Leo is the sign of self-consciousness. Sun in the heart lotus, is its symbol. The transit Sun moving through Leo is noble, straightforward and protective. But the self-conscious nature of Leo has its two-fold nature. A Leonine person can be excessively self-conscious leading to pride or can be deeply contemplative to be conscious of Self. Conscious of Self is different from self-consciousness. The former leads to soul awareness, the latter leads to self-pride. Pride is the threshold in Leo. This lion needs to be conquered.

The symbolism of Leo is visualised in the twelve Leo paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Leo is related to our heart centre. The heart is the home of the soul. By turning inward, we enter the cave of the heart, lion’s den. The heart centre when opened transforms us into the man-lion.

In the Eastern Puranas, the opening of the heart centre is symbolically veiled in the story of Narasimha, the Lord with the head of a lion and the form of a man. The story tells of a father and his son. The son knows that the Lord is within as well as without, even within a pillar. The father doubts this, and he breaks open the pillar. Out of the pillar Narasimha manifests to help his disciple Prahlada and to kill the tyrannical father. Killing the father by ripping open the chest represents the transformation of man through the opening of the heart centre and overcoming the limitation of the lower self.

The image was designed with a photo of a lion’s head and a photo of a statue in the temple of Simhachalam, India. It depicts Narasimha opening the chest of Hiranyakashipu. The stone structures on the right and left indicate the opened column. It is a symbol of the column of consciousness, our vertebral column, from which the centres emerge like flowers.

The symbolism of Leo is visualised in the twelve Leo paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Last week I did the first trip over several days, after 19 months “pause”. Good friends from Heiligenberg (“Holy Mountain”) in the German Lake Constance area had invited me for a visit. Since the pandemia regulations have now become less strict, I could cross the frontier again without any controls…

The couple lives in a house at the foot of the Heiligenberg mountain with a gorgeous view towards the lake and the Heiligenberg Castle above. On arrival, I noticed that my camera had taken holidays from me and stayed at home – so I borrowed the mobile of Sabine to take at least some shots.

Even without meeting physically, we have a lot of contact with group activity exchanges. But physical meetings cannot be replaced by zooming… It was a very hearty stay.

Thursday afternoon Manfred and Sabine took me on a trip to a beautiful ridge along the lake overlooking vineyards near Meersburg. And Friday morning we went to the Beuron Archabbey, a monastery now of the Benedictine order and in earlier centuries of the Augustinians. It was founded in the 11th century AD and is located in the upper Danube valley.

When we entered the church, a mass was going on. The air was full of frankincense smoke and organ music was filling the space. We preferred to do a little walk along the Danube and to come back later. The monastery has beautiful artwork of the Beuron Art School. The church ambiance brought up reminiscences of long-gone childhood times – I first went to a kindergarten in a monastery near my parents’ home and later served there as an altar boy over years. Parents and relatives wanted to make me a priest. I escaped to other directions but impregnations remained… In the souvenir shop, my friends bought for me a candle with a beautiful blue angel…

Later we drove to the nearby Campus Galli, a kind of museum and construction site (see their German website), where craftsmen and volunteers are using 9th century resources to create a monastery based on the St. Gallen monastery plan. It is the only surviving major architectural drawing from the middle-ages and copies of it were displayed at the site. The workers not only help with the construction, but also act as costumed interpreters. It was very impressive to see blacksmiths, weavers, carpenters, crockers, or coopers doing their work and to talk to them. How many steps were needed to come to the present way of living…. On the marketplace, we had our lunch with “dinnele”, a medieval kind of warm flat bread from a stone oven with cheese.

Sabine is a language teacher and Manfred is a former engineer and manager of a huge German electronic enterprise. He later deeply went into the knowledge about herbs and the healing powers of plants. He built up a large network of people interested in cultivating existing herbal knowledge, applying it and making it available in an understandable way. And he developed a beautiful garden with many kinds of roses and other plants – I very much enjoyed relaxing there under an apple tree, smelling the roses in the air….

Saturday morning Sabine took me to the market in Überlingen. A regional horticultural show is going on over the summer. Plenty of people were strolling along the lake and through the lanes. Near the ship landing point a group of artists was playing the “Pandemia Fairy Tale”… Life seemed to be nearly “back to normal”, with a Mediterranean ambiance.

