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The Ka, the Ba and the Kabbalah
The Science of the Afterlife
Jay Weidner
In the current use of our language, the words 'soul' and 'spirit' have essentially the same meaning. They are terms used to describe a mysterious state of awareness, or presence, that is the driving or animating force behind the externalized, concrete physical body that surrounds it. According to the teachings of the world's major religions, this mystical soul, or spirit, somehow lives on after death. They tell us that just as we as human beings, living in a material body, grow and learn through linear time, so the soul, or spirit, grows in knowledge and experience through many successive incarnations. However, there is much evidence from the past that reveals that there may once have been a more complex meaning to these two terms, soul and spirit. There is a distinct possibility that they may not originally have meant the same thing at all. It may be, that somehow in the past, these two words became confused and that their separate meanings became lost in the well of history. In a way, this loss of understanding between these two words 'soul' and 'spirit' may lie at the root of much of our modern spiritual confusion. Perhaps it is time to reimbue these terms with their true historical meanings once again.
In order to understand the subtleties of these two terms with greater clarity, let us take a look at the teachings of the rich and complex civilization of ancient Egypt. First of all, it is important to realize that the people of ancient Egypt lived a completely different type of existence than we do today. The ancient Egyptians lived each day, and each life, with a complete devotion to what today we would call the unseen world of soul and spirit that transcends our ordinary day to day existence. Time, for them, was not measured by the incessant ticking of the clock, or the hope of a secure future, but was built on a much larger concept, which included not only their time on Earth, but the afterlife as well. In fact, their entire culture, including their incredible edifices and their sacred science, was all constructed around a complete understanding of the afterlife and what happens to that animating force of human consciousness at the moment of death.
These ancient sacred scientists found that there is a great moment of confusion at the instant when the consciousness separates from the body. Examining this confused state, they realized that there was a division that occurred at this crucial moment. Consciousness became divided into two separate states, or entities. They called each of these states by a different name.
The first state in this division of consciousness was called the 'Ba'. This is the immortal state of existence. This is the aspect of consciousness that reincarnates. The Ba separates from consciousness at the moment of death and goes back into the well of souls to be reborn again. In our current lexicon, the words 'soul' and 'spirit' mean, essentially the same thing. But looking at it more closely, it can be seen that the word 'soul' is actually referencing the BA The BA, or the soul, never dies, it reincarnates and continues it's sacred pilgrimage towards total illumination. It has been described in religious literature as that spark of divinity that resides within us all, the aspect of our multidimensional being that inspires us to overcome our animal nature, to move beyond the cravings of the small self-centered ego so as to experience an interconnectedness with the entire universal reality. Called the 'breath of life', it is that unseen force, or essence, that travels throughout eternity from body to body on it's great journey of experience, purification and enlightenment.
In the hieroglyphs or symbolic language of Egypt, the BA is written sometimes as a winged human head and sometimes as a human-faced bird. It is the part of us that is conscious of leaving the earth at death and therefore is depicted as a winged human or a human bird. This bird motif will be more properly understood in part II of this article. Suffice to say for now that bird symbol for the BA represents the force that can free itself from the Tree of Life and soar into the cosmos, liberated from gravity and the material realm.
The second aspect of this great separation at death was named the 'Ka'. The kA is the part of the human consciousness that remains here on Earth, and is represented in the hieroglyphs as two up stretched arms in front of a horizon. It is perceived as the 'ghost' or psychic residue of the previous conscious being. It is the spirit. It is the part of us that has a connection with the place that the physical body lived, with the objects it possessed, with the people that it knew. It literally haunts the place of its life forever. And so do all of the spirits that existed in a place. The kA then is the aspect of consciousness that is left when the BA, or animating force, departs the physical body. It is the shadow, or remaining psychic imprint, of soul consciousness, or the 'spirit' which haunts a place, that occupies illusory heavens and hells, that may relive it's own human life over and over for eternity. Therefore, in this light it can be seen that the word 'spirit' is actually referencing the "kA
It was through their knowledge and understanding of the consanguinity between the BA and the kA that the Egyptians realized the science of the afterlife and the great relationship that exists between soul and spirit, blood and soil, between our possessions and our spirit, between our ancestors and our own personal being.
Many philosophies, religions and spiritual teachings have spoken clearly about the BA, including Hinduism, Buddhism and many indigenous traditions. But the awareness and understanding of the kA has fallen by the wayside. Lost in superstition and legend, the great Egyptian knowledge of the afterlife has become forfeited in our modern world. Yet, there are many these days who seek deeper knowledge of the mystic realms. It is important to once again explore the great science of Egypt, the science of the afterlife, so that we contemporary seekers can have the opportunity to view the meaning and import of our lives on earth from a larger perspective.
