Astrological archetypes find profoundly vivid expression in art, particularly in films and drama, but their deeper spiritual significance is frequently overlooked and not understood. Audiences are often under the impression that “art is just entertainment” and that it reflects little to nothing inherently real, let alone “spiritual” or astrological. To them, spirituality is more “serious” and is the ascetic rejection of “shallow” frivolities like art (as well as other Venusian subjects like sensuality and femininity). In truth, this misunderstanding is something found only in the most recent millennia, seeped in material vs. spiritual duality from proselytizing religions that relegated power, beauty, and pleasure mainly to promises for the afterlife. The ancient pagan religions of the world understood the impulse & capacity to create was itself divine; art therefore was a necessary product of our communing with the Gods.
The Greeks prayed to the nine Muses (like Melpomene for tragedy, Thalia for comedy, Erato for poetry, and Urania for astrology) for the divine spark that produces a powerful work of art or knowledge. The genesis of theater was, in fact, ancient rituals which sought to invoke divine energies into Earthly vessels, imitating or even producing reality (as a magical act) through “art”. The “masks” of new characters were like keys granting ritual access to archetypal aspects of the Self not usually accessible to the conscious mind in such a pure and unadulterated state. Dividing drama from spirituality, philosophically or historically, would be a truly impossible task.
Aitareya Brahmana states that “the arts are a refinement of the Self; “there are such wonder-works of the Gods, and the arts of this world are to be understood as an imitation thereof… they make ready the soul and imbue it with the knowledge of the sacred hymns.” According to the Natyashastra (an ancient treatise on the mysticism of drama), the spiritual aspirant who “puts into practice and witnesses carefully the performance of a drama, will attain the same blessed goal which masters of Vedic knowledge and performers of sacrifices or givers of gifts will attain in the end.” “The goal of performance arts, states Natyashastra, is ultimately to let the spectator experience his own consciousness, then evaluate and feel the spiritual values innate in him, and rise to a higher level of consciousness. The playwright, the actors and the director all aim to transport the spectator to an aesthetic experience within him to eternal universals, to emancipate him from the mundane to creative freedom within.” (Susan Schwartz)
The artist of today is the closest thing to the “heathen” priest/priestess of yesterday, dissolving the ego into inspired life-force to channel Universals, to connect with the “Primal Unity” and embody or communicate the power of it— to become radiant, true, and Godlike in expression. For art-appreciators too, Natyashastra even posits that the capacity for enjoyment of a performance is closely linked to the receptivity to the Ultimate experience (moksha); those unable to acknowledge & enjoy the arts are described as “ahrdaya” (heartless, insensitive), and those with aesthetic sensitivity are “sahrdayata" (full of “juice” and heart). It is only the latter type who could extract the true essence of a dramatic work, the rasa, experiencing a purification & expansion of the consciousness, said to be akin to states reached during meditation. Through both meditation & pouring ourselves into contemplation of an artistic work, we dip the mind into the transcendent pool of higher truths and eternal archetypes. Therefore, those who see potent works of art and proclaim them to be nice but “for entertainment only”, “materialistic”, or “unspiritual” are actually lacking in the inner “juice” that allows them to extract the spiritual meaning, obtain subtle realization, & experience energetic transformation from the Gods speaking within it. To proclaim art is lesser than life in any capacity is to actually proclaim one’s own ignorance and lack of depth— the person’s bewilderment with the nuances, secrets, and subtleties of the Maya of life and of art, which are one in the same. Especially to suggest that astrological archetypes— a science rooted completely in mythology— are not present or not important in the arts is so absurd it touches on being blasphemous to the science itself.
