The oracle at Delphi

Delphi lies on the slopes of Mount Parnassus in Greece. The town, once called Kastri, used to lie above the ruins of the sacred compound. It was relocated in the 1890s, when serious archaeological excavation began at the ruins.

About 1500 BCE, Mycenaeans settled here and continued the maintenance of the shrine to Gaea, Mother Earth. The Delphic sibyls had already gained fame by that time.

Many scholars offer evidence to support the idea that the Pythia was an office originating in the cult of Gaia. Dempsey states that the office of the Pythia was always held by a female (originally a virgin, but later at least fifty years old and married) and he points out the connection between the Pythia's gender and the cult of Mother Earth.

Dempsey also points out that the ecstatic nature of the Pythia's prophecy was an abundant characteristic in the cult of Gaia . A detailed account of the frenzy or mania of the Pythia is presented when Appius Claudius Pulcher visits the oracle at Delphi in Lucan's Civil War Additionally, many scholars believe that the Python's death at the hand of Apollo symbolized the change in oracles at Delphi.

Greek legend recounts how Apollo chose Delphi as one of his chief places of worship, along with Delos. Greek mythology tells of a time when the gods of the sky overcame those of earth. Then the infant Apollo took control of Parnassus by killing Python, the dragon snake that had possessed it. Apollo took the form of a dolphin and swam out to sea to capture a group of sailors, whom he appointed the first priests of his cult. Apollo claimed the shrine for himself, fired Gaea's sibyls, and installed his own oracles.

According to Greek myth, Zeus charged two eagles with finding the center of the earth. He released one to the east and one to the west. They met at Delphi, thus pointing out the center of the earth. A cone-shaped, decorated stone, the omphalos, once stood in front of the Temple as a marker for the "navel" of the earth, or axis mundi.

Delphi was revered throughout the Greek world as the site of the omphalos stone, the centre of the earth and the universe. In the inner hestia ("hearth") of the Temple of Apollo, an eternal flame burned. After the battle of Plataea, the Greek cities extinguished their fires and brought new fire from the hearth of Greece, at Delphi; in the foundation stories of several Greek colonies, the founding colonists were first dedicated at Delphi.

Delphi became the site of a major temple to Phoebus Apollo, as well as the Pythian Games and the famous prehistoric oracle. Even in Roman times, hundreds of votive statues remained, described by Pliny the Younger and seen by Pausanias. Supposedly carved into the temple were the phrase (gnothi seauton = "know thyself") and (meden agan = "nothing in excess"), as well as a large letter E.

Apollo spoke through his oracle, who had to be an older woman of blameless life chosen from among the peasants of the area. The sybyl or prophetess took the name Pythia and sat on a tripod seat over an opening in the earth. When Apollo slew Python, its body fell into this fissure, according to legend, and fumes arose from its decomposing body.

Intoxicated by the vapors, the sibyl would fall into trance, allowing Apollo to possess her spirit. In this state she prophesied. She spoke in riddles, which were interpreted by the priests of the temple, and people consulted her on everything from important matters of public policy to personal affairs.

On the morning of a day when the Oracle was scheduled to prophesy, a goat would be sacrificed at an altar just outside of the great Temple of Apollo, and its entrails would be examined. If results were favorable, the Oracle would operate that day. She would then complete the prescribed rituals: purification in the Castalian waters, dressing in full ceremonial robes, sometimes chewing a few laurel leaves, seating herself on the tripod and inhaling the foul-smelling vapors.

The Pythia was knowledgeable in many areas: history, religion, geography, politics, mathematics, philosophy, etc. She uttered advice on where and how to build cities, which laws to incorporate, and which prayers to utter. Her predictions were often very shrewdly phrased, which caused many supplicants to misinterpret the advice. The most famous instance of this comes down to us through a Delphic prediction given to Croesus, king of Lydia. In 550 BCE,

Croesus was preparing to invade the Persian Empire when he consulted the Oracle about his chances for victory. After sacrificing 300 head of cattle to Apollo, he had gold and silver melted down into 117 bricks, which were sent to Delphi, along with jewels, statues, and a gold bowl weighing a quarter of a ton. With these gifts, Croesus sent his question of whether he should attack Persia.

The Pythia answered that, if he crossed a river, "Croesus will destroy a great empire." Encouraged by this response, he invaded Persia, only to suffer a decisive defeat. The Persians invaded and then conquered Lydia and captured Croesus, who thereafter bitterly denounced the Oracle. He sent his iron chains to Delphi with the question, "Why did you lie to me?" The Pythia correctly answered that her prophecy had been fulfilled. Croesus had destroyed a great empire -- his own.

A poem that reminds me of my other half

From - Air and Angels
~ John Donne

Twice or thrice had I loved thee,

Before I knew thy face or name;

So in a voice,

so in a shapeless flame,

Angels affect us oft,

and worshipped be;

Still when, to where thou wert,

I came,

Some lovely glorious nothing I did see.

But since my soul,

whose child love is,

Takes limbs of flesh,

and else could nothing do,

More subtle than the parent is

Love must not be,

but take a body too;

And therefore what thou wert,

and who,

I bid love ask,

and now That it assume

thy body I allow,

And fix itself in thy lip,

eye, and brow.

The Myth of Virgo

Virgo (August 23 - September 23)


Modern language sometimes does some very funny things with words and concepts that come from the pre-Christian era. For example, take the Latin word virgo. It's usually interpreted as virgin, with all its sexual implications. So that the typical Virgo portrayed in popular astrology is virginal, i.e., prudish or inhibited or sexually cool. One need only look at some well-known film personalities born under Virgo, like Sophia Loren and Jacqueline Bisset and Sean Connery, to feel a little silly about equating Virgo with a lack of sexual interest or appeal.