In our exploration of this fascinating subject, it is interesting to note that recently, many Hollywood films have begun to focus upon this mysterious aspect of human experience, or the 'Ka' state. Perhaps our great cultural confusion concerning the kA is at the root of this phenomena. In fact, these films are using the mysterious state of the kA as vital subject matter in their story lines. For example, The Sixth Sense , which is one of the films nominated by the academy in the year 2000 as Best Picture, is not only about a boy who can see the spirits in their kA state occupying the world around him, but also about a man who is living through the very beginning of his own kA existence. This man (played by Bruce Willis) spends much of the picture confused and bewildered by what he sees around him, that is, until he realizes that he is not alive, that he is in his kA state. No longer alive in terms of physical reality, as a disembodied spirit, he is playing out a dreamlike scenario in order to realize - and possibly correct - the mistakes he made during his life. Traveling through this illusory, but seemingly real drama, his kA, or psychic imprint from this previous life, is presented with the opportunity to learn from these mistakes. In many spiritual traditions these illusory landscapes are referred to as heavens and hells, which present the kA or disembodied spirit with scenarios which allow it to realize and purify it's sins or reward it for a 'good life.'
The movie 'Ghost' was also about the kA state. Remember the demon spirit who haunted the underground New York subway system? This mad ghost, this haunted kA, was caught there in the subway system possibly forever. One gets the idea that this mad demon committed suicide there in the subway. Now he is condemned to reliving the incident over and over as his kA is driven insane. In addition, like Bruce Willis's character in The Sixth Sense, the hero in Ghost, Patrick Swayze's kA, is presented with the opportunity to 'make things right'.
At the end of the movie 'American Beauty', another Best Picture nomination this year, the Kevin Spacey character has just died. As the camera pulls away from his neighborhood, we hear his voice on the soundtrack. It says: 'You know they say that when you die you live your entire life over again. Well, what they didn't tell you is that you live your entire life again - but that you do it for eternity. But don't worry, you'll find out'. This is about as apt a description of the basic kA state as has ever been spoken in popular culture.
In the film 'What Dreams May Come', the Robin William's character dies and goes to a place that looks just like the beautiful paintings that he loved while he was alive. The film reveals that the character has 'created' his own eternity in the kA state. Conversely, his wife later commits suicide and is banished to a hell. What they are telling you in this film is that the dreamlike, hallucinatory experience of your kA is based upon your own belief system and the manner in which you lived your life. This also is a clear description of how the ancients looked at the kA aspect of the separation of consciousness at death. Whatever life you lived here in this existence was repeated - perhaps forever - in the kA state after the moment of death.
In these films, the Hollywood mavens have hit a nerve in the psyches of contemporary audiences. The celluloid dreams and illusions that they are creating for the masses can be compared to the numerous types of experiences that the kA may undergo. Is it possible that, by subliminally implanting these scenarios into our collective psyches, they are both teaching us about the kA state and subtly influencing it's journey?
Let us return to the beliefs and practices of the ancient Egyptians and examine this ephemeral kA state more closely. According to their doctrines, there are certain keys to understanding the various aspects of the kA state. They believed that the formation of the kA is deeply connected to the shaping, experience and remnants of the physical form. The kA includes all of the genetic material and characteristics of our parents and ancestors. The Egyptians knew that residue from all of one's ancestors were sharing in the make-up of one's own personal kA So reverence for one's ancestors, and remembering their names, was considered essential to their practices. They believed that our ancestors kA lives on in all of us. Their genes, successfully passed down through the many generations, live on in each being born of their creation. All of our ancestors are gazing through our eyes at this very moment. The ancients believed that by just saying their names we can call them forth, with all of their wisdom and knowledge.
They also believed that whatever objects one possesses in this life hold a part of one's kA state as long as these objects exist. Imbued with the BA essence which once flowed through the physical form, they retain an energetic imprint of this force. This is why psychics can hold a key, an article of clothing, or other type of object in their hand and perceive many things concerning the life experience of the person who once possessed these objects. These psychics have the capacity to pick up the traces of this kA energy . Because of this factor, the ancients decided, wisely, to own as few objects as possible. They did this because they wanted to preserve their kA state in a way that they could control it after death. It was extremely important not to have their kA spread all over the place. Therefore, an essential part of their practices involved the proper preservation of the kA.
In order to accomplish this task, there were important procedures that had to be followed in the life of the person if their kA and their BA were to remain unbroken at death. When they died, their few kA objects would be gathered together by family and friends and placed in their grave, or tomb, with the body. The preservation of the body through the practice of mummification was also part of this process. The Egyptians believed that even the body itself held the kA As long as the decay of the body could be slowed the kA would stay more whole.
