .. and how very sentient, human .. it is .. and intimately how can this human side of the pic be even sad. I get the feeling that all the other parts of the pic, except the lily, cube, and the rose are pure form satisfied .. but not that part. It is because of the nature of the glass, and that is a genius part. Glass when well polished regularly, gives a beautiful picture of the world, like a man who tends good for his soul, character, all … but when not, when it is unclean, you can’t see what is outside of the cube, and sort of becomes only thing we know -like man that leads very worldly life plagued with all negative sides of it..and it brings ignorance, and also,the sad part-cube becomes  sort of prison, hopeless. So that is from perspective of a man inside the cube .. but window is seen through from both sides, and this view has to do how light comes in to the cube .. so it can only if polished .. and cube is sort of prism that breaks the light in many colours of the rainbow, seven mostly, so this forms a man, and gives light to the growing of the Rose. And that is the manifold creation. But this too has a sad side … and that is this, even with perfectly clean cube and light beautifully coming in, and things outside the cube visible, still the glass visible as it is, is the separator of Man and Cosmos, and its like attached,and influencing but not reachable from the state of being inside and polishing good, except but the rose, rose grows from it, and its only thing that connects humanity with the architecture of the universe. Thank you for clarifying this to me, and that you noticed the glass cube.
To just look at these picture is nice, and one can say they are beautiful then, but that’s just souls recognition automatic of whats beautiful, symmetry and colours .. but I think they should be deciphered, observed well, really so many suggestions in them, underlying structure beyond mere looking.

Kim

Yes, they are fantastic, especially the rose symbolics as the only way out of the box, but it is as you say somewhat depressing, life is not simple. I hope we will see many roses flower in the coming years, though.
But there is something missing, the female mystery, as some calls it, what Douno hints at, another kind of joy and meaningfulness which is not signified in the picture.
I have also thought a little about the floor in the physical plane, the chess board they are standing on could signify the rigid rule of karma, and the glass box is a chess piece which is moved around by Lucifer and Ahriman.
What does the two hands with the fire refer to? The scale is also a cross and the top of the cross is a hand with a finger-pointing up, as we see John the Baptist in Raphael’s paintings.

Maya

I like the chess explanation of rule of karma! Very deep instead of the usual explanation of the masons, how it represents the architecture and geometry of the universe, and how world is lined with parallels and meridians, the order of GAOTU … but the chess game is more reasonable .. But whose hands?

Kim

Beautiful, I didn’t know, I haven’t used much time on the masons, but they are also right, Karma is the building block’s of the physical universe, that’s why it’s called maya, no pun intended 🙂

Maya

haha … You had to draw that from the pocket ha?

Kim

Yes, it was too difficult to resist 🙂
Above the yin/yang sign are what I think is two hands, looking a little like a flower, up from the hands stream a fire changing over into the cross.

Maya

I think it’s not the hands of the Prime Mover, but representing energy-thought-fire moving of individual as participant of divine fire, alchemist. I noticed that there aren’t depictions of God just architecture, and twofold energies in the set of the paintings. So I think it’s the Great Work symbol, on which depends the scale in the end, is it in equilibrium, and is the heart light as the feather. But thats just my impression

Kim

You just lost me a second 🙂
But, if it’s the great work symbol it’s logical to call the flame for the kundalini power. But where does the hands come from? Something with the Earth?

Maya

Hm … i’m not sure … but you are nudging me again .. I got an idea .. count the symbols from below to the sky ending with Sol+Luna, or chymical wedding .. so its Fleur de Lys, cube with the star, rose, yin and yang as equilibrium (neutral), then the hands, then the cross of the scale with what seems to be rose in the cross, and ending with Sol and Luna betwixt.

Kim

Arh, couldn’t you have given the sum 😉 each time I count I find a new way and reaches a new number.
But it looks a little like the Tree of Life, but I only reaches nine.

Maya

Hahaha … The sum – never! I can count 7 .. so I thought could be connected with practical alchemy more … but yes you can count it like that too ..

Kim

I reached 8 when I counted your list.
That I reached 9 was because I missed Kether, but it’s the lying 8 symbol, infinity, so it’s ten now.
The only problem is that we see the Kabbalah tree from the back:)

Maya

🙂 great .. Ill get the mirror, you hold the picture … Remember how Temperance was alluding to the right pillar on gemini picture … I wouldn’t be surprised if things looked inverted either..

Eva and Adam

Kim

The gemini picture was ok in all aspects, it was also the reason I had the problems with Libra, why was the Father to the left and the Mother to the right?
If you look at old Adam and Eva figures and paintings, Adam were nearly always to the right, but more modern paintings have moved him to the left. Maja Hm, i think up to now we got fragments just with this one, i’ve been thinking about the story, the fire cleared it a bit. Ill try to write it in a bit.

Maya

Ok, a bit of stepping from Christian or egyptian or any other religious concept. Back to alchemic basics. Alchemy is trait of fermenting the vital Spirit in and by its own Light – that’s universal and individual. We see on picture regions, celestial, terrestrial and sort of interior underground. Celestial is I think represented by plants-emotional, receptive-in a man a heart region (ok again, rose flower, Christ and all that), terrestrial-sensual represented by animal forms sphinx (half animal half human) – domination in mans body is the head, and thus why maybe the sphinx-symbol of intellectualism, correct answers (the tale of Oedipus and the question ).
Last sphere, underground I think its the glass cube, i thought of prisms – but glass isn’t only prism, its diamond too-thus mineral, in human body its lumbal region. The aim of Alchemy is to reverse the action in their order.
Aha yes, its the same thing I thought but forgot to tell you about, Gichtels picture, it’s not to follow the orbiting its to reverse it. So the fire of natural life entering into fermenting opens, developed and sets free celestial Light.
About the hands and light hermeticism or better say alchemy, is the magnetism of Light-thought to be the emanating spirit of Wisdom , Soph. So to understand the nature respecting that first cause man asks questions, as an extortion of Sphinx like forms of the true answer. About the white proliferation in the below of the picture i think it depicts the vegetable spirit – which is growth-causing. So we have pic of human vital spirit that has to be purified, weighed in order to be regenerated white flower (regeneration, in Egypt, while the blue is enlightenment. But we got it well all and cube too, a cage, prison, entrapped in the mineral – which also means the divine light is somewhat penetrating but hidden from it. Bah, I need a thought to finish it.

Kim

Maya, it was too many ball’s in one, I didn’t catch a single one, constipation I think 🙂

By the way, which of the alchemy book’s do you recommend, when it should be clear and concise and all in all readable.

No, I caught one, the rose in the middle of the Cross, I hadn’t seen it.

Maya

Me too … sort of picture had fallen behind, became blurred … and i’ve seen a beautiful one i’m thinking of and enjoying for 2 days now … this Libra picture is left in some corner of my head just .. if you get new ideas about it please enlighten me ..

Kim

I think we to a great extend have solved it.

Sun is Lucifer or Yang and the Moon is Ahriman or Yin, and they are in equilibrium.
Everything is build around the trinity, even the weight have a cross in the middle.

The key to Alchemy – The Trinities

When I were younger I started on Alchemy a few times, but always stopped again by reason of their weird vocabulary, but It’s a question about finding the key.

When studying a new religion, philosophy, or esoteric tradition, always look for the trinities, the three Logoi or their principles, and when you have found them, the rest opens up.

This trinity represents the earthly powers Lucifer, Ahriman, and Christ, but also as the Father, the Mother, and the Son;  masculine, feminine, and love;  Yang, Yin, and Tao;  Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu;  Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva;  Pingala, Ida, and Sushumna;  Sun, Moon, and Earth;  Chaos, Order, and Life;  Energy, Substance, and Consciousness;  right, left, and center cross at Golgotha;  right, left, and center pillar of Kabbalah; and  the three soul elements: sentient soul (Orektikon, nephesch), mind and heart soul (Kinetikon, ruach), and consciousness or spirit soul (Dianoetikon, n’schamah).

See, among other, Serpents of the Kundalini Fire

Paracelsus in “The life of Philippus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim…” by Franz Hartmann

The Bible tells us that Man is made out of nothing; that is to say, his spirit, the real man, is from God, who is not a thing, but the eternal reality; but he is made into three somethings or substances, and these three constitute the whole of Man: they are himself, and he is they, and from them he receives all that is good or evil for him. Every state in which man can possibly enter is determined by number, measure, and weight. The “Three Substances” are the three forms or modes of action in which the universal primordial Will is manifesting itself throughout Nature, for all things are a Trinity in a Unity. The “Salt” represents the principle of corporification, the astringent or contractive and solidifying quality, or, in other words, the body; the “Sulphur” represents the expansive power — the centrifugal force, in contradistinction to the centripetal motion of the first quality — it is that which “burns,” i.e., the soul or light in all things; and the “Mercury” is the Life, i.e. that principle or form of will which manifests itself as life, or consciousness and sensation. Each of these forms of will is an individual power; nevertheless they are substantial, for “matter” and “force” are one, and originate from the same cause. The three substances, held together in harmonious proportions, constitute health; their disharmony constitutes disease, and their disruption death.

