Blood and Tattoos in the Work of Uri Katzenstein – by Yasmine Bergner

Originally published in the online magazine Erev Rav. 2018

Photos from the artist’s archive

Rarely does an artist succeed in building a tangible bridge between their art in the gallery space or private studio and the observer. in a way that allows the creation to accompany the viewer into their home and throughout their later life. This bridge preoccupied the multidisciplinary artist Uri Katzenstein (1951–2018), who recently passed away at the age of 67.

Katzenstein dealt with questions concerning human interaction and the long-term spiritual influence we have, as artists and as human beings, on our intimate and broader surroundings. His work stemmed from a longing for connection, transformation, and healing. This is no small matter in our society, where social, political, and conceptual art reign supreme. During his time in the U.S., Katzenstein was a student of the artist Chris Burden. Burden was also a total body artist—someone willing to get shot and to crucify himself on the roof of a car. Burden and American performance art had a formative influence on Katzenstein’s work and worldview. Katzenstein’s work was distinctly and uniquely body art since the 1980s, which he expressed through sculpture, video, performance, and music. Another significant layer of his work was the art of tattooing.

In the 1990s, Katzenstein created a fascinating artistic project at the Ein Hod Biennale: he offered people from the art world to tattoo an image from his body of work on their bodies—the figure of the “climbing” double. Many art figures accepted. “These people who agreed to tattoo my work on themselves are a kind of erotic messenger for me,” Katzenstein told me a few years ago, and I observed his arms, tattooed with the enigmatic symbols he had created. In this unique way, he created a hidden grid of his own self within those around him. “I gave you a museum, an exhibition, and now I am giving you my body,” Katzenstein quoted a famous curator who participated in the project.

Another of his works tattooed on the body was a sentence written in coded script: “I wanted to talk to you.” The sentence reveals Katzenstein’s engagement with exposure and concealment, with the limitations of language and communication, and with the longing to create an immediate connection between the artist and the active viewer.

Katzenstein’s climber figure, from the artist’s archive

Another unique element in Katzenstein’s work was the use of blood. Blood is a “meta-material” with properties of paint. Blood is the fluid of life, the vessel of the soul according to Judaism, containing our genetic signature and determining our identity. Blood, therefore, is equivalent to identity and essence. It can be said that a large part of Katzenstein’s work dealt with essence or its absence. In his performance from the 1990s, the blood fluid becomes a wall painting in a performative act where the eye follows the hand writing the phrase “Sur Name,” the anchor of genealogical belonging and our visage before the world. In another work, “Cards,” Katzenstein created a series of cards placed on a ping-pong table set for two players. On the cards, he painted botanical motifs in blood, combined with a single word: “Value.” Value. What legacy, what future will remain after our death—this was a weighty question for Katzenstein. Given that this article was written before his death, the query now carries a poignant weight.

In a conversation with Shani Litman in Haaretz (2015), Yigal Zalmona says: “The body was one of the interesting subjects, and there weren’t many Israeli artists back then who dealt with it. He wasn’t an Israeli artist in the accepted sense of the word. His preoccupation with sexually ambiguous definitions, his androgyny—all these were not very accepted and undermined the Israeli macho image […] He was a kind of alien. A combination of a sweet child with a certain type of violence. The impossibility of trapping him between niceness and threat and aggression is one of the most prominent things in his works. His works are nice, but also terrifying. A type of absent-minded professor whose art is connected to some New Age quality, an aesthetics of horror movies, dealing with blood in a very clean way. It was very much not ‘Dalut HaChomer’ (Poverty of Material). Even then, there were many contradictions in his work that were hard to grasp.”

Blood line

The term “Blood line” is used in the tattoo world to describe a line tattooed with water only, without pigment—a line usually used for marking that disappears immediately after healing. A temporary stamp. The concept of “Blood Line” has a double meaning: on the one hand, a “blood line” of a tangible tattoo, and on the other hand, “lineage.”

In Katzenstein’s work, the act of writing in blood suggests an engagement with strange ritual, a private “blood covenant,” and at the same time, the writing on the wall connects the private to the public, exposing blood usually hidden from the eye and raising questions about tribal rituals of impurity and purity. In her important book Purity and Danger, anthropologist Mary Douglas proposes an approach according to which a “defiled” thing is something taken out of its context and natural order. Thus, “mud,” which is not a “dirty” thing usually, becomes “dirty” when it is inside the house. In the same way, blood can be considered “impure” when it is drawn out of the body. Jewish laws of Niddah are based on the principles of impurity and purity. According to anthropological studies in the tribal world, bloodletting and tattooing are purification rituals.

Tattoo anthropologist Lars Krutak notes that initiation and tattooing rituals are closely related to magical perception. “In certain tribes in South America, women were tattooed at the beginning of the moon and during menstruation. This, despite the fact that the monthly cycle made them temporarily exposed to injury by evil spirits. Blood attracts evil, much like an animal smelling blood […] The tattoo and magical pigments were a kind of ‘trap,’ and the moment they were displayed on the skin, they offered permanent purification against future evil spirits, thereby strengthening the woman and the community against evil forever.”

Uri Katzenstein, from the artist’s archive

Katzenstein observed the individual’s relationship with the collective social structure out of contradictory feelings of isolation versus a desire for communication. He expressed a worldview that erupts from an internal center of gravity—radiating outward but also remaining secret and undeciphered. At the center of this melting pot, quantum processes occurred, which, upon reaching a critical point, created metamorphoses in a chain reaction, similar to the effect of a stone thrown into water creating ripples. This basic physical principle deals with the encounter between two pulses that create an interference phenomenon, the passage of a wave through material, in this case, water. As physical beings (made of at least 50% water), we affect each other similarly in a mental sense; our existential ripples meet and connect with the ripples of others at infinite interfaces.

The visual space in which Katzenstein’s figures moved is indeed an ocean. In his fascinating video works, he created surrealistic worlds (with various influences of sci-fi and esoterica), sometimes apocalyptic, but endowed with humor and ridicule. A strong sense of an idiosyncratic world full of inventions and hybrid chimeras arose from his works. In the work “Order of Cloned Brothers,” he undermined the archetype of family in its traditional sense and offered an alternative consisting of the splitting of the “self” and its reflection in its doubles; the whole world is reflections of the “multi-dimensional self.” His spaces are synthesized, archetypal, existing everywhere or nowhere. The figures move in a space that seems unreal, and sometimes the space is devoid of reality, as in his sculptural installations. The “detail” is that prototype that repeats itself, and only it serves as a mental “all-seeing eye” that connects all things.

Art critic and curator Galia Yahav, who is also no longer with us, was one of the women who wore Katzenstein’s “climbing double” tattoo. In a review she wrote on his exhibition “Backyard,” Yahav said at the time: “Intimacy according to Katzenstein is an impossible or dangerous category. Every nuance—syllable, material, expression, gesture, sound—echoes in a vacuum. But more than that, the entire hyper-action over void is a great show of disability.”

The video “Caretakers,” which Katzenstein created, is accompanied by a soundtrack created in collaboration with Ohad Fishof and Ishai Adar, and brings an intense experiential dimension to the emotionally alienated image and envelops it. Katzenstein sings in a trembling voice a beautiful existentialist lament that threatens to shatter the synthetic apocalyptic scene and dissolve the illusion of isolation. As if the sense of hearing (the high vibration) is trying to overcome the sense of sight (the low vibration) through an experience of true emotion via human voice and music.

Waves, it turns out, are “non-territorial beings.” They share the same space and medium. At one point in space, infinite waves can pass simultaneously. Could it be that Katzenstein searched, like that survivor from the movie “Waterworld,” or like Noah of the flood, for interaction and new life?

Uri Katzenstein, from the artist’s archive

Katzenstein probably would not have agreed with the claim that there is a shamanic quality in his work, as he told me in a conversation between us. It seems that his perspective always moved on the spectrum between inner knowledge and a lack of faith in the future of humanity. His electrification performances and tattoo rituals stemmed, he said, “from a desire to deal with a space that plastic art usually does not touch—the hypodermic space,” a space of sensation and skin through a shared experience of his and the audience’s.

In an interview with Shani Litman, Katzenstein said: “I am less interested in creating a conceptual boundary between me and the audience. It’s a kind of initiation ritual, very individual and exciting for me […] Many years ago I suggested to curator Naomi Aviv to get a tattoo of a climbing man, and then more people from the art world jumped at my offer and got tattooed, because it was the solution to some fantasy they had. The tattoos were the first time I made an intrusion into the hypodermic space, and I understood that this is what I am interested in doing.”

According to ancient tribal belief, only shamans and tattooists had the power to control human souls, therefore the tattooist was an active partner in a special socio-religious order where the body, ritual, and tattoo were connected to tribal cosmology and nature, to a place where moral obligations to gods and goddesses, to mothers and ancestors, to living spirits and the earth itself, were tied within a whole system. To a great extent, from this spiritual core, tribal life and the tattoo culture developed.

Initiation rituals help us move safely from one developmental stage to another and accept it with mental maturity. In Western culture of our time, there is insufficient understanding and internalization of rites of passage and initiation. This spiritual deficit largely expresses the existential separateness experienced by people today. Physical, mental, and spiritual transformations that we all experience during our lives happen to us without initiation, without sufficient spaces for healing trauma, and without community-serving leadership. To a large extent, Katzenstein’s performance actions, his tattooing, and his electrification shows were intended to create and distill a meaningful, authentic, and humorous moment between the artist and the active viewer; an intimate interaction aimed to be etched, to influence, and to heal, similar to rites of passage and initiation.

His works suggest that the most missing or absent element in the world is the connection between individuals. It is unclear if the deficit is in social skills or if it stems from a lack of ground and space to allow it. Perhaps the reason why Katzenstein’s ritualistic performance is experienced as an “opaque” or coded action is our distancing from this socio-spiritual cosmological order. We experience space as “void,” but every void is a bed that can fertilize new life.

Once, Katzenstein asked me to send him traditional tattoo songs that I know. Here is a song that seems appropriate here, a Micronesian folk tattoo song in my translation:

“Cease your wailing and your sighing, my friend,
This is not the pain of the sick man,
This is the pain of the student!
Relax your body in devotion,
Surrender, O leader!
Soon you will receive the chains of your beautiful ornaments,
But for now, they are still separate and unconnected.
The string is still interrupted and incomplete
Surrender, O leader!
Soon at the fall of evening
You will gaze upon your tattoo
Fresh as a Ti leaf
Surrender, O leader!
Ah, if it were a burden,
I would carry it for you in my love,
Oh, be silent and surrender.
I will cease with the ending of the tapping
Surrender, O leader!
Like the water flowing with the blood
I ache for your condition.
Surrender, O leader!
The chain will break, the thread will snap,
But the tattoo will remain.
This ornament will be eternal
And go with you beyond the grave.
Surrender, O leader!
Ah, you suffer under the tapping
Ah, until you fall asleep
And are no longer weary and tired of it!”

Yasmine Bergner is a spiritual guide through the art of tattoos,

multidisciplinary artist, art therapist and culture researcher.

הפוסט Blood and Tattoos in the Work of Uri Katzenstein | By Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

Wetiko – The Greatest Epidemic Known to Humanity – by Paul Levy

Translated from English: Yasmine Bergner

Opening image: Bouguereau, Dante and Virgil in Hell, 1850

In the book Columbus and Other Cannibals, the indigenous author Jack D. Forbes [1] vitally investigates a psychological disease affecting human behavior that is destructive to itself, which the indigenous people of the American continent felt on their own flesh for years. After reading the book, it was clear to me that it describes the same psycho-spiritual illness of the mind that I wrote about in my book The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection on Our Collective Psychosis. In it, I presented the idea that since the dawn of human history, our species has fallen victim to a collective psychosis, which I call “malignant egophrenia.” Speaking about this same mental epidemic, Forbes writes: “For several thousand years, human beings have suffered from an epidemic. A disease more terrible than leprosy, worse than malaria, harder than smallpox” [2]. Indigenous cultures have identified this same mental virus [3], which I call malignant egophrenia, for many hundreds of years. They call it “Wetiko” – a term from the Cree tribe referring to a negative person or entity that imposes terror on others. Professor Forbes, who was one of the founders of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s, says that “tragically, human history in the last 2000 years tells the story of the epidemiology of the Wetiko disease” [4].

Wetiko/malignant egophrenia is a “psychosis” in the true sense of the word, as it is a disease of the spirit/mind. Although we use different names, Forbes and I are trying to point to the same illness of the mind which lies at the root of humanity’s inhuman behavior toward itself.

As we come to investigate the Wetiko entity, we must awaken its spirit and enter into a relationship with it, just as if we were performing a magical ritual. We must contemplate and engage with Wetiko in the most objective way possible, just as if it existed outside of ourselves. Because of its unique psychological origin, the epidemiology of Wetiko is very different from any other disease. A fundamental challenge to our investigation of the Wetiko virus is the fact that it revolves within the mind, which is itself the instrument we use for our investigation. Referring to the paradox inherent in this, Forbes says he aspires to study the disease from a perspective that is as free as possible from assumptions created by the disease we are studying [5]. If we are not aware of the viewpoint from which we are examining the Wetiko virus, our investigation will be infected by the virus itself and will cloud the sharpness of vision needed to begin the healing process. We must learn how Wetiko embodies itself in others and how it embodies itself within us; this will allow us to see it with greater objectivity. Observing the ways in which the psychological disease manifests in the world is a mirror through which we can potentially recognize the same disease rising subjectively from within our own consciousness.

