We are now in the month of Virgo, so here is the picture to the month:

The earthy sign of Virgo symbolizes the slow growth in the “womb of time” through conflicts and crises to reach the light of the soul. When we have gained a pure mind, it can reflect the divine Light. When the Light gets born in the virgin mind, this is called the “birth in Light”. The light of primordial nature is described as the Mother of the World. She penetrates all the seven planes of existence. These planes are said to be the veils of the Mother, and they are also depicted as a rainbow around her head. It says that her eyes transmit the rays of grace uplifting the souls to their pristine nature.

For this picture I used the image of a little statue of the Virgin with a star-filled veil. Around her head you see the colours of a huge rainbow, the planes of creation. In the background I placed two galaxies from the constellation of Virgo, depicting the cosmic eyes of the Virgin.

In the lower sphere I arranged an extract of a group photo and on each person’s face I placed a layer of a sunrise, illustrating the reflection of the divine Light in the human minds. They are the souls maturing in the matter to experience the birth in the Light.

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.

10 May 2014, A 5, pencils and photo work

After pondering on it for a while, I decided to make the original files of my paintings available for free. As I wrote on the website of my images, “All the pictures are expressions of spiritual principles / realities. I receive them and I give them for free.” This way, the images might better find the way to serve their purpose.

So if you would like to print a picture yourself, there is now a page where you can download the files of the “Images of Synthesis” in medium and high resolution format.

Have a look at this playful hand-drawn short film by Glen Keane in dark blue. Keane was the main creative in some of the most famous animated Disney films. Animated and directed entirely by him, DUET tells the story of Mia and Tosh and how their individual paths in life are woven together to create a duo – cute :-). Here you can read more about the realisation of the film. And here is a video about how it was done with “ATAP” (Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group).

An extract from the video (c)

When I set out to write the new Lunar Messenger for the month of Leo on Lord Krishna I felt again his magic touch. And thoughts of previous encounters came to my mind. I remember well how I noticed this touch of the presence consciously for the first time in the mid-70s of last century, when I read the newly published German version of a booklet, “The Heart of a Gopi” – “Das Herz einer Gopi” (PDF, by Raihana Tyabji, 1924, not available as English PDF) – stories about the enchanting influence of Krishna.

My first impressions of Krishna in the Europe of the 70s, however, were a bit weird: Bald-headed people in orange clothes with a queue at the back of the skull and chanting Hare Krishna were quite exotic appearances in the shopping promenades of the German city where I was studying. Years later, I had some “culinary contacts” with them – for a while the Hare Krishna people run an excellent restaurant in Berne, and one of them walking through the city gave me a free copy of their Vedic cook book…

The most intense encounter with Krishna’s magic was in the early 90s, when I translated Master EK’s “Music of the Soul” and “Man Sacrifice” about the life of Lord Krishna – these versions weren’t the ones published later. During the months of translation, I often felt blissful and like in a trance. My wife also experienced it while proof-reading. I did the translation in a time of intense inner and outer transformations and it was a strangely uplifting experience. Especially Music of the Soul I read a number of times, also in English as a “language course” with a friend. I relived the thrill when in 2012 Master EK’s “The World Teacher. Advent of Lord Krishna” was finally published in English and German. I received it from Sri Kumar and immediately dived into it.

My approach, however, was not a straight route and only slowly it took to a more differentiated shape. Chanting was definitely not my path, I found out end of the 80s when leaving the Sai Baba movement. In the 90s I bought in a second hand bookshop at a bargain price the complete 12 vol. edition Srimad Bhagavatam of Vedavyasa, in German, by Swami Prabhupada, dealing mainly with the life of Krishna. When I took some of the books to the next meeting of my then-teacher and his group, he made some derogatory remarks about the Swami and the books. His impact made me throw all the volumes in the garbage the next day. It took me quite long to trust my inner impulses and not to follow what I believe to be right, because I have heard it from someone, even if I regard him as my teacher.

I’m learning more and more to be vigilant about the energies I feel, their quality and expression, and Krishna is definitely enchanting for me. I don’t feel Hindu or like a “devotee” – it’s not my soul mood – but fascinated by the touch of the subtle presence. It was there when I translated orally comics and stories about the life of Krishna for our children while they were young. And when I did the three pictures on Lord Krishna (see below), each time this presence was strongly felt. I don’t try to analyse but just let the magic take effect on me. It is beyond mental concepts, it just IS.

However, you don’t need to put off your mind to get the touch of the presence – it is like being on two planes at the same time. I experienced it when I did on my PC an extensive collection of material of what Dr. K.P. Kumar and Dr. E. Krishnamacharya said on Krishna and when I ventured to condense it to the essence for the Lunar Messenger. But the touch of the presence clearly pointed out the way to take.

Krishnas birth was on 18 July 3228 BC, his  birthday is celebrated on the 8th descending moon phase of Leo – this year on Sunday, 17th of August.

