OCCULT VIEW

I’ve scanned some pages (above) from an old occult catalog.  Nowadays everything is sold online, and quaint catalogs like this are pretty much part of the past.  I don’t think the company that published this still exists.  Yet, I get a kick out of checking out the different offerings from the past.  These pages contain a mixture of cool stuff and some silly stuff.

I wonder…does anybody collect vintage occult items?  I love collecting things. But I’ve realized that vintage occult objects are not easy to find.  Not many people are into this topic to begin with, and I don’t think those who are consider acquiring these items as collectables.   I know there is a healthy market for vintage books with occult topics.  Outside of that, what is collectable? 

True antique tarot cards are extremely rare and are not to be found.  Modern mass produced decks are easy to find, but forget finding something made by woodcut.  I know that there are collectors of Ouija talking boards and there are some nice pieces to be found.  But that is as much a part of game collecting as occult collecting.  Here is a great site for talking board collectors:

http://www.museumoftalkingboards.com/gallery.html

Does anyone collect interesting vintage items?  There is not a big market for these items yet, which might make vintage occult artifacts something worth acquiring.  I think this stuff is cool!

The Third Eye

Can spiritual practices alter the structure of our brain?  The answer is yes!  The current issue of Time Magazine has a cover story titled “How Faith Can Heal”.  It has a lot of material to chew on.  I quibble with the article “Biology of Belief” and it’s stance on applying “brain science” in trying to explain why people have religious or spiritual feelings.  Neuroscience has no clue what consciousness is but they sure make a big deal about what parts of the brain are activated by certain thoughts. Do we need brain scans to explain why someone enjoys a game of chess?   Here is the article:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1879016,00.html

What really caught my attention was this passage from the article:
“Pray and meditate enough and some changes in the brain become permanent. Long-term meditators — those with 15 years of practice or more — appear to have thicker frontal lobes than nonmeditators. People who describe themselves as highly spiritual tend to exhibit an asymmetry in the thalamus — a feature that other people can develop after just eight weeks of training in meditation skills.”

We can actually thicken our brain’s frontal lobes by long term meditation.  That is very interesting!  The density of our brain can be altered by such practices, like a muscle getting larger with exercise.  Here is another article to confirm that:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/11/051110215950.htm

When Buddhist monks were tested during deep meditation, monks with years of meditation experience showed dramatically higher gamma wave activity in their brain.  Gamma waves are considered links to consciousness.  What is intriguing from an occult view is that the frontal lobes, along with the pineal gland, are considered the “Third Eye”. 

The Third Eye is a way of describing the area in our brain that is a link between the physical world and the spiritual world. It is associated with clairvoyance, second sight and contact with higher dimensions.  This was thought to be the Pineal Gland at the center of our brain.  But it really is our frontal lobes, the seat of our consciousness.  It is fascinating that science has physical evidence of our Third Eye and how it is modified by spiritual exercises. 
 
If you want to experience your own Third Eye, close your eyes and feel your consciousness…where do you feel you dwell?   In your forehead’s frontal lobes.  Along with meditation, if you want to develop your third eye and its potential, try this as an exercise.  Again close your eyes and imagine you can see with your imagination.  Look at your surroundings with closed eyes but visualize the area with your mind, your third eye.  In time this visualization will become uncanny.  Done regularly this will thicken your frontal lobes!

QUEENS OF HEARTS AND CUPS

The Rider-Waite Tarot is a legendary deck of tarot cards.  They are unique in having symbolic imagery for every card of the deck and not just the major arcana. The minor arcana consist of what is now our standard deck of playing cards, except it has the addition of a Page added to the face cards of King, Queen and Jack/Knight.  The Rider-Waite deck is full of symbolism from mystic A.E. Waite and Pamela Colman Smith.  It can be fun trying to find all the symbolism in the cards, like a game of spot the symbol. 

