The Magical Mountain
On the mountain tops the earth is refined and is joined with heaven, it's also where heaven condenses and tokes form. For this reason, in all traditions, mountains have symbolized the place of encounter of man with God. Nevertheless, this sacred encounter can't be generated on any mountain, rather only on a magical mountain, a secret place which only men who have been initiated into the mysteries may approach.
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The Magical Mountain
On the mountain tops the earth is refined and is joined with heaven, it's also where heaven condenses and tokes form. For this reason, in all traditions, mountains have symbolized the place of encounter of man with God. Nevertheless, this sacred encounter can't be generated on any mountain, rather only on a magical mountain, a secret place which only men who have been initiated into the mysteries may approach. In the Judeo Christian tradition, the prototype of this type is Moses, when he removed his sandals, symbols of the lowest, in order to go to the place of his encounter with God.
So also, under the mountains are found the mines, where people extract the precious metals formed through the influences of heaven, and it is justly there, on the mountain top, where the alchemists must go to search for their prima materia , germ of celestial light, before it is fixed as a specific metal
The painting by Joan Miró, Femme devant l'etoile filante , in a masterful way suggests the encounter between of the subtle, represented by the star, and the corporeal, represented by the woman-mountain contains a secret in her entrails.
Joan Miro, "Femme devant l'étoile filante" (1974)
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1 of 12. The Creator Compass
William Blake represented the demiurge as the projection of a luminous point appeared in the middle of the uncreated night. From this point surges the Ancient of Days, that creates the universes by means of a compass. The vertex of said compass, image of the mountain, remain immobile while at its base creation originates itself.
W. Blake, Europe , 1794.
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2 of 12. The Place of Purity
The mountain where the castle of Montsegur is found is the prototype of the elevated places that unite the earth with heaven. They are considered pure places because the fire that the mountains guard in their interior consumes the impurities of the earth, just as the fire of the alchemists' athanor does with metals. For this reason, the Cathars built on one of them a sanctuary fortress and according to the tradition, in the bowels of this mountain the legendary hidden treasure is still found.
Ruins of Montsegur, XIII century.
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3 of 12. Inside-Oudside
The cathedral of Notre-Dame symbolizes the median place that, contemplated from the exterior it only shows its form, while in its interior divine glory in the light and color shows forth. "Examined from outside, the rose windows of cathedrals only allow their framework to show, but seen from inside, their brilliance illuminates the believer. Thus, the word of life heard from outside only allows the bone of truth to be glimpsed, while this very word perceived from the inside allows us to taste the nourishing marrow of the creator of all things." (The Message Rediscovered XXI, 17)
Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris, c. 1245.
Rose Window on the principal face of Notre-Dame.
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4 of 12. The Search for the Treasure
It's known that in the interior of the mountains is where the highly valued metals are formed, for this reason man has forever sought the way of penetrating its interior. Nevertheless it isn't so easy to approach the mysterious mountain where the gold of the Philosopher's Stone is found. Such as appears in the alchemical illustration, one must cross the sea of the philosophers and leave behind the earthly world.
Salomon Trismosin, Splendor Solis, XVI century
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5 of 12. The Cosmic Dance
In the interior of the temple, as in the interior of the mountain, one finds the fire that engenders creation and destroys it. In the image of the Hindu temple, this fixed and immutable energy is represented by the phallus or lingam of Shiva, the central nucleus of the temple, around which the different parts of the conjunction are organized. As it happens in a cosmic dance, in which the volatile particles dance and are attracted by a fixed center.
Hindu dancer in a moment of the performance of the Mahabharata.
Section of a classic Hindu temple.
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6 of 12. The Transition between Different Realities
For its verticality the mountain is a transitional place, a sacred space which, like the temple binds visible reality with the invisible. The mosques (number 2 in the above diagram) are a perfect example of the transition from the profane world (number 1 in the above diagram) towards the sacred center, represented in the Islamic tradition by the stone cube of the Kabba (number 3 in the above diagram).
Mosque from Cordoba, VIII century
Diagram of the transitions towards the center.
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7 of 12. The Opening of Heaven
Once reached, the secret place or center of the world, symbolized in this case by the Kabba, the heavens are opened and one can contemplate the divine glory. For this reason, the mountain is the place of visions and theophanies, such as appear on the miniature that shows the journey of Mohammed from Mecca to heaven. The mountain symbolizes this visionary ascension and also the axis mundi that binds the heaven with the earth.
Photograph of the Kabba.
Miniature that represents the sacred journey of Mohammed to heavens.
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8 of 12. The Home of the Gods
The alchemical engraving by Michelspascher represents the magical mountain where the conjunction of heaven and earth is realized, for this reason Coniunction is the title of the engraving. A staircase with seven steps on which are written the names of seven alchemical operations ascends to the temple that lodges the sacred union of the King and the Queen. Under a roof crowned by a phoenix, that shows the symbols of the sun and the moon, one finds the spouses. The place is found in the interior of the mountain, which in its time rises as an island in the middle of the sea of the world. In this sacred mountain live the seven planetary gods, also symbols of the seven alchemical metals, with Mercury in its peak. A zodiacal crown surrounds it, on which the correspondences of the celestial influences with the signs of the metals. Four circles with the names of the elements seal the four corners of the engraving.
But in order to penetrate into the mountain and reach the so desired vision of the conjunction the adept ought to follow the hare, the animal that according to Horapollo, symbolizes knowledge of the secrets. The profane, with their eyes veiled, remain ignorant of what happens inside of the mountain.
Steffan Michelspascher, Kabbalah, Mirror of Art and Nature, in Alchemy, 1616.
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9 de 12. The Impossible Entrance
The Nepalese stupas appear like impenetrable mountains in whose interior some reliquary of an acetic saint is guarded. Access to it is prohibited to the faithful who may only walk around and around its outside. In this way, the stupa is shown as an anthropomorphized mountain, that is to say the image of the regenerated man, the real place of union between the highest and the lowest. In the photograph one can observe the triangle of the conjunction, from the circle that forms the base of the stupa, image of the earthly sun, the crown at the peak of the stone cube where the eyes of primordial man are located.
Nepalese Stupa.
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10 of 12. The Coronation Stone
The conversion of the stone cube, or foundation stone in the pyramidal stone, image of the perfect body, that culminates and crowns the Great Work of the philosophers, has been symbolized in diverse ways throughout the history of art. The mountain is one of them, but also the myth that tells the story of Pallas Athena's birth from the brow of Zeus, or the coronation of the Virgin, image of pure matter, sublimated.
Ceramic decorated with a representation of Pallas Athena, spring fully armed
from Zeus' brow, IV century b. C.
Fra Angelico, Coronation of the Virgin, Florence, 1440.
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11 of 12. The Great Journey
As we have said, access to the sacred mountain is only possible for the initiate who knows the path. The Huichole shamans, who knew this very well, in their drawing have represented the astral journey of a master and his disciple toward the magical place of the union of earth and heaven. For them the secret mountain is the place of encounter with their ancestors.
Huichole Indian Rug
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12 of 12. The Earthly Heaven or the Heavenly Earth
When heaven descends over this purified place above the earth in order to reside in it, a union of the spirit with pure matter is produced. One calls this mystery the earthly heaven or the heavenly earth, represented by the heavenly Jerusalem: "The new heaven and the new earth". Perfected and completed creation, represented in Alchemy by the pyramidal stone: "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying that now the dwelling of God is with me, and he will live with them." (The Book of Revelations, 21, 1-22)
Miniature that shows Mount Zion, Beato de Liébana, X century.
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