Today we are entering into Gemini, the agile mental sign of the airy triangle of the zodiac. It is related to pulsation, the fundamental principle in creation of expansion and contraction. When I was thinking of visualising the symbolism of Gemini, I saw a huge white swan with outspread wings before my mind’s eye. Hamsa is the Sanskrit word for swan, and it is the symbol of the centripetal and centrifugal movement of our respiration (see the Lunar Messenger on Pulsation). At the centre of its heart you see an open flower which is white inside, the pulsating centre. The ballerina sitting on the beach symbolises the moment of contraction, the one flying high symbolises the climax of expansion. I merged photos of several waves to visualise the pulsating movement of ebb and flow (behind the swan). I used very light colours at the border of reproducibility to give expression to the delicacy of pulsation.

I took the inspiration for this painting from a fascinating seminar of Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar held on Mount Rigi 14 years ago. It later appeared as a book: “Saraswathi – The Word“. It also gave me the inspiration for the Gemini painting I did last year:

“A swan moves in pure waters that are equal to the pure ether. Swan is Hamsa in Sanskrit. Hamsa is the centripetal and centrifugal functioning of pulsation, the double principle of pulsation. The door of pulsation is the heart. The Hamsas (Swans) are the movements in us as pulsation and also as thoughts. The Swans of pulsation have the characteristics of musical notes. They form the bases of musical singing by the beings. The music details into varieties of Ragas (compositions) as per the time of the day and the season. These Swans can muse the mind and the ego onto Pure Consciousness and Existence. This is ‘the path of music’ for the return of the beings to Samadhi. Such is the work of the Swans of pulsation.”

10 February 2013, A 5, pencils, crayons and photo work

An American friend sent me the link to the following viral video with the words:

“The Rijksmuseum in Holland had an idea: Let’s bring the art to the people and then, hopefully, they will come to see more – at the museum. They took one painting of Rembrandt from 1642, Guards of the Night and brought to life the characters in it, placed them in a busy mall and the rest you can see for yourself!”

A great flash mob marketing campaign by the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam – “Onze helden zijn terug!” (Our heros are back!) One of the comment says: Creativity is intelligence having fun.” ― Albert Einstein

Scene from the video (c)

An Indian friend sent me the link to a video about murmuration. I have seen smaller swarms of bird flocks but these pics are really extraordinary, caught in the right moment. He writes:

“No one knows why they do it. Yet each fall, thousands of starlings dance in the twilight above England and Scotland. The birds gather in shape-shifting flocks called murmurations, having migrated in the millions from Russia and Scandinavia to escape winter’s frigid bite. Scientists aren’t sure how they do it, either.

The starlings’ murmurations are manifestations of swarm intelligence, which in different contexts is practiced by schools of fish, swarms of bees, and colonies of ants. As far as I am aware, even complex algorithmic models haven’t yet explained the starlings’ aerobatics, which rely on the tiny birds’ quicksilver reaction time of under 100 milliseconds to avoid aerial collisions—and predators—in the giant flock.

Two young women were out for a late afternoon canoe ride and fortunately one of them remembered to bring her video camera. What they saw was a wonderful murmuration display, caught in this 2-minute video.”

Picture from the video of the movements of huge swarms of birds. (c)

Over the last years I have repeatedly blogged about the 8th of May, celebrated as the White Lotus Day in remembrance of Helena P. Blavastky (8 May 1891), the great light bearer. As a little commemoration, also in this year, I give here a few extracts on H.P.B., as she was called, and on the meaning of the White Lotus.