In the afternoon two friends came for a visit – meditation and intense exchanges, which weren’t possible since a long time.

Sunday morning Sabine and I had an intense working session on the navigation structure for a future website of the German speaking WTT community – a team project. The time was running by, the sunny days as well. Soon I was back to the highway. Rich memories remain.

Some days ago, Ch. SathyaDev (Sattibabu), an Indian friend of mine from Visakhapatnam, shared the “Song or Lyric on Shambala“, which he had written on 10 June 2021 – new moon day:

OM Shambala –
Sreem Shambala !
Sham Shambala –
SanMangala !!

1.
Sri Krishna Devuni
Mandra Gaanam
Sanathkumaruni
Sannidhaanam !
Maitreya Buddhula
Paramaa Raamam
– Shambala !!

2.
Maruvu Devaapi Jwaalakuludu
Parama guruvula –
Param dhaamam !
Paramaaanandam –
Paramaayushyam
Nissreyasham! Nirmalam!
– Shambala !!

3.
Kalkyavatharanam-
Janma Kshetram
Lokaa Lokam-
Moksha Kaarakam !
Divya Darsanam –
Navya Sparshanam..
Sanaathanam! Sushobhitham
– Shambala !!

Simple word meaning of the Song on Shamballa:

OM is the name of God or Para Brahma or the Almighty or the Father in Heaven.
Sreem is the seed letter of splendour.
Sham is the seed letter of peace.
SanMangala means ‘That which brings auspicious things’.

Mandra Gaanam is the Music of the Soul.
Sannidhaanam means ‘The Presence’.
Paramaaraamam is the Highest Abode.

Viraajitham means ‘That which shines.’
Supoojitham means ‘well worshipped.’
Parama Guruvulu means ‘The Masters of Wisdom.’
Paramdhaamam means ‘The Highest Abode’.
Paramaaanandam means ‘highest Bliss or Happiness’.
Paramaayushyam means ‘bestows higher longevity’.
Nissreyasham means ‘which bestows liberation’.
Nirmalam means ‘pristine and pure’.

Kalkyavatharanam means ‘The descent of the future Avatar as Kalki’.
Janma Kshetram means ‘place of birth’.
Lokaa Lokam means ’causes salvation in both visible and invisible lokaas’ (planes of existence).
Moksha Kaarakam means ‘The cause of liberation.
Divya Darsanam means ‘Divine Vision’.
Navya Sparsanam means’new divine touch’.
Sanaathanam means ‘Ancient Most’.
Sushobhitham means ‘well illuminated’.

Sattibabu wrote, “With the Grace of our beloved Master E. K… Dedicated to The World Teacher Brotherhood”. He submitted the ‘Song on Shamballa‘ to Master KPK, who answered:
“Dear Sattibabu, I just listened twice the song. I also noted Siva’s inspiration. May the effort be blessed. May you two be blessed.”

Cancer, the first water sign of the zodiac, symbolises the descent of the souls into matter. When matter prevails, we tend to forget our true nature and get conditioned in the ever-changing world of forms. Moon, the Lord of Cancer, represents the reflected state of the soul in the form and also the inconsistent movements of our emotions. We as souls are beyond reflection and are essentially light. But we tend to forget. A teacher who is also a yogi reminds us of the essential identity of the Soul with the Spirit. And he teaches us how to consciously relate to the origin. For this reason, it is an ancient tradition to worship the teacher during the full moon hours of Cancer and to reinforce the discipline of relating to the light of the soul.

The symbolism of Cancer is visualised in the twelve Cancer paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Cancer is ruled by the Moon, which reflects the light of the Sun. Cancer is a water sign; it symbolises the impermanence of our mind, which, like moonlight reflected in water, is constantly moving. The original light of the soul, on the other hand, is stable and constant like sunlight. Through the mind, the three higher principles within us are reflected in our three lower aspects, the personality. In the wisdom teachings, the Sun is considered the Father, while the Moon represents the Mother. Through her, the souls originating from the energies of the Father are drawn in, nourished and born through the lunar principle. The sunlight is golden, the moonlight is silver.

