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Mythic Potency

There is a reason for the lasting quality of some arts and the deadening quality of others. It lies in the existence or non-existence of mythic meaning.

The symbolic power (or mythic meaning) of Gothic and early Renaissance music is due to the use of Pythagorean ideas in tuning and constructing modes (scales) and to the use of the Cantus Firmus (or drone), and to the use of isorhythm. The symbolism of modes and drones is numerical symbolism, while that of rhythm may be numerical (in the case of simple time signature rhythm or polyrhythms) but may also be the symbolism of Change as in the BOOK OF CHANGE. This is especially possible with the isorhythm.

The symbolic power of Van Gogh and of stained glass windows is partially due to use of mythically potent colors, partially due to the expressive power of individual brush strokes or pieces of glass, partially due to the use of archetypes, such as the mandala or the flame.

There is an unknown science of mythic potency which underlies all great art all great ritual. It was partially known to Pythagoras and to Gothic masons and Hermetic groups but was lost in the narrow 'rationalism' of the World-Machine. We can rediscover it from examples.

Great Western composers were found in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Many of the best were anonymous, but we know Machaut, Ockeghem, Senfl, and Isaac. The high renaissance of Josquin des Pres is like Raphael, too bland. The later Gabrielis were brilliant. Baroque music wears less well, although there continues to be occasional brilliant work, such as Bach's Goldberg variations. The elegant decadence of the Rococo can only be appreciated by the elegant decadent. The intimate and introspective Romantic works are bombastic and sentimental and quickly boring. Twentieth century 'serious' music is not music at all. Contemporary composers have by now completely forgotten all principles of the science of mythic meaning which underlies all great music.

Great Western painting occurs in scattered times and places, e.g., some 14th and 15th Century manuscript illumination, such as the Duke of Berry's Very Rich Hours and in the Carmina Burana manuscript, and in the brilliant, too soon extinguished work of Van Gogh, and certain works of Gauguin. Van Gogh and Gauguin accidentally rediscovered the symbolic power of surface texture and movement, of swirls, and flame-like shapes, of ripples, patches, bars, comma shaped strokes, and so forth. In short, Van Gogh rediscovered the symbolic power of shaped brush-strokes of elements, know to mosaicists and stained glass builders.

Van Gogh also knew the symbolic power inherent in pure color, used without reference to photographic realism. Van Gogh was once seen striking chords on a piano and naming corresponding types of paint (chrome yellow, cobalt blue, etc.,). Gauguin was also a master of color symbolism, in the Yellow Christ, or Jacob Wrestling with the Angels, or certain self-portraits. The symbolic power of pure color, pure shape, and of transformations is found in psychedelic poster art and in the movie, Yellow Machine, far more than in typical World-Machine art.

Gothic and early Renaissance architecture is superb, again because of the delicately intuitive knowledge of what was symbolically expressive. John Michell claims that numerical harmonies related to magic squares are incorporated into the ground plans and facades of Gothic cathedrals. Certainly there are small number ratios and numerical harmonies involved in the proportions of Brunelleschi's architecture.

Since the decline of the Baroque, no architectural style has arisen to replace it. Modern boxes have no more style in an aesthetic sense than does a paper sack or a shoe box. The average surroundings of twentieth century man are totally lacking in aesthetic qualities. It is not so much ugly as bland, being purely functional, objects that we use but do not see. Before you disagree with these value judgments, take the time to become really familiar with Western arts, from A to Z. It is not 'just a matter of opinion.'

We must now re-invent mythically potent arts and rites for civilized man.

Music can be connected with all the ancient systems of mythic meaning. Rhythm symbolizes the same thing as the BOOK OF CHANGE; the round dance (music should always be closely associated with dance) can connect music to the mandala. Scales, harmonies and melodies can be connected to the Kabbalah, the Tarot and numerology.

In a rather technical way, let me show you how scales can symbolize the Sephiroth and the Major Arcana. The main framework of ten notes (decades) can symbolize the ten Sephiroth of the Kabbalah (fig. 13). This must be regarded as an experimental identification, of course, since it is not possible to define mythic symbols.

