PAN International 79
Provisional Astroshamanic News
Ezine of the Sacred
Editorial Director:
© 2008
This is the Taurus issue of PAN, celebrating the core of Spring and the glowing Fire of Eastertide. Following the activation of the flame in Aries, which is still going on as you receive this PAN on 13 April, light and warmth will be grounded in Taurus, where the Sun enters on
The Bull’s month thrives with a calendar full of major healing feasts. In the Jewish tradition, Passover begins on
During this Taurus cycle there will also be another Full Moon on
Since ancient times the month of May is traditionally dedicated to Mary and all spring goddesses, such as Artemis (goddess of fecundity), and Flora (goddess of blossom). May is the celebration of the flowering of Mary, as depicted in the rosary, or rosarium (“rose garden”), the magnificent rose windows of great gothic cathedrals and in Dante’s image of “the rose in which the Word was made flesh” (Paradiso XXIII). The rose is the flower that encompasses the largest variety of associations and responses, identifying both romantic love and mystic love, profane and mystic passion. As such, its function is to gracefully mediate between human and divine reality. And also “A rose is a rose is a rose.“
Taurus brings roses and fire, the flowering of human and blessed passion, with all their most awaited healing reconciliation, “and all shall be well and / All manner of thing shall be well / When the tongues of flame are in-folded / Into the crowned knot of fire / And the fire and the rose are one.” (T.S. Eliot, Little Gidding)
Flaming blessings, Franco
P.S. On the astroshamanic front there is also an upcoming flowering of events in May, such as The Blessed Way of Passion: Astroshamanic Touch, Christian Healing and Soul Retrieval with Franco and
IN THIS 79th ISSUE
· Pentecost: Birth of a
· Gospel in the Stars or Stars in the Gospel? by Franco S
· Mind the Gap: Findhorn Foundation Training in Astroshamanism by
· The Hierophant-Pope (Taurus): An Astroshamanic Voyage into the Tarot by Franco S.
· The Astroshamanic Poets’ Corner by David Mountjoy and Roland Mann
· Why Use Words When a Kiss Says it All?
· Upcoming Astroshamanic Events
Pentecost: Birth of a
There are three major holidays in the Christian calendar. Two of them (Christmas and Easter) are widely known to all people, Christians and non-Christians. The third feast, Pentecost (taking place this year on 11 May) is more unfamiliar and even several believers do not know much about it. Perhaps this is because, unlike the other festivities, it does not involve extra days of vacation, specific things to buy or culinary associations, such as Christmas pudding, turkey, Easter eggs and lamb.[1] Yet, in actual fact, this feast does relate with food consumption, since it originally celebrates the Jewish fruition of the harvest. In Christian imagery it also refers to Jesus as “the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians
Pentecost, also called Whitsunday (especially in Britain), is the 50th day after Easter, marking the anniversary of the Ten Commandments, and most of all, as for Christians, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. On that occasion the disciples and the Virgin Mary “were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.” (Acts 2:1-4).[2]
Most Christians consider Pentecost as the official Birth of the Church. Before that event the followers of Jesus were scattered and unfocused, then after the descent of the Holy Spirit they got a lot of enthusiasm, came together and started to establish their practices and teachings. The Second Vatican Council describes the action of the Holy Spirit as “an interior, saving work which is also expressed externally in the birth of a community and institution of salvation… permeated with love, which overcomes all differences and divisions of an earthly nature… with an expression of faith in God which is understandable to all, despite the differences in language.”[3]
The Church born at Pentecost, rather than a building or hierarchical organization, is the gathering of those who, filled with the Holy Spirit, have received the “gift of tongues”, so that when they speak everyone hear them in their native language. This gift establishes communication in the Spirit rather than in the language. As Alan Watts puts it “when the mind is no longer spell-bound, the confusion of tongues gives place to the gift of tongues – the power to use the Word without being enthralled by it.” For this reason “Catholicism has always insisted that spiritual authority resides in the living Church rather than in the ‘dead letter’ of Scripture. But the Church has authority only in so far as it remains truly the Church, the company of those who realise effectively that they are one with the Author by whose Word the universe of time, space, and duality is exfoliated from eternity.”[4]
What were then the customs of this early Church? Although this is too much of a controversial topic to deal with in a few sentences, what appears clear is that scriptures did not play a privileged role. This is also because the Gospels became available only one hundred or even two hundreds years after the Pentecost. Early Christian writings and several references in the Bible indicate more an emphasis on joyous celebration, dance, music, contemplation and trance, rather than reading or analysing sacred texts. Dance was a vital part of the religious practices of ancient Israelites,[5] and people were regularly exhorted to dance and play loud music in the Old Testament.[6] Yet what I perceive as most significant in those dances and in all early Christian practices is the shamanic trance and shape-shifting element, which is also the essence of Pentecost itself.
The disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit and, as a result, begin to speak in alien languages. And it was indeed this capacity to enter into a non-ordinary state of consciousness and surrender one’s body and mind entirely to God that represented the sine qua non for gaining admission to the early Church. The ancient shamanic practice of glossolalia, or Speaking in tongues, is still the most prominent trait of Pentecostalism, Charismatic movements, and Charismatic Catholicism, which are also the fastest growing groups in today’s Christianity. Their practices, besides speaking in tongues, involve dancing in circles, jumping, shouting, crying and laughing, falling on, or rolling across, the floor, and other cathartic experiences. Another form of trance common to early Christian mystics and saints, such as Anthony of Egypt, Benedict, Columba of Iona and later Francis of Assisi, Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, to name just a few, involved unceasing contemplation and sensory deprivation, which are also customary elements of all deep shamanic experiences and vision quests.
The core element of the original Church is the direct experience of God’s presence as Love, through the intervention of the Holy Spirit. The function of the Holy Spirit is to heal our fragmented mind. This means dissolving the insane idea of existing in a human arbitrary configuration (HAC) filled with solitary identities in perpetual conflict or mutual threat, and unveiling our true common nature unceasingly united with God. The Holy Spirit teaches that “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.” (ACIM, T, I:2). He mediates between reality and the illusion of our separated self. This is possible because, “while on the one hand He knows the truth, on the other He also recognizes our illusions, but without believing in them. It is the Holy Spirit's goal to help us escape from the dream world by teaching us how to reverse our thinking and unlearn our mistakes. Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit's great learning aid in bringing this thought reversal about.” (ACIM, Preface, xi).
Forgiveness involves shifting from a perception based on separation to an ongoing communion with whomever and whatever exists. Spirituality is not a race for individual enlightenment or a fight to impose one’s religious ideas. The Church is a holy communion of people. This is not founded upon the rightness of their doctrine. It is firmly based on the value of their loving connection with God and with one another. “As you come closer to a brother you approach me, and as you withdraw from him I become distant to you. Salvation is a collaborative venture. It cannot be undertaken successfully by those who disengage themselves from the Sonship, because they are disengaging themselves from me. God will come to you only as you will give Him to your brothers.” (ACIM, T4,VI.8:1-4)
The early Christian practices are most pragmatic in the above respect. The Church becomes a sacred gathering where we step out of our private madness and safely release it as a common collective insanity. Through dance, trance, sounds and songs, overt or silent, grievances are burned away and turned into prayer. This is the Blessed Way of Passion that leads to the ecstatic presence of the void. Here the Holy Spirit unfolds and we can all sense our loving unity, sharing it with others, and shining it back as we see it in our brothers and sisters.
And, by the grace of God and the Pentecost, this is the trance original essence of the Church.
Gospel in the Stars or Stars in the Gospel? by
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” (Psalms 19:1).
The area of Taurus is considered the richest side of the Milky Way for it contains some of the most noted and popular stars, such as the bright Aldebaran, the eye of the bull, Orion, the most visible constellation, and the Pleiades, the oldest and most admired cluster. The observation of these stars is documented since the dawn of mankind and includes also various biblical references, for instance: “He who made the Pleiades and Orion And changes deep darkness into morning, Who also darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the surface of the earth, The Lord is His name.” (Amos 5:8)
In ancient times the starry firmament constituted the major setting for wisdom and guidance, especially as regards the understanding of God’s will and the mysteries of life. The sky was the current equivalent of scriptures, yet also of libraries, cinema, internet or television. It provided data concerning every aspect of existence, from the most mundane to the most sacred. This is why astrology is considered the oldest source of information, preceding any other method used by mankind to attain knowledge. Yet this does not mean that astrology per se provides knowledge. Similarly to the internet, it merely offers a structure, which can either be used to promote wisdom or ignorance, reality or illusion. This also applies to shamanism, which can be described as the experiential application of astrology and the most ancient operative attitude to pursue knowledge.
With shamanism the seeker establishes a direct connection with the information derived from astrology, verifying on the spot the territory described by the starry map. Astrology offers maps, while shamanism uses them experientially. And again, astrology and shamanism can sponsor wisdom or ignorance, light or darkness, depending on whether the intent of the seeker is based on separation or unity, fear or love. As a result, throughout history, astrology and shamanism have been used in most controversial ways. This is also the case for all religious and spiritual paths, philosophies and thought systems, modern and ancient, all originally stemming from astrology and shamanism, i.e. astroshamanism.
Astroshamanism is a way of acknowledging both the voyager and the map, and yet the way in which the map is used depends on the voyager and it is totally unrelated to the map itself.
In this article I intend to briefly introduce some theories on the Christian associations with astrology, and in particular the conjecture called Gospel in the Stars. The matter is rather complex and I am only treating some of its aspects. For further information you can refer to the links provided in the text and other readings.
According to the theory of the Gospel in the Stars, before written languages became accessible to human beings, the Gospels, and God’s message to mankind, were marked in the sky. Only later, they were translated in words and given form through scriptures. This theory claims that the original meaning of the Gospel, which abided in the visible sky, was then distorted by the Babylonians, probably following the aftermath of the Tower of Babel episode as described in Genesis, and later by other pagan cultures, until the canonical Christian scriptures finally translated it in written form.
