Book of Changes

"There is a single main definition of the object of all magical Ritual. It is the uniting of the Microcosm with the Macrocosm. The Supreme and Complete Ritual is therefore the Invocation of the Holy Guardian Angel; or, in the language of Mysticism, Union with God."

“Then comes Parmenides' reference to 'steering.' As any Greek knew, the only way of steering horses or a chariot—or a ship across the ocean—was through métis. To be able to steer one had to know all the tricks of the road or the sea, to be watching, completely in the moment. Allowing one's mind to wander was not allowed. Always it was a matter of keeping both eyes on the path ahead; looking out for warnings and, above all, for anything that could serve as a signpost or sign. But it was also a matter of listening, of being fully alert in every sense. Even a minute of deafness or blindness and one was lost. There is a good reason why the imagery of journeying is so important for the language of métis. It's because of the speed involved. There is the absolute need to keep focused in spite of the way everything is constantly changing, or appearing to change. Métis has nothing to do with argument or careful reasoning, because there is not even the time to think. There are no moments for leisure, because everything happens far too quickly. The demands on one's awareness are enormous. And the fact that Parmenides happens to use this language of métis, rather than anything else, to define the human condition can be viewed as a promise or as a threat. We can see it either as a hope of rediscovering something we have lost or as a warning sign on the horizon—whichever we wish.”

A Brief Timeline of the Modern Conception of the Unconscious: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716):

"That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracles of the One. And just as all things have been and come forth from the One, by the mediation of it, so too are all things birthed from the One by means of adaptation."

"The mule which turns a millstone does a hundred miles walking. When it is loosed it finds that it's still in the same place. Similarly, there are men who make journeys, but make no progress toward any destination. When evening falls upon them, they see neither city nor village, neither human artifact nor natural phenomenon, demon nor angel. In vain have such wretches labored."

"Light and Darkness, life and death, left and right, are brothers of one another. They are inseparable. Because of this neither are the good good, nor evil evil, nor is life life, nor death death. And for this reason each one will dissolve into one another and back to their earliest origin. But those who are exalted above the world are indissoluble, eternal."

"Prematurely conceived theories are not without their dangers. Thus the theory of repression, whose validity in a definite field of pathology is incontestable—up to the point where it has to be reversed—has been extended to creative processes, and the creation of culture relegated to second place, as a mere ersatz product. At the same time the wholeness and healthiness of the creative function is seen in the murky light of neurosis, which is of course an undoubted product of repression in many cases. In this way creativity becomes indistinguishable from morbidity, and the creative individual immediately suspects himself of some kind of illness, while the neurotic has lately begun to believe that his neurosis is an art, or at least a source of art. These would-be artists, however, develop one characteristic symptom: they one and all shun psychology like the plague, because they are terrified that this monster will gobble up their so-called artistic ability. As if a whole army of psychologists could do anything against the power of God! True productivity is a spring that can never be stopped up. Is there any trickery on earth which could have prevented Mozart or Beethoven from creating? Creative power is mightier than its possessor. If it is not so, then it is a feeble thing, and given favourable conditions will nourish an endearing talent, but no more. If, on the other hand, it is a neurosis, it often takes only a word or a look for the illusion to go up in smoke. Then the supposed poet can no longer write, and the painter’s ideas become fewer and drearier than ever, and for all this psychology is to blame. I should be delighted if a knowledge of psychology did have this sanative effect and if it put an end to the neuroticism which makes contemporary art such an unenjoyable problem. Disease has never yet fostered creative work; on the contrary, it is the most formidable obstacle to creation. No breaking down of repressions can ever destroy true creativeness, just as no analysis can ever exhaust the unconscious."

"At the operational level, 'death' corresponds usually to the black color taken on by various ingredients. It was the reduction of substances to the materia prima, to the massa confusa, the fluid, shapeless mass corresponding—on the cosmological plane—to chaos. Death represents regression to the amorphous, the reintegration of chaos. This is why aquatic symbolism plays such an important part. One of the alchemists' maxims was: 'Perform no operation till all be made water'. On the operational level, this corresponds to the solution of purified gold in aqua regia. Kirchweger, the supposed author of the Aurea Catena Homeri (1723)—a work which, incidentally, had a great influence on the young Goethe—writes: 'For this is certain, that all nature was in the beginning water, and through water all things were born and again through water all things must be destroyed.' The alchemical regression to the fluid state of matter corresponds, in the cosmologies, to the primordial chaotic state, and in the initiation rituals, to the 'death' of the initiate."