The lowest frequency is Kether, the undifferentiated. Twice that frequency is Chokmah, the supernal Yang. Thrice the frequency of Kether is Binah, the supernal Yin. Four times Kether is Chesed, the pranic Yang or Emperor. Geburah is five times Kether and is the feminine destroyer (Kali) on the psychonic level, as is Binah on a supernal level. Tiphareth is six times Kether and is a sacrificed god, the hanged man in Tarot, the connecting link between higher and lower Sephiroth. Netzach is seven times Kether in frequency and is Mercury-Hermes, the scientist, while Netzach is the artist. Yesod is nine times Kether and is the unconscious, the storehouse of images in the sphere of Maya---illusion, magic and psychism. Finally, Malkuth is ten times Kether in frequency and is the physical home, the world of substance. 1,6,9 and 10 are on the central pillar of mildness. 2,3, and 7 are on the right hand pillar of mercy. 3,5, and 8 are on the left hand pillar of severity. The right pillar is construction (Brahma), the left destruction and perseverance (Shiva) and the central pillar is harmony or balance (Vishnu). The meanings of the ten Sephiroth do not correspond to the major arcana or to numerology, but they do correspond nicely to the minor arcana.

What evidence is there for this symbolic identification? The deepest sounding musical instrument, the pipe organ, has long been associated with the supernal, as has the cantus firmus in Gothic music. By contrast, the very highest frequencies are only heard in overtones in the lush sound of a violin or opera singer, and such florid styles as well as the instruments themselves, may be associated with Malkuth, the physical world.

The four 'worlds' or modes by which the Sephiroth work correspond to the four suits of the minor arcana, and we might symbolically distinguish these by different sorts of timbre and attack/decay characteristics. Swords would be percussive, like the piano, harpsichord or symbols and corresponds to Brian, the world of creation (Brahman). Wands would be reedy, like the autos, and this corresponds to Atziluth, the world of archetypes where all begins to be something. Cups corresponds perhaps to organ-like sounds, or bells; this is the world of Yetzirah, where formation (different from creation) occurs. Pentacles correspond to strings; this is the world of Assail, the material world.

Given the basic range of ten sounds, ranging perhaps from 100 CPAs for Kether to 1000 for Malkuth, we could fill in smaller intervals by means of secondary geometric scales based on ratios 3/2, 4/3, 5/4, 6/5, 7/6 and so forth, applied to each Sephiroth. Such ratios symbolize the transition from one stage of the major arcana to another. Thus, notes of the ratio 3/2 applied to a particular Sephiroth ought to symbolize the transition or evolution from the High Priestess (2) to the Empress (3), in that particular Sephiroth and particular 'world.' Within this framework, there are an infinite variety of possibilities for the melody and for polyphony and homophony, after one has picked a rhythmic pattern using the I Ching. One can put many notes in a single beat or one or none. There are a generous number of notes possible in the geometric scale of a single ratio for a single Sephiroth, and no reason why the composer need stick to a single Sephiroth or ratio. Generally, conjunct motion up or down symbolizes smooth transition, motion up is attack, motion down is retreat (or yang, and yin). Melodies can be majestic or nervous, and in other ways can convey meaning. It requires some deliberate conscious effort to create a mythic system, but once one is familiar with it, then intuition must be the guide, both in creation and in listening.

The Kabalah is a complex mythic and occult system, as complete and as independent as is astrology or the Tarot. In Eden Gray's A Complete Guide to the Tarot there is an excellent brief introduction to other occult systems of thought which relate to the Tarot in occult systems of thought which relate to the Tarot in one way or another, including the Kabalah. Like the other occult systems, it could easily be a lifetime study, but, on the other hand, if the ideas set out above are correct, anyone may be able to deeply the music, even if his conscious mind has no understanding of the mythic science that lies behind it.

Musical instruments have to be re-invented, or re-adapted, along with the music. A good task for the village craftsman, who will be instrument maker, composer and player, all in one.

Think of the isorhythm in connection with the trigrams or hexagrams of the I Ching. A yang line is a beat (usually on a simple tabor or tambourine in medieval music) and a yin line is a rest or a weak beat. Of course, the isorhythms of Gothic music are not always three beats or six beats, but sometimes four beats or seven beats or whatever. Beats are not necessarily accented in isorhythm music.

