sophia-crystalis

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"The sacred story of Sophia begins at one moment in endless, measureless time, but not the first moment of the creation of the Universe. This term Universe, capitalized, refers to the totality of galaxies in the immeasurable matrix of space-time. The Universe already exists when Sophia's story begins, and it has never not been there. There is no moment when it arose, nor will there ever be a moment when it ceases to be. There is no big bang in the Gnostic vision, nor in its Hindu, Tantric, and Buddhist counterparts where emanation and mirroring are the dynamic principles that operate throughout the cosmos and within the human psyche: emanation, not creation; mirroring, not cause and effect. The Eternal Ground is immutable but the Universe is inherently unstable, perpetually in flux, its contents ever changing, morphing, cycling. Life is a mystery of ceaseless, seamless becoming, a living dream that constantly shifts from one scene to another, every event pivoting on the timeless moment, Now.

What changes in the Universe is not the power source, but the conditions for the manifestation of that mysterious sourcing power. "Eternity is in love with the productions of time," said the mystic poet William Blake. Every moment holds the exciting possibility that a singularity will emerge from the depths of the Eternal Now. Novelty will appear and ripple through the manifest worlds.

The Universe arises as a material apparition from a hidden power source, a foundation awareness that never discloses itself directly: the Originator. In Dzogchen the foundation awareness is called rigpa, in Hindu Tantra, parasamvit, in the Gnostic materials, pronoia. (I cite these parallels, not to display my dubious erudition, but to stress that Gnostic thought is not a freak, isolated phenomenon, as most religious scholars take it to be.)

Tantric metaphysical teachings tell us that the innate inclination of the sourcing power is to veil itself so that it can appear as other than what it is. Its self-veiling power is called maya. Wrongly considered to mean illusion, maya is in reality the power by which the foundation awareness, which stands beyond time, space, and matter, assumes manifold appearances and acts in time and space, assuming material form. Paradoxically, it hides in order to be revealed. The foundation awareness does not confine itself in the acts and appearances it manifests, but operates through them. The material apparitions it produces, including stars, planets, human beings, and microbes, are real and alive, not illusory. Gnostics did not teach that the material world is an illusion, but, as we shall see, they warned that there is an iilusionary factor working in the cosmos and in the human mind, correlatively, that causes us to misperceive the world order and lose our place in it. This is the Archontic factor that emerges in episode 4 of the sacred story."

~ John Lamb Lash, 'Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology and the Future of Belief'

Artwork:  'On the Edge of Harmony by Cameron Gray

Simulated Order: Jehova-Yaldabaoth by John Lamb Lash

Assuming the arrogant pose of a solar deity, Yaldabaoth falsely believes himself to be the only god in the entire cosmos.

Thus, for Gnostics, the identification of Yaldabaoth with Jehovah of the Old Testament, a deity who suffers from this very complex of cosmic egotism, is a foregone conclusion, prefigured in the Sophianic origin myth.

Being blind, he cannot perceive the Pleroma (galactic core), nor does he recognize Sophia, the cosmic current that surged from the core and produced him in the first place.

He becomes infatuated, bloated with grandiosity, causing Sophia to feel shame and want to hide him from the sight of the Pleromic Aeons.

"She cast him away from her radiance, so that no one among the immortal ones might see him... She joined a luminous cloud with him, and placed a throne in the middle of the cloud."

(Apoc John BG 38, 1-10)

The Aeon Sophia is that cosmic current whose impact organizes the dema and produces the Archons.

This happens because She acts unilaterally in Her plunge from the galactic core, but Sophia does not unilaterally cause the birth of the Sun. This is a process continually occurring in the galactic limbs, due to the physics of the limb structure itself. In an action that might be compared to a mill wheel grinding stones, the galactic armature churns and refines elementary matter, constantly producing star-birth, the promise of new worlds of experience.

The key to the unique status of our planetary system is the convergence of Sophia's impact with the nebular expulsion of a newborn star. The material of the Archons is incorporated into that material vortex that forms around this star, and Sophia herself fixes the chief Archon centrally ("enthroned") in the center of the proto-planetary disk ("luminous cloud").

Overseen by Yaldabaoth, the Archons now proceed to fabricate the planetary system from the inorganic elements of which they themselves are composed. As they have no intentionality (ennoia) and no creative capacity (epinoia) of their own, they can only do this by imitation.

The Apocryphon of John (II, 10, 24-25) describes how the Lord Archon "produced for himself cyclic worlds (orbiting bodies) from the luminous spark that still shines in the sky." Thus, he draws upon the vortex power of the central star, the newborn Sun, to organize the matter swirling in the proto-planetary disk.