Theater, film, and other artistic expressions are natural vessels for astrological archetypes, as both share the common purpose of capturing and expressing the Universal truths that guide our lives. It was artists, myth-seers— those open to the myths arising from within them— who channeled & deciphered the energies within the sky in the first place. It is artists today who are still myth-seers, unconsciously channeling and conveying ancient teachings in a way that in modern culture simply feels to them like “imagination”. Filmmakers, using only their intuition, shockingly tend to cast the right people (astrologically) to carry out the myths they wish to reenact, melding the perfect combinations of underlying energies to alchemize a ritual result, in just the same way it would’ve been performed in ancient times, even without the conscious intention. Therefore, the more “dry” spiritual seeker (who thinks themselves as non-materialistic but ironically is seeped in dualistic materialism, relying only on physical history and physical humans to communicate on behalf of Gods for them) thinks myths are only preserved in ancient books and human lineages. At the core, this is borderline atheistic. The “juicy” spiritual seeker (full of life-force & heart) knows that living myths will arise from within the the open, the life-loving & life-affirming, and the sensual (who taps into their life-force without fear) no matter what forces of “religious” violence attempt to stamp such myths out, control, hide, or destroy them. Not only will spiritual teachings & divine messages arise from within the genuine artist preserved, but also through a lens more relevant, transformational, and understandable to appreciators of today. The artists and art-appreciators of today therefore glorify & preserve the myths and the Gods in grand & generous ways, comparable or, at times, superior to what seems like more overtly “religious” acts or works. According to Natyashastra, “Gods are never so pleased on being worshipped with scents and garlands as they are delighted with the performance of dramas.”
Anyone, even those entrapped into the most mundane & routine daily existence, can experience the broad fullness of their “inner sky” through the arts. Unlimited by karmas, the arts are for all people to experience the eternal, Godly energies within them, therefore studying a person in their expression in the unbound territory of the arts is the best way to peer into their Soul. In the world of drama, they are uninhibited and truthful. Here, they aren’t limited by class or social expectation or laws, but act freely as guided by grand cosmic instincts. As Oscar Wilde said, “man is lest himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell the truth.” When the curtain lifts on the stage to reveal people “playing pretend”, so too does the veil actually lift on the mysteries of life, as truth displays itself there raw, blatant, and packed with the inspired life-force that alchemizes deeper energetic responses & transformations in perceivers. In art, the eternal speaks not in whispers, but vividly, clearly, and loudly. Where daily life communicates truths subtly in a way that can be more hard to discern, art plays with cosmic energies brought to their unbound extremes.
Time spent witnessing art, which is now often considered an “escape” from seriousness and spirituality, was throughout time considered a most exalted and cherished experience for receiving gnosis, the transference of experience & understanding as we lose ourselves into the Primal Unity. Our own artistic impulse is an echo of the divine crafting of the cosmos itself. In a world where we have largely been divided from ancient animistic practices & the spiritual tools to connect to the deities, people still do unknowingly through the arts. It’s for this reason that people irrationally treat many of those artists in the entertainment industry with an almost religious fervor, as if through simple “entertainment” they have given audiences something incredibly valuable; in truth, they have. In extravagantly revealing the deepest & oldest truths, art is the illusion that destroys illusion.
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"If someone were to transform Beethoven's Ode to Joy into a painting and not restrain his imagination when millions of people sink dramatically into the dust, then we could come close to the Dionysian. Now the slave becomes a free man; now all the rigid, hostile barriers imposed by necessity, by arbitrary social order, or by ‘brazen custom’ are broken. Now, under the gospel of universal harmony, every man feels himself not only united, reconciled, and fused with his neighbor, but as one with him, – as though the veil of Maya had been torn apart and were now fluttering in shreds before the mysterious primordial oneness. Singing and dancing, man expresses himself as a member of a higher community: he has forgotten how to walk and talk and is on the verge of flying up into the air as he dances.
The enchantment speaks out in his gestures. Just as the animals now speak and the earth gives milk and honey, so something supernatural sounds from his voice and being: he feels himself to be a god; he himself now walks about enraptured and elated, as he saw the gods walking in his dreams. Man is no longer an artist; he has become a work of art: the creative power of the whole of nature comes to light here, in ecstasy, to the highest satisfaction of the primordial unity. The finest clay, the most expensive marble —- man — is here worked and transformed by the chisel blows of this Dionysian energy, and the cry of the Eleusinian mysteries rings out: 'Do you fall to your knees, you millions? World, do you feel the presence of your creator?'"
-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy
NOTE: The two articles I've selected for the "recent posts" section below are both very relevant to this subject if you'd like to read more.