When grave robbers, and western treasure hunters, broke into many of the ancient Egyptian tombs they found exactly what has been described above. They found the kA objects, that were the possessions of the person who was interred in the tomb. They also found the mummified remains of the person's body. There was usually a curse put over the door to the tomb. This curse brought damnation on anyone who would disturb the tomb. The non-disturbance of the kA objects, and kA body, were crucial aspects of the Egyptian science of the afterlife. Indeed, as will be revealed, the preservation of the kA, and the kA objects, in an undisturbed state was the doorway towards a kind of immortality. The formula went like this: in order to stop the BA from falling back into a state of reincarnation; and to stop the kA from constantly reliving a fantasy based on the consciousness of the life lived previously, it was necessary to preserve the kA in an undisturbed state. This would 'ground' the BA and prevent it from escaping back into the realms of reincarnation. Since the ethereal link between the BA and the kA had not severed, this allowed the BA to become an ethereal shamanic traveler into the many realms and dimensions that invisibly surround us. This includes, but is not limited to, planets, stars and even galaxies.
Certain rituals were designed to keep the kA inside the tomb and to make sure that it would not be released back into the world to become a phantom or ghost. If one was successful in accomplishing this then the BA would also be freed from the realm of incarnation. The BA would then be able to pass into many different realms of the afterlife at will. In Egyptian mythology it is fairly clear that when this state was achieved it was possible for the BA to actually become a 'light body', or a star in the heavens. Through the careful procedures of this science it would allow the division of consciousness at death to be halted, thereby gaining a certain degree of immortality.
As we have seen, the science of the ancient Egyptians was a science of the immortality of consciousness itself. It was a science of the afterlife that promised to preserve both the kA and the BA It contained practices and procedures that would allow the kA state to not fall into the path of repeated fantasy states consisting of eternally reliving the memories of the previous existence. In fact, the ancient Egyptians - and research has shown that many other indigenous peoples also held these beliefs - created a system that could change this strange destiny at death. In fact, the essential transformational practices of Tibetan tantra including those of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, were created to lead the individual practitioner towards these same ends.
In Egypt, this sacred science of the afterlife was focused upon two things. One was the halting of the reincarnation process of the BA The second was the termination of the fantastic, dream-like states of the kA This science attempted, it appears, to reunite the essence of the kA and the BA at the moment of death in a way so that they would not separate.
But there is more. This nearly immortal being also becomes the preserver and cultivator of the earthly spiritual realm. He or she becomes a being that now has a capacity to influence events and situations here on Earth, to assist in bringing all beings into a higher spiritual awareness.
In order accomplish this sacred task, the manner in which an individual lived his or her life was of vital importance. Thus, the ancient Egyptians believed that every interaction, judgment and impulse that occurred in one's life had a small part of one's kA involved. Since they believed that existence is eternal and that development continues even after death of the body, they knew that whatever happened here would mirror itself in the afterlife. This is a concept very close to the eastern philosophy of karma. And so, the Egyptians were very careful with whom they interacted, became friends with, had sex, and made business deals. The point was to live lives of virtue and integrity, not allowing their own personal kA to get stained with negative experiences in this life. Hours of quiet meditation and contemplation upon the fundamental meaning of existence and relationship to the world around them would seem to have been the pattern of their lives. For it was understood that this type of lifestyle would lead to the development and genuine experience of the higher spiritual attributes of truth, insight, clarity, wisdom and compassion.
The Egyptians believed that human beings were the 'seeds' for stars. It was believed that human beings were walking, talking, thinking, conscious 'starstuff'. And indeed that is what we are. Our bodies are made from interstellar dust which is the remains of ancient dead stars, cosmic debris and galactic particles. Throughout the course of our history on this planet, dust and water miraculously created animated star matter.
Therefore, the navigation of the many realms in the after life was another essential component of the rituals and practices of the ancient Egyptian priests/scientists. They discovered that even when all of the proper care and rituals were performed, there was still much confusion at the moment of death on the part of the separated and disconnected kA and BA The BA, freed from the cycle of incarnation, still did not know the way through the many faceted, and difficult to understand, realms of the after life. The astral playground was too complex and confusing to comprehend without some kind of map, without some kind of guide that one could learn during their conscious existence as a human being.
Using meditations, shamanic substances and sacred rituals, these ancient priests/scientists traveled the shamanic pathways that exist in the higher realms that surround us like an invisible net. Achieving a state of what is now called a 'near death experience', these ancient shamans pierced through the misty curtain of the astral realm. They began to create a hygiene, or a proper set of rituals, that allowed them to navigate the infinite worlds of the after life.
As these many shamanic voyages were catalogued and compared, a system began to be built that would allow the shaman, and the person experiencing death, to better understand what was happening and where to go in the afterlife. They called their map the 'Tree of Life'. The purpose of this tree was to help the kA and BA, now united at death, to be able to travel the astral highways. The profound significance this symbolic map will be explored in Part II of this article.
