dance of the moon

The waxing and waning of the moon is a brilliant representation of our lives and how it is impacted by the forces that make us who we are. I'm referring to the life force and the soul. These concepts are called the Ka and the Ba in ancient Egyptian metaphysical thinking. The Ka is what animates creation in the physical plane. It is surging red blood that courses through the veins of animals. It is the strength of the powerful bull; this power manifesting in humans as the destructive alpha male. It is also food stuff which sustains us. 

Ka as food offering

To further explain the Ka, I use the concept of a ghost. A life force that sticks around in the material plane after physical death is a ghost. The Ba, the immortal soul, needs the life force in order to be on this journey of becoming. It is a double-edged sword where you need the Ka; however, it also beats up your soul until you master it.

These two different ideas are in the Old Testament as well; however, both are misleadingly translated as soul. They are the Hebrew words nephesh and ruach. The nephesh is the life force and the ruach is the immortal soul. The nephesh is granted by the Lord, YHVH, and is represented roaming the earth in such figures as Cain, Ishmael, Esau, the Pharaoh etc., while the ruach is the domain of the spirits called the Elohim and represented by Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses etc. In the New Testament Jesus played the role of the immortal soul and comes up against Herod the Great, Pontius Pilate, the Jews, and Satan, who are all representing the antagonist of the soul in some degree; the antagonist being the life force.

The moon in its monthly cycle disappears for three days into what seems to be material incarnation or the "waters" prior to reappearing in the night sky. During this time, the light of the moon grows in stature until it is complete as the full moon. It becomes a brilliant transfigured beacon illuminating the darkness of matter. This is wisdom personified as Thoth in ancient Egypt. 

Thoth with Lunar disk

The "Eye of Horus" representing the waxing crescent as the soul, was damaged by the life force, the red beast Set, but is restored by Thoth with the help of other gods and goddesses. 

Eye of Horus

An important lesson taught here is that being able to see does not involve only sight but it needs the experience taught by wisdom. From this point, the moon's monthly cycle continues to perpetually teach with the dismembering once again into fourteen pieces by the beast within us. The vampiric beast needs to feed to satiate its Ka and causes the fall of the moon once again into matter. However, in this lunar cyclical journey of cleansing, the moon as the dismembered soul, Osiris in ancient Egypt, becomes stronger and rises again.

hello, is there anybody in there?

It seems to me that as a culture group we, the west, were totally unprepared to deal with the explosion of psychedelia in the '60's. This despite the fact our ancestors were masters at exploration of these realms. So successful was the methodical persecution, by organized religion and their agents, of these devices to deliver altered states of consciousness that collectively the whole rediscovery experience was akin to discovering a new toy. Without proper guidance, whether that be a priest, shaman, or a respected wise elder, the use of these substances devolved into a mess of societal discord and unfathomable horrors for the ill prepared. As much as the establishment will continually try to suppress and stamp out these modalities of consciousness exploration, this adventurous spirit within us is ingrained and the flame will never be snuffed out. 

Shaman's altar

Just as we inexorably march towards exploration of the vast physical realms of outer space so to will we push to go back into the neglected regions of our psyche, known to the ancients as the netherworld.