Since ancient-most times, rituals for the birth of the Saviour have been performed on the winter solstice. The Sun is seen as the Saviour who brings life and consciousness to all living beings. The red rays of the morning sun look like the blood of the Sun and are regarded as ‘the Blood of the Saviour’. The seers say that when this light falls on our body, it is a very good opportunity to heal diseases of the blood and to purify our consciousness, especially in the month of Capricorn.

From the winter solstice onwards, the sun begins his apparent journey northwards. This time is very suitable for exercises to align to the subtle planes and to elevate us to the supramundane.

To visualize the transparency of subtle matter, I took pictures of a rock crystal in front of a candle flame. I arranged it as a pyramid-shaped mountain top. The pyramid indicates the four cardinal points of the cardinal cross. For the background I worked with the photo of a sunrise Christmas 2017 on the flight from Delhi to Bangalore. For the figure of the meditator on the mountain top I used the bronze figure of a Kashmiri in meditation, by Malvina Hoffman, Museum Chicago (Wikimedia). The rising sun is also in the heart centre of the meditator.

The symbolism of Capricorn is visualised in the eleven Capricorn paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

The fire sign of Sagittarius is related to focused alignment. The Sagittarius energy teaches us to direct all forces to a noble goal. It is considered a very spiritual time and is a highway to the Light. Lord Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita, “Among the zodiacal signs I AM Sagittarius. Among the moon phases I AM the eleventh moon phase”. The eleventh ascending moon phase in Sagittarius is the climax, where the gates of heaven open for the experience of the cosmic consciousness. It is called the Day of Synthesis, of Narayana. This year it starts Tuesday 24 November at 10:12 am CET.

The symbolism of Sagittarius is visualised in the eleven Sagittarius paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

The time of Sagittarius in the course of the year corresponds to the time before dawn in the course of the day. The two hours before sunrise are very favourable for meditation and bring fourth the best results with ardent worship. We can easily receive the cooperation of the Devas, who pour out subtle energies on the beings of the earth.

For the background of the image I warped a photo of predawn seen from an airplane and worked on the colours. The bottom indicates the sphere of the earth, the dense matter. From out of it rises a rose in pinkish colours into the vastness of the blue firmament; it is a symbol for the blossoming of fiery aspiration.

The flower is surrounded by the signs of the zodiac with Sagittarius at the top. The varying colours of the signs indicate the subtle work of the devas of dawn. They dance around the flower and seem to plunge into the flaming sphere announcing the rising sun.

The symbolism of Sagittarius is visualised in the eleven Sagittarius paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

The correspondence with my young Indian friend went on touching numerous topics in an aphoristic way and much of it not “blogable”. In this and next blog-posts I’m picking out some strands of thoughts extended over a number of e-mails. This post is again illustrated by 2 photos from the excursion to the Creux du Van near Neuchâtel – not related to the content – showing groups of beech trees standing closely together like families and looking like one tree. Later some paintings by Nicholas Roerich.

When seeing the pics, my friend replied, “The beech trees from the second pic remind me of Lord of The Rings. Have you watched it? It’s an absolute must watch.”

My answer: “Lord of the Rings touched me very much – when it appeared in German (English books were not much around where I grew up) mid70s I took an off from university and kept reading the 3 books over 3 days. A little later a first, qualitatively poor movie in graphic / comic style presentation appeared – it didn’t give the ambiance. I later read all Tolkien books I could get, and then, end of 90s, the fantastic movie trilogy appeared – I went to see them in cinema with my then young sons, who also were thrilled. During my last flight to India I saw a new movie about Tolkien’s life – interesting.

There is lot of subtle occult knowledge in it. We also all were fans (except my youngest son who did only “read” mangas and then books on html, with 13, starting building websites) of Harry Potter, all books, audio-versions and films. Also much occult wisdom in them. Master EK mentioned that in teh future, wisdom would be given out via new means. – I can comment later on it. “

My friend was doing a transcription of a talk of Sri Kumar in which the word “supermundane” appeared. The following exchange developed:

“In the text the book “Supermundane” by Master Morya is mentioned, it was given out by Helena Roerich, the wife of Nicholas Roerich. In case you don’t know yet Nicholas and Helena Roerich – they are (were) great messengers of Hierarchy. A blogpost about Roerich’s paintings. And a nice impression from the book about Helena’s letters.