HPB – The White Lotus, from: K. Parvathi Kumar: “The Golden Stairs“:
“Madam Helena Petrovna Blavatsky is as tender as a freshly unfolded white lotus. The tenderness of her being cannot be expressed in any language. In her case incompatibles have become compatibles. She is as fiery as she is tender. Her being is essentially and naturally tender and extremely motherly. But at work she is an embodiment of fiery Will. She was the chosen darling of the Hierarchy to inaugurate an era of enlightenment. She did her job ruthlessly, dedicating her life to the noble work of the Hierarchy. She has broken many distorted and crystallized concepts of TRUTH. She synthesized the universal wisdom; she presented afresh Cosmogenesis and Anthropogenesis, which are the world scriptures for posterity. She explained dexterously the story of man on earth. Through the key of Manvantara cycles and races she reintroduced the most ancient wisdom relating to globe chains, the seven rays and their universal application. She skilfully utilised the keys of astrology, etymology and cycles of time to unlock wisdom from the most ancient manuscripts of cave temples that exist in the Himalayas. She was as much in the subtle as she was on the physical and was therefore able to grasp the truth in its variety of dimensions. She was a fully inspired lady who inspired many through looks, through speeches and through mere presence. She was even seen as a reincarnation of Buddha in places like Sri Lanka.
She is regarded as the white lotus that unfolds afresh the beauty and fragrance of new age wisdom. She is respected as Upasika, the one who is in connection with the ruling light of the planet, which is said to be mysteriously posited in the subterranean regions of Gobi desert of Mongolia.
Inspired by her teachings ever since, thousands of groups sprang up in all the four corners of the globe, trying to find the way afresh with the help of knowledge that she unfolded for the forward march of the present humanity. Any praise or appreciation of her work would be inadequate. This teaching is offered at the lotus feet of Madam Blavatsky, who continues to be an inspiration in the heart of numerous beings all over the planet. The Madam stood by the Golden Stairs and her life is a demonstration of the Golden Stairs.
The image on the cover page is an effort to present the most beautiful and fragrant energy of the Madam with the white lotus and her countenance of effulgence. May her looks fix the aspirant forever to the path of truth!”

From the cover of the book “The Golden Stairs” (c)

An extract from the book “A Short History of The Theosophical Society“, by Josephine Ransom (Adyar 1938) about the relation between H.P.B. and her partner H.S. Olcott, after her departure:
“The President (Olcott) admitted that on this tour he missed H. P. B. He remembered how they had been together and had shared their first Indian experiences, and dreamed “dreams the revival of Eastern learning and religion.” They had borne so much together, and had faced and overcome so many trials. Though in his Old Diary Leaves the President says those things of H. P. B. which he hoped would prevent any tendency to set her up as infallible, yet he cherished for her a great friendship. He often disagreed with her, and she with him. Those who knew them both intimately have left on record their admiration for his patient and uncomplaining endurance of her worst and most volcanic outbursts. He knew how much she had done for him, and that he and others had learnt everything from her to begin with. Because she unlocked doors to great knowledge he often called her ” Latchkey ” in the earlier years.”

Text pieces on the symbolism of the White Lotus from “The Lotus Fire“, by George Arundale:
“As you concentrate on this Lotus symbol, growing from the soil of experience, ascending to its flower, imagine yourself as a great White Lotus with petal-powers extending in all directions. Already the seed is in you, the bud is slowly opening, and you are beginning the Flower, the dream that God has wrought….
We are told that the myriad-petalled white Lotus is perhaps the supreme manifestation of perfected Life. It is the Form of all forms, the Fire of all flames, the Infinite Theme containing within itself all themes of all universes and worlds. Hence its overt relation to some of Those who ‘know the Lotus.’…”

H.P.B., together with the Master KH, M and CSG., painted on 26 March 2010

An incredible real time video of a full moon rise shot by Marc Gee of the moon rising over the Mount Victoria Lookout in Wellington, New Zealand. He writes:

“People had gathered up there this night to get the best view possible of the moon rising. I captured the video from 2.1km away on the other side of the city. It’s something that I’ve been wanting to photograph for a long time now, and a lot of planning and failed attempts had taken place. Finally, during moon rise on the 28th January 2013, everything fell into place and I got my footage. The video is as it came off the memory card and there has been no manipulation whatsoever. Technically it was quite a challenge to get the final result…”

Picture of the video (c)

In the news we read that all over the world bees are dying due to pesticides and/or parasitic mites. Bees pollinate three quarters of all crops, and their disappearance will cause a tremendous impact on our food production. While politicians and scientists are still quarrelling over the potential causes, the bee mortality goes on. Last Monday, the ministers of the EU decided about a ban of 3 pesticides – a result also of intense campaigning of NGOs, partly by flooding decision makers in Brussels with massive public mailings. The bee battle goes on.

This morning a Canadian friend sent the link to a fantastic video, “The Beauty of Pollination“, taken from a talk at TED by Louie Schwartzberg, director and cinematographer, saying “we are all dependent to each other”. I blogged about it before 1.5 years ago, but it is worthwile re-blogging. The full-length version of Beauty of Pollination, called “Wings of Life“, has been released on Blu-ray and DVD by Disneynature on April 16, 2013.