This view, although apparently most ancient, was officially formulated in 1863 by Frances Rolleston in Mazzaroth, i.e. the Hebrew word for the 12 signs of the Zodiac, and later by E.W. Bullinger in Witness of the Stars and Joseph Seiss, in Gospel in the Stars. In recent times the theory has been promoted, especially by Dennis James Kennedy, one of the most popular American televangelists, with The Real Meaning of the Zodiac, Thomas Horn in The Gods That Walk Among Us, and other Christian ministers. These authors acknowledge that no matter how far back we go, all cultures have the same signs of the zodiac and sky as the main reference for knowledge. Their core assumption is that the perfect revelation of God was already available in the stars since the beginning and went lost only after the fall, which is also an event described by all cultures. As a result the original revelation was gradually distorted as separation took over. Satan turned people away from the real God by faking the original truth and leading mankind to worshipping the stars and their deities, instead of seeing them as a heavenly map created by God to communicate the truth. The menu became the meal and this set off an age of human spiritual starvation.
Far from championing astrology, most supporters of the above theory condemn it as the work of the devil, together with the New Age and paganism, ancient or recent. The notion is that the stars were given by God to man as a transcription of His revelation, yet ancient people ended up worshipping the stars themselves (i.e. the transcription) and missed the whole point of the revelation. This is why in the Bible there are many injunctions against astrology and no explicit reference to the Gospel in the stars. Once the scriptures became available, the wisdom in the stars was kept secret, in order to avoid misunderstanding and proliferation of idolatry. Due to this a lot of caution is required in retrieving the original message of the stars. Promoters of this theory concur that the biblical scriptures already contain this message, yet they also maintain that the stars may add to this message and in some way make it richer and deeper.
Detractors of the above thesis point out that there is no scriptural evidence to sustain the connection between the stars and the Bible. They accept that before the Bible was produced and also later, when written languages were still not easily accessible, the patriarchs may have used the stars as a vehicle to transmit scriptural information. Yet, they also underline that since this method is much inferior compared to the word, once the Bible was finally revealed, the Gospel in the stars ended its purpose.
In The Gospel and the Zodiac, Bill Darlison, Senior Minister of the
“The zodiac was the ancient picture book, and storybook, of the human race. The shapes perceived there are not the products of arbitrary ‘dot joining’, but represent universal and archetypal symbols of human spiritual awareness which have, over millennia, issued in both mythological and religious forms of expression. So, the story of Perseus is not a ‘corruption’ of the story of Christ’s victory over evil (as Seiss supposed), it is just another expression of the universal longing for redemption which lies behind the Christian myth, too.” (p.46)
Bill Davison sustains that the Gospels (in particular Matthew, Luke and Mark) are the esoteric transcription in Jewish categories of an earlier zodiacal document. He illustrates his view by analyzing the Gospel of Mark, the earliest of the Gospels, whose astrological structure has been known since the dawn of Christianity. This Gospel is divided into sections bearing the characteristics of the twelve zodiac signs and set in their natural order from Aries to Pisces. Its aim is to lead the seeker on an initiatory path of self-transformation based on the cycle of the zodiac, which basically follows the same structure of astroshamanic training. The sections are given in the paragraph below:
ARIES 1:1-3:35 (baptism of Jesus, beginning of ministry, sense of urgency, daring defiance) TAURUS 4:1-4:4 (parable of growth, agricultural imagery). GEMINI
Classic philological studies describe the ancient cosmogony of the creation of the Primal Man, as a microcosm of the universe. This most vital and widespread myth first used the astrological language in order to be communicated. The human body was then regarded, similarly to the Primal Man’s, as made of the elements of the starry sky. This understanding continued also in medieval times and was regularly documented in early Christian texts, as for example in the Liber Divinorum Operum by Hildegard of Bingen.
Many scholars in the course of history have provided much evidence that Christianity is in essence an astrotheology (click here for further details) or that, as Thomas Paine put it, “the Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the sun, in which they put a man called Christ in place of the sun, and pay him the adoration originally payed to the sun". Yet Bill Davison’s aim, far from debunking Christianity, is to emphasize its true mystery and vital dynamic character.
For Bill Darlison, the Gospel is written in an astrological code, which once deciphered radically transforms the understanding of the original nature and function of the scriptures. In his view, as also the Gnostics concur, the Gospel is an allegory of the cycle of the Sun from its birth in Aries to its death in Pisces, symbolically reflecting the path of the initiate towards liberation. Hence “the attempt to establish historical credentials for the Jesus story came some time after the story itself originated in the fertile imagination of some esoteric group, whose poetic account of the spiritual journey was transformed into history by people who had either misunderstood the story, or who were motivated by more cynically pragmatic political or ecclesiastical considerations.” (p. 8).
The thesis that the Gospel is a mythical and esoteric account, rather than a historical narrative, does not discount the Christian message. On the contrary it liberates it from the awkwardness of having to defend the historical authenticity of incidents which Davison considers very unlikely. Although Christianity thrives on the peaks of spirituality achieved by its mystics and their awareness of the original esoteric message, as the author quoting Aldous Huxley points out, it has never been “liberated from its servitude to historical fact” and has “remained a religion in which the pure Perennial Philosophy has been overlaid. Now more, now less, by an idolatrous preoccupation with events and things in time – events and things regarded not merely as useful means, but as ends intrinsically sacred and indeed divine.” As a result those who are not concerned with the historical elements and view the story of Jesus in its inner essence still continue to be ostracised by the Christian orthodoxy.
