Stymphalian Birds Hercules now advances to the sphere of war. Openly, now, following the altruistic stooping to help the needy and the “folk”, Hercules comes bearing arms against the wicked. It is almost as if Hercules has doubly earned the right to tilt in combat, through having served as a … Continue reading
The Labors of Hercules, Part 5
The Augean Stables Hercules does not go immediately into action or battle, following his insult from the gods: Hera’s madness that causes him to murder his own offspring is the “fall” or primordial condition of sinful man who is an enemy to himself and his own kith/kin, let alone everyone … Continue reading
Labors of Hercules, Part 4
The Erymanthian Boar Hercules had been given the (originally) ten labors as a penance for letting Hera drive him to wrath, in which he slew his six sons. So don’t let anyone tell you that penance is a “Catholic” thing. All of the labors center around a primordial world of … Continue reading
The Labors of Hercules, Part 3
The Third Test, The Ceryneian Hind For the third labor, Hercules was given a retrieval task instead of a slaying to accomplish. Since Hercules could not be overcome with guile & brute force, it was hoped that he could be made to trespass against a god, & have divine fury … Continue reading
Labors of Hercules, Part 2
The story continues: Hercules has an adversary, Eurystheus, who is the current king and holds regnum over Hercules’ territory. Now, in the esoteric Christian tradition, Satan is not our “enemy”, but our “adversary” – there is a subtle, but distinct difference (Alain Benoist has come to the conclusion that the … Continue reading
The Labors of Hercules, Part One
Hercules and the Lion Hercules is a picture of the strong man, who binds: in Christ’s parables, he uses the image to refer to Satan, who always imitates God in a perverse manner. Esoterically, we might say that for most people (excluding Tomberg’s mysterious “just man”), “Satan makes the first … Continue reading
Esoteric Christianity & the Anti-Christ
Part of the problem with standing in the Western ruins involves clearing away the fog of spiritual war, which is deliberate and has the effect of turning the conflict into a free-for-all, in which chaos and confusion deepen demoralization. Rudolf Steiner’s work is important in any history of esoterism, however, … Continue reading
The Trivium & Mystery
Cologero’s translations have provided this gem, from de Giorgio: “We could also call it “intuition” although no psychological quality is given to this term: the psyche in fact is below the spirit, the intellect, the heart—these three terms denoting, under three aspects, the same type of integrative activity of the … Continue reading
Never the Twain Shall Meet
I chose to write on The Dark Cloud of Unknowing to illustrate something that is true that has been discussed here (that East & West are not divergent in Tradition). The author was an anonymous Englishman during the 14th century; ergo, a quintessential “Western” mystic on an isolated island in … Continue reading
The Philokalia’s Martial Character
“What struck me on the beach–and it struck me indeed, so that I staggered as at a blow–was that if the Eternal Principle had rested in that curved thorn I had carried about my neck across so many leagues, and if it now rested in the new thorn (perhaps the … Continue reading