The drone in medieval music is played on the bagpipe, organum, or hurdy-gurdy and these establish the framework for one or more melodic lines. In medieval dance music (which is so lively one canot resist dancing!) there is a single melodic line; in music for court or church there might be three, four or five melodic lines, all quite individual. But we must start with the simpler dance music, if we are going to learn from music.

What is the symbolic meaning of various rhythms? On the Nonesuch record French Dances of the Renaissance, there are a number of 16th Century examples we can analyze. La Volunte, a basse danse, has five light beats, followed by a heavy beat. This is hexagram 8, unity, with earth below and the pit above. The commentary says "Unity (or co-ordination) brings good fortune by ensuring the support and willing obedience of subordinates...The laggards will suffer because their stock of Tao is exhausted. Those in trouble will be drawn together because of the accord between those in command and those who obey." How does this accord with the emotional meaning of the music? Very well, although it is difficult to put such things in words. The work has a dying, plaintive, but harmonious sound, compared to the vigorous dances of the Gothic 14th or the early Renaissance 15th Centuries. The 16th was a Century of change, and the Renaissance courts where this rather plaintive music was played were certainly culturally united, yet their Tao was indeed exhausted, and there is perhaps something sad and nostalgic about this work, and much other music of the small Renaissance courts of that Century.

By contrast, another work on the record, a Tourdion called Vous aurez tout ce qui est main, has five firm beats followed by a rest. This is hexagram 43, resolution. The commentary says, "When a proclamation is made at the court, frankness may prove dangerous. The firm (the Yang) comes to an end at the top, after great success. Symbol: a marshy lake sucked towards the sky. The superior man dwelling in virtue renounces those below. Summary advice: resolution towards some goal."

By comparison with the "La Volunte," this one is certain more vigorous, firm and optimistic with an after-image of sadness, however. The superior Renaissance man comes to an end after great success.

These are but two examples. Try the I Ching analysis on rhythmic patterns. They will always fit symbolically if there is a definite isorhythm pattern. If it does not match a trigram or hexagram, then you have to go back to first principles, which may not be easy.

COLOR SYMBOLISM: Purple: In the purple hall of the City of Jade, the Dark Pass was opened. It was the time of the purple light of dawn, the mystery, shining in the North, the Abysmal. The number of the undifferentiated is zero, the circle in the mandala, the zero of the Fool card. The undifferentiated Tai Chi became the differentiated Tien, Heaven in the time of the yellow light of dawn in the East, and the vital breath began to move by Sun and Moon. The Sun and Moon of the eyes are the Great Wain around which moves the circulation of the light. The heavenly sun and heavenly moon are the great father and mother, the differentiated heaven which participated in cosmic evolution.

Yellow: in the yellow dawn-light of the East, the bells rang in the purple hall of the city of Jade, and all the morning stars sang for joy, ringing the vibratory centers of man and in the earth in perfect harmony.

Red: Differentiation continued in the red light of dawn, the color of passion, love, sex, action, emotions of the body. In the red light of dawn, the fool began his great pilgrimage, the Great Way of the Major Arcana by stepping out of boundless space into material incarnation ten million years ago.

Thus, these three colors definitely have symbolic associations and equivalences. The symbolic meanings of other colors can perhaps be divined by studying the works of two artists who were very sensitive to color meaning, Van Gogh and Gauguin. Van Gogh uses the purple light of dawn in the sky and the windows of "The Church at Auvers," and the contrast with the yellow-green grass gives the work its powerful transcendent quality. This is consonant with the wavering lines (flame) which make it appear to be a mirage, an ephemeral expression of a deeper reality (a quality very much felt in "Starry Night," which is also filled with mandala vortices and whorls). Again, Van Gogh uses the red light of the passions in the background of "Self-Portrait with Pipe and Bandaged Ear." Van Gogh often uses yellow-greens, bluish greens and muddy brownish reds to express lowlife and the exhausted moon of late hours in a half deserted pool room (as in "The Night Cafe" and "Cafe Terrace at Night").

