To the magus
there exists no accidental happening …everything is established solidly by that
law which the wise man discerns in happenings that appear to be accidental to
the profane. The curve observed in the flight of birds, the barking of dog, the shape of a cloud, are occult
manifestations of that omnipotent coordinator, the source of unity and harmony.
-
Kurt Seligmann.
Masahisa Fukase's Solitude of Ravens is at first
glance a tough set of pictures to look at. The stark black and white frames
pull you into a filmic world of nightmares and never-ending gloom. Yet stick
with it, and though you will find the collection packs a powerful emotional
punch, it also shows how a photograph can speak about far more than what it
depicts. The work was created between 1976 and 1982 following Fukase's divorce,
and it is perhaps that little fact that can change how you read these images.
They are dark and mysterious, yet this is a personal statement of loss. Akira
Hasegawa wrote the afterword to the book of the work and captures this well. "In
the case of Masahisa Fukase, the subject of his gaze became the raven. For him,
the 'raven' was both a tangible creature and a fitting symbol of his own
solitude." Prints of the work from the private collection of Masahisa
Fukase are on show at London's Michael Hoppen Gallery from 23 February to 23
April 2016. http://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-35541661
In the
Chinese geomantic philosophy of feng-shui,
it is thought that a mountain or rocky outgroup bearing the features of a
particular animal can affect the destinies of nearby inhabitants in accord with
the symbolic properties of that animal. To comprehend examples like these we
must turn to notions of symbolism and the belief that forms and phenomenon
affect one another in terms of their deeper archetypal meaning. According to
this outlook, all things are embedded within a larger symbolic field, in which
each part exerts its own unique influence upon that greater continuum of
meaning, less in quantitative than qualitative terms. Such qualities are not
susceptible to measurement since they
can be apprehended only through a metaphoric mode of consciousness. [1]
Masahisa
Fukase’s collection on the raven will be on display at London's Michael Hoppen
Gallery from 23 February to 23 April 2016.
This period covers 9 March when a solar eclipse takes place. A chart for
the eclipse at London has the star Kraz of Corvus, the Raven on the MC!
Corvus is
the Latin name for both the raven and the crow and these two birds are usually
paired together in mythology. The colour of their plumage has drawn a universal connection with sinister
forces and ominous warnings. The stars of Corvus share this reputation and the
classical myths that relate to the constellation speak of the bearing of bad
news.
Notice that the MC which is conjunct the stars
of the Raven forms a T-square with Uranus-Pluto. As we
saw in a previous post [2] a key phrase
for this combination is “the threat of a
separation or demand for independence is based on an attempt to regain control”.
If we
accept that there is a deeper metaphorical meaning here, perhaps the words
divorce, loss and solitude (mentioned above) may also apply to the possible result
of Britain leaving the European Union.
[1] The
Waking Dream; Ray Grasse
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