Hans Ulrich

In awakening an entity like Wetiko, if we want to examine it as objectively as possible, we must hermetically seal it within an alchemical vessel. This ensures that its mercurial spirit does not evaporate back into the hidden unconscious, where it would act upon us and through us. Jung consistently emphasized the importance of developing a vessel designed to contain disturbing spirits such as Wetiko. Jung suggests shifting the disturbing spirit from its place and placing it within a vessel located at a distance between the individual and their neighbor. “For the sake of humanity, we must build such vessels where we can place all this vile poison. Because it must always exist somewhere. Not to trap it, to deny its existence, gives it the best chance to grow” [6].

Wetiko is an elusive entity, and it is very challenging to focus the gaze on its essence, yet it is very important to analyze it into its components. Unlike a physiological virus, the Wetiko virus cannot be isolated materially, but its unique characteristics can be discerned and discovered through the extraordinary actions of the mind that is under its spell. Not acknowledging the existence of the Wetiko germ—to say that “it does not exist”—allows the mental infection to manifest in action (acting out) without restraint. Being “always everywhere” means being non-local, always around, even potentially and especially within ourselves. By awakening the spirit of Wetiko, we simultaneously create (through the personal investigation itself) the vessel we need to study the germ and understand what we are actually dealing with. We learn how it operates in the world, in others, and subjectively—within ourselves. In order to complete the circle in this exercise/exorcism [7] of observation, we must homeopathically return the gaze inward toward ourselves. Like in a dream where the inside is the outside, we can understand that the Wetiko virus we observed “in the outside world,” outside of ourselves, is a reflection and exists in interaction with this process within ourselves. Within the symptomatology of the Wetiko virus, deep insight is encoded, something essential that we must know.

A Disease of Culture
Wetiko/malignant egophrenia is a disease of culture, or of its absence. To quote Forbes loosely: “The development of the Wetiko disease strikingly parallels the rise of civilization through Western eyes; this is not a coincidence” [8]. The nature of industrial society is unsustainable and requires more and more violence in order to sustain and maintain it. The true meaning of society is, simply, not to kill people. Referring to the lack of culture in modern society, Gandhi was asked what he thought of Western civilization. His answer was, “I think it would be a good idea.” It makes sense that indigenous peoples knew of the existence of malignant egophrenia, through which they were oppressed, but at least in the beginning, they were not under the bewitching influence of Western culture. Living under the control of modern culture can feel as though something foreign to our nature is being forced upon us, or as if we are living in occupied territory. Modern culture suffers from a primarily one-sided dominance of rationality, of the intellectual mind. A one-sidedness that ostensibly disconnects us from nature, from empathy, and from ourselves. As a result of its dissociation from the holistic whole, the Wetiko disease is a disorder of the order of humanity and the natural world. It is a disease that spreads aggression and can ignite violence among living creatures. The Wetiko virus is the root cause of the inhumanity found at the heart of human nature. This “mental virus,” this system failure, informs and illustrates the madness of the so-called society, which in a feedback loop perpetuates and feeds the madness within itself.

Forbes continues: “This disease, this (cannibalistic) psychosis called Wetiko, is the disease of the most epidemic magnitude known to man” [9]. We, as a human species, are in the midst of a widespread mental epidemic. A contagious collective psychosis that has been brewing in the cauldron of the human mind since the dawn of days. Like a fractal, Wetiko operates in multiple dimensions simultaneously: in the intra-personal dimension (within individuals), the inter-personal dimension (between individuals), and the collective dimension (as a human species). “Cannibalism,” in Forbes’ words, is “the consumption of the life of the other for personal gain” [10]. Those infected with the Wetiko virus, like cannibals, consume the life force of the other—human and non-human—for personal purposes or profit, and do so without giving anything in return from their own lives. One example that symbolizes the madness of collective self-destruction is the destruction of the Amazon rainforest by oil companies, the lungs of planet Earth. This is a living example that strikingly illustrates what we are doing to ourselves. Another tangible example that symbolically embodies the Wetiko complex in action is the genetically engineered sterile seeds of the Monsanto corporation, which are prevented from reproducing into a second generation of seeds and force farmers to buy new seeds from the corporation again and again for the coming year’s harvest. This agricultural terrorism makes it very difficult for small farmers to survive and has ignited a wave of suicides among farmers, while Monsanto corporation only grows and steadily enriches itself in the process.

Forbes writes: “The compulsive/trampling characteristic of Wetiko is the fact that it consumes other human beings, or in other words, it is a kind of predator and cannibal. This is the central essence of the disease” [11]. Predators, Wetiko entities that embody themselves overwhelmingly, are not in contact with their humanity, and therefore are unable to see humanity in others. Instead, they treat others as potential prey or as a threat to their dominance. Individuals fully infected with Wetiko psychosis consume the lives of others physically, emotionally, mentally, and metaphysically—beyond the material body and physical assets—to the level of meaning itself. Wetiko victims are the anti-artists of our culture. They embody the opposite of what creative artists do. Unlike an artist who creates life-affirming meaning and enriches the world without robbing others (see my article: The Artist as World Healer), Wetiko consumes and takes without giving anything in return, steadily depleting and emptying the world of its resources.

We are currently in the midst of the greatest epidemic disease known to man (see my article: Diagnosis: Mental Epidemic). Many of us are not aware of this, because our collective madness is so widespread that it has undergone “normalization.” Our collective madness has become transparent to us, while we see and interpret the world through it, making our madness invisible, and inadvertently conspiring with the collective psychosis that sows destruction and death on our planet. Being “transparent,” our madness is far beyond visibility; it is invisible. Our collective psychosis is invisible to us because it expresses itself both in the way we observe and in the way we are conditioned not to observe. Thanks to its cloak of invisibility, we fail to notice our madness, a mental blindness that makes us partners in creating our madness.

Many of us are unable to grasp the scale of the evil to which Wetiko-filled entities have fallen victim and what they are capable of. Our inability to imagine the evil that exists potentially in humanity is a direct result of a lack of intimacy with the potential for evil that exists within us, which allows the cruelty of Wetiko to rule without restraint in our world (see my article: Shedding Light on Evil). Through our mental blindness, we become partners in spreading the evil of Wetiko psychosis, a systemic evil whose depth reaches far beyond the ability of words to describe. Evil paralyzes our ability to verbalize the experience and creates an ostensibly unbridgeable gap between language and the event described. In finding the place where language fails, we discover and create a new language, a universal language that transcends language itself—a language known as art.

A Parasite of a Different Order
When people are infected with the Wetiko virus, Forbes writes, they become the “hosts” of the Wetiko parasite [12]. The Wetiko virus is a kind of mental “worm,” a parasite of consciousness. Similar to computer viruses or malware infecting and programming a computer to destroy itself, a consciousness virus like Wetiko can program the human biological computer to think, believe, and behave in ways that result in self-destruction. Wetiko is a contagious mental pathogen that sneaks thought-forms into our consciousness that activate and feed it, and eventually kill the host (us). The pathogen does not want to kill us too quickly, because in order to successfully carry out its agenda, to reproduce and spread itself in space, it must allow the host to live long enough to spread the virus. If the host dies too soon, the virus will be evicted prematurely and will suffer the inconvenience of finding a new home.

Like a cancer of the mind that sends out metastases, in Wetiko disease, a pathological part of the mind attaches and incorporates all healthy parts to itself to serve its pathology. The personality reorganizes a coherent external display around the pathogenic core, hiding the internal dysfunction and making it very difficult to identify. In this military coup of the mind, the Wetiko virus displaces the personality and takes it over, and it becomes its puppet. Like a parasite, the Wetiko virus can take over the free will of an animal more developed than itself, thereby making it a servant of its malicious agenda. Once the parasite is well-rooted within the mind, the main command coordinating the person’s behavior comes directly from the disease, which is now the one pulling the strings. Just as a person infected with the rabies virus will resist drinking water that could wash away the infection, a person infected with the Wetiko virus will refuse any help that could assist them in getting rid of the disease. Wetiko patients are phobic toward the light of truth, and they avoid it like the disease itself. In advanced stages, this process takes over the person completely until we can honestly say that the person “is not really there,” but rather an empty shell functioning through what looks like a human being. The person now identifies completely with their mask, their persona, but it seems as if there is no one behind the mask.

Hans Ulrich

A Foreign Intrusion
The spiritual teacher Don Juan, in Carlos Castaneda’s books, speaks in his own language about Wetiko. He says that the ancient shamans made it clear that this is “the subject of subjects” [13]. Don Juan explains: “We have a life partner… We have a predator that came from the depths of the universe and took control of our lives. Human beings are its prisoners. This predator is our ruler” [14]. It seems this is the same state of affairs described in the New Testament, when in the Gospel according to John, the Devil is referred to as the “ruler of this world” (14:30; 16:11). Paul speaks of the Devil as the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). The Gnostic Gospel of Philip says that the root of evil originated from within us, implying in fact that if we do not recognize the evil, “it rules over us, we are its slaves, and it takes us captive” (II, 3, 83.5-30). Speaking of the predator, Don Juan continues: “It has made us submissive, helpless. If we want to protest, it suppresses our protest. If we want to act independently, it demands that we do not do so” [15]. It is impressive how Don Juan explains how the influence of Wetiko is expressed in our society, which is becoming increasingly militaristic. Our freedoms and rights are being taken away from us, just as if there is a latent and internal unmanifested archetypal pattern within the human mind that embodies itself in and shows itself through the external world. To quote Don Juan: “We are indeed prisoners! This was an energetic fact for the sorcerers of ancient Mexico” [16]. Don Juan refers to an “energetic fact,” in the sense that we can all connect to it, “something” within us that prevents us from expressing our inner genius creativity and realizing our full potential. These “predators” are “time thieves,” stealing the precious hours of our lives, as if we are wage slaves on a prison planet “doing time.” Deepening his description of these “predators,” Don Juan continues: “They gave us their mind, which became our mind” [18]. Just as if they are in “competition” with us to share a piece of our mind. The predator changes shape and is fashioned according to our shape, and if we are not aware of its disguise, we will identify with its intrusive thought-forms as if they were ours and act upon them. We will mistakenly think that we are acting according to our own impulses, with the best of intentions. This predator, Don Juan continues, “fears every moment that its moves will be discovered and food will be withheld from it” [19].

The Wetiko predator is driven by an internal and compulsive necessity born out of terror that continues to feed itself out of a desire to delay its expected death. Don Juan continues: “Through the mind, which is ultimately their mind, the predators insert into human beings what is convenient for them (the predators)” [20], hiding themselves within our form; this predator penetrates under our skin, disguising itself beneath us, deluding us into recognizing the false version of ourselves (that is why the abbreviation of Malignant Egophrenia is “ME disease,” and it refers to the distortion of our identity—our sense of “I”). Instead of being in our power and in service to others, we become servants of the predator. Instead of recognizing our inner authority, and the creation of reality from our thoughts, we are formed by them, because the predator thinks for us and sits in our chair.

Remedios Varo

Speaking of the predator’s conspiracy, Don Juan says: “It offers something, agrees with its own premise, and makes you believe that you did something of value” [21], just as if there is a foreign presence within us, a metaphysical alien entity, invading subliminally into our consciousness until we identify with it completely and disconnect from our own consciousness. Don Juan refers to this state as a kind of “foreign installation,” as if an alien race had set up a station within our consciousness. This is what the Gnostics (“the knowers”) meant when they spoke of a foreign entity they called “Archons,” infiltrating and infiltrating into our consciousness [22] to the level that we are not aware that a foreign entity has taken control of our mind. We are recruited against our will to the dark agenda of the predator, inadvertently becoming its slaves. This internal state of war happening within the mind echoes and is reflected through the psychological moves and dark forces we witness in the external world. This disease is fed by our lack of awareness of it.

Vampires
Forbes writes: “Wetiko psychosis is a disease of the spirit that takes human beings down an ugly and heartless path… After all, Wetiko disease turns human beings into werewolves and vampires, creatures from the world of European nightmares and creatures from the Wetiko reality” [23]. Werewolves and vampires are shapeshifters, symbolic representations of the threatening potential existing in the heart of us all, which is liable to take over and embody itself in action as the archetypal “shadow,” returning us to a regressive state of mind of being like a predator or a sub-human creature. When these pre-human mental energies erupt into consciousness and are not mediated by the conscious, Jung writes: “They sweep away everything before them like a flood and turn human beings into creatures for whom the word ‘monsters’ is too good a word” [24].

Vampires, considered the darkest creature in the arsenal of evil, have drawn our imagination for many hundreds of years, because they represent a living process existing in the heart of the human mind. A vampire is not a human figure but a soulless creature, an entity that has lost its soul, and if it has not lost its soul, it has become “cursed,” which means the loss of a soul. Either way, something is missing. Isolated from the world, it has lost the connection with the part of itself that communicates with everything else. From its point of view, the world exists simply for its use. Although it has lost its heart and soul, the vampire has not lost its consciousness (although in a certain sense it has), since vampires are often endowed with a sharp intellect that hides their pathology and makes it hard for us to see it. This is similar to the way in which people in a deep state of trauma can be blessed with a brilliant mind, a gift that makes it easier for them to hide the scope of their trauma and makes it difficult to diagnose their illness. Instead of the vampire’s sharp mind being dedicated to developing inner insights into the illness and healing from it, it is dedicated to passing the illness along and spreading its dark art. As a kind of living-dead, the vampire is death taking the form of human life. The Wetiko virus is not, in the end, something alive, but a living form of death. Like a virus, Wetiko is “lifeless” matter. Because only within living creatures can viruses sustain “life-by-proxy.” A vampire is a kind of living-dead. Like a mature vampire, developed Wetiko entities have been stripped of their humanity and have become a conduit for the impersonal and transpersonal Wetiko virus to revolve and act through them. They have become a living portal, an opening torn into the three-dimensional fabric of space and time through which a multi-dimensional contagious virus spreads locally and non-locally in the field.

