Aries –The Three Great Fires and the Cosmic Kundalini
16 December 2015, pencils and photo work
The three fiery signs of the zodiac – Aries, Leo and Sagittarius – are described as three fires. The cosmic or electric fire is the spirit, the pure energy. It expresses through the solar fire, the energy of the soul, and then through the terrestrial fire by friction or the visible expression of the energy. Before the energy consolidates into the star dust to form stars and solar systems the Eastern scriptures call it the great serpent Ananta, the cosmic Kundalini. It is identified with the constellation of the Dragon and described as moving on the great ocean of milk, the immense ocean of solar globes in various stages of formation.
I visualised the three great fires as three suns using the photo of a sunrise over the Mediterranean. The fiery globes are connected by a downpour of light, where the lower receives from the higher and distributes the light in its turn.
I constructed the serpentine movement of the cosmic Kundalini spiralling through the various planes of creation with the help of elements from a photo of a ring galaxy. The head of the serpent is above and the tail in the lower sphere. It moves around the three fiery centres and creates the matrix for the further consolidation to the visible universe.
Taurus - The Higher Bridge and the Awakening of the Third Eye
25 December 2015, pencils and photo work
To be able to perceive the energy structures in the subtle spheres you need to develop the inner sense organs and purify your system through right living and spiritual practices. There are several energy centres in the body. In the process of unfoldment, a bridge is built between the pineal and the pituitary linking the related subtle centres. When this bridge of brilliant light is built, the centre of the third eye opens and allows subtle perception. When the consciousness is further raised, a connection to the centre at the top of the head gets established.
The centre of the third eye is related to Taurus; it is called the “eye of the bull” and it governs the power of clairvoyance. In the cosmos, it corresponds to the star Aldebaran.
To visualise these subtle realities I made a “selfie” of the upper part of my head. I superimposed a picture of Aldebaran with the surrounding stars of Taurus and constructed the bridge of light and the third eye with the help of other stars. I depicted the head centre by transforming the picture of a flower changing the shape of the petals to a mountain scenery. Then I worked on the colours and the radiance.
Gemini – Group Consciousness, Merging and Emerging
08 February 2016, pencils and photo work
Meditation creates an energy field around us. When done in a group it is much more effective. By uttering OM as a group it builds a huge funnel into the sky and brings in sublime energies. It has to be a prolonged intonation with full intent. In silence we can receive the energies descending from above. In this, the individual consciousness might experience group consciousness or even universal consciousness.
To depict this process, I used a photo of a group living which I fused with layers of blue. In the foreground I created a field of various light balls with the help of photos of oil lamps, city lights and flames. It symbolises the process of merging of the individual souls into group consciousness. The individual units ascend through a funnel to a point of light from where radiant white and blue rays emerge. Thus, the group is receiving the downpour of light and is uplifted.
Cancer – Descent and Growth of the Soul in Matter
06 March 2016, pencils and photo work
Cancer represents the descent of the soul into matter and the relation of mother and child. At birth the soul 'falls' from the spiritual world into matter, imprisoned in the dense sheath of physical incarnation. The mother nourishes the child and gives her affection. Mother Nature protects the child until it awakens to the soul and consciously ascends from matter back to the spirit.
Meditating on the symbolism of Cancer I caught a glimpse of a converging spiral. In the spiral I perceived the different steps of the descent of the soul into matter, and this linked to the mother protecting the growing child. Their interaction reminded me of the glyph of Cancer, ♋.
However, it took some time of searching until I found access to the actual composition of the painting. As a point of departure, I chose a Shalagrama stone, an ammonite, whose spirals are regarded in the East as a symbol of the universal principle or God. I transformed light reflections from butter-lamps in an Indian temple to represent the stages of the descent of the soul, superimposing them on the spiral in different colour shades. For the mother and child I used elements of two Italian Renaissance painters: the mother from a painting of Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-1469) and the child from a painting of Fra Angelico (1395-1455). The spiral ends and also begins in the heart of the child, being near the heart of the mother – Cancer rules over the heart centre. The looks of Mother Nature come out of a veil of light; the face of the child radiates strength and purity. The surrounding greenish blue hints at the higher ruler of Cancer, Neptune.