Music of the Soul – Full Moon. 29/12/2009

Union beyond Duality. 16/04/2011

The Magic Flute of Krishna. 21/12/2012

Since many years I’m fascinated by the sublime geometry of the Sri Yantra. When our children were young, we did Mithila classes and drew with them the Sri Yantra (see the book “Mithila” about the mantra Sreem and the related yantra – scroll down). In our home we have several directional Yantra mandalas inspired by the science of Vastu, also the Sri Yantra at the entrance.

A few days ago I came across the website of a German artist who has devoted his life to work on the Sri Yantra and is creating beautiful copper-works.

In his youth, Bernhard Wimmer had learned bronze casting and chasing. After years of artistic search he discovered his vocation in uniting art and science. He found in the Sri Chakra Yantra a cosmic energy generator, and he describes the work with it as a journey to the I AM through cosmic energy geometry.

Bernhard Wimmer working on a Sri Yantra (c)

On his website he explains (in German) the Sri Yantra as an instrument or better a “machine” which uses physical laws to change the physical world around. The Sri Yantra can generate energy waves which are in resonance with us and support us to build up energy fields to send them with our intentions on a journey into the cosmic field of consciousness. And it is our ability for devotion and love which opens the energy door so that we can send our deepest impulses and intentions through the world and into this cosmic field of consciousness. The Sri Yantra is an extraordinary instrument for our energy and consciousness development and can greatly intensify our work but not replace it.

Bernhard Wimmer (c)

Bernhard Wimmer is singing mantrams while working on a Yantra, mainly the Gayatri mantram, the invocation of Light. The work is done for the highest weal of the world and the place or the people for which he does a Yantra. Here are two videos with interviews (in German)  about his work (1 / 2).

It is interesting how his descriptions match with what Dr. Ekkirala Krishnamacharya says about the Sri Yantra in his book “Spiritual Psychology“:

“Tantric texts in Sanskrit and the Kabbala prescribe various compound symmetrical shapes for various compound numbers that are to be meditated upon to acquire perfection of the mental, vital and lower Buddhic planes. They are called Yantras in Sanskrit. Sri Yantra is the most perfect and profound form of all. It is not only a perfect shape for meditation, but it represents the operations of the whole cosmos down to the individual man. It is formed by an arrangement of five equilateral triangles with their apexes below, and another set of four equilateral triangles with their apexes above, the circumcircles of these triangles and three squares outlining the whole figure.”

And Dr. K. Parvathi Kumar explains in the book “Mithila – A New Age School Syllabus” the work with Sri as a scientific work of manifesting subtle energies:  “The invocation of the Mother ‘SRI’ makes you magnetic and lucky when you practice it with deep interest and inclination. In this invocation, you are carrying out a triangular work, i.e., you are applying a Sound (Mantra) upon a Symbol (Yantra) according to a specific process (Tantra). This is a scientific way of manifesting the subtle energies upon the grosser planes, known to the Magicians. If your motives are sacred, it leads to White Magic.”

And in the book on Mantrams he explains:  “SRI stands for the splendour, the Divine Nature. SRI is a seed sound. It helps speedier transformation and it is the work of fire.”

Bernhard Wimmer is producing the Sri Yantra in copper, the metal of Venus – the sound Srim is part of the mantra of the Venus principle. But he also sells the Yantra as beautiful prints. Have a look at the website of Bernhard Wimmer. (Thank you for the permission of using the images.)

Bernhard Wimmer (c)

Tonight the sun passes into Leo – so here comes the picture to the month.

According to spiritual astrology, the heart centre is the seat of the soul and is ruled by Leo. Leo is the expression of the I AM, the sun of our being. The lion is the symbol of the personality which is to be transformed by the soul. The highest point of illumination in us is the head centre, and via this centre a yogi establishes contact with the sun centre of our planet, Shamballa. On a still higher plane there is a relation to the polar star.

The painting took some inner preparation before I began the outer work. To start with, I did a print-out of a colour spectrum wheel with 7 layers per colour shade. I photographed an icosahedron cut in a rock crystal and used the form of this Platonic solid of 20 triangles as an expression of rounded-up matter, or the “diamond body” of the spiritual matter which an initiate carries. For the meditator inside the crystal, I chose a picture of a statue of an Eastern goddess in a blessing posture which I took some years ago in the home of friends. I placed her face into the centre of the triangle pointing upwards and placed the picture of a lion with its head in the middle of the downward triangle. I put the colour wheel into the background with its centre at the heart centre of the meditator, symbolising the spectrum of the one light manifesting in 7 layers of creation. The colour of Leo is gold, and so the lion radiates a hue of golden light.

Behind the colour wheel I included a photo of the Dhaulagiri (meaning “White Mountain”) of the Himalayas as a symbol of intense aspiration towards greatest heights. On the front of the meditator, I placed the symbol of the sun. I shaped the headpiece exceeding the pyramid as an etheric representation of Shamballa which the meditator contacts via the head centre. Atop of it you see a star symbolising the polar star forming a triangle with two other stars.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings.

09 April 2014, pencils and photo work

A week ago we entered into the sun sign of Cancer – time to highlight the new picture to the month.

