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By Mehreen Murtaza
Oneiric Soils Residency Dream
5th-6th November 2023
22nd-23rd Rabi’ll 1445
Spirit Burning
Sun Spirit
You are a fire that burns without burning
A luminescence that glows in the depths of the oceans
A soft glow
Liquid in my core
The lustre of my heart
A soft caress
in the midst of dancing flames
Through sun-kissed tears,
I see you
When the Olive trees were burnt to ground
You lit my core
Stronger than a thousand suns
Fire of passion
Burning the body bare
dissolving,
drinking you,
drinking me,
whole
I become You
You become I
until you and I are no longer
The seed of all existence
The everlasting oil that keeps the fire aflame
Secret Salamander, I have met you
I have known you old friend
When I could no longer breathe,
You breathed new life into me
Like morning dew,
a cooool sigh of sweet relief
Sublime release
“Know Thyself!” is one of the collective research methodologies developed by Mantiq of the Mantis. We delve into states that allow access to the personal and collective unconscious through knowledge of the body and enhancing the intelligence of feeling; with ceremonies and ritual as research methodologies, chance happenings, synchronous accidents, kinesthetic tuning to inner states and many more experimental, yet timely reminders of being present with one’s self. The series of modules for this retreat have been designed to enable the capacity of embodied thinking and feeling in order to create from an imagination that is not dependent on history or formal structures of thought.
These modules apply techniques for creatives to externalize their psychological material and integrate it into their artistic endeavors not only to better understand oneself, but one’s relationship to others and insight into ones own power of expression. These practices will facilitate the creative process to bring together greater clarification and organize the experience of internal states.
With a focus on unconscious promptings that trigger the creative soul to express, it encourages the creative to create on impulse and discourages editing and correcting – thus embracing accidents and happenings.
The locus of our research methodology is based on an exploration of the realm of imagination.
“Ibn al-'Arabi ‘s remarkable discussions and conceptions of the "Imagination" (al-khayâl) are metaphysical ruminations that do not render conceptual and logical and rational forms of understanding the Imagination. James W. Morris explains, “the Arabic expression al-khayâl, refers most often, in ordinary contexts, to what we would ordinarily call an "image" or "object of imagination," and ultimately to the actual underlying reality of all the "imaginal" (not "imaginary") objects of our perception in virtually all forms and domains. Given this primacy of the ontic, "objective" dimension of the term al-khayâl--whether that is expressed in theological or cosmological terms--any translation referring to "imagination" inevitably risks falling into the psychologizing or individualistic, subjectivist assumptions that are embedded in the usual usages of that concept in western languages, whether the term is being employed positively or pejoratively. In fact, precisely at those points where Ibn 'Arabî wants to refer explicitly to something like a psychological "faculty" or individual activity of "imagination"--or to the individual psychic "objects" of such an activity--he invariably uses separate and quite distinct Arabic terms to emphasize that partial, subjective aspect.”
James W. Morris. This is an unrevised, pre-publication version of an article or translation which has subsequentlybeen published, with revisions and corrections, as Spiritual Imagination and the "Liminal" World: Ibn 'Arabi on the Barzakh, in POSTDATA (Madrid), vol.15, no. 2 (1995), pp. 42-49 and 104-109 (Spanish).
Astro-alchemical signatures.
Creation is prayer.
The knowledge pours through a series of sacred geometric symbols, coming together like a mosaic woven into a larger tapestry. These symbols assimilate through color, body language, forms, shapes and the resonant vibrations of thoughts and images.
Because the celestial bodies were and still are translated through a metaphorical symbolism, my energetic exchanges with people are like transmissions between celestial bodies (based on the phases of the moon, sun, moon and rising signs of the people exchanging energy).
This method became clear to me after immersing myself wholeheartedly in experiencing Venus Cazimi (Venus RX, June 2023) and its lessons. Since then, I have been guided by Venus.
Saturn as the teacher who cultivates patience, focus and steadfastness, Venus as the fire that burns within, putrefying all that is not needed, Jupiter as my guide to keeping an open mind for accessing multiple perspectives from vast horizons, Ouranous as my guide to traversing the higher realms, Neptune as my guide into mysteries deep within the lay of the land and depths of the oceans, seeking pearls of wisdom and Pluto as the great awakener.
After meditating on the individual group drawings (below) that arose from the residents in response to the sessions, Mehreen created a meditative collective artwork - Spiritual Sun.