The half of the year from Capricorn to Cancer is symbolically represented as a golden bowl; in Eastern wisdom it is called the divine arch or the arch of light. With the solstice at the beginning of Cancer, the descent of the souls into the bodies takes place as an annual drama. The half of the year from Cancer to Capricorn is therefore called the silver bowl or the royal arch.

In the centre of the picture, you see the figure of the divine Mother, created with the help of a statue of Quan Yin. She is surrounded by the Moon and a field of stars shining in the darkness. In the lily pond below lies a silver bowl. Inside it shines a white and silver triangle with three water lilies blooming at its corners. Above the Mother’s head is a golden bowl in which a golden triangle shines. At its corners there are three golden shining stars.

The bowls were designed with the help of a photo of a late antique Roman silver bowl, taken in 2007 during a visit to the museum of Augusta Raurica near Basel.

The symbolism of Cancer is visualised in the twelve Cancer paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

A friend sent me the following pictures about “identifying some of the places in the Himalayas (in Kullu valley and Lahaul) portrayed in some of in Nicholas Roerich’s paintings. It touched me very much to see the paintings together with the real physical places. Since decades Roerich has impregnated me and I have blogged about him and his paintings a number of times. I tried to trace the source of these pictures on the web to give reference but could not find – so they might be copyrighted. Just enjoy.

A friend sent me the link to a page of the website of Van Cleef & Arpels, a French luxury jewelry, watch, and perfume company. The page is about their vision of Poetic Astronomy® with planetarium wristwatches. They write about the “Midnight Planétarium watch“:

“…the Midnight Planetarium watch captures Earth and five of its neighbors in the solar system (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) as they revolve around a rose gold Sun. Each planet, represented by a meticulously fashioned ornamental stone, moves at its true pace relative to the Sun: Saturn will take over 29 years to make a complete circuit of the dial, while Jupiter will do the same in just under 12 years, Mars 687 days, Earth 365 days, Venus 224 days and Mercury 88 days. The wearer of the Midnight Planétarium watch can also choose his lucky day: on the selected date, Earth will move to a position directly below the star engraved on the sapphire crystal.”

The website is very well done, with poetic video presentations, even if the prices of the astronomic watches probably will be “in the stars” for you – and me. The two pictures are from their videos (copyright Van Cleef & Arpels) And have a look at their videos – excellently done.

Such watches might also be spiritually understood not just a beauty accessory but as visualising the macrocosm reflecting in the microcosm, and keeping the relation visually present. It is the Science of Correspondences which is at the basis of our relation to the universe.

When seeing the 1838 “Map or Physical Tableau and Astronomy Chart” of the French cartographer Charles V. Monin in my collection of zodiac illustrations, I noticed that most of the representations depict the zodiac in an anti-clockwise direction, while in this map the signs were arranged in a clockwise manner. So, I selected Monin’s chart to depict the “reversing of the wheel”, which is worked out by an advanced disciple on the path of spiritual ascent and liberation.

I transformed the design of the chart and arranged it over a photo of a sunrise. In the centre of the zodiacal wheel, I constructed the triangles of the four elements, placing the air sign Gemini at the top. Air is considered the subtlest of the four elements, followed by fire, water and earth. In spirituality, there is a fifth element, space, being the foundation of the other four. In the chart, it is represented by the surrounding space.

At the bottom of the image, I inserted elements of a painting by the 18th-century English artist Joseph Wright of Derby. You see a group of people around an armillary sphere, an astronomical device for displaying the movement of celestial bodies. It is a symbol of the relationship between the microcosm and macrocosm, and of studying the cosmic interrelations.

The symbolism of Gemini is visualised in the twelve Gemini paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Taurus is the first earthy sign of the zodiac. It belongs to the fixed cross and provides form and stability. Venus rules over Taurus and gives beauty to the form. Subtle forces radiate through a beautiful form bestowing splendour on it. This splendour is an expression of the subtle beings of light. At Taurus full moon the light descends in a great measure. Since ancient-most times, the Masters of Wisdom and their disciples assemble at the time of this full moon in the Vaisakh Valley of the Himalayas to receive a fresh impulse of energies of Will and to distribute them on the earth.

The symbolism of Taurus is visualised in the twelve Taurus paintings done between 2010 and 2021. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.