comes to Spirit in a dream:
"We felt the change.
We heard the glory.
We saw serene symbols
weaned from movers of manifest form."
�
"Welcome to your Lord of the Lanyard.
You've done well to gain
this latest rock-a-bye of rest."
�
Then, amid the dim-lit monitor,
Spirit slept.
Framing Spirit is a field of bones; a symbol of past lives and the indestructible, yet transitory life principle. Beneath the green square lie a heap of mostly spent bullets, deposited by those having completed previous journeys from Spirit. The bullets of Sign Twelve are added here.
Within the green square are powerful symbols taken from various magical modalities on Earth. They are organized along the four basic elements: Fire, Earth, Air and Water. In the order of astrological appearance, Fire is along the top, Earth is along the bottom, Air is along the left side and Water is along the right. Going from the first to last draws an imaginary cross over the fifth element, Spirit.
The symbols along the top all relate to the element Fire. At the top left corner is the first of eight Pa Kua (eight trigrams) symbols, said to have been constructed around 2953 BC by the first of the Five Emperors of the legendary period of ancient China. They represent the ceaseless interplay of yin (symbolized by a broken line) and yang (symbolized by the unbroken line.) Our first trigram is the symbol for Joyous Fire. Moving right, the next symbol is that of the Wand in the tarot card deck. Then follow the three zodiacal Fire sigils, Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius. The Fire Lotus flower is next, followed by the alchemical symbol for Fire situated over the second trigram, Creative Fire. Next is the Tattwa (Hindu) Fire symbol, then the two Fire planets (Sun and Mars) and one of the dotted Geomantic Fire symbols used in divination of elementary forces. The final Fire symbol is the head, which is ruled by Fire.
As we keep heading clockwise the appearance of symbol types follow in the same order. The first Water symbol appears, a trigram of Gentile Water. Then in order, the tarot Cups, Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces, Water Lotus, alchemical Water symbol over the trigram for Abysmal Water, Tattwa Water symbol, Moon, Neptune, a Geomantic Water symbol and a Water-ruled arm.
The next element, Earth, starts off with Keeping Still Earth, tarot Pentacle, Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo, Water lotus, alchemical Earth over trigram for Receptive Earth, Tattwa Earth, Saturn, Venus, a Geomantic Earth and Earth-ruled torso.
Lastly, the symbols for Air appear: Arousing Air, tarot Sword, Libra, Aquarius, Gemini, Air Lotus, alchemical Air over trigram for Clinging Air, Tattwa Air, Jupiter, Mercury, a Geomantic Air and finally, the Air-ruled eye.
Along the entire inner portion of the green square appear foliage and budding flowers from the Tree of Life.
In the center, Spirit resides amid a faded mandala. This is a graphic symbol of the cosmos. Usually mandalas are oriented to the four directions with a central deity deployed. The color red faces North, green to the East, white to the South and yellow to the West. In ritual use, a mandala is considered to be the ultimate center of the "circle with limitless circumference."
This mandala also has symbols for monthly and yearly time. In the upper right corner is the symbol for spring (suggesting a sprouting plant), with the symbol for the first quarter of the moon. The lower right corner holds the symbol for summer (a plant in full bloom) and the full moon. Going clockwise again, we see the symbol for autumn (the harvest) and the third quarter. Lastly, the upper left reveals the winter (protection and storage) and the new moon symbols.
Sharing the center portion of the Spirit mandala are four pictographic scenes. Perhaps they are something Spirit is dreaming about. I'll let you decide what they might mean.
Thirteen is an important number to many societies. For instance, the Aztec calendar has thirteen-day periods used as a tool for divinations. And the thirteen candles of the Tenebrae, or Lenten hearse, are used to symbolize the death of Christ. As each is blown out, darkness increases. On that note we will end the tour of The Sign Series: Flux-ion of God. There are many other continuances and symbolisms not discussed here which I will leave to you to find if interested.
