MAGIC
It is an error to believe that there are magical practices that one can learn. One cannot understand magic. One can only understand what accords with reason. Magic accords with unreason, which one cannot understand. The world accords not only with reason but also with unreason. But just as one employs reason to make sense of the world, in that what is reasonable about it approaches reason, a lack of understanding also accords with unreason. This meeting is magical and eludes comprehension. Magical understanding is what one calls noncomprehension.
Everything that works magically is incomprehensible, and the incomprehensible often works magically. One calls incomprehensible workings magical. The magical always surrounds me, always involves me. lt opens spaces that have no doors and leads out into the open where there is no exit. The magical is good and evil and neither good nor evil.
Magic is dangerous since what accords with unreason confuses, allures and provokes; and I am always its first victim. Where reason abides, one needs no magic. Hence our time no longer needs magic. Only those without reason needed it to replace their lack of reason. But it is thoroughly unreasonable to bring together what suits reason with magic since they have nothing to do with one another. Both become spoiled through being brought together. Therefore all those lacking reason quite rightly fall into superfluity and disregard. A rational man of this time will therefore never use magic.
But it is another thing for whoever has opened the chaos in himself We need magic to be able to receive or invoke the messenger and the communication of the incomprehensible. We recognized that the world comprises reason and unreason; and we also understood that our way needs not only reason but also unreason. This distinction is arbitrary and depends upon the level of comprehension. But one can be certain that the greater part of the world eludes our understanding.
We must value the incomprehensible and unreasonable equally, although they are not necessarily equal in themselves; a part of the incomprehensible, however, is only presently incomprehensible and might already concur with reason tomorrow. But as long as one does not understand it, it remains unreasonable. Insofar as the incomprehensible accords with reason, one may try to think it with success; but insofar as it is unreasonable, one needs magical practices to open it up.
The practice of magic consists in malting what is not understood understandable in an incomprehensible manner. The magical way is not arbitrary, since that would be understandable, but it arises from incomprehensible grounds. Besides, to speak of grounds is incorrect, since grounds concur with reason. Nor can one speak of the groundless, since hardly anything further can be said about this. The magical way arises by itself If one opens up chaos, magic also arises.
One can teach the way that leads to chaos, but one cannot teach magic. One can only remain silent about this, which seems to be the best apprenticeship. This view is confusing, but this is what magic is like. Where reason establishes order and clarity, magic causes disarray and a lack of clarity. One indeed needs reason for the magical translation of the not-understood into the understandable, since only by means of reason can the understandable be created. No one can say how to use reason, but it does arise if one tries to express only what an opening of chaos means.
Magic is a way of living. If one has done one's best to steer the chariot, and one then notices that a greater other is actually steering it, then magical operation takes place. One cannot say what the effect of magic will be, since no one can know it in advance because the magical is the lawless, which occurs without rules and by chance, so to speak But the condition is that one totally accepts it and does not reject it, in order to transfer everything to the growth of the tree. Stupidity too is part of this, which everyone has a great deal of, and also tastelessness, which is possibly the greatest nuisance.
Thus a certain solitude and isolation are inescapable conditions of life for the well-being of oneself and of the other, otherwise one cannot sufficiently be oneself A certain slowness of life, which is like a standstill, will be unavoidable. The uncertainty of such a life will most probably be its greatest burden, but still I must unite the two conflicting powers of my soul and keep them together in a true marriage until the end of my life, since the magician is called Diahmon and his wife Bacchus.
I hold together what Christ has kept apart in himself and through his example in others, since the more the one half of my being strives toward the good, the more the other half journeys to Hell. When the month of the Twins had ended, the men said to their shadows: "You are I," since they had previously had their spirit around them as a second person. Thus the two became one, and through this collision the formidable broke out, precisely that spring of consciousness that one calls culture and which lasted until the time of Christ.
But the fish indicated the moment when what was united split, according to the eternal law of contrasts, into an underworld and upper world. If the power of growth begins to cease, then the united falls into its opposites. Christ sent what is beneath to Hell, since it strives toward the good. That had to be. But the separated cannot remain separated forever. It will be united again and the month of the fish will soon be over. We suspect and understand that growth needs both, and hence we keep good and evil close together. Because we know that too far into the good means the same as too far into evil, we keep them both together.
