The Heart Nebula & the Flaming Heart of Venus

The Heart Nebula (detail) - Photo credit: 2022, Ernie-Jacobs. Geometry: 2024, DS.

 "What's that inside the Heart Nebula? First, the large emission nebula dubbed IC 1805 looks, in whole, like a human heart. It's shape perhaps fitting of the Valentine's Day, this heart glows brightly in red light emitted by its most prominent element: hydrogen. The red glow and the larger shape are all created by a small group of stars near the nebula's center. In the heart of the Heart Nebula are young stars from the open star cluster Melotte 15 that are eroding away several picturesque dust pillars with their energetic light and winds. The open cluster of stars contains a few bright stars nearly 50 times the mass of our Sun, many dim stars only a fraction of the mass of our Sun, and an absent microquasar that was expelled millions of years ago. The Heart Nebula is located about 7,500 light years away toward the constellation of the mythological Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia)."

- Via this NASA archive page: In the heart of the heart nebula. Basically, the Heart Nebula - in the constellation Cassiopeia, composed of 5 major stars - seems to be an artifact created by gases from the birth processes of new stars, but, well, nothing I've read simplifies it to that degree, so it's merely my guess. In any case,  it's very impressive looking... like looking into the innards of an exploded star (nova) or a bubbling cosmic cauldron. Also, see its companion: the Soul Nebula... and an interesting star, φ Cassiopeiae.

Inset right is a cardioid animation, created by Atomic Shoelace, and sourced from the Wiki entry for Heart Symbol. I've never seen this before, but, looking at it now, it appears that the cardioid and the pentagonal golden spiral have something in common.

(continued after the jump-break...)

The Master's House and The Tower Card

The Master's House

(In memory of A. Lorde)

The Master's house is in disrepair;

the seals have been broken.

Rats are in the walls.

Pigeons shit on the front stoop.

There's a hole in the roof

bats fly through...

Windows with glass teeth

where weeds wind through.

Echoes of screams

in the living room.

Grey ash fills the corners;

 all four:

riders on horseback,

all dead.

- 2023, DS 

- My poem owes a nod to Audre Lorde's 1984 essay: The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House. Another line from that article:

"Only within a patriarchal structure is maternity the only social power open to women."

- Image: Les Quatre Chevaliers de l'Apocalypse - ink on paper - 1937, André Fougeron. Tate Museum, UK.

***

“Empires and churches are born under the sun of death.”

- A line from Albert Camus', The Fall.

"Whereas the Death card is usually the card people are terrified of, out of all of the cards in the deck, The Tower is the one you really need to brace yourself for. The Tower Tarot card represents chaos and destruction. It is the Major Arcana card of sudden upheaval and unexpected change. This change usually is scary, life changing and often unavoidable. A negative Tower event can be akin to a bomb going off in your life. You don’t know how you will survive but somehow you will and later you will realize that while it was a tremendously difficult thing to go through and you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy, it has made you into the person you are. One positive aspect of The Tower is that the destruction it brings is usually directed at something that was built on a false beliefs and foundations or unrealistic goals and dreams. Also on the bright side, the destruction The Tower brings is always followed by renewal and creation."

- Excerpt from a tarot page found here.

"So what does it mean to call the tower card "The Foundation of Beauty?" Simply put, those possessing true inner beauty will reach the crown, Kether, and their spiritual goals. Here is the realm of creative fantasy, a place of refuge from the harsh "realities" of the earth sphere. Through the Tower, the seeker casts aside false ideas and thoughts about herself or her world. The seeker will discover her true path, the path leading to emotional and spiritual fulfillment. However, like the pictures on the Tower card, the way to the path can be violent and chaotic. Reed likens the experience of the Tower card to having the top of your head lifted and a lightning bolt striking through your brain and down to your toes. It is a searing light that burns into your deepest heart and shows you the imperfections there. It shows how much you have to learn, and by comparison, how little you have learned. It goes through your feet and makes a hole in the ground that you very much want to crawl into."

- Excerpt from this Llewellyn "Tower" page.

***

This post is, more or less, an addendum to my previous post: Dancing with the Ghost of Albert Camus wherein I describe my own "Tower moment" using the image above (inset right).