In his book Darlison explores the twelve zodiac signs from an esoteric Christian perspective and according to the Gospel of Mark, extrapolating the spiritual lessons for each sign. As regards Taurus, which in Mark includes the brief section from 4:1 to 4:4, the opening parable is the story of the farmer in Mark 4:3-9 who sows his seed.
“Some fell along the path, and the birds came and eat it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
The above exemplifies the necessity of using the “Taurean virtues of endurance and stability, in addition to the Arien ones of enthusiasm and vigour… This is a warning that the spiritual impulse alone is not enough. The desire may be sown in the heart, but without adequate nurture it will easily be destroyed… The spiritual life requires perseverance and tenacity, the two most striking Taurean qualities.” On the other hand, what jeopardises the expression of these qualities is the shadow side of Taurus, i.e. the conformity with the world and its separated values, its possessiveness and attachment to the material world. These are the thorns that choke the seed, or in other Mark’s Gospel words, “the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” (Mark
Mind the Gap: Findhorn Foundation Training in Astroshamanism by
This two-week training was held for the 6th time at the Findhorn Foundation, as always in the months of February/March, the time of Pisces, which represents a time of heightened spiritual awareness and the time of completion of the zodiacal cycle, the preparation for facing the gap that allows to move to a higher level with the beginning of the new cycle starting on the Spring Equinox (see also Franco's and Celia's articles in last month's PAN).
I have been involved in this training four times in various roles and have seen it changing and evolving within an underlying structure that is defined by an exploration of the vertical axis (the connection with the Spirit Guide/God, entitlement in this connection, the three worlds) in week one and of the horizontal level (the twelve zodiacal sign as a representation of our fragmented parts) in week two in an approach that combines teaching input with a lot of space for experiential exploration, expression, individual and group practice. All this in response to and interaction with the elements and the physical environment:
Lots of miracles and synchronicities were noticed throughout these two weeks that may appear as signs of how much flow and alignment were present in this time. Before the official start of the programme Franco and I attuned together in Cluny Sanctuary and he said the rosary with a special emphasis on the Hail Mary, part of his current practice. When preparing for reception on Saturday morning I left the room to get some music. Coming back, I heard an Ave Maria which another focaliser with no connection to this workshop had put on in the meantime. The Hail Mary, the experience of the Divine Feminine also in other aspects, became quite a powerful part of their healing for some participants throughout the workshop, which made us decide to choose a nearby Benedictine monastery as the destination for our second outing. For some it was an immediately empowering experience, for others a confrontation with wounds that may still want to be explored and healed.
For reception group members arrived more or less all at the same time, starting a bonding process that became deep, loving and supportive for these two weeks and beyond, allowing a lot of emotional security and respect for each other that enabled people to be themselves and go deep in their work.
In the opening session, when introducing the scope and background of astroshamanism, Franco spoke of the gap between "astro" and "shamanism", which allows the third to enter. This "third" may find its form depending on the individual's spiritual path. Here it was accompanied by an invitation to go back to the roots, to honour established spiritual traditions and to develop and commit to a regular practice.
As we went on with our experiential work, a participant introduced the term "judgement gap", referring to the gap between understanding and experience, where our conditioned mental system can easily block an opening that our system feels ready for on other levels.
The sound system persisted in creating gaps of its own...
Gaps reappeared, as empty spaces into which awareness or light can enter, actively invited or received in openness and surrender as we explored the form and the formless, the male and the female polarity, silence and sound, the vertical and the horizontal, the inner and the outer, shamanic practices and practices taken from other traditions.
Morning practice sessions offered a framework through chants and body prayer and a deepening of themes through the body, movement, creative expression and sacred art.
Personally I was once again struck by how themes that appear when working with other dimensions seem to sink into the less conscious levels and reappear, sometimes after years, when we tap into a similar frequency and when the time is ripe to do further work or receive further insights. This happened to me when positioning and journeying in the sign of "Cancer". I had a deeply healing experience in a non-ordinary environment I had first visited five years ago.
During another session I suddenly heard Franco playing a song with words from a poem that had a lot of significance in my life, a view of the nature of life I feel very close to and a line that the singer (a Benedictine monk) emphasizes over and over again: "Only music keeps us here." which resonated strongly with the turning point of a crisis I had experienced about twenty years go. Since the song also touched other people's hearts, I would like to finish this brief and very incomplete overview of two weeks of intense learning and healing with the words by Wendell Berry.
Circle Song by Cyprian Consiglio, (from a poem by Wendell Berry)
Within the circles of our lives / we dance the circles of the years, the circles of the seasons / within the circles of the years, the cycles of the moon / within the circles of the seasons, the circles of our reasons /
within the cycles of the moon. Again, again we come and go, changed, changing. Hands join, join in love and fear, grief and joy. The circles turn, each giving into each, into all. Only music keeps us here, each by all the others held. In the hold of hands and eyes we turn in pairs, that joining joining each to all again.