Salt is of course Yin, the solidifying, the calcifying, Gravity, and Sulphur is Yang, light or warms, negative Gravity, and Mercury is the equilibrium between these two, a liquid metal.

The trinity in Alchemy, based on Jacop Boehme and Paracelsus, are Sulphur, Salt, and Mercury, but in Anthroposophic medicine both Sulphur and Phosphorus are used interchangeable together with Salt and Mercury, with the same general description, except that Phosphorus connects to the Ego and Sulphur connects to the Astral body.

In Spiritual Science and Medicine (VI) by Rudolf Steiner (GA 112)

We should recognise that all that we divide and separate on earth, both in our thoughts and in our actions, in nature is actually united in some way or another. In our thoughts we separate what is subject to gravity, and therefore tends to salt formation, from that which bears the light and is therefore akin to the workings of light; and we separate both these categories from what is contained in the state of equilibrium between the two.But in nature there are no such absolute divisions. All these ways of working are connected one with another, adjusted to one another, so that they form highly intricate constructions, and one of these intricate structural systems is shown in the lustre of the metal gold; for it is through gold that the spiritual realm looks, as it were, right into the external world….

Thus it is most important to notice how in old writings all these primary principles, salt, mercury and phosphorus, were seen to be in every substance in different combinations, and to note the diligence with which it was sought to liberate and extract these three principles from a given substance.

In Spiritual Science and Medicine (V)

Ancient atavistic knowledge was indeed not without justification in calling phosphorus the Light-bearer. Men saw that phosphorus does carry and contain that imponderable light. What salt repels and holds at bay, phosphorus carries within it. Thus the substances at the opposite pole from salt, are those that appropriate, so to speak, the imponderable entities — principally light, but also others, for instance, warmth —and interiorise them, making them their inner properties….

Here then you have, in external nature, two states which are polar to one another; that which acts in a saline manner and that which acts in a phosphoric manner. And between them, there is a third group: that which acts Mercurially. Just as man is a threefold being, a creature with nerves and senses, with a circulatory system, and with metabolism; and as circulation is the bridge linking nerves and senses to the metabolic functions: so also there is a mediatory function in external nature. It comprises everything that possesses, to a great degree, neither the saline character nor the character of interiorising the imponderables, but — so to speak — holds the equipoise between these two, by manifesting in the form of drops. …. You will find accordingly, that these mercurial substances are mainly linked up with all that is calculated to bring about a  the activities for which phosphorous and saline substances are best qualified.

In Spiritual Science and Medicine (IV)

This should be an elementary piece of knowledge familiar to all; everything on our earth that is globular in form, whether within or external to the human frame, is the result of the interplay of two forces, one urging towards life, the other drawing life away….

…But the salt-process belongs to the region that I am now outlining, just as the sulphur process belongs to the region previously described.

Man has an inherent tendency to mineralisation [Salt]; just as the forces fundamental to the development of our internal flora and fauna can get “out of hand [Sulphur],” so also can the mineralising tendency.

In Anthroposophical Spiritual Science and Medical Therapy (II) by Rudolf Steiner (GA 313)

Small doses of phosphorus and sulfur have the effect of throwing out the astral body, which has stablished itself too strongly in the physical and etheric bodies. Sulfur works more on the astral body, phosphorus more on the ego. The ego, however, because it organizes the astral body throughout, actually acts in concert with it.

In Salt, Mercury, Sulphur by Rudolf Steiner (GA 220)

In olden times men did not use the abstract word think to express something that arose in the mind as a picture. When a real knower spoke about ‘thinking’ he spoke of the salt-process just described. Nor did he speak in an abstract way of the ‘will’ but of the astral forces laying hold of the airy element in man, of the sulphur-process from which the will is born. Willing was a process of concrete reality and it was said that the adjustment between the two — for they are opposite processes — was brought about by the mercury-process, by that which is fluid and yet has form, which swings to and fro from the etheric nature to the astral nature, from the fluidic to the aeriform.

Kamalas Garden

Litterature

Alchemy: The Evolution of the Mysteries by Rudolf Steiner.

More on alchemy
My album on Alchemy

Esoteric Picture Collections with References and Texts

I believe that one picture replaces many words, so I have made some picture collections where I try to show the relationship between different religious and esoteric traditions. The following collages are entries into these collections. Most pictures both contains texts and references.

Variations around the Trinities

In all religions and esoteric traditions we have the three creative powers of the Trinity more or less hidden. These three powers are also known through their colors, with Red for the Father, Blue for the Mother, and typically Yellow for the Son, symbolizing all colors. The picture and label link to the collection:

See Variations around the Trinities

This is the main theme of this blog, and the most central texts are:

• Tao – The Equilibrium of Yin and Yang
  This symbol is known all over the world, from the old Celts, to the Romans, the Greeks, and so forth. The philosophy behind we find in all later religions and traditions, but of course extended with the understanding new cultures added.
• The Caduceus staff and the Tree of Life
  The Caduceus staff is the same as we know as the Indian Kundalini, Pinga, and Pengala, and the Kabbalah Tree of Life.
• Serpents of the Kundalini Fire
  The human body is a microcosmic version of macrocosmos, and it’s underlying spiritual structures are described in all religions, esoteric traditions, and healing systems, and I show these relations here.
• Chaos or Order? No, Life!
  We see the physical world as totally separate from the spiritual world, but the rules the physical world follows are based on the spiritual world, keywords are Chaos Theory and Second Law of Thermodynamics.
• The Three Crosses of Golgotha
  The three crosses on Golgotha has deep connotations to the spiritual background of our reality.
• The Rosicrucian Cross
  The Rosicrucian Cross is man incarnated in the physical world.
• Changing Hierarchies through Time
  Most understand God as an unchanging entity, but the godly evolve just as man does, or more correctly, we evolve together. This change are also reflected in the Kabbalah Tree of Life.
• The Art of Asha, an Analysis
  “The Art of Asha” are the origin of chess and was introduced by Zarathustra as a kind of teaching aid describing the spiritual powers or hierarchies behind the physical world. But the spiritual background was lost, and here I regain it.
  Johfra’s Libra – an Analysis
  I had some years ago an inspiring idea exchange on Johfra’s beautiful picture
  Libra, and I bring it here as it was very illuminating, and a good example showing that it is possible to work together, instead of the usual fights between different opinions.

The World Egg and the Zodiac

The World Egg is the most universal symbol we have, and the Zodiac is the most developed form of it, but it’s everywhere, we just don’t recognize it as representing the world egg.

We can find the history of the zodiac in the four heavenly beasts, Eagle, Lion, Ox and Man; they were the first members of the Zodiac, first later came the Cardinal signs, and later again the mutable, they came when man began developing these qualities, just as the outer planets first became visible when they became influential. In the bible we find it in The Sons of Jacob and the Zodiac.

I have made a collection of pictures with text and references:

See The World Egg and the Zodiac

I have made “Creation of the Sun System and the Zodiac” for an illustrated overview of what was created, with the following extract as basis:

“The egg of Amma was closed, but made of four parts called ‘clavicules,’ themselves ovoid and joined as if they had extruded one from the others. Amma is four joined clavicules; it is only these four clavicles.” (Marcel Griaule & Germaine Dieterlen, Le renard pâle)

The sun system is ‘Amma’s Egg’ [the Zodiac], not the whole universe. Within his egg, Amma began spinning around, forming the po seed. The po is the smallest invisible seed at the center.

Amma then placed seven ‘words’ [Planets] in the po, which began to vibrate strongly within the seed. The spiraling vibrations caused four clavicles to grow forth from the po. These were the four heavenly beasts, the fixed star signs. These four Androgyne beings split into four male and four female, the cardinal and fixed star signs.

The Dogon call these beings the Nommo Anagonno, ‘The Word (Nommo) that Became Fish-Man’ (Anagonno). The male and female got a son, and the mutable star signs was created.

There are two levels of understanding, the macrocosmic, as mentioned above, but also the microcosmic:
“Hence, the eight ancestors were taken to heaven with the Nummo to learn the skills of civilisation. Later, each was given one of the eight grains of heaven, with which they returned to live with men, civilising them. They thus became the “civilising deities”, the Dogon equivalent of the Apkallu, or Seven Sages.” See The Old Granary.

This description of the Earth creation is only part of another greater history, the creation of man, which started long before Earth. In Esoteric History of Man I give a short overview of the path man has followed since the initial seed of man was created.