Picture from the video “The Beauty of Pollination” (c)

A Canadian friend sent me the link to this great Greenpeace video spot (1’30) for Earth Day, April 22nd, 2013. Very well done!

A picture from the Greenpeace video.

For quite some time the e-card module on the good-will site was closed – I had to do it because spammer abused it for some dirty mailings. Though my son had programmed some security measures, they weren’t enough. Now he included a captcha field, where you have to enter some letters before mailing. I”ll see if it is sealed now.

I changed most of the e-card pictures. You now find new photos from my collection and some of friends of mine. And I have added a number of pictures of my “Images of Synthesis” series. Below I left the paintings of Roerich and Rassouli as well as pictures of Buddhas and of Mount Kailash. So if you like, send a postcard to a friend. And if you find something not functioning, let me know. I have been checking the code on the different language pages, but I’m not sure I found all bugs… Enjoy.

Today the Sun and Mars enter into Taurus, so there is a change of the quality of time. December 12, while reading Spiritual Astrology, the chapter on Taurus, I was attracted by the lines:

“Beauty is the divine aspect of form. This aspect is governed by the sign Taurus in persons who live for art and who try to discover the sacred mission of art in tnis universe. Here lies the hidden significance of locating the ascendant of Lord Krishna in Taurus. Blue is the colour of this sign just as red is the colour of Aries. This truth is concealed in the fact that the colour of the incarnation of the lord as Krishna is blue.”

The impulse for the picture of this month was there but it didn’t show up clearly. There was the inner feeling saying,  just go ahead, and I had a vague idea of a cupola of stars, but nothing more.

So I started searching images with stars and constellations and cosmological motives, but I was not “hit” by a motive. Then I slowly started seeing the picture evolve: I took a photo of a Krishna statue here in my room, chose for the background an image of an extract of the Isenheim Altarpiece, by Matthias Grünewald, which I had in my room during my student years: the Light of creation emerging from God the Father, and angels dancing in the downpour. I extracted the Krishna statue from the photo and put it in front of the emerging light. I put as another background an extract from the stage set for The Magic Flute of Mozart by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, together with the dome of stars and integrated a part of an image of a peacock, Krishna’s bird. Then I started working on the colours.

Back in the computer, I realised that the central figure, Krishna with his magic flute, was too stale. During the next meditation, the idea came to add another layer of the statue in front of the one already in the picture and to choose a low transparency. I added a lot of dark blue and so the image emerged in violet. Wow, I thought, that is the right colour for Krishna with a “magic flute”. After some finishing work, adjusting colours to add brilliancy, the picture was ready. Here is the print version.

I love very much the book Music of the Soul by Master EK (Ekkirala Krishnamacharya), where he describes what is visualised in the painting. There he writes:
“When Krishna played his flute, he expanded into the vicinity in the form of his music: One consciousness thrilled through all the living beings. It started from the flute of Krishna and reached the ocean through the pool of consciousness of the humanity. Krishna began to come out of his body in the form of his exhalation as music. He began to expand into the pervasion of his presence. After a few minutes, music seemed to flow through the flute by itself and come out of the seven holes of the flute until it touched the heart of the humanity and soaked it in bliss. All seemed to be a wave of soul consciousness. No one existed except the one soul in all. The minds of all melted away and it was an ocean of existence.”

Taurus: The Magic Flute of Krishna

An Argentinian friend sent me the link to the video clip for the peace mantra “Sarvesham Svastir Bhavatu” recorded by Tina Turner, Regula Curti & Dechen Shak Dagsey on the album ‘Children Beyond’ – in Switzerland. See more on the Tina Turner blog.

The mantra means:
“May well-being, peace, wholeness and tranquility, hapiness and prosperity be achieved by all”. Sing it for peace of all sensitive beings, for calmness and harmony.

The Sanskrit text:

Om Om Om
Sarvesham Svastir Bhavatu
Sarvesham Shantir Bhavatu
Sarvesham Poornam Bhavatu
Sarvesham Mangalam Bhavatu
Om, Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

And there is another website of this project of inter-religious dialogue: Beyondsinging.com – a journey to the heart of spirituality. “BEYOND is a dialogue of religions, driven by a world-embracing language: music. Four women from different traditions united in their commitment for religious tolerance, invite you to accompany them on this journey.” See also the video linked there: “The Beyond Universe: Create your own mandala“.

Scene from the video – children singing the mantram

Cover of the CD: Children Beyond – With Children United in Prayer