The Light of the Silver Moon

XVIII

From time to time I select something from my book The Other Road Ahead and write a brief comment to expand on the ideas in the book. dsr

February 15 Moon

Some calendars turn on the phases of the Moon and the tides rise and falls because of its motion. The metal silver is attributed to the Moon as are the Owl and the Cat. Various behavior is explained by Lunar movements. There is mystery in how it seems to be larger when it rises at different times of the year. The Moon also tells us secrets about ourselves.

February 28 Silver

One of the metals of the ancient world, silver, the bright white reflective substance has been mined and treasured for centuries as the queen of metals. Often associated with the Zodiac sign Cancer, the Moon, the Archangel Gabriel (Aah), and clarity of vision. This precious metal wards off evil while attracting the wisdom of Divine Sophia which is the Holy Spirit to some people.

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Within the pages of my book The Other Road Ahead there are many examples of seeing the miraculous hidden in plain sight. It is one of the reasons I wrote it. There are insights available everywhere which do not require a special certification to view. If we want to see our world more fully this can be accomplished by just paying close attention to what is in front of us.

Embedded in our culture are many signs and symbols that arise from our imagination but we are barely aware of it consciously. In visual art, poetry, and song there is often a level of meaning that comes to the creator both rationally and through the unconscious mind. Fragments of thought that crop up involuntarily but add meaning to the work.

The playful tune "By The Light of the Silvery Moon" was a popular love song. The music was written by Gus Edwards, and the lyrics by Edward Madden. The song was published in 1909 and covered numerous times over the years. An excerpt follows:

By the light of the silvery moon,

I want to spoon, to my honey I'll croon love's tune,

Honeymoon keep a shining in June,

Your silvery beams will bring love dreams, we'll be cuddling soon,

By the silvery moon.

The two February readings have an eerie resonance to the 1909 song about the relation between "silver" and the Moon in a very mystical manner. The energy of the metal wards off evil making room in the material world for the Divine Sophia who embodies the Holy Spirit of wisdom that shapes our concept of love. Without the intersession of Sophia in our world it would just be potential and form without the virtues that make life bearable.

The song also references "Honeymoon....in June" the traditional wedding month which includes the magic concept known as the union of opposites; the Bridal Chamber in Gnostic Christian terms where the possibility of a resolution dwells. Here in a mystical "honeymoon" light and dark, good and evil, are dissolved into their original forms and return to the Source. The "...silvery beams..." of light energy emanating from a beneficial moon bring forth love and companionship.

Do I think the lyricist E. Madden studied mystical thinking? Maybe not but he was deeply dipped in the creative world of poetry and songwriting in early 20th century New York City. Ideas were flying and discussion ranged widely he was always dealing with human emotions and impressions. The unconscious mind is a permeable membrane that is constantly transferring information up and down, in and out. Existing just below the surface of our world are great perennial wonders that outcrop in the most mundane and wonderful places.

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Our Modern World

 

 

This month's Comment comes from the June 13 reading, p. 186

XIII

June 13,  Modernism

There is a belief by some that a very distinctive deterioration of Western thinking happened at the end of the Middle Ages and accelerated into the Industrial Age. Then things just got worse until the late 20th Century when people began to question the idea of institutional science and progress and took a renewed interest in the spiritual perspective.

Comment

In 2008 I wrote an essay* about modernism and its effect on our culture. It is still very appropriate today.  (Explainer is highlighted)

WHAT IS MODERNISM?

Without a doubt the most powerful political and social ideology of the past century is something few people have considered. A cluster of dogma has sprung up around the philosophy of positivism, the belief that nothing exists except that which can be measured. From this starting point we have witnessed the rise of positivist science, philosophical reductionism, consumerism and a cultural appendage; modernism. As the director of The Institute for Perennial Studies in the late 1980’s I found that we spent a lot of time researching and critiquing modernist systems as well as examining alternatives. If we learned anything from the experience it is that the negative effects of modernism are ubiquitous. As a belief system it infects all of our thinking. Allow me to share some of our findings regarding modernism and its attendant systems; positivism, an aggressive new materialism, and consumerism.