As per Nicholas and Helena Roerich – Sri Kumar said, he was a Master, she a high degree initiate. Helena Roerich channeled the Agni Yoga teachings from Master Morya, translated into many languages (for some time, I went deeply into them, not so easy because the teachings are dispersed over many volumes and you have to work them out yourself.)
Helena wrote a number of books (like Nicholas), they had a great global correspondence, and she also translated Secret Doctrine into Russian – HPB, though Russian, was trained by Master KH to speak and give it in English – HPB’s English first was poor but she had a very tough training.
Roerich’s came from Russia, fled to Paris at the beginning of the Revolution. In the mid-20s of last century, they did a long expedition to Central Asia, going from and returning to India, they managed to touch Tibet, which was strickly closed for foreigners, they went through Gobi desert with camels, under incredible hardships, to Mongolia, and him doing drawings all the time and then incredible paintings afterwards.
He painted over 6000 works, often big ones, which are in museums and private collections around the world. This is the excellent museum in New York (I once visited it 20 years ago, a very spiritual place) – have a thorough look through the site.
And this site from Estonia gives links to all his art work and much more.
Here a bit about his time in India.

There are also museums in India, and places dedicated to them (they stayed longer in Kullu Valley, not far from Dehradun (where my friend lives). One of their sons, Svetoslav, also was a well-known painter, having lived in Bangalore – though nice paintings but not of the power of his father. Take some time, when you find it, to go through – I’m always astonished to find paintings never seen before.
They had a tremendous artistic and political influence, creating an organisation for preserving cultural heritage in times of wars recognized by most nations and still valid today.
They were horribly defamed – like HPB – and their work nearly destroyed through attacks in the US – and now in Russia, the Roerich Museum in Moscow was recently closed down – though I heard from a friend from Moscow that this was a good step by the government because the heads of the museum were corrupt and non-cooperative – difficult to see behind.
I feel deeply inspired by him, and we named our youngest son Nikolas, because of Nicholas Roerich.”

My friend: “I haven’t heard of the Roerichs before. Thanks a lot for sharing about their work. I’ll check the book out this evening.”

Me: “The paintings of Roerich are extraordinary. I know them since 30 years and I’m always touched when I see certains of them – I have a print here behind me, ‘The Star of the Hero’.”

She: “It took me some time to go through the links you sent. I must admit that these paintings are breathtaking, especially King of Shambhala and Guardian of the Desert. I feel like they take me into a different dimension.”

Scorpio deals with the deeply profound and mysterious that often eludes the mind. Inner transformations on the spiritual path always take place in secrecy. They are of a Scorpionic nature. It is a process of how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. Scorpio is the sacred sun sign, which secretly induces the period of hibernation to allow the process of unhindered transformation to take place. Such a transformation enables us to serve society effectively.

The symbolism of Scorpio is visualised in the eleven Scorpio paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

The vital energy resting at the Muladhara, the base centre is called kundalini or serpent power. It is symbolically represented as a serpent wrapped three and a half times around the base centre. The coils of the serpent represent the physical, the astral and the lower half of the mental plane of our existence.

On the path of ascension, the journey of the disciple, the serpent crawling on the ground rises and becomes a winged serpent, an eagle. The path of Kundalini goes from the base (Muladhara) to the head centre (Sahasrara). When the kundalini releases itself from the bond of dense matter, the energy rises through the spine. The inner side of the spine can be visualized as a radiant line of force – an electric blue colour. This is the essential energy of our Self as awareness and light.

The painting shows the ascent of consciousness from imprisonment in matter to liberation into the vastness of spirit. The base centre at the bottom of the picture was designed with the help of the photo of a petunia. The coils of the serpent are indicated by coloured layers, for which I used a Nasa photo of the Cassini probe from the north pole of Saturn. From the base centre rises a pillar of light, out of which a bluish shining eagle emerges in the upper part. On the left side you see the constellation Scorpio and on the right side Scorpio’s glyph.

