The Gnosis of Anima Mundi

The World Soul has agents, those who will heed Her voice and bring forth, synchronistically, knowledge that is important to the world at a particular time in history. Simultaneously, because of the principle of correspondence, this knowledge has corollary relevance for the human Soul.  As above, so below.

The example has already been given in The Acentric Soul of the Brunian Revolution and how it foreshadowed the infinite, acentric, and polytheistic nature of the human Psyche in Analytical and Archetypal Psychology.

I propose that every major scientific breakthrough in the history of the human race has a correlation in the human Soul. We have already seen this truth manifested after the discovery of quantum physics, what with all the discussion concerning how consciousness may be connected to matter at the quantum level. There are many other examples. Did you know that Isaac Newton spent most of his time performing alchemical experiments? He wasn't simply doing physics in the sense that we understand today. Newton was a magician and mystic!

What truths of the Soul remain to be discovered? Surely, they will be corollary truths to what has already been uncovered on the material/scientific level. This is a fertile field for research by Soul spelunkers.

Hillman has discussed, in some of his writings, a long line of those thinkers who based their ideas on Soul. Heraclitus was an early one; also Plato, Plotinus during the Classical period; during the Medieval period, Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, and Julian of Norwich; in the Renaissance, Ficino, Bruno, Pico della Mirandola, and a host of others throughout history, including Jung and Hillman. These thinkers were agents of Anima Mundi. In their ideas and writings, they strove to give birth to truths that would edify World Soul.

The scientific method did not exist at the time of the discovery of fire, but who can deny that fire is an amazingly powerful symbol for Soul? What about the discovery of the wheel? Again, this is another cogent symbol. 

The agents of World Soul are not just scientists, philosophers, and mystics. There are myriad fields where these stewards of Soul are working. What about actors and musicians, film directors, such as David Lynch, David Cronenberg, and Ingmar Bergman? How about writers like Philip K. Dick, Dostoevsky, Kafka, and Camus?

We should remain open to Anima Mundi when She calls, and bring forth that which She has called us to do.

My Last Days in Asheville

As much as I hated it, I had to leave Asheville yesterday to return to our wonderful (euphemism for boring) home. Back here, there are very few really cool people who are in touch with Nature and Soul, unlike Asheville. If you happen to be an inhabitant of that amazing city, I tip my hat to you. You have transformed an old mundane southern city into an incredibly vibrant modern metropolis.

We spent some our remaining time at the Asheville Botanical Gardens, which was very cool. I took many more pictures to add to my Appalachian nature collection. For lunch, we ate at a decent Mexican restaurant called Papa's and Beer. I sampled the table-side guacamole. It was probably the best I've ever had. Instead of salsa, they serve hot chips with warm bean dip. We liked this place a lot. Why are the best restaurants away from home?

I must also thank Marshall and Tracie Manche for making our lodging so trouble-free and accommodating. They are the kind proprietors of Asheville Cottages. This is the second time we've stayed there; both times were excellent.


This photo of Asheville Cottages is courtesy of TripAdvisor

There are many artists living in Asheville, breathing the clean air and pumping lots of Soul into their work. We spent a lot of time at Woolworth Walk, which is the largest local artist gallery in the city. Lots of creativity is concentrated in this restored Woolworth's building, complete with an old fashioned soda fountain.

I had read a lot of good things about Asheville's Tupelo Honey Cafe, so we headed there for dinner that night. It was a difficult choice, but I ended up ordering Chef Brian's Shrimp and Grits. Wow! Amazing! Soul food, indeed, for the distinguishing palate.

I wouldn't mind living in Asheville permanently. It is a city where there are many transplants. People move there because of dreams. Asheville is a city of dreamers. The mountains, clean air, the hospitality, and all those Soul-chasers make this one of the best places to live in America, in my humble opinion. I may end up there yet!

The Acentric Soul

As we know, Giordano Bruno was handed over to Rome's secular authorities by the Roman Catholic Church, to be burned to death, mainly because of the revolutionary nature of his cosmological theories. The suggested story given by the Inquisition was that the sentence handed down was due to his theological heresy, but this is doubtful. The Church wanted to quash the Brunian movement because they knew how devastating Bruno's ideas were to the edifice of the Church. Eventually, they led to a scientific revolution anyway.

Rome wanted no part of any new revelations that would throw doubt on the doctrinal decisions they had made since the inception of the Church. If Bruno could show that Church authorities were in error in their cosmology, the entire structure of Christianity may collapse. So, they silenced Bruno and continued to keep the masses in the dark.

The cosmological ideas that Bruno had published up until that time were, in a word, revolutionary. He went much further than Copernicus, who merely stated that the Sun was the center of the universe, not the Earth. Bruno totally jettisoned the idea of a center altogether! Imagine how different an idea that would be to a culture that had, for sixteen hundred years, believed that the Earth had been chosen by God to be the central location of His Grand Drama, and hence the center of the universe.

The system of Copernicus was an advance on the Ptolemaic system, but it was still, nevertheless, a closed and very finite system. He still retained aspects of the Ptolemaic cosmology, having merely switched the the Earth for the Sun. Of course, the Church wanted none of it, except to retain the Ptolemaic system. They reasoned that, if Christ was born on the earth, it must be the center of the universe.