The bright yellows and oranges in his sunflower paintings are the yellow light of life, of vital breath of yin and yang and the round of life. Van Gogh and the psychedelic artists understand very well that the symbolic colors are very bright, unlike those of realistic art. The colors in LSD trips and visions glow from within. People who know about mandalas advise making them with brightest colors available for maximum effect.

Gauguin makes use of the fiery-coals-red of the passions in "Man with Axe" and in "Fatata te Miti," and he uses the yellow-green symbolism of low-life in the "The Yellow Christ," which makes it ironic indeed, associating traditional Christianity with the despairing low life of bars and brothels. In "Vision After the Sermon," also known as "Jacob Wrestling With the Angels," a darker red is used, what is often called a pure red as opposed to the fiery-coals red of the passions. There may be a touch of blue in the red of "vision." This red still has the meaning of passion, perhaps murkier passion, or the passions of mankind used wrongly. Van Gogh uses this darker red (but without the touch of blue) in the lower background of "Self-Portrait with Pipe and Bandaged Ear."

One color which Gauguin uses frequently with powerful expressive effect is violet, all shades of it, from the most delicate pink violets to red violets to purple violets to blue violets to green violets. One sees all these delicate colors in the bonnets of the peasants in "Vision," and in the foreground water of "Man with Axe" and in the foreground surf of "Fatata te Miti." In the latter two it is contrasted powerfully with the fiery-coals red of the passions given to a bank of earth, to seaweed, to flowers, to leaves and to the foam of the surf. In a powerful mythic painting, things can be any color, depending on the mood and feel expressed. Perhaps the violet is symbolic or expressive of simplicity, or perhaps of the peace of the time just after sunset.

Not all colors have symbolic meaning independent of the subject matter. The meanings of the colors above are partly a matter of universal associations over many lifetimes, but may very well be partly due to certain 'pre-established' harmonies between physical frequencies and emotion or ideational vibratory states in the psychonic matter composing the mind (as Pythagorean thought). Some of the symbolic colors may correspond with HSP colors which psychonic matter emits in characteristic states.

MANDALAS: A mandala is a visual symbol which unlocks the door to the 'purple hall of the city of jade' and thus allows one to go through the 'dark pass' to the center in the midst of the conditions, or to enter the 'ancestral home,' or to enter the void. A mandala is a personal symbol of the self. Even if you don't wish to trip with it, making them can be profoundly satisfying, and a good exercise for everyone.

A mandala is usually made with compass and ruler and colored pencils. One can start by making a circle at least six inches in diameter with a smaller circle in the center. One may then add other circles or straight lines. Then one engages in meditative doodling within the spaces thus created, later coloring the spaces with the colored pencils.

A mandala may contain more or less universal symbols, such as trigrams or hexagrams, symbols from the Tarot, dragons, birds, symbols of the four elements, and various yin/yang pairs (light and dark figures on opposite sides of the mandala, for instance). If you proceed slowly, letting yourself make various shapes, then seeing what they look like to you, and elaborating the doodles in the direction you wish, a mandala will emerge by itself. No two are exactly alike.

Mandalas often have a quadripartite structure, but one shouldn't force that. Many Western mandalas have three parts or six or twelve or two, even if four, eight and twelve predominate. Mandalas are not necessarily enclosed by an exact circle. There are mandalas of the vesica piscis shape, and some have a flame-like outline. Navaho mandalas are rarely strictly round or completely closed. To use a mandala to 'trip,' one sinks into it and lets the elements of it surround one and come alive. It is also good to put them up on your walls and think about the meanings in them. It may take weeks to figure out your own mandala. With mandala meditation, one can have most or all of the experiences associated with LSD, though not vividly, nor automatically.

FESTIVALS OF THE MOON: Moon festivals are held in each season, at night, either during the full moon or during the new moon. Which of the six possibilities will be chosen in a given season will be determined by spiritual scientists on astrological grounds, and the astrological relationships will determine the exact theme. Some examples: If Venus and the moon are in trine, then the High Priestess is a good key for the festival. If Venus and Mars are in trine, the Lovers key is appropriate. If Venus and Neptune are in trine, the Moon card is good. If the moon and sun are in trine, then it is the Sun card. The entire astrological set of relationships needs to be studied, and the most important influences determined before picking the symbolic key of the Festival (as well as determining the most interesting new or full moon to have the festival).

