GATES AND GNOSIS

THIS IS A WORLD OF SECRETS...

For those of you who follow my ramblings, it shouldn’t be a surprise that I would be deeply fascinated by the concept of gates: passages that lead us across thresholds, figuratively and symbolically. If you read the Norse Sagas, you will find the stories imbued with the concept of making passage from some starting point to the place where destiny reveals itself.

In Japanese tradition, the Torii (gate) is very important. And there are certain behaviors that are deemed appropriate when passing through them. Death itself is a passage, the most mysterious one for sure, and proper conduct is advised in works like the Bardo Thodol, more popularly known as The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Death itself can also symbolize the great veil that cloaks the path.

When we become aware of the gates that surround us, the act of consciously passing through them can be a life changing experience. For each passage, we “shed our old skin” to be reborn, dressed in new garments. But sometimes (often!) life throws us off. We experience a fall - a descent into existential and spiritual darkness. There is always a path out of such places, but our ability to climb back up, depends on our level of awareness:

“I have fallen so many times
Too many to remember
To the point of breaking
But I pledge my life
I pledge myself
To the rising Sun”
(Oberon – Dream Awakening)

This is why I like to use the image of the Magician in my work, because to me it is the type that confronts the darkness that surrounds him, and in the transformational process of confrontation – generates a fire that burns away the layers of darkness (ignorance, misery, hopelessness) to reveal the inner Sun.

One of the songs from Dream Awakening where this whole feeling of "Gates and Gnosis" is deeply present is Age of the Moon, the song itself being a passage through several musical scenes before culminating at the simplest, purest point of exit.

"It's in my bones
The summer's fading light
A horizon that weeps
Nature's God's spell falls to earth
He watches through veils
The Magician's Holy Silence"