Oneiric Soils Residency Dream
5th-6th November 2023
22nd-23rd Rabi’ll 1445
Spirit Burning
Sun Spirit
You are a fire that burns without burning
A luminescence that glows in the depths of the oceans
A soft glow
Liquid in my core
The lustre of my heart
A soft caress
in the midst of dancing flames
Through sun-kissed tears,
I see you
When the Olive trees were burnt to ground
You lit my core
Stronger than a thousand suns
Fire of passion
Burning the body bare
dissolving,
drinking you,
drinking me,
whole
I become You
You become I
until you and I are no longer
The seed of all existence
The everlasting oil that keeps the fire aflame
Secret Salamander, I have met you
I have known you old friend
When I could no longer breathe,
You breathed new life into me
Like morning dew,
a cooool sigh of sweet relief
Sublime release
“Know Thyself!” is one of the collective research methodologies developed by Mantiq of the Mantis. We delve into states that allow access to the personal and collective unconscious through knowledge of the body and enhancing the intelligence of feeling; with ceremonies and ritual as research methodologies, chance happenings, synchronous accidents, kinesthetic tuning to inner states and many more experimental, yet timely reminders of being present with one’s self. The series of modules for this retreat have been designed to enable the capacity of embodied thinking and feeling in order to create from an imagination that is not dependent on history or formal structures of thought.
These modules apply techniques for creatives to externalize their psychological material and integrate it into their artistic endeavors not only to better understand oneself, but one’s relationship to others and insight into ones own power of expression. These practices will facilitate the creative process to bring together greater clarification and organize the experience of internal states.
With a focus on unconscious promptings that trigger the creative soul to express, it encourages the creative to create on impulse and discourages editing and correcting – thus embracing accidents and happenings.
The locus of our research methodology is based on an exploration of the realm of imagination.
“Ibn al-'Arabi ‘s remarkable discussions and conceptions of the "Imagination" (al-khayâl) are metaphysical ruminations that do not render conceptual and logical and rational forms of understanding the Imagination. James W. Morris explains, “the Arabic expression al-khayâl, refers most often, in ordinary contexts, to what we would ordinarily call an "image" or "object of imagination," and ultimately to the actual underlying reality of all the "imaginal" (not "imaginary") objects of our perception in virtually all forms and domains. Given this primacy of the ontic, "objective" dimension of the term al-khayâl--whether that is expressed in theological or cosmological terms--any translation referring to "imagination" inevitably risks falling into the psychologizing or individualistic, subjectivist assumptions that are embedded in the usual usages of that concept in western languages, whether the term is being employed positively or pejoratively. In fact, precisely at those points where Ibn 'Arabî wants to refer explicitly to something like a psychological "faculty" or individual activity of "imagination"--or to the individual psychic "objects" of such an activity--he invariably uses separate and quite distinct Arabic terms to emphasize that partial, subjective aspect.”
James W. Morris. This is an unrevised, pre-publication version of an article or translation which has subsequentlybeen published, with revisions and corrections, as Spiritual Imagination and the "Liminal" World: Ibn 'Arabi on the Barzakh, in POSTDATA (Madrid), vol.15, no. 2 (1995), pp. 42-49 and 104-109 (Spanish).
Astro-alchemical signatures.
Creation is prayer.
The knowledge pours through a series of sacred geometric symbols, coming together like a mosaic woven into a larger tapestry. These symbols assimilate through color, body language, forms, shapes and the resonant vibrations of thoughts and images.
Because the celestial bodies were and still are translated through a metaphorical symbolism, my energetic exchanges with people are like transmissions between celestial bodies (based on the phases of the moon, sun, moon and rising signs of the people exchanging energy).
This method became clear to me after immersing myself wholeheartedly in experiencing Venus Cazimi (Venus RX, June 2023) and its lessons. Since then, I have been guided by Venus.
Saturn as the teacher who cultivates patience, focus and steadfastness, Venus as the fire that burns within, putrefying all that is not needed, Jupiter as my guide to keeping an open mind for accessing multiple perspectives from vast horizons, Ouranous as my guide to traversing the higher realms, Neptune as my guide into mysteries deep within the lay of the land and depths of the oceans, seeking pearls of wisdom and Pluto as the great awakener.
After meditating on the individual group drawings (below) that arose from the residents in response to the sessions, Mehreen created a meditative collective artwork - Spiritual Sun.
Mehreen Murtaza is an inner-disciplinary artist whose work explores the realm of the imagination. Her practice involves developing an artistic language to bridge a connection between the sensible and intelligible worlds, inspired by Muslim philosophers and mystics such as Sheikh Ibn al-‘Arabi (1165–1240) and Sheikh Shihabbudin Yayha Suhrawardi’s (1154–1191) Ishrāqi Philosophy or Philosophy of Illumination. She has also co-founded an alternative creative space and publishing house, Mantiq of the Mantis in Lahore since 2016. MotM’s research focuses on the revelatory nature of knowledge, and the potential and action of the creative soul to create impressions of images it receives from the archetypal realm.
