The message in the symbol of Pisces is that of synthesis which unites all opposites. The two fishes of Pisces move in opposite directions. They appear as two, but in reality they are one. Without opposites there is no creation. Pisces also stands for death and birth. Pisces contains the seed for the beginning of a new cycle. This new cycle happens in Aries (“all things new”). But the subtle beginning seeds are in Pisces. The cyclical movement of time is eternal.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Pisces illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Pisces paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

Today, the Sun enters Pisces. Pisces is a sign of synthesis that unites opposites. The two fishes of the symbol Pisces are swimming in opposite directions but forming a complementary unity. The two fishes can be thought of as spirit and matter. Spirit and matter are apparent opposites that together give rise to universal consciousness. This consciousness is the underlying current that balances the opposing forces and allows creation to exist.

The flow of consciousness is called ‘the Word’. In the East, it is worshipped as the Mother of the World in the form of Saraswathi, Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom. Saraswathi directs the movement of all things, which we can meditate as a circular flow of energies in the wheel of creation. It is a flow of light and sound through all seven planes of creation. Symbolically, this is represented by the seven-stringed musical instrument Vina, on which Saraswathi eternally plays her music, keeping the process of creation in harmony.

For the design of the picture I used elements of the NASA photo of a star nebula in the background. I integrated the photo of a rainbow over streams of the Iguazu waterfalls, seen from the Brazilian side. The colours of the rainbow symbolize the seven planes of creation. Above, I inserted a Saraswathi depiction by Raja Ravi Varma from 1894. Saraswathi is playing on a Vina, as a peacock with its multiple colours watches nearby.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Pisces illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Pisces paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

Aquarius is the month of magic. The word magic comes from Magus, the Latin word for priest or magician, and this is derived from Magha. Magha or Maagha is the Sanskrit name for the 11th Sun sign, Aquarius. Magic is to let something appear from out of seeming nothingness. The creation is ever manifesting from invisibility to visibility – a magical process. And the creation is also disappearing again from visibility to invisibility. It is like awakening and going to sleep again. All this happens on the basis of eternal existence.

The creative manifestation of a painting is just like this process – the image manifests through the creative work, it is there for some time and it will disappear again after some time – the magic of manifestation and de-manifestation.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Aquarius illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Aquarius paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

Beauty is an expression from the subtle planes. What artists express through their work is coming from their inner – via thoughts or intuitional impulses. Many times modern artists seek new expressions for their intentions going beyond traditional forms of perceiving beauty.

What we perceive as beauty in Nature is also coming from the subtle planes of Nature. Many people think the forms of Nature are accidental and produced by mere physical or biological processes. The wisdom teachings, however, understand that there are also other forces at work – a cosmic mind (called Mahat) and what you might call cosmic intuitional impulses. You do not physically see them but they are expressions of beauty beyond physical form. Artists using for their work inspiration or elements of beauty from Nature are in subtle interaction with these cosmic and not human expressions. There are many artists who tune up in their work to these realities. The Japanese art of Ikebana might be seen as an example of such subtle interaction.

Mid-December 2022, I had a Zoom exchange with a friend from Berlin – Barbara Hübner, better called Basia, since she is of Polish origin. I wanted to write some words in a blogpost but it took several weeks before finding time for these lines and giving some hints to her work.

Among other skills, she is an accomplished artist profoundly inspired by Japanese traditions (if you don’t know German, you can read the texts on her websites with an automatic translation). She sent me some pictures of her recent artwork. She mainly works with floral elements and materials such as bamboo, twigs, paper, metal and other compositions.

The images touched me by their clearly structured arrangements and beauty. They radiate a ritualistic concentration on the essential but at the same time the joy of manifesting something sublime and uplifting.

I discovered more about her work on the web (here: Facebook). She calls one of her websites “Joy of Creating“. Using elements of nature, the artistic work magnifies the natural beauty and lifts the viewer up to subtle planes.

She had intensely studied and worked with Ikebana or Kakejiki, colourful paper reliefs partly of huge sizes. You find a beautiful overview on Flickr.

You can see in such works of art the interaction between the thoughts and intentions of the artist and of those of Nature.

The principle of the cosmic mind is called Manu in the wisdom teachings. He is the archetype of man, “The Man in the Heavens”. The Manu decides the nature of our development, our bodies and where we are born. He gives the law of human evolution and its spiral movement through the cycles of time. This law is called the Law of Manu. The stages of evolution are called Manvantaras.

According to the Eastern teachings, there are 14 Manvantaras. These are great cycles of time, over each of which a Manu rules. The ruler of the present Manvantara cycle is the Manu Vaivasvata.

On the planet, the Manu acts as the planetary mind; but he also lives as a person on Earth. The Manu shapes the new models of the bodies that suit the Aquarian Age. The new energies emanate from the stars of the constellation Aquarius. The symbol of Aquarius as a man with a vessel has its origin in the Vaivasvata Manu of the Indian scriptures.

For depicting the Manu I used a photo of a statue from the 7th century of a pensive Bodhisattva Maitreya from the National Museum of Korea. I designed the background on the basis of a NASA photo of a galaxy. I fused it with elements of a photo of a plant with spiral leaf patterns I had taken in a botanical garden in Berne in 2010.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Aquarius illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Aquarius paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

The winter solstice marks the beginning of the apparent northward movement of the sun from the Tropic of Capricorn. This movement in the subjective realms, leads us from dense matter to the subtler planes and to worlds of spiritual light. The time of Capricorn, beginning with winter solstice, marks the dawn of the year and it is particularly suitable for spiritual work. The earth is also slowly raised up by the influx of sublime energies.

