On this occasion we enter into this engraving that was made in Antwerp ─Belgium─ in the year 1624. It was entitled: Angel chained to the world
It was one of the most pious works known in seventeenth-century Europe. The central theme of these works was always divine love and the human soul, and many authors claim that the artist always liked to represent these virtues in childlike forms, whether associating their engravings with Eros Cupid or with the baby Jesus.
One of those men whom history now calls Apostles was, precisely, a disciple of the Great Kabir of Galilee who is remembered as Saint Bartholomew the Apostle…
First of all, allow me to make a brief review of the artist of this magnificent engraving, The great column, and which has been none other than Albrecht Dürer.
The present artistic work is in direct relation to one of the five senses of our organic machine. First we see in it a beautiful lady who carries in her right hand the horn of the goddess Amalthea, which means material or spiritual abundance.
In the main scene we can see a lady reclining on the tree of life ─the BEING─ and pointing with her right hand to a spider’s web, while with her left she holds a bird. This lady is sitting on a rock representative of the stone of stumbling and rock of scandal ─sexuality─ as Saint Paul so well described it.
The sense of smell [Olfaction], dear friends, also has a profound significance in the mysteries. In addition to allowing us to grasp the smells of Mother Nature, it would moreover allow us to perceive other fragrances that correspond to the superior worlds, once we have been properly educated.
With immense pleasure I send you one of the five engravings that I am sending you gradually and that are related to the five senses that our organic machine possesses.
Para nosotros los gnósticos este grabado posee una importancia trascendental, pues nos permite concebir aquello que para las iglesias católica y ortodoxa fue calificado como dogma de fe.
To enter into the subject matter, I have to tell you that on this occasion the artist wanted to refer to the auditory faculty, once again indicated as a human quality and therefore represented in the form of a beautiful woman.
To study this magnificent engraving, first of all we have to say that it was created between the years 1575-1618 and is found in the Rijksmuseum, located in the city of Amsterdam ─Holland─.
Esteemed readers, I show you here two images: a 16th century drawing by Francesco de Rossi ─Italian painter, 1510-1563─, in which Phanes appears as a hermaphrodite deity, as described by ancient Roman texts, and a Roman high relief.
A NECESSARY REFLECTION: When we look at what is happening between Russia and Ukraine, we all wonder: but how is this possible?
Certainly, companions, our life is comparable to the hours of the day: at dawn we could say that we are in our childhood, when we are at midday ─zenith─ we could say that we have reached youth, when the afternoon begins we can compare that phenomenon with adulthood, our maturity, and when the night arrives we enter our old age.
This engraving was made by an artist named Hieronymus Wierix, who lived in Antwerp ─Belgium. The harshest reality tells us that our life is a pilgrimage that begins precisely in our childhood…