The symbolism of Scorpio is visualised in the eleven Scorpio paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Libra symbolises the fall of man into the cycle of birth and death. Through the development of sex consciousness, we have lost the awareness of our original state of immortality. This is represented as a fall from the Sahasrara, the head centre, to the Muladhara, the base centre. By directing the consciousness towards the higher centres, the lower centres are slowly neutralised and the polarity of sex is transcended. This is called the reversal of the wheel. The path from Libra to Aries in the reversed direction completes the journey. The opposition between Mars and Venus, between the male and the female, is transformed into a marriage; they unite and find their harmony. It is the marriage of the lamb, Aries, with the bride, Libra.

The image shows the stylised wheel of the zodiac with the central axis of Aries at the top and Libra at the bottom. In the central axis you see the figure of Venus, the symbol of the soul linking the opposite poles. Venus helps us to rise from the mundane identity to the awareness of being the soul. The figure is wearing a veil, the veil of nature. She is surrounded by colours of light blue and rose, colours related to Venus. For this, I used a painting of Venus from an unknown painter of the British School.

Libra represents the experience of dense matter and the death of consciousness. I illustrated this density through rock faces on the left and right side. The figure embedded in the rock at the bottom left symbolises the past, the one on the right stands for the future. Venus in the centre is the experience of the presence.

At the top on the left side you see the constellation of Libra and on the right side you find Venus designed with a NASA photo from the space probe Magellan.

The symbolism of Libra is visualised in the eleven Libra paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

For the divine light to express itself through us, a pure virginal mind is the prerequisite. Virgo is sign and time, when the germ of the soul matures – the probationary period on the spiritual path. After proper preparation through inner purification, the divine light can shine through us. Thus, the divine can descend into us to bless and uplift through the eyes and the voice.

It is said that the Father blesses through the Mother and thus gives birth to the Son of God in man. This is the Immaculate Conception and birth. The seven colours of the rainbow represent the unfolding grace of the Divine. The one white ray manifests through the seven colours of the rainbow.

On the left side of the picture you can see the profile of a statue of the World Mother, created with the help of the photo of a Durga statue in the Blue Mountains of South India. The germs of the maturing souls in the sphere of the earth were created with the help of the photo of a flower at the San Francisco airport. This sphere is limited by the rainbow against the vastness of blue space. Its seven colours stand for the seven planes of existence, whose seventh plane is the radiant light of the universe, which we perceive as darkness. In this darkness we can see the glyph and the stars of the constellation Virgo.

The symbolism of Virgo is visualised in the eleven Virgo paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Leo is the royal sign of the zodiac. The lion is the king of the animals. Every human is essentially leonine, seeking freedom. Leo is related to love and the heart. When the activity of the heart centre awakens, there is also the awakening of soul awareness. This is the birth of group awareness.

The symbolism of Leo is visualised in the eleven Leo paintings done between 2010 and 2020. For detailed detailed descriptions please see the ludgerphilips.org website.

Leo stands for the birth of the soul into group consciousness. As soon as the soul in us awakens, we begin to live in the higher consciousness or group consciousness. There is no more need for us to limits and separations like, this is ‘my group, your group, his group’. It is only one group of all beings of the universe. It is one entity called by many names in many groups. The purpose of Hierarchy is to release the humanity from its concretized bondages and perceived limitations so that they can cooperate with the greater purpose, the Plan for the evolution of our planet.

The picture visualizes the joint orientation of the group towards the higher purpose. For the depiction of the large group below, a photo of a group life at Mount Shasta, USA, was duplicated and mirrored. Above, there are pictures from online group meetings fused together as an expression of the physical and etheric interconnectedness. A staircase leads the view to the globe in the background and there to Shamballa. The detail of the globe is created with the help of a picture from WorldWind.earth using NASA images.

Shamballa is the etheric residence of Sanat Kumara in the Gobi Desert, where the purpose of God for our planet is known. He is the regent of the planet, indicated by the crown at the top of the globe. On the left you see the constellation Leo and on the right the glyph of the sign. The central axis was formed with the help of a photo of a galaxy. It reminds us that our system is part of a larger system and is aligned with it.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings. If you want to print the image, you can download the file in medium and high resolution format.
The different zodiacal signs are clustered in groups – you can see here all my Leo paintings.