Light over the City
February 1987, 171x46 cm, acrylics on pressboard
I was fascinated of the inter-penetration of spiritual energies and everyday life. The scenery contains elements from the old town of Münster where I lived for years; and the figure of the Eiffel tower - together with the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris - symbolic figures of centralistic power and intellectualism. I was trying to portray the "light", which here comes from above and shines all over and through the city - a vision of an enlightened society, but at the same time full of apocalyptic inklings, which were shaking in the underground.
Worlds of Light 1 - The Fight
11 March 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint, inks and fast glue on paper
This painting is an earlier version of the theme of "Spiritual Hierarchy 5 - The Brotherhood". Here you see the Archangel Michael fighting with the dragon. Like in the other pictures, the Angel is without a face and as his body or his inner side there is a drop, symbol of the soul in a form. He is holding a spear, which stands for the human spine. The dragon represents the kundalini energy or the spirit bound in matter. It is not the killing of the dragon, but the liberation from the bondage of form. The dragon is painted in fiery red, surrounded by a dark golden aura. This shows its divine origin and quality - it is part of the whole, the counter-part of the energy of light is represented by Michael.
In the centre there is a globe with waves, it represents the space waters or the energy waves in space.
Worlds of Light 2 - The Path of Light
28 March 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint, inks and fast glue on paper
Like in the later painting "Spiritual Hierarchy 6 - The Ascent" you see the lighted path leading through a gate into the light. This picture attracts the onlooker to walk through the gate and reminding of a gothic cathedral. On both sides, you see angels in golden yellow guarding the gate. They shine in a red opening behind the gate, and below you see drops, symbols of souls in form or the ardent aspiration of the soul, blue being the colour of the energy of love and wisdom.
The path leads over a stairway up into the white light, where it merges into the light. The white flame is surrounded by a golden-yellow aura in the form of wings uplifting the soul into its original identity with the origin.
Worlds of Light 3 - Return 1
23 March 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint and fast glue on paper
In a number of paintings of that period, I expressed the deep longing to return back to the source - souls striving to get back, from out of darkness to the light. This is the first of these paintings.
After a time with strong inner experiences of light in 1981, the intensity withdrew. From December 1981 on, I lived for 9 months in the German headquarters of the TM movement, working in a little scientific library with books on spirituality and meditation research. Forebodings of a major crisis slowly showed up, and the colours in the paintings changed from bright golden yellow to other shades. The crisis arrived in mid-1982 and continued till spring 1983, totally changing the settings of my life. This picture resonates with this undercurrent, unconscious to me at that time.
Worlds of Light 4 - The Source of Light 1
12 December 1981, A 4, liquid glazing paint, fast glue and gold colour on paper
This is the beginning of some pictures where I experimented with glue and the effect of colour. The motive of the light streaming down returned again and again in a number of variations.
Worlds of Light 5 - The Source of Light 2
16 March 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint, golden colour and inks on paper
This painting shows the downpour of light from the white source, which in other pictures is presented as an eye. The white source is surrounded by the golden-yellow sun from which flames emanate in gold and blue, and the blue transforms into drops - the many souls emanating from the one source "falling" down into denser spheres, concretising to darker blue, golden and yellow.
This painting has the same structure like the very first picture of the Early Paintings - Light, Love and Power. The next one has the same structure and just changes colours. The intensity of the early painting had gone, and I was longing for re-evoking its intensity.
Worlds of Light 6 - The Source of Light 3
July 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint, golden colour, inks and fast glue on paper
There is not much to be added regarding this picture. The colours are darker, there are rings of fire around the central sun and the downpour is no longer white, but golden-reddish fire. The climax of the big crisis in my life was approaching. <
Worlds of Light 7 - The Tree of Light
2 June 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint and inks on paper
This picture shows the sun of the soul shining through the branches of a tree, the downpour being the stem and roots. Though the sun still shines bright, the background of the tree is of night blue and green colours, the branches are reaching upwards like imploring the light to come down.<
Worlds of Light 8 - Star of Light
15 March 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint, inks and fast glue on paper
This picture shows the opening of the inner light. The white centre of the sun is surrounded by a fiery sphere which again is enveloped by a ring of radiant electric blue. On the one hand the light radiates to the outside, on the other it attracts the blue sparks to the centre - a movement of pulsation, of expansion and contraction, the basic rhythm of life. Unfoldment from within and re-foldment to the centre.
Worlds of Light 9 - Shining 1
15 June1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint, inks and fast glue on paper
Here you see the penetration of light into the subtle network of the nadis, the energy lines of the body. There is no human body form visible, but you see the surrounding blue ethers and then the light in the head and from there the streams of light pouring down into the different layers of the body.
Worlds of Light 10 - Shining 2
04 July1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint, inks and fast glue on paper
Here you see the light coming from the source of light attracting the many souls on the path back to the source. From every direction the souls approach and then merge into the light.
Worlds of Light 11 - Fourfold Unity
09 December 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint and inks on paper
This is the last painting of the Worlds of Light series seen from the sequence of time; as per the theme it has to be at this place. It shows the unity and mergence of a group of souls as a fourfold unity. You see other souls attracted through this radiant unity. I painted the picture as an expression of strengthening the unity of a friend's family.
Worlds of Light 12 - Return 2
07 August 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint and fast glue on paper
This is the last painting before the outbreak of a major crisis and a reorientation in my life. Though the elements in the picture are similar to previous paintings, here suddenly the colours rose and violet appear, the colours I used in the following pictures which were done 5 months later.
And the drop in the centre, expression of the soul coming from the origin, is like being surrounded by protecting walls. At the end of the turbulences in the wake of which I left the TM movement and gained another orientation in my life, a great deepening had taken place.
Worlds of Light 13 - Flames of Light
July 1982, A 4, liquid glazing paint and fast glue on paper
The image reappeared in 2013; it visualises the divine spark, the divine ego, surrounded by the flames from the One Flame.
“The essence of the Divine Ego is ‘pure flame,’ an entity to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken: it cannot, therefore, be diminished, even by countless numbers of lower minds, detached from it like flames from a flame.” - Secret Doctrine III
Deva Glow 20 - Light and Darkness
10 Oct ober1984, 9 x 10 cm, silk painting
This painting triggered the start of my new paintings and the publication of these Early Paintings.
In November 2009, I gave this painting to a young friend, and she wrote me a feedback. I wrote her: “This picture shows the fight between light and darkness.” She answered: “I don't see a fight, only transition.”
Her lines were very important for me. It was the first really profound feedback I got for my pictures. In the 80s and 90s, there was nearly no reaction to these paintings, and it seemed to me that they weren't understood by the few people to whom I showed them. I had to wait for19 years where I didn't paint, until this key experience unlocked the inner doors again.