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By Mehreen Murtaza
Oneiric Soils Residency Dream
5th-6th November 2023
22nd-23rd Rabi’ll 1445
Spirit Burning
Sun Spirit
You are a fire that burns without burning
A luminescence that glows in the depths of the oceans
A soft glow
Liquid in my core
The lustre of my heart
A soft caress
in the midst of dancing flames
Through sun-kissed tears,
I see you
When the Olive trees were burnt to ground
You lit my core
Stronger than a thousand suns
Fire of passion
Burning the body bare
dissolving,
drinking you,
drinking me,
whole
I become You
You become I
until you and I are no longer
The seed of all existence
The everlasting oil that keeps the fire aflame
Secret Salamander, I have met you
I have known you old friend
When I could no longer breathe,
You breathed new life into me
Like morning dew,
a cooool sigh of sweet relief
Sublime release
“Know Thyself!” is one of the collective research methodologies developed by Mantiq of the Mantis. We delve into states that allow access to the personal and collective unconscious through knowledge of the body and enhancing the intelligence of feeling; with ceremonies and ritual as research methodologies, chance happenings, synchronous accidents, kinesthetic tuning to inner states and many more experimental, yet timely reminders of being present with one’s self. The series of modules for this retreat have been designed to enable the capacity of embodied thinking and feeling in order to create from an imagination that is not dependent on history or formal structures of thought.
These modules apply techniques for creatives to externalize their psychological material and integrate it into their artistic endeavors not only to better understand oneself, but one’s relationship to others and insight into ones own power of expression. These practices will facilitate the creative process to bring together greater clarification and organize the experience of internal states.
With a focus on unconscious promptings that trigger the creative soul to express, it encourages the creative to create on impulse and discourages editing and correcting – thus embracing accidents and happenings.
The locus of our research methodology is based on an exploration of the realm of imagination.
“Ibn al-'Arabi ‘s remarkable discussions and conceptions of the "Imagination" (al-khayâl) are metaphysical ruminations that do not render conceptual and logical and rational forms of understanding the Imagination. James W. Morris explains, “the Arabic expression al-khayâl, refers most often, in ordinary contexts, to what we would ordinarily call an "image" or "object of imagination," and ultimately to the actual underlying reality of all the "imaginal" (not "imaginary") objects of our perception in virtually all forms and domains. Given this primacy of the ontic, "objective" dimension of the term al-khayâl--whether that is expressed in theological or cosmological terms--any translation referring to "imagination" inevitably risks falling into the psychologizing or individualistic, subjectivist assumptions that are embedded in the usual usages of that concept in western languages, whether the term is being employed positively or pejoratively. In fact, precisely at those points where Ibn 'Arabî wants to refer explicitly to something like a psychological "faculty" or individual activity of "imagination"--or to the individual psychic "objects" of such an activity--he invariably uses separate and quite distinct Arabic terms to emphasize that partial, subjective aspect.”
James W. Morris. This is an unrevised, pre-publication version of an article or translation which has subsequentlybeen published, with revisions and corrections, as Spiritual Imagination and the "Liminal" World: Ibn 'Arabi on the Barzakh, in POSTDATA (Madrid), vol.15, no. 2 (1995), pp. 42-49 and 104-109 (Spanish).
Astro-alchemical signatures.
Creation is prayer.
The knowledge pours through a series of sacred geometric symbols, coming together like a mosaic woven into a larger tapestry. These symbols assimilate through color, body language, forms, shapes and the resonant vibrations of thoughts and images.
Because the celestial bodies were and still are translated through a metaphorical symbolism, my energetic exchanges with people are like transmissions between celestial bodies (based on the phases of the moon, sun, moon and rising signs of the people exchanging energy).
This method became clear to me after immersing myself wholeheartedly in experiencing Venus Cazimi (Venus RX, June 2023) and its lessons. Since then, I have been guided by Venus.
Saturn as the teacher who cultivates patience, focus and steadfastness, Venus as the fire that burns within, putrefying all that is not needed, Jupiter as my guide to keeping an open mind for accessing multiple perspectives from vast horizons, Ouranous as my guide to traversing the higher realms, Neptune as my guide into mysteries deep within the lay of the land and depths of the oceans, seeking pearls of wisdom and Pluto as the great awakener.
After meditating on the individual group drawings (below) that arose from the residents in response to the sessions, Mehreen created a meditative collective artwork - Spiritual Sun.