And then we turn aside, alone, out of the sunlight gone into the darker circles of return. Again, again we come and go, changed, changing. Hands join, join in love and fear, grief and joy. The circles turn, each giving into each, into all. Only music keeps us here, only music keeps us here…
The Hierophant, or Pope (Taurus): An Astroshamanic Voyage into the Tarot by
The Tarot is a set of cards consisting of an additional suit of 22 trumps (Major Arcana), and one extra face card per suit besides the number of ordinary playing cards. The Major Arcana are archetypal forces that exist in the consciousness of all human beings, although they tend to be projected on prominent people, authorities and also ordinary folks we meet in our personal life. They represent the original matrix from which all our human perception comes. Each character in the Major Arcana is a specific aspect of our Core Multidimensional Identity, as it appears from the limited perspective of our separated reality. In astroshamanism they are called Totem Spirits, or Paheka, and function as the keepers of the fragmented parts of the soul that the seeker retrieves during his healing journey. Thus, astroshamanic work involves establishing a connection with each Totem Spirit and, through the assistance of the Spirit Guide, acknowledging, recovering and integrating their qualities. The Tarot offers a version of this healing path of retrieval and unification. Its purpose is firstly to isolate the fragmented parts so that we can see them in their essential form, and secondly to assist us to mend these core fragments and guide us bit by bit until they are brought to their original unity.
As I continue this series on the Major Arcana (started with The Emperor in PAN 78) I wish to stress that its function is to present the theme so as to encourage a direct relationship with the spirit essence of each of the 22 archetypes. Only through direct experience it is possible to get understanding of the nature of these cards. The information provided below is merely a taster and the invitation is to get the complete meal. If you would like to receive more details on the Totem Spirits and how to contact them, please refer to Astroshamanism Book One and Book Two.
The Hierophant, or Pope, is the Major Arcana traditionally associated with the Totem Spirit of Taurus.[vii] Hierophant (from the Greek hiera, “holy objects” and phantes, “one who shows”), literally meaning “one who shows holy things”, was the title given to the most important priests of the Eleusinian mysteries, based on the worship of Demeter. The Hierophant was the only one who could touch and show the sacred tools of the goddess, while bathed in mystic light and pronouncing esoteric words. The revelation of these sacred objects was part of the secret process of initiation, and their nature has remained unknown. Since Demeter was the goddess of wheat, most scholars believe that the initiatory ceremony involved the unveiling of the ears of grain, the deity’s gift to mankind.
The sacred emphasis on grain later continued with Christianity through the Holy Bread, Jesus’ most prominent gift. The Hierophant then became the Pope, which is also the term originally used in earlier tarot cards to designate the Hierophant.
In the Rider Waite Tarot the Hierophant is portrayed as a solemn figure wearing the Triple Crown (Papal Tiara) and holding a long triple cross sceptre in his left hand, while dispensing the act of benediction with his right hand. He is seated between two pillars, with two crossed keys (the emblem of the papacy) at his feet and two priests kneeling before him. A.E. Waite describes this trump as the ruling power of external religion, the sum of all theologies “when it has passed into the utmost rigidity of expression.” Yet, it also represents initiation into a secret order or mystery school, which is a meaning vividly embodied by the Alesteir Crowley’s deck, where the Hierophant is charged with intensive esoteric symbolism. He sits on a bull surrounded by elephants and the four Cherubim, the rulers of the fixed astrological signs, also associated with the four evangelists. In his heart area there is a pentagram with a naked male child within, while he wears a conic crown. He also holds a wand surmounted by three rings with his right hand and makes the V sign with the fingers of his left hand.
The anonymous author of Meditations on the Tarot identifies the central theme of the card in the act of benediction. He describes this act as an essentially sacerdotal act, a descending divine power that transcends the individual consciousness of both the one who pronounces the blessing and the one who is blessed. Here the blessing is the descending process of a double vertical movement, whose ascending counterpart is prayer
Prayer rises towards God, and once it reaches its destination is divinely transformed into a benediction descending from above. Prayer involves whatever we vertically and humanly express through our mind, will and heart. It comprises the definition of our intention, the request of connecting with Spirit, acts of will, hope and faith, as well as all our efforts and release in this respect, including sufferance, sorrow, pain and ultimately forgiveness. Benediction comes as a gift emanating from God, and the multidimensional realms, and provides grace, illumination, peace, love, consolation or whatever is appropriate to the type of prayer involved. It is unconditional and requires only the availability to receive it.
