August 1, 2009

Alchemy of Lovers

Olivia Robertson's Reflections Article:
Lughnasad 2009

Curious. To use the word “Love” is respectable, invoking the blessing of the clergy. They promulgate the concept of the Love of God. This in my dear land of Ireland suggests at once the Alchemy of the Phoenix. On this spiritual path, in the dying Piscean age of Buddhism, the Bible faiths, this Divine Love, all other loves excelling, involves self-purification. The Righteous had to destroy Old Adam, the sin of Eve, “The Wrathful Deities” of Buddhism, and plenty of Devils. “The devils” try to persuade the spiritual practitioner to be tempted away from the need to destroy earthly temptations.

I have in our Temple a statue of the Hindu Goddess Gandarvi in a Yogic posture. It came from the ancient ruined Temple of Angkor Vat. When Buddhist monks later moved in, they said this merry lady tempted them to Sin. Since I was a small girl the whole problem of Sin has puzzled me, because nobody would tell me exactly what Sin was: I mean the worst Sin of all, the Original Sin that drove Adam and Eve out of Paradise. I gathered they had to put on clothes and have children who all inherited Sin.

To read the rest of this article: Alchemy of Lovers