Post by david on Oct 8, 2020 16:39:26 GMT
Dear friends,
There is something fascinating about a candle if the air is still and the flame does not move. It is like a sword in the darkness. No electrical device can produce this effect. They
say questioning destroys wonder but there are some of us who have to know. What is it that draws me to the flame and draws a moth at the cost of its life?
It is this fascination that the candle holds that makes it a suitable subject to illustrate the use of the intellect in meditation which is important if you really want to understand the symbols used in ritual and not just go by the book. There is an irrational drive at the heart of rationalism without which it is impossible to truly get into the essence of knowing.
As the candle burns it disappears. Molten wax at the top of the candle is drawn into the wick which means the candle becomes the flame. What becomes of the flame? Nothing can cease to exist so where is the candle after it is burnt? Candles are part of Creation but the amount of candleness in Creation cannot be reduced however many candles are burnt so when you burn a candle you still have a candle.
The candle is made from wax. It is the formless substance that can become anything. To shape it requires fire below it. Fire has to exist in the lowest place because it is its nature to rise overcoming all inertia to make action possible. Solid becomes liquid. The inert is now able to respond to the creative impulse and receive form.
This is not meant to be a practical guide to candle making but whenever I read these guides they never explain how to make wicks so it is worth a digression. Take a length of cotton, tie one end to something convenient and loop the thread three times round three fingers. A mystic should try to contemplate on every action and we have a chance to apply number symbolism here. We start with a single thread and one is the number of Essence. As we double it the one is duplicated. Duality is the reflection of Essence into manifestation. We do it three times which is the number of Perfection so we have perfect duality. This gives us the number six which is the number of the sun. We do it three times again to perfect the solar number giving eighteen. One plus eight is nine which is Perfection perfected. Now plait the threads neither too loosely nor too tightly. Threads symbolize fate and the interweaving of fates create the manifest world.
The wick has to be cut to the required lengths and the cutting of threads symbolizes the severing of fate of which death is a manifestation. If you are not making candles immediately wax the wicks to stop them coming undone. Substance protects the manifestation of Essence.
The wick is the quintessence of the candle. Quintessence is the vertical reflection of Essence into matter and is at the centre of every material thing. Although quintessence is a material principle because it is a perfect reflection of the Spirit to become one with the quintessence is in effect to become one with the Spirit. When the candle burns while air is flowing directly into the flame the wax is flowing into it indirectly by means of the wick. The
lower action reflects the higher.
Now you understand the fascination of the flame. The air cannot stop flowing into it and neither can I.
For the candle to burn the wax must contain fire as a potential. The fire that we used to melt the wax is now returning.
We have to light the candle and that requires the Divine spark. If you have an altar flame you should light all things from this, next best is a house fire. All flames should burn
from the one flame. The Divine spark is the bringing down of the solar spirit into the material form which penetrates through the outer appearances by means of the thunderbolt to find the fire latent within. The candle is in the form of the World Pillar through which the quintessence manifests the thunderbolt.
Fire has now risen from below substance to above substance. It descends through the quintessence overcoming inertia to bring about change and transformation. Earth becomes
air and rises with the flame. The flame ceases at the point where you have cut the wick. It cannot go further. Now where is the candle? You need to know because your fate is also burning to its end and when that is reached the only place you can be is the place where
the candle goes. Can you go where the moth cannot? Or will you circle endlessly? If you do succeed in going into the flame surely that is the final attainment. What can happen beyond?
Nothing can be seen beyond the flame but if nothing is beyond the flame all you attain is to be scattered with the air.
The solution is to know the cause of the flame which is the continual flow of substance into Essence. All things are eternally drawn into the Divine centre from which all things are eternally created. The air is drawn back into the flame. It returns as the light of which air is the medium. That which is without moves in. That which is within radiates out.
We make the mistake of believing that earth is female and fire is male. It is true that the male is always moving but the power of the flame is female. We do not understand because
we live on the outside of a sphere where the air is lost as it rises to the flame instead of the inside where it flows always into Her heart. The reason is that we live in the body and not in the mind. The skull is on the outside. The flame is on the inside. The Universe is inside out and upside down and we are trying to make the male contain the female and that which enters to be
greater than that which is entered.
People say that the highest truth cannot be attained by logic but you see now why it is so hard to logical. Logic says that the entire Universe is contained within the Earth's crust. Can you follow where logic leads?
The only way it can be done is to be your own thoughts. They say nothing can truly be known but do you know for certain that anyone has succeeded where the rationalist has failed? The truth is I have never really seen a candle. I have never really been for a walk, seen a view, listened to a song, asked a question or received an answer. You think you know that two and two makes four but do you really know it? They say that truth cannot be put into words but it seems to me that if I were to hear just one word correctly spoken I would know everything there is to be known.
The problem is that I cannot become a candle but I can become the knowing of a candle. When I do that I will see a candle, and a moth. Some say that because there is no such thing as a candle then I and the candle are one so I can become a candle but can I become a candle without the candle ceasing to be? They say the rationalists lose beauty but it is the irrationalists who say there is no such thing as a candle.
I think that when I know a candle the candle will still be beautiful, and it is by knowing it in perfection that the candle will never go out.