Nidanas and the Zodiac

I have looked at the Nidanas in relation to the Zodiac. The twelve Nidanas are the karmic powers keeping man reincarnating on the Earth. The twelve Nidanas consists of three groups, the first group of four is the Cardinal signs, the next group are the Mutable and the last group are the Fixed star signs. In the following tables and zodiac I have placed the Nidanas on the zodiac following these principles. See Astrology, Karma & Nidanas

Lucifer – Shiva and Krishna

Another entry into the history of humanity is through Lucifer, the lightbringer, see The Origin of Lucifer – Shiva

The Earth evolution started within the existing universe, with center in the sun, and on the planet Earth was constructed a crucible where the seed to the new universe was constructed.

Shiva, the Luciferic powers, were the creators of the old universe; together with Brahma and Vishnu they were the old universe. See also The Origin of Lucifer – Shiva.

In the crucible the new began to take form, Krishna, the transformed Lucifer, became stronger and stronger and the old Lucifer, Shiva became smaller and smaller, through the development of man. See Krishna as Teacher of Love

When the new universe was developed far enough, the transformed gods died in the old universe, and they resurrected/incarnated into the new universe, from being outside the physical body of man, they became soul and spirit in man, what we see outside is the dead body of the gods, the new universe is inside man.  See Krishna and the Holy Spirit

Francis Bacon and the American Project

What happens in the world have always been prepared from the spiritual world through highly developed people. In the time before Christ it was kings and priests who led the development, after Christ it was more incognito, but they were great personalities within all aspects of the society ingeniously infusing new ideas and changing the power structures from country to country op through Europe as the point of focus changed.

The American adventure wasn’t just a random thing, it was prepared through hundreds of years, but now the ideas behind have worn down, something new is needed.

I have collected some material behind the American project here, includes many pictures, texts, and references:

See Francis Bacon and the American Project

The driving force of history have always been a pair, the Hero and the Teacher as Alexander the Great and Aristotle. Was Francis Bacon the Teacher and King James I the Hero? Benjamin Franklin the Teacher and George Washington the Hero.

Description of the work done under the auspices of Francis Bacon:

1. To develop and improve the English language for future use so it could become an instrument for a new world of universal values across national borders, with America as a pilot project.
2. To formulate a renewed spiritually grounded whole philosophy of the future, uniting the physical, mental and spiritual, and built bridges between faith and enlightenment.
3. Providing for publication of books in England and in continental Europe, and in general to stimulate learning, study, individual discernment and human integrity.
4. To use theater and art as cultural and spiritual tool and through entertaining creativity to promote the formation, life-insight and consciousness transformation.
5. To launch scientific research on a group basis, with special focus on promoting new, empirical discovery methods, the reader universe laws.
6. Working in a ritual community for spiritual elevation, as has occurred in the helmet or the Knights of Solomon House, the Rosicrucian, Masonic work.
7. To tell about it for posterity and hide it in cryptographic codes, so it little by little would be possible for people to see and understand the work and be encouraged to continue development.

From Søren Hauge: Shakespeare Mysteriet

Pythagoras et al

Much of modern esoteric knowledge goes back to Pythagoras, but what we know about his teachings are mostly through indirect sources.

I have collected a number of pictures, texts and references here:

See Pythagoras et al

One of the most interesting topics, but least understood, is the Golden Mean which Plato said was the key to the universe: “Golden Mean, Key to the Universe?“.

I have written a note on “Origin of the usage of Left Path and Right Path“, as it has been misused in various discussions, but it goes at least back to Pythagoras.

The Crucible

This star or “Christmas Tree” is a variant of the seven pointed star in Esoteric History of Man called the Crucible and is a Rosicrucian symbol.

Right side of man Outer planets Physical world Salt		Ahanhata- Heart Monad – Soul – Ego Mercury Gold	Left side of man Inner planets Spiritual world sulfur – phosphorus
Manipura Navel Solar Plexus Astral Tin				Vishuddha Throat Manas Quicksilver
Svadhistana Sacral-Hara Etheric Iron				Ajna Third Eye Pineal Buddhi Copper
Muladhara Root Physical Lead				Sahasrara Crown Atma Silver
Ahrimanic – Yin		From the Occult Sign of the Lamb	Luciferic – Yang

The drawing is interesting in more than one way:

• Following the lines we have the planets in the order of the development of our planet Earth: old Saturn, old Sun, old Mon, … and which we also have in our weekdays. (Esoteric History of Man).
• The planets in the ‘old’ esoteric sequence: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Moon. In the exoteric, Mercury and Venus have changed place.
• The left side contains the Ahrimanic outer planets and the right side the Luciferic inner planets with the Sun in the Equilibrium. (Serpents of the Kundalini Fire).

My understanding are that these planets are connected to our Chakras, and there are many diverging theories about how these planets are connected to the Chakras. My thesis are that the sequence follows the tree above. Most people have the same planets for the lower three as here, but for the upper four there are many different theories. In former times the Sun was connected to the Solar Plexus, but as we have reached our current level of development it now corresponds to the heart.

My major problem are the connection between the Moon and the Crown Chakra, but it could be justified. There could also be other considerations. I would like some ideas if you have thought about it?

The symbolism appear in dreams, in connection with natural initiations, so the right understanding is necessary so just of this reason I wan’t to know the right relation. (What are the feminine and masculine sides we all talk about?)

It could be that the Crown Chakra is the old way to the gods and the new way goes through the heart, that would explain why the Moon, symbolizing the previous incarnation of the Earth, was connected to the Crown chakra and the Sun to the Heart chakra.

From Spiritweb on the Kumaras(Theosophy):

The Divine Mother is in you. Her abiding place, as you know, is the white four-petaled chakra at the base of the spine. This sacred fire is your life force. It is the energy that rises to meet the light that descends over the crystal cord. You can see the crystal cord on the Chart of the Presence. The energy of the Father-Mother God descends over the crystal cord and the sacred fire of the Mother rises from the base chakra. So, we are nourished by Father above and by Mother below and yet Father above contains Mother, and Mother below contains Father.

Man was created on the old Saturn incarnation of the Earth by The Mother, Thrones in Christian symbolism or Binah in Kabbalah (Diagram). The Crown Chakra is nearest to the Father of the old Moon, so it would be appropriate to have the Moon there. And in the middle between the Mother and the Father we have the Son in the Heart Chakra, in equilibrium.

Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Mercury, Venus, Moon

Chakana – The Incan Cross

Chakana, the Incan Cross, are equivalent to the Yin-Yang symbol and the Zodiac. Through a central axis a shaman journeyed in trance to the lower plane or Underworld and the higher levels inhabited by the superior gods. The snake, puma, and condor are totemic representatives of the three levels. (Axis Mundi)

From Wikipedia:

The stepped cross is made up of an equal-armed cross indicating the cardinal points of the compass and a superimposed square.

The square represents the other two levels of existence. The three levels of existence are Hana Pacha (the upper world inhabited by the superior gods), Kay Pacha, (the world of our everyday existence) and Ucu or Urin Pacha (the underworld inhabited by spirits of the dead, the ancestors, their overlords and various deities having close contact to the Earth plane). The hole through the center of the cross is the Axis by means of which the shaman transits the cosmic vault to the other levels.

The cross has 12 points and legend has it that these points represent the following sayings, affirmations and life points: I live, I work, I love, The underworld, The current world, The upper world, The cougar, The Eagle, The snake, Don’t Lie, Don’t Cheat, Don’t Steal.

The four flat sides represent the elements Water Air Earth Fire

North is air, south is water, east is fire and west is earth. The top arm is held in the East with the fire. The centre is the 5th element, the force of love emanating from the void.

The three rectangles could represent the physical world, the ether world, and the astral world, with each side representing one of the four elements in each world.

The three worlds are known all over the world:

• with Uku Pacha as the lower Chthonic underworld, with the snake as symbol, the Fixed modality of astrology, Tamas of the Gunas,
• the middle world, Kay Pacha, in which we live, have the puma as symbol, the Mutable modality of astrology, Sattva of the Gunas,
• and the higher world Hanan Pacha with the condor as symbol, the Cardinal modality of astrology, Rajas of the Gunas.

These three animals Snake, Puma and Condor are equivalent to Ox, Lion and Eagle as we know from the European and Asian continent.

I have written more about these relations in Serpents of the Kundalini Fire, especially in connection to the Gunas, the Chakras, and the Kaballah Tree of Life.

From Oder of Incari:

The top section is the Hanag Pacha which is the upper world (super conscious) and the animal symbol for the upper world is the condor. It holds, within the steps, the principles of the tradition. They are Yachay, Llankay and Munay.

Yachay means knowledge in its basic expression, but its higher expression is wisdom. It is knowledge, which has been integrated through experience and is externalized as wisdom. We must live what we know and master it in our daily lives. Llankay (pronounced ylang kai) Llankay relates to work, labour and productivity. It is to work in an honest way and to be honest in your work. It is to work for the betterment and greater good of yourself and your family, your community and humanity (your greater family). Munay is a word that simply means love and is the principle present in all others. It is not simply the love between a man and a woman, a mother and a child, although these interactions can contain the infinite expressions of Munay. It is the expression of unconditional love. It contains a deep- seated compassion for all livings things and their suffering.

