as above so below: 2009

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

fascination

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Science:

NOVA News Minutes
The Real Matrix
(running time 01:44)

Transcript 
October 31, 2003

NARRATOR: The idea of parallel universes has long been a staple of science fiction. But some of the physicists who believe in string theory think it could be science fact. As shown on PBS's NOVA, string theory proposes that everything in the universe is made up of unimaginably tiny vibrating strings. Because these strings need to move in more than the three dimensions we experience, some scientists think that up to 11 dimensions might exist.
NARRATOR: Some physicists believe these strings can stretch into something called a membrane, or "brane" for short. A brane could be as large as an entire universe, and our whole universe could exist on a brane inside a much larger space. In other words, our universe might be a mere slice of bread in a much larger "loaf," and that loaf might contain other slices, or parallel universes, right next to ours, that we can't see or touch. But because string theory suggests that gravity is leaking into the different dimensions, we might someday be able to detect the presence of these other universes by studying gravity.
[from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elegant/minu-trans2.html]

Esoteric

"As above, so below"
This phrase comes from the beginning of The Emerald Tablet and embraces the entire system of traditional and modern magic which was inscribed upon the tablet in cryptic wording by Hermes Trismegistus. The significance of this phrase is that it is believed to hold the key to all mysteries. All systems of magic are claimed to function by this formula. "'That which is above is the same as that which is below'...Macrocosmos is the same as microcosmos. The universe is the same as God, God is the same as man, man is the same as the cell, the cell is the same as the atom, the atom is the same as...and so on, ad infinitum." Sources: 29, 45, 66.
[from: http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/a/below_above.html]

As I was watching pbs the other day and saw this particular NOVA episode and it made me think, is it possible that instead of a slice of bread that its a slice or cross-section of something within an actual being? A being that some consider "God"?

According to the book I am reading there are worlds within worlds. An idea that has been illustrated in a children's movie - Osmosis Jones- a world within a human's body. Perhaps our universe is actually a world within a being's body?

Thursday, July 2, 2009

operation hummingbird

(artist is unknown to me- does anyone know?)

Aztec Afterlife

The Aztecs believed in a heaven and an underworld. There were thirteen levels of heaven and nine of the underworld. There were also four horizontal points which corresponded to the directions of the compass and were associated with the four creator gods. All beings were assigned to one of these four points, depending on the day one was born. The earth was believed to be a large disc surrounded by water at the point where the horizontal and vertical met. The Lord and Lady of Duality, mentioned earlier also were the rulers of this central point.

The Aztecs believed that where you went after death depended upon what you did on earth and how you died. The eastern paradise, the “house of the sun” was the home of the souls of warrior who were killed in combat. This also included the souls of enemy warriors who had a special “god of the enemy dead.” Sacrificed victims went there also. It was believed that souls stayed in the eastern paradise for four years, and then they returned to earth as hummingbirds or other exotic birds.

The western paradise, the house of corn, was believed to be for women who died in childbirth. They also returned to earth as phantoms of bad omens. The paradise of Tlaloc, the southern paradise was for people who died of lightening, leprosy or other sickness. This was a place of plentiful food.

The paradise of the north was for the rest of the dead. It was called Mictlan (MEEK tlahn) and getting there involved going through nine trials and took four years to accomplish.

from
http://www.river-styx.net/aztec-myth-mictlan.htm

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

the wet way

UROBORUS: The circular serpent biting its own tail represents eternity and the cycles or "circle of life." Medieval alchemists linked it to the cyclical processes in nature.

Promession: A return to the living soil

http://www.dailyundertaker.com/2008/09/promession-return-to-living-soil.html
Copyright 2008 Patrick McNally, The Daily Undertaker
Promessa Organic AB of Sweden is developing a new method of disposition for the dead called 'promession'. Promession is described as an environmentally friendly form of burial, and could in fact be the greenest of green disposition options. In addition to its green credentials, promession is offered as a more ethical option than cremation or burial. Susanne Wiigh-Mäsak, biologist and head of operations at Promessa Organic AB recently gave a very interesting and inspiring presentation at the 90th annual convention of the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) and agreed to discuss promession with me for this post.