But more of that later. Let's go back to what the word virgo once meant. It had, in fact, nothing to do with sexual virginity, but simply meant intact, self-contained. The great mythical figure that stands behind Virgo is the Great Goddess, the Magna Mater, and she was no virgin. In fact she is often portrayed in myth as the Great Harlot, the fecund one. There is a magnificent statue of the virgin goddess Artemis, one of many names for the Great Goddess, portrayed with fifty breasts to show that she represents the nurturer and giver of life to all of life. But she is virgo in the sense that she is self-possessed, her own person.

In early mythology, from which we inherit the figure of the Virgin Goddess, before the Hellene invasion from the north into the agricultural civilizations of the Aegean in around 2000 B.C., the goddess did not owe her powers on her status to a divine husband as we see her in later mythology.

She ruled alone, self-contained, husbandless, yet offering her femininity freely as she chose. She was the consort of all life. This is a clue to the deepest meaning of Virgo: the ultimate goal of this apparently humble sign is nothing less than the self-possessed psyche, the person who integrated within herself and can therefore give freely because she need not fear losing herself in another. She can choose life's experiences from her own place of completeness, rather than because her need for finding herself in another drives her into relationships or situations which destroy her or rule her.

Sometimes you see this pattern of becoming one's own person lived out in the lives of Virgos through the necessity to live alone for a period of time. In fact this seems to be almost a requirement for Virgo to develop himself or herself. Difficult as it is for any person to face loneliness, many Virgos impose it on themselves, not because they don't need others, but because something in them says that you must learn to be yourself and love you own company before you can allow another person to be himself.

The zodiacal circle of twelve signs is divided into halves. The first half - Aries through Virgo - is often taken to symbolize the stages of individual development. The second half - Libra through Pisces - is often taken to symbolize the individual's relationship to the larger society, other people, the world.

Virgo is the last of the first half of the zodiac, the cycle of individual development which we mentioned earlier. This means that Virgo in its deepest sense is about the real synthesis and integration of the individual, the refinement and ordering of all the experiences which have come from the first five signs. In an odd way you can see this in Virgo, just as you see it in Pisces, the last sign of the second half of the zodiac. In Pisces, you see the world, for the sign stands at the end of the great round. Pisceans contain the whole of human experience. It's why they can identify with anybody, sometimes much to their cost.

Virgo contains all the stages of individual development. She's been through the rash impulsive courage of Aries challenging life. She's been through the building and acquiring stability of Taurus. She's been through the curiosity and fascination with ideas of Gemini. She's been through the need for warmth and family and roots of Cancer. She's been through the need to be creative and individual in Leo.

You can see a sort of matter-of-fact 'Yes, I've done that' quality in many Virgos when they watch those other signs. It's as thought it's stored somewhere in their memory banks. And their job, their business, is about taking all those different stages and kinds of experience and not specializing in one but rather making a refined and well-functioning whole out of it. It's one of the reasons you find so many Virgos obsessed with health and diet, and equally many obsessed with psychology and self-help. They're trying hard to knit the whole thing together, to become the efficiently functioning person who can deal with any experience. But because Virgo is the final summation of the first cycle, any experience means any personal encounter, not an encounter with a group. Virgo isn't ready to go out into the bigger life of society. That's Libra's job. The compulsive self-perfecting that you find in so many Virgos, have a deep symbolic root. It's the need to prepare the vessel, to craft it, shape it, refine it, for some vaguely sensed next phase for which Virgo waits without really knowing what it is she's waiting and preparing for.

Virgo is also connected with the strange picture-language and concepts of medieval alchemy. Every Virgo, in some way, little or big, is an alchemist. Now, medieval alchemy doesn't really have anything to do with the practice of making gold, any more than Virgo has to do with virginity.

If you read old alchemical texts, you'll hear them constantly saying that alchemical gold isn't ordinary gold. It's transmuted substance, inner gold, spiritual gold, creative gold. It's about purification, of taking something clumsy and crude and base and transforming it so that the real potential shines out of it. Whether it's her house or her body or her psyche, this laborious process of transmutation goes on throughout Virgo's life. One way or another, whether it's herself or other people or the disorderly world, her business, her environment or the products of her skilful hands. Virgo is attempting the alchemical transformation. It isn't really the outside world she's trying to order and synthesize. It's life. And life, ultimately, is herself.






Mythology and History
The Maiden.
Named for the Greek goddess Demeter, the Earth-goddess, and is associated with the arrival of spring and bringer of the growing season. Hades, the God of the Underground, fell in love with Demeter's daughter, Persephone. He promised himself that he would marry Persephone, making her his queen. Demeter would not stand for this. One day Hades, in a black chariot drawn by four great black horses in golden harness and reins, rode up to Persephone and carried the girl off with him back to the Underworld.
Zeus solved the problem by saying that Persephone would spend half of her time in the Underworld with Hades and the other half on Olympus with her mother. In this way, winter comes when Persephone goes down to the Underworld to be with Hades. When Persephone returns to Olympus, the winter cloak of death melts and there is a rebirth of life over the land and the crops begin to grow.

Virgo usually is shown carrying two sheaves of wheat, one of which is marked by the bright star Spica, whose name comes form the Latin and means ear of wheat, or corn.