From A Dictionary of Symbols By Juan Eduardo Cirlot

Chthonian Demons
Various beings mentioned in mythologies come under this heading, such as the Greek harpies and Erinyes, the Hindu Rakshasas, the Arabic djinns, the Germanic elves and Valkyries, etc.

Chthonian Snake Goddess

In Aztec mythology, Cihuacoatl  (”snake woman”; also Cihuacóatl, Chihucoatl, Ciucoatl) was a motherhood and fertility goddess, haunting crossroads at night to take children. She also helped Quetzalcoatl create humanity by grinding the bones of our ancestors and mixing the result with Quetzalcoatl’s blood to form the clay from which humanity were molded. Here the soul (Quetzalcoatl’s blood) is born into the physical (the bones), giving the body of man (the clay) with the Ego.

Cihuacoatl – Snake Woman

The Naga Kanya (Cobra Women) are a race of fairy-like demigods born of the Nāga, which are water deities. They have the form of beautiful maidens, but usually maidens only from the waist up, while from the waist down they are serpents.

Nāga kanya – Hindu Snake Woman

The Japanese have Nure-onna (“wet woman”), here in an illustration from the Edo Period, by Sawaki Suushi.

Nure-onna – Snake Woman

The snake loa (spirit) are known in Benin and Haiti, she is the companion of the most popular god, Damballah-Wedo, also a serpent:

Aida Wedo – Haiti

From Pink Tentacle:

“Nure-onna is typically seen at the water’s edge, washing her long, flowing hair. In some stories, she carries a small child, which she uses to attract potential victims. When a well-intentioned person offers to hold the baby for Nure-onna, the child attached itself to the victim’s hands and grows heavy, making it nearly impossible to flee. In some stories, Nure-onna uses her long, powerful tongue to suck all the blood from her victim’s body.”

In Ancient Myth Steiner writes about the Greek Mysteries:

The Greeks revered in the Mysteries other Gods as well as the celestial Gods, namely, the Chthonic Gods. And of one who was initiated in the Mysteries one could say with truth: he learns to know the upper and the lower Gods, the Upper and the Lower Gods. The upper Gods were those of the Zeus-circle; but they only have rulership over what is spread out before the senses, and what the intellect can understand. The human being is more than this. Man is rooted with his being in the kingdom of the lower Gods, in the kingdom of the Chthonic Gods.

This Chthonic world consists of twelve elemental groups of beings, which are the real foundation of the visible physical world, and all kinds of magical systems around the Earth try to influence the physical world through these beings. Don Juan talk about the flyers, inorganic beings, in Castanedas books, the Gnostics talk about the Archons, alien predators, the wise Greek healer Daskalos talks bout the Elementals, and Jung talks about the Shadow.

See “Gnostic Parallels in the Writings of Carlos Castaneda” which are good and the best contribution on that web-address. I have collected some texts on Elementals building on the Christian view of Daskalos here.

Steiner writes in “The East in the Light of the West” about the cosmogony of Pherecydes:

In most remarkable words, Pherecydes spoke of the holy primordial triad, of Zeus, Kronos and Chthon, principles fundamental to the earth, having come over from pre-terrestrial ages; he also speaks of a further evolution. But in ancient times men did not clothe matters of this kind in such dry, crude concepts as they do today, they drew vivid pictures of what they saw and recognised in spiritual realms. Pherecydes said: ‘Chthon becomes Gea (today called earth), because of the gift of Zeus whereby she came to be covered as with a garment.’ This is a wonderful description of that evolution which I have just outlined in a few short words. The earth was alone; outside it were the sun and the moon, the spiritual kingdoms of Zeus and of Kronos. The sun from without began to work upon the earth and to fructify it in its then chaotic state; or, in the language of the old Greek sage, Zeus fructified Chthon. The beneficent influences of the kingdom of Zeus were sent down to the physical earth in the warmth and light of the sun. This was the gift made by Zeus to the earth. The earth covered herself with the garment of plant and animal forms, and with the forms of physical men. Chthon becomes Gea; therefore, because of the gift of Zeus the earth covers herself with a garment.

In Relation to Astrology

In  “Astrology, Psychology, and The Four Elements” writes Stephen Arroyo  about Zodiacal Signs as Energy Patterns:

The four elements of astrology (fire, earth, air, and water) are the basic building blocks of all material structures and organic wholes. Each element represents a basic kind of energy and consciousness that operates within each of us. Just as modern physics has shown that energy is matter, these four elements interweave and combine to form all matter. When the spark of life leaves a human body at death, the four elements all dissociate and return to their primal state. It is only life itself, manifesting in an organized, living whole, that holds together the four elements. All four are in every person, although each person is consciously more attuned to some types of energy than others. Each of the four elements manifests in three vibrational modalities: cardinal, fixed, and mutable. Hence, when we combine the four elements with the three modalities, we have twelve primary patterns of energy which are called the zodiacal signs.

Rahu and Ketu

From Rahu and Ketu in Hindu Mythology:

“According to mythological tales Rahu is the head of the dragon. Head as we know contain the brain and controls the functioning of the entire body. This suggests that Rahu is the controlling and active node. Ketu rules of the body, sends feelings and sensations to the brain. To analyse those sensations and take action if necessary is within the jurisdiction of Rahu. More precisely Ketu has the power of transforming the events into experience which turn into wisdom.”

Rahu and Ketu

The head is the Luciferic and the tail is the Ahrimanic, where Rahu relates to Dharma, and Ketu to Karma.

Literature

Wikipedia have a good reference article on the symbolism of serpents:

Wikipedia – Serpent(symbolism)

I look at the snake in European mythology in The Snake and the Heel in Mythos which build on Steiner’s lectures.

More on Incan religion in

Andean Mysticism and Healing the Plane(pdf) by Oakley E. Gordon, Ph.D.

Rahu and Ketu

Chaos or Order? No, Life!

We see everything in opposites,

Right or Wrong,  Chaos or Order,  Good or Bad,  Yin or Yang,  Hot or Cold, …

But,
There is more to it than that.

We all talk about Order fighting Chaos, and most of us see ourselves fighting Chaos on the side of Order. But thats not how the universe is, and that is the reason why so many of our struggles go wrong.

Man is always struggling on one or the other side,
instead of finding the middle way.

Lets take a simple example: The Sun is the most Chaotic we know and the Moon is the most ordered we have, nearby. A Black Hole is of course more ordered, but our moon is just up there. The Sun and The Moon are two opposites, and we would not like to live on any of them, one too hot and the other too cold, so we live on Earth, somewhere in between those two extremes, alive in Equilibrium. Seen from that point of view, both the Sun and the Moon is deadly Bad, while the Earth is Good for living.

I define the Equilibrium as the midpoint between chaos and order, and in this context it is Life (I prefer the vocabulary of chaos theory for that of thermodynamics.)

The more ordered or dead the universe is, the higher entropy of the universe following the Second Law of Thermodynamics. With time the entropy will increase until the absolute death of the universe. So, with Entropy, big is Bad!

Following the Second Law life depends on the difference between Warm and Cold:

Since any thermodynamic engine requires such a temperature difference, it follows that no useful work can be derived from an isolated system with maximum entropy; there must always be an external energy source and a cold sink.

Its interesting that our universe have suns and planets, and life on at least one planet, contrary to the Second Law. The life on Earth has been build against all odds, decreasing the local entropy constantly, since the Big Bang.

Misuse of Resources

Today we are increasing the entropy here on Earth with an alarmingly high rate. Our use of the resources of Earth and our destruction of nature is increasing the entropy and destroying our chances for survival in the long run, removing natures possibilities to decrease the entropy while trying to keep the equilibrium.

In Scientific American there is an intelligent article “Does Nature Break the Second Law of Thermodynamics?” about Thermodynamics and local self-organization.

As we normally think in dualities, we have problems defining equilibrium. If we take Thermodynamics as an example, they define equilibrium in the one extreme where entropy is highest, where the universe is dead. In Chaos-theory equilibrium lies somewhere between chaos and order.

From “The Middle Way” by Radha Burnier:

Sir Martin Rees, the eminent scientist who is the British Astronomer Royal, states in his book Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe, that there is this kind of equilibrium or balance in the cosmos itself. According to him, these six numbers, which are either very, very small or very large, represent various forces in the universe, but all those forces exist in a state of equilibrium. It is very similar to the Eastern idea that there are three gunas or three kinds of forces working throughout manifestation. When they are in a state of equilibrium, it is called spiritual sattva or truth. Sir Martin Rees mentions that through the ages, the force of gravity has been in a state of fine balance with the force of expansion. If the force of gravity were too great, the universe would collapse into nothing. If the force of expansion were too great, the universe would expand away into nothingness.