The first and most noticeable trait of any modernist system is its claim to be "new". Newness is unique to this belief system and is characterized by a cult like following of pundits and pollsters who are always trying to divine the latest trends and impulses for the purpose of forecasting. Newness is celebrated as a sacrament and is its own proof of superiority. The act of being "first" has become an obsession. Post-modernism, advanced modernism, progress, etc., have all laid claim to the mantle "new" at one time or another. Modernism consistently defines its enemies as "undemocratic". Whether it is Kropotkin and Lenin espousing various forms of scientific socialism as an escape from the Old (elitist) Order, the Northeastern establishment promoting corporate liberalism ("free trade") in the new cyberspace of Wall Street, or Coca-Cola selling the universal soft drink to the "new global marketplace", the underlying argument is always the same. We have the wave of the future at our disposal and if you don't get on the bandwagon you are resisting "democratic inevitability".

Permutations of modernism are always heralded by a shower of statistics and other mathematical gadgets. Proving that the tide is running in a certain direction with various empirical methods is an absolute necessity for the modernist. Reliance on measuring social trends is the foundation of political science and public relations.

Modernism eventually fall victim to its own poison. The idea that modernism is itself new is a fallacy. History is filled with secular prophets declaring a "new dawn" or a "new era". Not only in the Christian Bible but in the scriptures of all spiritual traditions there are admonitions against people relying too heavily on their own creations. Babylon fell while lusting after temporal rewards. Jesus reminded us that he was “the beginning and the end” saying that time as well as Creation is the domain of God and “newness” is that suspicious property of Man. The Prajna Paramitas warn the Buddhist not to trust the material world of ever changing “aggregates”.

The Sacred writings of antiquity are replete with similar caveats against newness turning instead to the eternal world within. Allied as it is with the materialist pantheon of science and positivism the present incarnation of modernism is particularly dangerous and pervasive but little changed from past manifestations.

In our research we came to the conclusion that modernism was not the leading edge of an evolutionary continuum rather it is a veneer. In the case of its present likeness the veneer is uniquely corrosive and seeks to dissolve, absorb, or ultimately erase everything that has come before it. Natural resources, indigenous cultures, traditional values, and even history itself is a target for the modernist. Yet, the real sadness is that society has bought into a fad and in the last analysis "new" is predictably ephemeral.

*https://dsreif.blogspot.com/2008/12/modernism.html

This month's Illustration

Marriage (June)

Often producing blooms every day enhancing its reputation for nurturing and regeneration the lily has a feminine or yin aspect. The Moon is also a ethereal feminine symbol traditionally associated with the goddess Selena. The Sun is usually a male symbol whose hard edged energy is soften and reflected in the glow of the Moon making this a grand celestial marriage.

"Marriage" can be purchased HERE  

All of our re-prints are available at: Art Reprints   

More like a mural in words than a book...

This road is about travel however it is not a straight line Interstate Highway where you can get somewhere very fast but not see anything interesting. Nope. The Other Road is an elliptical narrative like driving a country road with many twists, turns, side trips, and roadside attractions of hidden knowledge, ancient wisdom, and magic. It will build your spirit one daily stop at a time.

You can purchase the book at:

You can purchase my book, The Other Road Ahead, by clicking HERE

Many of you have been enjoying Perennis blog for years since the print version ceased to exist.  After over a decade we continue to post on this blog as time permits. 

I have added a Donorbox link to this blog.  Please consider contributing a monthly donation to keep this work going.  Or just a one-time sum will be appreciated. You can contribute anonymously if you like.   

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Numbers

 

 

This month's Comment comes from the May 14 reading, p. 155

May  14--- Numbers

If we can start by saying that symbolically the beginning comes from the number one which represents unity. Then the number two opens up diversity where conflict can happen but also the possibility of sharing. With the number three comes resolution or one plus two results in three which is unique but has the attributes of its parts. If we can think about numbers for something other than counting a new understanding of our world will begin.

