The Solar-Terrestrial Heartbeat
“I had rather believe all the fables in the Legend, and the Talmud, and the Alcoran, than that this universal frame is without a mind.”
Francis Bacon: ‘Of Atheism,’ Essays (1625)
Everything in the universe is imbued with intelligence, and the universe itself, which is infinite, has universal intelligence, which is infinite. Intelligence gives form to the life-force energy of wisdom. In classical tradition and religion, the wisdom is known as the Word, which is the Will of God, Who is Love; and the form given to it by intelligence is called the Name.
Fundamentally, this form in three-dimensions is a cosmos. In two-dimensions it is a circle. The universe is the Macrocosm; all things within it are microcosms, including our human selves, our planet, and our solar system. As a circle, it is known as a wheel of life, which the Greeks called a zodiac, and the Hindus call a chakra.
All is in motion, as all things and beings are living. Energy is described as movement, which is motion, the life-force. Emotion (from Latin ex-movere, ‘to move out’) is another way to describe this, as all movement is outwards from a centre; and all emotion is an expression of love.
As Hermes Trismegistus anciently said: “God is a circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.”
It takes two to express love. Unless love is expressed, it lies hidden, unknown, in potential only. Therefore love needs the other to love – hence the expression, lover and beloved. But love, even though expressed as such, needs it to be reciprocated, so that the two beings or things love each other. Both are lover and beloved simultaneously. Then there is joy, ecstasy, delight, as a result, which makes each of the lovers shine with light.
The Hebrew word for such delight or joy is ohr (אוֹר), which is the word used in Genesis 1:3. The name given for the two divine lovers is Alahim (אֱלֹהִים), nowadays pronounced Elohim, which is a plural name, but usually translated into English simply as ‘God’. Alahim is plural because it refers to Al, the Divine Father, and Alah, the Divine Mother, in their unity of love. They are the All. They create or become heaven and earth so that they can express their love for each other. The result of their loving each other is the birth of light, or delight (ohr), called in tradition their Son.
The word ‘Son’ has a relationship to the word ‘Sun’, as both shine with light. So, besides loving God, the immortal, universal Love, and loving each other, who are mortal individuals, as we are exhorted to do by the great teachers who shine with their love, we also need to see how our planet is loved by our Sun, and help our planet to reciprocate that love more and more.
The heart is known as the source of love, which expresses love. This manifests physically as the heartbeat, which is a double beat – one beat followed quickly by a second beat. Each of the two beats is different from the other, with each having its own nature and purpose. This is a manifestation of the two lovers in the heart loving each other. Successive heartbeats create a rhythm. Whilst this rhythm continues, we are alive.
Expressed even further, two human beings who love each other are like heartbeats. It also occurs in animals, birds and insects, also in plants, trees, and all forms of vegetation, and also in the rocks and stones and minerals. Everything is alive, and has both intelligence and wisdom, otherwise it would not exist. Everything is pulsing with life, manifesting its heartbeats in various ways.
The rhythmic heartbeat of our planet Earth as it orbits the Sun, with our Sun loving our planet and our planet loving the Sun, is expressed in the equinoxes and solstices, and the quarterdays in-between. The equinoxes and solstices make the strong, firm beat; the quarterdays make the responsive, softer, more fluid beat. This is the solar-terrestrial heartbeat – a rhythmic heartbeat of love – a double heartbeat four times a year.
In terms of a circle, wherein the circumference symbolises the orbit of our planet Earth around the Sun, the solstices and equinoxes make a Greek Cross, and the quarterdays make a Saltire. The former is known as the fixed Cross, the latter as the fluid Cross. They can also be referred to as male and female, hence the fixed Cross, the Cross of Light, denotes the divine Wisdom, and the fluid Cross, the Saltire, denotes the divine Intelligence.
In Ireland the Saltire is known as St Brigid’s Cross. In England the Cross of Light is associated with St George. The colour of the fixed Cross is red, denoting the metal gold, symbolic of the Sun and of light. The colour of the Saltire is white, symbolic of moral purity and holiness (the original meaning of ‘virginity’).
Although the two Crosses, fixed and fluid, are referred to as male and female, everything is actually ying-yang, wherein each contains something of the other – i.e. each can be a lover, and each can be a beloved. Giving and receiving are equally important where love is concerned.
To enhance the love that the Earth has for the Sun, as also to help the Earth receive the love of the Sun, the equinoxes, solstices, and quarterdays were anciently celebrated as the great solar or fire festivals, when bonfires or candles were lit on those days of the year, and great festivities took place. To my mind, this is like a drummer who beats out a rhythm to enhance the rhythm he feels is already being made, or needs to be made, or is inspired to make – and all music depends on rhythm. Indeed, all life depends on rhythm – the fundamental rhythm of the heartbeat.
During festivals, if done well, and in a purity of love and friendship, the ecstasy of delight, of joy, can be achieved.
I will end like I began, with a quotation (or three) from the supremely wise, intelligent and loving person, Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban: -
“Next unto God, Love is the Cause of Causes, itself without any Cause.”[i]
“…. by aspiring to a similitude of God in goodness or love, neither man nor angel ever transgressed, or shall transgress. For unto that imitation we are called: ‘Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who persecute and calumniate you; that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise on the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust’.”[ii]
“Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth, and embaseth it.”[iii]
© Peter Dawkins, FBRT
[i] Francis Bacon, On Principles and Origins, According to the Fables of Cupid and Cœlum (1609).
[ii] Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning, Bk II (1605).
[iii] Francis Bacon, Essay, ‘Of Love’.