It is one of the earliest "Tower" cards - from The Tarot of Marseille deck - but, as we can see, it's actual name is "La Maison Dieu" or God House, which was, in the Middle Ages a hospital-monastery intended to accommodate pilgrims. (See this tarot forum page.) Perhaps the original symbolism of the card was, likewise, somewhat different.

Needless to say, there are towers... and, then, there are towers... and there are masters... and, then, there are masters.

The Mad Minstrel in the Gallery

"In days of peace 

sweet smelling summer nights

of wine and song;

dusty pavements burning feet.

Why am I crying, I want to know.

How can I smile and make it right?

For sixty days and eighty nights

and not give in and lose the fight."

- Lyrics from With You There to Help Me, 1970, Ian Anderson.

I've been searching through my mental catalogue of music for the past week, trying to locate a particular set of sounds that somehow fit my present (precarious) situation... and the present place of this blog in time... but, regardless of my efforts, I just could not find the right tune.

That is, until this morning, when my present housemate greeted me with Ian Anderson and the musical moment presented above (alternate video). Yes, this tune is a vintage one - another one from over 50 years ago (!) - but it's a time-traveling tune, i.e., a pentagonal manifestation... and, by this, we know it's timeless.

And, by who better than the Mad Minstrel from a band named Jethro Tull? The man who transformed Bach so deliciously... and who can be recognized so effortlessly in the Tull poster (inset right).

Incidentally, Jethro Tull is touring now in the UK and will be elsewhere in Europe next year. (Timeless is forever.)

It just occurred to me that the winter solstice is almost upon us... and many moons ago, I chose Jethro Tull's album, Songs from the Wood as a seasonal favorite. Above is a great live version of the title track. (Note: Velvet Green, live.) Sadly, the  related video and links were broken in the solstice post... only to be (happily) resurrected here.

For lyrics (in English) to Songs from the Wood and Velvet Green see this Obsidian Magazine article written by Peg Aloi: Love from the Fields; The Imagery of Pagan Britain in the Songs of Ian Anderson.

Update (12/3/22): Epiphany: Ian Anderson as The Fool in a tarot deck. Traditionally, The Fool is the wild card... and numbered 0... a sort of alpha/omega in the circle of the Major Arcanum. Generally depicted as a youthful, carefree (and careless) vagabond, in one of the original decks he is also shown playing a pipe - specifically what appears to be the bag-pipes.

Various interpretations of The Fool include a madman or wild man, vagabond, jester, and wandering minstrel or bard... and eventually, the Joker, a trickster. In games it represented both the highest card and the lowest trump.

I particularly like the interpretation (found here), quoted below:

"The Fool represents the beginning of the journey of life, represented by the Major Arcana of the Tarot. They are the 0th card, meaning although they are at the beginning of the journey they can really enter the Major Arcana sequence at any point.

They represent both the beginning of the journey and the entire journey itself. They have an air of tranquility. They transcend the mundane reality of stress and work and encourage us to see the world with what the Zen masters call Beginner’s Mind."

Inset right is The Fool from the very early Sola Busca tarot deck, created in Italy during the late 15th century.

The Restoration of Symmetry: The Philosopher's Stone

The illustration for Michael Maier's 21st alchemical Emblem
from Atalanta Fugiens, by Swiss engraver, Matthäus Merian, 1617.
(All images in this post can be clicked for their original, larger size.)

The Philosopher's Stone

"Make of the man and woman a Circle, of that a Quadrangle, of this a Triangle, of the same a Circle and you will have the Stone of the Philosophers.

...In like manner the Philosophers would have the Quadrangle reduced into a Triangle, that is, into a Body, Spirit and Soul, which three appear in the three previous colours before Rednesse: that is, the Body or earth in the Blacknesse of Saturn, the Spirit in the Lunar whitenesse as water, and the Soul or air in the Solar Citrinity. Then the Triangle will be perfect, but this again must be changed into a Circle; that is, into an invariable rednesse, by which operation the woman is converted into the man and made one with him, and six the first of the perfect numbers is absolved by one, two having returned again to an unity in which there is Rest and eternall peace."

