On the other side of the world,
you pass the moon to me,
like a loving cup,
or a quaich.
I roll you the sun.
I go to bed,
as you’re getting up
on the other side of the world.
You have scattered the stars
towards me here, like seeds
in the earth.
All through the night,
I have sent you
bunches, bouquets of cloud
to the other side of the world;
so my love will be a shade
where you are,
and yours,
as I turn in my sleep
the bud of a star.
World, Carol Ann Duffy
The father thereof is the sun, the mother is the moon.
The wind carried it in its womb; the earth is the nurse thereof.
It is the father of all works of wonder throughout the whole world.
The power thereof is perfect, if it be cast on to earth.
It will separate the element of earth from that of fire, the subtle from the gross, gently and with great sagacity.
It doth ascend from earth to heaven.
Again it doth descend to earth, and uniteth in itself the force from things superior and things inferior.
Tabula Smaragdina, 4 – 8
I approached the very gates of death and set one foot on Prosperine’s threshold, yet was permitted to return, rapt through all the elements.
At midnight I saw the sun shining in its brilliant radiance;
I entered the presence of the gods of the under-world and the gods of the upper-world, stood near and worshipped them.
Apuleius, ,Transformations: The Golden Ass
Laid I down upon the pillow
Soft, my sleepy head one evening.
Holding fast a cross from Israel
O’er my heart, for Love’s forgiveness.
Then I saw a sight, quite welcome,
To a child of starry heaven:
On a board of dark-night matter
Drew the Master with his finger
Five points joined, a star-shaped image
Finished by a sixth point, centred.
Once His finger left the black board
Burst a light; a new-made star born.
What a clever One! I wondered
Hoping then He’d make the sun shine,
Yet He made a second star light
Up the night before my wide eyes.
Very soon – in deep hypnosis –
Did I reach the land of dreaming.
In that realm I found another –
Dark with unrequited passion.
Gave this one my self a garment,
Woven in the strangest fashion.
And he gave me food to savour,
Made me feel a princess, favoured.
Later did he stand behind me,
Put his head upon my shoulder,
Kiss my neck to make me bolder.
Lord of night, my dream-self’s other
Showed me that our bond is soldered,
Soothed my soul my Spirit’s lover.
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
“…the Messiah, whom many have seen and met during the last twenty centuries, is no more only a spirit who descends and re-ascends through the heavens in order to exercise, with all the prophets who are to be found, the universal function of salvation…”
Unknown author, Meditations on the Tarot, Letter XIX The Sun
The scene changed completely with the realisation that I was outside the mountain in broad daylight, looking down on what appeared to be a white hand basin full of water. The guide was by my left side and I was able to look directly at his face. I felt fear rising and he told me not to be afraid.
It was with even more awe that I realized by a shift of perspective the ‘basin’ was in fact a vast lake surrounded by white mountains. It shifted back and forth I looked to and from the guide, who by turns appeared to be a giant holding out his arms, cradling the lake and mountains; but at the same time he looked just like an ordinary – sized man.
If I looked at him like an ordinary-sized man the valley looked like the white basin, but if I focused on the lake I saw it in perspective, as a huge, sweeping vista.
Not long after this the guide and I were two regular-sized people standing on a flat plain in the weak sunshine penetrating the icy air. It occurred to me that the guide had showed me some the secrets of the elements and that now we were to focus on the wind. This was, after, the way I’d ‘arrived’.
Recalling the appearance of the eagle I noted that it had been exactly like wind/cloud, white and translucent. My guide performed tricks with the wind and I asked – rather hopefully – if I might see the wind horses I’d heard so much about.
Almost ridiculously quickly, a beautifully elaborate white wind horse with wings outspread appeared in the middle distance of the sky and walked around in front of us. I was disturbed, however, to find it was pulling a type of chariot and whilst the horse itself seemed not to mind this hindrance, I ardently prayed for it to be released from the yoke it was under.
After a surprisingly long time – the chariot stubbornly remained – the horse casually walked free and up into the air, where it strolled gently away on the light breeze. I saw several white wind horses on the plain then, most with opened wings.
It occurred to me that perhaps I was meant to board the chariot and I wondered why this logical notion had not occurred to me at the time. My guide looked rather disappointed in me so I assumed I failed that particular test in some way.
The vision faded shortly after all of this and I fell asleep.
I think of that moment as I prepare myself for the sacred realm of dreaming, but it is a troubled brow that I lay upon the soft fleece and hypnosis does not come easily.
I have vivid memories of the autumn Tristeria – almost two years past – which left me with a sense of dissatisfaction that I cannot place. I wonder if my love for Dionysus has grown too strong. The allure of the youth has power to move me beyond my present confines and I am drawn to follow him in a way that would be irresistible were it not for my oaths to Apollo.
Whether I might share in Dionysus’ gift of eternal life without sacrificing my first allegiance to the Sun-King is a matter that occupies my mind greatly, most often when darkness falls. I cannot safely confide these thoughts to anyone, for if I do not remain true to Apollo and above the temptations of passion, then none will have faith and his rule shall end.
It is my dreams that sustain me. On nights such as this – warm and heady with the thick scent of Datura – my longing for adventure brings the dolphin to Psyche’s realm; I join him as he shoots like an arrow through the deep, swelling sea.
I am of course able to direct the course of my dreams. It is a skill that is cultivated in whomsoever holds this office, and it is upon this that the world’s most powerful men place extraordinary value.
I spread my heavy hair about the fleecy headrest and – with my hands still entwined in the golden threads – I gaze at the glittering constellation engraved above me. It is of the sun-seeker Orion, beloved of the Moon-Queen Artemis. Her love holds him there in perpetuity.
Tonight I shall dream of the huntress in the sky, who raised her bow at Apollo’s behest and claimed the life of her lover unawares. In this way i will learn from her the art of subjugating the crackling fires of desire, by which I shall make the love of my own life immortal.
When he first looked upon the world and wondered how best it should be ordered, Zeus released the Eagles of East and West, bidding each to fly around the Earth in his own direction.
The birds were reunited at this place and Zeus set down a sacred white stone, to mark it forever as the centre of the planet. The first shrine was created around this stone and from that moment onward, Zeus’s son Apollo, keeper of the sun, began relaying the will of his father to those who came here.
She stands within the fourth Apollonian Temple to have been built here, which has undergone extensive and ongoing repair works following the War that almost destroyed it.
The first Temple was much smaller than the present building and constructed from branches of Thessaly’s sacred laurel trees, while the next was created by bees of wax and feathers, designed to bridge the gap between Earth and the underworld.
Bees make the journey to and from Hades as a matter of course and the secrets they retrieve therein are for the golden ears of Apollo and his twin sister Artemis, the virgin huntress, keeper of the moon.
The third temple was a great bronze edifice, which stood for many years before the heat of the Sun God melted it back into the Earth. The fourth was built before she took up her office and the fifth shall be put on its foundations when she has left for the Elysium Fields.
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