symbolism manifest

Our sole purpose is to express ourselves for the sake of being expressed.  We are perceptible surfaces created to represent our esoteric affinities with the primordial archetypes.

Paintings of all that makes one cry within onself by Hugo Simberg

Psyche is Image

The scorpion wraps his tail around our only nutrients. The warriers are present in body alone.  They are so very weary of protecting the past from the future. The snake slithers before the guardian of the crypt, nearing the depths.  There is a shovel there, in case it is needed for digging or for defense. 

 Now there is a steep slope upward. The pigs have struggled to climb it, as they do not have bodies made for climbing.  The gorilla is at their back, he will reach the diamond first.  The ladder takes whomever climbs it up to the cosmos. Don't you want your head in the clouds?  To block all of this with the sweet, wet taste of mist in your eyes, on your tongue?

The kitten sleeps at the top of the slide, disrupting any swift, smooth decent.  The sword is at the back of the queen's skull, saluting the sun.  Two blades, one with reaper attending, wait nearby. There are messages in the water, if we can make it there.  Mama bear waits on the other side. She watches, radiating her strength, but she cannot assist. We might not make it far enough.  We might go too far, too fast.

We have spiraled back to the totem. The path is smooth and clear, if slightly uphill. Our leader is crystalline and never forgets. He ritualistically mourns the deaths of past lovers and we join him, trusting him through and through.  Baby, we are stronger now with the mother's protection from behind.  The piglets nudge each other forward. We have invited the masses to see our beautiful center.  Come.  Our spiral is endless.  We will never leave and thus, we will never arrive. 

*** *** ***

The human mind is inherently creative.  We can manifest this creativity however we choose.   Activities that allow the creative mind an outlet for expression, both constructive and destructive, allow the shadow to slowly seep into consciousness.  Until we allow the shadow to begin to reveal itself to us through active participation in creative activities, it has no means to let either its presence or purpose be known.   Without expressive capacity, it erupts and demands our attention, like a toddler denied the out-of-reach candy he so lustfully desires.  

But, in order to allow genuine expression of the shadow through creative outlet, we must acknowledge that we do not truly know ourselves.  We must let go of ourselves as we think we are and as we desire to be.  We must throw our masks into the fire and wait for the smoke to clear, revealing our true faces.  It is impossible to truly know oneself due to the dynamic, ever changing nature of being.   We cannot be psychically mature without awareness that parts of us will always be in the dark,  parts that we cannot see and do not realize exist.  The unknown is not separate from the known.   The mind has an evolutionary history.  Creativity is the archaeologic tool that digs us into the depths and reveals the content and structure of our own collective unconscious.  Within the collective unconscious is where our legacy and our individuality reside.  Creation, in all forms, leads us to our truest Self. 

Spare Time

"Love of beauty is taste.  Creation of beauty is art"    -Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you are lonely when you are alone, you are in bad company.

Responsibility. Response Ability.  Is there a difference between being responsible and being response able?

In order to be responsible for one’s affairs or behaviors, inner or outer, one must have a response. The response is a result of being response able.  What we choose to do as a result of our responses is an ethical matter.  The ethical quality of the response is consciousness.  Are you behaving ethically when you take responsibility for your response?

We are not designed to have total control of our emotions.  Fight or flight.  The collective, the creator, the chemical have the ultimate reign over our emotional experience.  So, although becoming consciously responsible is a developmental process, it is not as much a matter of getting better at it as it is a matter of growing into it- becoming comfortable in our lack of control over our own fundamental experiences.   That is written in stone.  The meaning we choose to make of our responsivity is our conscious, responsible choice. Maintaining mindfulness even as the tsunami, the earthquake, the fire and the flood innundate us, inside and out, is the practice.  Responsibility is the outcome. 

I want to be with those who know secret things or else alone.

(art by the luminous spirit, Paul Laffoley)

Take your practiced powers and stretch them out
until they span the chasm between two contradictions...
For the god wants to know himself in you.
-Rainer Maria Rilke


Surrender yourself to death, return what was loaned to you.
Give up your pleasures, your pains. Give up your friends, your lovers. Give up your family, your past.
Surrender what you hate, what you desire. You will know nothingness.
It is the only reality.
You will no longer want to possess.
Possession is the ultimate pain.
-Jodorowsky


Transition is all around us. All that you count on will change. It is an amazing blessing to watch the lotus unfurl and amazingly painful to watch the petals decay back into the mud. These concepts are not so hard to grasp, yet it still feels like a shot to the heart when we lose things we thought we would always have and gain things we didn't even know we were missing. We are unfortunate to live in a culture that buries so many fundamental elements of reality- anger, death, evil, intimacy, altruism. Here in modern America, we are not allowed to see these things, instead they must be hidden under our masks and we are trained to be terrified when they ooze out into the light.

Something must die, if anything is to live. Every decision involves excluding the non-chosen options. I believe that energy and matter are finite, cycling back into themselves at all times. When we let go we aren't really letting go, per se, but more likely performing some energetic alchemy, some psychomagic. Transformation is undoubtedly a healthier, more connected process than banishment, repetition or repression.

We all resonate in each moment with a specific vibration that is only attractive to some. Sometimes our vibrations are out of tune and the result is that we don't resonate with any other energies or beings that actually compliment us. Defeated, some of us recognize our mistakes, take the time to clue into our true selves and try again with a clearer heart. Others among us have never been in tune, born with the karmic debt of learning to expect dissonance in relationship with others instead of harmony. These people walk the gray line between blessing and curse and may feel destined to be either alone or surrounded with people that block them from cultivating the very areas of their soul that need to be watered most. The possibility for each path lies within each one of us. In the eyes of God, we are all equal.

today's reading: What was true is no longer true

"My energy is the energy of the universe. My power is mine." -A. Crowley


The 8 of cups arises during periods where you are tired and where there is severe emotional distress. It carries with it an urgent warning to attend to whatever is blocking your energy, and to try to create open channels to get things moving again.

One area that will often be indicated by the appearance of this card is the sort of relationship in which you consistently give too much, and receive very little back in return. Remember, we deserve to receive from others exactly what we are prepared to give to ourselves. So if we give ourselves scant attention, why should anybody else do any more for us? But, on the other hand, if we treat ourselves with love and respect, then we have every right to expect that from those around us.

There is a general sense of dissatisfaction arising from a realization that the things we have fought and struggled to attain may not be as satisfying as we had hoped they would be. It is time to ask yourself what you can do to bring a deeper satisfaction and joy to your life beyond the obvious pursuit of material satisfactions and/or physical enjoyments.

Nothing is permanent in life. Sooner or later, everything slips away...or we slip away from it. The eight of Cups stands for those moments when we realize, once and for all, that the past is gone. What was true is no longer true. Become more aware of the physical, mental or emotional sacrifices that are or will become involved in the present situation. There may exist a cause more worthy of your efforts and sacrifice. You need to heal. Release old patterns, especially those that have dominated thoughts and emotions. Don't be afraid to leave the past behind. There's plenty more in the world to see. Take a break and make a change.

The eight of cups is the decline of efforts made toward the attainment of something desired due to disappointment in the results received thus far. Whether you see it or not, you're being given the opportunity to rise above your habitual or instinctive response patterns and if you make a conscious attempt to do so, they will lose their grip on you.

You're on the true path, so try not to regret the sacrifices of your decision.