A festival is a re-enactment of the mythic roots of our being, the archetypes, which have a strange, dream-like quality. Some examples of archetypes: being swallowed up and reborn, the androgyne, light and dark anima and animus. One point of the festival is to have a good time, and to provide a powerful focus for creation and participation in art, music and dance, something the entire community can participate in. The point is not to worship some exterior god as may seem to be the case when elements of ancient religions are revived for these festivals; the primary point is psychic integration and evolution. These 'gods' are powerful internal archetypes and to deny them is to risk individual or mass psychosis, and is to guarantee eventual shutting off of roots of our being, the sources of creative energies, and the consequent loss of joy and spontaneity, and the eventual disappearance of civilization again. Thus, the celebration of these symbolic archetypes, in a rich and intuitively meaningful way (never in superstitious rote ritual) and constantly evolving way, is the most important thing human beings can do.

The festivals of the moon are festivals of dying and reviving gods, e.g., Dionysus, also festivals of death, sex, regeneration, of virgin goddesses and sacrifice of virginity, festivals of fire and vegetation, of duality, of latent power and unrevealed influences. Dionysus, Astarte, Isis, Artemis, the Virgin Mary, all these and more may provide elements for moon festivals. The trigram K'an, (the abysmal, water, the moon) is a good meditation symbol for some moon festivals. Tiphareth and the higher Sephiroth may be good symbols.

There is no rote way of planning a moon festival, no more than there is a rote way of making a mandala. One must let one's intuition work, and do what seems most needed and nourishing, what will open people up. The spiritual scientists in a congregation (who may or may not be psychic adepts) will provide suggestions to those with good intuitive creative abilities. There will be music to compose and play, dances to invent and choreograph, masks to invent and build, mini-plays to be written and practiced, banners and sand paintings to be designed and constructed. Everyone must at least work on his own mask. Festivals do no good if the elements of it are copied. They must be newly created by the actual participants in the village of community each time. And in all creative work, the symbolic intuition must be used to maximum extent.

A festival will begin at Freudian levels, move to Jungian levels in the middle, and climax with universal, cosmic themes. In the summer moon festival, the rich heat of full blooded life is celebrated, which could be symbolized by LI (the Clinging) or CH'IEN (the creative or SUN (the Gentle), depending on astrological relationships. The fall moon festival is a time of dying, removal of old restrictions, death of the king (Death card), symbolized by TUI (the Lake, mist, the joyous) or by K'AN (the Abysmal). The winter festival is a time for K'EN (the Mountain, stillness) and K'UN (Earth, the receptive) and for rest and stability. The spring moon festival is a time for CHEN (Shock, the arousing, wood, thunder), and for rebirth. The overall mood of each festival will thus be quite different. All will be held out of doors, in unspoiled nature, in sacred groves and mountain sides, by lakes or seashores.

The minor arcana suit of the summer festival is pentacles, swords for the fall, rods for the spring, and cups for the winter. In particular, the swords for a particular fall festival might be the phorba, the magic dagger of the Tibetan gomchens, and the rite of choed might be part of the rite. For a particular spring festival, the rod could be the thrysus, and old Dionysian rites could be considered for inclusion in the festival (but remember that attempts to merely revive the past are idolatrous in Toynbee's sense). In the winter, scrying in a pool of still water, as in the Delphic oracle, might be included. In summer, the pentacle could be a pentagram, and adepts might create an apparition of the Devil card in the pentagram.

Rhythmic, hypnotic round dancing (mandalas) and chanting (mantras) can lead on further and further into the mythic theme. Initiates of the lesser mysteries (those who have undergone the first LSD sacrament) may wish to use hashish and magic mushrooms, chants, masks and dances, to re-live and act out various archetypes, such as dying and reviving gods, androgynes, the light and dark anima and animus (figs. 17, 21). Each of these archetypes is a transformation, rather than a static condition.

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