Just as there is a vertical axis, related with multidimensional or divine communication, and a horizontal axis, concerned with human or third-dimensional interactions, there are also two types of breathing: vertical and horizontal respiration. Vertical respiration pertains to our inner life and is based upon the alternation of prayer and benediction. The law of vertical respiration, as the above author puts it, is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.” (Matthew 22:37). Horizontal respiration comprises our ordinary breathing, the way we physically interact with our environment, as well as all our relationships - emotional, mental or spiritual - in this world. At a subtle level horizontal respiration is based on the alternation between attention given to external life and inner life. The law of horizontal respiration is "Love your neighbour as yourself." (Mark
The basic teaching of the Pope concerns spiritual respiration. Horizontal respiration “takes place between ‘outside’ and ‘inside’, and vertical respiration takes place between ‘above’ and ‘below’. The ‘sting of death’ or the essential crisis of the supreme agony is the abrupt passage from horizontal to vertical respiration. Yet he who has learnt vertical respiration whilst living will be spared from the ‘sting of death’. For him the passage from the one form of respiration to the other will not be of the nature of a right angle but rather the arc of a circle. The transition will not be abrupt but gradual, and curved instead of rectangular.” (p. 100). Please see images below. Hence when vertical respiration is learned in our horizontal life, once death (the transition from horizontal to vertical) occurs it will lose its sting.
The sting of death refers to the pain brought by death both to the person involved with it and those left behind to grieve. Traditionally it also relates to the torment that death brings to those who “die in mortal sin”. Horizontally mortal sin is generally identified as one of the grave deeds listed in the canons of a given religion, such as adultery, fornication, witchcraft, heresy, murder, etc. Yet at a vertical level, sin is merely the mad illusion of separation. “Sin is insanity. It is the means by which the mind is driven mad, and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth. And being mad, it sees illusions where the truth should be, and where it really is.[…] A madman’s dreams are frightening, and sin appears to terrify. And yet what sin perceives is but a childish game. The Son of God may play he has become a body, prey to evil and to guilt, with but a little life that ends in death. But all the while his Father shines on him, and loves him with an everlasting Love which his pretences cannot change at all.” (ACIM, W-pII.4.1:1-3; 4:1-4) As such the sting of death affects those who identify themselves with their separated self, and the body representing such a self, which is the only bit that truly dies. As Paul writes: “O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 15: 55-57)
The shift between horizontal and vertical is a multidimensional crossroad that we meet regularly on our path, and not only with physical death. It is a point of balance exemplifying the necessity to move beyond our limited perception. Whenever things become very hard and blocked, when we continue to bump into a wall and there is no way out, these are signs that we have reached the right angle. We want to move forward on the horizontal level, and yet we cannot do it because there is a vertical line that obstructs the passage. The more we hit this line, the more it hurts and destroys us. It does not occur to us that this right angle can become a curve if we elect to move vertically. At a certain stage the horizontal path is blocked and this implies shifting our attention to another level, the realm of our multidimensional self and God. And also in this higher level we may have to shift our motion this time from vertical to horizontal, when we do again meet another right angle.
The Papal Cross, which the Hierophant gently holds in his left hand, is characterised by three horizontal bars close to the top, in decreasing order of length as they approach the top. These three bars are associated with several elements, such as the Trinity, the Pope’s triple role as leader of worship, teacher and community, the three crosses on
In astroshamanic terms the Basic Ritual of the Sacred Cone is an exemplification of the Papal Cross. The first and second stages of the Ritual represent prayer, as we express it in our separated reality based on polarities and opposition. Hence we pray through the expression of our luminous intention and invocation of Spirit (first stage), as well as through releasing grievances and forgiveness (second stage). The third stage of the Ritual is the stage of benediction, where we become receptive to the blessing that descends from above.
With reference to the bars of the cross, the first stage is the long middle bar, which relates to our conscious awareness and intention, our will to contact God and forgive. This is where we start from. Then, with the second stage, we descend into the long lower bar and become aware of our unconscious and hidden or disowned grievances, which are then elevated to the long middle bar, the heart or conscious centre of forgiveness, and are released through ascension to the short higher bar. In the third stage the energy, having reached the top bar lays there as compost for transformation into blessing. This final bar is crucial as it functions as a sort of compost bin, which transforms grievances into fertiliser for the blessing that descends from the apex of the cross. Once fertilisation occurs, benediction moves downward through the vertical axis and reaches the middle and lower bars, reunifying the horizontal to the vertical. On each of the three stages or bars the energy risks to be blocked if it gets stuck on the horizontal level and does not find its way through the vertical. The function of the Pope is to make sure that the movement of the triple cross flows and benediction is assured.
In all spiritual and shamanic traditions there are constant references to the above process. For example, in today’s mass reading (on Maundy Thursday, i.e. the day I am writing this article), from John 13:1-15, we can see an exemplification of benediction, when at the last supper Jesus kneels and washes the disciples’ feet. “Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, and he got up from table” The Father here represents the higher bar, or head, whose blessing descends into Jesus’ hands, corresponding to the middle bar. Then Jesus moves the blessing into the lower bar (feet) when he “poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing.”
It is interesting to notice that Peter (the one who will deny him three times and that after repentance will become the first pope) objects to Jesus stooping down to wash his feet. “Jesus answered, ‘At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand’. ‘Never!’ said Peter ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me’. ‘Then, Lord,’ said Simon Peter ‘not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!’ Jesus said, ‘No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are.’ He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, ‘though not all of you are’“ When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. ‘Do you understand’ he said ‘what I have done to you? You call me Master and Lord, and rightly; so I am. If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.
