VISIONARY REVUE
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VISIONARY REVUE
Beside them stand the male and female figures of
‘the Fool’ and ‘Temperance’ from the Tarot Arcana.
Meanwhile, the red and blue pillars are a reference
to the Chokmah and Binah branches of the
Cabbalist Tree of Life, the masculine and feminine
principles of force and form. But, they also evoke
the Joachin and Boaz pillars of Freemasonry. They
are crowned with the baton and the cup (each a suit
from the Tarot’s minor Arcana) and, above them,
the Sun and Moon – symbols once more of the
masculine and feminine. Arranged along the left
and right of the canvas, all of these images
symbolize opposite aspects of the One, as its male
and female principles.
Yet, we notice that the series of images along the
middle axis form symbols of the male and female
principles in union. They begin with the entwining
snakes of the caduceus, and ascend to the entwining
dragons. Then, in that same constellation of images,
we behold the alchemical symbols of the Doppeladler
(two-headed eagle) and the hermaphroditus. All of
these symbols, arising from a variety of cultural
traditions, unite the male and female opposites into
one form.
If we now concentrate our vision into a form of
meditation, we may attempt to ‘enter through’ the
images. Each distinctive symbol in Johfra’s painting
becomes a doorway. And the combination of
different symbols offers us instead a series of
doorways which may be entered though in
succession until we arrive at a vision of the One.
By looking to the left and right of the painting,
we behold the One as divided into its unique, male
and female aspects. And yet, by turning our glance
to the middle, we behold combinatory images of
those male and female aspects in union.
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Beginning our meditation on
the symbols located on the
periphery of the painting, we see
the arrangement in terms of
opposition: male is separate
from female, (as is left from
right and above from below).
And so, through these images of
male and female in separation, a
GEMINI
1975 kind of Creation myth occurs, in
which the One divides into the
(Click image many through a series of
to enlarge)
descending opposites. We
descend through the cosmos and
its ‘Chain of Being’.
This transpires, first of all, in the upper
heavens – the division of the sun and moon; the
heavens and the earth (as indicated ‘above and
below’). This is followed by its division into
human forms – the male and female figures from
the Tarot; the celestial Twins of Babylonian
astrology; and the Fall they undergo in the form
of Adam and Eve. As it continues to divide into
gender opposites, the One descends further into
primæval creatures and principles: the two
dragons with their tails wrapped around the
Chokmah and Binah pillars. And finally, simple
objects also reflect this division: the phallic baton
and womb-like cup of the Tarot. All emanate
from the One in descending steps of male and
female opposites.
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JOHFRA: HERMETIC PANTHEIST
THE WORKS JOHFRA JOHFRA
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