In Christianity we talk about following the Golden Middle way, staying away from the sides, and the Indians talk about Dharma, the way to follow. In Kabbalah the Pillars at the sides are the opposites, Order to the left and Chaos and energy to the right, and the middle pillar is the equilibrium, Life. In the crosses on Golgotha we have Christ in the middle symbolizing life, Love.

Here a description of The Second Law of Thermodynamics without Entropy, very instructive.

Literature

Ilya Prigogine

Ilya Prigogine

From WikiPedia

Prigogine is known best due to his definition of dissipative structures and their role in thermodynamic systems far from equilibrium, a discovery that won him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1977.

Dissipative structures theory

Dissipative structure theory led to pioneering research in self-organizing systems, as well as philosophic inquiries into the formation of complexity on biological entities and the quest for a creative and irreversible role of time in the natural sciences.

His work is seen by many as a bridge between natural sciences and social sciences. With professor Robert Herman he also developed the basis of the two fluid model, a traffic model for urban networks, using Bose-Einstein Condensation theory in traffic engineering.

Other Work

In his later years, his work concentrated on the mathematical role of determinism in nonlinear systems on both the classical and quantum level. He proposed the use of a rigged Hilbert space in quantum mechanics as one possible method of achieving irreversibility in quantum systems. He also co-authored several books with Isabelle Stengers, including End of Certainty and the classical book La Nouvelle Alliance (The New Alliance).

The End of Certainty

In his 1997 book, The End of Certainty, Prigogine contends that determinism is no longer a viable scientific belief. “The more we know about our universe, the more difficult it becomes to believe in determinism.” This is a major departure from the approach of Newton, Einstein and Schrödinger, all of whom expressed their theories in terms of deterministic equations. According to Prigogine, determinism loses its explanatory power in the face of irreversibility and instability.

….

In deterministic physics, all processes are time-reversible, meaning that they can proceed backward as well as forward through time. As Prigogine explains, determinism is fundamentally a denial of the arrow of time. With no arrow of time, there is no longer a privileged moment known as the “present,” which follows a determined “past” and precedes an undetermined “future.” All of time is simply given, with the future as determined as the past. With irreversibility, the arrow of time is reintroduced to physics. Prigogine notes numerous examples of irreversibility, including diffusion, radioactive decay, solar radiation, weather and the emergence and evolution of life. Like weather systems, organisms are unstable systems existing far from thermodynamic equilibrium. Instability resists standard deterministic explanation. Instead, due to sensitivity to initial conditions, unstable systems can only be explained statistically, that is, in terms of probability.

The Golden Triangle and the Fibonacci Spiral

Serpents of the Kundalini Fire

To continue the tale of the serpents lets look at the Kundalini Fire from India. The Kundalini system looks like the Caduceus Staff with the two Serpents around the spine: The serpents has two different colors like the two outer pillars in the Kabbalah Tree of Life, and they have the same interpretations as the Feminine and Masculine energies. Seven Lotus Flowers or Chakras, which are spiritual organs, are placed on the spine.

Macrocosmic Man

Left side of Man  is the masculine side and the right side is the feminine side, as we see the Tree of Life from the front, the macrocosmic man.

Chakras in the Tree of Life
! Face looking out of paper !

The correspondence between the Chakras (see later) and the Sephirots:

1. Sahasrara or the Crown Chakra, corresponds to Keter
2. Ajna, the Third Eye , or the Brow Chakra corresponds to Chokmah, and the back head chakra with Binah.
3. Vishuddha or the Throat Chakra corresponds to Chesed and Ta Chui, The Neck Chakra, with Gevurah.
4. Ahanhata or the Heart Chakra corresponds to Tiferet
5. Manipura or the Navel Chakra, where Hod corresponds to the Liver and Netzach corresponds to the Stomach
6. Svadhistana or the Sacral Chakra corresponds to Yesod
7. Muladhara, the base of spine, the Root Chakra, corresponds to Malkhut

From the heart and up the feminine and masculine energies are nearly in Equilibrium with the heart near the center.

5. Chesed, 6. Gevurah, 7. Chokmah, 8. Binah, 9. Daat, 10. Kether

Microcosmic Man

Rudolf Steiner describes the two sides of man as being a kind of fight between Luciferic and Ahrimanic powers, where Lucifer is the masculine power (Yang) and Ahriman is the feminine power (Yin). Both described in the literature as Serpents or Dragons. Lucifer represents The Right Pillar, and Ahriman The Left Pillar. They are on Earth seen as Evil powers, but they are necessary factors in our development, as we both need the Feminine and Masculine influence, but we need to find the balance between them. From The Balance in the World and Man, Lucifer and Ahriman:

The left part of you — your left man, as it were — is the fortification set up by Lucifer, and your right man is the fortification set up by Ahriman. And the whole art of life consists in finding the true balance between them.

See also an extended Collection of Steiner texts about Lucifer and Ahriman(pdf) . The energy flows from the left side to the right side, from the Luciferic or Masculine side to the Ahrimanic or Feminine side.

Microcosmic Man

Crossed arms or legs shortcuts the natural streams and should be avoided, except where specified in meditative practices.

From The Kingdom of God from www.adishakti.org/

“Now this Kundalini is the power which is placed in the sacrum bone, nowhere else… And imagine this bone is called sacrum; “sacrum” means “sacred. So they knew there was something in it… This is the primule, is the germinating power within us. Now this fact has been accepted for thousands of years in India and elsewhere. For in the Bible also … they talk of the Tree of Life. That is the same as this… So this is the thing that is being described in our ancient books, in all the scriptures, even in the Qur’an they are described as Ruh, R,U,H, Ruh. “Ruh” means the “cold breeze”, the “cool breeze”. The cool breeze of the Holy Ghost is described in the Bible also.

Japanese Mitsudomoe

The Mitsudomoe represents the trinity of the Shinto religion: Sky, Man, and Earth, which is the same as the three Pillars of Kabbalah: first, second and third, or Steiners Lucifer, Christ, and Ahriman, or the Hindi Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas.

Japanese Mitsudomoe

Korean Sam-Taegeuk

In Sam-taegeuk we have the same three, with red as heaven, blue as Earth, the physical world, and yellow as man.

Korean Sam-Taegeuk

In relation to Kabbalah, blue is the left pillar, yellow the center pillar, and red is the right pillar.

Bön tradition of Tibet

Bön is the oldest spiritual tradition of Tibet, and they use the same symbol as the Korean Sam-Taegeuk.

The Three Gunas

In the Aurvedic tradition the three Gunas are the three principles of the world. The “trinity”, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, represent the gunas, or qualities of tamas, sattva and rajas. From Brahman, Atman, Karma and Gunas

They are sattva (goodness, virtue, essence), rajas (power, passion, activity) and tamas (dullness, inertia). All earthly events, like the laws of nature, are guided by one of the three gunas or a combination thereof. There should be a balance between them for harmonious workings of the world. Disequilibria will lead to chaos, war, suffering, corruption and destruction.

The three gunas dominate People by various degrees and a way to regulate these in the body and mind is through ayurvedic cooking:

Sattvic foods :

Are fresh, juicy, light, unctuous, nourishing, sweet and tasty.
Give the necessary energy to the body without taxing it.
The foundation of higher states of consciousness.
Examples : juicy fruits, fresh vegetables that are easily digestible, fresh milk and butter, whole soaked or also sprouted beans, grains and nuts, many herbs and spices in the right combinations with other foods,…

Rajasic foods :

Are bitter, sour, salty, pungent, hot and dry.
Increase the speed and excitement of the human organism.
The foundation of motion, activity and pain.
Examples : sattvic foods that have been fried in oil or cooked too much or eaten in excess, specific foods and spices that are strongly exciting, …

Tamasic Foods :

Are dry, old, decaying, distasteful and/or unpalatable.
Consume a large amount of energy while being digested.
The foundation of ignorance, doubt, pessimism, …
Examples : foods that have been strongly processed, canned or frozen and/or are old, stale or incompatible with each other – meat, fish, eggs and liquor are especially tamasic.

Saints and seers can survive easily on sattvic foods alone. Householders that live in the world and have to keep pace with its’ changes also need rajasic energy. They ought to keep a balance between the sattvic and rajasic foods and try to avoid tamasic foods as much as possible.

Tamas is Yin or the left pillar of the Kabbalah Tree of Life, and Rajas is Yang or the right pillar, and Sattva is the equilibrium, Tao the imaginary line between Yin and Yang, the center pillar.

