Mythopoetic Aspects of Traditional Pomor Cryosophy and Anthropology of the Cold: Reconstruction and Interpretation

This article deals with the reconstruction of the ritual-mythological origins and interpretation of archaic semantics of a number of concepts, images, metaphors and symbols that constitute the corpus of Pomor cryosophy and anthropology of the cold. The research is based on the semiotic analysis and hermeneutics of traditional texts of Pomor culture and works included in the semantic circle of the Northern text of Russian literature. The concept of cryosophy was developed by the outstanding Russian geocryologist V.P. Melnikov, who viewed it as an “ontology of the cold world”, a system of philosophical and scientific ideas about the fundamental characteristics and principles of the cryosphere in all its forms. The conceptual and methodological framework of anthropology of the cold was articulated in the works of employees of the Laboratory for Comprehensive Geocultural Research on the Arctic (Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts, Yakutsk). The study of traditional Pomor cryosophy is based on the author’s previous research in the field of geosophy, sacred geography, and semiotics of cultural landscape of the Russian North. It is fully compliant with the subject-problem field of the anthropology of the cold. Metaphysical cold pervades all aspects of the sophic arrangement of the Pomor ethnocentrum, whose sacred geometry is similar to the configuration of “cold” societies. The class of “cold” societies based on the mythological paradigm of eternal return includes the archaic and traditional communities of the Russian Arctic (Sami, Nenets, Komi, Russian Pomors). The ideology of Old Believers was one of the leading mechanisms aimed to “cool” and maintain the homeostasis of the structure of local and ethnic communities in Pomorye. It was reflected in the sacred geometry of monastic and local self-government in the Russian North. The “cold option” of Pomor culture, along with the preserving values of the old faith, included more archaic elements and “cooling” mechanisms going back to the shamanistic ritual-mythological complex. In Pomor society, the function of such a refrigerator, preserving the sacred knowledge of the structure of the universe and maintaining the eternal still of the northern world, was performed by the poet-storyteller. He used word magic to turn the icy silence of the North into the sounding mythopoetic cosmos.

The Divine Feminine Presence in Ibn ‘Arabi and Moses de Leon

This paper is an investigation of the divine feminine power as depicted in the texts of Hispanic mystics from Sufi, Hebrew, and Christian traditions. This work is intended to investigate the origin and subsequent development of a transcendent reconciliation of polarity, its diverse manifestations, and the attainment of a common goal, the quintessential of the Perfect Human Being. The architect of the encounter that leads to Union is “Sophia.” She is the Secret. Only those who are able to discern Her own immeasurable dimension may contemplate the Lady who dwells in the sacred geometry of the abyss. Sophia is linked to the hermetic Word, She is allusive, clandestine, poetic, and pregnant with symbols, gnostic resonances, and musical murmurs that conduct the “traveler” through dwellings and stations towards an ancient Sophianic knowledge that leads to the “germinal vesicle,” the “inner wine cellar,” to the Initium, to the Motherland. She is the Mater filius sapientae, who through an alchemical transmutation becomes a song to the absent Sophia whose Presence can only be intuited. Present throughout the Creation, Sophia is the axis around which the poetics of the Taryuman al-ashwaq rotates and the kabbalistic Tree of Life is structured.

Integration of Tellurism and Sacred Geometry in Professional Training

At present, the implementation of the concepts of tellurism and sacred geometry in the schools of architecture is neither obvious nor simple. It starts with the historical heritage of patterns that are shaped and molded according to professorships that have worked independently in territories at different scales within building and urbanism. Moreover, they share the same premise of the occupation of space and creation. In this study, the authors focus on the intrinsic value of the land, its energy, and how this affects not only the overall design of the building, but also the interior of a healthy dwelling. The psychological, psychosomatic, and symptomatic effects on the human being are related to the intrinsic use of a dwelling, as well as to the building's placement on the land. The work method in this investigation has implemented a comparative case study carried out in El Pardo and Carabanchel.

The Sacred Geometry of Velázquez's Las Meninas

This study reveals the crucial role played by sacred geometry in the spatial structure of Velázquez's Las Meninas. It further explains how Velázquez, by means of geometric composition, achieved double centrality and why nearly half of those who look at his masterpiece perceive that the point of view is opposite the mirror. The spatial analysis of the floor plan confirms that, according to the law of reflection, the image in the mirror is coming from the large canvas. The correct floor plan follows from the Renaissance perspective system, and its understanding leads to further revelation of its universal use.

Light of the Soul

Liszi’s work creates visual signs derived from spherical forms of sacred geometry on photograms. Her camera-less images focus on Oneness – universe and us, based on the Light of the Soul. She works with her voice that creates ripples in water. Her experiments began with exploring the Bija mantras Aum, RaMaDaSa, and lastly SaTaNaMa that describes the eternal circle of life: birth, life, death, rebirth. Her experimentation led from mantra vibration in still water (life symbol) to light vibration (life symbol) as information carrier. The fundamental connection between water waves and light waves inspired extra stimulus in her experimental work. Quantity of water, shapes of bowls, colours of light, angles of light – are all various avenues of exploration. The sacred geometric angles and the variety of the wavelengths of electromagnetic vibrations created intimate, meditative space that gives birth to these unique photograms. Her initial experiments were with B&W positive papers then 5 × 4″ and 10 × 8″ B&W negative films. The orthochromatic negatives allowed her to work in safelight, which led to the creation of enlarged images mixed with other wavelengths. Thus, monochrome was reborn through colour.

THE DOMUS DEI IN PALEOLITHIC COSMOGONY. THE “MATRIOSHKA” MODEL.

1. The axis mundi and the Paleolithic topical. 2.- The Paleolithic goddesses and ovoid canon 3.- The hopscotch and sacred geometry. 4.- The heavenly spheres from Pythagoras to Ptolemy. The “matrioshka” model.Key words: Paleolithic cosmogony, sacred geometry, “matrioshka”, temple.