But we thus lose direction and things no longer flow from the mountain to the valley, but grow quietly from the valley to the mountain. That which we can no longer prevent or hide is our fruit. The flowing stream becomes a lake and an ocean that has no outlet, unless its water rises to the sky as steam and falls from the clouds as rain. While the sea is a death, it is also the place of rising. Such is Diahmon, who tends his garden. Our hands have been tied, and each must sit quietly in his place. He rises invisibly and falls as rain on distant lands. The water on the ground is no cloud, which should rain. Only pregnant women can give birth, not those who have yet to conceive. ~Carl Jung; Red Book
Everything that works magically is incomprehensible, and the incomprehensible often works magically. One calls incomprehensible workings magical. The magical always surrounds me, always involves me. lt opens spaces that have no doors and leads out into the open where there is no exit. The magical is good and evil and neither good nor evil.
Magic is dangerous since what accords with unreason confuses, allures and provokes; and I am always its first victim. Where reason abides, one needs no magic. Hence our time no longer needs magic. Only those without reason needed it to replace their lack of reason. But it is thoroughly unreasonable to bring together what suits reason with magic since they have nothing to do with one another. Both become spoiled through being brought together. Therefore all those lacking reason quite rightly fall into superfluity and disregard. A rational man of this time will therefore never use magic.
But it is another thing for whoever has opened the chaos in himself We need magic to be able to receive or invoke the messenger and the communication of the incomprehensible. We recognized that the world comprises reason and unreason; and we also understood that our way needs not only reason but also unreason. This distinction is arbitrary and depends upon the level of comprehension. But one can be certain that the greater part of the world eludes our understanding.
We must value the incomprehensible and unreasonable equally, although they are not necessarily equal in themselves; a part of the incomprehensible, however, is only presently incomprehensible and might already concur with reason tomorrow. But as long as one does not understand it, it remains unreasonable. Insofar as the incomprehensible accords with reason, one may try to think it with success; but insofar as it is unreasonable, one needs magical practices to open it up.
The practice of magic consists in malting what is not understood understandable in an incomprehensible manner. The magical way is not arbitrary, since that would be understandable, but it arises from incomprehensible grounds. Besides, to speak of grounds is incorrect, since grounds concur with reason. Nor can one speak of the groundless, since hardly anything further can be said about this. The magical way arises by itself If one opens up chaos, magic also arises.
One can teach the way that leads to chaos, but one cannot teach magic. One can only remain silent about this, which seems to be the best apprenticeship. This view is confusing, but this is what magic is like. Where reason establishes order and clarity, magic causes disarray and a lack of clarity. One indeed needs reason for the magical translation of the not-understood into the understandable, since only by means of reason can the understandable be created. No one can say how to use reason, but it does arise if one tries to express only what an opening of chaos means.
Magic is a way of living. If one has done one's best to steer the chariot, and one then notices that a greater other is actually steering it, then magical operation takes place. One cannot say what the effect of magic will be, since no one can know it in advance because the magical is the lawless, which occurs without rules and by chance, so to speak But the condition is that one totally accepts it and does not reject it, in order to transfer everything to the growth of the tree. Stupidity too is part of this, which everyone has a great deal of, and also tastelessness, which is possibly the greatest nuisance.
Thus a certain solitude and isolation are inescapable conditions of life for the well-being of oneself and of the other, otherwise one cannot sufficiently be oneself A certain slowness of life, which is like a standstill, will be unavoidable. The uncertainty of such a life will most probably be its greatest burden, but still I must unite the two conflicting powers of my soul and keep them together in a true marriage until the end of my life, since the magician is called Diahmon and his wife Bacchus.
I hold together what Christ has kept apart in himself and through his example in others, since the more the one half of my being strives toward the good, the more the other half journeys to Hell. When the month of the Twins had ended, the men said to their shadows: "You are I," since they had previously had their spirit around them as a second person. Thus the two became one, and through this collision the formidable broke out, precisely that spring of consciousness that one calls culture and which lasted until the time of Christ.
But the fish indicated the moment when what was united split, according to the eternal law of contrasts, into an underworld and upper world. If the power of growth begins to cease, then the united falls into its opposites. Christ sent what is beneath to Hell, since it strives toward the good. That had to be. But the separated cannot remain separated forever. It will be united again and the month of the fish will soon be over. We suspect and understand that growth needs both, and hence we keep good and evil close together. Because we know that too far into the good means the same as too far into evil, we keep them both together.