The process of promession involves a promator, freezing human remains in liquid nitrogen (a byproduct of the compressed oxygen produced already for medical purposes.) Once frozen, the casket and remains are agitated with a shaking motion from a table below them, causing them to shatter into tiny pieces. These pieces are then freeze dried to remove all the moisture from them. Metals are then separated, and after being laid in a biodegradable coffin can be buried, returning all the nutritious components to the soil.
I asked Ms. Wiigh-Mäsak how she came to develop this process. She is both a biologist, and an engineer, and has been keenly interested in gardening and science since youth. A special interest has been composting, and she is careful to point out the difference between decomposition and rotting. According to Ms.Wiigh-Mäsak, proper composting involves decomposition, which requires the same conditions that sustain life: air, proper moisture and proper temperature. These conditions allow for a substance to break down to the nutrient level that can replenish the earth's living soil, and are necessary for enzymes and microorganisms to do their work as well. The alternative to decomposition, says Wiigh-Mäsak, is rotting. Rotting occurs when the remains are too large for the air and soil to act upon their surface readily enough to break down in a positive manner. In the case of rot, the body's substances return to the earth, but not in a form that is enriching and replenishing to the living soil.

Because of her deep interest in composting, Ms. Wiigh-Mäsak was struck by the idea that kitchen scraps are treated with more reverence than the bodies of our loved ones. The nutrients of an apple core, that have been taken from the earth, can be returned to it through proper composting techniques, but the six and a half billion human bodies that have drawn life from the living soil are destined to burn off, rot away or lock away their nutrients, rather than return them in a positive way to the earth.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

The Emerald Tablet
     Truly, without Deceit, certainly and absolutely —
     That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below, in the accomplishment of the Miracle of One Thing. And just as all things have come from One, through the Mediation of One, so all things follow from this One Thing in the same way.
     Its Father is the Sun. Its Mother is the Moon. The Wind has carried it in his Belly. Its Nourishment is the Earth. It is the Father of every completed Thing in the whole World. Its Strength is intact if it is turned towards the Earth. Separate the Earth by Fire: the fine from the gross, gently, and with great skill.
     It rises from Earth to Heaven, and then it descends again to the Earth, and receives Power from Above and from Below. Thus you will have the Glory of the whole World. All Obscurity will be clear to you. This is the strong Power of all Power because it overcomes everything fine and penetrates everything solid.
     In this way was the World created. From this there will be amazing Applications, because this is the Pattern. Therefore am I called Thrice Greatest Hermes, having the three parts of the Wisdom of the whole World.
     Herein have I completely explained the Operation of the Sun.
[http://www.tree.org/b1d.htm]

is it possible that, all time and space are actually one location?

Sunday, June 21, 2009

bella inner-tia

Animal Symbolism
in the Alchemical Tradition
By
Adam McLean
From
http://www.alchemywebsite.com/index.html

One symbol of the stone was that of the Ouroboros, the snake holding its tail. As we begin the work, we are all rather unformed (the 'Massa Confusa' or confused mass is a good image) and often victims at the mercy of the sway of polarities in the soul, psychic energies that constantly shift from one pole to another, from joy to despair, from overbearing positivity to deep melancholy and negativity, from light to dark, energy to inertia. Our consciousness naturally follows the cycle of wakefulness and sleep, reflecting the cycle of day and night and the Seasons in Nature. This duality becomes reflected in many of our inner experiences. The snake often was used as a symbol for duality - its long drawn out body separating the polarities of head and tail. Sometimes the figure of a winged dragon was used here in place of the snake, in order to close the circle with the dragon at the beginning of the work. When the snake or dragon seized its tail it united the polarities into a circle, a symbol to the alchemists for achieving solidity amongst the dualistic energies of the soul forces. The creation of the Philosophers'stone, was the formation of solid inner ground upon which the alchemical philosophers could build their personalities, and experience the full potentiality of being human.

Thus alchemists could pursue their cycle of inner transformation as embarking on a journey in which they met with archetypal animal figures. The steps on their journey were paralleled in their experiments in their flasks, and the detailed images of processes of change were worked together with the animal archetypes of that stage into a mandala-like picture which they used as the basis for their meditations.

read the whole article here