Lacking a soul dimension, Wetiko entities are efficient “machines,” dedicating themselves to the service of “the State, which [to quote Forbes] is itself a Wetiko entity that has taken over the mechanisms of power” [25].

A mature Wetiko becomes a robotic automaton, conditioned to react to reflexive stimulation. They become part of “the machine,” without spontaneity, creativity, originality, or free thinking. Wetiko entities undergo a process of dehumanization and lose contact with the sense of aesthetics and with the ability to appreciate the inherent beauty of life, becoming “an-aesthetic,” devoid of feeling and emotion for everything that is human. Messengers of a patriarchal, military, and authoritarian planetary “society,” the Wetiko germ spawns fascism and terror. To quote the great healer Wilhelm Reich: “Fascism is the vampire that attaches itself to the living body. The urge to kill gains absolute control” [26]. Fascism is the external collective political expression of the destructive inner landscape of an individual who has been oppressed and maimed by the authoritarian civilization of “the machine.”

Like a vampire, in a mature Wetiko entity “there is no one home,” and this is one of the reasons why, symbolically, vampires have no reflection in a mirror (which, from a mythological point of view, reflects back an image of the human soul). Mature Wetiko people are empty to the bone, so there is nothing that can be reflected. Internally, there is only an infinite void, a sponge that can never absorb, a devouring black hole that feeds on the universe. Their degenerate soul has been emptied of content like a hollow tree trunk emptied by mental termites. Mature Wetiko people are compulsively haunted by the unconscious in its destructive version, denying consciousness in a way that they are unable to see or experience themselves, which the philosopher Hannah Arendt argues is one of the main characteristics of evil. Devoid of the ability for self-observation, they have no access to the mechanism of the mind that allows this action. One of the reasons why we cannot see a vampire’s reflection in a mirror is because our inner unconscious vampire dims the reflection, and the meaning is that the ghost of the unacknowledged “shadow” of ourselves blocks our gaze.

Leonor Fini

A vampire casts no shadow. In order to cast a shadow, there must be a source of light. Inside a vampire, there is no light, only infinite darkness. Because it is not a living creature, a vampire has no inherent reality, no essence. Only an object with essential existence can produce a shadow. Vampires cannot cast a shadow because they are the living embodiment of the “shadow” archetype. A shadow cannot cast a shadow itself and is devoid of essence. There are certain advantages to a vampire not casting a shadow—it allows it to hide its true identity more easily, to move between shadows, to become invisible, and to lie in wait for people. The vampire, a shapeshifter and master of disguise and camouflage, can more easily seduce and mislead the innocent, just as a sugar-coated vampire traps us using our unconscious “shadow” and blind spots. In this sense, denying our “shadow” can lead to energetic vampirism. The vampire archetype is activated within us when we turn our back and deny our inner darkness and make it invisible to us. We fail to see vampires because we chose not to see the dark “vampiric” aspects within ourselves. Our unwillingness to see the “vampiric” qualities within ourselves blinds us to the “vampiric” traits in others.

In addition to the weak and defenseless, the vampire also seeks those who are on the verge of a quantum evolutionary leap in consciousness but have not yet managed to integrate their insights and “come out on the other side.” Such human beings are in a charged and sensitive state energetically. The openness of their heart and their vulnerability invites vampiric entities to covet and feed on the light of their expanding consciousness. The strategy of these predators is to divert our attention outward, thereby preventing us from recognizing our inner light, which would “kill” the vampire. If we hold up the mirror and reflect the madness projected onto us by the people suffering from it, we risk being the ones labeled “crazy.” If we manage to gain access to the light within us and try to share it with others, it is possible that non-local vampiric entities (what I previously called non-local demonic entities) which are not limited to three-dimensional existence and the laws of space and time will try, through their access to the non-local field, to block us by influencing other human beings to act against us. This process is liable to destroy us, unless we have the meta-awareness to see it in action—to have the skill to navigate our way wisely—and this will deepen our resilience and intent, deepen our covenant with the light of clarity, and strengthen our creative ability to broadcast our insights and cultivate compassion and openness of heart. It seems as though those non-local mental vampiric entities are the guardians of the threshold of evolution.

Just like vampires, mature Wetiko entities feel an intense thirst for the very thing they lack—the mystical essence of life, the “blood” of our soul. By coveting other human beings, Wetiko disease is a kind of mental “eating disorder,” where the damaged mind “consumes” other souls, and ultimately itself. Wetiko entities are a kind of “soul-eaters,” destroyed by the wildness of their ceaseless hunger, by their insatiable appetite. This vampiric feeding is an unnatural parody, a demonic reflection of the self-renewal of life. This unnatural internal process is projected onto us collectively by the consumer society we are part of, a culture that relentlessly fuels the flame of ceaseless craving, conditioning us to always want more. We are in a feeding frenzy, trying to fill a bottomless void, as if we are starving. This violent process of obsessive/compulsive consumption is a mirror of a shared, deep, internal sense of spiritual hunger. The entity of the global economic system itself is a living symbol of uncontrolled Wetiko disease in action.

In vampiric lineage, self-replication is achieved through the family system (family of origin, or the human family). The legacy of abuse (physical, sexual, political, psychological, or spiritual) is passed between generations personally and collectively, steadily rolling between lives. The Wetiko virus passes along its broken logic and its distorted code into the bodymind of the other through the traumatic shattering of our wholeness. Our species suffers from an inherited collective PTSD, just as if it were under a curse.

Francesco Goya

High Risk of Contagion
Speaking of Wetiko, Forbes says: “They are not sane in the true sense of the word. They are mentally ill and, tragically, this mental illness they carry is contagious” [27]. Wetiko psychosis is, as mentioned, highly contagious, spreading through the channel of our collective unconscious. The pathways of contagion and spread do not move like a physical pathogen. This nomadic wandering germ moves in a “plasmatic” way, penetrating and feeding on our unconscious blind spots and strengthening them in a feedback loop, and thus spreading itself in the field non-locally. In Wetiko, there is a “code” or a certain logic that influences/infects consciousness in a way parallel to how the DNA of a virus passes and infects the cell. People who communicate the frequency of Wetiko align with each other through psychic resonance, which strengthens the shared consensus and maintains their distorted perception of reality. As they cooperate with their shared psychosis, groups of people gathered together by the unconscious could potentially become a socio-political force to be dealt with. When a group of people is in agreement, regardless of whether it is true or not, their alignment with each other creates a contagious magnetic force-field that is liable to sweep up and magnetize the unconscious person toward it.

People who have been taken over by the Wetiko virus usually do not suspect that they have been “scammed.” Wetiko culture does not offer them any incentives to examine themselves and contemplate their sad state. On the contrary, the non-local field programs itself to conspire and allow the continued nurturing of the psychosis. When someone is a full Wetiko entity but does not recognize it themselves, the field around them twists in order to protect, conspire, and feed on the psychosis in a way that leaves those around them in a trance.

Under the spell of Wetiko, they lose the ability to recognize Wetiko pathology in others. In a situation of “social narcissism,” Wetiko entities at different stages of the disease take certain positions and roles relative to others, with the goal of protecting themselves from their own madness and darkness. They strengthen and feed each other’s narcissism, because it strengthens their own. Forbes writes that the type of personality that is typically liable to fall victim to the Wetiko virus is the individual whose “strings are pulled by others, or those who walk a life path dictated by others. They are the ones who are ripe for the Wetiko virus” [28]. Because they are not in contact with their inner guidance, they project authority outside of themselves and become very prone to influence regarding consensus opinion and the agreed-upon opinions of the dominant group. Because they have lost the ability for internal discrimination and critical thinking, the “masses” become a mindless herd and fall victim to groupthink, whose members enable, in the form of codependency, their version of the world (Wetiko). Their group consensus on the nature of reality becomes harder and harder to maintain as time passes, but like a house of cards about to collapse at any moment, their perception of reality is based on a fundamental error. Strangely, people subject to the collective enchantment of Wetiko sometimes become fanatic supporters of an agenda that is completely contrary to their own interests. This is an external reflection of the internal state of being subject to the seduction of self-destruction caused by the Wetiko parasite.

It even seems as though a holy-less, negative, or “unclean” entity has taken control of the person subject to Wetiko and resides in them. Such people are exploited against their will as tools, as secret agents of this dark and unclean entity, to allow it to spread itself in the wider field. As secret agents of the disease, the secret of Wetiko is a self-secret, a secret they hide even from themselves. Just as sometimes something larger than us takes control of us, so Wetiko victims do not know how much they are controlled in every moment. The experience of being controlled by something vast, larger than you, happens in their blind spots (see my article “Are We Possessed?”).

Francesco Goya

The Wetiko germ affects our perception by stealth and deceit with the goal of hiding and confusing us from being seen. Wetiko sows its seeds and strikes root within consciousness. Like mental vegetable foliage, it covers, distracts us, and diverts us from the calling of our true destiny and from our spiritual path. The alienating and alien effect of the Wetiko virus, exactly the thing we must notice, hides within the perception, the thought, and the meaning we attribute to our experience. When someone has fallen as a full member into a Wetiko “cult” (see my article “The Bush Cult”), it seems as though their consciousness has been populated by the virus in such a way that they have no faint clue about their pathological state. Wetiko entities do not perceive themselves as needing help; for them, other people are always “the problem.” Their disease does not bother them, and they do not recognize it, because it is all they know, and their leaders and the society in which they live encourages them. They have no assessment of their disorder, and they do not understand how sick they are.

Forbes writes: “One of the central traits characterizing the extreme negative form of Wetikoism is arrogance” [29]. Full Wetiko entities are wrapped in self-importance, “inflated” tools of evil, and arrogantly, ignorantly, and self-righteously, they are sure that they are acting in the service of truth and the general good. It seems they fail to perceive the negativity of their actions and think that everything they do is good. Forbes concludes: “In any case, Wetiko disease, the disease of exploitation, has been spread widely in the last several thousand years. Because we are not vaccinated against it, it seems to be getting worse with time. More and more people are infected with it, in a more wide-ranging way, and those people become the teachers of the younger generation” [30]. Wetiko cultures are taught both at home and in “academia,” where people become “qualified” in the depths of this world and therefore receive credit and empowerment in spreading the corrupt ways in a more wide-ranging way than ever before.

Writing about the wide-ranging spread of the Wetiko virus, Forbes writes: “It is spread by Wetiko entities themselves, who recruit and corrupt others. It is spread through history books, television, military training programs, police, comic books, pornographic magazines, movies, right-wing movements, fanaticism of various types, high-pressure missionary groups, and countless governments” [31].

All mainstream corporate institutions, subject to social sanctions, are in the business of indoctrination (brainwashing), telling us what to think and what not to think, and of course, how to think. Our consciousness is fashioned into a certain form by the dominant society, and it seems that our “true face” undergoes a facelift. We are robbed of our spiritual abundance. It seems our society has become the mouthpiece for the propaganda organ of the disease, hypnotizing us into being convinced into this perception while we drain what is more important than anything else in the world. The culture that informs and is fashioned around Wetiko disease is itself a channel for its spread. If we sign on the dotted line and act according to its life-denying perception, it will finally consume us, and we will become the extensions of its orders. This is how the “mental empire” of the collective psychosis operates, spreading itself and expanding, trying to approach full distribution.

Full Wetiko entities can be petty tyrants at home or at work, but can also be on the depleted and oppressed side that exercises no power in the world around them. When Forbes speaks of “Big Wetikos,” he refers to full Wetiko entities who have “climbed the Wetiko ladder,” jumped through the Wetiko hoops, and risen in Wetiko status, finding themselves presiding over positions of power through which they can influence and control events in our world and operate the system. “Big Wetikos” who navigate the levers of control, whether they are the wealthiest, corporate executives, bankers, or heads of state, are particularly dangerous because they define the terms of the dialogue and control the reigning historical narrative. They manage our perceptions through the propaganda engines of the mainstream corporate media controlled by them (see my article “The War on Consciousness”). Big Wetikos in positions of power create the boundaries of discourse and debate. Wetiko is an ideological virus whose currency is conceptual syntax.

Grant Morisson

Wetiko shifts our mental syntax, the laws of our language creation, and therefore distorts the semantics (grammar), the meaning we attribute to our experience of ourselves and the world. Wetiko is a semantic disorder because it changes the axioms through which the mind fashions, projects, and bewitches the words, and from there draws the experience. The thought-forms and beliefs that express and represent the viral Wetiko act as an inherent system of control, fashioning the boundaries of the imagination of what we experience as possible, as individuals, as nations, and as a human species. Wetikoism supports and perpetuates the myths, stories, dogmas, and the (non) sacred books that validate their self-serving agenda. Books and other forms of information that do not support the Wetiko version of the order of things are metaphorically “burned” (or literally in some cases—as in the case of the books of Dr. Wilhelm Reich mentioned above, which were burned by the United States government. In describing what he called “the mental epidemic,” Reich pointed in his own way to the evil of the Wetiko virus).