May She be with you,
David.
There is something fascinating about a candle if the air is still and the flame does not move. It is like a sword in the darkness. No electrical device can produce this effect. They
say questioning destroys wonder but there are some of us who have to know. What is it that draws me to the flame and draws a moth at the cost of its life?
It is this fascination that the candle holds that makes it a suitable subject to illustrate the use of the intellect in meditation which is important if you really want to understand the symbols used in ritual and not just go by the book. There is an irrational drive at the heart of rationalism without which it is impossible to truly get into the essence of knowing.
As the candle burns it disappears. Molten wax at the top of the candle is drawn into the wick which means the candle becomes the flame. What becomes of the flame? Nothing can cease to exist so where is the candle after it is burnt? Candles are part of Creation but the amount of candleness in Creation cannot be reduced however many candles are burnt so when you burn a candle you still have a candle.
The candle is made from wax. It is the formless substance that can become anything. To shape it requires fire below it. Fire has to exist in the lowest place because it is its nature to rise overcoming all inertia to make action possible. Solid becomes liquid. The inert is now able to respond to the creative impulse and receive form.
This is not meant to be a practical guide to candle making but whenever I read these guides they never explain how to make wicks so it is worth a digression. Take a length of cotton, tie one end to something convenient and loop the thread three times round three fingers. A mystic should try to contemplate on every action and we have a chance to apply number symbolism here. We start with a single thread and one is the number of Essence. As we double it the one is duplicated. Duality is the reflection of Essence into manifestation. We do it three times which is the number of Perfection so we have perfect duality. This gives us the number six which is the number of the sun. We do it three times again to perfect the solar number giving eighteen. One plus eight is nine which is Perfection perfected. Now plait the threads neither too loosely nor too tightly. Threads symbolize fate and the interweaving of fates create the manifest world.
The wick has to be cut to the required lengths and the cutting of threads symbolizes the severing of fate of which death is a manifestation. If you are not making candles immediately wax the wicks to stop them coming undone. Substance protects the manifestation of Essence.
The wick is the quintessence of the candle. Quintessence is the vertical reflection of Essence into matter and is at the centre of every material thing. Although quintessence is a material principle because it is a perfect reflection of the Spirit to become one with the quintessence is in effect to become one with the Spirit. When the candle burns while air is flowing directly into the flame the wax is flowing into it indirectly by means of the wick. The
lower action reflects the higher.
Now you understand the fascination of the flame. The air cannot stop flowing into it and neither can I.
For the candle to burn the wax must contain fire as a potential. The fire that we used to melt the wax is now returning.
We have to light the candle and that requires the Divine spark. If you have an altar flame you should light all things from this, next best is a house fire. All flames should burn
from the one flame. The Divine spark is the bringing down of the solar spirit into the material form which penetrates through the outer appearances by means of the thunderbolt to find the fire latent within. The candle is in the form of the World Pillar through which the quintessence manifests the thunderbolt.
Fire has now risen from below substance to above substance. It descends through the quintessence overcoming inertia to bring about change and transformation. Earth becomes
air and rises with the flame. The flame ceases at the point where you have cut the wick. It cannot go further. Now where is the candle? You need to know because your fate is also burning to its end and when that is reached the only place you can be is the place where
the candle goes. Can you go where the moth cannot? Or will you circle endlessly? If you do succeed in going into the flame surely that is the final attainment. What can happen beyond?
Nothing can be seen beyond the flame but if nothing is beyond the flame all you attain is to be scattered with the air.
The solution is to know the cause of the flame which is the continual flow of substance into Essence. All things are eternally drawn into the Divine centre from which all things are eternally created. The air is drawn back into the flame. It returns as the light of which air is the medium. That which is without moves in. That which is within radiates out.
We make the mistake of believing that earth is female and fire is male. It is true that the male is always moving but the power of the flame is female. We do not understand because
we live on the outside of a sphere where the air is lost as it rises to the flame instead of the inside where it flows always into Her heart. The reason is that we live in the body and not in the mind. The skull is on the outside. The flame is on the inside. The Universe is inside out and upside down and we are trying to make the male contain the female and that which enters to be
greater than that which is entered.
People say that the highest truth cannot be attained by logic but you see now why it is so hard to logical. Logic says that the entire Universe is contained within the Earth's crust. Can you follow where logic leads?
The only way it can be done is to be your own thoughts. They say nothing can truly be known but do you know for certain that anyone has succeeded where the rationalist has failed? The truth is I have never really seen a candle. I have never really been for a walk, seen a view, listened to a song, asked a question or received an answer. You think you know that two and two makes four but do you really know it? They say that truth cannot be put into words but it seems to me that if I were to hear just one word correctly spoken I would know everything there is to be known.
The problem is that I cannot become a candle but I can become the knowing of a candle. When I do that I will see a candle, and a moth. Some say that because there is no such thing as a candle then I and the candle are one so I can become a candle but can I become a candle without the candle ceasing to be? They say the rationalists lose beauty but it is the irrationalists who say there is no such thing as a candle.
I think that when I know a candle the candle will still be beautiful, and it is by knowing it in perfection that the candle will never go out.
May She be with you,
David.