The above is one of the most powerful exemplifications of the Pope, as Major Arcana, and of forgiveness. Its meaning is overt, as well as subtle. I will not comment on it, yet I leave it open to you, my friends, to give feedback. Actually my invitation here is to employ the Ignatian method of prayer, which is one of the most shamanic Catholic spiritual exercises. This method, devised by St Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, involves the participation of all our physical sense and is typically Taurus in nature. The practice entails using active imagination and placing oneself in a Biblical scene, and then totally engaging in a direct experience. It works exactly as an astroshamanic journey. Here we take the episode of the last supper, and move in that environment as a participant, noticing what we see, hear, smell and feel, including the touch of Jesus’ hands on your feet. You can identify yourself with one of the apostles or whoever is there, and even Jesus himself. You can also bring anyone you wish to be into the company of Jesus, so that they may partake of his blessing.
The last supper is particularly ideal for Taurus because is an event in which the physical body plays a major role. Despite the foot washing, there is also the act of having a meal, as well as the Eucharist,[viii] eating bread and drinking wine, which all involve using the Taurus-ruled mouth to take in food and liquids. Please send comments or a brief account of your experience following this practice.
In this article I have made various references to Peter also because in
According to the scriptures Peter was also the only apostle that was married. It is likely that also the other apostles, except John, were married when chosen by Jesus, yet Peter is the only apostle whose marriage is given for certain in the New Testament through references to his wife’s mother (Matthew 8:14-15; Mark 1:30-31). Some authors sustain that the Christ deliberately chose him to head the Church knowing that he was married. Although he left his wife to follow Jesus for about three years, he returned to her after the Christ’s death. According to various accounts Peter brought his wife with him to
The Pope stands as the guardian of vertical respiration, alternating prayers and blessings, human efforts and divine grace. As such, he is the visible representative of the vertical axis, strenuously operating as a link between man and God. The Tarot was devised before the Reformation, when the Pope was regarded as the supreme authority on earth, with the power to represent God and also to grant authority on emperors. Being the fifth Major Arcana, his numerical association is five, the centre of will holding the four elements which grant mastery of the horizontal level and the capacity to operate as intermediary between the two axes. Five also relates to the pentagram and the five senses.
According to the unknown author there is an evil pentagram (the human will separated from the unity and God) and a sacred one (the human will united with God’s will) and, as for the five senses they are seen as five open wounds, or stigmata, through which the limited perception of the objective world imposes itself on us.
The Pope is the guardian of the sacred pentagram and the five wounds. His function is to ensure that spiritual respiration takes place and that there are always people who breath accordingly, while also embracing the three traditional vows of obedience, poverty and chastity. “Obedience is the practice of silencing personal desires, emotions and imagination in the face of reason and conscience; it is the primacy of the ideal as opposed to the apparent, the nation as opposed to the personal, humanity as opposed to the nation, and God as opposed to humanity. […] Poverty is the practice of inner emptiness, which is established as a consequence of the silence of personal desires, emotions and imagination so that the soul is capable of receiving from above the revelation of the word, the life and the light. […]” Chastity is “the state of the human being in which the heart, having become solar, is the centre of gravity” and “does not concern solely the domain of sex. It bears equally on all other domains where there is choice between solar law and dulling intoxications”, including all forms of fanaticism. The above is discussed in full details in Meditations on the Tarot, and we are not going to treat it further here.
The association of the Pope with the sensual and down-to-earth Taurus may appear out of place here. Yet the Pope’s function is to ground the spiritual on the physical level, to operate in persona Christi (as the physical representation of Christ) and for this purpose he needs to firmly dwell on the earthy realm. The solidity of the Church, with all its cathedrals, monastery and monuments, as well as its primary sacrament of the Eucharist based on bread and wine, are all tangible aspects in our reality. The only flaw is that, similarly to Taurus, while at its best he can be comforting, patient and sensible, he can become inflexible and fundamentalist at its worst.
This card is usually not a popular one among most New Age tarot readers because it evokes all the rigid clichés attributed to the Pope and the Catholic Church. Yet if we are open to move past our prejudices the Pope-Hierophant emerges as a wise teacher, a close friend who is only there to help and assist us once we face the right angle, the critical threshold between the horizontal and the vertical. “He is the leader of salvation for the human race at large. He is the order and head of the recognized hierarchy, which is the reflection of another and greater hierarchic order." (A.E.Waite, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot).
THE ASTROSHAMANIC
POETS’ CORNER
Stillness by David Mountjoy
And I said unto myself, inside, be still.
For in the calmness of mind,
A wind shall blow
And rain clouds shall gather,
Fine beyond the horizon
Whose fluttering flag is calleth Understanding.
And in its silent wake,
A stranger called Peace
Drew near the open fire,
That warmeth the many roomed house
And said unto the flames:
“How bright thee flicker in the dark,
Whose shadows fall ill to resist,
The music of your love.”
And in response,
Such luminous dancers
Threw open their heart
In the joy of untainted release,
And wept a song of shameless praise.
No words escaped their burning lips,
To rise as thieves
To steal the sun,
Who ripens the fruit,
In splendid groves of ancient repute,
Whose only intention is love.
As they murmur unto themselves.
I Am Divine by Roland Mann
A Moan, from my body to my Higher Self
Whilst scrubbing beneath a boat on a winter's night
"I am divine and undivided
Neither mind nor body."