Known as Ishtar or Lilith by the Babylonians. And also was known to the Sumerians.
The Egyptians knew Virgo as Isis, the Goddess of Fertility.
The Hindus looked at Virgo as Kauni, or "the Maiden."
The Persians called her Khosha, or "the Ear of Wheat."
The Hebrews called her Bethulah, meaning "Abundance in Harvest."

Virgo, the Virgin

Virgin august! come in thy regal state
With soft majestic grace and brow serene;
Though the fierce Lion's reign is overpast
The summer's heat is all thine own as yet,
And all untouched thy robe of living green
By the rude fingers of the northern blast.
— R. J. Philbrick's Virgo.

she is the oldest purely allegorical representation of innocence and virtue. This legend seems to be first found with Hesiod, and was given in full by Aratos, his longest constellational history in the Phainomena, Other authors mentioned her as Eirene, Irene, the sister of Astraea, and the Pax of the Romans, with the olive branch; as Concordia; as Parthenos Dios, the Virgin Goddess; as Sibulla, the Singing Sibyl, carrying a branch into Hades; and as Tukhe, the Roman Fortuna, because she is a headless constellation, the stars marking the head being very faint.

Classical Latin writers occasionally called her Ano, Atargatis, and Derceto, the Syrorum Dea transferred here from Pisces; Cybele drawn by lions, for our Leo immediately precedes her; Diana; Minerva; Panda and Pantica; and even Medusa. Posidippus, 289 B.C., gave Thesbia or Thespia, daughter of Thespius, or of the Theban Asopus; and some said that one of the Muses, even Urania herself, was placed here in the sky by Apollo.

Ishtar, the Queen of the Stars, was the Ashtoreth of the 1st Book of the Kings, xi, 5, 33, the original of the Aphrodite of Greece and the Venus of Rome; perhaps equivalent to Athyr, Athor, or Hathor of the Nile, and the Astarte of Syria, the last philologically akin to our Esther and Star, the Greek Aster. Astarte, too, was identified by the Venerable Bede with the Saxon goddess of spring, Eostre, at whose festival, our Easter, the stars of Virgo shine so brightly in the eastern evening sky; and the Sumerians of southern Babylonia assigned this constellation to their sixth month as the Errand, or Message, of Istar.

But all these figurings, ancient as some of them may be, are modern when compared with the still enduring Sphinx generally claimed as prehistoric, perhaps of the times of the Hor-she-shu, long anterior to the first historical Egyptian ruler, Menes; and constructed, according to Greek tradition, with Virgo's head on Leo's body, from the fact that the sun passed through these two constellations during the inundation of the Nile.

The astrological influences of the constellation

Ptolemy makes the following observations; "the stars on the head of Virgo and that at the top of the southern wing, operate like Mercury and somewhat like Mars; the other bright stars in the same wing and those about the girdle resemble Mercury in their influence and also Venus moderately . . .; those at the points of the feet and at the bottom of the garments are like Mercury and also Mars moderately". By the Kabalists it is associated with the Hebrew letter Gimel and the 3rd Tarot Trump "The Empress". (Robson).
"spicifera est Virgo Cereris" — "The Virgin with her sheaf belongs to Ceres".

Rising sign in Virgo: The temperaments of those whose span of life she pronounces at their birth Erigone will direct to study, and she will train their minds in the learned arts. She will give not so much abundance of wealth as the impulse to investigate the causes and effects of things. On them she will confer a tongue which charms, the mastery of words, and that mental vision which can discern all things, however concealed they be by the mysterious workings of nature. But with ' the good there comes a flaw : bashfulness handicaps the early years of such persons, for the Maid, by holding back their great natural gifts, puts a bridle on their lips and restrains them by the curb of authority.

Personality Types

Your Type is INFJ Introverted Intuitive Feeling Judging Strength of the preferences % 44 50 25 33


The Portrait of the Counselor Idealist (iNFj) RATIONAL ARTISAN IDEALIST GUARDIAN

The Counselor Idealists are abstract in thought and speech, cooperative in reaching their goals, and directive and introverted in their interpersonal roles. Counselors focus on human potentials, think in terms of ethical values, and come easily to decisions. The small number of this type (little more than 2 percent) is regrettable, since Counselors have an unusually strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others and genuinely enjoy helping their companions. Although Counsleors tend to be private, sensitive people, and are not generally visible leaders, they nevertheless work quite intensely with those close to them, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes with their families, friends, and colleagues. This type has great depth of personality; they are themselves complicated, and can understand and deal with complex issues and people.

Counselors can be hard to get to know. They have an unusually rich inner life, but they are reserved and tend not to share their reactions except with those they trust. With their loved ones, certainly, Counselors are not reluctant to express their feelings, their face lighting up with the positive emotions, but darkening like a thunderhead with the negative. Indeed, because of their strong ability to take into themselves the feelings of others, Counselors can be hurt rather easily by those around them, which, perhaps, is one reason why they tend to be private people, mutely withdrawing from human contact. At the same time, friends who have known a

Counselor for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that they are inconsistent; Counselors value their integrity a great deal, but they have intricately woven, mysterious personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.

Counselors have strong empathic abilities and can become aware of another's emotions or intentions -- good or evil -- even before that person is conscious of them. This "mind-reading" can take the form of feeling the hidden distress or illnesses of others to an extent which is difficult for other types to comprehend. Even Counselors can seldom tell how they came to penetrate others' feelings so keenly. Furthermore, the Counselor is most likely of all the types to demonstrate an ability to understand psychic phenomena and to have visions of human events, past, present, or future. What is known as ESP may well be exceptional intuitive ability-in both its forms, projection and introjection. Such supernormal intuition is found frequently in the Counselor, and can extend to people, things, and often events, taking the form of visions, episodes of foreknowledge, premonitions, auditory and visual images of things to come, as well as uncanny communications with certain individuals at a distance.