Leo – The Path to the Super Soul
15 April 2016, pencils and photo work
The soul is an image of God. It is a replica of the super soul and it expresses itself through the mind, the senses and the body. If we want to come in touch with the divine radiation of the super soul, we have to release our association with the outer form and orient within. This way the inner man is formed and we can relate more to the super soul, the source of our existence.
As a symbol of this orientation upwards I used the photo of a friend standing on a sand dune in Tibet in front of a lake with mountains behind and a vast sky above. To depict the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and space surrounding the personality I created spheres of different colours and the shape of the aspiring individual with his hands lifted up.
Light pours down through three globes – super soul, soul and personality - and is received into the individual. It is anchored in the head, the heart and the base centre. The light detaches the man from the impact of the surrounding spheres. He is oriented upwards to remain in touch with the source of Light.
Virgo – The Rainbow Aura of the World Mother
14 May 2016, pencils and photo work
Virgo is the month of the World Mother, the universal awareness or the basis of creation. She is called Gayatri in the Vedas, the Light of the World, and worshipped with the famous Gayatri mantra. She is depicted with five visible faces and a sixth invisible one. Of the five faces, the one on the extreme right represents the brilliant solar light and the face on the extreme left the soothing light of the moon. In between there are the three faces of the primary colours in the order of red, golden yellow and blue. The invisible face in the background stands for the absolute light of the background.
The World Mother is depicted with the aura of the rainbow indicating the seven planes of existence or the seven rays of the original Light. Each plane is subdivided again into seven sub-planes creating the kaleidoscopic beauty of creation.
To depict the World Mother, I used an Indian image of the Mother and transformed it by changing the colours and replacing the faces with extracts of women portraits of Western painters mainly of the 19th century. I kept the colour expression of the faces. Then I created a circular rainbow aura around the Mother and added seven rainbow hemispheres on a blue starry background indicating the expansion of universal awareness through all the planes of creation.
Libra – Passing through the Sun Centre
14 June 2016, pencils and photo work
Libra teaches to turn from the outer to the inner, from the circumference of life to the centre. It is symbolised by a circle with a central point representing the Sun centre. By contemplating on the central point of the heart centre we can enter into the subtle spheres and ascend to the higher planes. The fiery spark of I AM is the solar angel, which we are in our essence. It is a ray from the Sun. On the upward journey we are returning to our source. Man is a potential solar system. The Sun we see is a gateway to the Central Sun and this in turn is an expression of the Spiritual Sun. Like the Sun, man is a micro-image of the Cosmic Person. This symbolism is a profound meditation.
Pondering on the symbolism of Libra I tried to visualise the centres of the different circles. Each being has an individual central point and thus has a unique circumference. However, as they are all expressions of the One Existence, this is described as “centre everywhere, circumference nowhere”.
On the central axis of the image I placed a human silhouette with the energy centres and a radiant heart centre. There is a larger fiery silhouette in the background symbolising the solar being. I surrounded them with circles of different sizes representing the different spheres and their limitations. Vertical lines of various lengths illustrate the stages of ascent through the different planes.
I transformed an image of Krishna to represent the Cosmic Person. The human and the solar being are looking towards the Cosmic Person, their origin. The Cosmic Person is surrounded by an aura of a starry field.
Scorpio - Mars the Kumara and the Six-Armed Cross
18 July 2016, pencils and photo work
Scorpio is ruled by Mars. On the mundane planes, the Martian principle is related to blood, fight and conflicts. In the East, the sublime aspect of Mars is visualised as Kumara, the ‘I AM’ consciousness (This is explained in the book ‘Mars. The Kumara’ by Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar). We can visualise the Kumara as light emerging from our centre into six directions – east, west, north, south, above and below. The six-armed cross represents the six dimensions. He is described as an eternal youth of sixteen years. He holds a spear, as a powerful celestial weapon. We can identify with it as the energy inside our cerebrospinal column piercing through the lower nature.