- From Emblem 21 of Michael Maier's alchemical test, Atalanta fugiens, 1617.

"The theoretical roots outlining the stone’s creation can be traced to Greek philosophy. Alchemists later used the classical elements, the concept of anima mundi, and Creation stories presented in texts like Plato's Timaeus as analogies for their process. According to Plato, the four elements are derived from a common source or prima materia (first matter), associated with chaos. Prima materia is also the name alchemists assign to the starting ingredient for the creation of the philosopher's stone. The importance of this philosophical first matter persisted throughout the history of alchemy. In the seventeenth century, Thomas Vaughan writes, "the first matter of the stone is the very same with the first matter of all things".

- From the Wiki entry for Philosopher's Stone.

"Dr. Sigismund Bacstrom believed that if a physician could establish harmony among the elements of earth, fire, air, and water, and unite them into a stone (the Philosopher's Stone) symbolized by the six-pointed star or two interlaced triangles, he would possess the means of healing all disease. Dr. Bacstrom further stated that there was no doubt in his mind that the universal, omnipresent fire (spirit) of Nature: "does all and is all in all." By attraction, repulsion, motion, heat, sublimation, evaporation, exsiccation, inspissation, coagulation, and fixation, the Universal Fire (Spirit) manipulates matter, and manifests throughout creation. Any individual who can understand these principles and adapt them to the three departments of Nature becomes a true philosopher."

- From the The Secret Teachings of all Ages by Manly P. Hall, 1929.

"Associated with spontaneous symmetry breaking is the phenomenon of symmetry restoration. If one heats a system that possesses a broken symmetry it tends to be restored at high temperature. ... Above the critical temperature the system exhibits rotational symmetry. Such a transition from a state of broken symmetry to one where the symmetry is restored is a phase transition. We believe that the same phenomenon occurs in the case of the symmetries of the fundamental forces of nature. Many of these are broken at low temperatures. Very early in the history of the universe, when the temperature was very high, all of these symmetries of nature were presumably restored. The resulting phase transitions, as the universe expanded and cooled, from symmetric states to those of broken symmetry have important cosmological implications."

- An excerpt from David J. Gross's The role of symmetry in fundamental physics, 1996.

***

I suppose the "Restoration of Symmetry" seems like a rather coldly analytical approach to Love, but, for a "geometer moth"  - that is, those of us for whom connecting-the-dots, so to speak, is an integral part of our nature - finding the hidden codes which help describe the world in which we live is not so much what we do, but what we are. And, like the geometrid, we do not tenaciously hide this information from view - as if it were knowledge we, alone, had access to - but, instead, wear the information on our metaphorical wings... or the skin of our backs. That is to say, we display information; we are unable to secret it away.

A contemporary glyph for Maier's diagram shown in his 21st emblem (above).*

Symmetry is a word that has tremendous importance in the world of science - in physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, and, yes, even philosophy - in which its definition varies somewhat, but, ultimately, refers to the similar phenomenon one finds in art and geometrical figures. Basically, it refers to physical parts, properties, or processes which are equivalent in two or more directions. The circle is a figure which, for instance, is geometrically equivalent in all directions, and is thereby described as having rotational symmetry. The Philosopher Stone glyph shown above - a modern interpretation of German alchemist (and counsellor to Emperor Rudolf II) Michael Maier's emblem (circa 1617) (artist unknown) - has bilateral symmetry, in that if a line is down its center, each side is exactly equivalent to the other, although seen in reverse. This can also be referred to as reflective symmetry as one side effectively mirrors the other.

Patron Saint #11: Frida Kahlo: Portraits of La Santa Muerte

Autorretrato con collar de espinas (Self Portrait with Necklace of Thorns) - oil on canvas - 1940, Frida Kahlo
(Apart from this image which is posted at its maximum size, all others on this page
 can be clicked to enlarge.)

“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you.”

- Frida Kahlo; quote found here.