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Beneath the quiet exterior, INFJs hold deep convictions about the weightier matters of life. Those who are activists -- INFJs gravitate toward such a role -- are there for the cause, not for personal glory or political power.

INFJs are champions of the oppressed and downtrodden. They often are found in the wake of an emergency, rescuing those who are in acute distress. INFJs may fantasize about getting revenge on those who victimize the defenseless. The concept of 'poetic justice' is appealing to the INFJ.

"There's something rotten in Denmark." Accurately suspicious about others' motives, INFJs are not easily led. These are the people that you can rarely fool any of the time. Though affable and sympathetic to most, INFJs are selective about their friends. Such a friendship is a symbiotic bond that transcends mere words.

INFJs have a knack for fluency in language and facility in communication. In addition, nonverbal sensitivity enables the INFJ to know and be known by others intimately.

Writing, counseling, public service and even politics are areas where INFJs frequently find their niche.

Functional Analysis:

Introverted iNtuitionIntroverted intuitives, INFJs enjoy a greater clarity of perception of inner, unconscious processes than all but their INTJ cousins. Just as SP types commune with the object and "live in the here and now" of the physical world, INFJs readily grasp the hidden psychological stimuli behind the more observable dynamics of behavior and affect. Their amazing ability to deduce the inner workings of the mind, will and emotions of others gives INFJs their reputation as prophets and seers. Unlike the confining, routinizing nature of introverted sensing, introverted intuition frees this type to act insightfully and spontaneously as unique solutions arise on an event by event basis.

Extraverted FeelingExtraverted feeling, the auxiliary deciding function, expresses a range of emotion and opinions of, for and about people. INFJs, like many other FJ types, find themselves caught between the desire to express their wealth of feelings and moral conclusions about the actions and attitudes of others, and the awareness of the consequences of unbridled candor. Some vent the attending emotions in private, to trusted allies. Such confidants are chosen with care, for INFJs are well aware of the treachery that can reside in the hearts of mortals. This particular combination of introverted intuition and extraverted feeling provides INFJs with the raw material from which perceptive counselors are shaped.

Introverted Thinking

The INFJ's thinking is introverted, turned toward the subject. Perhaps it is when the INFJ's thinking function is operative that he/she is most aloof. A comrade might surmise that such detachment signals a disillusionment, that she has also been found lacking by the sardonic eye of this one who plumbs the depths of the human spirit. Experience suggests that such distancing is merely an indication that the seer is hard at work and focusing energy into this less efficient tertiary function.

Extraverted Sensing

INFJs are twice blessed with clarity of vision, both internal and external. Just as they possess inner vision which is drawn to the forms of the unconscious, they also have external sensing perception which readily takes hold of worldly objects. Sensing, however, is the weakest of the INFJ's arsenal and the most vulnerable. INFJs, like their fellow intuitives, may be so absorbed in intuitive perceiving that they become oblivious to physical reality. The INFJ under stress may fall prey to various forms of immediate gratification. Awareness of extraverted sensing is probably the source of the "SP wannabe" side of INFJs. Many yearn to live spontaneously; it's not uncommon for INFJ actors to take on an SP (often ESTP) role.

Famous INFJs:Nathan, prophet of Israel, Aristophanes, Chaucer, Goethe, Robert Burns, Scottish poet

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Introverted iNtuiting Feeling Judging

INFJs are distinguished by both their complexity of character and the unusual range and depth of their talents. Strongly humanitarian in outlook, INFJs tend to be idealists, and because of their J preference for closure and completion, they are generally "doers" as well as dreamers. This rare combination of vision and practicality often results in INFJs taking a disproportionate amount of responsibility in the various causes to which so many of them seem to be drawn.

INFJs are deeply concerned about their relations with individuals as well as the state of humanity at large. They are, in fact, sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people -- a product of the Feeling function they most readily show to the world.

On the contrary, INFJs are true introverts, who can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious "soul mates." While instinctively courting the personal and organizational demands continually made upon them by others, at intervals INFJs will suddenly withdraw into themselves, sometimes shutting out even their intimates. This apparent paradox is a necessary escape valve for them, providing both time to rebuild their depleted resources and a filter to prevent the emotional overload to which they are so susceptible as inherent "givers." As a pattern of behavior, it is perhaps the most confusing aspect of the enigmatic INFJ character to outsiders, and hence the most often misunderstood -- particularly by those who have little experience with this rare type.

Due in part to the unique perspective produced by this alternation between detachment and involvement in the lives of the people around them, INFJs may well have the clearest insights of all the types into the motivations of others, for good and for evil. The most important contributing factor to this uncanny gift, however, are the empathic abilities often found in Fs, which seem to be especially heightened in the INFJ type (possibly by the dominance of the introverted N function).

This empathy can serve as a classic example of the two-edged nature of certain INFJ talents, as it can be strong enough to cause discomfort or pain in negative or stressful situations. More explicit inner conflicts are also not uncommon in INFJs; it is possible to speculate that the causes for some of these may lie in the specific combinations of preferences which define this complex type. For instance, there can sometimes be a "tug-of-war" between NF vision and idealism and the J practicality that urges compromise for the sake of achieving the highest priority goals. And the I and J combination, while perhaps enhancing self-awareness, may make it difficult for INFJs to articulate their deepest and most convoluted feelings.