The Kumara constitutes the axis of Taurus-Scorpio around which the zodiac is formed. Taurus is ruled by Venus and Scorpio by Mars. The masculine energy of Mars in association with Scorpio kills the evil and gives birth to the serpent of wisdom. The feminine qualities of Venus soften the masculine quality of power and bring about beauty.
To depict this symbolism I transformed the image of a statue of the Kumara holding the spear. I constructed the radiant six-armed cross emanating from the centre. I put it at the centre of a ring galaxy (photo by NASA). Behind the Kumara I placed a red rose forming the reddish aura as a symbol of the beauty aspect of Venus. The stem of the rose is fused with the vertical axis. I transformed its leaves into a serpent-like form on which the Kumara is standing.
Sagittarius – Seven Seers and Seven Layers of Consciousness
11 August 2016, pencils and photo work
The Eastern wisdom describes seven working intelligences in creation which exist as seven principles on the cosmic plane. They are called the Seven Seers / Rishis or Seven Judges. They have incarnated as the seven stars of the Great Bear and have externalised as seven rays. This principle also expresses on earth as seven great sages, as seven layers of consciousness and as the seven energy centres of the human body.
Spiritual Astrology explains that Sagittarius is the sign of judgement and that the seven judges are related to this sign. Sagittarius is the sign of aspiration to noble goals where the spiritual student dreams of becoming seer whose plans are one with the cosmic plan.
At the start of this image, I worked on a photo of the Great Bear. Seven rays in the colours corresponding to the related Seven Seers come down to earth. There, the Seven Rishis are depicted as seven flames, which I superimposed on the shape of the Earth. One of the flames is radiating in a human silhouette, where a line in rainbow colours represents the seven centres. The silhouette is standing on a radiant blueish sphere, looking to the Earth. The globe, surrounded by a subtle aura, appears like the pupil of a great seer. The image has a background of blue, the colour of Jupiter, ruler of Sagittarius.
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.
Aquarius - The Aquarian Pot and the Eternal Dancer
8 October 2016, pencils and photo work
The Wisdom Teachings describe the process of manifestation as a tunnel, where on one side there is the creation and on the other side there is a seeming vacuum, the potential space. This is illustrated by the symbol of the Aquarian pot. It has two openings: from one side you see a continuous downpour of water, but on the other side there is no water coming in. It seems that it is coming from out of nowhere and that some magic is giving birth to the creation.
The waves of the ocean of space are coming from that source in rhythmic, dancing-like movements. The Lord of this vibrating principle in creation is Shiva as the eternal dancer called Nataraja. If he concludes his dance, the creation comes to an end.
For the image, I took the photo of a statue of the dancing Shiva in my study room and created an Aquarian pot with streams of water pouring down. The pot is glowing in violet and blue - the colours of Aquarius. The surrounding arc of flames stands for the sphere into which the manifestation is happening. Shiva is dancing in the flow of waters which unfolds into the spectral colours. He is surrounded by serpent-like forms on a starry background symbolising the vibrations of space. The rhythmic pulsation of space is represented by his little drum on the left side. The globe in the lower background is representing the earth receiving the Aquarian energies.
Pisces - The Great Fish and the Seed of the Universe
14 November 2016, pencils and photo work
Pisces represents the dissolution of an old state followed by a gap and the beginning of a new cycle. The stories of smaller and bigger deluges correspond to the monthly cycles of new moon and full moon or the ending and beginning of the solar year. The Wisdom Teachings explain that the Earth, the solar system and also the universe go through such cycles. There are periodical dissolutions called Pralayas. The seeds of the previous creation are preserved through the “flood” in a vehicle symbolised by a ship, and the Lord in the form of a Great Fish takes the seeds to the new creation.
I visualised the cycle by a circle with a central point, symbol of the Sun. At the same time the central point is also like a Sun from where a stream comes forth. The water of the flood is partly submerging the circle. To this transition point the Great Fish has drawn the boat with the Manus, the seeds of the new creation. The depiction of the Manus was created based on an old Mahabharata illustration of Ramanarayanadatta Astri.