In addition, this science may be what is behind the many ancient 'ley' lines that mark the surface of our planet. These lines have been recorded all over the planet. From England and Ireland, to the Steppes. Ley lines have been found running over the tops of 18000-foot mountains in the Andes. They are usually perfectly straight. Their significance has been unknown for many years. It has been speculated that they are runways for UFO's. Or that they are ancient highways. According to the work of Paul Devereuax, they are actually ancient shamanic pathways. These are shamanic spirit paths that allow fully realized soulspirits to take off and land, so to speak, into the other realms. This is why the shamans of old always were buried on the ley lines. In this way, their kA was preserved in a sacred spot. In Europe, the shamanic tradition called for the kings and priests to be buried under flowing creeks and rivers. They would damn the river and create a water by pass. Then they would bury the body in the flow of the water and release the flow again. This preserved the body so that it would not be found and it was preserved in a natural 'ley' line, which is what rivers and streams are in this tradition. Like Indra's net from the Hindu tradition, the ley lines were reflected in the night sky as the paths between the many stars. For those who could read the sacred language which linked the microcosm with the macrocosm, the earth with the larger universe, outcroppings of rock, groves of trees, creeks and streams all became the earthly representations of the stars and planets. For these adepts, when one walked the earth they were not only tracing the psychic waves and patterns of the land, but also transcending this realm and walking among the stars. The aborigines in Australia believed that the stones sang the song of the stars themselves. If one listened closely they could hear the music of the spheres.
The planet we live and walk upon is filled with the numinous residue of countless amounts of kA spirit. The dirt itself is made up of the dead bodies of plants, animals and humans. Each has endowed the soil with it's kA The food we eat is grown in dirt that contains the remains of numerous life forms that existed in the past. Each retains a charge in that soil, and it too is added to the food we eat and the water we drink. This is the reason why in some Tibetan Buddhist practices, mantras are spoken prior to the consumption of meat. It is believed that if the consumer is a practitioner on the path to enlightenment, that by eating the flesh of that animal with total awareness he/she is creating a cause for it's future enlightenment . From a spiritual perspective, the awakened practitioner has linked his own essence with the kA of the animal thus planting the seed of it's own spiritual awakening.
This endowment of kA essence into the earth is also the reason for the age-old linking between blood and soil. Even when genocide is committed, the kA essence of the people murdered still inhabit the land that they once occupied.
From this perspective, the Native Americans still rule the spiritual landscape of the United States. The more that we dig up the earth and destroy the landscape the more we destroy not only the land itself, but also the many kA spirits that inhabit that landscape. The Hollywood film Poltergeist presents us with a clear picture of this type of ignorant behavior. As this kA spirit escapes and is disturbed, so shall our own spiritual future be disturbed and destroyed. The digging up of ancient burial grounds, the opening of the sacred tombs of our ancestors and the destruction of the ley line system will eventually contribute to a complete lack of spiritual enlightenment.
As we increasingly lose contact with our spiritual heritage and become trapped in the seductive prison of the concrete material world, our lives become dominated by the dark passions of greed, arrogance, lust, anger, and violence. Blind to the numinous world of light, harmony and beauty, we sacrifice our sacred knowledge of the divine realms of soul and spirit, of the kA and the BA. As we trade in our spiritual values for material gain, so shall we all become the confused and angry ghosts that haunt the New York subway system. Lack of respect for our planet, for the origin and custodianship of our kA, is also a lack of disrespect for our own beings in eternity. We are creating a nightmare hell realm of our own design. In this realm all of our kA will be deserted and abandoned, repeating meaningless lives for eternity.
So, we see that the words 'soul' and 'spirit' have very different meanings. One is the BA, the everlasting imprint of God that incarnates and reincarnates. The other is the kA, the material and psychic manifestation of that soul here on Earth. Like a footprint left in the sand, or the crumbling temples and monuments of our ancestors, this kA leaves only an impression of it's soul, or BA, essence behind. In these times of shifting values, of battles between the forces of darkness and light, it is up to us to seek out, acknowledge and learn from the wisdom of our ancestors so that we may once more, enter and navigate the divine realms and take our immortal place among the stars.
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The Black Madonna—The Return of the Feminine
Jay Weidner
"In the beginning all was the void and all was black. God saw this and said 'Let there be Light'. And there was."
— The Book of Genesis
I. Metaphor
In order to understand the Black Madonna it is necessary to think in metaphor. The people of the past thought this way. Long before 'materialist science' arrived on the scene people did not dissect everything, they did not try to break everything up into tiny fragments. When they examined something, when they attempted to understand the world around them they did through the act of metaphorical thinking. They would approach a subject by finding it's simile or attempt to understand it through the act of understanding things that were similar to it. This way of thinking runs contrary to the way that we think today. It also reveals a past that we may not be able to comprehend in a fashion that makes sense to us. When one realizes the power of this way of thinking it sheds an entirely new light on the people of old times. It makes one realize that their legends stories and myths may be something much different than we have been led to believe. Maybe western mythologists have not been completely correct in their perceptions of what these ancient people were telling us. Maybe they think they understand what the myths and stories were saying but possibly they are wrong. Maybe something else is being said. Maybe something we can't yet understand is being conveyed to us. It is only through this re-understanding that we can begin to comprehend what it is that we are being told.