Usually self-expression comes more easily to INFJs on paper, as they tend to have strong writing skills. Since in addition they often possess a strong personal charisma, INFJs are generally well-suited to the "inspirational" professions such as teaching (especially in higher education) and religious leadership. Psychology and counseling are other obvious choices, but overall, INFJs can be exceptionally difficult to pigeonhole by their career paths. Perhaps the best example of this occurs in the technical fields.

Many INFJs perceive themselves at a disadvantage when dealing with the mystique and formality of "hard logic", and in academic terms this may cause a tendency to gravitate towards the liberal arts rather than the sciences. However, the significant minority of INFJs who do pursue studies and careers in the latter areas tend to be as successful as their T counterparts, as it is *iNtuition* -- the dominant function for the INFJ type -- which governs the ability to understand abstract theory and implement it creatively.

In their own way, INFJs are just as much "systems builders" as are INTJs; the difference lies in that most INFJ "systems" are founded on human beings and human values, rather than information and technology. Their systems may for these reasons be conceptually "blurrier" than analogous NT ones, harder to measure in strict numerical terms, and easier to take for granted -- yet it is these same underlying reasons which make the resulting contributions to society so vital and profound.

African Farm - by Sybille

African Farm - by Sybille



the yellowhite of one leftover tooth,
pumpkins ripening on the skew sink roof,
the crooked old farmhouse squats in the dirt,
a scraggly old hen over her brood



Inside its always dusk and in the gloom
dark ebony furniture people the room,
on the sideboard the Dutch bible,
source of strength for their survival



Ancestors in too tight sunday best and shawls,
look down from oval frames on white walls
lips and hair unnaturally colored in later,
with magenta and black



the old sturdy dining room table
around which little boer children said grace
over a meal of mutton pumpkin and maize,
dirty bare feet discreetly under the seat



Cool painted cement floors in the rooms,
covered in grandma's rugs from her loom,
and springbok skin worked by white hands to soft bloom



under the teak bedstead porcelain chamber pots
painted with fat cabbage roses,
peeks coyly from under crocheted bedspreads



memories of long sultry summer nights
listening for the grandfather clock to strike,
and turning over the pillow to its cool side



oh the innocent pleasures of yore,
a mug of condensed milk sweetened coffee
eaten with a boer rusk while sitting on the floor



from the kitchen ceiling orange peels suspended to dry,
one day to flavor milk tarts
or grandma's famous orange and date pie

the porch where we used to sit on long hot summer afternoons
sipping ginger beer with raisins in,
and disussing the corona around the moon,
maybe it means rain
tomorrow.

