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I've created this blog to communicate the experience of Oneness and Connectedness employing views from science and metaphysics, with an emphasis on Alchemy, but also including Non-duality, Carlos Castaneda, Qabala, Gurdjieff, Quantum physics, Tao, Dreamtime, Krishnamurti, Hermeticism, Raja Yoga, Gnosticism, Ramtha and more. At the bottom of the page, you'll find related links to websites and videos. Please feel free to comment or contact me.

With much love, Serpentrio Arquila

Friday, December 3, 2010

The Eye

This post will attempt to briefly touch on many aspects of the eye as it relates to spiritual and alchemical practice. This subject could fill several books, so to remain brief, many things will just be mentioned and pointed at and you will be left to contemplate and emphasize what you will.
I am also writing this post as a consideration of the alchemical First Matter.
Expect it to jump all over the place. :)

First a bit of alchemical, mythological, green language background:

dragon
early 13c., from O.Fr. dragon, from L. draconem (nom. draco) "huge serpent, dragon," from Gk. drakon (gen. drakontos) "serpent, giant seafish," apparently from drak-, strong aorist stem of derkesthai "to see clearly," from PIE *derk- "to see." Perhaps the lit. sense is "the one with the (deadly) glance." The young are dragonets (14c.). Obsolete drake "dragon" is an older borrowing of the same word. Used in the Bible to translate Heb. tannin "a great sea-monster," and tan, a desert mammal now believed to be the jackal.
NB - don't miss the link between tannin and the oak, oak galls/apples, grapevine.
leviathan
late 14c., from L.L. leviathan, from Heb. livyathan "dragon, serpent, huge sea animal," of unknown origin, perhaps related to liwyah "wreath," from base l-w-h- "to wind, turn, twist."
NB - notice the wreath on the World tarot trump in my very first blog. Also levi = "branch" or "vine",
also "joining" as in yoke/yoga.
medusa
"jellyfish," 1758, as genus name, from the name of one of the three Gorgons with snakes for hair, whose glance turned to stone him who looked upon it (attested in English from late 14c.). Her name is from Gk. Medousa, lit. "guardian," fem. prp. of the verb medein "to protect, rule over" (see Medea).
Pegasus
winged horse in Gk. mythology, late 14c., from L., from Gk. Pegasos, usually said to be from pege "spring, font" (pl. pegai), especially in "springs of Ocean," near which Medusa was said to have been killed by Perseus (Pegasus sprang from her blood).


The Hebrew letter Ayin (O) means 'eye' and 'fountain' and has a numerical value of 70 (or 130 with final N).
The Hebrew words for secret (SVD) and wine (IIN) also = 70.
The aries glyph is a symbol of a ram's horns and also a fountain.
One might consider the 'eye' of a hurricane and the Primum Mobile or the "Commencement of Whirling Motions" in kabbalah.

"The light/lamp of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single/simple, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness." - Luke 11:34

The greek word for "single" is haplous, which is defined by Strong also as "folded together".
NB - enfolding-unfolding universe.

The greek for evil is poneros, whose english equivalent is pernicious, but also similar to ponderus -
of weight, density; also ponder = contemplate, reflect. If in contrast to single (sol), we may think dual or
many (antimonos). In contrast to enfolded, we may think unfolded.

Latin translation  -
Lucerna corporis tui est oculus tuus si oculus tuus fuerit simplex totum corpus tuum lucidum erit si autem nequam fuerit etiam corpus tuum tenebrosum erit.
Simplex = simple, single, uncompounded, unmixt (think of alchemical use of mixt)
Nequam = worthless, good for nothing, vile, bad, rogue


In reference to haplous, Hapy, the Egyptian god of the inundation of the Nile, means "flowing, running
water" - i.e. mercurius.
Interestingly, Hapy is a blue-skinned pregnant male with full belly and breasts, kind of like Hindu Shiva.


"During the Nineteenth Dynasty Hapy is often depicted as a pair of figures, each holding and tying together the long stem of two plants representing Upper and Lower Egypt, symbolically binding the two halves of the country around a hieroglyph meaning 'union'."  - wikipedia


Note - here Hapy is dual, twin, mirror. Also consider the two halves of Egypt as our white and red twin waters
emanating from our Oak, the Tau cross symbol.

The Hymn to the Flood says:
"Lightmaker who comes from the dark
Fattener of herds
Might that fashions all
None can live without him
People are clothed with the flax of his fields
Thou makest all the land to drink unceasingly, as thou descendest on thy way from the heavens."

Let's study another New Testament reference to the eye:
"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam/log out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote/speck out of thy brother's eye." - Matthew 7:5

In studying the greek, we find some interesting words and translations.
Hypocrite = stage actor, also 'one who answers'. I love the latter in reference to Krishnamurti and leaving questions unanswered/unknown.
First is proton in greek.
To cast out = ekbale, which consider the root:
bole
early 14c., from O.N. bolr "tree trunk," from P.Gmc. *bulas (cf. M.Du. bolle "trunk of a tree"), from PIE *bhel- (2) "to blow, swell" (cf. Gk. phyllon "leaf," phallos "swollen penis;" L. flos"flower," florere "to blossom, flourish," folium "leaf;" O.Prus. balsinis "cushion;" O.N. belgr "bag, bellows;" O.E. bolla "pot, cup, bowl;" O.Ir. bolgaim "I swell," blath "blossom, flower,"bolach "pimple," bolg "bag;" Bret. bolc'h "flax pod;" Serb. buljiti "to stare, be bug-eyed;" Serbo-Croat. blazina "pillow").

The "log" could be our bole, or oak. The greek used is dokon, which think Dogon - refer to post #7 here:

Much of this verse is about the subtle and the gross in or emanating from the "eye".
Again, as in Luke 11:34, we have "to see clearly" - diablepseis from the roots dia and blepo. (What the blepo
do we know?) :D
The "speck" is greek karphos which means to wither or dry up as in a small dry twig, stalk or straw.
None of these are what one would think of speck-sized! Consider the roots kar (body) and phos (light) -
again remind us of Luke 11:34
"From your brother" is actually adelphou - from the womb. 
So there's a lot of greek cabalism to be considered.

The log in the eye may also suggest log-os: the Word.

The third eye - single and invisible - as the pineal gland is one of the seven "fruits" on the tree of life.

The rods and cones of the human eye may suggest two waters emanating from one fount/eye. The cones are
adapted to perceive detail and color, while the rods, which are far more numerous, are adapted to the dark
and perceiving motion and peripheral vision.

Our dual fountain is also represented biblically by two miraculous births:
Mary, a virgin womb, gives birth to Jesus - the ShIN/fire
Elizabeth, a "dead womb", gives birth to John - water


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