When people of the past attempted to describe the world around them they did it through the means of comparison. When they examined something they described it in the poetic, metaphorical terms of emotion and myth - they didn't break it down into long words that run on forever. It is important to understand this because it is impossible for us to begin to realize what they are saying without this understanding. This is a difficult concept for us to accept today in a culture that believes that it is the smallest of objects that makes up the larger whole. But this way of dealing with the surrounding universe is a faulty way.
Scientists have broken water down to its atomic material. They will tell you that water molecules essentially are made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. But if this is so then why can't they create water by mixing two parts hydrogen with one part oxygen? The fact is that they can't do this. It is impossible. So what does all of this mean? Nothing much except to prove that breaking something down into it's essential components is an exercise in futility. Yes we can say that water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen but how are these atoms combined to make this substance we call water? No one can say.
I say all of this not to prove that science is silly, or even that it's presumptions are wrong. I say this because there are very real mysteries to these ideas. Science would like us to believe that these mysteries have either been solved or that they are on their way to being solved. This is not true. There is much more to be found about nature and her machinations then we can ever know.
Therefore maybe the ancients were on to something when they decided to view the surrounding world through the prism of metaphor and simile. Maybe they understood that there is something about the human mind itself which allows these comparisons to be not only right but possibly even more accurate than science itself.
This idea of metaphor and simile can help us understand the way that these people thought. Therefore we can understand how they looked at the world. If we can understand how they looked at the world then possibly we can even begin to understand them more completely.
This idea of metaphor begins to take further shape when one considers that many of the texts and myths handed down to us are not what they appear to be about. When one considers these ancient stories it becomes apparent that the interpretations we once thought were accurate representations of what these people are saying may very well be wrong. Let us take for instance the story of Jesus and his ordeal. For a moment let us shed the precepts and imprints of our own past history with this story. For a moment let us consider that this story came out of sophisticated and long tradition - that of the Hebrew people. Let us also consider that the Dead Sea scrolls - found in Qumran in 1947 - reveal that the Essenes were a deeply esoteric group within the Hebrew tradition. Might it not be possible that they may have created the story of Jesus to tell us many other things then the idea that he was on a mission of compassion and was later executed for this mission. This is not to say that the myth itself may not be true, this is not to say that there may not have even been once a man named Jesus who performed miracles and rose from the dead. But let us take an excursion through the possible mindset of these Essenes and their Hebrew tradition. Myth is built on metaphor so what is the metaphor of the Jesus story? What are the similes between this story and other stories and situations that this group may have wanted to send down the stream of time? Taking this thought experiment to its logical conclusion we must begin top speculate on what is similar and metaphorical about the myth. First off there is the metaphor of the son and the sun. Jesus in Hebrew means Jesse or 'Fire'. Let us - for a moment assume that instead of 'son' they are referring to the 'sun'. Then let us consider the twelve apostles. Do they represent more than just twelve men? For a moment let us consider that this actually refers to the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Now for a moment let us consider Jesus' mother Mary. Mary in Hebrew means sea or seawater, she is also associated with a crescent moon. It is well known that the moon controls the tides and therefore seawater. Is it possible that Mary is a metaphor for the moon? So let us consider what we have here. We have Jesus, or Fire, moves through the twelve men or signs. Just as our sun moves through the twelve signs of the zodiac. What is the missing astrological element? The moon of course. And along comes Mary to fill this void. Does this mean that the story of Jesus, Mary and his band of disciples is the story of some kind of astrological situation? Is it possible that this is what is happening - at least on a metaphorical level? I think so. This is what I mean by re-thinking these myths in a metaphorical way. This is in no way meant to denigrate the Christian religion or anyone's belief in Jesus, Mary and the disciples as real men. The point that is being made is that there are metaphorical links to this story that are just as important as the human links. The names, and the numbers of their names, of these people involved in this story are important. Actually they are too important to be ignored - for it was within the names and the numbers inside the structure of these myths that a true understanding of what they are about can actually occur.
This is just an example of how to re-read a common myth. Once one understands the true nature of the myth then one can go inside the myth and begin to understand all of its levels. What are the implications of re-reading the Jesus story as a metaphorical myth about some astrological event? The implications of this are not for this time and place. The example was only used to reveal the inner workings of myth and help you, o gentle reader, in understanding the many multifaceted levels of these experiences. Once we begin to re-educate our minds into the correct interpretations of these stores can we begin to understand ourselves, our past and who we actually are.