Oneiric Soils Residency Dream
5th-6th November 2023
22nd-23rd Rabi’ll 1445
Spirit Burning
Sun Spirit
You are a fire that burns without burning
A luminescence that glows in the depths of the oceans
A soft glow
Liquid in my core
The lustre of my heart
A soft caress
in the midst of dancing flames
Through sun-kissed tears,
I see you
When the Olive trees were burnt to ground
You lit my core
Stronger than a thousand suns
Fire of passion
Burning the body bare
dissolving,
drinking you,
drinking me,
whole
I become You
You become I
until you and I are no longer
The seed of all existence
The everlasting oil that keeps the fire aflame
Secret Salamander, I have met you
I have known you old friend
When I could no longer breathe,
You breathed new life into me
Like morning dew,
a cooool sigh of sweet relief
Sublime release
“Know Thyself!” is one of the collective research methodologies developed by Mantiq of the Mantis. We delve into states that allow access to the personal and collective unconscious through knowledge of the body and enhancing the intelligence of feeling; with ceremonies and ritual as research methodologies, chance happenings, synchronous accidents, kinesthetic tuning to inner states and many more experimental, yet timely reminders of being present with one’s self. The series of modules for this retreat have been designed to enable the capacity of embodied thinking and feeling in order to create from an imagination that is not dependent on history or formal structures of thought.
These modules apply techniques for creatives to externalize their psychological material and integrate it into their artistic endeavors not only to better understand oneself, but one’s relationship to others and insight into ones own power of expression. These practices will facilitate the creative process to bring together greater clarification and organize the experience of internal states.
With a focus on unconscious promptings that trigger the creative soul to express, it encourages the creative to create on impulse and discourages editing and correcting – thus embracing accidents and happenings.
The locus of our research methodology is based on an exploration of the realm of imagination.
“Ibn al-'Arabi ‘s remarkable discussions and conceptions of the "Imagination" (al-khayâl) are metaphysical ruminations that do not render conceptual and logical and rational forms of understanding the Imagination. James W. Morris explains, “the Arabic expression al-khayâl, refers most often, in ordinary contexts, to what we would ordinarily call an "image" or "object of imagination," and ultimately to the actual underlying reality of all the "imaginal" (not "imaginary") objects of our perception in virtually all forms and domains. Given this primacy of the ontic, "objective" dimension of the term al-khayâl--whether that is expressed in theological or cosmological terms--any translation referring to "imagination" inevitably risks falling into the psychologizing or individualistic, subjectivist assumptions that are embedded in the usual usages of that concept in western languages, whether the term is being employed positively or pejoratively. In fact, precisely at those points where Ibn 'Arabî wants to refer explicitly to something like a psychological "faculty" or individual activity of "imagination"--or to the individual psychic "objects" of such an activity--he invariably uses separate and quite distinct Arabic terms to emphasize that partial, subjective aspect.”
James W. Morris. This is an unrevised, pre-publication version of an article or translation which has subsequentlybeen published, with revisions and corrections, as Spiritual Imagination and the "Liminal" World: Ibn 'Arabi on the Barzakh, in POSTDATA (Madrid), vol.15, no. 2 (1995), pp. 42-49 and 104-109 (Spanish).
Astro-alchemical signatures.
Creation is prayer.
The knowledge pours through a series of sacred geometric symbols, coming together like a mosaic woven into a larger tapestry. These symbols assimilate through color, body language, forms, shapes and the resonant vibrations of thoughts and images.
Because the celestial bodies were and still are translated through a metaphorical symbolism, my energetic exchanges with people are like transmissions between celestial bodies (based on the phases of the moon, sun, moon and rising signs of the people exchanging energy).
This method became clear to me after immersing myself wholeheartedly in experiencing Venus Cazimi (Venus RX, June 2023) and its lessons. Since then, I have been guided by Venus.
Saturn as the teacher who cultivates patience, focus and steadfastness, Venus as the fire that burns within, putrefying all that is not needed, Jupiter as my guide to keeping an open mind for accessing multiple perspectives from vast horizons, Ouranous as my guide to traversing the higher realms, Neptune as my guide into mysteries deep within the lay of the land and depths of the oceans, seeking pearls of wisdom and Pluto as the great awakener.
After meditating on the individual group drawings (below) that arose from the residents in response to the sessions, Mehreen created a meditative collective artwork - Spiritual Sun.
Mehreen Murtaza is an inner-disciplinary artist whose work explores the realm of the imagination. Her practice involves developing an artistic language to bridge a connection between the sensible and intelligible worlds, inspired by Muslim philosophers and mystics such as Sheikh Ibn al-‘Arabi (1165–1240) and Sheikh Shihabbudin Yayha Suhrawardi’s (1154–1191) Ishrāqi Philosophy or Philosophy of Illumination. She has also co-founded an alternative creative space and publishing house, Mantiq of the Mantis in Lahore since 2016. MotM’s research focuses on the revelatory nature of knowledge, and the potential and action of the creative soul to create impressions of images it receives from the archetypal realm.