A Sanskrit name for Capricorn is Makara, represented as a hand with five fingers. It symbolises the number of Capricorn, five, and also the five senses that have to be mastered. The raised hand is a symbol of blessing and protection, and this is called Abhaya Mudra in Sanskrit. Through this hand posture, wisdom is transmitted from teacher to student in silence. We can contemplate on this, receive the wisdom and thus ascend.

In the centre of the picture you see a white hand raised above the globe. Behind it there is the shining sun. Energy comes in through the palm of the hand and flows down to the earth as a blessing and protection. The upper part of the earth is permeated with light, the lower part is still dense.

The painting was created with the help of image extracts from the virtual globe “NASA World Wind“, from the hand of a Buddha statue and from a waterfall.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Capricorn illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Capricorn paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

Blogpost about sport, art and religion

At the moment, the attention of media and of millions of people is focused on Qatar and the FIFA World Cup. Without a particular interest in football, I therefore have also followed this global phenomenon a little. In meditation this morning I remembered that I had read an article a week ago:

In “Das Magazin“, a weekend supplement of our regional Swiss newspaper, a writer made fun of an installation by the Berlin-based world-class Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Elisasson, who had realised circular mirrors in the Qatar desert. The writer found it “completely ballaballa”, meaning crazy. It somehow caught my attention: In a video presentation about my paintings (Creativity and Originality), I mentioned Elíasson and his work.

I found it interesting: In the past, art and religion have been closely associated. Religion and art have much changed their roles and both have become much more mundane in most of their expressions. For millions of people sport has taken over the role of religion:

Quasi-religious fervour of ascetic aspiration in a hatha-yogic style drives athletes’ and sportsmen’s /sportswomen’s devotion to extreme efforts in their training to strive for their very highest. And huge crowds of people gather in the cathedrals and temples of sport for their quasi-religious devotional celebrations – at the moment, in Qatar’s soccer arenas. There are also very many sects and beliefs among the followers. A gigantic effort was made to hold the big celebrations in a desert state. Many discuss the sense and nonsense of such events. Some avoid them, others travel there to participate.

When Eliásson now says in his artistic and context statements that “There is no artistic connection between my sculpture and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022”, this might be his intention and understanding but the exhibition is financed and organized by the state of Qatar and the opening of the exhibition coincides with the FIFA World Cup – “honni soit qui mal y pense“.

Here are the photos of the circular mirror installations in the desert, reminiscent of the ball religion celebrated nearby in football stadiums. The ball, the sphere, the circle are deeply occult symbols of the world, of creation. May the world’s attention go beyond the mundane levels to understand and practise the deeper spiritual aspiration to the highest and thus gain the experience of bliss, mundanely aspired by sport.

All photos are press material giving installation views of the Northern Heritage sites, Doha, Qatar, 2022. Photos by Iwan Baan, courtesy of the artist; neugerriemschneider, Berlin; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles © 2022 Olafur Eliasson.

Sagittarius is a fire sign and it is called the house of initiation. In Sagittarius, we can receive a great push on our path to the light. But every initiation is preceded by a crisis. Therefore, Sagittarius is also the house of crises. Crises are a fiery means to find the path to the light. Therefore, we should not flee from the crises, but face them. In Sanskrit, Sagittarius is also called the month of progress (Margasirsha), the way to the head, the upward path. You find more information about Sagittarius in the book “The Mysteries of Sagittarius” by Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Sagittarius illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Sagittarius paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

In Spiritual Astrology, Sagittarius is considered the messenger of the dawn, and it rules the two hours before sunrise. This time corresponds to the dawn of the day, the first phase after the new moon, the month before the solstice of Capricorn and the preparation of the World Mother for the awakening of a new creation from out of the background of space.

At dawn, a surge of energy rushes through the atmosphere, reviving the bodies of living beings, and the Lords of the Seven Rays prepare the souls on the subconscious levels for the awakening of the Light. Thus, this time before dawn contains highest spiritual potency and is therefore most suitable for spiritual activities.

In the background of the picture there is the photo of a beginning dawn during a flight over India. Overlaying this, there is the photo of large stone statues taken in the car park of the Vietnamese Buddhist monastery Tu Vien Kim Son in Watsonville, California. In the foreground you see Quan Yin as a symbol of the Mother of the World. She holds a staff and an egg-shaped sphere in her hands. She is seated on a lion, suggesting the sign of Leo, ruled by the sun. The Buddha resting in the background evokes representations of Vishnu, resting on the serpent of time in the ocean of space.

The star at the top alludes to the cosmic source of light. Below are the seven stars of the Great Bear, symbol of the seven cosmic rays. The seven different coloured spheres of light in the lower part of the picture indicate the terrestrial reflection of the rays that bring a fresh impulse to life. And the Moon, like the Mother, is a reflector of light.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Sagittarius illustrate the related symbolism. You find there all previous Sagittarius paintings with detailed explanations in four languages (en/de/es/fr). You can also download print-versions for free. Find here the Images of Synthesis with short extracts from the wisdom teachings. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter giving thoughts from the wisdom teachings to inspire putting them into practice.

Scorpio presents to us an encounter with our darker sides, which we usually can’t or don’t want to see. The messages of Scorpio often come in the form of pain, conflicts and crises, which we hope to quickly disappear. But should they actually disappear, we would not have understood and integrated Scorpio’s message. In a crisis, events force themselves upon us with intensity, and previously hidden problems come to light. It often takes time to integrate changes into our lives. But if we are willing to open ourselves to a new perspective, we can get beyond the limitations of the old state. Saturn leads us in small steps to transformation and inner growth. The growth of a seed into a plant can never be observed with the naked eye.

The Images of Synthesis for the month of Scorpio illustrate the related symbolism. You find there detailed explanations of the paintings in four languages (en/de/es/fr). And you can download print-versions (high resolution) for free. Or subscribe to the Lunar Messenger newsletter.