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.
Cancer - Artemis, Layers of Reflection
18 March 2017, pencils and photo work
The visible Moon is just the physical body containing the Moon principle. Moon is the Lord of Cancer and it is related to our mind. Like the Moon reflects the light of the Sun, our mind reflects the solar light of the internal Sun principle, the soul. Moon also reflects the light of the higher Moon called Soma in the Eastern scriptures. Soma, the divine musician, presides over the cosmic mind; his rays are received by the Moon via Neptune. Moon stands for the female principle, the mother. It stimulates the fertilisation and the birth and growth of the fauna and flora on earth. Cats attract the magnetism of the Moon; therefore the Egyptians considered them as sacred. Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt and of the Moon, can be understood as a symbol of the mind and quick thoughts.
To depict these spiritual dimensions, I worked on the image of a bust of Diana/Artemis with a contemplative countenance. The face is surrounded on one side by a cat and on the other by orchids dotted with starry reflections. On the top you see moon light from beyond reflecting on the bluish globe of Neptune and coming down to the sphere of the Moon. The Moon again fuses with the head of Artemis.
Leo – Hercules Conquering the Inner Lion
20 April 2017, pencils and photo work
The story of Hercules is the symbolic journey of inner transformation and initiation. Hercules represents the aspirant becoming a disciple and realising himself as a soul. Later on, he further ascends to realise the Universal Soul. The Labours of Hercules are a journey through the zodiac and the fifth labour corresponds to Leo.
Hercules is asked to kill the Nemean lion. The lion represents our lower nature, the personality. Killing the lion means, overcoming our ego and realising our identity as a soul. The cave of the lion is the heart. We go inside and listen to the sound of respiration which is compared to the roar of the lion. By observing the pulsation we slowly get to the subtle pulsation; this is called "entering the cave within the cave". In a deep meditative state, when the respiration ceases, we meet the Higher Self. Only the original thought "I AM" exists; no other thought remains. When there is no more identification with the personality, the "lion is killed". However, the Teacher tells Hercules that the lion needs to be overcome again and again; otherwise it will return.
For Hercules fighting in the cave with the lion, I worked on a photo (Wikimedia: Sailko) of a Renaissance brooch. In the background there is the transformed initiate who has realised himself as a part of the Universal Soul. For this, I used a photo (Wikimedia: Wouter Engler) of a bronze statue of Hercules of the 2nd century CE excavated in Pompeii (Vatican Museums). The golden colour of the statue symbolises the etheric body of the initiate, where the divine light reflects from above.
Virgo - The World Mother and the Four States of the Word
17 May 2017, pencils and photo work
The World Mother is the most sublime aspect of creation. She is the unlimited light of consciousness that emerges from the background of existence as the pure virgin nature. Virgo represents this aspect of the Logos as Mother. From there, the creation emerges in four states. They are called the stages of utterance of the Creator. The objectivity is the fourth state; three states of emanation of the Word are hidden in the subjectivity. The objective state is like the vocal sentence of our speech. Prior to that, there is the mental sentence coming from an idea, and prior to that the idea emerges from consciousness.
To depict the World Mother I transformed the photo of a statue of the Mother standing at the Godavari River in Rajahmundry, India. The four states of the Word are illustrated by different circles. At the heart centre and in the background you see the Sri Yantra, a symbol of the Mother, which contains the wisdom of the goddess.
The “landscape” where the Mother is standing is created with a lotus flower. For the background colours I used the photo of a sunrise in the Nilagiris. The stars of the Pleiades constellation, the seven Mothers, are generated with the help of the Stellarium software.
Libra – Nyasa Vidya, Adjusting to the Planes
19 June 2017, pencils and photo work
The Eastern sages have developed a science of superimposition called Nyasa Vidya, where they imagine themselves permeating the whole earth or the cosmos. They meditate the North Pole in their head centre, the South Pole in their base centre, the equator in their solar plexus and the Himalayas in their heart. They inwardly study the currents of magnetism that flow around the earth and use them to purify the centres along their spine and to free the thoughts from personal influences.
Likewise, correspondences can also be established between the parts of the body and the planets, the sun signs or the planes of consciousness. When our orientation to a larger system is complete, the energies of our system are rearranged in accordance with the larger system. Disorder is brought back to order; thereby, one radiates and remains magnetic.
To depict these dimensions, I placed the silhouette of a human body over an image of the globe. I created the radiance of the inner centres by using photos of aquamarine gemstones and of a lotus. You see the lines of the magnetic field as the human and the planetary aura. The central axis of the spine is prolonged via the axis of the earth to a galactic axis. For visualising the seven planes of consciousness, I transformed and multiplied extracts from a NASA photo of the Sombrero galaxy.
