So I tried something a bit different this week - finding your place of power based on the direction you wanted to go in. Depending on where you are, the directions can have these correspondences. In the Northern Hemisphere generally, the directions are:
North - Earth - practical physical body, creating, fertility, manifesting
East - Air - the mind, the intellect, thoughts, inspiration
South - Fire - Creativity, the will, magic, life force
West - Water - emotions, thoughts, feelings
(** I live in the Southern Hemisphere (yay me!) so I do the directions opposite, mostly because I live on the East Coast, and water is to the East, with the Desert to the West - so West for me is Air. North is the Equator - hot hot hot - so it's fire etc)
Here are the meanings of the cards:
North: Tanah Lot
Key energies: transition, protection, flow, release, peace,
liberation from burden
GPS: 8.62107 degrees S, 115.08716 degrees E
Location: Bali, Indonesia
Primary Elements: Sea and earth
Tanah Lot perches on a rock by the sea. Its very name means
‘land within the sea’ and it is one of those amazing ‘in between place –
neither land nor sea – but both. It is said that the 15th century
Hindu Priest Nirartha constructed the temple (along with the help of some local
fisherman) as he thought it an ideal place to pay homage to the Balinese sea
deities. Tanah is one of the seven sacred sea temples all built along the coast
– all examples of both sacred geometry and geography. It is part of a
pilgrimage to strengthen your devotion to the Gods here to visit each one.
Nirartha’s Hindu teachings centred upon the idea of moksha (moksa
‘liberation’), the belief that we should strive to release ourselves from suffering
and burden. The temples he built were considered embodiments of the God Shiva.
One of the symbols of Shiva is a snake and sea snakes are believed to gather
around Tanah Lot to guard it and protect all who visit there from evil.
East: The Temple of Isis, Aswan
“I am open to be mothered. I can mother. I can heal my
relationships and my life. My body is a miracle and can be healed of
imbalance.”
Key energies: Feminine power, mothering, magic, unity,
knowledge, healing
Location: Egypt
Primary element: Earth, air, water
The original Temple of Isis was built during the reign of
Ptolemy II on the Island of Philae, near Aswan, on the Nile. It is a place of
huge scale and majesty with huge stone columns, tomb and buildings. However in
the 1960s the Aswan dam was built to harness some of the waters of the Nile and
the temple began not only to be damaged, but horrifyingly some of it began to
be lost permanently underwater. In an emergency joint mission between UNESCO
and the Egyptian government, the Temple of Isis was dismantled stone by stone
and reassembled on nearby Agilka Island. This gargantuan task took over a
decade to complete and what we see today is an accurate reconstruction of the
original using the original materials. It really is a kind of magic jigsaw
puzzle… and one that reflects the mythos of the Goddess Isis herself.
Isis is one of the most enduring symbols of loving
motherhood, dedicated wifehood and feminine protective energy. The wife of
Osiris, the story of her love and devotion to him when he was killed and
dismembered by his brother Set is a central story in the mythology of the
Egyptians. Not satisfied that her great love would never attain eternal life,
Isis travelled the Earth looking for the pieces of Osiris. She found him piece
by piece. Advised by the God of Knowledge, Thoth, she then cast a powerful
spell which brought her husband back to life long enough to conceive a son,
Horus. Osiris retreated back into the Underworld. As a deity of resurrection,
Osiris gave hope to all that there was an afterlife and that death could be
transcended.
As a result of her role assisting Osiris (since known as the
Lord of the Dead), Isis became a protectors of the dead and many sarcophagi
featured her image with might outstretched winds extending her energy and
protecting the body As mother of Horus, she is often depicted feeding him at
the breast or cradling him lovingly, again symbols of feminine protection and
influence. You can see how many carved reliefs and status here at this temple
show this mythos.
The cult of Isis spread all over Egypt and extended into
Greece, Italy and surrounding areas. Major temples were constructed in her
honour not just in Philae but as far as Delos in Greece. Priestesses of Isis
thus, were known for their healing skills and for their excellence in assisting
birthing mothers.