The Leper's Bride -

The Leper’s Bride
Alfred Tennyson

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I.
WHY wail you, pretty plover? and what is it that you fear?
Is he sick your mate like mine? have you lost him, is he fled?
And there—the heron rises from his watch beside the mere,
And flies above the leper’s hut, where lives the living-dead.
II.
Come back, nor let me know it! would he live and die alone?
And has he not forgiven me yet, his over-jealous bride,
Who am, and was, and will be his, his own and only own,
To share his living death with him, die with him side by side?
III.
Is that the leper’s hut on the solitary moor,
Where noble Ulric dwells forlorn, and wears the leper’s weed?
The door is open. He! is he standing at the door,
My soldier of the Cross? it is he and he indeed!
IV.
My roses—will he take them now—mine, his—from off the tree
We planted both together, happy in our marriage morn?
O God, I could blaspheme, for he fought Thy fight for Thee,
And Thou hast made him leper to compass him with scorn—
V.
Hast spared the flesh of thousands, the coward and the base,
And set a crueller mark than Cain’s on him, the good and brave!
He sees me, waves me from him. I will front him face to face.
You need not wave me from you. I would leap into your grave.
. . . . .
VI.
My warrior of the Holy Cross and of the conquering sword,
The roses that you cast aside—once more I bring you these.
No nearer? do you scorn me when you tell me, O my lord,
You would not mar the beauty of your bride with your disease.
VII.
You say your body is so foul—then here I stand apart,
Who yearn to lay my loving head upon your leprous breast.
The leper plague may scale my skin but never taint my heart;
Your body is not foul to me, and body is foul at best.
VIII.
I loved you first when young and fair, but now I love you most;
The fairest flesh at last is filth on which the worm will feast;
This poor rib-grated dungeon of the holy human ghost,
This house with all its hateful needs no cleaner than the beast,
IX.
This coarse diseaseful creature which in Eden was divine,
This Satan-haunted ruin, this little city of sewers,
This wall of solid flesh that comes between your soul and mine,
Will vanish and give place to the beauty that endures,
X.
The beauty that endures on the Spiritual height,
When we shall stand transfigured, like Christ on Hermon hill,
And moving each to music, soul in soul and light in light,
Shall flash thro’ one another in a moment as we will.
XI.
Foul! foul! the word was yours not mine, I worship that right hand
Which fell’d the foes before you as the woodman fells the wood,
And sway’d the sword that lighten’d back the sun of Holy land,
And clove the Moslem crescent moon, and changed it into blood.
XII.
And once I worshipt all too well this creature of decay,
For Age will chink the face, and Death will freeze the supplest limbs—
Yet you in your mid manhood—O the grief when yesterday
They bore the Cross before you to the chant of funeral hymns.
XIII.
‘Libera me, Domine!’ you sang the Psalm, and when
The Priest pronounced you dead, and flung the mould upon your feet,
A beauty came upon your face, not that of living men,
But seen upon the silent brow when life has ceased to beat.
XIV.
‘Libera nos, Domino’—you knew not one was there
Who saw you kneel beside your bier, and weeping scarce could see;
May I come a little nearer, I that heard, and changed the prayer
And sang the married ‘nos’ for the solitary ‘me.’
XV.
My beauty marred by you? by you! so be it. All is well
If I lose it and myself in the higher beauty, yours.
My beauty lured that falcon from his eyry on the fell,
Who never caught one gleam of the beauty which endures—
XVI.
The Count who sought to snap the bond that link’d us life to life,
Who whisper’d me ‘your Ulric loves’—a little nearer still—
He hiss’d, ‘Let us revenge ourselves, your Ulric woos my wife’—
A lie by which he thought he could subdue me to his will.
XVII.
I knew that you were near me when I let him kiss my brow;
Did he touch me on the lips? I was jealous, anger’d, vain,
And I meant to make you jealous. Are you jealous of me now?
Your pardon, O my love, if I ever gave you pain.
XVIII.
You never once accused me, but I wept alone, and sigh’d
In the winter of the Present for the summer of the Past;
That icy winter silence—how it froze you from your bride,
Tho’ I made one barren effort to break it at the last.
XIX.
I brought you, you remember, these roses, when I knew
You were parting for the war, and you took them tho’ you frown’d;
You frown’d and yet you kiss’d them. All at once the trumpet blew,
And you spurr’d your fiery horse, and you hurl’d them to the ground.
XX.
You parted for the Holy War without a word to me,
And clear myself unask’d—not I. My nature was too proud.
And him I saw but once again, and far away was he,
When I was praying in a storm—the crash was long and loud—
XXI.
That God would ever slant His bolt from falling on your head—
Then I lifted up my eyes, he was coming down the fell—
I clapt my hands. The sudden fire from Heaven had dash’d him dead,
And sent him charr’d and blasted to the deathless fire of Hell.
XXII.
See, I sinn’d but for a moment. I repented and repent,
And trust myself forgiven by the God to whom I kneel.
A little nearer? Yes. I shall hardly be content
Till I be leper like yourself, my love, from head to heel.
XXIII.
O foolish dreams, that you, that I, would slight our marriage oath
I held you at that moment even dearer than before;
Now God has made you leper in His loving care for both,
That we might cling together, never doubt each other more.
XXIV.
The Priest, who join’d you to the dead, has join’d our hands of old;
If man and wife be but one flesh, let mine be leprous too,
As dead from all the human race as if beneath the mould;
If you be dead, then I am dead, who only live for you.
XXV.
Would Earth tho’ hid in cloud not be follow’d by the Moon?
The leech forsake the dying bed for terror of his life?
The shadow leave the Substance in the brooding light of noon?
Or if I had been the leper would you have left the wife?
XXVI.
Not take them? Still you wave me off—poor roses—must I go—
I have worn them year by year—from the bush we both had set—
What? fling them to you?—well—that were hardly gracious. No!
Your plague but passes by the touch. A little nearer yet!
XXVII.
There, there! he buried you, the Priest; the Priest is not to blame,
He joins us once again, to his either office true:
I thank him. I am happy, happy. Kiss me. In the name
Of the everlasting God, I will live and die with You.

Synchronicity

To understand synchronicity, the notion of cause and effect must be left behind.'
What do we replace it with? C. G. Jung reflected deeply on this question and towards the end of his life he proposed another kind of 'event'.

He called it synchronicity, an acausal connecting principle. Here one event does not cause another but coincides or participates in a way that is meaningful. An example can be taken from his own files. A patient was telling him about a dream she had. In it she was given a golden scarab. When she mentioned this, Jung, with his back to the window, heard a tapping noise. A flying insect was knocking against the window from the outside. He opened the window and caught it in his hand as it flew into the room. It was a scarabaeid beetle, the closest thing to a scarab found in that region.

What does this mean? The dream of the scarab, and the telling of the dream to Jung in his office, did not cause the scarabaeid beetle to tap at the window and fly into Jung's hand yet the two events are connected. They share meaning. According to Jung, the patient was extremely rational and rejected any emotions or phenomena that could not be validated through logic including the reality of her own unconscious. Jung said, "The meaningful connection is obvious enough ... in view of the approximate identity of the chief objects (the scarab and the beetle)." The Scarab, he knew, in Egyptian mythology is associated with rebirth and it was just such a rebirth of consciousness that his patient not only needed but was handed in her dream, and in the coinciding scarabaeid beetle who flew uncharacteristically away from light and into the darkened room.

Couldn't this just be chance? Many synchronicities might be dismissed as random chance though this can only be the case if we experience the events as existing outside ourselves--external phenomena with no internal meaning. If there is no connection to our inner world, then we do not experience it as a synchronicity. Jung felt that the psyche (soul) and soma (the body) were linked and that an inner event could manifest as an outer event and visa versa. He said,

"Meaningful coincidences are unthinkable as pure chance--the more they multiply and the greater and more exact the correspondence is...they can no longer be regarded as pure chance, but, for the lack of a causal explanation, have to be thought of as meaningful arrangements." The question is, what is being arranged, and between whom?

Enter the Unus Mundas. This is a term taken from alchemists of the middle ages that means 'one world'. It depicts the union between inner events, such as dreams, ideas, thoughts and imagination and the outer world of tangible existence. Synchronicity --the experience of unrelated coincidences --is a moment of Unus Mundas where the inner world (such as thinking of a person who we haven't seen in a long time) meets the outer world ( when that person calls on the phone just as we think of them).