We live within a world which, similar to a dream, constitutes an interactive mirror inseparable from our internal personal entity. As a reflection of a deep state within ourselves, Wetiko is an unmediated phenomenon, a direct manifestation of the dream-like nature of the universe, and this is the deep understanding that Wetiko shows us. Recognizing the dream-like nature of our situation produces a living antidote made of consciousness that is personally fashioned in order to neutralize the mental pathogen of Wetiko. In other words, within the pathogen itself is found an insight, a revelation, which is the cure for the disease (please see my article “Shadow Projection is its own Medicine”). The self-recognition of Wetiko offers mental healing, but in order to enjoy the benefits of the cure, we must recognize and understand deeply the miracle of maintaining psycho-spiritual health. How amazing it is that the thing that can potentially destroy us is simultaneously what wakes us up. A potential catalyst for our evolution as a human species, we all create and dream Wetiko together. Wetiko is truly a quantum phenomenon, in that it is the most lethal poison and the most healing medicine, joined together. Will Wetiko kill us? Or will it wake us up? Everything depends on whether we recognize what it potentially reveals to us. The prognosis for Wetiko/malignant egophrenia depends on the way we dream it.

Now, when we have in our possession the understanding and the knowledge (dia-gnosis and pro-gnosis), all that we need to do is to discover the cure, a thing which in itself requires understanding (gnosis).

Grant Morisson

All rights reserved to Paul Levy
Translation: Yasmine Bergner (Flop to Hebrew version)

הפוסט Wetiko | The Greatest Epidemic Known to Humanity | By Paul Levy הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

Opening Image:
Yasmine Bergner, Follow me out of Darkness, 2013, Photography: Jude Moskovitch

Many do not understand that the fundamental issue underlying women’s empowerment is the Mother Wound.

Difficulties and challenges between mothers and daughters are violent, unbridled, and widespread in society, yet they are rarely spoken about openly.

The taboo regarding speaking about the pain of the Mother Wound is what keeps it in place—hidden in the shadows, festering, and out of sight.

What exactly is the Mother Wound?

The Mother Wound is the wound of being a woman, passed down through generations of women in patriarchal societies.

It includes the dysfunctional coping mechanisms used to process that pain.

The Mother Wound includes:

Comparison: A feeling that I am not good enough

Shame: A constant background feeling that something is wrong with me

Diminishment: A feeling that I must stay small to remain loved

A constant sense of guilt for wanting more than what I have right now.

The Great Mother, Pencil on paper, 2016, Yasmine bergner

The Mother Wound can also manifest as:

Not experiencing your full self because I do not want to threaten others

Having a high tolerance for bad behavior from others

Emotional care-taking

Competitiveness with other women

Self-sabotage

Rigidity and over-dominance

Symptoms such as eating disorders, depression, and addictions

In our patriarchal male society, women are conditioned to think of themselves as less valuable than men, unworthy, or lacking in value. This sense of diminishment has been internalized and passed down through countless generations of women.

The social atmosphere of female oppression places the daughter in a double-bind conflict.

Simply put, if a daughter internalizes her mother’s unconscious beliefs (in a sense, a form of “I am not good enough”) then she has her mother’s approval, but in a way, she is betraying herself and her potential.

But if she does not internalize her mother’s unconscious beliefs about their limitations, but instead affirms her own power and potential, she is then aware that her mother may feel this unconsciously and view it as a personal rejection from the daughter.

The daughter does not want to risk losing her mother’s love and acceptance, so the internalization of these diminishing, unconscious beliefs is a form of “loyalty” and emotional survival for the daughter.

It may feel dangerous for women to realize their full potential because it risks some level of rejection from the mother.

This happens because, unconsciously, the daughter feels that fully empowering herself will trigger feelings of sadness or rage, due to parts of herself that the mother had to relinquish in her own life. Her compassion for her mother, the desire to please her, and the fear of conflict may cause her to convince herself that “it is better to shrink and be small.”

A common resistance to confronting the Mother Wound is the desire to “leave the past in the past.” But in reality, we can never truly escape or bury the past. If we avoid dealing with the pain inherent in one of the most ancient and fundamental relationships in our lives, we lack the critical opportunity to discover the truth of who we really are, and to live that truth with authenticity and joy.

Yasmine bergner, Follow me out of Darkness, 2013, Photography: Jude Moskovitch

Stereotypes that perpetuate the Mother Wound

“Look at all that your mother did for you!” (from other people)

“My mother sacrificed so much for me. It would be so selfish of me to do what she herself could not. I don’t want to make her feel bad.”

“I owe loyalty to my mother, no matter what. If I sadden/upset her, she will think that I do not appreciate her.”

The daughter may experience fears regarding the realization of her potential because she may worry about leaving the mother behind. The daughter may fear that the mother is threatened by her dreams and ambitions. She may feel uncomfortable emotions from her mother, such as envy or anger. All of this is very unconscious, not openly acknowledged, or spoken about at all.

We have all felt the pain that our mothers carry. And we all carry the fear that perhaps we are guilty or responsible for it to some extent. At the heart of this feeling lies guilt. All of this is logical when we understand the limitations of a child’s cognitive development, who sees herself as the cause of all things. If we do not address these unconscious beliefs in our adulthood, we may still carry them and limit ourselves as a result.

The truth is that no daughter can save her mother.

No sacrifice that a daughter will make for her mother will be enough to compensate for the high price that the mother may have had to pay for the losses she experienced in her life, just for being a woman and a mother in our society. And yet, this is what many women do for their mothers very early in their childhood: they make an unconscious decision not to abandon or betray their mother by becoming “too successful,” “too smart,” or “too adventurous.” This decision is made out of love, loyalty, and a real need for acceptance and emotional support from the mother.

Many of us confuse loyalty to the mother with being loyal to their wounds, and thus take an active part in our own oppression.

These dynamics are very unconscious and operate constantly. Even the healthiest relationship between mother and daughter can include this dynamic to some extent, just due to living as a woman in our culture. For daughters who have mothers suffering from serious issues (such as addictions, mental illness, etc.), the consequences can be very damaging and treacherous.

Yasmine bergner, Mother & Daugter, 2016, Photography: Jude Moskovitch

Mothers must take responsibility and process their own losses

Being a mother in our society is unimaginably difficult. Many women say that “no one prepares you for how hard it is” and “nothing prepares you for arriving home with a baby and realizing what is required of you.”

Our society, and especially in the USA, places a heavy burden on mothers, offers very little support, and many raise their children alone.

The non-verbal message of our society to women is:

“If motherhood is hard for you, then it is probably your fault”

“Shame on you if you are not a ‘super-woman'”

“There are ‘natural mothers’ for whom motherhood is easy. If you are not one of these mothers, something is probably wrong with you”

“You are supposed to be able to manage everything calmly, raise well-behaved children, be sexually attractive, be a successful career woman, and be in a stable marriage.”

For mothers who have indeed sacrificed so much for their children in our society, it can indeed be experienced as a rejection, if your children surpass the dreams you thought were possible for you. This can create a sense of debt, entitlement, and a desire for recognition that is projected onto your children—an unconscious emotion that can be very subtle but is a powerful control mechanism. This dynamic can cause the next generation of daughters to keep themselves very “small” in order to allow the mother to continue receiving validation that she is of value in her identity as a mother. An identity for which they sacrificed so much, but received so little support and recognition in return.

Mothers may unconsciously transmit deep rage toward their children in subliminal ways. In fact, the rage is not directed toward the children but is directed toward the patriarchal society that asks women to sacrifice and disappear themselves in order to be a mother to children.

For the daughter who needs her mother, sacrificing herself in order to help the mother cope with her pain is an unconscious decision that is made very early in life and is not discovered as the cause of many hidden problems until much later in adulthood.

The Mother Wound exists because there is no safe place for mothers to process their rage about the sacrifices they were forced to make due to society’s demands. And because daughters are still unconsciously anxious about rejection due to their choice not to make the same sacrifices that previous generations made.

In our society, there is no safe place for a mother to vent her rage, and therefore, the rage often erupts at the children unconsciously. A daughter is an easy target for the mother’s rage because the daughter has not yet had to give up her personality for her motherhood. The daughter can remind her mother of her own unfulfilled potential. And if the daughter feels valuable enough that she is willing to rebel against some of the patriarchal mandates that the mother was forced to swallow, the daughter may trigger the hidden rage in the mother.

She saw everything, Yasmine Bergner, Pencil on paper 2016

Of course, most mothers want the best for their daughters. However, if the mother has not confronted her own pain or come to terms with and processed the sacrifices she had to make, then her support for her daughter will be laced with conflicting messages that will instill shame, guilt, or obligation. These messages will emerge in seemingly innocent situations, usually through criticism or as words of praise that are reflected back to the mother herself. Usually, it is not the content of the statement but the energy with which it is saturated that embodies latent resentment.

The way for a mother to avoid directing her rage toward her daughter and passing the Mother Wound on to her is to do the work of processing the grief of her own losses. And to ensure she does not rely on her daughter as the main source of emotional support for herself.

Mothers must mourn what they had to give up, what they wanted but will never have. What their children will never be able to give them, and the injustice of their situation. And despite the injustice, however much it may be, it is not the daughter’s responsibility to compensate for it or to feel obligated to make sacrifices for her mother in the same way. It requires ultimate strength and integrity to do this, and mothers need support in the process.

Mothers liberate their daughters when they consciously process their own pain without turning it into their daughters’ problem. In this way, mothers release their daughters to pursue their dreams without guilt, shame, or a sense of obligation.

When mothers unconsciously cause their daughters to feel responsible for their losses and to share their pain, it creates confusion, chaos, and dysfunction, and reinforces the daughter’s perception that she is not worthy of her dreams. It also reinforces the daughter’s perception that she is somehow guilty of her mother’s pain. And this impairs the daughter in many ways:

For daughters growing up in a patriarchal society, there is a feeling that one must choose between “being empowered” and “being loved.”

Most daughters choose to be loved instead of being empowered due to the ominous feeling that full fulfillment and empowerment will cause a massive loss of love from important people in their lives, especially their mothers. Thus, women remain “small” and unfulfilled, unconsciously passing the Mother Wound to the next generation.

As a woman, there is a vague but powerful feeling that your power will harm your relationships, and women are conditioned to value relationships above all else. We hold on to every crumb of our relationships while our soul yearns for the fulfillment of our potential. But the truth is that our relationships alone can never be an adequate substitute for the hunger to live our lives fully.

The power dynamics underlying the mother-daughter relationship is a taboo subject and the main focus underlying the Mother Wound. Much of this goes underground because of taboos and stereotypes about mothers in our culture:

All mothers are always nurturing and loving

Mothers should never feel anger or resentment toward their daughter

Mothers and daughters are supposed to be best friends

The stereotype “all mothers are always nurturing and loving” strips women of their humanity. Because society does not give women permission to be full human beings, society justifies the lack of full support and resources for women.

The truth is that mothers are human, and all mothers experience “unloving” moments. And it is true that there are mothers who are simply “unloving” most of the time. Whether due to addiction, mental illness, or other struggles. Until we are willing to deal with these realities, the Mother Wound will remain in the shadows and will continue to be passed down through the generations.

Within all of us exists a certain “patriarchy.” We are required to digest it into ourselves in order to survive in our culture. When we are ready to confront it with our entire self, we encounter patriarchy also in others, including our mothers. This can be one of the most heartbreaking experiences we have to deal with. But unless we are willing to go there, to address the Mother Wound, we pay a very high price for the illusion of quiet and empowerment.

Holyland, Light and Shadow in the Holy Land, Pencil on paper, 2016, Yasmine Bergner

What is the price for not dealing with the Mother Wound?

The price for not dealing with the Mother Wound is to live your life endlessly with:

A vague and constant feeling that “something is wrong with me”

Never realizing your full potential due to fear of failure or lack of acceptance.

Weak boundaries with others and an unclear sense of self.

A sense of worthlessness and an inability to create what you truly desire.

Not feeling “allowed” to take up space and give a voice to your truth.

Organizing your life around “not rocking the boat.”

Self-sabotage when you are on the verge of a breakthrough.

A constant, subconscious expectation waiting for the mother’s approval and acceptance before taking sole responsibility for your life.

What is the connection between the Mother Wound and the Divine Feminine?

There is a broad discourse recently regarding “embodying the Divine Feminine” and becoming an “Awakened Woman.” But the truth is that we cannot be a container strong enough for the power of the Divine Feminine if we have not yet addressed the places within us where we were “expelled” and exiled from the Divine Feminine.

Let’s be honest: our first encounter with “the Goddess” was with our mothers. Until we have the courage to break the taboo and deal with the pain that we experience in the relationship with our mothers, “the Divine Feminine” is just another fairy tale, a fantasy about the mother who does not come to save us. This leaves us in spiritual immaturity. We must separate the flesh-and-blood mother from the archetype in order to become true conductors of this energy. We must dismantle the false structures within us before we can build new and stable structures that we can hold onto. Until we do that, we are stuck in limbo where our empowerment is short-lived and the only explanation for our embarrassing, difficult, and painful situation is to blame ourselves.

If we avoid acknowledging the full impact of the mother’s pain on our lives, we remain, to a large extent, children.

Coming into full power involves looking at our relationships with our mothers and finding the courage to separate our individual beliefs and values from theirs. It involves feeling the grief for the lack of choice to be a witness to the pain that our mothers were forced to suffer, to process our own private, legitimate pain that we suffered as a result. It is so challenging, but this is the beginning of true freedom.

