Healing Tones

THE TWO CIRCLES forming the Vesica Pisces can also be seen to represent the inner world of spirit and Divine consciousness and the outer world of form and human consciousness. These two worlds, or realms, are connected in human consciousness where they overlap, the one being the realm of darkness and void and the other being the realm of light and manifest form.  In other words, the realm of creator and the realm of creation, which are inseparably one.

Diana Durham writes: “Thus the vesica symbolizes both the deep feminine, the source of creation, and the place of connection between spirit and form, heaven and earth.” Durham continues:

What other symbol has such connotations?  The Grail chalice itself: the feminine form and vessel of the chalice or cup, whose shape clearly echoes that of the womb and whose appearance in the Grail Castle signifies the beginning connection with the Grail King energy of the inner realms. . . .

The womb contains both menstrual blood or the newly forming baby.  Both blood and baby are symbols of life. . . .  The cup of the Eucharist holds wine, the symbol of Christ’s blood and a symbol of life.  So something is held in, or issues out of, the Grail that is life-giving. . . .

Perhaps the most central meaning of both aspects of the Grail is given here in this beautiful and simple passage from the Psalm 23: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”  The heart is full to overflowing with the presence of love, irrespective of outer circumstance—“in the presence of mine enemies.” The heart that is open to the presence of the heavenly king energy, in other words the experience of union—connection—with the divine source: this is what finding the Grail symbolizes in the Grail quest.  The container is the heart, and that which is contained within it, the life-giving substance, is the substance of love.

If the two circles of the vesica pisces symbol represents the inner and outer, the spiritual and material worlds, and the vesica shape is the place where the two connect, then finding the Grail also means to find the place of connection between these two worlds and to let them be joined instead of separated.  This place of connection symbolizes the purified heart realm. (The Return of King Arthur, pp .67-69)

Sharing in Sacred Sex, two lovers are connected with the sovereign energy of the King and Queen bringing with it the experience of ecstatic union with the Divine.  In order to enter this state, both must be conversant with the secrets of sacred alchemy . . . that, when allowed to work in their lives and in their “lovemaking,” bring a natural awareness of design and control inherent in the truth of sacred sex. 

That control is found to work particularly within the male who withholds his ejaculation so as to provide a radiant positive pole in his erection for the negative response of his receptive female partner as she opens her vesica to receive his love.  They must also be open in their hearts to love and be willing to go through a process of purification, for it is through the heart that one accesses the secrets of the sacred alchemy of the “deep feminine.”  

For that alchemy to be actualized there needs to be an arc of love between the two lovers. With the charge produced by this arc, the One Law we considered earlier in our meditation on the Pituitary Gland and the Creative Process (positive action—negative response—attraction—union—unified radiation), which is the power that creates and renews the world, is engaged.  

(In order to fully grasp and appreciate this symbolism, it would be most helpful and really necessary to read Diana’s book in its entirety.  In her chapter “The Dance” she shows in a most wonderful and understandable way how the dance between the masculine and the feminine works to create the arc of creative juice that renews the world.)

Divine Alchemy

Constraints imposed by the Church in the early centuries of the Christian Era, pushed the practice of alchemy underground.  The erotic roots of alchemy have apparently been shrouded by the pseudo-alchemical process of changing baser metals into gold, which was employed as a smoke screen to keep the real ritual of alchemy occult. The true alchemy occurred during sacred sex and was of divine origin, its purpose being to transmute human flesh, symbolized by lower metals, into the substance of love, symbolized by gold, thereby spiritualizing flesh.  An ancient rite of the anointing of the “sacred king” was based on the idea that the true priest or king received his divine power through the high priestess, without whom he was nothing.

Alchemy can be found in Egyptian religious practices as far back as the early centuries of the Christian Era and this knowledge was procured by the goddess Isis herself, who, according to the story in one treatise, “obtained the secrets of alchemy from an ‘angel and prophet’ through her feminine wiles.” (The Templar Revelation, Chapter 7, “Sex: The Ultimate Sacrament”)

Here in the West, outside of the intimate worlds of individual couples who have explored this “taboo,” we do not share  a consciousness of the sacred in our sexuality, much less a common knowledge of the alchemy produced through sacred sex.  It certainly is not included in our religious upbringing as a sacred part of us, much less a sacred ritual.  It is rather looked upon with much shame and guilt.  The authors of The Templar Revelation point out that this ritual was more about a couple becoming gods than about erotic sex.  First the high priestess becomes the goddess and then endows the man with divinity through the alchemy of her sexuality.  Through their union, their shared world was infused with “a regenerative balm,” as were they. . . .  The priestess’ body became a virtual “gateway to the gods” as the goddess/priestess united with the god/priest in a marriage rite that served the purpose of procreation as well as a way by which she bestowed wisdom on man.  The anointing of Jesus by Mary of Bethany, who was a priestess, was such a pagan ritual.     (Ibid, pp. 257-258)

Jesus is usually thought of in Christendom as having been celibate, and there seem to be as many arguments that support this idea as there are that prove its fallacy.   Without entering into the debate, I would simply suggest that Jesus had a sweetheart, and she was Mary of Bethany, which Picknett and Prince believe is one and the same as Mary Magdalene.

According to Elaine Pagels, author of The Gnostic Gospels. . . , while the other disciples despised her for her intimate relationship with the Master, Jesus honored Mary of Bethany with the title of “Apostle of Apostles.”  One text says “she spoke as a woman who knew the All.” She was raised by the Master above all the other disciples and declared by him to be the futuristic ruler of the “Kingdom of Light.”   He also called her “Mary Lucifer” and “Mary the Light-bringer.” As the texts portray the relationship between Jesus and Mary, he so loved her that there was nothing he could refuse her, including her request to raise up her brother Lazarus from the dead, which he did strictly out of love for her. This respectful treatment of her and loving regard by Jesus was not a small thing as it emphasized a basic shift needed at a core level of human consciousness during a period of history when women were still looked down upon as not being worthy even of life.

With this account of the quality of substance between them, the marriage feast at Cana could well have been their own wedding feast.  I have no problem with that, and there is ample evidence to support this scenario.   Why would the Master Jesus have circumvented this pivotal and most powerful aspect of our humanity whereby we experience the pleasure of union with our Creator and with one another in the physical plane of Being ?

The piece I wish to articulate here relates to the fact that this area of sexual function has long been hidden in the dark corners of human consciousness amid the rubble of the ancient residue of past failures on the part of Man, male and female, to come clean before the Lord of Creation, naked and unashamed of who we are.  Sexuality’s redemption and return to sanctity seems long overdue and, in the experience of many, is well underway. ♦                                              _____________________________________________________________________________    

I hope you have enjoyed this blog series as much as I have enjoyed sharing from my book SACRED ANATOMY.   I will now rest for a season until I am prompted from within to put hand to keyboard.  Wishing you happiness and joy until next we meet. —Anthony