By Mehreen Murtaza
Oneiric Soils Residency Dream
5th-6th November 2023
22nd-23rd Rabi’ll 1445
Spirit Burning
Sun Spirit
You are a fire that burns without burning
A luminescence that glows in the depths of the oceans
A soft glow
Liquid in my core
The lustre of my heart
A soft caress
in the midst of dancing flames
Through sun-kissed tears,
I see you
When the Olive trees were burnt to ground
You lit my core
Stronger than a thousand suns
Fire of passion
Burning the body bare
dissolving,
drinking you,
drinking me,
whole
I become You
You become I
until you and I are no longer
The seed of all existence
The everlasting oil that keeps the fire aflame
Secret Salamander, I have met you
I have known you old friend
When I could no longer breathe,
You breathed new life into me
Like morning dew,
a cooool sigh of sweet relief
Sublime release
“Know Thyself!” is one of the collective research methodologies developed by Mantiq of the Mantis. We delve into states that allow access to the personal and collective unconscious through knowledge of the body and enhancing the intelligence of feeling; with ceremonies and ritual as research methodologies, chance happenings, synchronous accidents, kinesthetic tuning to inner states and many more experimental, yet timely reminders of being present with one’s self. The series of modules for this retreat have been designed to enable the capacity of embodied thinking and feeling in order to create from an imagination that is not dependent on history or formal structures of thought.
These modules apply techniques for creatives to externalize their psychological material and integrate it into their artistic endeavors not only to better understand oneself, but one’s relationship to others and insight into ones own power of expression. These practices will facilitate the creative process to bring together greater clarification and organize the experience of internal states.
With a focus on unconscious promptings that trigger the creative soul to express, it encourages the creative to create on impulse and discourages editing and correcting – thus embracing accidents and happenings.
The locus of our research methodology is based on an exploration of the realm of imagination.
“Ibn al-'Arabi ‘s remarkable discussions and conceptions of the "Imagination" (al-khayâl) are metaphysical ruminations that do not render conceptual and logical and rational forms of understanding the Imagination. James W. Morris explains, “the Arabic expression al-khayâl, refers most often, in ordinary contexts, to what we would ordinarily call an "image" or "object of imagination," and ultimately to the actual underlying reality of all the "imaginal" (not "imaginary") objects of our perception in virtually all forms and domains. Given this primacy of the ontic, "objective" dimension of the term al-khayâl--whether that is expressed in theological or cosmological terms--any translation referring to "imagination" inevitably risks falling into the psychologizing or individualistic, subjectivist assumptions that are embedded in the usual usages of that concept in western languages, whether the term is being employed positively or pejoratively. In fact, precisely at those points where Ibn 'Arabî wants to refer explicitly to something like a psychological "faculty" or individual activity of "imagination"--or to the individual psychic "objects" of such an activity--he invariably uses separate and quite distinct Arabic terms to emphasize that partial, subjective aspect.”
James W. Morris. This is an unrevised, pre-publication version of an article or translation which has subsequentlybeen published, with revisions and corrections, as Spiritual Imagination and the "Liminal" World: Ibn 'Arabi on the Barzakh, in POSTDATA (Madrid), vol.15, no. 2 (1995), pp. 42-49 and 104-109 (Spanish).
Astro-alchemical signatures.
Creation is prayer.
The knowledge pours through a series of sacred geometric symbols, coming together like a mosaic woven into a larger tapestry. These symbols assimilate through color, body language, forms, shapes and the resonant vibrations of thoughts and images.
Because the celestial bodies were and still are translated through a metaphorical symbolism, my energetic exchanges with people are like transmissions between celestial bodies (based on the phases of the moon, sun, moon and rising signs of the people exchanging energy).
This method became clear to me after immersing myself wholeheartedly in experiencing Venus Cazimi (Venus RX, June 2023) and its lessons. Since then, I have been guided by Venus.
Saturn as the teacher who cultivates patience, focus and steadfastness, Venus as the fire that burns within, putrefying all that is not needed, Jupiter as my guide to keeping an open mind for accessing multiple perspectives from vast horizons, Ouranous as my guide to traversing the higher realms, Neptune as my guide into mysteries deep within the lay of the land and depths of the oceans, seeking pearls of wisdom and Pluto as the great awakener.
After meditating on the individual group drawings (below) that arose from the residents in response to the sessions, Mehreen created a meditative collective artwork - Spiritual Sun.
