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Esowteric

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Image: Gardening / Victor Gilbert (1847–1933) / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

Gardening, a painting by Victor Gilbert (1847–1933). A young woman in a long dark blue skirt and light-coloured blouse is standing to prune a flowering bush. She is surrounded by roses and other flowering plants, and standing by a stone cottage with ivy creeping up its walls.

September 30, 2025 at 8:34 AM

Esowteric

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There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields –
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been ...

~ Emily Dickinson.

An image containing a poem, with a pink rose and green leaves in the lower left-hand corner. The poem, “There Is Another Sky” by Emily Dickinson, reads:

There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields –
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

September 30, 2025 at 8:34 AM

Esowteric

@esowteric.bsky.social

The Work
~~~~~~~
“The work of the eyes is done. Go now and do the heart-work on the images imprisoned within you.”

~ Rainer Maria Rilke.

Image: The Queen of Hearts playing card.

September 23, 2025 at 4:12 PM

Esowteric

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“Don’t Hesitate”
~~~~~~~
If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this ... 1/3

Image: Denge (“Balance”) / star5112 / Wikimedia Commons (orig. Flickr) / CC BY-SA 2.0.

The silhouette of a person balancing with their arms outstretched and one leg lifted high above the ground, perhaps in a moment of playfulness and joy, on a slight and shadowy rise, set against an unfocussed background with what could be yellowy-green water and sepia sky.

September 23, 2025 at 9:30 AM

Esowteric

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Like It or Lump It
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If you think all soup has lumps in it you will fail to recognise soup without them.”

~ Idries Shah, The Commanding Self.

Image: Vegetable soup 3 / Tiia Monto / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

A photo of a bowl of vegetable soup, sprinkled with herbs, and with a spoon in it.

September 22, 2025 at 7:35 PM

Esowteric

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Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

~ John Keats, “To Autumn”.

Image: Autumn colour (10311552835) / Ian Kirk from Broadstone, Dorset, UK / Wikimedia Commons (orig. Flickr) / CC BY 2.0.

A close-up of autumnal leaves in green, yellow, orange, red and brown, lit up by the sun, with others out of focus further back.

September 22, 2025 at 2:15 PM

Esowteric

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Seekers After Truth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they’ve found it.”

~ Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment.

Image: Hikers enjoy a hike on a wild trail / Hillebrand Steve, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

A photo of the backs of walkers enjoying a hike on a wild trail, surrounded by trees.

September 22, 2025 at 9:06 AM

Esowteric

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Source: Edward Edinger, The Eternal Drama: The Inner Meaning of Greek Mythology.

Image: Aeneas in the Underworld / Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

A painting of Aeneas in the Underworld by Peter Paul Rubens. Wearing armour and helmet, he is walking through the darkness of the underworld with a flaming torch in one hand and his sword in the other

September 21, 2025 at 4:42 PM

Esowteric

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“[T]he purpose of the descent into the Underworld is to gain something that is missing in the upper world, some piece of information, some wisdom. This is symbolized at times by a jewel or other object of value ...”

~ Edward Edinger, The Eternal Drama.

Discovering Meaning and Purpose:

“[T]he purpose of the descent into the Underworld is to gain something that is missing in the upper world, some piece of information, some wisdom. This is symbolized at times by a jewel or other object of value, but what generally is come upon is a transpersonal principle ... Once the ego has had an encounter with the transpersonal standpoint, it is transformed. Now related to meaning, life is no longer empty or absurd, but is perceived as part of a larger and meaningful pattern. The basic revelation ... is that a spirit sustains all matter and meaning and lies embedded in all experience. ...”

September 21, 2025 at 4:42 PM

Esowteric

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The Root Causes of Why We're FUBAR
or “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” ...

mystical-faction.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...

#PostTrust #PostTruth #Materialism #Disenchantment #Resist #Resistance #Underground #Survival #DarkAges

Image: The Unholy Worship / Gwabryel, Illustrator of Weird Fiction / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.