Music is under the influence of Cancer and of the Moon. Pure, sublime music is associated with the Divine. The soul naturally responds to high quality music, and we get absorbed into its enchanting vibrations. At the beginning of creation, when space begins to awaken, there is a first group of cosmic Devas. The scriptures call them the Gandharvas, the musicians, because they are the intelligences who produce periodicities and durations. They are the blissful Devas, the musical waves beyond creation. The musical hierarchy is presided over by Soma, the cosmic lunar principle, which exists on all planes. In astrology, his energy is presented through Neptune; on the planetary plane it is Venus; on the plane of our earth it is the satellite Moon.

In the centre of the picture you see three spheres representing the moon principle, composed from photos of the moon and a Chinese ivory carving. I placed a picture of the constellation of Cancer in the background. The outer, bluish sphere is touching a lower sphere representing the reflective principle or the transmission of the lunar energies to the Earth.

In the upper part of the picture you see three angels with flageolets, taken from the works of the English Pre-Raffaelite painter Edward Burne Jones (1833-1899). I worked them over to represent the Devas of the musical hierarchy. The musical vibrations penetrating the cosmos are visualised by the rays descending from the cosmos.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings.

02 March 2014, pencils and photo work

We are just entering into the sign of Gemini. Gemini is related to the mind. So for the picture of this month I tried to illustrate an aspect of the universal mind principle. Our mind is its reflection. And both unfold in great cycles of time. Sounds complicated? So come on for an exploration.

The Eastern wisdom describes the unfoldment of the creational activity in tremendous time cycles called Manvantaras. They cover periods far before the creation of our present earth and go into cycles of far distant future times. A Manvantara is ruled by a solar intelligence called Manu and the Manu presiding over the present cycle is called Vaivasvata. Vaivasvata is the son of the Sun; he is the mind of the Sun and is also called the light of the soul. The Sun is called the weaver, Vivasvata; he weaves the globe of light around itself. The very meaning of Vaivasvata Manu is “the weaver of the light of the soul”, of the divine plan on earth.

This painting visualizes Vaivasvata Manu as emerging from the Sun in the background. Behind his head you see the radiance of the solar light and his headpiece has the form of the solar material shown in images of the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT). His youthful face reminds of him being the son of the Sun.

The sages describe the creation as emerging from out of a golden egg. You see a golden egg-shape in the background and the Manu surrounded by a wheel of 14 egg-shaped figures each containing the colours of the rainbow, representing the 14 Manvantaras and the 7 planes of each creation. The whole is contained in a huge lotus, the symbol of unfoldment. Vaivasvata is in the midst of the lotus, and inside the Sun you see a higher octave of the lotus out of which the Manvantaras emerge.

Creating this picture was a strange experience. It seemed that it didn’t want to come out. And while working on it, I wasn’t satisfied with the way it developed and on several occasions wanted to destroy it. In the end, I realised that my concepts of how the picture should look like were blocking its emergence.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings.

09 February 2014, pencils and photo work

A friend from Argentina sent me the link to a lovely poetic short film: “LILA” (9 min) – a film without words but with a lot of heart.

In the “Making of” Carlos Lascano, the director and writer, says:

“The story reflects a day in Lila’s life, a dreamy girl who can’t resign to accept reality as flat as she perceives it, using her imagination to modify it. The way we perceive reality often comes as a result of an imagination exercise in which sometimes only changing a little detail we can modify the whole.”

A perfect description of inner visualisation work.

Wikipedia has more about the talented film maker from Argentina now living in Barcelona. He is doing artistic and commercial films using a mixed-technique of animation and work with actors in combination with new technologies.  You can also see the film on Vimeo – when I saw it first there, it didn’t run well, now it seems to be ok.

Lila is visualising subtle bonds of love – a print-screen from the video (c)

Today, at Easter, we enter into the month of Taurus. So here is the picture to the month.

In the symbolism of Puranic scriptures the flow of life is described as the cosmic waters of space that had to be brought down to earth from the plane of the creator, Brahma. There was no one on earth who could receive the intensity of the fiery flux called Ganga (Ganges) but Shiva, the Lord of Divine Will. So a solar king ardently prayed for a long time until Shiva agreed to receive Ganga.

Shiva, who carries the crescent moon on his head, opened his hair, and when Ganga came down, she was caught in the hair and her impact was reduced before she was allowed to descend from his head to the heart and then to the planes.

The head of Shiva represents Shamballa and the heart of the planet is Spiritual Hierarchy. The human beings live in the planes. Each year in Aries, a new annual impulse is received in Shamballa and in Taurus it is passed on to Hierarchy and in Gemini to humanity.

For this painting I chose a picture of Shiva with a beautiful smile. I transformed it a bit, added the crescent moon onto Shiva’s head and placed a picture of Mount Kailash into the background. Then I created the sphere with the downpour of the energies onto Shiva’s head and from there, changing colours to golden yellow, down to earth. The air is filled with the flow of etheric energies.

It must be like this to stand in the full flow of life.

See more pictures on the site with my paintings.