Capricorn - Overcoming the Saturnian Limitations
16 October 2023, pencils and photo work
When we live in a body, we experience limitations. The limitations are described as the effects of a ring. The limitations are a protection, like the eggshell that surrounds the chick. When the chick has fully developed, the shell gets broken.
The rings are the effect of the cosmic principle of Saturn located in the planet Saturn. Saturn's rings symbolise our personal limitations and problems, the limits of our understanding. The wisdom of the principle of Saturn teaches us to accept the limitations and work with them. Thus, Saturn slowly leads us to liberation from limitations. The mind is free by nature.
For the background of the painting I used a photo of a sunrise because Capricorn, ruled by Saturn, symbolises the time of sunrise and the rise from matter. A NASA photo of Saturn is integrated into the colours of the sunrise. Inserted into the rings is the figure of a meditator, designed with an Indian statue of a meditator. Lower body and torso are confined by the rings of Saturn. The right arm, symbolising right action, extends beyond one ring.
The opening of the head centre leads beyond the sphere of Saturn into the vastness of space. It is composed with images of the flowers saxifrage and begonia with a luminous 'jewel in the lotus'.
Capricorn - Blessing and Protection
7 October 2022, pencils and photo work
The winter solstice marks the beginning of the apparent northward movement of the sun from the Tropic of Capricorn. This movement in the subjective realms, leads us from dense matter to the subtler planes and to worlds of spiritual light. The time of Capricorn, beginning with winter solstice, marks the dawn of the year and it is particularly suitable for spiritual work. The earth is also slowly raised up by the influx of sublime energies.
A Sanskrit name for Capricorn is Makara, represented as a hand with five fingers. It symbolises the number of Capricorn, five, and also the five senses that have to be mastered. The raised hand is a symbol of blessing and protection, and this is called Abhaya Mudra in Sanskrit. Through this hand posture, wisdom is transmitted from teacher to student in silence. We can contemplate on this, receive the wisdom and thus ascend.
In the centre of the picture you see a white hand raised above the globe. Behind it there is the shining sun. Energy comes in through the palm of the hand and flows down to the earth as a blessing and protection. The upper part of the earth is permeated with light, the lower part is still dense.
The painting was created with the help of image extracts from the virtual globe "NASA World Wind", from the hand of a Buddha statue and from a waterfall.
Capricorn - Peak of Search and Dragon of Wisdom
8 October 2021, pencils and photo work
Capricorn, tenth sign of the zodiac, is called "the mountain". It is the mountain of initiation, a symbol of the spiritual quest of the personality to unite with the light of the soul. After climbing to the peak and absorbing the “light supernal”, the initiate returns to assist those who are captive in matter. Capricorn represents the dawn of the year. The golden rays of the morning sun, the winter solstice sun, pour forth a spiritual light and activity that help the souls free themselves from matter and rise up again.
The energy of Capricorn supports the development of the golden etheric body and also the diamond causal body. In mythology they are represented as golden and diamond dragons. Since ancient times, high beings have lived on earth called Nagas in spiritual wisdom. They are sacred serpents or dragons holding the light of wisdom. Like serpents, they live in hidden caves in the mountain regions. The Nagas can be regarded as embodiments of the Kundalini energy. They are the ascending serpents and are radiant and divine by nature. The descending serpents are represented as black and are poisonous by nature. The Nagas do a lot of good for humanity. Some of them are also said to be able to fly.
For the illustration of the Dragon of Wisdom, I photographed a dragon statue in a Tai Chi centre in Hamburg. The mountain in the background was designed with a photograph of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Andes, which a pilot friend, flying over, had photographed. The essence of wisdom streaming down from the sun enters and illuminates the dragon. In his hand he holds a golden glowing orb, symbol of the gift of wisdom for humanity.
