Archetypes of |
If we are aware of the subtle nature of everything, we begin to appreciate the archetypal, mythic, symbolic nature so abundant in nature itself. The inherent pervasiveness of nature as part of life force is seen in the widespread use of fire, air, earth, and water in folk medicine. And of course, the Chinese also included metal. Having received from guides the 5 Sacred Rings: Fire, Air, Water, Earth, and Crystal, I recently began to look at their archetypal meanings.
The discovery of fire itself is responsible for one of the great archetypal transformations of civilization. For many foods, cooking enhances nutrient availability and assists in decreasing putrefaction. And of course it provides warmth in cold weather. Fire, above all, represents energy, including life energy and electricity. Fire chemicals are cortisone, adrenalin, and dehydroepiandrosterone, DHEA. DHEA represents our stress reserves or adrenal reserve. Low DHEA is a sign of adrenal burnout. The fire signs in astrology are Aries and Mars, the God of War; Leo and the Sun; and Sagittarius, associated with good and noble and a higher purpose, each associated with concepts of great energy. Fire is the wizard, creator, light, heat, goodness, and positive energy.
Diseases of fire are:
Air is the breath of life, universal power, purity. In fact, the brain dies if it does not receive fresh air/oxygen within three minutes. Air represents the archetypal hero. Inspiration, imagination, and intuition are crucial aspects of air energy. Logic, freedom, language, and flight are air energies. Air signs are Aquarius, the butterfly chasing the rainbow, associated with Uranus, associated with rebirth, experimentation, and sometimes hubris; Gemini, the twin who has difficulty sometimes deciding on the flow of life and associated with Mercury, the God of Travel; and Libra, the disciple of right and wrong, associated with Venus, the Goddess of love.
Diseases of air:
Water is second only to air in essentials for life, the most primal of all archetypes. It is fluid, changeable, associated with emotions and especially with heart and kidneys, with the unconscious mind, with cleansing and rebirth, and with spirit, the source of life. It is associated with fertility, circulation, and purity. The water signs are Pisces, the fish swimming in both directions and with Neptune, the God of the oceans and of water; Cancer (I prefer to call it the moon child), associated with home and nurturing, caring, associated with the Divine Mother and the moon, the hidden emotions; and Scorpio, the secretive, sexual, the manipulating and the most intelligent and associated with Pluto, God of the Underworld.
Diseases of water:
Above all earth is being grounded, real, productive, the Earth Mother, protector, mediator, peacemaker, harmony, a balance of yin and yang. Earth signs are Taurus, the mythical Ferdinand the Bull, warm, kind, and supportive associated with Venus, the Goddess of Love; Virgo, the most organized and another Earth Mother, Aphrodite, and associated with Mercury, God of speed, travel, music; and Capricorn the most capricious, loyal, trustworthy, prudent, organized and associated with Saturn, Ruler of the world, master, both a tyrant and wise old man.
Earth diseases:
The symbol of Higher Consciousness. The Mystic, Professor, Student. Crystals receive, store, and transmit energy. Crystalline energy is for regeneration and overall energy balancing
Diseases of Crystal energy:
Supernoetics™—See www.supernoetics.com for more details.
As I said in the beginning, it is impossible to separate body, mind, and soul. One of the best overviews is Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby’s Glass Elevator Mind model.
Universal Consciousness—At the top of the elevator is consciousness, which he considers “awareness of awareness.” You can “watch” your stream of thoughts, emotions, etc.
Own consciousness is just below consciousness—awareness that we are a “cloud of conscious entities, operating in the same psychic space,” almost multiple personalities which can have “coexisting contrary attitudes.” We have an illusion that we have a single mind, since the multiple thoughts appear to our mind to come from the same identification! Ultimate insight here is a true spiritual experience.
The Self-Complex is below the “cloud consciousness”—thought itself. Essentially, you can change your thoughts by changing the words you use! You can think happy or angry or sad, etc.
Emotions are the physical feelings we experience with our thoughts! Dr. Scott-Mumby discusses this “Ladder of Emotions in Supernoetics™.
Neural Nets are the bio-energetic complexes that essentially integrate the multiple mental-physical reactions which become patterns of thinking/feeling, such as sexual activity and religious beliefs that have been acculturated through years of habitual reactions and to some extent brain-washing.
Animal thinking is the basic will to survive: “eating, safety, and procreation.” These biological essentials “stand in the way of our spiritual life”—and may indeed shatter it!