But we thus lose direction and things no longer flow from the mountain to the valley, but grow quietly from the valley to the mountain. That which we can no longer prevent or hide is our fruit. The flowing stream becomes a lake and an ocean that has no outlet, unless its water rises to the sky as steam and falls from the clouds as rain. While the sea is a death, it is also the place of rising. Such is Diahmon, who tends his garden. Our hands have been tied, and each must sit quietly in his place. He rises invisibly and falls as rain on distant lands. The water on the ground is no cloud, which should rain. Only pregnant women can give birth, not those who have yet to conceive. ~Carl Jung; Red Book
Crowned Hermaphrodite (Androgyne or Rebis) (c. 1400).
A free man knows only free Gods and devils that are self-contained and take effect on account of their own force. If they fail to have an effect, that is their own business, and I can remove this burden from myself But if they are effective, they need neither my protection nor my care, nor my belief Thus you may wait quietly to see whether they work. But if they do, be clever, for the tiger is stronger than you.
You should be able to cast everything from you, otherwise you are a slave, even if you are the slave of a God. Life is free and chooses its way It is limited enough, so do not pile up more limitation. Hence I cut away everything confining. I stood here, and there lay the riddle-some multifariousness of the world. ~Carl Jung; Red Book; The Gift of Magic; Page 307.
You should be able to cast everything from you, otherwise you are a slave, even if you are the slave of a God. Life is free and chooses its way It is limited enough, so do not pile up more limitation. Hence I cut away everything confining. I stood here, and there lay the riddle-some multifariousness of the world. ~Carl Jung; Red Book; The Gift of Magic; Page 307.
Oh dark act, violation, murder! Abyss, give birth to the unredeemed. Who is our redeemer? Who our leader? Where are the ways through black wastes? God, do not abandon us! What are you summoning, God? Raise your hand up to the darkness above you, pray, despair, wring your hands, kneel, press your forehead into the dust, cry out, but do not name Him, do not look at Him. Leave Him without name and form. What should form the formless? Name the nameless? Step onto the great way and grasp what is nearest. Do not look out, do not want, but lift up your hands. The gifts of darkness are full of riddles.
The way is open to whomever can continue in spite of riddles. Submit to the riddles and the thoroughly incomprehensible. There are dizzying / bridges over the eternally deep abyss. But follow the riddles. Endure them, the terrible ones. It is still dark, and the terrible goes on growing. Lost and swallowed by the streams of procreating life, we approach the overpowering, inhuman forces that are busily creating what is to come. How much future the depths carry! Are not the threads spun down there over millennia? Protect the riddles, bear them in your heart, warm them, be pregnant with them. Thus you carry the future.
The tension of the future is unbearable in us. It must break through narrow cracks, it must force new ways. You want to cast off the burden, you want to escape the inescapable. Running away is deception and detour. Shut your eyes so that you do not see the manifold, the outwardly plural, the tearing away and the tempting.
There is only one way and that is your way; there is only one salvation and that is your salvation. Why are you looking around for help? Do you believe that help will come from outside? What is to come is created in you and from you. Hence look into yourself. Do not compare, do not measure. No other way is yours. All other
ways deceive and tempt you.
You must fulfill the way that is in you. Oh, that all men and all their ways become strange to you! Thus might you find them again within yourself and recognize their ways. But what weakness! What doubt! What fear! You will not bear going your way. You always want to have at least one foot on paths not your own to avoid the great solitude! So that maternal comfort is always with you! So that someone acknowledges you, recognizes you, bestows trust in you, comforts you, encourages you.
So that someone pulls you over onto their path, where you stray from yourself and where it is easier for you to set yourself aside. As if you were not yourself! Who should accomplish your deeds? Who should carry your virtues and your vices? You do not come to an end with your life, and the dead will besiege you terribly to live your unlived life. Everything must be fulfilled.
Time is of the essence, so why do you want to pile up the lived and let the unlived rot? Great is the power of the way. In it Heaven and Hell grow together, and in it the power of the Below and the power of the Above unite. The nature of the way is magical, as are supplication and invocation; malediction and deed are magical if they occur on the great way. Magic is the working of men on men, but your magic action does not affect your neighbor; it affects you first, and only if you withstand it does an invisible effect pass from you to your neighbor. There is more of it in the air than I ever thought.