Once we feel the pain, we can transform it and then it will cease to set obstacles in our lives.

Venus Stickers, Yasmine Bergner, Stickers on paper, 2013

So what happens when a woman heals the Mother Wound?

When we heal the Mother Wound, the power-relationship dynamic gradually fades and balances because women no longer ask each other to remain “small” in order to ease their pain. The pain involved in living in a patriarchal society ceases to be a taboo. We do not have to pretend and hide behind false masks that conceal our pain, under the facade of effortless strength. The pain can then be experienced as legitimate, contained, processed, integrated, and finally—transformed into deep wisdom and power.

Once women begin to gradually process the pain of the Mother Wound, we can create safe spaces for women to express the truth of their pain and receive the deeply needed support. Mothers and daughters can communicate with each other without fear that the truth of their feelings will destroy their relationship. The pain does not need to be hidden underground and inside the shadows, where it manifests as manipulations, competitiveness, and self-hatred. We can mourn our pain so that it can turn into love, love that can turn into fearless support for one another and deep self-acceptance, which will free us to be authentic, creative, and fulfilled in a bold and brave way.

When we heal the Mother Wound, we begin to understand the stunning impact of the mother on the well-being of the child’s life, especially in early infancy where the mother and the child are still one unit. Our mothers pour the foundation from which we develop. Our beliefs start as hers, our habits start as hers. Part of this is so unconscious and basic that it is barely grasped.

The Mother Wound ultimately does not focus on the mother, but is mainly related to learning to embrace and contain yourself and your gifts without guilt.

We address the Mother Wound because it is an important stage in self-realization and saying YES to being a strong and powerful woman, and this is the calling that we are asked to do. The healing focuses on acknowledging and honoring the foundation that our mothers gave to our lives, so that we can focus completely on creating the unique and authentic lives that we desire and know we can achieve.

Benefits of healing the Mother Wound:

We become much more skilled and articulate in managing our emotions. Viewing them as a source of wisdom and knowledge.

We create healthy boundaries that support the realization of our highest self.

We develop and create a stable “inner mother” that provides us with unconditional love, support, and comfort for our younger parts.

We learn to recognize ourselves as capable, competent, and that everything is possible. We are open to miracles and all good things.

We learn to be in constant contact with the inner goodness within us and our ability to bring this goodness into everything we choose to do.

We develop deep compassion toward ourselves and others.

We learn not to take ourselves too seriously, we do not need external validation to feel okay. We do not need to prove ourselves to others.

Learning to trust life to bring us what we need.

Learning to feel safe within our own skin and have the freedom to do what we want.

And much more…

Awakening – In her Savior’s Arms, still from a performance, Experimental Tools Festival 2012,

Artistic director and curator: Gil Alon, Curator: Carmit Blumensohn

Performance documentation: Jude Moskovitch

As we deepen more and more into the healing process, we slowly remove the screen of mist of projections that keeps us stuck, and then we can more clearly see, love, and appreciate ourselves. We no longer carry the burden of our mother’s pain and no longer keep ourselves “small.”

We can reveal ourselves with confidence into our lives, armed with energy and vitality to create what we truly want, without shame or guilt but with passion, power, joy, self-confidence, and love.

For every person, the initial, primordial wound, the primary heart wound was in the presence of the mother, in the presence of the feminine. And through the process of healing the wound, our hearts mature from a state of compromise, defensiveness, and fear, to a whole new level of love and power that connects us to the divine heart of life itself. And from this point on, we are connected to the collective heart archetype, which dwells in the essence of all that exists, and we become carriers and transmitters of compassion and true love that the world needs more than anything right now.

The Mother Wound is actually an opportunity and initiation into the Divine Feminine. This is the reason why it is so important for women to heal the Mother Wound: the personal healing and reconnection to the heart of life, through the feminine, affects the whole and supports our collective evolution.

All rights reserved to Bethany Webster 2014-2016

Translation from English: Yasmine Bergner

Link to the original article:

http://www.womboflight.com/about-the-mother-wound/

הפוסט Why It’s Critical for Women to Heal the Wound of Motherhood | By Bethany Webster | Translated by Yasmin Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

In human beings, there are innate “super-patterns” of thought and emotion are embedded, which Carl Gustav Jung termed “psychic archetypes.” These archetypes are part of the human hardware, and their traces can be found as products in all fields of human creation and activity. They can act in the consciousness as positive or destructive forces. They are creative when they are inspiring, and destructive when they become rigid and turn into prejudices.

According to the pioneering artist Joseph Beuys, the artist thinks and creates, and in their work, the world is created anew. The artist becomes a partner and continues the ceaseless cosmic unfolding. Through the reunification of the three branches—science, art, and religion—the existential and cognitive power will be created, capable of overcoming the duality between man and the world, between the individual and society, and the abyss currently yawning between vision and reality.

Unlike Western society, ancient and pre-modern societies are distinguished by a worldview that rebels against concrete, historical time, and is characterized by an affinity for a cyclical return to the mythical time of the beginning. According to their worldview, the history of the world is built of cosmic cycles. These two perceptions can be formally represented: the secular perception of linear time is a line, while the ancient perception of cyclical time is a circle.

The research of anthropologists Carl Schuster and Edmund Carpenter (in their monumental book Patterns that connect) reveals natural universal patterns of self-organization, which lie at the foundation of traditional arts. The primary role of memory in the preservation of traditional cultures lies in the production of formal patterns of organization, which are very ancient and stable over time. This is the reason why there is such a great similarity between religious doctrines, folklore, art, and architecture across the world.

Immense power lies in the geometric forms and symbols existing in the world, which constitute codes hidden deep within the human DNA. Through learning and visual connection to forms, it is possible to increase the range of information to the infinite possibilities and depths contained within it. Playing with the forms expands the brain’s ability to create renewed mental structures that break through the boundaries of our current reality.

The pantheon of ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses is an example of pagan perceptions embodying universal, awe-inspiring forces of nature. These forces are expressed in man as psychic forces, as archetypes of states of consciousness. The temple is a symbol of the universe, a communal meeting place to experience and meditate on the archetypes of the laws of the universe and embody them consciously in the soul. The temple also represents the divine principle, a living structure of a spiritual principle.

Studies around the world testify to the existence of psychic super-patterns embedded within us and to the importance of symbols for our soul life. We are still far from understanding the dynamics of the soul and their consequences, but it seems that these archetypes have a decisive influence on us. They shape our emotional makeup and our ethical and mental worldview, and influence our relationships and our wholeness of destiny. The archetypal symbols in the soul operate according to a holistic pattern, and a deep understanding of them can assist in healing.

Art seeks to dive into reality, into the forms of its becoming and its processes, into its infinite change. The act of art is an act of identifying the symbols, the archetypal forms in the world around us, and an attempt to find our place in it again through repeating the act of re-creation, an eternal return to the manner of the becoming of organic form.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said that “From the totality of nature’s forms, we learn of the one and only form.” Through the separate, the archetype is revealed, and following it, the essential needs common to humanity can also be revealed.

Psychic Super-Patterns

The elusive quality of the connection between art and the primordial is found within the dialogue with the symbol and the form in the process of creating art, making the act of art a rite of initiation, allowing us to be in contact with the sacred values of life. The process of creation is a testament to our emotional, psychic, and mental quality.

Jungian psychoanalyst Robert Moore says that “ordinary” people will not survive in the future, because they will not have the spiritual resources to survive. Healing comes through the numinous, the will of God within us, through a connection to the sacred.

Since forever, the myth has been present behind the scenes of every style and period in art. The recognition of the timeless quality of the myth points to the fact that something eternal, even if hidden, is always present and serves as a necessary component for the wholeness of life. Turning to the myth allows the receipt of psychic power from hidden forces that are beyond our understanding.

Since Western culture lost its mythical perception, its cosmology of the world, a deep hole has opened in the understanding of the cosmic structures of the universe, of man’s place within the cosmos, and of the human soul. This spiritual poverty brought about the emergence of psychology, an attempt to bridge the practical world and the mythical world. Psychology clearly demonstrates that the logic, heroes, and deeds of the myth live and exist even in the modern era. In the absence of a general living and recognized mythology in Western culture, each of us treasures within a private dream pantheon that receives no recognition, a pantheon that is most basic and yet holds hidden power.

Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

The forces of the unconscious echo not only in the clinic, but also in mythology, religion, art, and philosophy—in all fields of creation. The assumption is that in human beings, innate “super-patterns” of thought and emotion are embedded, which were termed by Carl Gustav Jung “psychic archetypes.” These archetypes are part of human hardware, and therefore it is natural that we find their traces as products in all fields of human creation and activity. Psychic archetypes can act in the consciousness as positive or destructive forces. They are creative when they are inspiring and destructive when they become rigid and turn into prejudices.

Rites of passage and initiation are the rafts upon which we sail as we pass through significant life experiences such as sexual maturation, marriage, status—class, social and professional—and the process of death. They help us transition to the next developmental stage.

Authentic rites of passage and initiation establish meaning on the personal path of each individual and on the collective human path, where the ultimate goal is to establish a meaningful life and create a psychic fusion between the inner male and female—the Jungian Anima and Animus. These rituals awaken dormant elements within us and harness them for our personal development. This is the reason for our need for myths. They are relevant for establishing meaning and a reason for our lives, for understanding and embodying the eternal basic needs common to every person as a person; to every community as it is.

Infinite Cosmic Becoming

Joseph Beuys saw himself as an artist-shaman. He was influenced by Anthroposophy, and in his body of work, a mythical narrative is found. He believed that we must connect to the driving force that turns life and creation into one piece, to see how within all our actions a new image of man and world operates as a living reality, and to reunite the three branches of spiritual life that were torn apart at the beginning of the modern era—science, art, and religion. As a result of the rift, humanity lost the unifying power of social life, which depends on the internal human wholeness of each individual.

According to Beuys’ perception, the artist thinks and creates, and in their work, the world is created anew. However, the laws of artistic language are revealed through the process of creation as the same laws that created the world in the first place. The artist becomes a partner and continues the ceaseless cosmic unfolding. Through the reunification of the three branches, the existential and cognitive power will be created, capable of overcoming the duality between man and the world, between the individual and society, and the abyss currently yawning between vision and reality.

A magical ritual is not an act of magic, but a psychic attunement. The best definition for the words “magic” and “sorcery” is “symbolic action with intent,” and this is the meaning of the ritual process. The word “action” is in the context of creative meaning. This is the act of art in its deepest original sense. Art becomes life, and life is a ritual and devotion to eternal life. They become a religion of the everyday, a new social being. This is art according to Beuys.

The scholar of religions Mircea Eliade speaks in his book The Myth of the Eternal Return about myths around the world, all expressing the same infinite return to the point of origin, to singularity, The First Time. According to him, Western philosophy risks provincialism by obsessively concentrating on its own tradition while ignoring the problems and solutions of Eastern thought and by insisting on not attributing importance to the experience of the indigenous person belonging to traditional societies. In his opinion, philosophical anthropology can learn a lot from the way the indigenous person valued his situation in the universe. Recognizing indigenous worldviews will refresh some basic assumptions in philosophy.

Eliade further claims that myth is the philosophy of history. Unlike Western society, archaic and pre-modern societies are distinguished by a worldview that rebels against concrete, historical time, and is characterized by an affinity for a cyclical return to the mythical time of the beginning. The rejection of linear, concrete time, and the resistance to any attempt at an autonomous “history” lacking an archetypal order are the result of a worldview according to which the world’s history is built of cosmic cycles, and within each cycle, the history we know exists.

These two perceptions can be formally represented—a line versus a circle. The secular perception of linear time is a line, while the ancient perception of cyclical time is a circle.

Living the Myth

For the indigenous person, “reality is a function of the imitation of a celestial archetype.” Reality is granted by participating in the “symbolism of the center.” Cities, temples, and houses become real by being identified with the “center of the world”—the Omphalos stone at the Oracle of Delphi, Machu Picchu in Peru, the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the monumental Moai statues on Easter Island, and more. Rituals and significant secular actions are significant because they intentionally repeat certain actions that were first done by the gods, the heroes, or the ancient fathers and mothers.

As a post-modern Western society, we have suppressed the fact that anthropology, the study of universal cultures, is the complete story and human heritage that belongs to us all. The anthropological narrative surrounds us on all sides, and every culture is a single thread in a colorful fabric. Only if we understand this will we understand the multi-dimensionality and richness of the human experience.

Anthropologists Carl Schuster and Edmund Carpenter in their foundational book Patterns that connect research the existence of universal formal patterns, psychic archetypes that are translated into formal archetypes appearing in different cultures around the world since the dawn of humanity. Their research reveals universal patterns of organization found at the basis of traditional arts.

Linear worldview and historical education stand at the foundation of Western culture since its rise. The primary role of memory in the commemoration of traditional cultures lies in the production of formal patterns of organization that are very ancient and stable over time. This is the reason why there is such a great similarity between religious doctrines, folklore, art, and architecture across the world.

From the book: “Indigenous arts offer us an important means to penetrate certain areas of ancient art—Terra Incognita. Schematic art from prehistoric periods will remain a subject of unanswered speculation if we do not observe and compare it to indigenous design and contemporary modern design. The concept behind this comparison is simple—art begets art. If we wish to study the cradle of traditional art, we must dig deep.”

