Haven’t we all once cried out I’m “going through Hell”? James Bennett examines that feeling more closely: If heaven and hell represent an intellect and body that have become polarized and destructively antagonistic, what does that suggest for healing? Come into this book and experience the images of the dark realm beneath consciousness: the wrathful deities, threatening serpents, cold long-barrows, loss of everything in death. The meanings of those myths may only come to us through intuition, so “Allow the stories, pictures and images to sit with you and speak to you, to spark your own connections and open doors for you in unexpected meaningful ways.” Let us see if we can translate the ancient legends of journeys through Hades into modern guidebooks for therapy; to stand in the space between the worlds, and see beyond suffering to renewal. Could that renewal be not only of self but also of global cultures?
Table of Content
INTRODUCTION 7
VIDEO READING 10
OUT THERE 11
Heaven’s Gate . . . . . . 11
Archetypal abduction. . . . . . 12
Independence Day . . . . . . 13
Flight from earth . . . . . . 13
Spiritual versus physical . . . . . . 13
Cybele and Attis . . . . . . 14
The archetypal drama. . . . . . 15
Great Mother Ship . . . . . . 15
Purple drapes . . . . . . 16
Poles yoked together. . . . . . 17
Physical awareness . . . . . . 17
Transcend or suffer death?. . . . . . 18
ARCHETYPAL UNDERWORLD 20
‘As Above, So Below’ . . . . . . 20
Words With Deep Roots. . . . . . 22
Black Goddesses. . . . . . 23
Cave temples. . . . . . 24
Matter-spirit opposition . . . . . . 28
The Myths of Divison. . . . . . 28
One God in Many Aspects. . . . . . 29
Initiation Into the Unseen. . . . . . 30
Birth in a Cave. . . . . . 31
Day is born of Night. . . . . . 31
The Serpent Oracle. . . . . . 34
Apollo’s temple at Delphi.. . . . . . 35
The Serpent Goddess. . . . . . 36
Twining Serpents. . . . . . 38
Grabbed by the Underworld . . . . . . 39
Stripped of status. . . . . . 40
Eternal Return of Ouroboros. . . . . . 42
The Daimon. . . . . . 43
Alienated from the primordial mind. . . . . . 43
What do we fear in ourselves?. . . . . . 44
The sacredness of matter . . . . . . 45
THE SPACE BETWEEN 48
Rites of passage. . . . . . 51
Guardian and gatekeeper . . . . . . 54
Deconstruction. . . . . . 56
Tricks and Jokers. . . . . . 57
May. . . . . . 59
Harvest and Death. . . . . . 59
Natural thresholds. . . . . . 61
Archetypes find modern forms. . . . . . 62
Are we in a dream?. . . . . . 64
Soul-making . . . . . . 65
LETTER FROM A POET 69
BIBLIOGRAPHY 70
BOOK REVIEWS 72
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 75
SOURCES OF IMAGES 76
About the author
David Kidd was born 1945 in a tiny village on the Pennines, West Yorkshire, U.K. As a child loved drawing. Along with Rock n Roll and CND Nuclear Protesing he excelled in Applied Math and Drafting, so started University in Engineering. But a cerebral aneurism bleed reduced his math abilities and speech, so he switched to Edinburgh College of Art instead and settled on Graphic Design. Graduating BFA in 1970 he was hired by educational book publisher Blackie & Son, and later became head book designer for W&R Chambers.
That being the turbulent mind-expanding late 1960’s, Kidd was guided to try meditation with the Sufi Order. And later he met Muzz Murray who asked him to host Gandalf’s Garden Seed Center, a mystical discussion center. In 1971 he travelled with the Sufis to the Glastonbury Fayre spiritual festival. There he met a like-minded stranger, James Bennett, and invited him to help run the Garden and help lost young people find the light
Then Kidd’s son Jez arrived, so he had to look for a paying job. He found one doing Point of Sale Advertising, but that was a strange and he yearned to get back to Books. And in 1978 he did get back in, as book production studio manager at VAP, Oxford, then Medicine International; illustrations for Antiquarian Book Monthly Review.
But spiritual life was not working, less and less made sense, he got depressed but fortunately met old Sufi friends who had moved on to the Beshara school for intensive esoteric education. Kidd found studying theology not only settled all his problems but there he met his wife. They moved to USA, San Francisco Bay area. There he studied computer publishing and produced educations books for the largest publishers in the world. After the ‘quake of 19991 he moved up to Portland, OR, and learned website technology. The advent of on-demand printing made it finally possible for Kidd to found his own publishing company, Goldenaer, striving to maintain clear communication of concepts and to deliver attractive solutions.
More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
146,485 Ebooks in this category