A painting by Gwabryel, based on H. P. Lovecraft's story The Call of Cthulhu. It shows a man with arms outstretched worshipping a very tall, black figure. To his left and right, victims are suspended upside down from gallows, and in front of the dark figure are several other, perhaps tormented figures.

September 21, 2025 at 4:42 PM

Esowteric

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Source: Keiron Le Grice, The Archetypal Cosmos: Rediscovering the God in Myth, Science and Astrology.

Image: Galaxy in algeria by yacine / Eni69 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

A walker wearing a backpack stands on a hill, silhouetted against the night sky which shows countless stars in the Milky Way, and the moon.

September 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM

Esowteric

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“With the rise of our technological consumer society, collectively we have lost a sense of the sacred purpose & the encompassing spiritual context of life. We have lost the awareness that human lives are rooted in a deeper reality ...”

~ Keiron Le Grice, The Archetypal Cosmos.

Image containing a text quotation, with a grey silhouette of the side of a human skull and white cogs in place of a brain, in the lower left-hand corner. The text, from Keiron Le Grice, The Archetypal Cosmos: Rediscovering the God in Myth, Science and Astrology, reads:

Disenchantment and the Loss of Purpose:

“With the rise of our technological consumer society, collectively we have lost a sense of the sacred purpose and the encompassing spiritual context of life. We have lost the awareness that human lives are rooted in a deeper reality transcending concrete individuality, an insight that was fundamental to most civilizations, and that gives to human existence a more deeply sustaining sense of meaning and purpose. Although the material conditions of life have improved beyond measure, as a culture we have now come to believe that the universe in which we live is soulless, meaningless, and without purpose. And this disenchanted vision is seen not merely as one possible view of reality, but as an incontestable objective fact supported by science — as the true understanding of the way things really are.”

September 21, 2025 at 4:13 PM

Esowteric

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Source: Tom Cheetham, Green Man, Earth Angel: The Prophetic Tradition and the Battle for the Soul of the World.

Image: Psyche in the Underworld [Sharpened] / Jenny Eakin Delony, after Paul Alfred de Curzon (1820-1895) / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

Psyche depicted as a young woman with wings and wearing a flowing white robe. She is walking through the underworld with a box held close to her chest. Near her side is the three-headed dog, Cerberus.

September 21, 2025 at 8:28 AM

Esowteric

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“On the mythic view, or the psychic view, shared with many mystics, Creation is continuous. Jung writes, "The psyche creates reality every day." But this psyche is not localized inside our heads. Rather, we exist in it ...”

~ Tom Cheetham, Green Man, Earth Angel.

An image containing a text quotation, with a white lotus blossom and green leaves in the lower left-hand corner. The text, from Tom Cheetham, Green Man, Earth Angel: The Prophetic Tradition and the Battle for the Soul of the World, reads:

The World of Psyche:

“On the mythic view, or the psychic view, shared with many mystics, Creation is continuous. Jung writes, "The psyche creates reality every day." But this psyche is not localized inside our heads. Rather, we exist in it. The present moment is pregnant with creation. The soul of this world we experience through a sense of interiority, as the availability of the world to imagination, as a kind of reciprocal imaginative interaction, a sympathy between self and world. We move here in a different space. This is not the universe of matter; it is more nearly a cosmos of qualities, presences, and harmonies. This present is not transitory. It is not going anywhere. We are close to the origin here, close to the primordial distinctions. Space itself is substantial, qualitative, generative.”

September 21, 2025 at 8:28 AM

Esowteric

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Image: The Court Jester / John Watson Nicol / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

A jester, dressed in red, reclines in an armchair, with a small table at his side. He is holding a marotte, a sceptre with a carved head, at arm's length, observing it.

September 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM

Esowteric

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“[Jung] is saying that to have one’s soul and be in the world at the same time, one needs to be a little crazy. The idea of an interior self is a ‘crazy idea’ to a world that seeks only material security and social adjustment ...”