Alongside life in the materialistic Western society, a global trend of virtual and physical, social, ecological, and artistic communities interested in cognitive and spiritual development and working to create alternatives of sustainability is also evident. This developing global spiritual movement emphasizes how through ancient and new modes of expression, the trinity merges: myth – ritual – the sacred, in a manner reflecting a parallel era of developing consciousness that returns the myth to everyday life.

The art belonging to this spiritual renaissance of mythical art, to neo-tribalism, seeks to express the artist’s private myth, so that it will guide the personal path and provide the keys to crack themselves. This artistic trend shows that it is possible to live the myth and your longing. This new-ancient art brings the artistic persona to the public space, where it is seen by others and creates interaction with the community.

Art in the Fullest Sense

The most primordial religious structure is animism—which sees a soul in everything, in which nature is the religion and the earth is the temple. In this context, mountains, rivers, cities, and temples are a concrete expression of archetypal forces in the universe. The material world is a “pattern” or “double” existing on a cosmic level, and thus meaning is granted to the concept of duality in the world of reality.

Myth scholar Mircea Eliade speaks of territories as archetypes, of “wild” areas versus “cultivated” ones. Civilized territories are linked to the “higher” cosmic level, while unknown “virgin” areas are attributed to chaos—to undifferentiated existence lacking form before creation. The territorial conquest of a virgin area is accompanied by rituals that transfer a process of renewed creation, a symbolic repetition of the act of creation. Man always builds according to archetypes. The model always precedes earthly architecture and is found in an ideal zone of eternity.

Deep observation of indigenous cultures’ arts reveals profound intelligence and intuition, a cohesive spiritual worldview, artistic virtuosity, and the ability of abstraction. The stunning abstract designs stem from observation of nature. The indigenous person is a scientist learning from the nature in which he is located. Ceramics, carving, textiles, and indigenous tattooing are a tribute to deep observation of nature and recognition of the forces operating and sustaining us on the earth, in the inter-generational connections with the ancient fathers and mothers.

Usually, the symbols are chosen from the language of symbols and forms of the tribal heritage. Thus, designs of a symbolic character are created, drawing inspiration from phenomena of the natural world such as biology, botany, celestial bodies, and the human body, and become archetypal formal and geometric patterns.

The sacred person becomes an artist in the full sense of the word. He creates a new world of connections and relationships. He seeks conscious action, metamorphosis, and the abolition of the opposites in the actual reality. It is not the world’s fault that it appears to us as an object lacking life and soul, because the source of separation is found in a certain form of our thought and life. We must seek the key to its abolition solely in man.

Anthropologist of art Ellen Dissanayake argues that “In modern culture, the important and the significant—no longer interests anyone.” Is the confusing and unsatisfactory state of art in our world related to the fact that significant things are no longer important to us? In our hedonistic and impressionable society, spiritual aspirations lose their validity and relevance. Our experiences of the extraordinary are diverted toward experiences of capitalist consumer culture, of violence, and of ecological irresponsibility.

Dissanayake argues that creation is an evolutionary drive embedded in Homo sapiens, and calls us by the name “Homo Aestheticus.” In pre-modern and prehistoric cultures, art was created for personal and community rites of passage and initiation in a multi-sensory context—within a framework of plastic art, music and dance, body decoration, and tattooing, as a holistic process. It was important that all members of the community participate and not just those considered to have talent. The goal was healing and transformation through the stages of passage and initiation. The practice allowed the community to learn and experience the world around it in an unmediated way. Pre-modern architecture, tattooing, and textile art, ceramics, and wood are one language.

Language of Light and Creation

Immense power lies in the geometric forms and symbols existing in the world, which constitute codes hidden deep within the human DNA. Through learning and visual connection to forms, it is possible to increase the range of information beyond what exists in us, to the infinite possibilities and depths contained within it. Slowly and gradually we remember knowledge because the symbols exist within us and are familiar to the cells of the body. Every symbol contains within it infinite information that is far beyond the boundaries of the knowledge existing in our conscious mind at the moment.

Playing with the forms expands the brain’s ability to create renewed mental structures that break through the boundaries of our current reality. “Working with the symbols awakens the soul’s knowledge lying deep within us and allows us to move in life in a wavy, spiral, pleasant, and creative flow, while connecting to a primordial frequency, connecting us to love and infinite light that exists in the universe and within us,” says Talia Toker, a researcher of Mayan culture.

Sacred geometry is a universal language expressing the laws of the universe and the forces operating within it. It is an expression of both observable reality and hidden reality. The hidden architecture, standing at the foundation of all that exists and demonstrating the dynamics in which it is created, unfolds, and exists in everything in the intelligent cosmos.

The Flower of Life pattern, for example, is a geometric infrastructure created from spheres, circles, only, and from within it all forms, patterns, and wave fields known to us are created. From a physical perspective, this is the language of light, wave motion, and gravity, the language of infinite creation. The new unified physics adds a layer to this understanding through the concept of plasma universe, and quantum entanglement. Studies on the subject of sacred geometry lead us to the recognition that we live in an intelligent, connected, and full-of-life universe.

According to the holographic universe idea, everything is “one” across different scales from the micro to the macro, like a spider web on which countless dewdrops lie. Each dewdrop reflects the information about every other drop, and thus the information is exchanged through the dimensions of the universe in a reciprocal relationship. An infinite loop of feedback, with the spiritual and the material held together as a whole and as a synergistic dynamic.

Sacred geometry is a universal language of fundamental geometric forms and super-patterns through which the universe and all that is within it unfold. The word “sacred” is a value without which one cannot be. Everything in the universe unfolds by identical geometric principles. There is a super-pattern that creates the universe—God, creation, or an intelligent cosmos. The understanding that there is a super-pattern creating the universe awakens a need to conduct a re-examination of our understanding of the universe, our role in it, and the responsibility placed upon us as human beings.

Everything in the universe unfolds through spiral movement in a multi-dimensional space. Swirling is a dominant law influencing the hidden dynamics of our world. We notice this movement in nature—in shells, flowers, pinecones, in DNA, and in the rotation of distant galaxies. All that exists in the universe are swirling wave fields, vibrations vibrating in different states of gravity and geometry, creating the world of matter. These basic geometric forms are the hidden architecture of our world.

A central idea shared by almost all beliefs is that the universe is a living entity possessing consciousness. This super-intelligence has woven together the threads of space, time, energy, matter, biology, and consciousness in its image. Despite the enormous size of the universe, it seems that we are all personally connected to that sublime identity and will continue to live long after the death of our physical body.

Understanding the Forces of the World

The word “Tantra” means in Sanskrit “to expand,” and it hints at wide bodies of knowledge. Thanks to Tantra, we understand the chakra system. Man alone will no longer be able to be the yardstick of the universe. He is woven integrally with all that exists and in everything he seeks the foundational essence called in the language of Tantra “the subtle world,” “Shastras.”

When thinking about abstract art, usually one thinks in terms of space and time. Tantra art moves beyond that and brings concepts of sound and light, and for this, there is no equivalent in Western art. In this spiritual process, a new sign language symbolizing the human-universe relationship is revealed and becomes accessible and useful. Tantric art can be considered, for example, one of the basic essential forms of Yoga.

In view of the limitations of language, art turns to abstract symbolism of horizontal and vertical lines, points, and circles. In contrast, Tantric art always searches for basic and essential values, forms that connect into architectural and geometric patterns. These are the formal archetypes.

The basic formal archetypes—circle, spiral, and line, echo within us on different levels. In the world of reality, the archetype meets the principle of duality—female and male, empty and full, disturbance and fusion, depth and flattening, stability and shifting, movement and static, balance and flow, symmetry and asymmetry, private and universal, accidental and intentional, fleeting and timeless.

Symbols and Tantric forms are a vast reservoir of knowledge about which very little is known. They illuminate form and color and make spiritual development accessible. Knowing the cosmic order leads the Tantric student to make himself part of the mystery. In the ancient era, this is what revealed the truth to the Tantric artist, opening a door to a new understanding of the forces of the world. Now contemporary artists try to express, see, know, discover, and enjoy these functions or forces.

The ability to see the truth depends on the ability of the consciousness to be quiet and still in order to receive it. Truth can be experienced only intensely. Therefore, Tantric artists dedicate themselves to the task of merging and integrating their visions. In India, these tasks were considered a branch of Yoga and included, like any other spiritual activity, discipline and ritual.

Tantric texts emphasize the importance of visualization and the hidden meaning of things. The vision allows the artist to see and experience reality in a superior form of concentration and focus that is higher than just images. Through ritual, the believer recites a mantra describing the celestial entity and creates a parallel mental image. His prayers are answered in a way that relates to the imagined form, and to that “focus” offerings are brought.

High States of Consciousness

A wealth of archaeological, astronomical, mathematical, geological, and cartographic research points to parallels and direct affinities between ancient archaeological structures and stellar constellations. Monuments such as Machu Picchu in Peru, the three pyramids complex in Giza, Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia, and the Nazca lines in Peru contain encoded information and within it advanced scientific knowledge in various fields such as astronomy, trigonometry, geometry, architecture, and sound.

In the field of contemporary archaeology, much evidence is accumulating, establishing the possibility that the ancient Egyptians understood and implemented the principles of sacred geometry well. Egyptologist Schwaller de Lubicz researched the art and monuments in ancient Egypt and sees in them a sacred science based on symbolism, harmonic proportions, and sacred geometry; deep intelligence encoded within the hieroglyphs, monuments, temples, and ancient Egyptian art. Interpreting the hieroglyphs as carriers of a Hermetic message, de Lubicz discovered in Egypt the earliest evidence of a sacred science, which became the basis of the perennial philosophy, fragments of which were preserved to this day by Gnostics, Sufis, Kabbalists, Rosicrucians, and Freemasons, but mainly by enlightened spiritual teachers and seers of the hidden.

The Egyptian symbolic tools were intended to allow an immediate intuitive understanding rather than the transfer of information. They were a means to escape the shackles of matter, which limits human intelligence, and to connect to higher and more sublime states of consciousness. The Egyptians did not distinguish between high states of consciousness and the physical body. On the contrary, this distinction is a mental illusion. Everything in the universe was for them different degrees of states of consciousness.

During the 15 years he lived in Egypt, de Lubicz discovered that the temple complex at Luxor contains “global lessons.” Every temple is a chapter of a specific theme within which this sacred science develops. Every temple “speaks” through its overall plan, the basic foundational orientation of its design, its choice of materials, and the openings in its walls.

In the Luxor temple, de Lubicz discovered what is probably the only monument effectively representing the architectural simulation of man. The temple contains esoteric knowledge such as the location of endocrine glands, Hindu energy centers, the chakras, and acupuncture points. He discovered that the astronomical orientation of the temple, the geometry of its structure, the simulations, and the inscriptions are a symbolic expression of the human body and precise locations physiologically.

The human body is a living synthesis of the essential vital functions of the universe. Within the temple occurs the primordial struggle between light and darkness, between yin and yang, between gravity and levitation, between the god and the goddess, between male and female, and between king and queen. This is a temple that man must refine and distill through the incarnations until the creation of a replica of the cosmic man.

For de Lubicz, the temple also represents cosmic and celestial measures and correspondences with the movement of celestial bodies and with specific astronomical eras. The integrations between the relationships and affinities between stars, planets, metals, colors, and sounds, as well as between types of plants, animals, and organs in the body are revealed through a complete science of numbers.

The pantheon of ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses, called Netjer, is similar in its perception to the ancient Titans and other pagan perceptions, embodying universal, awe-inspiring forces of nature. These forces are expressed in man as psychic forces, as archetypes of states of consciousness. The temple is a symbol of the universe, a communal meeting place to experience and meditate on the archetypes of the laws of the universe and embody them consciously in the soul. The temple represents the God and the principle, a living structure of a spiritual principle.

When the scientist tries to reach the unknown without truly decoding it, the metaphysician reminds him that it is impossible to research the truth, only to know intuitively or through vision. As Joseph Campbell said, the myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the universe flow to be expressed in human culture. Religions, worldviews, arts, the social conventions of ancient man and historical man, the discoveries of science, technology, and our dreams, all bubble and rise from the same base.

“The symbols of the myth cannot be ordered, nor can they be permanently suppressed. They are spontaneous products of the soul. In each of them lies, in its wholeness, the seed of the power of the source from which it flowed.”

Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

Bibliographic Sources

Rudolf Steiner, “Aesthetics of the Future – Fruit of Goethe’s Spirit,” Michael Publishing, translation: Ilan Wig, 1985-1971.

Yeshayahu Ben-Aharon, “Homage to Joseph Beuys,” article, Kav 8, magazine, 1988.

Mircea Eliade, “The Myth of the Eternal Return – Archetypes and Repetition,” from French: Yotam Reuveni, Carmel Publishing, Jerusalem, 2000.

Carl Schuster & Edmund Carpenter, “Patterns that connect – Social Symbolism in ancient and tribal art”, Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, New York.

Yasmine Bergner, “The Great Rite of Passage,” article, “Erev Rav”—online magazine for culture and art, 2013.

Ellen Dissanayake, “Homo Aestheticus – Where art comes from and why”, University of Washington Press, Seattle & London, 1995.

www.mayazone.co.il

David Wilcock, “The Source Field Investigations—The Hidden Science and Lost Civilizations Behind the 2012 Prophecies,” Maram Publishing, 2015, from English: Ofer Mashiah.

