Return of the Prodigal Sun Extract

On the other hand, in this neo-alchemical emblem the orb of the sun contains a woman, which allows to identify it with the feminine principle. Thus, if we think of the Sun as the masculine generative principle then we can say that the son has taken on the father's place but if we focus our gaze in the "woman in the sun" then it is the mother who has taken over the father's role.

As if these paradoxical polarity inversions weren't enough, the image used to depict the mother is none other than Leonardo Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. That is, after a laborious sex-change operation in the "digital surgery". The Vitruvian Man was recreated by Leonardo after Pythagorean architect Marcus Vitruvius' formula for the ideal human body proportions, which used as its basis the mathematical constant variously called the "golden mean" "golden ratio" or "divine proportion". As expressed by the enigmatic number Phi (1.618), present throughout nature's structures in close relationship to the Fibonacci spiral sequence. Leonardo consciously imbued his Vitruvian Man with the concept of the Universal Man: the human being or microcosm as an analogy of the universe or macrocosm. This is also conveyed by the Hermetic tenet: "As above, so below". Or, holographically: the whole is found in its constituent parts. Thus, the mutation into a Vitruvian Woman (whose face is none other than Mona Lisa's, with all her connotations of androginous enigma and timeless mystery) adds yet another layer of meaning, overall emphasizing the metaphysical context in which this emblem should be read.

The Sun's characteristic masculinity and fiery nature are further subverted with the depiction of solar rays by means of runny paint streaks, thus emphasizing the watery feminine element in the composition. These solar streams of liquid light flow energetically towards an "upside-down earth" (of course, "up" and "down" are only subjective concepts in infinite space) with the word "HOME" superimposed onto it. With this last polarity reversal and conceptual somersault the Earth becomes clearly identified as the Home, or dwelling place of the father to which the Son/Sun returns. But remember, the feminine elements in this representation of the sun make posible to identify it with the mother, in which case the Earth would be the son or father to which the mother returns. And if we again go back to viewing the sun as embodiment of the masculine attributes, that allows us to see the earth as an embodiment of the female passive generative principle ("prodigal" in this case would take on a sexual meaning). Thus, all this multiplicity of lectures, all the interplay and transmutation of polarities serves the function of tipping the scales away from linear/logic interpretations and in favour of using more intuitive processes where the linearity of cause and effect is superseded, at the same time pointing to the final goal of transcension of duality.

Yet at a different level, this symbolic back and forth oscillation or flowing of the archetypes into each other's roles serves also to illustrate a deeply esoteric insight, that both the Sun and the Earth are not only sentient and able to communicate with each other but they are in fact, immersed in a permanent state of communion. And being their awareness not just limited to the inert matter that compounds them but present, as an extension in the biomass on the Earth. One inmediate implication of this is that the cause of both ongoing global earth changes and solar activity anomalies is to be found neither in the Sun's behaviour, Earth's cyclic climatic patterns nor in human activity alone, but inextricably and simultaneously in all of them at once. An ongoing dialogue and mutual interaction between three planes of sentiency: planetary, solar and biological. Planetary and star conscioussness can be difficult to grasp in their vastness and relative extrangeness to common human consciousness, but even more startling perhaps, would be to consider the existence of a form of unified consciousness emanating from all of the life forms inhabiting the earth. A unified consciousness that is active without the awareness of its component cells, or at least, not of the ordinary human cell, which doesn't seem to know what its function within the overall whole is. Suffice to say for now that the ancient pythagorean and gnostic concepts of the Pleroma, the Son and the Bride can be useful at this point to convey the Cosmic Mystery Play that is enacting itself fractally, so to speak, on both the micro and macrocosmic stages of reality at this most crucial of moments in time. The Pleroma or Godhead equates with the Sun, the Bride or Sophia is the Earth (raped or prostituted) and the Son or Kristos is Humankind (redeemer of the Bride). Also, witnessed in the Arthurian Mythos within the concepts of the Wasteland, the Wounded King and the Grail Knight.

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Return of the Prodigal Sun
(Analysis of a neo-alchemical emblem)

The title chosen for my latest exhibition: "Return of the Prodigal Sun" (Walcot Chapel, Bath (UK) -Winter Solstice 2006), is also the title for a neo-alchemical emblem specifically created to illustrate one of the main themes the event focused around. Within this short essay I'll point to some of the readings that can be extracted from this densely symbolic image.

"Return of the Prodigal Sun" is a multidimensional pun in which a well known biblical parable (that of the return of the prodigal son) and an allegory of pre-christian origin (the rebirth or return of the Sun after its symbolic death on the winter solstice) are fused into something different and yet, pointing to the common astrotheological roots of both stories. One more dimension of meaning to this play with words refers to the cyclic nature of time. The passing of the world through different Ages, Aeons, or - as some ancient cultures called them - "Suns".

In any case, with this semantic humorous nod, not only the misbehaving son is turned into victorious sun, who triumphs over darkness. But also the adjective "prodigal" loses its negative meaning: "someone who squanders his wealth" in favour of the positive one: "someone who is very generous". This bounty of the sun, obvious in the physical realm as the generative principle and igniter of all life on earth, extends also to the metaphysical plane, as witnessed by the Sun's universal status as an allegory of the godhead.