body & soul

Sowohl unsere Seele wie der Körper bestehen aus Einzelheiten, die alle schon in der Ahnenreihe vorhanden gewesen sind. Das »Neue« in der individuellen Seele ist eine endlos variierte Rekombination uralter Bestandteile, Körper wie Seele haben daher einen eminent historischen Charakter.

Both our soul and the body consist in components which all already existed in the ancestral line. The »new« in the individual soul is an interminably varied recombination of ancient components, and therefore both body and soul have an eminently historical character.

~ Memories, Dreams and Thoughts by C. G. Jung ~

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The mandala arose within a period of nine days -- uncounted hours of dedicative work -- timeless.

Day one: A spontaneous, unintentional pastime.

Day two: A spontaneous inspiration and »The Birth of the Butterfly«, whose wings are (unconsciously) exactly aligned towards north and south; then, the imagination of a complete whole, consisting in four components, appeared for the first time, and the »Sky-Wheel« came into life; at the end of the day, I learned (from the innermost) the names of the four hearts : »The Snake« in the north, »The Eye« in the south, »The Sun« in the west, and »The Moon« in the east; each name is of an exceptional meaning.

Day three: The task which I was told from the innermost was: »self-contained without being closed«; so I put a circle around the whole and understood for the first time that it was meant to be a mandala; later I went to the other end of the island (the "green beach", one of my favorite places) in order to hold more treasures (pebbles) for the mandala.

Day four: »The Snake« was completed and »The Moon« got a new "face" (which should become repealed on day seven).

Day five: »The Eye« was completed; I began to ask about the name of the mandala, but the innermost didn't respond.

Day six: »The Sun« was completed and the "eyes" of »The Moon« were changed.

Day seven: »The Moon« was completed in its true shape; still no sign regarding the mandala's name.

Day eight: The circle was self-contained.

Day nine: The seclusiveness of the circle was repealed, the mandala reopened and completed; late in the night, I finally came to know its name: Kabeirô.

I knew of the Kabeiroi gods of Samothraki and their mysteries, of course, but what exactly meant »Kabeirô«? Both my knowledge of the Greek language and the Greek mythology were not sufficient to answer this question; though, I had to be patient for another two days until I had access to the Internet again and finally learned that the name of my mandala really exists: Kabeirô was a nymph daughter of the sea-god Proteus as well as the mother of the Kabeiroi gods of Samothraki by Hephaistos – how subtle and sage, how clear-sighted and wise they are, the signs and manifestation of the innermost!

Later on, I gave the mandala a second name: »The Great Gate«, for its completion and the deeply sensed awareness it gave to me solved an inner blockade which had prevented me from writing for many months; it was as if I went through a great gate into an infinite, timeless space -- a new world or a »world within a world« -- where I'm completely free and able to write, write, write... inexpressibly, how much I longed for this release.

My gratefulness is boundless. Thanks to the gods and to C. G. Jung who helps me to understand the voices of my innermost, and to welcome them instead of being afraid of madness.