However, it cannot be grasped. Listen:
The Above is powerful,
The Below is powerful,
Twofold power is in the One.
North, come hither,
West, snuggle up,
East, flow upward,
South, spill over.
The winds in between bind the
cross. The poles are united by the
intermediate poles in between
Steps lead from above to below.
Boiling water bubbles in
cauldrons. Red hot ash envelops
the round floor.
Night sinks blue and deep from
above, earth rises black from
below.
A solitary is cooking up healing potions.
He makes offering to the four winds.
He greets the stars and touches the earth.
He holds something luminous in his hand.
Flowers sprout around him and the bliss of a new spring kisses all his limbs.
Birds fly around and the shy animals of the forest gaze at him.
He is far from men and yet the threads of their fate pass through his hands.
May your intercession be meant for him, so that his medicine grows ripe
and strong and brings healing to the deepest wounds.
For your sake he is solitary and waits alone between Heaven and earth, for
the earth to rise up to him and for Heaven to come down to him.
All peoples are still far off and stand behind the wall of darkness.
But I hear his words, which reach me from afar.
He has chosen a poor scribe, someone hard of hearing, who also stutters
when he writes.
I do not recognize him, the solitary. What is he saying? He says: ({I suffer
fear and distress for the sake of man."
I dug up old runes and magical sayings for words never reach men. Words
have become shadows.
Therefore I took old magical apparatuses and prepared hot potions and mixed
in secrets and ancient powers, things that even the cleverest would not guess at.
I stewed the roots of all human thoughts and deeds.
I watched over the cauldron through many starry nights. The brew ferments forever. I need your intercession, your kneeling, your desperation and your patience. I need your ultimate and highest longing, your purest willing, your most humble subjugation.
Solitary, who are you waiting for? Whose help do you require? There is none
who can rush to your aid, since all look to you and wait for your healing art.
We are all utterly incapable and need help more than you. Grant us help
so that we can help you in return.
The solitary speaks: Will no one stand by me in this need? should I leave
my work to help you so that you can help me again? But how should I help
you, if my brew has not grown ripe and strong? It was supposed to help you.
What do you hope from me?
Come to us! Why are you standing there cooking up marvels? What can
your healing and magical potion do for us? Do you believe in healing potions?
Look at life, behold how much it needs you!
The solitary speaks: “Fools, can you not keep watch with me for an
hour, until the difficult and long lasting achieves completion and the juice
has ripened?
Just a little longer and fermentation will be complete. Why can't you
wait? Why should your impatience destroy the highest opus?
What highest opus? We are not alive; cold and numbness have seized
us. Your opus, solitary one, will not be finished for aeons, even if it advances
day after day.
The work of salvation is endless. Why do you want to wait for the end of this work? Even if your waiting turned you into stone for endless ages, you could not endure till the end. And if your salvation came to its end, you would have to be saved from your salvation again.
The solitary speaks: What smooth tongued lamentation reaches my ears! What whining! What foolish doubters you are! Unruly children! Persevere, it will be accomplished after this night!"
We will not wait a single night longer; we have persevered long enough. Are you a God that a thousand nights are as one night to you? For us, this one night would be like a thousand nights. Abandon the work of salvation, and we will be saved. What stretch of ages are you saving us for?
The solitary speaks: What smooth tongued lamentation reaches my ears!
What whining! What foolish doubters you are! Unruly children! Persevere,
it will be accomplished after this night!"
We will not wait a single night longer; we have persevered long enough.
Are you a God that a thousand nights are as one night to you? For us, this
one night would be like a thousand nights. Abandon the work of salvation, and
we will be saved. What stretch of ages are you saving us for?
The solitary speaks: You embarrassing human swarm, you foolish
bastard of God and cattle, I'm still lacking a piece of your precious flesh for
my mixture. Am I truly your most valuable piece of meat? Is it worth my
while to come to the boil for you? One let himself be nailed to the cross for
you. One is truly enough. He blocks my way. Therefore neither will I walk
on his ways, nor make for you any healing brew or immortal blood potion,
but rather I will abandon the potion and cauldron and occult work for your
sake, since you can neither wait for nor endure the fulfillment. I throw down
your intercession, your genuflection, your invocations. You can save your
selves from both your lack of salvation and your salvation! Your worth rose
quite high enough because one died for you. Now prove your worth by
each living for himself. My God, how difficult it is to leave a work unfinished
for the sake of men! But for the sake of men, I abstain from being a savior.