Types of Synchronicities

1) The coincidence of an inner psychic state in the observer with a simultaneous objective, external state that corresponds in some way, (e.g. the scarab), where there is no evidence of a causal connection between the psychic state and the external event, and where, considering the psychic relativity of space and time, such a connection is not conceivable.

2) The coincidence of an inner psychic state with a corresponding external event which takes place at a distance and is only later validated.

3) The coincidence of an inner psychic state with a corresponding future event that is distant in time and can is only later be validated. (e.g. Jung's example)

When are synchronicities likely to occur? Jung found that synchronicities tend to occur when we are in states of openness or heightened awareness. Meditation can also heighten our awareness and make us more attuned to synchronicities.

Because synchronicity is characterized by a sense of meaning, it can be seen as a bridge between the inner world of the psyche and the outer world of reality. Within a synchronicity, patterns of external events mirror an inner experience; likewise dreams and fantasies may seem to flood over into the external world. But how do we apply meaning? What exactly do we mean when we say the word?

Meaning for C. G. Jung was an exploration away from causal paradigms. Not looking for a rational explanation for an event, Jung looked instead for 'meaning' or purpose. He did not ask what caused something to happen; he asked 'what happened?'

This reorientation away from cause and effect is reflected in modern physicists who are looking more for connections than explanations based on 'natural laws'. It also highlights the potential of synchronistic events to be markers of the future-- where causation has ties with the past. As markers of time, synchronicities happen in chairos or when 'the time is right'. Another marker of chairos is found in myth.

“Myths evoke feelings and imagination and touch on themes that are part of the human collective inheritance. The myths…remain current and personally relevant because there is a ring of truth in them about shared human experience.”

Both synchronicity and mythology form a bridge between psyche and soma, mind and matter. This concept can be explored through the language of myth and fairy tale.

In the mythologies of many people, the mythic figure who is the embodiment of the unexpected (synchronicity) is the Trickster, who steps godlike through the cracks and flaws in the ordered world of ordinary reality, bringing good luck and bad, profit and loss

This is an archetypal figure known to Native Americans as 'Coyote' and 'Maui' to the Polynesians. He is also known as Loki, Krishna and Hermes. These archetypes of the Trickster command the boundaries between conscious and unconscious, life and death. As Psychopomp, Hermes is a guide of souls to the underworld as well as the patron of travelers and thieves.

These images of transition warn us that when the Trickster shows up an experience of synchronicity is at hand. Another powerful Trickster figure is seen in the archetype of the uninvited guest as depicted by the 13th Fairy and the goddess of strife, Eris.

The Uninvited Guest “I am the Fairy Uglyane! Pray where are your King’s manners, that I have not been invited?”

Thanks to Walt Disney, almost everyone is familiar with the story of Sleeping Beauty. Although the highlights may be on Prince Charming, love’s first kiss, and happy ever after, the action of the tale, the event that really gets things started, comes from the curse of the uninvited guest--the 13th fairy.

It is this neglected enchantress, disgruntled by being ignored, that causes the entire kingdom to fall into unconsciousness.

There is another tale that comes to us from Homer’s Iliad. Here it is the tempestuous goddess of strife, Eris, who has also been overlooked. When she fails to receive an invitation for the event that all the gods and goddesses are attending, she crashes the party. Eris then stirs things up by tossing a golden apple down the banquet table. Bouncing and crashing through the crystal and fine china, it ultimately falls to rest midway between Hera, Queen of the gods, Athena, goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. Around the golden apple is inscribed “for the fairest” and of course, each of the three deities reach for it.

Zeus, sensing trouble, quickly calls upon the young mortal Paris to decide which of the three goddesses deserves the apple--which is most fair. Paris may or may not have realized the dubious nature of this honor. In any case, it seems he had no choice. Each goddess paraded in front of him, offering reward after her own fashion—Hera offered power, Athena offered strategy and Aphrodite offered the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. Paris chose Helen and thus began the Trojan war.

The result of this event was the destruction of Troy (a synchronicity foretold by his mother's dream) and enormous loss of lives all round. Helen and Paris had a very hard time, as did her Greek husband, Menelaus, and all because nobody thought to include the goddess Eris to dinner. In the words of Richard Idemon, 'There is a message here.'

The message has to do with the results of neglect and the kinds of synchronicities that may be evoked by the 'Trickster'. This is not a reference to neglecting health, diet or exercise and then suffering the physical consequences. This is about neglecting the needs of our own innate energy, our inner world, and the results that oversight may bring.

If inner needs are ignored, we only have to look to fairy tales and myths to find out what can happen. In human nature, the worst punishment is ostracism and the outcome of such an exclusion, even self inflicted, is often self-destructive. The inner life of the psyche has its way of being felt, for better or for worse. One way an uninvited element of the unconscious may manifest in life is through dis-ease (strife) of a physical or emotional nature. This can be experienced as a synchronicity, especially if the illness prevents forward movement, changing a job, relationship or location and forces one into self-reflection. Synchronicities may come at times when inner reflection is most needed.

Jung believed that dreams hold within them their own meaning, just as we recall them (the manifest dream). Unlike Freud, he felt they were not distorted or disguised but difficult to discern. He saw them as messages, natural expressions of the unconscious and challenging to interpret only because they express in their own unique language of symbols and metaphor.

I have found again and again in my professional work that the images and ideas that dreams contain can not possibly be explained solely in terms of memory. (Jung, 1964 p.26)

Many people have experiences in which the outside world meaningfully, but non causally, relates to their dream states. These dreams are synchronistic encounters of the 'third' kind and describe synchronistic events-- The coincidence of a psychic state with a corresponding future external event.