This way of thinking can be difficult and sometimes impossible for our modern minds to comprehend. It can drive us up a wall as we consider the many faceted reality that this kind of thinking introduces. But there are many levels to reality and it is a big mistake to believe in openly one kind of fundamental reality at the expense of all of the other realities that are just as or maybe even more important.
II. Black
With this new understanding of metaphor let us begin to recomprehend new concepts in light of this awareness.
We will begin with the color black. Black is the color that contains all colors. If you took all of the colors of the rainbow and combined them your resulting mix would be black in color. Black is the color that contains all colors. Metaphorically speaking then - it is possible for black to represent all things in their beginning stage. Black is the color, or the substance, from which all things manifest. Out of the black depths of space - stars, suns and planets form. The universe was once, according to scientists, a place that was dark and void of light. There was a black dust that hung like a mist throughout the universe. Slowly this dust coagulated into larger pieces. Soon the pieces begin to collect and grow, compression and gravity were the result. Over time enough of this material eventually formed into a dense sphere. This sphere began to compress and pressure within it's core beginning to manifest. Soon the core began to collapse in on itself. Eventually this collapsing state began a nuclear reaction. This nuclear reaction spread throughout the mass of this compressed sphere and ignited it, turning it into the first star, the first sun. Out of this dark, dense and black material - light was formed.
In alchemy the matter that was there before all other matter is called the 'prima materia'. This was the original substance from which all alchemical transmutation manifested. The prima materia is the cause of all effects that occur after it is formed. It is the base matter. From the prima materia comes the first substances and from these substances comes the first minerals. The alchemist task is to somehow separate the different aspects of the prima materia into its own material spectrum of substance.
This process is similar to the creation of diamonds. Black coal is the prima materia for the construction of diamonds. Over thousands of years through the alchemy of time, pressure and gravity the black coal, the prima materia becomes the diamond. Through the prism of this construct the white light of the sun shines through. This light is broken up into the spectrum of colors that make up our world. So, through the process of the alchemy of our planet, the black coal is compressed into the multifaceted crystal that shines the colors of black through it's prism. But now these colors are not coagulated and mixed into the color black - they have been separated now and shine with their own radiance. This is a great example of metaphor and how it relates separate items within the same universality.
It can be said that the process of time and compression brought forth the diamond. The alchemical earth created this substance from the basest of matter. Within the confines of this matter was the diamond. It was always there - it just needed time and gravity to transmute.
Another metaphor to be understood is that of the lotus. In order for the lotus to grow strong and to produce a beautiful flower it is necessary that its roots to ground themselves in manure. The darker the excrement - the better the lotus will grow, the more astonishing will be it's flower. This is why the lotus is considered the most sacred of plants in the east. It is only through the action of the emergence of the flower from the black shit can the importance of this metaphor be understood.
In western traditions there was once a vast pilgrimage that took place in Europe. Pilgrims made their way towards the town of Compostella in Spain. The word Compostella comes from the same root word as compost. Compost is the living, black material that is made from rotting fruits, grains and other organic matter. From this compost - life and light will emerge. When the pilgrims came to the Cathedral at Compostella they were being 'composted' in a sense. After their emergence into the dark confines of the cathedral and the spirit - they were ready to flower, they were ready to return home with their spirits lightened.
The New Age seeks to denigrate the dark. They speak of only the light. But they misunderstand the true significance of the dark and of the black. They fail to realize that there can be no light without dark. They fail to see that the light can only be perceived through the background of darkness. This misunderstanding is a great one and needs to be overcome if they wish to succeed in a pursuit of truth.
Within black is all things. All things manifest from the black.
III. Al-Kemi
The ancient name for Egypt was Al-Kemi. This meant 'The Black Lands'. This is the word from which we get the word 'alchemy'. The reason they named their fabled land this title was because the yearly inundation of the Nile river deposited rich and mineralized soil to the banks of Egypt. The people of Al-Kemi or Egypt became dependent on this black alluvial soil. Out of this black rich soil grew all of the crops, grains, and other commodities that this great culture depended upon. Also out of this culture came the knowledge of a sacred science. This science remains a mystery to us today. It was once called alchemy. No one seems to know what was exactly what this science entailed. All that is known is that the Egyptians spent allot of time and resources on this 'science'. The most intelligent people of that society were the sacred scientists. They studied all aspects of our particular localized universe. They studied and understood the human body and spirit, the nature of matter, the knowledge of plants and minerals, the lore of the stars and much more. Today alchemy is regarded with some disdain by modern scientists. They believe that the old alchemists were fooling themselves with their endless experiments and rituals. For what can actually be gained from such senseless activity? But scientists make a big mistake with this presumption. Would intelligent men and women really spend their lives endlessly searching for something that could never be attained? It seems highly unlikely. What seems more likely is that these people were seeing the world in different terms then we do today. With the idea of metaphor as their driving intellectual force it is possible that we do not completely understand this ancient process. The alchemists were obsessed with the prima materia. They called it the black virgin. For it's color was black and it was a virgin in the sense that no alchemical transmutation had yet been performed on this material. It is difficult for us today to begin to grasp what they were referring to when they used the terms 'prima materia' or black virgin'. There are many theories. Some say it was coal, others say it was black sand from the Sahara desert, others say it was the volcanic black obsidian that came from the near east. Whatever this black virgin was it was the beginning of the alchemical process. It was the material that was used to transmute and create entirely new materials. Hence the legend that the alchemists could turn lead into to gold. The process remains a mystery to all but the most serious of adepts. But what does seem clear was that the alchemists had the ability to change this prima materia into something that flowered or separated the light. It has been speculated that they were attempting to communicate with the matter itself. The goal of alchemy may remain mysterious but what it absolutely certain is that the Black Madonna's, that were placed inside the great cathedrals of Europe were meant to represent - at least on one level - this prima materia, this black virginous quality that was so much prized by these alchemists.
