The Four Winds

The spiritual revelation recorded in the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel affords us what we need for our task. In that chapter, the karma of evil is boldly outlined. The delineation begins with the picture of “the four winds of heaven [that] strove upon the great sea” (Daniel 7:2).

This figure shows us the cosmic scene of the conflict between good and evil. Space – with its four cardinal points of north, south, east, west – is neither one of the three abstract categories of Kantian philosophy, nor is it merely the distance that must be covered to reach some particular point; it is an ocean of forces at rest, set in motion by four active forces. These four active forces are the spiritual influences within the elemental world – the “winds” that cover the elemental world.

The currents caused by the four “winds” in the elemental world give rise to the four elements, which are impregnated by the four realms of elemental beings (salamanders, sylphs, undines and gnomes). These four groups of elemental beings are simply the lowest expression of the “four winds”. Their origin is rooted in the eternal Trinity, from which issue the cosmic impulses called ‘north’, ‘south’, ‘east’ and ‘west’. The Father being works through the cosmic impulses of north and south’ the Son and the Holy Spirit are active in the impulses of east and west.

When these impulses work together, cosmic good results; when the “four winds” work against one another, the result is cosmic evil. This is why the description of Daniel’s night vision begins with this image: “The four winds of the heaven strove.” These winds striving against one another are the four currents of cosmic evil. They are not controlled from Heaven, but from the depths of the ‘sea’; their origin must be sought in the “four….beasts” that appear out of the depth of the sea:”And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse from one another” (Daniel 7:3).

Christ and Sophia, Valentin Tomberg

Paradiso

The glory of him who moves everything penetrates the universe and shines in one part more and, in another, less.

I have been in the heaven which takes most of his light, and I have seen things which cannot be told, possibly, by anyone who comes down from up there.

Because, approaching the object of its desires, our intellect is so deeply absorbed that memory cannot follow it all the way.

Nevertheless, what I was able to store up of that holy kingdom, in my mind, will now be the matter of my poem.

O you who are in your little boat, anxious to listen, having followed so far behind my ship which puts to sea singing,

Turn back and revisit the shores you have left: Avoid the high seas in case, perhaps, losing me, you should find yourself bewildered.

The water I venture upon has never been sailed: Minerva breathes, Apollo shows the way and the nine muses point to the bears.

You other few, who have stretched up your necks in time to the bread of angels, upon which life is lived here and no one has too much,

You may well put out on the salt deep with your ships, following in my furrow before the water closes up again.

Dante, Paradiso

Hymns to the Night

Have courage, for life is striding
To endless life along;
Stretched by inner fire,
Our sense becomes transfigured.
One day the stars above
Shall flow in golden wine,
We will enjoy it all,
And as stars we will shine.

The love is given freely,
And Separation is no more.
The whole life heaves and surges
Like a sea without a shore.
Just one night of bliss —
One everlasting poem —
And the sun we all share
Is the face of God.

Novalis, Hymns to the Night

Reunification of Soul Mates

800px-Black_pearl_and_his_shell — Black Pearl by Mbz1

Because women tend to complete their spiritual correction sooner and more easily than men, they are also more often freed from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth required of those who have not yet achieved their tikkum.

A woman’s soul, therefore, may have the privilege of residing in the Upper Worlds while her male soul mate must reenter the world. However, she may so strongly wish to assist him in his efforts toward correction that she voluntarily comes into the physical dimension. She reincarnates to become the wife of her soul mate.

He must merit her presence, however. Many lifetimes may pass before this is the case, but it is worth the wait. In fact, Kabbalah teaches that the reunification of soul mates is a greater miracle than the parting of the Red Sea:

When their time to be married arrives, the Creator who knows these spirits and souls joins them as they were before they came into the world.. When they are joined together, they become one body and one soul, right and left in proper unison. As it is written, “There is nothing new under the sun,” because this is nothing new but a return to how they were before coming down to this world.

You might say, “But we have learned that a man obtains a soul mate according to his deeds and his behaviour.” It is assuredly so! If he is meritorious and his ways are correct, then he deserves his on soul mate, to join her as they were joined when they left the Creator, and before bonding with a physical body.”

Nothing that takes place in the physical dimension is more celebrated by Kabbalah than the joining of soul mates, and toward that end almost any hardship or sacrifice is permissible.

The Essential Zohar, Rav P S Berg

Book of Tokens

Absorb thyself in this Great Sea of the Waters of Life
Dive deep in it until thou has lost thyself.
And having lost thyself,
Then shalt thou find thyself again,
And shalt be one with me,
Thy Lord and King.
Thus shalt thou learn the secret
Of the restoration of the King unto his throne.

And in this path of Stability
Shall my knowledge of the Roots of Being
Be united to the glorious Splendor
Of the perfect Knowledge
Which is established in the mirror
Of the clear waters of HOD.
For when the surface of those waters
Is disturbed by no slightest ripple of thought
Then shall the glory of my Self,
Which is thy true Self,
Be mirrored unto thee.