Divination & Synchronicity

Divination is not a rival form of knowledge; it is a part of the main body of knowledge itself. --Michel Foucault, The Order of Things

The ancient art of Divination has existed as an archetype--in all places, in all cultures, in all times. From the throwing of the bones in Africa to the precise horizon astronomy of the Mayans, humans have developed tools for the symbolic interpretation of their inner life. Jung described the I Ching, Tarot and Astrology as examples of the principle of synchronicity. He felt that in the given moment of the ‘falling of the coins or yarrow stalks’, in the layout of the cards or the symbol system of 'the stars' was reflected the state of mind of the questioner, seeing them as a function of and unified by the divination process. As above, so below.

In a letter to Freud dated June 12, 1911, Jung wrote:
"My evenings are taken up largely with astrology. I make horoscopic calculations in order to find a clue to the core of psychological truth. Some remarkable things have turned up which will certainly appear incredible to you ...I dare say that we shall one day discover in astrology a good deal of knowledge that has been intuitively projected into the heavens."

Jung found, for example, that the choice of a marriage partner could not be reduced to “mere chance” but rather that there appeared to be a causal connection between birth signs and marriage partnerships. He also found examples of synchronicity within the constructs of his study and that “the psychic and physical event (namely the subject’s problems and choice of horoscope) correspond, it would seem, to the nature of the archetype in the background and could therefore represent a synchronistic event."

The link between synchronicity and divination can be seen through the astrological model in what is termed transits. Consider the example of transiting Saturn passing over (or conjunct) an individual’s sun in their natal chart. What may coincide with this event? What synchronicity might be seen between the nature of the planets involved and the person linked to them?
Saturn’s role as the Beast is a necessary part of his meaning, for as the fairytale tells us, it is only when the Beast is loved for his own sake that he can be freed from the spell and can become the Prince."

Saturn is traditionally associated with limits, restrictions, blocks, hard work and loss of esteem or recognition. There is a connection to form and matter, including the skeleton, rocks, mountains and anything that provides scaffolding or structure. He is also linked to the archetype of the ‘pragmatic’ and the ‘isolated’ and concepts such as gravity and reality.

A transit from this planet can coincide with an experience of limitation, isolation and hindrance. Through what appears to be a synchronicity between the individual psyche, the outer planet and the daily life, one is forced to examine what is not working because they get stopped.

Experiences that associate with Saturn can be anything from being fired, rejected, turned down, relationship break-ups to a ‘fall’ that results in a broken limb, lack of finances or restrictions that appear to come from an outside source—all situations that provide the opportunity to reassess life goals and the structure on which aims and objectives are built and nourished.

I simply believe that some part of the human Self or Soul is not subject to the laws of space and time. --Carl Jung

The concept of Synchronicity began with the collaboration of the Nobel Prize physicist Wolfgang Pauli and analytical psychologist C.G. Jung. Both these men felt there was 'something else' at work in synchronistic events other than the classical understanding of cause and effect or chance. Uniting the approaches of analytical psychology and quantum physics, Jung and Pauli suggested the understanding of synchronicity necessitated the building a bridge with one foundation derived into the objectivity of hard science and the other into the subjectivity of personal values.

Synchronicities connect an individual's inner world in space and time with a universal order or Unus Mundus.

While the conventional laws of physics do not heed human desires or the need for meaning--apples fall whether we will them to or not--synchronicities act as mirrors to the inner processes of mind and take the form of outer manifestations of interior transformations. (Peat, n.d.)

Synchronicity has the curious trait of being simultaneously a singular, individual event and the manifestation of universal order. In this sense it is contained within the temporal moment, exhibiting a transcendental and numinous nature. Transcendental, in quantum physics, refers to quantum objects that are 'waves of possibility' --transcendent potentials that exist outside of space and time yet can effect space and time.

It is this relationship between the transcendent and the coincidental arrangement of mental and physical happenings that the synchronicity acquires its numinous meaning. Synchronicities then are a bridge between mind and matter.

Psyche & Matter

Psyche and matter exist in one and the same world, and each partakes of the other, otherwise any reciprocal action would be impossible. If research could only advance far enough, therefore, we would arrive at an ultimate agreement between physical and psychological concepts

Synchronicity and quantum phenomena have common ground. There are also important differences. Nonlocality, like synchronicity, involves two quantum events where the observed properties of the quanta have an element of spontaneity in their manifestation, and the correlations between the two quanta are not due to efficient causation between them.

However, quantum nonlocality phenomena differ from synchronicity, because two quantum events can be both events in the outer physical world. Synchronicity is a connection between an inner psychic event and an outer event, bridging psyche and matter, and thus pointing to the unus mundus. This most important aspect of synchronicity relates to the inner psychological meaning and its connection to matter, or manifest reality.

In the quantum phenomenon ...there is no meaning involved. ...In contrast, when an archetype manifests in a synchronicity experience, meaning is the critical point.

Summary
In quantum theory we find time flows symmetrically forward and back with no distinction between past and future.

Synchronicity appears to function in the same way, where future events are perceived in the present.

Quantum theory’s non-locality, the seamless connection between objects, links to synchronicity as it connects the awareness of objects or events outside of the classical range of perception by a non-causal means.

Quantum theory’s ‘action at a distance’, where objects communicate instantaneously at faster than light speed, relates to synchronicity in its potential for instant communication between a thought and a corresponding 'outside' event. In the world of quantum theory, our most fundamental notions about reality break down, but the foundations of synchronicity start to make sense.