Aries - Permeation
12 December 2016, pencils and photo work
The ancient Vedic seers described profound wisdom with the help of symbols. They saw the manifestation of a new creation as coming out of a Golden Egg and permeating the different dimensions of space. They visualised the beginning of a new cycle with the story of how the head of the proud Daksha was cut and replaced by the head of a ram, the symbol of Aries, the power of stepping forth and penetrating. They further took the horse as a symbol for the life force and they saw Aries as the head of the horse. The sunrays, the transmitter of life force, are called horses and the seven rays are seen as seven horses drawing the chariot of the sun. The sunrays are understood as permeating space, being at the same time present in the Sun, on Earth and in between.
The image slowly developed while meditating on these symbols and qualities for several days. I took the ram head from the photo of a fountain in the old city of Berne. I placed it into a circle of twelve suns and created a sphere with the seven spectral colours on a starry background of space. In the middle of the circle I placed an egg-shaped form out of which light permeates – a symbol for the Primordial Deep, Aditi, the Mother, which gives birth to the devas, beginning with the Sun-god.
At the lower part of the image I created a fiery sphere around the Sun and I placed seven white horseheads and I added to their heads flames in the colours of the seven rays. I created the horseheads with the help of a Wikipedia photo by “Aleph” showing the Brandenburg Gate Quadriga in Berlin at night.
Taurus - Krishna's Flute, Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Centres
29 January 2017, pencils and photo work
Eastern wisdom knows seven sensitive points, the seven chakras, along the vertebral column and in the head. They are compared to Lord Krishna’s flute with which he is enchanting the fellow-beings. The seven centres are again contained in the region between the throat centre and a point just above the Ajna-centre called the birthplace of Indra. There are seven other centres above the neck, the area governed by Taurus. On the solar-cosmic level, these centres are related to the seven stars of the constellation of Pleiades. The secretions of the glands in that region of the body are called the spiritual foods with which Pleiades feeds the disciple. According to ‘Spiritual Astrology’, the Pleiades are described as the wives of the seven great seers forming the constellation of the Great Bear. They establish a link between the seven stars of the Great Bear and the seven centres above the neck of the disciple.
To visualise these relations I created a subtle form of the head as two oval fields of light. I placed Krishna’s flute as the vertebral column in diagonal, which I created by fusing and transforming pictures of a bamboo and a brass flute and by adding seven white points. I created the macrocosmic centres of the Pleiades and of the Great Bear connected with rays of light to the head, where you can see the microcosmic counterparts. The seven centres above the neck are symbolised by seven stars linked with rainbow colours to the head.
With the help of a photo of a lingam I created the symbolic representation of the different layers of consciousness and placed them below the flute and above a peacock feather, symbol of Lord Krishna, which forms the background.
Gemini – Ardhanari, the Male-Female God
18 February 2017, pencils and photo work
When creation comes forth from the background of absolute existence, it manifests as existence with awareness. It is also called Father-Mother, the interplay of the male-female God. We don’t say it is male and female because it is an inseparable unity. It is the Ardhanari of the Indians, the Hebrew Adonai or the Greek Hermaphroditus. Ardhanari is usually depicted with the right side being the male Shiva and the left side being his consort Shakti, his energy.
In astrology, the male-female God is called the soli-lunar principle, the light and its reflection. It is associated with Gemini, where the unity is bifurcated into two. In our body, the left eye is associated with the Mother, the lunar principle and the Ida Nadi (subtle nerve); the right eye is associated with the Father, the solar principle and the Pingala Nadi; whereas the Son is the Sushumna and the Ajna centre or the third eye.
For the face of Ardhanari, I fused photos of a Durga statue and of the central face of a Dattatreya statue, symbolizing Vishnu. At the right eye, I created the aureole of the radiant sun, at the left side the crescent moon surrounded by a field of dark blue. I transformed an image of Aldebaran, the “Eye of the Bull”, to be the third eye; and Regulus, the blue-white star of the constellation of Leo, is placed at the centre of the crown.