Tarot Suits

To understand the symbolism in the Rider-Waite deck, we need to understand that each of the four suits of the cards represents one of the four basic occult elements.  The suit of diamonds represents the element Earth, and in the Rider-Waite deck it is symbolized by the Coin.  The diamond/coin symbolizes matters of money, commerce, and property. 

The suit of hearts is the tarot’s Cup, and it symbolizes the element of Water.  Water represents matters of emotion, the heart, and relationships.  The suit of spades represents the element Air, and is shown as the sword in the Rider-Waite deck.  I tend to disagree with this, I think the spade/sword should represent fire, but so be it.  The spade/sword symbolizes conflict, politics, and power.  And finally the suit of clubs is symbolized by a literal wooden club in the Rider-Waite deck, representing the occult element of fire (as in kindling wood).

The first card of the major arcara is the Magician (or Juggler).  It shows the Magician at his working table and laid out before him are the four suits of the minor arcana (and our modern day playing cards).  The Magician seeks to obtain mastery over the four occult elements and thereby all aspects of the human condition.  Notice the magician points upward towards the Heavens/Universe and downward towards the earth, to call down divine power for dominion over the physical world. 
 

Aces and Queen of Cups

Today is Valentine’s Day, so in honor of the holiday lets look at the Rider-Waite Queen of Hearts/Cups.  Can you spot the symbolism in the Queen of Cups?  Now that we understand the Cup symbolizes the element of Water, we can see all the symbols of water in the card.  She sits on a throne at a beach with the water and sand at her feet.  She holds in her hands the elaborate Ace of Cups.  Her robe has the pattern of the ocean’s waves on it.  And most interesting, engraved on her throne are Undines, which in occult theory are the elementals of the water. 

Water Elementals

In occult theory each of the four elements have spirits that exist in those elements.  In water exist the Undines, in earth the Gnomes, in the fire live the Salamanders, and in the air dwell the Sylphs.  These elementals are a big deal in occult theory.   Some say faeries are the same thing as the elementals.   I sort of doubt that.  Elementals are a cornerstone of occult practices and their power is summoned in ceremonial magic.   Faeries are not so cooperative! 

The Rider-Waite face cards have these elementals represented in them. Knowing the Rider-Waite cards are filled with elemental symbolism, it can be fun to search the cards yourself and see if you can spot the symbols.

Elemental Undines

Masonic symbol

Last summer I visited the Yerkes observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.  This is a beautiful 100-year-old observatory full of wonderfully carved ornamentation.  For anyone visiting Wisconsin, and for fans of astrology,  it is worth a visit just for its carvings of the zodiac, the moon and other celestial objects.  What I thought odd was why an observatory, an institution of science, would be covered with the zodiac.  Sure, celestial symbols are appropriate for an observatory, but astrology and astronomy are not exactly brothers-in-arms.   Looking at the carvings made me think the architect might have had other things on his mind.  Viewed from the occult perspective, it was fun to identify the occult symbolism I found there.  A clue might be the Masonic symbols I saw.  That is often a good indictor something else might be going on.    Below are some snapshots of the interesting stonework at the Yerkes Observatory.   Here is a link to their website:   http://astro.uchicago.edu/yerkes/

I am always on the lookout for spiritual or occult symbolism in public.  This symbolism appears nearly nonexistent today.   Maybe a hundred years ago it was different.  Barns would display hex signs.  Masonic symbols were put on tombstones.  Today…nothing at all, or so it seems.   However, if we look closely, we actually can see pagan symbolism is widespread, especially in our holidays.

Today is Groundhog Day.   If we think about it…what a strange holiday.  What is up with that?  Groundhog’s Day comes from the Christian celebration of Candlemas, which was adopted by the church to take the place of the pagan celebration of Imbolc.  This morning I watched live as the groundhog Punxsutaney Phil was taken out, with great fanfare, to see if he’d see his shadow.  Many people were gathered to witness the event, and the press was covering it.   Did anyone realize this was all based on a pagan holiday? 

OCCULT SYMBOLISM