Lo! Now my potion has completed its fermentation. I did not mix a piece of
myself into the drink, but I did slice in a piece of humanity, and behold, it
clarified the murky foaming potion.
How sweet how bitter The Form of the One East, spread yourself,
It tastes becomes double South, die down.
The below is weak The winds in between North, Rise and be gone
The above is weak loosen the crucified. West, Retire to your place
The far poles are separated The ash turns Grey
by the poles in between. beneath the ground
The levels are broad ways, the night covers the sky and far
patient streets. below lies the black earth.
Night covers the sky and far
below lies the black earth.
The bubbling pot grows cold.
Day approaches, and above the clouds a distant sun.
No solitary cooks healing potions.
The four winds blow and laugh at their bounty.
And he mocks the four winds.
He has seen the stars and touched the earth.
Therefore his hand clasps something luminous
and his shadow has grown to Heaven.
The inexplicable occurs. You would very much like to forsake yourself and defect to each and every manifold possibility. You would very much like to risk every crime in order to steal for yourself the mystery of the changeful. But the road is without end.
~Carl Jung, Red Book, Pages 307-309
The way is open to whomever can continue in spite of riddles. Submit to the riddles and the thoroughly incomprehensible. There are dizzying / bridges over the eternally deep abyss. But follow the riddles. Endure them, the terrible ones. It is still dark, and the terrible goes on growing. Lost and swallowed by the streams of procreating life, we approach the overpowering, inhuman forces that are busily creating what is to come. How much future the depths carry! Are not the threads spun down there over millennia? Protect the riddles, bear them in your heart, warm them, be pregnant with them. Thus you carry the future.
The tension of the future is unbearable in us. It must break through narrow cracks, it must force new ways. You want to cast off the burden, you want to escape the inescapable. Running away is deception and detour. Shut your eyes so that you do not see the manifold, the outwardly plural, the tearing away and the tempting.
There is only one way and that is your way; there is only one salvation and that is your salvation. Why are you looking around for help? Do you believe that help will come from outside? What is to come is created in you and from you. Hence look into yourself. Do not compare, do not measure. No other way is yours. All other
ways deceive and tempt you.
You must fulfill the way that is in you. Oh, that all men and all their ways become strange to you! Thus might you find them again within yourself and recognize their ways. But what weakness! What doubt! What fear! You will not bear going your way. You always want to have at least one foot on paths not your own to avoid the great solitude! So that maternal comfort is always with you! So that someone acknowledges you, recognizes you, bestows trust in you, comforts you, encourages you.
So that someone pulls you over onto their path, where you stray from yourself and where it is easier for you to set yourself aside. As if you were not yourself! Who should accomplish your deeds? Who should carry your virtues and your vices? You do not come to an end with your life, and the dead will besiege you terribly to live your unlived life. Everything must be fulfilled.
Time is of the essence, so why do you want to pile up the lived and let the unlived rot? Great is the power of the way. In it Heaven and Hell grow together, and in it the power of the Below and the power of the Above unite. The nature of the way is magical, as are supplication and invocation; malediction and deed are magical if they occur on the great way. Magic is the working of men on men, but your magic action does not affect your neighbor; it affects you first, and only if you withstand it does an invisible effect pass from you to your neighbor. There is more of it in the air than I ever thought.
However, it cannot be grasped. Listen:
The Above is powerful,
The Below is powerful,
Twofold power is in the One.
North, come hither,
West, snuggle up,
East, flow upward,
South, spill over.
The winds in between bind the
cross. The poles are united by the
intermediate poles in between
Steps lead from above to below.
Boiling water bubbles in
cauldrons. Red hot ash envelops
the round floor.
Night sinks blue and deep from
above, earth rises black from
below.
A solitary is cooking up healing potions.
He makes offering to the four winds.
He greets the stars and touches the earth.
He holds something luminous in his hand.
Flowers sprout around him and the bliss of a new spring kisses all his limbs.
Birds fly around and the shy animals of the forest gaze at him.
He is far from men and yet the threads of their fate pass through his hands.
May your intercession be meant for him, so that his medicine grows ripe
and strong and brings healing to the deepest wounds.
For your sake he is solitary and waits alone between Heaven and earth, for
the earth to rise up to him and for Heaven to come down to him.
All peoples are still far off and stand behind the wall of darkness.