“The symbolic aspect of form”, Alice Bonner, 1949

John Anthony West, “Serpent in the sky – the high wisdom of ancient Egypt”, Quest books, theosophical publishing house, Wheaton IL. USA

Joseph Campbell, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces,” Babel Publishing, translation: Shlomit Kanaan, 2013 (published in 1949).

הפוסט The One and Only Form | The Science of Sacred Geometry | By Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

Wearable Technology

In 2015, the first version of the ARK crystal resonance technology was released from Nassim Haramein’s laboratory: lab-grown crystals that can be worn on the body. The crystals are designed and structured geometrically to create a molecular structure that has the ability to resonate with the quantum field. This wearable technology creates harmonic synchronization with the unified field and amplifies the energetic efficiency we can receive from it. The results show that exposing water to them increases the resonance of the water. For example, if we water plants with water exposed to such crystals, the plant will grow 300 percent faster, and the quality of seeds is increased by about ten percent.

“In other words, the resonance created by these synthetic crystals has a beneficial effect on biology. Since we are made primarily of water, I wanted to create crystals that could be worn on the body, to restructure the water within it, and receive health-promoting and beneficial effects for the body and soul. The mother technology that produces the crystals is in development, with the goal of providing the world with gravity-control technology and releasing free energy.”

ARK crystals restructure atoms and water molecules, empowering them and making them more vital. This allows our bodies and our agricultural and ecological systems to produce healthier growth and cellular activity, and to create the conditions suitable for balance and biological integrity. This is just a glimpse of the potential changes that can occur when the basic principles of unified physics are applied. At the same time, changes in our internal values become a natural part of progress as we adopt a more holistic and integral worldview.

How did the idea to create ARK crystal technology begin?

Getty Images
Nassim: ARK crystal technology is the more esoteric side of my research in physics, so it is important to me that the context in which it is done is understood. For several decades, I have been dissatisfied with the Standard Model in physics. I began to create my own theories and correct errors in the standard physics model, specifically where the model split or reached a dead end. In addition to research in physics, I felt deeply that much can be learned from ancient cultures, as they survived for thousands of years and thought about the same issues that modern physics deals with: what is the nature of reality, what is the nature of existence, and the universe. I had a feeling that I might find something there that modern science is missing.

Working with geometry turned out to be a significant factor for me, and I noticed that in modern conceptual physics and mathematics, there is insufficient reference to geometry. Albert Einstein created the geometry of space-time within the framework of his General Theory of Relativity, using very high-level conceptual mathematics. Therefore, I began to study the Pythagorean school, Plato, and the esoteric research of Newton. Not many know that Newton was an alchemist who dealt with esoteric mathematics and physics and researched the First Temple. He studied and wrote much about the ancient Hebrew script. Newton believed that if we deeply understood the structure of the First Temple, we could understand the principles of gravity control (anti-gravity).

According to belief, the First Temple was built for the purpose of housing the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. It is fascinating to me that the Hebrew, Muslim, and Christian traditions meet in the context of the Ark of the Covenant. The Foundation Stone (Even HaShetiya) on the Temple Mount is the holiest site for Muslims—which, according to belief, was inside the Holy of Holies in the First Temple and the place from which the Prophet Muhammad ascended. The Ark of the Covenant is one of the most central subjects in Judaism.

The research I conducted led me to believe that the power of the Ark of the Covenant stemmed from its being a technological power source of gravity control. I believe this is a technology that was created within the pyramids, brought from Egypt by Moses, who held a high status in Egypt and had access to this technology. The Bible clearly describes Moses leading the tribe of Israel from Egypt toward the Red Sea, with a pillar of light standing by night before the camp and a pillar of smoke during the day, which today we can interpret as a type of vortex.

I believe this is an advanced technology, much older than the Jewish or Egyptian cultures. Likely a culture that existed before the last Ice Age and the cataclysmic event of the Flood. Archaeologists around the world, and especially in the field of ancient Egypt research, are becoming more unanimous that the ancient structures we see around the world in ancient Egypt, in the Mayan and Inca cultures, are remnants of much older civilizations that preceded them before the last Ice Age.

I believe that these ancient cultures possessed advanced technologies of gravity control. The ancient monuments we find around the world are built of massive stones weighing thousands of tons that can barely be moved even with the advanced technology of our day. These massive stones were moved distances of hundreds of kilometers in some cases. With the technology at our disposal today, we can move such stones no more than a hundred meters, but not such vast distances along rivers and dunes.

I am conducting research into the advanced ARK gravity-control technology—which is actually a merging of advanced unified field physics with ancient forms that I believe were representations of this power source and technology—technology that manages to connect to the structure of space-time itself. The physics I wrote in this context has reached significant achievements. I succeeded in predicting the scale of the atomic nucleus, the proton, and the electron, and all the electrons of the periodic table in a much more accurate way than any other contemporary theory that exists.

The standard model in physics deviates from the radius of the proton by about 4%, which is not insignificant in terms of quantum physics. My theory is within the error margin of the experiment, which is considered a very high level of accuracy. Therefore, it is important for me to emphasize to the readers that these ideas do not come only from philosophy and esoteric knowledge, but from very well-founded contemporary theories in advanced physics—physics that has the ability to predict and foresee what we see in the world of phenomena. At a later stage, I started experiments in experimental physics with the aim of creating this technology in the laboratory. I believe that now, at this current stage in the evolution of the human species, we are given the ability to decipher and rediscover this knowledge so that eventually we can become part of the galactic community and allow ourselves to explore outer space. In fact, we have no choice. Planets are unstable and ecological and cataclysmic changes occur all the time. We must understand the principle of gravity control in order to expand beyond the borders of the planet.

Yasmine: Stephen Mehler, an independent Egyptologist from the Great Pyramid of Giza Research Association in Cairo, wrote two books on the ancient Egyptian wisdom passed on to Abd’el Hakim Awyan, an Egyptian archaeologist and wisdom keeper.

According to indigenous understanding, the ancient pyramids were structures of initiation and stationary technology for transforming water and stone and creating solar energy. They were never used for the burial of pharaohs as is commonly thought. In the original language: PER NETER — House of Energy or House of the Universal Principle: they were a geometric structure intended to create resonant transformation between natural water sources and the earth and bedrock that were near them.

Nassim: The ancient information emerging today from Egypt is amazing. I spent a considerable amount of time with the Khemetology School (founded by the Awyan family) last October at the first annual conference of my institute. They gave us guided tours of sacred sites all over Egypt.

Yasmine: Would you like to tell us about the Resonance Foundation conference that was recently held in Egypt? How was it and what insights did you gain from the conference?

Nassim: These were three amazing weeks. I have been studying the culture of ancient Egypt, its architecture, and megaliths for 25 years, but it is one thing to study from books and a completely different story to be there and witness this miracle with your own eyes. The people who take part in the Emissary program are such intelligent people with amazing abilities. Our guides were excellent, knowledgeable in both traditional and alternative Egyptology, what is known today as Khemetology. Therefore, they can bridge the gaps between the schools of thought. We conducted in-depth field research. Being in the place and seeing the precise cutting of the stones, the sophisticated angles, and understanding that it is impossible to create such structures and hard materials using copper chisels—which is what is commonly thought to have been the tools in the Bronze Age—is mind-boggling. Direct observation hits you and makes you realize that their achievements were created using technology much more advanced than what is commonly thought. In addition to that, the energy in Egypt is extremely powerful. It is hard to describe how transformative the experience was for everyone and changed us forever. And I am already very excited about the second annual conference that will be held in Peru.

Yasmine: Do you have anything to say to the Israeli public that is considering traveling to Egypt but is afraid because of the sensitive political situation?

Nassim: I think there are so many levels to the conflict and political situation, and I believe it is an energetic conflict at its core. The conflict is not necessarily between the people or between religious worldviews, but between political and economic forces. The conflict is produced by governmental economic agendas that have something to gain from keeping the Middle East in a state of instability. I believe that if the economic agendas of the world’s governing powers were not pushing and encouraging the conflict, Jews and Muslims would find a way to live in peace. You have shared roots; you are brothers and sisters. The Quran refers to Moses and the Jewish tradition is embedded within it. The instability in the region is produced and perpetuated by military and industrial organizations for their own profit.

At this point, it is possible that my work on the subject can help. Because everything returns to that same event of the Exodus and the technology that may have been in the possession of the Israelites that was held in the Ark of the Covenant. This is a point that has not yet been properly understood, which I believe connects the three major religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.

The connection between Jesus, the Ark of the Covenant, and the First Temple is not well understood, in my opinion. In the New Testament, Jesus is called the “Living Ark of the Covenant,” and as part of his journey, he goes to the Temple in an attempt to re-establish the Ark of the Covenant in the Second Temple. I believe that the Ark of the Covenant was taken out of the Temple long before the birth of Jesus and brought to the Essene community as part of a “Plan B” by the priests in case the Temple was attacked. After all, underground tunnels have been found leading from the Temple to the city. I believe that the Dead Sea Scrolls, and especially the Copper Scroll, describe the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant to the Essene community in Qumran. I speculate that the Ark of the Covenant was in the possession of the Essene community by the Dead Sea for quite some time, at least until the first century CE, until the occurrence of the events linked to the historical figure of Jesus.

Yasmine: Today it is accepted among scholars that the people of Qumran were the Essenes. In the middle of the Second Temple period, in the period when they were exiled from the Temple during the dispute with the Hasmoneans, the prevailing hypothesis is that these were various priestly circles that were prevented from serving in the Holy place following exile, destruction, or withdrawal from the Temple. They held independent doctrines and philosophy. Many of the many writings found in the Qumran caves and studied by the Community of the Unity of Qumran (as they probably called themselves) were unknown to us before their discovery at this site. The Community of the Unity maintained an extensive library containing spiritual and intellectual assets of immense value, and its members engaged in study, contemplation, writing, and translation. The essence of the group is highly controversial, and in some places, it is described as an ideal, peace-loving, and separatist community. It is not known who the writers were, and it is likely that there were about 500 writers in different periods. There is an interesting assumption that the Qumran scrolls represent the totality of written Jewish creation before the process of canonization and were brought to the Dead Sea caves before the Great Revolt.

Archaeologist Vendyl Jones (on whom the character of Indiana Jones is based) found remains that match what is described in the Copper Scroll in a cave near Qumran. I am raising a theory that Jesus was born into the Essene community. The special powers attributed to Jesus, such as healing the sick, may have been a phenomenon of amplifying the resonance of the water molecules. And walking on water may have been an effect of gravity control, since he learned to use the power that was inside the Ark of the Covenant. The New Testament tells that at age 32, Jesus went to the Temple with the goal of returning the Ark to the Temple. When he arrives there, he realizes that the Temple has been desecrated and idols have been brought into it, which causes him emotional turmoil. The High Priest does not want to give up his position of power and therefore convinces the Romans to execute Jesus. I believe that Jesus did not die on the cross but was healed through the power of the Ark. So through this perception, we see that Christians, Muslims, and Jews all meet in the story of the Ark of the Covenant.

Nassim and Vendyl Jones are not the only ones to speculate that the Ark of the Covenant was brought to the Essene community in Qumran. In her book “Jesus and the Essenes,” the pioneering American hypnotherapist Dolores Cannon says that the historical figure of Jesus indeed lived in Qumran. Cannon reports this through a patient in deep hypnosis. Under hypnosis, the patient experienced, she claimed in a past life, being a teacher of Jesus in Qumran.

Yasmine: At Masada, which is near Qumran, there is a beautiful floor mosaic in a Greco-Roman style, and even though it is almost completely destroyed, one can see the remains of a Flower of Life in its center. This is very rare archaeological evidence. It is very rare to find archaeological remains of sacred geometry in the Land of Israel, and no one gives them an explanation (see the following photo).

Nassim: Ossuaries found in a cave in Talpiot, Jerusalem, currently in the Israel Museum, are claimed to have contained Jesus and his family members. On the sides of the ossuaries, dated to the first century CE, are carved very large seeds of life.

Two seeds of life are carved on an ossuary found in an ancient burial cave, Talpiot, Jerusalem. On the ossuary, the name “Yeshua bar Yosef” (Jesus son of Joseph) is carved. It is likely that the geometric engraving is much older than the later text engraving (Y.B).

Yasmine: It is interesting to learn how Judaism integrated sacred geometry into its spiritual studies and its worldview.

Nassim: Part of my work was the understanding that the Kabbalistic Tree of Life has a tetrahedral structure, and then I realized that doubling 8 Trees of Life creates the complex tetrahedral structure which is the geometric archetype of the universe. Also, the Star of David (Magen David) has a tetrahedral structure, and it is very possible that it represented the power that was inside the Ark of the Covenant. And therefore it is found on the flag of Israel. Today we know that the Star of David in its three-dimensional form is the fundamental structure of the cosmic field. It is the skeleton of the torus dynamic and zero-point energy. The spheres of the Tree of Life are actually spheres representing the Flower of Life. The infinite fractal structure of the universe is represented by the 10 spheres. And within each sphere, there are 10 spheres, and so on to infinity.

Yasmine: It is amazing how these myths influence us today, thousands of years later. On the politics in the Middle East. The myth of Jewish slavery, the Exodus. It is fascinating to try to understand why these myths have taken such deep root and what we must do to free ourselves from them.