Yaldabaoth originates nothing, however. He can only copy the model of the Pleroma, without even knowing that he does so:

And he was amazed by his own arrogance, for he seemed to beget material powers (exousiai, "authorities") out of his own solitary power, but after the patterns of the imperishable Aeons... And so there came to be a stereoma  ("firmament") corresponding to the cyclic formations of the Pleroma.

(II, 10, 26-28, and 12, 25)

Gnostic teachings constantly emphasize that the Archons are imitators who cannot produce anything original, yet they arrogantly claim they can.

The Lord Archon is called antimimon pneuma, "counterfeit spirit." (Apoc John III, 36:17. The term occurs several times in different texts.) The cosmos he produces is described by the Coptic term hal, "simulation." The vast planetary system of the Archons is a stereoma, a virtual reality projection in simulation of a higher dimensional pattern.

Typically, the Archontic framework of the planetary system has been depicted by "armillary bands" that surround the Earth. (Illustration from A. Cellarius, Harmonia Macrocosma, 1660.) Taken in many esoteric systems (Hermetics and Rosicrucianism) as the preeminent image of cosmic harmony, the model of the planetary spheres reflects a mindless imitation of divine design, not the living reality of the cosmos.

Yaldabaoth, the presumed all-mighty creator God, really creates nothing; instead, he copies from "archetypal" patterns in the Pleroma. The planetary stereoma of his making is like a plastic copy of an abalone shell. Only someone who does not know the reality of the abalone shell, and what living miracle of nature is required to produce it, would accept the plastic substitution. Here again, the cosmic-noetic parallel applies: Archons simulate in the cosmos at large, and they also simulate in the human mind. This is a key indication of their effect, a clue to their subtle intrusion tactics.

The main cosmological texts in the Nag Hamadi Library (NHL), On the Origin of the World, The Hypostasis of the Archons, and The Apocryphon of John, are consistent in describing how the solar system arises as an inorganic simulation of the living pattern of the eternal Aeons. Here is further insight into "the generation of error."

One might be excused (but just barely) for mistaking plastic for pearl, but it would be terrible ignorance indeed to be unaware that it takes an entire ocean and a living, symbiotic biosphere to produce a pearl. Yet such is the ignorance of the Archons that they cannot comprehend the living miracle of divine order, rooted in the Pleroma, even when they are imitating it.

The stereoma of the Archons is truly a grandiose accomplishment, rather like the many-roomed Venetian palace of a Mafia don afflicted with religious grandiosity and a militaristic sense of the command chain:

"Now the prime parent (archigenetor), the master breeder of the Archons, since he commanded vast orbiting worlds, produced heavens for each of his offspring... beautiful dwellings, and in each heaven.

Yaldabaoth produced glorious decor, seven times excellent: thrones and mansions and temples, and also chariots and celestial virgins... consigning to each one its own heaven-like realm, and providing them with mighty armies of gods and commanders and messengers and overseers, in countless myriads, so that they might all serve and be served."

~ On the Origin of the World, 19.

Readers familiar with the archetypal psychology of C. G. Jung will recognize in this passage all the elements of the heaven archetype common to the mainstream religions:

- heavenly mansions

- celestial armies

- virgins on order

- choirs of angels arranged with military precision

The stereoma is loaded with spiritual kitsch.

Vähän naurahdin ötökkämielikuvalle. Metsänpeitto viittanee johonkin välitila ulottuvuuteen🤔 Se, että metsän väki olisi ilkeyttään sinne peittänyt, on höpöhöpö pelottelua.👍

Metsänpeitto on henkien luoma valli oman maailmansa ja meidän maailmamme välillä - metsä "peittää" metsänpeittoon joutuneen. Metsänpeittoon joutunut ihminen tai karjaeläin ei enää löydä kotiin, vaikka oma kotimetsä olisi kuinka tuttu. Ja silloinkin, jos ja kun metsänpeittämä löytäisikin kotipihaan, koti ei kuitenkaan ole kuin sen pitäisi. Oman talouden väki ei ehkä näe tai kuule kotiinpalannutta ollenkaan, tai saattaa katsoa hänet ventovieraaksi - hän ei ehkä tunnista kodin väkeä, tai kodin väki ei tunnista häntä. Silloin on palattava metsään, yritettävä palata takaisin paikkaan jossa metsänpeittoon joutui, ja tehtävä takaperin samat askeleet, joiden kautta metsänpeittoon alunperin päätyi.