IV. Eve
The study of mitochondria DNA is the next metaphor that bears exploring. The mitochondria DNA is part of the DNA chain that can only be passed down from woman to woman, from mother to daughter. Using this process scientists can actually follow the generations of women backwards through time. Through this process they can actually find the very first woman. Scientists in the 1980's did just this. What they discovered was that the very first human, the very first woman, the mother of all humanity existed about two hundred thousand years ago. She was also black. This brings up all sorts of controversy but the basic point remains the same. The very first woman was black. So even in the realm of human interaction the metaphor that all things come from black and later separate into different colors is shown.
This recalls the book 'Voices of the First Day' by Robert Lawlor. In this book he postulates the theory that the very first people were the aborigines in Australia. They are, of course, black. He theorizes that the subtle energies from space come down through the north pole of the earth. These energies travel down through the center of the earth and come out at the south pole. These energies then sweep upwards over the top of the earth's surface. He believes that life itself also emanates this way. The aborigines believe that they have lived in Australia for the past 200,000 years. Geologists and continental drift theorists have shown that there was once one super continent named Pangea. Pangea eventually broke apart and began moving northwards. Which is the situation we have today with most of the land masses gathering close to the northern part of the planet. The land masses appear to be following these south to north energies that flow over the earth's surface. As the first people were created from these forces they begat the people that followed. In this way it is shown that all men come from the people of the first day.
Scientists and western mythologists refer to this first woman as Eve. She is actually Isis. She came to teach the arts of civilization. She is the first mother. She is the progenitor of all that is too come. All things manifest in Isis and all things are co-created with her.
V. Madonna
The Black Madonna is symbol of all of the above and much more. She is Isis and she is Eve, she is the prima materia and the black lands, she is alchemy and she is the mother of all of human creation. From the depths of the darkest of space and the from the primal blackness of the mud of the earth she was formed. Manifesting into all colors and realms she casts her light of compassion, love and forgiveness into the very being of humanity. She is what makes the spirit rise out of the animal form. She is the being who represents all of the aspects of nature which are rising up out of creation. She is the being who symbolizes the transcendent nature of all of life. It is through her suffering, her desire, her compassion and her willingness to teach that the human race can reach towards a less mundane role. She is all that is and all that shall ever be. Isis is the true manifestation of all that is good in humanity. She is the woman that lives inside all of women. She is the true being of worship for it is only through her ultimate martyrship that we as men can grow.
Inside of each of the great Gothic Cathedrals of Europe, and especially France, are statues of the Black Madonna. She is made out of black obsidian. In the beginning she was painted white but now the paint has flecked away leaving the original black rock underneath. In this we have a beautiful metaphor that explains the Black Madonna's origins and what she represents. Her original being is made of volcanic, black rock that comes from deep in the earth. She is Mother Night. Thus she arose directly from the stuff that makes up our planet. She is then painted white and dressed in white and blue clothes. She holds the son, exoterically represented by the baby Jesus but esoterically he represents Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris. Black Obsidian is very likely the prima materia of the alchemists. It is from this important substance that gold and other transmutations could be performed. Out of this dark and black aspect comes the white surface, black becomes white. The transmutation of matter is complete. But if the white is left alone for a long period of time - it begins to turn back to the black. Just as the white inside of an apple will turn brown and black if left alone in the air. White is a moment in the process but only just a moment. Soon all things fall back to their primordial essence. Soon all things turn back to the black. Thus Isis, or the Black Madonna, represented one aspect of her being when she was formed from the black obsidian. She became another aspect of herself when she was painted white. Today she sits in the cathedrals with her body and skin black but she still wears the white clothes of her former self. She today symbolizes the dual aspects of the age of iron. She is both the black volcanic earth and the soft white cotton of civilization. But soon the fires of nature shall burn away the white clothes and this will leave the maiden black again, just as she started.