Capricorn – The Blood of the Saviour
21 September 2020, pencils and photo work
Since ancient-most times, rituals for the birth of the Saviour have been performed on the winter solstice. The Sun is seen as the Saviour who brings life and consciousness to all living beings. The red rays of the morning sun look like the blood of the Sun and are regarded as 'the Blood of the Saviour'. The seers say that when this light falls on our body, it is a very good opportunity to heal diseases of the blood and to purify our consciousness, especially in the month of Capricorn.
From the winter solstice onwards, the sun begins his apparent journey northwards. This time is very suitable for exercises to align to the subtle planes and to elevate us to the supramundane.
To visualize the transparency of subtle matter, I took pictures of a rock crystal in front of a candle flame. I arranged it as a pyramid-shaped mountain top. The pyramid indicates the four cardinal points of the cardinal cross. For the background I worked with the photo of a sunrise Christmas 2017 on the flight from Delhi to Bangalore. For the figure of the meditator on the mountain top I used the bronze figure of a Kashmiri in meditation, by Malvina Hoffman, Museum Chicago (Wikimedia). The rising sun is also in the heart centre of the meditator.
Capricorn - The Mount of Initiation
5 September 2019, pencils and photo work
In the solar year, Capricorn symbolizes the time of the sunrise and of the awakening. The winter solstice at the beginning of Capricorn stands for the birth of the sun god and it is the actual Christmas. When entering Capricorn, the sun comes into the fifth house, counted from Virgo, the house of the progeny; therefore, it is described as the Son of the Virgin. Capricorn is also called the mount of initiation. The brilliant five-pointed star is a symbol of the light of the super-soul, which lifts us out of matter. The red sky in the morning stands for the flame of the higher mind.
The mystic animal of Capricorn with the head of a goat and the body of a fish or a crocodile is, in Eastern symbolism, the vehicle of Varuna - the Lord of the hidden etheric potencies of space.
The picture shows the figure of the goat-fish in the ethers of space, created with the help of a drawing by Zacharias Bornmann (1596). I designed the lower part of the picture with photos of the Swiss Mount Jungfrau ("Virgin") and of a sunrise over India as well as with a pentagram - symbol of the enlightened mental. In the top left you can see the glyph of Capricorn and in the top right the outline of the constellation of the sign.
Capricorn - Meditation in the Higher Heart Centre
9 September 2018, pencils and photo work
Capricorn is the dawn of the year. For spiritual purposes, Capricorn relates to the higher heart centre, where there is the eight-petalled lotus. The heart chakra of twelve petals is ruled by Cancer and it governs the activities of respiration and circulation. The higher heart centre is the seat of the Lord. The spiritual student is recommended to meditate the Lord as a beautiful form of deep electric blue colour and to invoke the sound ‘Narayana’. It is not a name but a vibration that can help us reach the centre of existence, where we merge with the light.
For the background of the image I used the photo of a sunrise taken around winter equinox in Brazil. I transformed the photo of a wooden Buddha statue and integrated a picture of Ishwara, the Master principle. The light of the Sun is penetrating through the shape. The heart centre was created with a picture of a blue diamond. Inside, there is the deep blue form of the Lord as the inner essence of the outer meditator. White rays radiate into the surrounding space.
Capricorn - The Column of Consciousness
11 September 2017, pencils and photo work
In the inner of the vertebral column there is the essential flow of awareness and light. It is like a lighted axis called Sushumna. We can enter into it and experience ourselves as a column of consciousness going from the top of the head to the base centre. This column is the central axis of our existence. The seven energy centres and the related planes of consciousness emerge from it. In our meditation, we can visualise that we move up and down in this column and ascend through it to the higher planes.
A photo of the shaft of a water turbine served as the central axis surrounded by a spiral. I eliminated the rungs of the mount and created the conical shape of the central column of bluish white light. The Sushumna column is surrounded by a yellow and a golden-yellow line representing the subtle energy lines of Ida and Pingala nadis. And the spiral indicates the spiralic movement of the ascending energy of Kundalini.