Oneiric Soils Residency Dream
5th-6th November 2023
22nd-23rd Rabi’ll 1445
Spirit Burning
Sun Spirit
You are a fire that burns without burning
A luminescence that glows in the depths of the oceans
A soft glow
Liquid in my core
The lustre of my heart
A soft caress
in the midst of dancing flames
Through sun-kissed tears,
I see you
When the Olive trees were burnt to ground
You lit my core
Stronger than a thousand suns
Fire of passion
Burning the body bare
dissolving,
drinking you,
drinking me,
whole
I become You
You become I
until you and I are no longer
The seed of all existence
The everlasting oil that keeps the fire aflame
Secret Salamander, I have met you
I have known you old friend
When I could no longer breathe,
You breathed new life into me
Like morning dew,
a cooool sigh of sweet relief
Sublime release
“Know Thyself!” is one of the collective research methodologies developed by Mantiq of the Mantis. We delve into states that allow access to the personal and collective unconscious through knowledge of the body and enhancing the intelligence of feeling; with ceremonies and ritual as research methodologies, chance happenings, synchronous accidents, kinesthetic tuning to inner states and many more experimental, yet timely reminders of being present with one’s self. The series of modules for this retreat have been designed to enable the capacity of embodied thinking and feeling in order to create from an imagination that is not dependent on history or formal structures of thought.
These modules apply techniques for creatives to externalize their psychological material and integrate it into their artistic endeavors not only to better understand oneself, but one’s relationship to others and insight into ones own power of expression. These practices will facilitate the creative process to bring together greater clarification and organize the experience of internal states.
With a focus on unconscious promptings that trigger the creative soul to express, it encourages the creative to create on impulse and discourages editing and correcting – thus embracing accidents and happenings.
The locus of our research methodology is based on an exploration of the realm of imagination.
“Ibn al-'Arabi ‘s remarkable discussions and conceptions of the "Imagination" (al-khayâl) are metaphysical ruminations that do not render conceptual and logical and rational forms of understanding the Imagination. James W. Morris explains, “the Arabic expression al-khayâl, refers most often, in ordinary contexts, to what we would ordinarily call an "image" or "object of imagination," and ultimately to the actual underlying reality of all the "imaginal" (not "imaginary") objects of our perception in virtually all forms and domains. Given this primacy of the ontic, "objective" dimension of the term al-khayâl--whether that is expressed in theological or cosmological terms--any translation referring to "imagination" inevitably risks falling into the psychologizing or individualistic, subjectivist assumptions that are embedded in the usual usages of that concept in western languages, whether the term is being employed positively or pejoratively. In fact, precisely at those points where Ibn 'Arabî wants to refer explicitly to something like a psychological "faculty" or individual activity of "imagination"--or to the individual psychic "objects" of such an activity--he invariably uses separate and quite distinct Arabic terms to emphasize that partial, subjective aspect.”
James W. Morris. This is an unrevised, pre-publication version of an article or translation which has subsequentlybeen published, with revisions and corrections, as Spiritual Imagination and the "Liminal" World: Ibn 'Arabi on the Barzakh, in POSTDATA (Madrid), vol.15, no. 2 (1995), pp. 42-49 and 104-109 (Spanish).
Astro-alchemical signatures.
Creation is prayer.
The knowledge pours through a series of sacred geometric symbols, coming together like a mosaic woven into a larger tapestry. These symbols assimilate through color, body language, forms, shapes and the resonant vibrations of thoughts and images.
Because the celestial bodies were and still are translated through a metaphorical symbolism, my energetic exchanges with people are like transmissions between celestial bodies (based on the phases of the moon, sun, moon and rising signs of the people exchanging energy).
This method became clear to me after immersing myself wholeheartedly in experiencing Venus Cazimi (Venus RX, June 2023) and its lessons. Since then, I have been guided by Venus.
Saturn as the teacher who cultivates patience, focus and steadfastness, Venus as the fire that burns within, putrefying all that is not needed, Jupiter as my guide to keeping an open mind for accessing multiple perspectives from vast horizons, Ouranous as my guide to traversing the higher realms, Neptune as my guide into mysteries deep within the lay of the land and depths of the oceans, seeking pearls of wisdom and Pluto as the great awakener.
After meditating on the individual group drawings (below) that arose from the residents in response to the sessions, Mehreen created a meditative collective artwork - Spiritual Sun.
Mehreen Murtaza is an inner-disciplinary artist whose work explores the realm of the imagination. Her practice involves developing an artistic language to bridge a connection between the sensible and intelligible worlds, inspired by Muslim philosophers and mystics such as Sheikh Ibn al-‘Arabi (1165–1240) and Sheikh Shihabbudin Yayha Suhrawardi’s (1154–1191) Ishrāqi Philosophy or Philosophy of Illumination. She has also co-founded an alternative creative space and publishing house, Mantiq of the Mantis in Lahore since 2016. MotM’s research focuses on the revelatory nature of knowledge, and the potential and action of the creative soul to create impressions of images it receives from the archetypal realm.