~ David Tacey, How To Read Jung.

An image containing a text quotation. The text, from David Tacey, How To Read Jung, reads:

Being a Little Crazy:

“[Jung] is saying that to have one’s soul and be in the world at the same time, one needs to be a little crazy. The idea of an interior self is a ‘crazy idea’ to a world that seeks only material security and social adjustment. An element of craziness or eccentricity keeps us sane by dislodging us from an egocentric position, enabling us to maintain a relationship with the whole personality. A great deal of psychiatry advocates social adjustment at all costs, and Jung was opposed to any conditioning that leads to a betrayal of soul. He recommended that the values of society should be critiqued rather than replicated, and that we cultivate a little madness and some secret space, so that the soul can flourish.”

September 20, 2025 at 5:53 PM

Esowteric

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What is Water?
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Fishes, asking what water was, went to a wise fish. He told them that it was all around them, yet they still thought that they were thirsty. (Nasafi).”

~ Idries Shah, The Sufis.

Image: Aquarium Fish / Mike Fisher / Wikimedia Commons (orig. Flickr) / CC BY 2.0.

September 20, 2025 at 8:46 AM

Esowteric

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Source: James Hillman, The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling.

Image: The Eye of Providence with Rays / Inductiveload / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

A symbol showing an eye in a triangle emitting yellow rays which the author equates with providence.

September 19, 2025 at 9:46 AM

Esowteric

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“[W]e prefer to imagine ourselves thrown naked into the world, utterly vulnerable and fundamentally alone. It is easier to accept the story of heroic self-made development than the story that you may well be loved by this guiding providence ...”

~ James Hillman, The Soul's Code.

An image containing a text quotation. The text, from James Hillman, The Soul's Code: In Search of Character and Calling, reads:

Being Watched Over:

“Despite this invisible caring, we prefer to imagine ourselves thrown naked into the world, utterly vulnerable and fundamentally alone. It is easier to accept the story of heroic self-made development than the story that you may well be loved by this guiding providence, that you are needed for what you bring, and that you are sometimes fortuitously helped by it in situations of distress. May I state this as a bare and familiar fact without quoting a guru, witnessing for Christ, or claiming the miracle of recovery? Why not keep within psychology proper what once was called providence—being invisibly watched and watched over?”

September 19, 2025 at 9:46 AM

Esowteric

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“Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.”

~ Frodo, in J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.

Image: Frodo / Mark J. Ferrari / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

A drawing of Frodo Baggins, from Lord of the Rings, wearing a white shirt, sleeveless brown leather jerkin, green cloak fastened at the upper chest, and the One Ring on a chain around his neck.

September 19, 2025 at 9:06 AM

Esowteric

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Source: Robert A. Johnson, Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth.

Image: The Day Dream / Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882) / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

The Day Dream, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882). A woman in a long dark-green robe sits under a tree with a rose and an open book in her, a far-away look in her eyes.

September 19, 2025 at 8:15 AM

Esowteric

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“The disaster that has overtaken the modern world is the complete splitting off of the conscious mind from its roots in the unconscious. All the forms of interaction with the unconscious that nourished our ancestors ... are largely lost to us ...”

~ Robert A. Johnson, Inner Work.

Image containing a text quotation. The text, from Robert A. Johnson, Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth, reads:

The Unconscious and the Inner Life:

“The disaster that has overtaken the modern world is the complete splitting off of the conscious mind from its roots in the unconscious. All the forms of interaction with the unconscious that nourished our ancestors—dream, vision, ritual, and religious experience—are largely lost to us, dismissed by the modern mind as primitive or superstitious. Thus, in our pride and hubris, our faith in our unassailable reason, we cut ourselves off from our origins in the unconscious and from the deepest parts of ourselves.”

September 19, 2025 at 8:15 AM

Esowteric

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The Hidden Door
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach.”

~ Carl Jung.