South: Uluru
Key energies: Creation, blood, magic, fertility
GPS: 25 degrees 20’42’’S, 131 degrees 2’10’’E
Location: Australia
Primary element: Earth and Water
Nothing quite prepares you for the sight of this blood red
rock, massive in scale seemingly materialising out of the flat desert. One of
the iconic sights of Australia, Uluru attracts hundreds of thousands of
visitors a year even thought is in a remote environment.
The Anangu people are the traditional custodians of Uluru
and are the holders of the intricate and complex creation stories that surround
this very sacred piece of geography. The many folds and fissures of the rock
are not just geological feature to the Anangu but sacred places of mythos, individually
holding magic and energy and some are believed to even have creator beings
still living within them.
Uluru is a magnet for fertility and life. The density of
animal life particularly mammals is greatest nest the water run-off areas of
Uluru, allowing animals and birds to flourish where water has been caught in
pools and rock clefts. In some ways, the great rock is its own ecosystem providing
life-giving water when the dry season extends long after the rains.
The energies of Uluru ebb and flow like the seasons and as
you walk around the rock it is apparent that different sections have their own
genus loci. The air shimmers in places – not just with heat.
(^I've been there! Its absolutely monolithically awesome. You cannot imagine until you are there. I can still feel the awe)
West: Volubilis
“I am organised and efficient. I weave my spirituality through all aspect of my life. I can be both creative and prosperous.”
Location: Morocco
GPS: 34 degrees 4’16’’N, 5 degrees 33’13’’W
Primary Element: Earth
Covering an area of 42 hectares, and situated between two
fertile wadis, Khoumane and Ferdassa, Volubilis was the Mauritanian capital
founded in the 3rd century BC that became an important Roman Empire
outpost. The Roman geographer Pomponius Mela, writing in the 1st
century AD, described Volubilis as ‘modestly sized’ and Pliny the Elder
mentions it too in the 2nd century.
Situated near modern day Mekenes, the city was highly
agricultural (over 56 olive pressing areas have been found) and wealthy judging
by the quality of the infrastructure, size of homes and quality of the art
within them. Marble and bronze statuary, mosaics, pottery, frescoes – as well
as the kind of functional architecture (like aqueducts and public latrines)
that was the stamp of the Roman Empire even far from home.
Amongst the ruins, quite visible upon the approach by the
road, is the Capitoline Temple. A lone altar stands in front of the steps to
the temple. Walking those 13 steps and entering the columned temple today is a
powerful experience.
Whilst this is a barren place, it’s quite easy to imagine
that a pretty wooded courtyard would have surrounded the basilica and that this
single space was where the whole town would have met and prayed and petitioned
to the gods.
The temple was dedicated to the three main divinities of the
Roman civic state: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. When there was a victory, the
deities would have been thanked and there would possibly have been sacrifices
made in their honour. If things were difficult, perhaps war or disease, the
whole community would petition the gods for assistance.
The energy here feels very ancient and when you consider
this together with the timeless quality of the panoramic landscape, it is not
surprising to learn that this temple may have been built on top of an even
older set of shrines.
There were four more small shrines within the temple
precinct, one of which was dedicated to Venus and five other temples in the
city, of which the most notable is the so-called “temple of Saturn’ that stood
on the eastern side of Volubilis, again on a site that excavations have shown
an earlier, perhaps of Punic origins, a temple to Baal.
The themes of the detailed mosaics, still in situ, are also
mainly religious. Within some of the grander, richly decorated homes are
mosaics with the themes of Orpheus, Amphitite, Jupiter, the labours of Hercules
and some of dolphins which were animals of good fortune to the Romans. Perhaps
one of the loveliest is the mosaic illustrating the goddess Diana and a nymph
being surprised by Actaeon while bathing. Tag horns are beginning to rise from
poor Acteon’s head as he is being transformed into a deer by the outraged
goddess so that he can be killed by his own hunting dogs.
As you walk the site, it is easy to feel the thriving
metropolis under your feet as the echoes of the gods that once were grandly
worshipped a long way from home.
I hope you liked the reading :) Would love to hear what you think!
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