But I hear his words, which reach me from afar.
He has chosen a poor scribe, someone hard of hearing, who also stutters
when he writes.
I do not recognize him, the solitary. What is he saying? He says: ({I suffer
fear and distress for the sake of man."
I dug up old runes and magical sayings for words never reach men. Words
have become shadows.
Therefore I took old magical apparatuses and prepared hot potions and mixed
in secrets and ancient powers, things that even the cleverest would not guess at.
I stewed the roots of all human thoughts and deeds.
I watched over the cauldron through many starry nights. The brew ferments forever. I need your intercession, your kneeling, your desperation and your patience. I need your ultimate and highest longing, your purest willing, your most humble subjugation.
Solitary, who are you waiting for? Whose help do you require? There is none
who can rush to your aid, since all look to you and wait for your healing art.
We are all utterly incapable and need help more than you. Grant us help
so that we can help you in return.
The solitary speaks: Will no one stand by me in this need? should I leave
my work to help you so that you can help me again? But how should I help
you, if my brew has not grown ripe and strong? It was supposed to help you.
What do you hope from me?
Come to us! Why are you standing there cooking up marvels? What can
your healing and magical potion do for us? Do you believe in healing potions?
Look at life, behold how much it needs you!
The solitary speaks: “Fools, can you not keep watch with me for an
hour, until the difficult and long lasting achieves completion and the juice
has ripened?
Just a little longer and fermentation will be complete. Why can't you
wait? Why should your impatience destroy the highest opus?
What highest opus? We are not alive; cold and numbness have seized
us. Your opus, solitary one, will not be finished for aeons, even if it advances
day after day.
The work of salvation is endless. Why do you want to wait for the end of this work? Even if your waiting turned you into stone for endless ages, you could not endure till the end. And if your salvation came to its end, you would have to be saved from your salvation again.
The solitary speaks: What smooth tongued lamentation reaches my ears! What whining! What foolish doubters you are! Unruly children! Persevere, it will be accomplished after this night!"
We will not wait a single night longer; we have persevered long enough. Are you a God that a thousand nights are as one night to you? For us, this one night would be like a thousand nights. Abandon the work of salvation, and we will be saved. What stretch of ages are you saving us for?
The solitary speaks: What smooth tongued lamentation reaches my ears!
What whining! What foolish doubters you are! Unruly children! Persevere,
it will be accomplished after this night!"
We will not wait a single night longer; we have persevered long enough.
Are you a God that a thousand nights are as one night to you? For us, this
one night would be like a thousand nights. Abandon the work of salvation, and
we will be saved. What stretch of ages are you saving us for?
The solitary speaks: You embarrassing human swarm, you foolish
bastard of God and cattle, I'm still lacking a piece of your precious flesh for
my mixture. Am I truly your most valuable piece of meat? Is it worth my
while to come to the boil for you? One let himself be nailed to the cross for
you. One is truly enough. He blocks my way. Therefore neither will I walk
on his ways, nor make for you any healing brew or immortal blood potion,
but rather I will abandon the potion and cauldron and occult work for your
sake, since you can neither wait for nor endure the fulfillment. I throw down
your intercession, your genuflection, your invocations. You can save your
selves from both your lack of salvation and your salvation! Your worth rose
quite high enough because one died for you. Now prove your worth by
each living for himself. My God, how difficult it is to leave a work unfinished
for the sake of men! But for the sake of men, I abstain from being a savior.
Lo! Now my potion has completed its fermentation. I did not mix a piece of
myself into the drink, but I did slice in a piece of humanity, and behold, it
clarified the murky foaming potion.
How sweet how bitter The Form of the One East, spread yourself,
It tastes becomes double South, die down.
The below is weak The winds in between North, Rise and be gone
The above is weak loosen the crucified. West, Retire to your place
The far poles are separated The ash turns Grey
by the poles in between. beneath the ground
The levels are broad ways, the night covers the sky and far
patient streets. below lies the black earth.
Night covers the sky and far
below lies the black earth.
The bubbling pot grows cold.
Day approaches, and above the clouds a distant sun.
No solitary cooks healing potions.
The four winds blow and laugh at their bounty.
And he mocks the four winds.
He has seen the stars and touched the earth.
Therefore his hand clasps something luminous
and his shadow has grown to Heaven.