XII

Comment

The use of numbers is so ancient that no one really knows where or when the practice started but it is nearly impossible to imagine a world without numbers. However, the majority of us are only familiar with numbers in their counting function. Many people have studied numbers as an expression of human behavior¹ or to predict events. In the Torah (the Old Testament) there is a Book of Numbers which has extensive numerical references which some say have hidden meanings². Elsewhere in many ancient writings there mystical or occult references to specific numbers. Learning about the various interpretations of numbers is a interesting and rewarding pursuit which will expand our understanding³.

¹https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gematria

²https://numerologynation.com/numerology/

³https://dsreif.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-sacred-art-of-numbers.html

The illustration for May is Grail

Inspired by ancient Rosicrucian symbolism this chalice combines the trinity of Sun, Moon, and Earth into a magical unity of knowledge and wisdom that informed Late Medieval Europe. It was used as a teaching tool to help people understand their place in the universe.

It is available in our store CLICK HERE

More like a mural in words than a book...

This road is about travel however it is not a straight line Interstate Highway where you can get somewhere very fast but not see anything interesting. Nope. The Other Road is an elliptical narrative like driving a country road with many twists, turns, side trips, and roadside attractions of hidden knowledge, ancient wisdom, and magic. It will build your spirit one daily stop at a time.

You can purchase the book at:

You can purchase my book, The Other Road Ahead, by clicking HERE

Many of you have been enjoying Perennis blog for years since the print version ceased to exist.  After over a decade we continue to post on this blog as time permits. 

I have added a Donorbox link to this blog.  Please consider contributing a monthly donation to keep this work going.  Or just a one-time sum will be appreciated. You can contribute anonymously if you like.   

   Make a Donation

Angels

 

Cosmos

 

This is a reading from my book The Other Road Ahead, p.389

December 24                         Angels

There are seasons in each person which are ignored by our modern worldview. At one time it was thought that each hour was ruled by a different angel. The extent of angelic influence was controlled by other celestial aspects, the phase of the Moon for instance. We could analyze our actions through a cosmic lens which helped us find our place in the universe and overlook mundane squabbles.

Comment

There was a time in Western Civilization when we were not ruled by the mechanical ticking of the clock or flashing digital numbers that are everywhere around us telling us what time it is. Instead the day was divided into periods that were each presided over by a different angel. This is a notion that seems to us to be both unfamiliar and complicated if not a little far-out.

Yet in the Middle Ages it made perfect sense. This is explained very well by the people at the Network for Grateful Living*: "What is an ‘hour’? Is it nothing more than a unit of time composed of 60 minutes? Is it measured by numbers or by impressions, feelings, moods? Like the seasons of the year, the seasons of the day differ by the way we experience them. Each hour we encounter has a character and a presence infinitely richer and more complex than clock time. As a messenger from another dimension — an angel perhaps — an hour has its own unique significance."

Each hour has its own unique signature in our life. If we can train ourselves to understand that every hour is a blessing then we are on the path of The Other Road Ahead.

*https://gratefulness.org/brother-david/angel-of-the-hour/

The following is the description of the December illustration in the book The Other Road Ahead, that are placed on the back of the re-prints.

Cosmos (December)

This delightful drawing reminds us of a late Medieval belief represented by the seven planets of our consciousness. Each planet represented a different stage of the unconscious mind and together they formed a map of our world and the universe we live in. The Earth represented the material world and the orbiting spheres symbolized among other aspects wisdom, desire, conflict, and judgment.

Cosmos can be purchased with this  LINK

All of our re-prints are available at: Art Reprints  

This road is about travel however it is not a straight line Interstate Highway where you can get somewhere very fast but not see anything interesting. Nope. The Other Road is an elliptical narrative like driving a country road with many twists, turns, side trips, and roadside attractions of hidden knowledge, ancient wisdom, and magic. It will build your spirit one daily stop at a time.

You can purchase my book, The Other Road Ahead, by clicking HERE

Many of you have been enjoying Perennis blog for years since the print version ceased to exist.  After over a decade we continue to post on this blog as time permits. 

I have added a Donorbox link to this blog.  Please consider contributing a monthly donation to keep this work going.  Or just a one-time sum will be appreciated. You can contribute anonymously if you like.   

   Make a Donation