__________________________________________

I've not been a huge fan of most film and television fare in recent years, so I tend to miss a lot of things. And, when Julie Taymor's Frida (2002) appeared on the tube several months ago, I was a liitle hesitant; not convinced that Selma Hayek (or, anyone, for that matter) could pull off the heavy title role. Happily, I was wrong, and, for the most part, I enjoyed the film. And, it renewed my interest in possibly one of the most celebrated, venerated - and, possibly least understood - artists of the past century, Frida Kahlo (July 6, 1907 - July 13, 1954).

As it was, Frida Kahlo's story came up a few times in the autumn of last year, during research for "Dia(s) de Los Muertos". At first, I thought it was amusing that, while googling "The Day(s) of the Dead," Kahlo's imagery - and photos of Kahlo herself - kept popping up on my computer monitor, but, after exploring some of these links, and doing a little investigation of my own, an intriguing picture began to emerge. Ultimately, Frida Kahlo might not be associated with the Days of the Dead for superficial reasons. As it was, I begin to suspect, in many ways, not only was she aware of La Santa Muerte (or Santisima Muerte) the patron Saint of Death - in spite of the fact that she had not come from, nor lived in the lower class barrios - she, in many ways, identified with her and, possibly, even paid tribute to her, along with the Saint's Mesoamerican forebear, the goddess of death, Mictecacihuatl. Moreover, as documentation of contemporary Santa Muerte worship just happened to originate around the middle of the 20th century - anywhere from the 1940s to the 1960s (Kahlo herself died in 1954) - I suspect that, not only was Frida Kahlo an early contributor (albeit unwittingly) to the religion's more recent form (see here and here), she has become, in a sense, one of the saint's corporeal embodiments...

Addendum

A series of drawings by Louise Despont - pencil on antique paper

"I think art is one way in which magical symbols and images can be presented to the public in a way that will not appear threatening. We know from the history of art in the past 100 years, that many genuine schools of occultism came forth to present themselves as what I am going to call mystical schools of painting, of sculpture and so forth. I am particularly concerned about one French school", says Bertiaux. "It is the pataphysical school. It was allied to Dada, surrealism, spiritualism and trance medium ship. The whole idea was that we would explore structures of the unconscious and come back renewed with a new kind of imagery and energy we can focus through works of art. The pataphysicians are my favorites, because what they sought to do was to create a kind of alternative science. I remember a pataphysician telling me, that as metaphysics is to physics, so pataphysics is to metaphysics, which meant an intuitive extension into the abstract or the transcendental or the less known aspects of experience."

 What were the characteristics of this school, I asked?

 "One of the characteristics would be their drawing of inspiration from dream states and a kind of somnambulistic meditation", says Bertiaux. "Another would be the idea that everything has a psychic history. This is related to “the cult of the found object” in modern art, the discovery of “the given.”

We know that there are many artists who will go around looking for what they call “a found

object” – actually they wouldn’t have to look very hard. According to the theory a found object

would “speak” to them and indicate to them that this was what was needed for the artwork of the artist.

The famous American sculptress Louise Nevelson - who worked with large assemblages and collages made from wood and wooden pieces - she had what I call her esoteric school", Bertiaux explains.

"These helpers of Louise Nevelson would get up very early in the morning. She lived in a town house in Manhattan, I believe; and they would go up and down the alleys, looking for discards. They were all kinds of individuals who were perhaps misfits in the outer world, but she believed them to be tremendously psychic. They all worked for her as her technicians, her helpers, in finding objects and wrapping them up in newspapers and paper bags, bringing them home; and then when they had all these treasures before them, they would let the objects tell them where to use them. And this came from a kind of psychic dialogue with the found object – which, I might add, was very similar to what Carl Jung taught many of his patients, to engage in with many natural things in their own experience."

- From: Arts and the Occult - An interview with Michael Bertiaux by Bjarne Salling Pedersen (.pdf file)

***

During the latter half of my research of the astrological sign Capricorn (and its constellation Capricornus) I stumbled upon an interesting man, Michael Bertiaux (b. January 18, 1935). According to Wiki, he is best known for his occult classic, "Voudon Gnostic Workbook", described as: "a 615-page compendium... spanning the sub-fields of Voodoo, Neo-Pythagoreanism, Thelema and Gnosticism". I somehow intuited that this man was someone I needed to acquaint myself with... and, when I pursued the .pdf file link provided, I was really amazed... 