From the Book of Tokens

Smouldering pit beneath the hotel lobby

Wandering back down the road in the other direction, sort of south and east if one assumes that I had previously been facing north, I chanced upon an improbably grand and opulent palace-like building that had an air of exclusivity.

While I was pleased to see evidence of a more advanced civilisation, I couldn’t help but notice that this was the only building of note and that it did not look exactly like a hotel.

Nevertheless, I went inside nonchalantly, hoping everyone would assume I was staying there, but suspecting all the while that I would somehow meet my end without making it to bed. I expected to get stopped by an official, but the building was full of people who seemed also to be in the midst of some sort of investigation and there was a hive of activity that rendered my presence there a non-event. It did not escape my attention that everyone else also seemed to be in state of utter disorientation.

Yes, I decided, after a cursory inspection, it was weird in there and things were getting weirder generally. There was no proper roof on the building – it all seemed to have half fallen down – and, despite the lavish facade, my second overriding impression was also of irretrievable decline; it was as if the entire civilization had gone way past its peak and was about to slip away. Nothing about it seemed stable.

The days here were definitely numbered, I mused. My casual air of interest in the surroundings was, with hindsight, a blatant portent of impending disaster. (I have a tendency to go into denial when faced with foreknowledge of unavoidable catastrophe that I was powerless to prevent, probably so as to avoid blind panic).

Determined to put on a brave face and stiff upper lip, I discreetly asked around for a bit more information and was directed to an area at the rear of the building. I had steeled myself to be un-shockable by this point, via the sole virtue of utter oblivion, so when I saw the gaping chasm filled with smouldering boulders nestling innocently in the back lobby I expressed polite interest and studied it closely.

Actually, it was pretty interesting and soon I was avidly discussing the nature of the geological specimen with a couple of grey-haired chappies who seemed to have come over here with precisely such a viewing in mind.

It all looked pretty dodgy, nevertheless, and when one of the chaps grew tired of waiting for a specific sign of activity from the smoking pit it was an exceedingly unpleasant surprise when he suddenly leapt onto one of the flattest rocks and sat on it very heavily with an expectant air.

Why the hell did he do that? Wasn’t he burning his bum? I was outraged by his foolishness for I knew it would be the end of us, and watched critically as the entire pit began to shudder and groan, opening in cracks and spurts before our eyes with an unusual lack of noise or disruption to everything around us.

Maybe I blacked out, because it only seemed to be a matter of seconds before I found myself somewhere completely different. The entire continent seemed to have just shifted and disappeared under water to the bottom of the sea, a very long way down.

Shit. This wasn’t good.

I looked around bemused, wondering how people were breathing. Just as soon, I wondered how I personally was breathing. I opened my mouth, inhaled, exhaled, inhaled exhaled – how the hell….how come I was breathing water, did I have special powers?

Oh. I wasn’t breathing.

Aphrodite’s Lovely Lips

The twice-born child threw back his head and laughed, his eyes just dancing as he took another draught. He turned to his deadly mistress and handed her the urn, at once feeling nothing but deepest desire.

“Wet your lovely lips and hark at this.”

She raised the earthen urn to her sweet, pink mouth and a murmur of surrender left her lover. “Oh fair-breasted Queen of my most erotic dreams. He may become a poet, my proud brother, but sure as day is night he is no lover.“

She took a second sip as he kissed her milk-white throat. Her voice was mocking, as ever. “Poor Dionysus, has your wine gone bitter! Who better than Apollo, voice of all reason, to relay the will of God to man?”

“Oh – daughter of the white-flecked foam – would you really prefer that braggart’s endless rationing to immortal death from too much loving?” His mouth fell down upon her breast, warm and soft as velvet beneath the silky, see-through dress.

Her eyes glazed over with lust. “You play to your strengths, I’ll grant you that; but what if death holds no temptation, even if the manner of dying might so much?”

“Pearl of Poseidon’s sea, how cruel that you pretend not to see. Do not all fair females of the universe have an inner understanding of my mystery?”

“You are a sly, uncontrollable creature and half of my self is now enthralled as I await your meaning! Come now, whisper your sweet nothings in my shell-like ear!”

“Nothing that is definable in words except – perhaps – immortal or invincible. Now show me that your body has a heart.”

“And why would I have a heart, foolish being, when such a thing was made to just be broken! Beware, now. My age-old son – the wholly unconquered warrior – stands poised right above you with his deadly, love-tipped arrow. One more stolen kiss and you, Dionysus, shall be blighted for your eternal life by the lust of Aphrodite, abandoned to the web of Ariadne by this fatal charm.

He took from her the urn and drained it to a drop. “If there is a thorn on this rose, then smite me with it now, your highness, so I can bleed and watch you leave.”