Angels Mystery Art
Angels and Art have a long history together as we established in the preceding articles in this series. I admit that I find both Angels and Art a bit mysterious. I mean, this impulse to create Art, where and when did humans first feel it? We know from rock and cave art that humans have been producing Art of various kinds for at least 40,000 years. But who started it all off? And where? Is there any evidence of earlier attempts to create images or did the Art of the Lascaux Caves spring full-grown like Athena from the head of Zeus? And why does it matter? I believe it matters because Art, like the particle and the wave, exists in a state of pure potentiality until a particular consciousness acts on it, the consciousness of the Artist.
Angels Mystery Art
In the long process of becoming human, our ancestors needed to be able to communicate. Language does did not arise overnight, it developed by accretion adding new elements as the circumstances of life demanded. I referred earlier to a lexicon of art in the treasury of images created by early humans, a sort of visual glossary that conveyed a great deal of information direct to the visual cortex of the viewer. Images are powerful. They do not rely on the medium of language to be understood. They are experienced directly and elicit an immediate reaction.
In a sense, Art is a form of shorthand that delivers the message with maximum
economy for greatest impact. The Shamanistic rock and cave paintings, carvings, sculpture and pottery from around the world are a treasure trove of messages from the past to the present, a gift to us from our ancestors. What I find fascinating about this is that Art exists everywhere in the world. There is a continuity based not on style, perspective, colour, etc. but on human consciousness and the implied relationship, the communication between the Artist and the subject. This applies as much to paintings of ‘still life’ as it does to ‘performance art’.
The Observer and The Observed
At the deepest level of reality, we affect what we observe. But we have already been affected by the subject before we begin to observe. The subject draws the artist in, it attracts the artist and in this sense the subject is alive, whether it be a factory or a dancer. Messages pass wordlessly between the Artist and the subject as the subject reveals itself under artistic scrutiny. It is the attraction to the subject that lies at the heart of the matter at hand. Something in the subject calls to something in us and we choose how – or whether – to respond. In this process, there is a go-between involved, an intermediary that impelled us to look at that particular subject at that particular instant when a connection was formed. I suggest that the ‘intermediary’ between Artist and subject is what we refer to as an Angel.
Angels, Goddesses and Muses
Regardless of how we conceive them (and we conceive every aspect of our reality), what we call Angels or Goddesses or Muses are essentially the same, the source of creative energy to which we all have access. There is a long tradition of attributing a
rtistic/creative inspiration to what Greeks called the Muses. pictured at left by Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones in “The Mirror of Venus” where the goddess is surrounded by the classical nine.
Students of classical mythology differ on how many Muses there are, just as Medieval theologians differed on how many Angels there were. It is interesting, though, to note that there are Nine ‘Choirs’ of Angels and according to Hesiod’s chronicler, there are Nine Muses. Each ‘choir’ of Angels has its special functions just each Muse has hers. Although the correspondence is not exact, there are many similarities between the two sets of ‘beings’. Amongst them, they are responsible for inspiring humans in the creation of culture.
Each Muse Has A Speciality
In the case of the Greek Muses, Clio is the Muse of History, Erato is the Muse of
Love Poetry, Euterpe is the Muse of Music and Musical Instruments, Melpomene is the Muse of Drama and Tragedy, Polyhymnia is the Muse of Sacred Music, Terpsichore is the Muse of Dance, Thalia is Muse of Comedy and Lyric Poetry, (right) and Urania is the Muse of Astronomy. In some classical sources, the Muses have more varied portfolios. For example, Thalia is also considered the Muse of Geometry and Architecture.
The domains of the Muses changed as human culture changed. Although ‘created’ by Zeus, the Muses held a position somewhere between that of minor deity and the principle goddesses of the Greek pantheon. They were understood to be the souce of the human creative impulse. They were also sometimes depicted with wings to suggest their semi-divine status. In short, they’re a lot like Angels.
Co-Creation With Angels
The idea of Angels assisting in the creation of the universe (according to “God’s” design) has antecedents in the more ancient Vedic teaching of India’s Rishi, the supposed authors of the Rig Veda the source of Hindu wisdom. According to Deepak Chopra in his book, Life After Death, ”The Devas are more than messengers; they are agents of creation.” They exist between “God, The Observer” and the material universe, the visible domain that is all around us. ”God” Observes, the Devas/Angels are the “active aspect of Seeing” (carrying the creative energy) whilst we and the rest of the Universe/s are the Seen, the visible expression of creative energy. When a human creates something, whether it is drawing, an idea for a new invention, a bridge across a pond or the Sistine ceiling, she/he is carrying on the work of the Angels.
Next on Delia’s Blog: Mystery Art: The Geometry of Angelic Communication
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