Bruno posited that the universe is infinite, with many stars and many planets orbiting them. There is no chosen planet anywhere.

I would like to think of the Brunian Revolution as a prelude to a new kind of thinking that works for both the Macrocosm and the Microcosm. It is not a strange thing that ideas form threads on multiple levels of Reality. As we have learned from our Hermetic studies, as above, so below; as below, so above.

Let's use the Law of Correspondence to think about this in terms of the human Soul. We know that Soul is a universe in microcosm. Soul is composed of many personalities, gods, stars, planets, etc. Thanks to Jung, we call these archetypes. There are many people who still do not realize that a revolution has taken place in the Psyche. For a long time, Western culture has looked to Ego as the center of the Microcosmic universe. We never realized, until the last one hundred years or so, that Ego is merely one archetype among many. When we think of ourselves, we usually think of Ego, but that is not the case at all. Just as the material universe is composed of infinite stars and planets, so is each human Soul. There is no center to us; we are multi-faceted and all personalities are equal.

Nature Soul

Today, instead of opting to tour a rich capitalist's immense mansion here in Asheville for fifty bucks a head, I chose Nature at the North Carolina Arboretum. Parking cost me eight dollars for the entire day. It was a powerfully moving experience of Soul. The arboretum is just outside of town, nestled in one of the most beautiful locations in the surrounding area. If, indeed, there are vortices of energy in this area, this is certainly one of them. I've felt uplifted and full of energy the entire day.

When we arrived, a very polite gentleman greeted us and gave us some basic information before we began our ascent up the hill to where the arboretum is located. Upon entering the gate, one senses the powerful energy of Nature cleansing one of the stresses of modern life. Huge stonework on either side form retaining walls that look more like the walls of a giant's abode. Beautiful trees and plants line the winding road leading to the main area.

We parked and walked to the exhibit center, where the current them is Wicked Plants, which was bizarre, yet fascinating, in a Tim Burton sort of way. Basically, it's all about poisonous plants, although there was one room that had a theme of psychoactive substances. If you get a chance to see this exhibit, do so. It's very interesting.

Next, we exited the building and began strolling through the gardens. Words cannot describe it! The way the air feels in such an interconnected place is amazing, as I'm sure any gardener knows. I spent most of my time snapping photos; I probably took close to three hundred. Many of them will grace the pages of this blog for some time to come.

 I'm fascinated by the way garden designers use plants, stones, and water to create. Of course, they are simply mimicking the Anima Mundi, for She is the original genius behind it all. The stone and water are just as alive as the plants, in my estimation.

After seeing a map of the gardens, I was struck by the design of the walkways. They seem to have a sacred geometrical theme, which made it all the more fascinating.

The best part of the visit was seeing the bonsai exhibition. I can't describe it, so I'll show you some of my photos of these amazing things:

Those are just a few of the many pictures of bonsai plantings.

Now, can you feel the Soul?

Mark

Asheville Soul

We're hanging out in Asheville this week, taking advantage of all the good vibes. CBS did a piece in 1996 about this place, calling it a "New Age Mecca." There's a lot of good stuff going on in Asheville. The Anima Mundi is doing amazing things here. The Indie of Asheville provides a really good rundown on this amazing place.

I've got to get a map or GPS or something! I got lost twice today! I guess I'm just following the vibes. :-)

We stopped in for dinner at Neo Cantina, a really great Tex-Mex joint in Biltmore Square. It was an amazing meal, filled to the brim with Soul. The service was excellent. I highly recommend it.

Asheville would be a great place for writers to live. I'm sure there are many here, since the artist vibe is so powerful. It would be a great place to drink in the Soul of the place and allow it to permeate one's work.

Tomorrow, we plan on visiting the North Carolina Arboretum to check out their Wicked Plants exhibit.I'll try and provide an update.

There are mystics who claim that powerful vortices of energy exist around the Asheville area.

Since moving to Waynesville, NC, not far from Asheville, Page Bryant (who was spiritually told to leave Sedona to come here) has written the definitive metaphysical book about the area, The Spiritual Reawakening Of The Great Smoky Mountains. According to Bryant, there are many vortices (bioelectric energy points) spread across the planet. These vortices could be compared to acupuncture points on the human body. They are junctions of crossings of ley lines, or meridians, that cover the earth's surface. Some of these vortices are dormant, much the same as dry river beds, while some are awake or awakening. There are twenty-four active vortices between Black Mountain and Waynesville, and many more power spots. This is one of the most concentrated number of vortices and power points anywhere in this country...over 24 major ones (http://www.newfrontier.com/aha/ashv0492.htm#vortex)!

I have to admit, to someone of my Soulish bent, this is pretty intriguing. The spirituality of the Cherokee Nation, who inhabited these mountains for centuries, is called Keetoowah. It is still strong in these mountains. A people who were so in touch with the environment surely knew the significance of this place.

Anyway, my imagination is running wild here this week! :-)

Mark