The Magic of Art & The Art of Magic

"Personaje Astral" - oil on board - 1961 - Remedios Varo

"Behind the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of ancient doctrines, behind the shadows and the strange ordeals of all initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings, in the ruins of Nineveh or Thebes, on the crumbling stones of the old temples, and on the blackened visage of the Assyrian or Egyptian sphinx, in the monstrous or marvelous paintings which interpret to the faithful of India the inspired pages of the Vedas, in the strange emblems of our old books of alchemy, in the ceremonies at reception practiced by all mysterious societies, traces are found of a doctrine which is everywhere the same, and everywhere carefully concealed. Occult philosophy seems to have been the nurse or god-mother of all intellectual forces, the key of all divine obscurities, and the absolute queen of society in those ages when it was reserved exclusively for the education of priests and of kings. It reigned in Persia with the magi, who at length perished, as perish all masters of the world, because they abused their power..."

- Eliphas Levi, from his introduction to Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual, 1856

"Actually, art and magic are pretty much synonymous. I would imagine that this all goes back to the phenomenon of representation, when, in our primordial past, some genius or other actually flirted upon the winning formula of “This means that.” Whether “this” was a voice or “that” was a mark upon a dry wall or “that” was a guttural sound, it was that moment of representation. That actually transformed us from what we were into what we would be. It gave us the possibility, all of a sudden, of language. And when you have language, you can describe pictorially or verbally the strange and mystifying world that you see around you, and it’s probably not long before you also realize that, hey, you can just make stuff up. The central art of enchantment is weaving a web of words around somebody. And we would’ve noticed very early on that the words we are listening to alter our consciousness, and using the way they can transform it, take it to places we’ve never dreamed of, places that don’t exist."

- Alan Moore via a 2013 interview found here.

“In Mexico City they somehow wandered into an exhibition of paintings by the beautiful Spanish exile Remedios Varo: in the central painting of a triptych, titled “Bordando el Manto Terrestre,” were a number of frail girls with heart-shaped faces, huge eyes, spun-gold hair, prisoners in the top room of a circular tower, embroidering a kind of tapestry which spilled out the slit windows and into a void, seeking hopelessly to fill the void: for all the other buildings and creatures, all the waves, ships and forests of the earth were contained in the tapestry, and the tapestry was the world."

- excerpt from Thomas Pynchon's "The Crying of Lot 49" (full quote)

Remedios, I told you that I am making you a spell against [the evil eye]. There it is. Last night I had a fever of 38, auto-suggestion perhaps—I do not feel well enough to go out—Come to see me if you can? Can both of you come to drink your tequila? … Leonora.

- Alleged Note from Leonora Carrington to Remedios Varo written on a drawing - found here.

***

Alan Moore, described as "the greatest graphic novel writer in history" - and, a self-professed magician - has been constellating on the web in recent weeks, beginning with the Mysterious Universe article: Artists Manipulate Minds Using Powerful Magic. Well, that's an attention grabber for sure, but, In the article, Lee Arnold is, for the most part, referring to graphic art; pulling examples from the advertising world, and the slick shlock found on television. But, then, the ways and means by which we're manipulated via the televised world is a given; it goes without saying. In reference to magic however, advertising and commercial iconography is the lowest common denominator - the bottom feeder - of the creative spectrum. It represents mere tricks of the trade, a practiced sleight of hand, and not the workings of the "Magus."

But, it got me to thinking about art and magic, and, although Moore was elucidating specifically on the written word - he is, after all, a writer - my thoughts turned to line and form... as they would, in my perennial investigation of a form language.

Quantum Esoterica: Metastructures

"To sum up, then, we have used the computer as an example of how it is possible to have an objective kind of process of soma- significance, and we have expressed this mathematically in terms of symmetric and unsymmetric matrices. Through the fact that in the quantum theory both the state of existence of matter and the law of how it moves and transforms itself are expressed in terms of similar symmetric and unsymmetric matrices, we showed how our notion of the universality of soma- significant and signa- somatic activity may be seen as contained at the very basis of modern physics. But (as shown elsewhere) this use of matrices is also a typical way of mathematically formulating what is meant by the implicate order. It follows that the latter provides a general mode of description that covers the activity of human consciousness, of computers which are a product of this consciousness, and of nature in general which exists beyond this consciousness."

