Folio One

A New Hope

This is an image of “Bath Sheba” from Chartres Cathedral and one of the first, if not the first image I worked with on the computer in 2020 that was not my own work (well - the background is ‘mine’ - that’s a photo of a ‘yellow ocher’ painted canvas captured at first light on the winter solstice of 2020.

Bath Sheba represents the human, or ‘microcosmic feminine wisdom,’ and connects us to the macrocosmic “Isis-Sophia” - or as some would have it - the Holy Ghost.

In our age - humanity is tasked with evolving the ‘latinized thinking’ we acquired from the Greeks and Romans into ‘heart-thinking.’ This is the Holy Grail - the earthly intelligence becomes a vessel for ‘imaginative consciousness.’

This week’s Tarot card is the “Holy Grail” - next week’s features man and woman coming together with their cups under the symbol of the ‘winged lion - head.’ Leo - the lion, represents the ‘heart’ and the wings represent transcendence - so ‘imaginative’ or ‘heart-thinking’ has been attained.

The phrases “Immaculate Conception,” “Descent of the Holy Spirit,” “Virgin Birth,” are often connected with “Christian Mary” but their deeper meaning points to the alchemical process of the individual’s transformation of thinking and consciousness.

As the Rider-Waite Tarot describes what is meant by this “Ace of Cups” card, it is ‘all that is found in the 52 cards of the minor arcana.’ It is the alchemy of soul.

The above images are from this week’s theme from a year ago. It represents my young self embarking on this task talking to my current self. There are many little hidden things in the pictures which represents the past and internal dialog about it (and practically speaking it was an experiment with seeing what I could do with computer and internet tools). I see at least two indications of Substack stuff going on at this early stage. There is ‘Working Man’s Shovel’ as a button on the professor’s jacket (and on the wall above the bookshelf) - I thought his Substack was an excellent model to follow (as one who was finished with his work in the ‘trades’ and writing about it in retrospect.)

The top left picture was taken right before this year’s Spring Equinox and was inspired by the “Darkness” article I posted. I was talking about the drab quality of color and fog that occurs in late Winter and decided I’d go out and take a picture of it.

The Full Moon picture - top right - is from a section of town I pass often on the way to the grocery story - it’s one of the only views of sky and weather on the short trip -and I was pleased to see the Moon showing off right in the perfect spot. The “Paschal” Moon is the “Passover” Moon and is used to determine the date of Easter.

I grew up around my mother’s Tarot cards. She left them around scattered and often I picked them up and studied them. Sometimes I’d ask her what a particular card meant - as they made heavy impressions on me - they were some of the earliest indications I had that the world ‘was a serious place.’ I only did, or took a Tarot card reading once - I was 15, and trying to choose between 3 girls to spend the rest of my life with. Well - it was profound - the cards said exactly what would happen. She was my first kiss - I ended up marrying her 6 years later, moved to NYC, had two kids and got divorced when I was 38 in 2012 (just in time for the big events of the millennium).

The following images are from last year’s Calendar of the Soul - though I reduced the images down to include 4 to a page as I like that better (I appreciate the positive feedback I got for ‘52’s’ ‘full page’ pictures, but it looks a little cheesy to me - especially because you have to ‘scroll’ to get the full image - that’s too much).

The verse reads as follows -

When out of world-wide spaces

The Sun speaks to the human mind

And gladness from the depth of soul

Becomes in seeing, one with light

Then rising from the sheath of Self

Thoughts soar to distances and dimly bind

The Human Being to the spirit’s life

- Rudolf Steiner, 1912

“Tara” is by no means a woman. Tara refers to the ‘Hill of Tara’ where the High Kings of Ireland were crowned, the Druids gathered (who were they, and what were they doing?) and contests of strength were settled. The song is meant as a ‘reverse innuendo song’ indicating the three paths (Head, Heart, and Hands) to spiritual development.

Here’s the video for the song - A one taker - thank you for putting up with that. The pictures are from last year’s spring and summer folios.