By Mehreen Murtaza
Oneiric Soils Residency Dream
5th-6th November 2023
22nd-23rd Rabi’ll 1445
Spirit Burning
Sun Spirit
You are a fire that burns without burning
A luminescence that glows in the depths of the oceans
A soft glow
Liquid in my core
The lustre of my heart
A soft caress
in the midst of dancing flames
Through sun-kissed tears,
I see you
When the Olive trees were burnt to ground
You lit my core
Stronger than a thousand suns
Fire of passion
Burning the body bare
dissolving,
drinking you,
drinking me,
whole
I become You
You become I
until you and I are no longer
The seed of all existence
The everlasting oil that keeps the fire aflame
Secret Salamander, I have met you
I have known you old friend
When I could no longer breathe,
You breathed new life into me
Like morning dew,
a cooool sigh of sweet relief
Sublime release
“Know Thyself!” is one of the collective research methodologies developed by Mantiq of the Mantis. We delve into states that allow access to the personal and collective unconscious through knowledge of the body and enhancing the intelligence of feeling; with ceremonies and ritual as research methodologies, chance happenings, synchronous accidents, kinesthetic tuning to inner states and many more experimental, yet timely reminders of being present with one’s self. The series of modules for this retreat have been designed to enable the capacity of embodied thinking and feeling in order to create from an imagination that is not dependent on history or formal structures of thought.
These modules apply techniques for creatives to externalize their psychological material and integrate it into their artistic endeavors not only to better understand oneself, but one’s relationship to others and insight into ones own power of expression. These practices will facilitate the creative process to bring together greater clarification and organize the experience of internal states.
With a focus on unconscious promptings that trigger the creative soul to express, it encourages the creative to create on impulse and discourages editing and correcting – thus embracing accidents and happenings.
The locus of our research methodology is based on an exploration of the realm of imagination.
“Ibn al-'Arabi ‘s remarkable discussions and conceptions of the "Imagination" (al-khayâl) are metaphysical ruminations that do not render conceptual and logical and rational forms of understanding the Imagination. James W. Morris explains, “the Arabic expression al-khayâl, refers most often, in ordinary contexts, to what we would ordinarily call an "image" or "object of imagination," and ultimately to the actual underlying reality of all the "imaginal" (not "imaginary") objects of our perception in virtually all forms and domains. Given this primacy of the ontic, "objective" dimension of the term al-khayâl--whether that is expressed in theological or cosmological terms--any translation referring to "imagination" inevitably risks falling into the psychologizing or individualistic, subjectivist assumptions that are embedded in the usual usages of that concept in western languages, whether the term is being employed positively or pejoratively. In fact, precisely at those points where Ibn 'Arabî wants to refer explicitly to something like a psychological "faculty" or individual activity of "imagination"--or to the individual psychic "objects" of such an activity--he invariably uses separate and quite distinct Arabic terms to emphasize that partial, subjective aspect.”
James W. Morris. This is an unrevised, pre-publication version of an article or translation which has subsequentlybeen published, with revisions and corrections, as Spiritual Imagination and the "Liminal" World: Ibn 'Arabi on the Barzakh, in POSTDATA (Madrid), vol.15, no. 2 (1995), pp. 42-49 and 104-109 (Spanish).
Astro-alchemical signatures.
Creation is prayer.
The knowledge pours through a series of sacred geometric symbols, coming together like a mosaic woven into a larger tapestry. These symbols assimilate through color, body language, forms, shapes and the resonant vibrations of thoughts and images.
Because the celestial bodies were and still are translated through a metaphorical symbolism, my energetic exchanges with people are like transmissions between celestial bodies (based on the phases of the moon, sun, moon and rising signs of the people exchanging energy).
This method became clear to me after immersing myself wholeheartedly in experiencing Venus Cazimi (Venus RX, June 2023) and its lessons. Since then, I have been guided by Venus.
Saturn as the teacher who cultivates patience, focus and steadfastness, Venus as the fire that burns within, putrefying all that is not needed, Jupiter as my guide to keeping an open mind for accessing multiple perspectives from vast horizons, Ouranous as my guide to traversing the higher realms, Neptune as my guide into mysteries deep within the lay of the land and depths of the oceans, seeking pearls of wisdom and Pluto as the great awakener.
After meditating on the individual group drawings (below) that arose from the residents in response to the sessions, Mehreen created a meditative collective artwork - Spiritual Sun.