- David Bohm, excerpt from Soma- Significance: A New Notion of the Relationship Between the Physical and the Mental

***

"Yes. Physics is more like quantum organism than quantum mechanics. I think physicists have a tremendous reluctance to admit this. There is a long history of belief in quantum mechanics, and people have faith in it. And they don't like having this faith challenged."

- David Bohm via an interview with F. David Peat, found here

***

"Quantum mysticism is a term that has been used to refer to a set of metaphysical beliefs and associated practices that seek to relate consciousness, intelligence, or mystical world-views to the ideas of quantum mechanics and its interpretations. An example is the idea that consciousness causes collapse (e.g. the act of observation affects reality directly). Many ideas associated with "quantum mysticism" have been criticized as either misinterpretations of quantum mechanics or as pseudoscience.

... (In) the 1980 book Wholeness and the Implicate Order, David Bohm portrays reality as a unity which can be understood in terms of implicate and explicate orders. The latter book was strongly criticised by Steven Weinberg, a leading campaigner against the introduction of paradigms and ideas involving or suggesting the substantiality of mind, quasi-spiritual interpretations and other such concepts drawn from outside the purview of physics, in the so-called "Science wars"."

- excerpt via the Wiki entry for "Quantum Mysticism"

***

"David Bohm was widely considered one of the best quantum physicists of all time."

- via the Wiki entry for David Bohm

***

"Organic geometry... the idea of energy distributing itself... the concept of energy having consciousness, and consciousness being the fabric, the means upon which - and through which - energy distributes itself... acts... and, that action - through the event of idea and creative impulse - takes form... and, within a certain framework, must take form... and depending upon the conditions of its dimension, is forced to take form in specific ways.

In this dimension (sic)... perhaps in all, to some degree, the determining law of structure might be akin to both music and mathematics... the idea of rhythm, frequency, wave, fluctuation, sequence. In this way, "reality" - the physical world - cannot be as rigid as we perceive it visually. It is always in a state of flux, vitality, movement. A fluid fabric of color, pattern, sound. The law of this dimension (sic) may be seen (also) as akin to time... an imaginary structure... a symbolic structure composed of units and cycles..."

-  excerpt from the second "Temp L" notebook - Dia Sobin - 8/4/83 - NYC

I wrote the above in 1983 - almost 30 years ago, which is cause for pause - but then, I've been coming across a lot of ancient memorabilia recently, as I begin to rummage through the detritus of my life in an effort to relocate myself. As for the quote above, from a trilogy of notebooks chronicling the progress of my Metastructures project (previously mentioned here), interestingly, my "belief systems" have changed very little in those intervening years. The only word I might question is "dimension" as, obviously we do not live in a singular one, but a series of them - the actual number being a matter of opinion.

Originally referred to as Temp L, or the Temple Drawings - an enigmatic series of drawings executed in blue pencil - the images which comprise Metastructures evolved (or devolved) into a deck of cards. As it was, during the '70s - my "occult" years - I initially assumed my first sketches of the 4 symbols - which emerged at that time - were my interpretations of  Tarot deck, or playing card suits. Ten years later, however, and picking up where I left off - which I would do intermittently until the late 90's - the card deck became wholly a geometric abstraction... similar to the lesser arcana of the Tarot, but seemingly in an essentially different language - an alien tongue which, to my mind, seemed ultimately more universal. 

Initially, I had no plans for Metastructures beyond a series of abstract paintings - the 8 images below were created with the first small oil paintings I created of my enigmatic "subjects" in 1986 - but, after simultaneously creating a working deck of sketched images, I reverted to my "occult" tendencies, and began to see them as a possible oracle. Below, then are the card mock-ups and their "meanings", which have, as well as the images, evolved over time. (one later version can be found here. Though this idea was eventually scrapped, I was still happiest with mono-tones as the known spectrum of color felt inadequate.)

