The Mystic Spiral: Journey of the Soul (Art & Imagination)

Rating:
Summary: Not quite what I had in mind.....
Review: I had had the impression this book would have more text addressing the spiral and its spiritual symbolism, with illustrations throughout. Instead, the book had a brief 30 page introduction with page after page of various artworks that feature a spiral somewhere in their design. I found the pictures to be poorly notated and wished that each photo had a more in-depth discussion to accompany it.

Rating:
Summary: Ascension
Review: THE MYSTIC SPIRAL packs a staggering amount of essential information in a handsome, reader-friendly, and hugely enjoyable book. The main text (page 7 - 31) embraces all strains of mysticism, Eastern, Western, and everything in between, with scholarly exactness but also lyrical charm. Its density prompts (welcome) re-readings. The illustrations are exceptionally well chosen, and transporting. The reader, certainly this reader, comes away wishing for more. I am happy to see that an integrative book is being planned. Possibly, no theme is more consequential to us bipeds on the earthly tariqa than the one of the Spiral.

Rating:
Summary: The Spiral is a Cosmic Symbol
Review: This book is an in-depth contemplation of the significance of the spiral. It is demonstrated that the spiral in its several forms has been a universal cosmic symbol from earliest human history. Indeed, this book traces the history of its use from stone age cultures, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Greco Roman world, Islam, India, China, the Jewish world, the Celts, Medieval Europe, the Americas, etc., etc, etc. The reoccurrence of spiral forms in nature, and hence science, is also examined.

The spiral is shown in its various forms and interpretations. This includes the evolutionary spiral (constant upward advancement through repeating cycles- reaching the same point, but at a higher level of attainment every time.) It can also be seen as the inward spiral of the hero's journey to the center where the great secret or gift lies. It can as well be the double spiral of descent, rebirth, and upward climb. It can also be the spherical spiral of expansion and contraction, or the never-ending vortex ring which periodical passes through it's own center. All variations and their deeper metaphorical meanings are examined- for it is assumed that the cycles of the spiral in nature, or human life, are microcosmic resonances of the great cosmic cycles and rhythms.

Yet, it is also shown that at the center of the spiral must lay a straight upward path, a "short cut." This is the Axis Mundi, the World Tree that leads directly to the highest planes, the ultimate Source. This is the path of illumination of the mystic, the shaman.

The layout of this book is that approximately the first third is an in-depth essay on the significance of the spiral, while the remaining two thirds are excellent color and black and write illustrations (with detailed descriptions and explanations.)

Rating:
Summary: This is the book I was looking for...
Review: This is the unknown guide I hoped to find, as I searched, looking high and low, in libraries and bookstores. The spiral is partly something visual, and I wanted a book that would understand that and teach both in words and in pictures. The numerous illustrations (100+ pages) in THE MYSTIC SPIRAL are presented on large glossy paper, almost all in color, and are fantastic. The writing in the introduction and long captions, is essentialized, what I believe the author distilled after years of research. Yet it is so provocative!-- it opens the mind's eye to leap into exceedingly refreshing ideas. Here is the opening 2-sentence paragraph...

"In a second, the faintest perfume may send us plummeting to the roots of our being, our whole life verticalized by a fleeting sensation: we have been connected by a mere smell to another place and another time. The amount we have changed in the recognition of this moment -- this is the spiral: the path we have followed to reach the same point on another winding."

If you never read the rest of the book, you can contemplate this one statement and open a window into the mystery of labyrinths, seashells, whirlpools, our own galaxy, or the whole "breathing cosmos." But the entire 24-page introduction is equally profound. The idea is to take each meditation and deepen into it with much contemplation on your own, especially with the help of the art historical illustrations. A thousand times thank you to Jill Purce for leaving this enchanting, delightful marker on the path for others to contemplate and to follow.