The Vortex of the Rose
Day 28 of Hilma af Klint and the Imaginary Possible
Hilma af Klint painted both visible reality — flowers, plants and tree, as well as invisible worlds such as atoms and electricity — recent scientific discoveries at the time. For her, the invisible realm included both science and spiritual truths.
Her development as a painter paralleled her development as a medium. She joined the Theosophical Society around the same time she started art school and soon after, Hilma, along with four other women — Anna Cassel, Cornelia Cederberg, Sigrid Hedman, and Mathilde Nilsson began meeting every Friday
“The Five” or “de Fem” as they called themselves, met each week to study esoteric texts and communicate with the spirits of high masters — those whom today we’d call Ascended Masters. Part of their studies involved practicing mediumship in the form of automatic writing and automatic painting. . “ The group held spiritual séances, regularly communicating with spirits, taking detailed notes and practiced automatic drawing.”
Esoteric iconography — such as the chalice, the tree of life, the spiral and crucifix — are recurring symbols in sketches channeled by Hilma and other members of The Five.
My own investigations into the spirit realm have been less methodical and more eclectic . I study whatever my my eye and my heart is drawn to
I am not particularly Christian, nor was I familiar with esoteric iconography. The spirit guiding me in my exploration was Hilma, so perhaps it is not entirely surprising that roses began to show up in my channeled paintings as well.
In Christianity, the Rose is associated with Mother Mary and also Mary Magdalene and with the Divine Feminine.
In alchemy, a rose is symbolic of the Mystical Marriage of opposites… “ It represents the regeneration of separated essences and their resurrection on a new level….In spiritual alchemy, the single red rose represents the mystic center of a person, his or her heart of hearts — one’s true nature. It also represents the process of purification to reveal one’s essence or the inner “pearl beyond price.” Sufi spiritual alchemist Rumi described this idea when he wrote: “In the driest whitest stretch of pain’s infinite desert, I lost my sanity and found this rose.”
The name of this painting is the The Vortex of the Rose.
The name occurred to me and felt right. When I looked up the meaning of vortex, I understood why: a whirling or circular motion or sometimes a fluid, that, like a whirlpool or hurricane has a vacuum in the center that draws everything towards it.
In the center of my rose was something definitely resembling a vortex.
There was no plan for either a vortex or a rose yet there it was unmistakeable.
I started to believe that perhaps none of this was accidental.