Hatha Yoga

The definition of Hatha Yoga, from Erin Goldman:

Yoga, as you may know, means union. Hatha is actually two words in one. Ha meaning sun and tha meaning moon. So one might say that Hatha Yoga is the union of opposites (of sun and moon). We all have “sun energy” within us. This is a masculine, active, fire energy. We also have within us “moon energy”. This is a feminine, passive, cooling energy. The practice of Hatha Yoga joins together these two opposite energies, creating a balanced individual. The combination of the words Ha and Tha in sanskrit means forceful. Thus, the practice creates a more balanced and more powerful you.

And as Ha are the masculine Sun it relates to Rajas, Yang or Lucifer and Tha the feminine Moon relates to Tamas, Yin or Ahriman, and Hatha is the equilibrium and relates to Sattva, Tao, or Christ.

Yamas and Niyamas

In Hatha yoga there are a set of moral and ethic directives, Yamas and Niyamas, that work on the area of Ha and Tha:

The Yamas

Since Yama comes from the root word ‘yam’ ‘to hold’ or ‘to rule’, yama yoga represents the behaviours that ‘control’ certain negative tendencies (the ‘animal/instinctive nature’) that occur in all human beings. These are the five ideals of:

• Ahimsa (non-violence)
• Satya (truth)
• Asteya (non-stealing, or non-cheating)
• Brahmacharya (continence, involving self-restraint and moderation in all you do)
• Aparigraha (non-coveting, including no envy, jealousy or unhealthy competitiveness).

The Niyamas

The niyamas are the general actions that are necessary if we truly want to achieve a condition of health and deep balance within ourselves. The niyamas ask us to aim for:

• Purity (Sauca)
• Contentment (Santosha)
• Ardour (Ishawar-Pranidhana)
• Discipline (Tapas)
• And study of the Self (Svadhyaya)

Yamas is rules to discipline Tha or Yin where Niyamas are rules to discipline Ha or Yang.

Ketu and Rahu

Satyam

Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 5.4.1-5.5.1:

“Clearly, that is itself, and that was just this, namely, the Satyam (the real or true) itself. ‘Brahman is the real (Satyam)’– a man who knows this immense and first-born divine being in this manner conquers these worlds. ‘Brahman is the real (Satyam)’– a man who knows this immense and first-born divine being in this manner, would he ever be conquered himself? For Brahman is simply Satyam (the real or true).

…..The gods venerated only Satyam (the real or true) , which is made up of three syllables — sa, ti, yam. Sa is one syllable, ti is another, yam is the third. The first and last syllables constitute the real, while the middle syllable is the unreal. So the unreal is trapped on both sides by the real and becomes completely united with the real. The unreal does not injure a man who knows this.”

And a slightly different explanation given in Chandogya Upanishad 8.5.4:

“Now the name of Brahman is Satyam (Real or true). This word has three syllables: sa, ti, and yam. Of these, sat is the immortal, and ti is the mortal, while the syllable yam is what joins those two together. Because the two are joined together (yam) by it, it is called yam. Anyone who knows this goes to the heavenly world every single day.”

The last can be shown in western esoteric tradition as:

Incan Tradition

In the Incan tradition they have yachay, munay, and llankey which is the same as the three Pillars of Kabbalah: right, center and left pillar, or Steiners Lucifer, Christ, and Ahriman, or the Hindi Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas:

In the Andes they recognize three ways of knowing, each associated with a different part of our physical body. I have found this distinction to be very useful in organizing my thoughts about what the Andean culture has to offer and how it differs from our own. One way of knowing is through the yachay, which is located in the head. The yachay is the center of the intellect. A second way of knowing is through the munay, which is located in the heart. The munay is the center of love. And a third way of knowing is through the llankay, which is located slightly below the navel. The llankay is the center of the physical body. The Andeans take the whole of who we are as a being and differentiate it into three aspects, sometimes, for they also differentiate it in other ways as well, into two aspects (the right side and left side of the body), or some other number, depending upon the context. […]  Anyway, one class of distinctions the Andeans make in our existence is between the intellect (yachay), the heart (munay), and the ability to manipulate the physical world (the llankay), we can be differentiated in other ways as well. Kenosis.

The Pentagram and the Ether Streams

Steiner describes, in “From the Contents of Esoteric Classes“, the pentagram with:

We’re always surrounded by five ether streams in the world around us on earth. They’re called earth, water, fire, air and thought ethers. These etheric streams are also active in man: earth either from the head to the right foot, from there water ether to the left hand, from there fire ether to the right hand, from there air ether to the left foot, and then thought ether back to the head. This is the occultist’s sacred pentagram, the symbol of man. Its point is directed upwards, which indicates that the spirit streams to man from the heights. The pentagram is present in many flowers and other things in nature. The sign of black magic is a pentagram with one point at the bottom, through which magicians attract bad forces from the earth and send them out of the two top horns into the environment by means of their bad will in order to use soul and nature forces for their own egotistical, evil purposes.

The cross sections of the five etheric streams and their connections with color, taste, and body regions are as follows:

Prithivi Tattwa, earth ether, square with only the corners distinct, yellow, sweet, bones and muscles;
 Apas Tattwa, water ether, crescent moon at fifth day, white, tart, digestion;
 Teja/Agni Tattwa, fire ether, equilateral triangle, red, hot, blood;
 Vaju Tattwa, air ether, circle, green, sour, nerves;
Akasha Tattwa, thought ether, two intersecting spirals — one is distinct, dark blue, bitter, lymph vessel system.

The five ether streams are called Tattwas.

And in “The Creative Cosmic Tone“

It is characteristic of it [the etheric body] that it is indeed, the architect, the creator of the physical body. Just as ice forms out of water, so does the physical body fashion itself out of the etheric body, which, like the ocean, is flooded through by many currents flowing in all directions. Among them are five main currents. When you stand with feet apart and arms outstretched, you can accurately follow the direction of these five currents. They form a pentagram. Everybody has these five currents hidden in him. The healthy etheric body appears so that these currents are, as it were, his bony framework. You must not suppose however, that everything pertaining to the etheric body is only within, because when a person moves, for instance, the currents actually go through the air. This pentagram is as mobile as a man’s physical bony framework. Thus, when the occultist speaks of the pentagram as the figure of man, it is not a matter of something that has been thought out, but rather he is speaking of it as the anatomist does of the skeleton.

Yin and Yang Meridians

Here we see the meridians of the chinese acupunkture system, with Yin as right side and Yang as left side.

The Rosicrucian Cross

The Rosicrucian Cross is the symbol for the Spiritual Stream started by Christian Rosenkreuz known under the name Rosicrucianism. The Rosicrucian Cross combines the seven Red Roses, Lotus Flowers or Chakra’s with the Cross we have seen in the Caduceus Staff or the Tree of Life of the Kabbalah. When the Roses Bloom on the cross the Chakra’s has been opened. The twelve rays are the influence of the Zodiac as the roses symbolize the planets.

In this context, the roses are Yang and the cross Yin, but together they are life, Tao or in Hindi Rajas, Tamas and Sattva.

In Steiners terminology Lucifer, Ahriman and Christ:

He who tears the roses from the black cross and has nothing left but the black cross, would fall into the clutches of Ahriman. The black cross in itself represents life when it strives to embrace inanimate matter. Also, if one were to separate the cross from the roses, keeping only the latter, one would nor find the proper thing. For the roses, separate from the cross, tend to elevate us to a life of selfish striving toward the spiritual, but not to a life in which we reveal the spirit in a material world. Not the cross alone, not the roses alone, but the roses on the cross, the cross carrying the roses: That is our proper symbol. RS

From a meditation by Steiner:

Imagine you see before you a black cross. Let this black cross be for you a symbol for the baser elements that have been cast out of man’s impulses and passions; and at the point where the beams of the cross meet, picture to yourself seven resplendent bright red roses arranged in a circle. Let these roses symbolize for you a blood that is the expression of passions and impulses that have undergone purification.

Kundalini Rising

There are three forces connected with the spine, also called Sushumna or Aaron’s rod. These are Kundalini, the serpent-fire, Ida the female force, and Pingala the male force. The Moon moves in the Ida and the Sun in the Pingala. Ida is cooling. Pingala is heating. The two serpents, around the Spine, has two different colors like the two outer pillars in the Kabbalah Tree of Life, and they have the same interpretations as the Feminine and Masculine energies. They connect Earth with the spiritual world and the spiritual world with Earth. For these to flow the Lotus Flowers, or Chakras, has to be open or running. When European esoteric talk about Initiation eastern religions talk about Kundalini Rising. The development path is described in The Eightfold Path.

Chakras

The Chakras is known all over the world and are the spiritual organs controlling our body. The Inkas in south America know five of them, and they match the Indian descriptions.

The five ñawi (eyes) are roughly equivalent to the chakras. Kulli ñawi corresponds to the third eye, Sonqo ñawi to the heart, kunka ñawi to the throat, cosco ñawi to the navel, and siki ñawi to the root chakra.

