The Source

The Tools of Mysticism Series : IV

In mysticism the image of a python swallowing its own tail is a significant one. It refers to the experience of living the life and coming again to the beginning of time … and thereafter to start again. The image is engaged to illustrate the continuity of experience of the universe … where we reach the apocalypse and then creation begins anew. This may have another application for the human mind.

In a lifetime lived from cradle to an old age, a person comes to the intimation of many things. Foremost among these is the reflection on birth, the many influences we encountered and the progression of our experiences. We find in that view the basis of our actions … our identity as an individual and the personality that we relied upon as our own.

But where did it all begin? In the gamut of all the passions and mind that we see, we notice an entity that mysticism refers to as the Hierophant. It feels like a sacred object with a bearing that is disposed to the precociousness of an English schoolboy.

The lessons of the Hierophant are simply this … that life began as a design and thereafter came to be lived in. We find in our historical perspectives of mankind that we did just that … lived our lives like a dream and thereafter come back to a conscious understanding of its physical reality. It does bring us back to the start … and for a moment we are lost as to what to do next … and then it begins anew … just like before but engaging our mind in its study.

As in heaven so on earth … as in our passions so in our minds. Indic writings refer to the study as Atma Nyana or knowledge of the soul. In other writings they refer to it as the great mother and no doubt the women have had the first initiative to bring the understanding of these matters to mankind. One is reminded of the Venus of Willendorf as one of the earliest figurines to depict the object of divinity.

I'm being intimated to say that the continuation of the study into the phenomenon takes a step up into the world of academia, science, meditation and the practice of yogic principles. This has brought about an inexplicable and combative condition in the relationship between genders. But the solution is often a surprising one … the Hierophant is also the adonais in time … and his genius for problem solving is quite incredible.