Scorpio - Fall of the Spirit and Birth into the Egg of Space
25 July 2017, pencils and photo work
The activity of Scorpio is characterized as the spirit coming down into matter in the form of a converging spiral. From the higher planes, the consciousness falls into the dense material states and gets imprisoned in the space like in an egg. This fall is compared to an inverted cone with a coiled serpent hidden within. Likewise, when the human soul descends into the womb of the mother, it loses the spirit-consciousness. It takes eons of time until the soul overcomes the limitations of matter again and reaches its source, the union with the spirit.
For illustrating the descent of the spirit from cosmic planes, I created a serpent-like spiral surrounded by star-dust. The shape of the inverted cone is formed with a picture of a mollusc shell. On both sides, it is surrounded by a downpour of star-dust.
In the lower part of the image I placed three eggs: a small egg at the womb of Eva, the first woman according to the Bible; a bigger second egg at the lower half of Eva’s body as a symbol of overcoming the lower self; the third egg is surrounding Eva and merging with the spiral - a symbol of the individual soul which, on the path of ascent, opens up to the super-soul. The original statue of Eva realised by Jacob Ungerer in 1910 is at the city-hall of Hamburg.
The bottom line is dark. From out of it raises a reddish city skyline made with a photo of house facades in Buenos Aires. The mega-cities are places where many human souls are living under the pressure of modern material life.
Sagittarius – Sagittarian Contemplations
15 August 2017, pencils and photo work
We are a microcosm containing all the intelligences that constitute the cosmic person. When contemplating on this relation we realise that we are essentially the same as the cosmic being and we slowly regain the original perfection.
Our body is anchored in matter at the Muladhara, the base centre. Esoterically, the higher Muladhara is linked to Sagittarius. It is presided by Ganesha, the cosmic Jupiterian principle. When worshipped, Ganesha enables experiencing the brilliant light inside the spinal column and a speedy upward movement from Muladhara to Sahasrara. The ascent of consciousness is symbolized by the eagle.
I created a silhouette of the cosmic person with a NASA photo of a star field in the Sagittarius constellation. Since Sagittarius represents the time of pre-dawn, I fused a photo of a dawn with the stars. At the feet of the golden yellow Ganesha statue there is a lotus as a symbol of the Muladhara. The central axis of the cerebrospinal column of light is formed with a water jet. The soaring eagle is located at the Ajna centre of the cosmic person and a radiant blue star forms the top of the Sahasrara.
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.
Aquarius - The Lord of the Eye
17 october 2017, pencils and photo work
According to the Eastern wisdom teachings, the whole creation is brought forth through an impulse coming from the background of existence. It is described as a light emerging from the “Eye of Shiva”. At the end of one creation, all is again absorbed into this eye of the lord of divine will until the next creation is brought forth.
The passage of emergence and mergence is called the point of Aquarius. In the human body, it corresponds to the higher third eye at the top of the forehead. When this “Eye of Shiva” is opened in us, it is like a lightning expressing the divine will and passing through the whole system. This eye can create and destroy; therefore, the knowledge about it cannot be given to the present humanity which is selfishly oriented.
To visualise the first impulse I fused images of ripples on a water surface, of a galaxy and of sunrises. I transformed a photo of a statue of Shiva (Wikimedia: Kachnar City, author Shivam S.) holding a trident with a drum and a mala, symbols of the vibration of sound and of the ether. The serpent around his neck represents the kundalini energy lifted up to the creative planes. From out of his third eye, the impulse of electric fire penetrates all planes of existence.
Pisces - Flower of Time Cycles
19 November 2017, pencils and photo work
There is a cyclical movement of time in creation. It is like the growth of a seed to a tree bringing forth new seeds. The wisdom teachings explain that there is no end to existence. When a physical form is dissolved, it does not end but continues to exist on subtler planes. With seven cosmic pulsations the creation descends and ascends again. From innermost realms, it comes down to objectivity; and after a while, the direction is changed and there is again an ascent via subtle and causal states to the absolute state. Our earth is part of a chain of seven globes. There are earths in preparation in three preceding states, we are on this present earth in the fourth state, and there are earths in recession in three succeeding states.
I illustrated this great pulsation with the circle of the serpent eating its tail, a symbol of the eternal movement of time. I created three semi-transparent globes on the descending arc and three globes on the ascending arc with a crescent of the present earth at the centre. I transformed a photo of the gears of an old pocket watch (Wikimedia, Sachin Sandhu) and placed it in a desert-like surrounding symbolising the slow movement of time. From its centre grows a Brahma Kamala flower (transformed from a Wikimedia photo by Schwiki), a mundane replica of a celestial flower growing at high altitudes in the Himalayas, symbolising the sublime unfoldment of nature.