Esoteric overview of : Unit One - Force/Entity

Unit of Energy - Life-force dynamic - an Intelligence - the Prime-mover - the ordering force/organizing center - subatomic particle -  identity/self-reference - Creatura - the sentient entity - the conscious collective

Pictured (above, left): the Aggregate (process structure) of Unit One, numeral 6.

Practical meaning: Self-expresssion. The process of recovery and discovery. The idea of a family, or close personal ties in a work environment.

Pictured (above, right): the Radiant (dynamic structure) of Unit One, numeral 6.

Practical meaning: The integration of forces. The symbol of the spouse or intimate partner. Possibly the numerological idea of a #6 personality.

Esoteric overview of : Unit Two - Motion/Emotion

Unit of Activity - Fluid - Flow - Fluctuation - Rhythm - Magnetism - Gravity/Acceleration - Reflection -  Relationship - chemistry - Pulse/Impulse - spin

Pictured (above, left): the Aggregate (process structure) of Unit Two, numeral 6.

Practical meaning: Re-stabilization after discord. Emotional recovery, support.

Pictured above, right): the Radiant (dynamic structure) of Unit Two, numeral 6.

Practical meaning: Love affair - an essential bonding. Fusion. Regeneration.

Esoteric overview of : Unit 3 - Dimension

Unit of Consciousness - Psi - psyche - Energy's path - Frequency - Wave - Code - communication - Network - Matrix - Idea (unformed) - "aether" - synchronicity - transference of thought 

Pictured (above, left):the Aggregate (process structure) of Unit 3, numeral 6.

Practical meaning: Solving a problem; communication processes. Psychological dependency. Seeking/finding help. Something known but not consciously excepted.

Pictured above, right): the Radiant (dynamic structure) of Unit 3, numeral 6.

Practical meaning: A successful idea, plan, concept. An affirmation, an agreement, an important communication.

Esoteric overview of : Unit 4 - Form

Unit of Structure - finite matter & the material - crystallization, manifestation, synthesis - the physical body - the corporeal world

Pictured (above, left): the Aggregate (process structure) of Unit Four, numeral 6.

Practical meaning: Stabilization of resources, finances. A family-run business, or working from the home; productivity in said environment. To build. To heal. To repair.

Pictured above, right): the Radiant (dynamic structure) of Unit Four, numeral 6.

Practical meaning: A successful product. Physical health; to conquer a disease. Merging of business enterprises. Sometimes, a sexual relationship. Marriage in a legal sense.

***

Inevitably, I became very perplexed with the deck in the end... not sure what their real significance was, what I really was supposed to do with them, and whether or not my interpretations were on the mark. So, I'm afraid there's no "big reveal" here, just another portion of the record of this artist's journey.

Originally, the title of this post was "The Artist as Quantum Mystic", which was then changed to "The Quantum Occultist: Loving the Alien". In both cases, however, there was too much room for misinterpretation... and the internet, being what it is, generally, the rule of thumb is: the less said the better.

The word "Quantum", of course, immediately lends itself to a number of interpretations because its definition is vague. Is it a unit of matter, or is it a unit of energy? And, if the two are one in the same, well then, really, let the philosophical games begin! So, while there are physicists who cringe at "quantum mysticism," I dare say it's due to a decided lack of imagination and inspiration on their part... which is generally what separates a true genius from a mere practitioner. in his own way, Einstein was a "quantum mystic", as well as Wolfgang Pauli and Jung. And, while there are some who'd go ballistic at even marginally including names like  Crowley and Robert Anton Wilson - "quantum occultists" - in the same paragraph... well, there, it's done. ;-)

***

One further note: regarding the four images at the top of this post, which represent the four "Field" cards of the symbols - their monads (in shades of grey) can be found here - if one looks closely, the relationship between the four becomes apparent; in fact the "fields" are almost one in the same, so that, both on a metaphorical and demonstrative level, the fields are, indeed, "unified". Below is a group of "tiles" that might be used to create the field cards. Keeping in mind that the Unit 1 field represents the coordinate points of the remaining 3 units, one only needs to rotate the Unit 2 tile and flip Unit 4, and voila - the designs are almost identical. Incidentally, it was working with this hexagonal lattice or grid pattern - which, in turn, is fundamentally based on the vesica piscis and the "flower of life", that I discovered the cyclohedra. More interesting still, the way in which the cyclodhedra "emerge" from that field is reminiscent of David Bohm's implicate and explicate orders.