The Chinese know them and use them in their medicine. They are the base for Astrology, and most alternative medical schools. When we are born, our Astral organs contains a picture of our Karma, which through our youth are build into the Etheric organs, and the pictures are erased from the Astral body as they are imprinted in the Etheric body. Astrology tells about Karmas influence on you, through those Etheric organs. Through your life you build your new karma in your Astral body, constantly modeling the Astral organs. When the Kundalini fires, your Astral body’s Chakras are imprinted into the Ether body, and you have now made your own Etheric organs, from the Karma you have build in this life, and is now free from the tyranny of your birth chart. The Chakras relation to our spiritual bodies are shown in a table in Dream Interpretation in Esoteric Work

Yetzer ha Tob and Yetzer ha Ra

From “An Introduction to the Study of the Kabalah” by William Wynn Westcott:

In another form of symbolism the Kabalist tells us a man has two companions, or guides; one on the right, Yetzer ha Tob, to good acts, he is from the higher Sephiroth; and one on the left, Yetzer ha Ra, encouraging the appetites and passions, temptations to evil, is an agent of Samael and of The Beast.

Man is in a very unfortunate position according to the Zohar 95 b, for it is there said that the Evil Angel joins him at birth, but the Good Angel only at the age of 13 years.

Merkabah

Merkabah, also spelled Merkava, is the divine light vehicle allegedly used by ascended masters to connect with and reach those in tune with the higher realms, symbolized with the Kabbalah. “Mer” means Light, “Ka” means Spirit, and “Ba” means Body. Mer-Ka-Ba means the spirit/body with rotating fields of light, which transports energy in our spiritual bodies, our chakras are the seven lowest of these sephira.

The four Chayot angels, Man, Ox, Lion and Eagle, represent the basic archetypes that God used to create the current nature of the world, the lower 4 sephira. They also relate to the inner planets, Earth, Moon, Venus, and Mercury.

In Alchemy

In Synergetic Qabala the relation between the Gunas and Alchemical metals are described

Alchemy is not concerned exclusively with consciousness, but also seeks the subtle transformation of the body, so that the physical level is also brought into perfect equilibrium.  Thus, the alchemical metals may be considered analogous to the chakras of the yogis.  We can draw another parallel among the three major principles of alchemy and those of Yoga, which are known as the Gunas. Mercury……….Sattva Sulphur………Rajas Salt……….Tamas The quality of Mercury is vital and reflective; it equates with the spiritual principles of goodness and intelligence; Sattva guna is illuminative.  The quality of Sulphur is fiery and passionate like the principles of Rajas, which incites desire, attachment and action.  The quality of Salt is arrestive and binding, and reflects the gross inertia of matter, which is much like Tamas.  These gunas and the three alchemical substances symbolize spirit, soul and body.  Another “alchemical” way the gunas were applied concerns food: sattvic foods incline one toward meditation and the spiritual life (fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains); rajasic foods are stimulating (i.e. spicy food); tamasic food incites the baser instincts (animal flesh). The concept of four basic elements, harmonized in a fifth, is also common to both alchemy and yoga doctrines.  The Indian elements are known as Tattvas.  They are:  Akasha (quintessence); Tejas or Agni (fire); Apas (water); Vayu (air); Prithivi (earth).  Furthermore, the preparation for the practice of both alchemy and yoga requires a moral or ethical preparation.  Both stress that evil tendencies should be overcome while positive virtues are developed.  This includes both behavior and the purification of various body centers.  The objective is not wealth, but health or wholeness. Alchemy also speaks of a “secret fire”, which is often compared to a serpent or dragon.  Here again, we find the correspondence to Kundalini, the serpent-power.  Alchemy is performed by the aid of Mercury, the illuminative principle, and the powers of the sun and moon.  Both alchemists and Tantrics practice with the essential aid, sometimes sexual, of a mystical sister, the alchemist’s soror mystica or yogi’s yogini, complement of King/Queen, Shiva-Shakti, God/Goddess joined together in the miracle marriage.  The yogic system works in three channels in the subtle body.  One equates with the sun, another with the moon.  They are called ida and pingala.  The third, or harmonizing channel, is known as sushumna, and is associated with illumination.  The twin serpents twine together and open the third way, as shown in the Cadeusus.

Paracelsus in “The life of Philippus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim…” by Franz Hartmann

The Bible tells us that Man is made out of nothing ; that is to say, his spirit, the real man, is from God, who is not a thing, but the eternal reality ; but he is made into three somethings or substances,’ and these three constitute the whole of Man: they are himself, and he is they, and from them he receives all that is good or evil for him. Every state in which man can possibly enter is determined by number, measure, and weight.’ The “Three Substances” are the three forms or modes of action in which the universal primordial Will is manifesting itself throughout Nature, for all things are a Trinity in a Unity. The ” Salt” represents the principle of corporification, the astringent or contractive and solidifying quality, or, in other words, the body ; the ‘Sulphur’ represents the expansive power — the centrifugal force, in contradistinction to the centripetal motion of the first quality — it is that which “burns,” i.e., the soul or light in all things ; and the “Mercury” is the Life, i.e. that principle or form of will which manifests itself as life, or consciousness and sensation. Each of these forms of will is an individual power ;  nevertheless they are substantial, for “matter” and “force” are one, and originate from the same cause. The three substances, held together in harmonious proportions, constitute health; their disharmony constitutes disease, and their disruption death.

Steiner in Salt, Mercury, Sulphur

In olden times men did not use the abstract word think to express something that arose in the mind as a picture. When a real knower spoke about ‘thinking’ he spoke of the salt-process just described. Nor did he speak in an abstract way of the ‘will’ but of the astral forces laying hold of the airy element in man, of the sulphur-process from which the will is born. Willing was a process of concrete reality and it was said that the adjustment between the two — for they are opposite processes — was brought about by the mercury-process, by that which is fluid and yet has form, which swings to and fro from the etheric nature to the astral nature, from the fluidic to the aeriform.

Dambala and Aida Wedo – Tahiti

Body, Soul, and Spirit

In the western countries the church only work with Body and Soul, having done away with the spirit in 689. Steiner says :

 Even the concept of the threefold nature of the human organism or the human being in its entirety has in a certain respect been abolished for occidental civilization by the eighth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in the year 869. I have often mentioned this. The dogma was then established that the Christian does not have to believe in the threefold human being but only in a twofold human being.
The belief in body, soul and spirit was tabooed, and medieval theologians and philosophers who still knew a great deal about the true facts had a hard time to circumvent this truth, for the so-called trichotomy, the “membering” of the human being into body, soul, and spirit had been declared a heresy. They were compelled to teach the duality, namely, that man consists of body and soul, and not of body, soul and spirit.

and here:

Outside the circle of spiritual science, as you know, the total nature of man is thought of as consisting of but two parts, the bodily-physical and the psychic. In the realm of recognized science it is not customary nowadays to mention the spirit. Indeed, following certain premises, the result of reverting to the threefold organization of man (body, soul and spirit), as did the catholicizing Viennese philosopher, Günther, in the nineteenth century, raised scientific misgivings and also the blacklisting, in Rome, of Günther’s interesting books. This was done because as early as 869, at the eighth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, the Catholic Church, in contradiction to both the Old and the New Testaments, had abolished the spirit. It had guided the development of dogmatism in such a way that the organization of man was permitted to comprise body and soul only. Curiously enough, this catholic development has persisted into our present science. If we seek to ascertain from history why scientists admit only body and soul we find but one reason. In the course of time the spirit has been forgotten; the habits of thought prevalent in certain circles have lost the ability to accept the spirit along with the soul of man.

This has melted soul and spirit together to one unit giving the dualistic view with body and soul as opposites, placing the bad Ego in the body and the goodly in the soul, where the Ego should be in the equilibrium in the soul between the materialistic body and the goodly spirit, we should walk the golden middle-way between the physical and the spiritual..

Literature

I have used “The Kabbalistic Sefirot and the Chakras“, and “The Chakras” by Kheper.net, and “Chakras” by Bellabenes Astralseiten (German), in preparation of this text. The Mans inner Cosmic System looks at the organs role in the body. Steiner says that the meaning of Mercury and Venus was changed in old times, so when Steiner connect Venus with the Kidneys and Mercury with the lungs, old traditions will typically do the opposite, as in Universal Healing TAO.

Notes on Lucifer & Ahriman, The spiritual Bodies and Initiation, and The Eightfold Path. A visually inspiring page on Chakras at Chrystal Links. In “Knowledge of the Higher Worlds And Its Attainment” Rudolf Steiner goes more in depth with the Lotus Flowers or Chakras. In “The Occult Significance of the Bhagavad Gita” Steiner looks at Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. Kundalini Shakta by Arthur Avalon (Sir John Woodroffe). In Alchemy: Salt, Mercury, Sulphur and Alchemy: The Evolution of the Mysteries by Rudolf Steiner.