The inexplicable occurs. You would very much like to forsake yourself and defect to each and every manifold possibility. You would very much like to risk every crime in order to steal for yourself the mystery of the changeful. But the road is without end.
~Carl Jung, Red Book, Pages 307-309
Circumpunct
"The orbit (magic circle) which thou seest on the preceding page will serve thee as a model to make others which shall be nine cubits in diameter. Thou shalt use these to perform marvels, a priviledge which thy predecessors Beros and Sanchoniaton did not have. I give thee at the same time the intelligence of the characters in which is written my revelation so that thou mayest make use of them for three purposes: to find things lost in the seas since the upsetting of the globe (the Deluge); to discover mines of diamonds, gold and silver in the heart of the earth; to preserve the health and prolong the life to a century or over with the freshness of fifty years and the strength of that age."
The core of the figure is the Solar Cross, encoding the Precession Great Cycle...a time of maximal magical leverage for rituals of solar/galactic alignment. The 2 crosses align in 2012. The head is Kether, the solar heart Tiphareth. This is reiterated by the Sagittarian arrow of Art path pointing to the Zero Point of galactic alignment which occurs at the ecliptic with Sag pointing its position. Naturally, much more could be said energetic Light Body.
"In the idiom of symbology, there was one symbol that reigned supreme above all others. The oldest and most universal, this symbol fused all the ancient traditions in a single solitary image that represented the illumination of the Egyptian sun god, the triumph of alchemical gold, the wisdom of the Philosopher's Stone, the purity of the Rosicrucian Rose, the moment of Creation, the All, the dominance of the astrological sun, and even the omniscient all-seeing eye that hovered atop the unfinished pyramid. The circumpunct. The symbol of the Source. The origin of all things."
It is true that the circumpunct symbol has been around for millennia, albeit more often known as "the circle with the dot in the middle". It is commonly used as a solar symbol and reputable sources date this to ancient Egypt, where the symbol has its origins in Ra (or Re), god of the midday sun. In fact, the circle with a midpoint, plus a vertical line is the hieroglyph meaning "sun".
So how did an Egyptian symbol rise to shine again as a token of the ancient mysteries among 21st-century Freemasons in Brown's novel? Langdon's exposition is as follows: "The pyramid builders of Egypt are the forerunners of the modern stonemasons, and the pyramid, along with Egyptian themes, is very common in Masonic symbolism." Very neat. Well done, Brown.
one of the most famous images supposedly deriving from the circumpunct – the all-seeing eye
This simple symbol has many meanings, often spiritual. The Stanford Solar Center says the circle with a point is the common astrological and now astronomical symbol for the Sun, as well as the ancient alchemical symbol for gold, the perfect metal. This is because the sphere is a perfect shape, representing wholeness, oneness, unity and spirituality.
In her book Life Symbols as Related to Sex Symbolism, Elizabeth E. Goldsmith writes that the dot within the circle dates to ancient times and may have typified the seed within the egg. "This is the 'Orphic egg', a symbol of the universe whose yolk in the middle of a liquid surrounded an encompassing vault, represented the globe of the sun floating in ether and surrounded by the vault of heaven," she writes. How apt then that Ra – worshipped as the great father who created gods and men – should be represented by this symbol.
In Hinduism the midpoint in the circle is called a "bindu" – meaning point or dot – and it's said to signify the spark of male life, the point at which creation begins within the cosmic womb and one becomes many. According to the book Yantra: The Tantric Symbol Of Cosmic Unitythe bindu is the "the sacred symbol of the cosmos in its unmanifested state".
The circumpunct is indeed profound with its meaning ranging from an explanation of deity, to an explanation of the self. These two points in addition to its ancient meaning of the sun earn the circumpunct the rank of most symbolic of all symbols.
Immortality in Ancient Egypt
Representing eternal life, one of the most famous and commonly used Egyptian symbols is the ankh, a cross shaped symbol with a loop at the top – one of its other names is crux ansata, Latin for ‘cross with a handle’. It is also known as the 'key of life' or the 'key of the Nile'. The ankh features in hieroglyphic text and iconographic art all over ancient Egypt with the gods often carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest. Many Egyptians carried an ankh as an amulet.
Its origins are much debated; Alan Gardiner, who has written extensively on hieroglyphs, suggested it came from the part of a sandal strap called ‘nkh’, but it’s not sure if this name was applied retrospectively because of the similarity in shape. Others have put forward ideas relating to male and female reproductive parts, while some think it represents the sun on the horizon, with the path of the sun before it.