Note (7/23/13): For a further exploration of this topic, see the latest Trans-D post, A Cosmic Nest.

The Language of Form - Part 1

"The harmony of the world is made manifest in Form and Number, and the heart and soul and all the poetry of Natural Philosophy are embodied in the concept of mathematical beauty."

- D.W. Thompson, On Growth and Form, 1917

Whether you, as an artist - or a creative, so to speak - work consciously or unconsciously, you will be dealing with the same forms, the same fundamental shapes and patterns over and over again. And these shapes are part of a language, a language that all humans - and, most likely, organisms - use to perceive and create (and, possibly, transcend) the physical world. Oddly enough, this same language is also used to construct the actual symbols we use. This includes sacred symbols, arcane symbols, and even corporate logos. Regardless of how complex a form we're dealing with, it can always be broken down into several rudimentary, or "root shapes" - a handful of basic forms - that may change in color, arrangement of mass, etc., but never meaningfully diverge from the fundamental code, the language of form this article addresses.

D. W. Thompson, 1860-1948, biologist, mathematician, and philosopher, considered organic form to be a "diagram of forces."  Many somehow convoluted his basic tenet as being anti-Darwinian and/or creationist, and therefore, his immense body of work, "On Growth and Form" is generally overlooked by contemporary theorists. My own opinion is that Thompson was grappling with the very thing that I'm attempting to discuss here and, that is, a form language. From his perspective, it is a language shared by all organisms in the expression/ construction (even) of their own anatomy. He went on to illustrate dozens of examples of how, by mapping each organism with Cartesian Coordinates, one could prove that all members of any given species were simply a deformation of one basic morphology that inadvertently applied to all of them. Another tenet that he held, was that all things physical conform to a specific order or forms because "they must". And by this, he meant that all things physical must obey this fundamental order because it is the only true order which exists... and this order is, for the most part, a self-generating, geometric order, the connective between both the macro and micro "worlds". Today, Thompson's ideas might be seen as a precursor to some of those which fall under the heading of Biophysics.

The 4 Suits of the Pelaneiron and/or Metastructures - 2007, DS

In my younger days - as a student of Sacred Geometry, that discipline which examines the metaphysical meaning of number, patterns and form - I was obsessed with this code and my obsession took many strange turns. The four symbols (above) were an example of this, initially inspired by my interest in that dense body of esoteric work referred to as the Tarot, specifically the Minor Arcana sans the "court cards". The Tarot deck of cards, whose origins are rather mysterious to begin with, have inspired countless artists. (For those interested, here is one roster here.) The point I'm trying to make - and was trying to make with my own 4 symbols - is that everything that we see and experience can, ultimately, be broken down into a code. I wrote in 1981: "After years of frustrating myself with abstract intellectualizations, and confusing myself with complex philosophies, I suddenly discovered what my unconscious mind had probably been establishing for years... that is, a theory of structure." 

This "structure", however, did not merely apply to physical construction, but forms and patterns that might transcend the 3-dimensional as we know it. Over a period of several years during the 1980's I drew around 100 geometrical images based on the 4 root shapes; specifically numerical aggregates and radiant figures that resulted in 4 interpenetrating fields. I referred to this work under the title "Temp L" (1976), then "Metastructures" (1982), and, finally, a word that "came to me" out of nowhere: The Pelaneiron (2007). (and, no, I do not consciously know what the word means, and it is not a word that can be found in any dictionary that I know of...)

There are, of course, sheerly mathematical codes, and certainly these were (explicitly) a large part of Thompson's, and (implicitly) my own system. But, generally speaking, breaking things down into actual numerical codes is a "language" that many people (myself included) find too dense and complex. It is, however, this exact type of "language" one uses in certain forms of digital art - specifically that of the "fractal", which I'll address in Part 2 of this article: Fractal, Form and Field - Inevitable Symmetries. 

Upper Photograph credit: Diatoms by Andrew Syred