Man the Animal
Science and the materialists say we’re apes. Traditional teachings say the same, to a point. This shouldn’t be an observation that alarms anyone, though of course it’s a common tendency to desire to be special and view oneself as somehow separated from the animal; and we are, ideally. Part of what…
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Epiphany of Being
Correspondence “Becoming is not a contradiction of being but the epiphany of being” ~ Ananda Coomaraswamy. Traditional teachings say that our empirical, material world is a reflection of the spiritual from which it receives all of its reality; or in other words the metaphysical manifests itself in the world. Everything in…
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Gilgamesh
The Epic of Gilgamesh is a ‘warrior/kingly’ class saga, complete with the solar motif of Gilgamesh the king living under the divine protection of the sun god Shamash (Sumerian ‘Utu’). Far from being the ideal ruler however, he abuses his station, is prone to overindulging in sentimentalism, and overturns the right…
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Breath, Word, Language
“The mouth is the beginning of all speech,a support to wisdom and a comfort to the wise,and a prosperity and trust to every earl.”~ Old English Rune Poem. ᚨ In many cultures it is a shared perspective that all is symbol, an expression and reflection of principles which exist above it…
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Hercules in Hell
After his murderous insanity induced by the goddess Hera, Hercules travelled to Delphi to atone and pray to Apollo for guidance, who directed him to serve Eurystheus as penance, leading to Hercules’ famous 12 Labours. The pattern of 12 appears often, as in the number of the Olympian gods, as well…
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The Old Man and his Horse
There once was an old man and his son who made a living raising horses, their home lay on the border of barbarian territory. One day, one of their horses escaped and ran off into the foreign land. All the community felt sorry for them; “You must be so upset!”, they said.The…
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Why Orpheus Failed
When Orpheus’ wife Eurydice died, the grief-stricken Orpheus descended into the Underworld in order to retrieve her back again. He is allowed this on one condition: he cannot look back at her as they reascend to the world of the living. Thinking this would be easy, he agrees, and yet as…
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Yin and Yang – 陰陽
The concept of Yin and Yang is most often illustrated within a symbol called a “Taijitu”, which represents Taiji, “great pole”, in both its monist (Wuji) and its dualist (Yin and Yang) aspects. And so represented is the ultimate, supreme Principle that is unmanifest, Wuji, and from this comes the creator…
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Symbolism: A Year and a Day
A Year in itself is a measurement of a complete cyclical process, and is a Cosmic-Cycle in miniature, a microcosm of the macrocosm, often associated with the visual symbol of the Circle or Ring, such as in the relation of the Latin words “annus” and “anus” meaning year and ring respectively.…
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For Fugitives Are We
“Zeus, the Suppliant God, be gracious to us, pitifully behold us, for fugitives are we.”~ Chorus in The Suppliant Maidens by Aeschylus, Greek Tragedian. : : : There are laws which are purely the invention of mankind and then there is Natural Law. When it comes to the Natural Law of…
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Symbolism: East-West
In the language of symbolism the Cardinal Directions, East, West, South and North, in which their two axes intersect in the form of a Cross, represent the two-dimensional space that this world born of Chaos takes shape and disperses itself. Together with the third-dimension provided by Zenith and Nadir, the upward…
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Sum Ergo Oro 