A similar symbol, but with the top loop shaded in has been found in Peru. Used by the Mochica culture circa seventh century AD, the discovery of this symbol is one of the many reasons which have led scholars to believe there was more contact between Mediterranean and pre-Columbian cultures than previously thought.
The core of the figure is the Solar Cross, encoding the Precession Great Cycle...a time of maximal magical leverage for rituals of solar/galactic alignment. The 2 crosses align in 2012. The head is Kether, the solar heart Tiphareth. This is reiterated by the Sagittarian arrow of Art path pointing to the Zero Point of galactic alignment which occurs at the ecliptic with Sag pointing its position. Naturally, much more could be said energetic Light Body.
"In the idiom of symbology, there was one symbol that reigned supreme above all others. The oldest and most universal, this symbol fused all the ancient traditions in a single solitary image that represented the illumination of the Egyptian sun god, the triumph of alchemical gold, the wisdom of the Philosopher's Stone, the purity of the Rosicrucian Rose, the moment of Creation, the All, the dominance of the astrological sun, and even the omniscient all-seeing eye that hovered atop the unfinished pyramid. The circumpunct. The symbol of the Source. The origin of all things."
It is true that the circumpunct symbol has been around for millennia, albeit more often known as "the circle with the dot in the middle". It is commonly used as a solar symbol and reputable sources date this to ancient Egypt, where the symbol has its origins in Ra (or Re), god of the midday sun. In fact, the circle with a midpoint, plus a vertical line is the hieroglyph meaning "sun".
So how did an Egyptian symbol rise to shine again as a token of the ancient mysteries among 21st-century Freemasons in Brown's novel? Langdon's exposition is as follows: "The pyramid builders of Egypt are the forerunners of the modern stonemasons, and the pyramid, along with Egyptian themes, is very common in Masonic symbolism." Very neat. Well done, Brown.
one of the most famous images supposedly deriving from the circumpunct – the all-seeing eye
This simple symbol has many meanings, often spiritual. The Stanford Solar Center says the circle with a point is the common astrological and now astronomical symbol for the Sun, as well as the ancient alchemical symbol for gold, the perfect metal. This is because the sphere is a perfect shape, representing wholeness, oneness, unity and spirituality.
In her book Life Symbols as Related to Sex Symbolism, Elizabeth E. Goldsmith writes that the dot within the circle dates to ancient times and may have typified the seed within the egg. "This is the 'Orphic egg', a symbol of the universe whose yolk in the middle of a liquid surrounded an encompassing vault, represented the globe of the sun floating in ether and surrounded by the vault of heaven," she writes. How apt then that Ra – worshipped as the great father who created gods and men – should be represented by this symbol.
In Hinduism the midpoint in the circle is called a "bindu" – meaning point or dot – and it's said to signify the spark of male life, the point at which creation begins within the cosmic womb and one becomes many. According to the book Yantra: The Tantric Symbol Of Cosmic Unitythe bindu is the "the sacred symbol of the cosmos in its unmanifested state".
The circumpunct is indeed profound with its meaning ranging from an explanation of deity, to an explanation of the self. These two points in addition to its ancient meaning of the sun earn the circumpunct the rank of most symbolic of all symbols.
Immortality in Ancient Egypt
Representing eternal life, one of the most famous and commonly used Egyptian symbols is the ankh, a cross shaped symbol with a loop at the top – one of its other names is crux ansata, Latin for ‘cross with a handle’. It is also known as the 'key of life' or the 'key of the Nile'. The ankh features in hieroglyphic text and iconographic art all over ancient Egypt with the gods often carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand, arms crossed over their chest. Many Egyptians carried an ankh as an amulet.
Its origins are much debated; Alan Gardiner, who has written extensively on hieroglyphs, suggested it came from the part of a sandal strap called ‘nkh’, but it’s not sure if this name was applied retrospectively because of the similarity in shape. Others have put forward ideas relating to male and female reproductive parts, while some think it represents the sun on the horizon, with the path of the sun before it.
A similar symbol, but with the top loop shaded in has been found in Peru. Used by the Mochica culture circa seventh century AD, the discovery of this symbol is one of the many reasons which have led scholars to believe there was more contact between Mediterranean and pre-Columbian cultures than previously thought.