Principles of Christian Dream Interpretation

This paper is quite interesting. The Jews and Christians has thousand of years experience with dream interpretation and they accepted the spiritual world as the source of the dreams which our psychoanalysts don’t, and that limit their success in dream interpretation.

Ha and tha

Tao – The Equilibrium of Yin and Yang

When looking for the Caduceus Staff I thought about the Yin-Yang symbol, as they also have the curves of the serpents. As the Staff in Caduceus and the Middle Pillar of the Kabbalah Tree of Life, the symbol of Yin and Yang has an imaginary line separating the two sides: Tao! In Christianity we call the line for The Golden Middle Way and in India its called the “Middle Way” by the Buddhists and the “razor-edged path” in the Upanishads. Our way through life is lead by two powers, dharma and karma, where dharma is the idea behind our life, the plan that we follow, that lead us to the people we share karma with and karma is what gives form to the idea, what we have to transform to wisdom through understanding.

Yin – Tao – Yang

Dharma is the white half, our super-conscious with our higher I, and karma is the black half, in our subconscious with lower feelings, desires and instincts. The line separating the two are TAO, the soul with the I.

In Europe we use the Mandorla or Vesica Pisces for the same:

All creation starts with the unity splitting in two and later unifies again. From The Gold Egg Model:

According to Chinese myth, before the world began there was chaos shaped like a hen’s egg. The huge Pan Gu separated this egg into Yin and Yang. Yin formed the earth, Yang formed the sky. Yin stood for all the female, wet, dark things of nature, while Yang stood for all the male, dry and bright things. There could be no perfect happiness till there was a balance between Yin and Yang.

Wuji is the uncreated, the primordial, limitless void, the possibility for the created and Taiji is the created, Yang and Yin, heaven and earth. From the interaction between Yin and Yang emanates the soul of man, binding Heaven and Earth together.

Creation

Se also The Taoist Triad and the Three Logoi and Creation in Taoist tradition and European tradition

The description of Tao (from“About the Tao”):

It is so very deep
So tranquil
It seems to barely exist at all.
Its origin is unknown
It preceded the Gods themselves.

Matches the Sephira Keter, which represents the infinite, and is found in the first triangle of the Tree of Life,  separated from Man by the Abyss.

From WikiPedia

“Dion Fortune describes Keter as pure consciousness, beyond all categories, timeless, a point that crystallises out of the Ein Soph, and commences the process of emanation that ends in Malkuth.”

From “The Middle Way” by Radha Burnier:

Hearing the term “the razor-edged path,” one might think it is the most dangerous, but it is the safest of all paths because it is where a complete equilibrium is preserved and therefore there is complete security. It is a path where there is a profound peace, a path where there is absolute harmony. If you stray from that path, get lost in the surroundings, and find other paths, there maybe conflict, there may be hesitation, but when you tread the middle path, it is secure, because it is one-pointed and in it, harmony can be found from the beginning to the end.

Rudolf  Steiner calls Yin for Ahriman and Yang for Lucifer, and the imaginary separating line for Christ.

All things in the universe are either Yin or Yang, but there are no absolutes:  nothing is ever all Yin or all Yang, but a balance between the two forces, when for example day changes into night, it is an example of Yang changing into Yin; when winter turns into spring; it is considered a changing from Yin to Yang.

These forces are opposite and yet complementary, and share an interdependent relationship; without Yin, there is no Yang, and without Yang, no Yin. Yang is generally associated with what are bright, warm, and in motion. Yin is generally associated with what are dark, still and cold.

Neijing says,

“Yin and yang are the law of Heaven and Earth, the outline of everything, the parents of change, the origin of birth and destruction, and the house of shen ming( God or higher consciousness, the spirit, Tao), when curing sicknesses we should base our point of view on the roots (Yin and Yang)”.

“The principle of Yin and Yang is the basic principle of the entire universe. It is the principle of everything in creation.”

“If Yin and Yang change the people will change likewise and their destiny can then be prefigured. … In ancient times those people who understood Tao patterned themselves upon the Yin and the Yang and they lived in harmony with the arts of divination.”

“Obedience to the laws of Yin and Yang means life; disobedience means death.”

“In Heaven there are ethereal spirits; upon earth there is form and shape.”

“Heaven was created by an accumulation of Yang, the element of light; Earth was created by an accumulation of Yin, the element of darkness.”

From I Ching

“In the heavens phenomena take form; on earth shapes take form.”

“Since in this way man comes to resemble heaven and earth, he is not in conflict with them. His wisdom embraces all things, and his Tao brings order into the whole world; therefore he does not err.”

From A Holistic Look at an ancient Chinese Energy Modality I have

According to the Daoists the left of the body is Yang and the right is Yin . Yang represents the male aspects of the human being. Males according to Traditional Chinese Medicine mostly have anger issues . That would mean the acupressure therapist should start on the left side of the male body. All emotional issues , like anger, fear, worry, sadness and joy are functional aspects that involve an output of energy and are therefore described as Yang. Yin represents the female aspects of the human being . Traditionally women have mostly Yin related issues that have to do with blood, lymph and all the fluids . These are structural issues. In this case, the therapist starts on the right side of the body . Also, the area above the navel is described as Yang, while the area below is described as Yin.

Relating Yin and Yang to the sides and up and down of the body. Other traditions work with the same notion:  Serpents of the Kundalini Fire. Not all Chinese texts are in agreement here, just as many new age authors have it reversed.

Chart of the Great Ultimate (Taiji tu)

Rudolf Steiner on TAO:

“The Tao gives expression to the highest to which a large part of humanity can look up and has revered for thousands of years. It is something which was considered as a distant goal of the world and of humanity, the highest element which man carried as a germ within him, which would one day develop into a fully opened blossom from the innermost depths of human nature.

Tao signifies both a deeply hidden basis of the soul and at the same time an exulted future. Not only the name Tao, but the very thought of Tao filled those who had insight into it with timid reverence. The Tao religion is based on the principle of development, and it proclaims:

‘That by which I am surrounded today is but a stage which has to be overcome. I must clearly see that this development in which I am involved has a Goal, that I am going to work towards an exulted Goal and that within me there lives a power which spurs me on to come to the Great Goal of Tao.

If I can feel this great force within me and if I can feel that all creatures are aiming towards this great goal, then this force becomes the guiding force rushing towards me in the wind, sounding out of the stones, flashing its light to me from the sun. In the plant it is revealed as the force of growth, in the animal as feeling and perception.

It is the force which will continually create form after form for every exulted aim, through which I know myself to be at one with the whole of nature, which flows out from me and into me with every breath I take, the symbol for the highest evolving spirit which I experience as life itself. I feel this force as Tao.” (November 16, 1905)

In Korea they have the Taegeuk, where Red symbolizes heaven and blue the material world, Earth.

From Wikipedia:

Taegeuk refers to the ultimate reality from which all things and values originate according to oriental philosophy.

The taegeuk is from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in ancient China.The taegeuk design dates back to the 7th century BC in China but recent excavations go back even further. This shows that the taegeuk design and thought were utilized earlier in China than in elsewhere. There is a stone carved with the taegeuk design in the compound of Gameunsa Temple, built in 628 AD during the reign of Silla’s King Jinpyeong. Traces of taegeuk design have been found in the remains of the ancient cultures in China: in Longmen Grottoes and in YuyuanTai Chi village astrology. The taegeuk design was also used to drive off evil spirits. In the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, the design was later used to represent Korean taoism and to express the hope for harmony of eun and yang to enable the people to live happy lives with good government. The blue and red swirling semicircles of the Taegeuk pattern have existed since ancient times.

Celtic Yin yang swirls on bronze plaque from Mairy, Marne, dated to 4th century BC; on display at Musée des Antiquités nationales in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

Celtic bronze plaque

Roman shield pattern of the Roman Mauri Osismiaci (ca. AD 430), with the dots in each part kept in the same shade of color

Roman shield pattern

A Japanese futatsudomoe (two-fold tomoe)

Japanese Futatsudomoe

References

Doctrine of the Mean, Wikipedia.

Golden Mean(philosophy), Wikipedia.

Yin and Yang in medicine.

The Taiji Diagram’s Early History by Francois Louis

According to the
Daoists the left of the body is Yang and the right is Yin . Yang represents the male
aspects of the human being. Males according to Traditional Chinese Medicine mostly
have anger issues . That would mean the acupressure therapist should start on the left side
of the male body. All emotional issues , like anger, fear, worry, sadness and joy are
functional aspects that involve an output of energy and are therefore described as Yang.
Yin represents the female aspects of the human being . Traditionally women have mostly
Yin related issues that have to do with blood, lymph and all the fluids . These are
structural issues. In this case, the therapist starts on the right side of the body . Also, the
area above the navel is described as Yang, while the area below is described as Yin.