So you say, but frankly that
Makes me feel fairly shoddy.
"I am not my body"
You again begin.
But hang on, if you're undivided
Where do I fit in?
Lying here beneath this bilge
It's cold and dark and damp
There's not much luminosity
From this old paraffin lamp
I've seaweed slime and antifoul
Upon my hands and face,
My hair is full of barnacles -
Is this what you call 'grace'?
The further off you go towards
That ideal state of God
The more it seems to me
I lie forgotten in the mud.
Yet locked up in this frail box
Of flesh and blood and bone
Is a quite amazing mystery -
It's yours, you know, to own.
So how about it, take a break mate
Leave that pinnacle high,
And get to know the scene
With this old grubby human guy!
Why use words when a kiss says it all?
If you have survived reading this elongated PAN, the above title may be a most natural interrogative outcome…
Last night, after perhaps 30 years, I ate one of those wee luscious chocolates, with rounded and irregular shape, filled with hazelnut and gianduja, wrapped in an elegant silver and blue packaging, including a romantic love note…. Well, I am trying to avoid advertising… Yet, given the personal rate of consumption and the assurance that it will not change (although I may appreciate love notes, I definitely dislike chocolate and abhor sugar), I trust it is rightful to disclose that it was a Bacio Perugina, a fabled product of the Italian chocolate industry.
Bacio, as most of you probably know, is the Italian for “kiss”. Here it is interesting to notice that the original name given to the Bacio was Cazzotto, meaning “punch” or “sock”. This was due to the fact that, when it was first produced, its shape was initially associated with a fist, with the main knuckle being the protruding hazelnut. Later, since this name did not appear much welcoming[ix] for a gourmet chocolate gift, it was changed into Bacio. And this is just another example of how punches can be transformed into kisses, grievances in love, etc.
The legend also says that these chocolates were created by Luisa Spagnoli (wife of one of the founders of Perugina and also a most prominent business woman in the early 20th century) to honour her young lover, to whom it was alleged she used to send love messages hidden in the chocolate. This is why a major feature of this product is the attached romantic note. The current packaging is still the original of the early 20s, which was inspired by the Kiss, a painting by Francesco Hayez (see picture).
Well, in the euphoria of these references, upon which I am tempted to indulge even further, I have almost forgotten why I started to write all this. Yes, I simply want to share with you the message I found in the chocolate, which reads:
“Why use words when a kiss says it all?”
This was a most enlightened and unpredicted guidance, upon which I am still pondering. And, as I get ready to send out yet another lengthy issue, the allusion to PAN is obvious and inevitable. “Why use PAN when a kiss says it all?” is the legitimate question, with the, as obvious and inevitable, answer being that “PAN is indeed one of such kisses” or, I would rather say that it makes sense to use it “as long as PAN keeps being one of such kisses.” Here, I have better stop, or else I get other questions and answers, legitimate and also illicit.
All this kissing reminds me of the final scene in Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (whose initial title was actually Baci rubati, “stolen kisses”), which I saw a few days ago. After two hours and a half, in the closing scene, the protagonist receives an unexpected gift: a film reel made up out of clips cut by his projectionist friend from the original version of old movies. These movies were shown in a cinema owned by a local priest, whose censorship the projectionist had to appease by editing out all the film kisses. Please click here to see the scene with all the forbidden kisses.
I would like to mention two other movies I recently saw: The Song of Bernadette and The Agony and the Ecstasy, which were also major sources of inspiration and further kisses, though through apparently different forms.
Kisses, Franco
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[1] As a matter of fact, in the Jewish equivalent of Pentecost (Shavuot), it is customary to eat dairy food and there are also special Shavuot recipes on this occasion. On the Christian front all I found after strenuous researches in the internet is only one reference (click here) with details on Holy Spirit cookies, 12 fruit salad and red hot jello.
[2] The phrase “roaring of a mighty windstorm” is the literal translation of the Hebrew word ruah, meaning “spirit of God”, or in astroshamanic idiom, with the term Ruha, “spirit of Fire”.
[4] Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity, p. 189-190.
[vii] There are currently several systems of correspondences of the Major Arcana to zodiac signs and planets. In these articles I strategically employ the model of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. I adopt this system because it is the most popular in the western culture. This does not necessarily mean that it is the best. For a similar reason in astrology I employ the tropical zodiac instead of the sidereal zodiac, and I refer to Christianity rather than other religions. Likewise I write PAN in English, and not in Sanskrit or Latin, although there are editions of PAN in Italian and Spanish. Hence PAN is also open to other models. Yet rather then focusing on finding the right model or language, the aim is to use the existing models to do what, as I healingly see it, is needed.
[viii] The Eucharist is one of the major enactments of the act of benediction, and also canonically develops according to the process of the triple cross. Since due to lack of space it is not possible to refer here to this liturgy, I invite you to attend a mass or read the description of the various stages of this sacrament, also as a way of deepening your understanding of the Pope.
[ix] To an Italian the term cazzotto, besides meaning “punch”, may also sound as a diminutive of the taboo word used to address the male genital organ.
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