Lotuses in different colours show the energy centres along the central axis. They are surrounded by oval forms symbolising the various planes of existence and awareness. The half circle at the very top surrounded by radiant light indicates the entrance from where the unlimited consciousness descends into the vertical column as an individual spark of light - the I AM. You see it as the star-like jewel in the lotus of the head centre.
Capricorn - The Mount, the Star, the White Robe and the Gate of Death
8 September 2016, pencils and photo work
Capricorn is represented as a mountain top, the point where spirit and matter meet. At this most subtle and translucent state, the individuality becomes so pure and transparent that the light from above shines through. The personality ascends to the higher self, and the soul prepares to receive the energies of the super-soul. When the super-soul descends into a form, the Christ consciousness is born in a pure vessel. In the New Testament this pure body of light is called the “radiant white robe”. After the personality is conquered, the soul is glorified on the Mount of Transfiguration. It is also the Mount Sinai, where Moses experienced the “I AM THAT I AM” in the Burning Bush. The pure body of light is symbolised by a radiant five-pointed star. This star is also embodied in the shape of man with his outstretched arms, the two legs, and the head. We can take to this position and visualise with closed eyes how orange or golden light enters into us.
You see this symbolism depicted in this painting. For the orange light I transformed a photo of a cosmic nebula, for the mount a Swiss mountain top. The figure of Christ is created from an Indian image.
Capricorn is also called the gate of death, the release from the bondage of form. Cancer, the opposite sign, is called the gate of earth life, where the souls lose themselves in matter. Cancer is ruled by Moon. I depicted the cycle of incarnations with the moon phases from no moon (new moon) to full moon and back to no moon. The full moon is placed at the centre of a big crescent Moon, symbol of the form-bound consciousness. The pale light orbs at the bottom represent the souls bound in matter.
Capricorn – Ascent, Peak and Descent
02 October 2015, pencils and photo work
Capricorn is called the Mount. The experience of the mountain peak symbolises initiation, the summit of long and intense striving. After having reached the top, you have to return to the valley in order to share the essence of your experience and to guide other seekers.
About eight weeks before creating the painting an image of the Sri Yantra and of beings of light descending onto Earth came to my mind. Later, while in Santa Fe, Argentina, I saw an image of Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak of the Andes and also outside the Himalayas. The Aconcagua is the seat of an etheric ashram of the Master of the Violet Flame and Violet is the colour for entering into the subtle worlds. Only two days before I started working on the painting the details arranged in the inner view. It dawned to me to put the Sri Yantra on the top of the mountain, symbol of the Divine Mother and of pure consciousness.
I fused two photos of the Aconcagua, created a violet vibration penetrating the image, transformed a picture of the Sri Yantra, worked on the light reflections of a photo from the skyline of Santa Fe and of a staircase. I transformed the staircase into the colours of red, blue and yellow, representing the three rays of Will, Love and Intelligent Action. These lights are again surrounding the sphere of blue, pink and white light penetrating the Sri Yantra. I combined the stairway with the light reflections as a symbol of the ascending and descending souls. Then I created a central column of light from the top to the bottom representing the Antahkarana, the bridge of light leading to the highest realms.
Capricorn - The Sunrise
05 September 2014, pencils and photo work
In spiritual astrology, Capricorn symbolises the time of dawn on the different scales: the daily sunrise, the dawn of the year, or the birth of the creational intelligences, the awakening of the gods.
To illustrate these different planes, I started with a photo of a sunrise seen from an airplane. The partly visible sun symbolises that our visible sun is an expression of the invisible parts. According to the Scriptures, only one quarter is visible, while three quarters remain hidden. The surrounding petals of three layers of a sunflower and the flames above depict the radiance of the subtle planes.