Oneiric Soils Residency Dream
5th-6th November 2023
22nd-23rd Rabi’ll 1445
Spirit Burning
Sun Spirit
You are a fire that burns without burning
A luminescence that glows in the depths of the oceans
A soft glow
Liquid in my core
The lustre of my heart
A soft caress
in the midst of dancing flames
Through sun-kissed tears,
I see you
When the Olive trees were burnt to ground
You lit my core
Stronger than a thousand suns
Fire of passion
Burning the body bare
dissolving,
drinking you,
drinking me,
whole
I become You
You become I
until you and I are no longer
The seed of all existence
The everlasting oil that keeps the fire aflame
Secret Salamander, I have met you
I have known you old friend
When I could no longer breathe,
You breathed new life into me
Like morning dew,
a cooool sigh of sweet relief
Sublime release
“Know Thyself!” is one of the collective research methodologies developed by Mantiq of the Mantis. We delve into states that allow access to the personal and collective unconscious through knowledge of the body and enhancing the intelligence of feeling; with ceremonies and ritual as research methodologies, chance happenings, synchronous accidents, kinesthetic tuning to inner states and many more experimental, yet timely reminders of being present with one’s self. The series of modules for this retreat have been designed to enable the capacity of embodied thinking and feeling in order to create from an imagination that is not dependent on history or formal structures of thought.
These modules apply techniques for creatives to externalize their psychological material and integrate it into their artistic endeavors not only to better understand oneself, but one’s relationship to others and insight into ones own power of expression. These practices will facilitate the creative process to bring together greater clarification and organize the experience of internal states.
With a focus on unconscious promptings that trigger the creative soul to express, it encourages the creative to create on impulse and discourages editing and correcting – thus embracing accidents and happenings.
The locus of our research methodology is based on an exploration of the realm of imagination.
“Ibn al-'Arabi ‘s remarkable discussions and conceptions of the "Imagination" (al-khayâl) are metaphysical ruminations that do not render conceptual and logical and rational forms of understanding the Imagination. James W. Morris explains, “the Arabic expression al-khayâl, refers most often, in ordinary contexts, to what we would ordinarily call an "image" or "object of imagination," and ultimately to the actual underlying reality of all the "imaginal" (not "imaginary") objects of our perception in virtually all forms and domains. Given this primacy of the ontic, "objective" dimension of the term al-khayâl--whether that is expressed in theological or cosmological terms--any translation referring to "imagination" inevitably risks falling into the psychologizing or individualistic, subjectivist assumptions that are embedded in the usual usages of that concept in western languages, whether the term is being employed positively or pejoratively. In fact, precisely at those points where Ibn 'Arabî wants to refer explicitly to something like a psychological "faculty" or individual activity of "imagination"--or to the individual psychic "objects" of such an activity--he invariably uses separate and quite distinct Arabic terms to emphasize that partial, subjective aspect.”
James W. Morris. This is an unrevised, pre-publication version of an article or translation which has subsequentlybeen published, with revisions and corrections, as Spiritual Imagination and the "Liminal" World: Ibn 'Arabi on the Barzakh, in POSTDATA (Madrid), vol.15, no. 2 (1995), pp. 42-49 and 104-109 (Spanish).
Astro-alchemical signatures.
Creation is prayer.
The knowledge pours through a series of sacred geometric symbols, coming together like a mosaic woven into a larger tapestry. These symbols assimilate through color, body language, forms, shapes and the resonant vibrations of thoughts and images.
Because the celestial bodies were and still are translated through a metaphorical symbolism, my energetic exchanges with people are like transmissions between celestial bodies (based on the phases of the moon, sun, moon and rising signs of the people exchanging energy).
This method became clear to me after immersing myself wholeheartedly in experiencing Venus Cazimi (Venus RX, June 2023) and its lessons. Since then, I have been guided by Venus.
Saturn as the teacher who cultivates patience, focus and steadfastness, Venus as the fire that burns within, putrefying all that is not needed, Jupiter as my guide to keeping an open mind for accessing multiple perspectives from vast horizons, Ouranous as my guide to traversing the higher realms, Neptune as my guide into mysteries deep within the lay of the land and depths of the oceans, seeking pearls of wisdom and Pluto as the great awakener.
After meditating on the individual group drawings (below) that arose from the residents in response to the sessions, Mehreen created a meditative collective artwork - Spiritual Sun.
Mehreen Murtaza is an inner-disciplinary artist whose work explores the realm of the imagination. Her practice involves developing an artistic language to bridge a connection between the sensible and intelligible worlds, inspired by Muslim philosophers and mystics such as Sheikh Ibn al-‘Arabi (1165–1240) and Sheikh Shihabbudin Yayha Suhrawardi’s (1154–1191) Ishrāqi Philosophy or Philosophy of Illumination. She has also co-founded an alternative creative space and publishing house, Mantiq of the Mantis in Lahore since 2016. MotM’s research focuses on the revelatory nature of knowledge, and the potential and action of the creative soul to create impressions of images it receives from the archetypal realm.