THE SCARABAIC RISING OF CHRIST

TECHNIQUE

       This painting was begun during my first Visions in the Mischtechnik Seminar in 2008. I managed to advance it quite a bit during the 2009 seminar, and finished it upon my return from Italy.
       The images below document the painting's development, revealing the alternating stages of white egg tempera and coloured glazes which go into the making of a painting in the Mischtechnik.

ICONOGRAPHY

       I'm intrigued by the way symbols from different cultures resonate with one another. For the Egyptians, the scarab upholding the solar disk symbolized the same mystery and transformation as the risen Christ - the persistence of life after death...
       Within the solar disk is the Horus Child, symbolic of the sun's rising and rebirth. According to the Egyptian Books of the Afterlife, a recently-departed soul journeys with the sun through the twelve gates of the netherworld. As the sun rises at dawn, the soul may 'become solarized' and so gain eternal life as it joins in the endless cycles of the cosmos.
       For myself, all of these Egyptian images expand the symbolic meaning of Christ and the Christ Child, as possible pathways for my own soul-journey.
       In this way, the painting explores what happens when symbols from different cultures combine and their myths cross over. New possibilities arise, as we think through images in search of answers to the Eternal Questions.
       I see different world mythologies as so many facets of a single vision-crystal - that all myths and sacred traditions lead to the same Mystery at their source. I've tried to portray that Divine Unity through the eye in the triangle at the top. This motif has been appropriated by many groups (Freemasons, the Illuminati, etc) but its mystery runs much deeper. I consider it to be 'the hidden sign of the hieratic' - which I elaborate upon in my book Sacred Codes.

IMAGE MEDITATION

       Once this painting was completed I performed a prolonged meditation upon it. In a state of vision, I saw all the jewel-like forms become transparent - and illuminated by the spectral light flowing from the divine source. Like Christ, I was crucified on the light, until I became one with the higher source of life, light and awareness.
       Ultimately, I believe the true purpose of such Visionary works of art is to magically transform us - to transfigure and transport us to a brief and fleeting epiphany of oneness with the divine...