In the centre, you see the depiction of the three basic forces of creational activity, pervasion and destruction - Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. I created this three-headed unity by transforming a picture of a brownish copper statue into blue with golden ornaments. The statue was done on the basis of the famous Trimurti, a huge sculpture of the three-headed divinity in the caves of Elephanta Island, Mumbai. The serpent is a symbol of the unfoldment of time and the forces of life (Kundalini).
For the background, I chose a photo of the constellation of Capricorn. In many of my paintings you see a dark blue background with stars. It symbolises the background of the unmanifest space, from out of which all manifestations emerge – you cannot illustrate the unmanifest. The blue of the statues of Gods refers to their origin from the unknowable background.
Capricorn – Varaha and Varuna
4 September 2013, pencils and photo work
For several weeks, I meditated on the symbolism of Capricorn but no complete picture came up. There was just an idea but I thought that the complex symbolism cannot be depicted in an appealing way. However, the impulse for the painting continued. And during the work on the picture it slowly manifested. Its symbolism is not easy to be understood by a Westerner. In short: The earth is lifted up from matter to spirit.
At the bottom you see the head of Varaha, the incarnation of Lord Vishnu as the White Boar. The Puranic lore describes how he lifts up the earth from out of the depth into manifestation, and from matter to spirit. Varaha is particularly worshipped in Capricorn.
This month is the dawn of the solar year and also the dawn of the great time cycle of our creation called a Manvantara. The earth is depicted as floating on the surface of the waters of space; it is supported by Varaha and surrounded by a huge etheric lotus flower, the symbol of unfoldment. Behind, there is a great sunrise, and from beyond the sun a dragon rising. On its back you see Varuna, depicted as a five years old boy with four arms. As they move through space the trident in Varunas hands, representing Neptune, is creating lines of force, which are the guiding lines for the Aquarian age. The white dragon, the vehicle of Varuna, is called Makara in the Vedic scriptures, meaning Capricorn.
Capricorn - The Dawn and the Light of the Higher Heart Centre
11 August 2012, pencils, crayons and photo work
Capricorn is also called The Mount. In the background of this painting bright mountains are shining, symbols of sublime aspiration. In the foreground you see the dark blue silhouette of a meditator diving into the subjective worlds. In its centre is radiating the huge eight-petalled lotus of the higher Heart Centre, the entrance to the inner light. The lotus is surrounded by fiery flames, and its stalk is rising from out of a reddish sun at the bottom. The electric blue lotus of the head centre is linking the inner of the meditator with the cosmic spheres.
Capricorn: Aditi – the Mother of Light and the Birth of the Twelve Lights
11 September 2011, pencils, crayons and photo work
In the Vedas Aditi is the original light, the light of the world, from which the 12 basic qualities of light emerge. They are the 12 sons of Aditi, the qualities of the 12 signs of the zodiac. In spiritual astrology the qualifies of the signs are not identical with the constellations, but are the great thought forms that impregnate the space around a globe and shape the energies of the beings into certain specific qualities. I visualised the 12 qualities as 12 radiant energy centres around the Mother holding a child, like in the presentation of Mother Mary with the infant Jesus Christ. I took the inspiration from a picture of the Hungarian painter Franz Dvorak.
Capricorn – Celebrating the Dawn of the Year
17 October 2010, pencils, crayons and photo work
In the circle of the year Capricorn stands for the dawn, where the sun starts rising on its northern course. Capricorn represents the illumined mind which is symbolised by the pentagram. The picture illustrates this with the five-petalled flower located on top of Mount Kailash, from where highest illumination pours down on earth. It is received by the Spiritual Hierarchy. In the centre of the picture you see the scene of the Guru Pooja celebration in Simhachalam, India, in honour of the great Masters of Wisdom, celebrated each year in the month of Capricorn. The picture shows Sri Kumar together with a group from the west in deep meditation. At the bottom you see the open air assembly hall from the background, with about 2000 people meditating to receive the energies. The different layers merge into one energetic whole. You also see on the background the glyphs of Capricorn and Saturn, the ruler of this sign.