Vanhan kansan uskomusten mukaan metsän väki peitti ihmisiä ja metsiin laiduntavaa karjaa tahallaan, joko piruuttaan tai hyötyäkseen siitä itse jotenkin. Sitä en usko, kun eivät ne siitä itse mitenkään hyödy, enkä usko että nekään tahtovat kutsumattomien vieraiden pyörivän maillaan yhtään pidempään kuin on pakko.

Ehkä kyseessä on samanlainen ilmiö kuin ihmisten koteihin eksyvät hyönteiset - ihminen ei hahmota metsänpeittoa eikä ymmärrä miten on päätynyt tähän käsittämättömään tilaan, eikä ymmärrä miksei pääse siitä pois, vaikka selkeästi näkee minne tahtoo mennä. Ja samalla metsän väki, joka on ihmisen täyden ymmärryksen ulottumattomissa, seisoo vieressä kädet puuskassa katsoen pienen olennon ponnistelua miettien "voisitko vaikka mennä siitä avoimena seisovasta parvekkeen ovesta, etkä yrittäisi vieläkin lentää ikkunasta läpi. Ei voi olla noin vaikeaa. Käyttäisit nyt sitä yhtä aivosolua mikä sinullakin pitäisi olla."

You can't save time. You can only spend it, but you can spend it wisely or foolishly.

-- Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh

"Let us keep courage and try to be patient and gentle. And not mind being eccentric, and make distinction between good and evil."

- Vincent van Gogh

Olga Hamilton, Triskelion

The Triskele or Triskelion is a symbol that consists of three interlocked spirals. It is one of the oldest Irish Celtic symbols in existence, and it is best known to represent the three worlds: the celestial; the physical; and the spiritual.

“Find someone who grows flowers in the darkest parts of you.”

7/14/22 23:58

Shadow Work

Origins, Meaning and Utility

The Structure of the Mind

Carl Jung theorized the existence of three levels/spheres in the human psyche: the Ego, representing the conscious mind, the Personal Unconscious where memories are contained and the Collective Unconscious, where all knowledge and experiences of the species are shared.

Each Sphere has in it a certain number of Archetypes, used to better describe the components of those structures, and the Shadow is one of them.

What is the Shadow

The shadow can be seen as a instinctual or primitive part of ourselves, it exists as part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts, and shortcomings.

It is this archetype that contains all of the things that are unacceptable not only to society, but also to one's own personal morals and values, normally going against social norms and rules as well as what we personally consider right.

The Shadow is often described as the darker side of the psyche, representing wildness, chaos, and the unknown, and it is common for people to deny this element of their own psyche and instead project it on to others.

The Shadow in Witchcraft and Benefits of Shadow Work

Art: Unknown

The Shadow, in witchcraft, can represent The Unknown, hidden depth of ourselves. Speaking in terms of energy, this is an area that can be a deep source of energetic issues, because it’s locked up in the dark and always striving to reach the light.

To not work with one’s Shadow is to make it greedy and aggressive, as well as denying a big part of oneself, making everything a half of a whole.

Through that brief explanation, we can already establish the importance and role of the Shadow in witchcraft, and with that in mind, comes the concept of Shadow Work.

Shadow Work can be seen in a number of practices, meditation, trances, inner journey’s, lucid dreaming, astral travels, spells and divination.

The method can change, but the principle is simple: Centering your intent to self discovery, self knowledge and self acceptance.

Working with one’s Shadow is not only beneficial to one’s craft, as it allows one to get in touch with their intuition as well as allows for easier connection with one’s guide/guides, but it also allows for healing and acceptance of one’s feelings and needs.

Think of all aspects of life as a wheel. If there is one part bent, the wheel can turn, but with more effort. If the owner spends time fixing that bent part, the wheel will turn in a much more smooth manner.

That is what happens when you take the time to do Shadow Work, you have to put in effort, and most of the time it’s not easy, but once done, all other components on the wheel of your life will be relieved to move on without that obstacle that makes their job harder.

The Shadow is not evil, as evil is just a moral compass invented by humans. It is a part of one’s nature, and to deny it is to supress a connection with yourself.

Take the time to know and accept your shadow, and you’ll see that life will be a little easier.

References:

A Natureza da psique (Structure & Dynamics of the Psyche) by C.G. Jung

The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious by C.G. Jung

I'm sure is all connected

What are Archetypes?

Psychologically, whether we realize it or not, we make a connection between a picture/symbol and what we perceive. We may not always be aware of this, however. Even if we believe an archetype holds no meaning for us, something as simple as a square, will be identified within the unconscious mind as an archetype. Therefore, the square may be unconsciously connected to a house, a foundation, a…

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