According to the great alchemist Fulcanelli there is a Black Madonna in the crypt, or the basement, of every Cathedral in France. He says that she is the secret Isis who must stay hidden through this age. One day perhaps she will be taken out of the crypts and take her rightful place at the head of the altar. Perhaps some day the ruby light from the rose window at Chartes Cathedral can shine again on her face as it was originally intended.
But the Madonna in the crypt is still serving a useful purpose, albeit a hidden one. She is always placed nearby the well that lies at the bottom of each Cathedral. It is a little known fact that the great Gothic Cathedrals were built over the sacred wells and groves of the earlier Druids. Thus their architects were secretly upholding a tradition that connects these Cathedrals to the very core of the spiritual nature of the Druid people who once populated Europe. The lady by the well is very important to the proper spiritual construct of these edifices. The well is the representation of the female earth, the dark matter of our planet. The subtle energies, known to the cabbalists and alchemists as telluric forces, flow out from her and rise upwards towards the floor of the cathedral. The Black Madonna in the crypt is the first to greet these female earthly telluric energies. These energies rise up to greet the male telluric energies of father sky. These energies are received by the giant steeples of the cathedrals. These steeples act like amplifiers as they gather up the male energies and bring these downwards towards the floor of the Cathedrals. These steeples are symbolic representations of the stone monoliths that once dotted the landscape of Europe. These stones, or these steeples, are working in tandem with the earth's telluric energies coming up from the wells. Together these energies would meet on the floor of the cathedrals where the members of the parish would meet. Gregorian chants would be written to resonate and transmit these subtle energies more clearly. At the core of this symbolic revival of the mother goddess, of Isis, was the giant rose window which sat at the center of the path of the sun. The light from father son was diffused by the red colored glass and this symbiotic transmutation would cause a heightened awareness and a birth of consciousness within the people experiencing this. This was the secret magic of the architects of these buildings. The Knight's Templar, fresh from their esoteric reinvigoration in Jerusalem most likely funded and designed these Cathedrals. Some believe that the Knights had been secretly converted to a form of Sufi influenced Islam during their trip to the Holy Lands. The Cathedrals do bear a remarkable resemblance to the mosques of Islam. The Knights may have taken this knowledge of the Sufi's and used it in conjunction with their own Druid belief system. In this marriage a new view of the world, human beings and the surrounding universe began to pervade Europe. After a long drowsy sleep - the continent began to open. This brought many unforeseen tragedies as well as many advances in technology but the ultimate end of this awakening may not happen for a while. It sometimes takes a long while for an experiment to unfold.
The Black Madonna thus represents the return of a female power. This power is not concerned with equality within corrupt institutions like the military and the corporate world. This equality is a spiritual union. A tantric union of opposites embraced in love. That is the ultimate quest of Isis and the Black Madonna. As she is from the earth so are we from the earth. As she returns to black so will our bodies one day return to the black soil of this planet. As our sun came out of the dust of darkness to light our solar neighborhood - so it too will one day die in its own embers. So it will also fade back into the darkness of female creation. The light must come from the dark. And one day the light returns to dark. This is the metaphor that rules all of creation. This is the tantric union of dark and light. The Black Madonna not only represents all of this but she is also a symbol of the vast and important knowledge that our ancestors attempted to leave behind. If one is presented with the Book of All Knowledge but does not know how to read it - what good is it? That is the dilemma that we are presented with today in our modern world. Our ancient fathers and mothers, our blood and flesh, left us a plethora of symbols and images to help us understand the larger universe and our place in it. We have lost the ability to understand these images and we have acquired a terrible case of amnesia. From which recovery is not guaranteed. In this amnesiac state we began to misperceive these symbols and writings. Without the true understanding of metaphor we began to think that our ancestors were ignorant, dumb and imprecise. What a horrible thing to have happen to one's own flesh and blood. The symbols of the cathedrals, like the symbols of India and Egypt reveal a vast knowledge that frequently surpasses our own. Only in an age such as ours could such foolish notions manifest. The arrogant turn ignorant as they drown in the ocean of their own foolishness.
Now, at the end of the Kali Yuga, these symbols may become understandable again. Now as corporate culture replaces nature we can only imagine what the past was telling us. As we view the world through the virtual lenses of a corporate paradigm it is little wonder that we have lost our ability to understand who we are. The old world fades quickly away with the downward spiral of pollution from this age. The earth, the female, the soft touch of life have all been denigrated and corrupted by this age of insanity.
The Black Madonna is all that we have left of this long legacy of Isis. She still stands today in the Cathedrals of France. Today, still active and alive, the spirit of the goddess, the Black Madonna can still be knelt before, she can still be asked for forgiveness and for compassion. Her spirit has never died in Europe. Surely this is a miracle! How wonderful that her image still stands and is still worshipped in the some of the most beautiful buildings on our little planet! |
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