Nassim: I think the true story should come to light. What really happened, and what is the true identity of the tribe of Israel and the true affinities that exist between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. That everyone meets in the myth of the Ark of the Covenant. And perhaps if a true understanding is created, it will open the way to reconciliation between the cultures and between the peoples. It can help us develop compassion for one another. After all, everyone wants the same thing—to raise their children, to get an answer to our basic needs, to be fed and feel safe, and to love and feel loved. No one is born with hatred; it only happens through states of distress when people feel they have no other choice.

Naturally, people are born as wonderful creatures of purity and love. It is so important that we develop a connected worldview, with the understanding that we all need to thrive together. I believe that the political and military power mechanisms are also changing for the better. The development of free-energy technologies will eliminate the necessity to fight over oil resources, and therefore will eliminate most territorial conflicts.

So there is much hope, but we must roll up our sleeves and hurry to make the changes on every possible front.

Yasmine Bergner is a multidisciplinary artist, spiritual companion through tattooing, and researcher.

Nassim Haramein is a scientist, physicist, and sacred geometry researcher.

The article was originally published in Hayim Aherim (Other Lives) magazine, 2018.

הפוסט The Field Child | Interview with Nassim Haramein #2 | Interviewer: Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

“Modern science’s refusal to search for higher order slows humanity’s development and severely harms the ecosystems upon which we depend to survive and thrive. The implications and applications of the connected worldview provide us with a clear vision of our potential to evolve. Humanity is heading in this direction, but we must reach the destination in time, and this advanced technology must be released as soon as possible.”

— Nassim Haramein

“Humanity must adopt unified field physics and learn to control gravitational fields in order to free itself from the necessity of living on the surface of a planet and become part of a galactic community that has access to almost infinite energy sources. We are very close to a breakthrough. This time it is particularly critical, because if we do not succeed, we may not survive.”

“High-level resonance is billions of times smaller than subatomic particles; therefore, it is a quantum activity of which we have no direct experience, but the structure of consciousness is likely made of it, as is all the matter around us. Much like a fish swimming in water, unaware of its existence, we too are ‘swimming’ in a fluid-like plasma field and do not notice its existence.”

“If we recognize that we are in an intelligent field that interacts with us and creates our reality, we will feed into the field what we want to happen, and thus we will begin to receive beneficial and positive results for ourselves and for all of humanity,” says scientist and researcher Nassim Haramein, who works in sacred geometry, unified field theory, and resonance technology, in an interview. “The universe is like a hard drive, a system of infinite active memory.”

Nassim Haramein was born in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1962. For the last 30 years, he has researched the connections between physics, mathematics, geometry, cosmology, quantum mechanics, biology, chemistry, anthropology, and ancient civilizations. These studies have led Haramein to groundbreaking theories, papers, inventions, and patents in unified physics, which are now gaining recognition and respect worldwide.

Today, it is clear that we are in the midst of a radical development of expansive technologies—brain research, heart research, alternative energy, global information systems, robotics, genetic engineering, nanotechnology, geo-engineering, and electromagnetic manipulation of the Earth’s ionosphere. These advanced technologies affect us and our environment. We are on a fast track of a massive experiment, for better or for worse.

Haramein believes that the contemporary worldview poses dangers to us.

“We hold an incomplete model of reality that affects the economy, government, technology, and media. As a global society, we suffer from a severe failure of values, which causes us to ignore systemic violence, racism, scarcity, and environmental destruction. Over the past few centuries, science has acquired an influential role, shaping our values, beliefs, and spiritual perceptions. The principles and values that guide us will profoundly affect humanity and all life on Earth and will resonate for generations to come.”

The Small Rudder

In 2004, Haramein founded the Resonance Science Foundation for the research and development of unified physics principles. He is also the director and creator of Torus Tech, LLC—a private laboratory for the research and development of clean, inexhaustible energy technologies and for safe, sustainable space exploration. In 2014, Haramein’s research foundation established the Envoys Program (the Delegate Program), the first online educational program of its kind in the field of unified physics and sacred geometry, which educates thousands of students from over 90 countries worldwide.

We all feel the tremors of the transition from old paradigms to the new ones emerging in the modern era. The question is whether humanity, in its destructive behavior, will bring the world to its end, or succeed in passing its adolescence, developing spiritually, and maturing into something new and beneficial. The Resonance Science Foundation, the Resonance Project Academy, and the Hawaii Institute for Unified Physics are attempting to change the worldview and assist in creating a more beneficial humanity. The Envoys Program defines the paradigm shift in our world as a transition from a disconnected worldview to a connected one.

“The principle of spin is a fundamental principle that has been neglected or misunderstood in modern physics, in the sense that it is a fundamental principle of organization. The spin principle allows the organization of the entire universe and creates coherence. This is why the Earth, the solar system, the other galaxies, and the entire universe are spinning. We find this in sacred geometry everywhere.”

“The unified field is a resonance field at the quantum level. It is the source of matter, mass, and gravity, but also the source of consciousness. The dynamics of the electromagnetic field and the gravitational field create an infinite feedback loop—the outgoing feedback is the electromagnetic field radiating outward, and the feedback returning is the gravitational field returning inward. This is a compressed information field, where every Planck unit is a compressed spark of information.”

The prevailing worldview in science today is a disconnected worldview, which interprets the universe as a lifeless “machine” that can be broken down into its components, believing that nature and matter are devoid of consciousness and intelligence. This perception denies the existence of a holistic pattern connecting everything that exists. Evolution is accidental, and the universe is moving from a state of creation and order toward entropy and disorder. The vacuum that fills space is empty and devoid of energy.

“Modern science’s refusal to search for higher order slows humanity’s development and severely harms the ecosystems upon which we depend to survive and thrive,” says Haramein.

In contrast, the connected worldview defined in the Envoys Program interprets the universe as a holistic system full of life and intelligence. It sees it as a field of infinite potential with a fractal and synergetic structure. Sacred geometry and unified physics identify these basic patterns and connect everything that exists, from the micro to the macro.

The universe is an intelligent and lively field that learns about itself and evolves to infinity in a system of feedback. The direction of developing systems contains a balance between decreasing order and increasing order. The space between particles of matter is full of information and tremendous potential energy, which secretly connects all things.

“Changing the worldviews and values of the entire human family is a challenging task that requires time,” says Haramein. “It is like trying to change an ocean current against a strong opposing current. In order to change direction, we must turn the ‘small rudder’ before we turn the ‘large rudder’ of the ship. By turning the small rudder, we will exert mild pressure within the water, which will gradually intensify until it becomes possible to turn the large rudder and the ship in the other direction.”

“I believe the implications and applications of the connected worldview provide us with a clear vision of our capabilities to evolve in the fields of society, technology, and spirituality. The Envoys Program and the development of the unified field physics it researches are probably the ‘small rudder’ that will turn the direction in which our humanity moves as a whole. If we can envision it, we can create it. A ‘crazy’ idea of today can become the norm of tomorrow.

“For example, in the last 150 years, we went from horse and carriage to airplanes. This is an idea that was once considered insane and illogical, but a few generations later, it is the norm. So why, in a few generations, couldn’t humans fly outside the solar system and explore the galaxy using space vehicles powered by gravity engines? Perhaps it is not such a crazy idea.

“I believe humanity is heading in this direction, but we must reach the destination in time. We are under significant constraints at the current time, and our ability to survive as a human species is being highly challenged. Therefore, this level of advanced technology must be released as soon as possible.”

Right: Nikola Tesla, Left: Walter Russell

Inspirations

Just about half a century ago, researchers such as Walter Russell and Nikola Tesla offered humanity a vision and technological knowledge that had tremendous potential to change life on Earth, but they did not live to see their vision fulfilled. They were extraordinary figures of spirit and science.

“Russell was an amazing man, and many are not aware of his work,” says Haramein. “He was a self-taught sculptor and architect. As a scientist, he contributed significantly to modern science. He identified many of the elements in the periodic table and predicted their existence long before they were discovered in laboratory experiments. He studied physics and sacred geometry and identified the basic spin dynamics of physics. He also built advanced resonance equipment in his laboratory.

“Russell and Tesla were in personal contact, and Tesla recommended that Russell keep his work archived for a thousand years because humanity was not yet ready in terms of consciousness for this technology. In those days, Tesla had already learned a bitter lesson given the reaction of the scientific community and the power mechanisms of the time to his work. Tesla’s understanding of free energy sources and the wireless transmission of energy sources anywhere in the world unfortunately became problematic for the dominant economic corporations and the wealthy. His research and technological experimentation were maliciously suppressed and halted by the prevention of research funding.”

“Although modern society is based on Russell’s technological developments, he was almost completely erased from history books. He spent the rest of his life in solitude and died destitute, ostracized by the scientific community. 30 years ago, when I started lecturing, most electronics engineers and physicists didn’t even know who Russell and Tesla were. I believe these two great scientists were ahead of their time. They prepared humanity for the evolutionary stage we are in now and for the new paradigm.

“Amazingly, Russell developed a technology very similar to the technology I am developing today. Some of the research that Russell locked in a safe to open in a thousand years was leaked. I received one of them, and it is similar to what I am building myself. When I was exposed to Russell’s material, I had already written my innovations in unified physics and mathematics, but it was a deep and inspiring confirmation for me. Even today, I still sometimes receive dismissive and mocking responses to my research, which illustrates how difficult it was for Russell and Tesla to offer such radical ideas in the late and mid-20th century.”

Walter Russell: Right: From his electromagnetic sketches, Portrait, and his famous book “A New Concept of the Universe” (1950)

Haramein hopes that this time we will succeed in doing so.

“This time it is particularly critical because if we do not succeed, we may not survive. Humanity must adopt unified field physics and learn to control gravitational fields in order to free itself from the necessity of living on the surface of a planet and become part of a galactic community that has access to almost infinite energy sources. This may sound far-fetched, but I promise that we are very close to a breakthrough.”

Paradigm Shift

In the Envoys Program, Haramein says that the challenges currently afflicting humanity may be a vital and natural part of the development of a society. The fact that we are on the verge of extinction will bring us to an awakening because life is more powerful than anything else.

“The pressure of being on the verge of extinction moves us from our comfort zone, to wake up to the consequences of our actions, and to move toward a holistic perception that will allow us more power and positive influence. We must allow the change to happen.”

“It is funny, but change is the only constant in the universe. Science loses its validity when we try to hold on to previous ideas. We must always examine new ideas and see how they integrate with previous ones. New ideas are always based on the continuity of previous ones, but sometimes breakthroughs occur in thinking, for example, the leap from Newtonian thinking to Albert Einstein’s ideas.

“Einstein’s Theory of Relativity completely changed our thinking regarding space-time dimensions, mass, and matter, and the way we perceive the world. Einstein was lucky to have the support of Max Planck and others to be heard within the scientific community. Even if Einstein had tried to publish his Theory of Relativity today, he would have encountered quite a few difficulties. Even today, it is very difficult to deviate from the status quo, and this is very unfortunate. A society that does not encourage revolutionary thinking is a society that prevents itself from creativity and new information. If we cannot move forward, we will be forced into extinction.”

It seems that humanity has become everything that is the opposite of a true civilization, the opposite of the behaviors implied by the word “culture”: not to kill others, not to control others, and not to consume without giving anything back. However, despite the massive negativity, there is also a positive movement in the other direction—social, ecological, spiritual, and virtual movements attempting to create positive change, awareness, and community.

Your important contribution to the field of science and consciousness elegantly ties together the loose ends that Tesla, Russell, and Einstein left behind. Recently, you even won the Albert Einstein Award.

“Yes, I feel enthusiasm and optimism and feel that humanity is heading in the right direction. The status quo is being disrupted in all areas of life—in the economy, military, and politics. Society is changing before our eyes rapidly. I only hope, as mentioned, that it happens at a speed that will allow our society to survive the ecological, economic, and social challenges. Anyone who evolves, who wakes up, is significant to the paradigm shift.”

Holofractographic Universe

Haramein conceived the Holofractographic Universe theory, which explores the fundamental geometry of space that connects us all—from the quantum and molecular scale to the scale of cosmological objects in the universe. The innovation that unified physics brings compared to classical physics is the principle that the cosmos is a unified field.

The idea that the universe is holographic was first proposed in the 1950s by physicists Karl Pribram and David Bohm. They argued that information is transmitted and exchanged through all parts of the universe simultaneously and non-locally.

The perception of the universe as a fractal was first proposed in the 1970s by Benoit Mandelbrot. Fractals are self-similar patterns that repeat at all levels of existence, from the micro to the macro. The concept says that there are infinite dimensions residing within an infinite number of scales of unified boundary conditions within the whole. There is extensive mathematics in the field of fractals that provides us with a useful model explaining the principles of regularity and self-similarity among complex systems, such as clouds, coastlines, landscape contours, and more.

One of Haramein’s important contributions to the field of unified physics is a solution to Einstein’s General Relativity equations, which he devised with his colleague Dr. Elizabeth Rauscher. This is a solution that has a more solid foundation than any other theoretical framework that exists today. An experiment performed in 2013 by a group of researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute confirmed Haramein’s scientific hypothesis. Their solution finds a unifying mathematical pattern among all that exists and posits the existence of a “unified field” in which we all exist and interact.

At the quantum level, subatomic particles, such as electrons, flicker and disappear at a very high frequency that is not visible to the eye. Electrons appear within the visible dimension and return back to the hidden. These two dimensions of reality, the visible and the hidden, create a dynamic that physicist David Bohm called a “reciprocal relationship.” This is a dynamic where each dimension shapes and influences the other in an ongoing process of emergence and embodiment.

This process is called oscillation or “high-vibration oscillation.” For example, a metal spring—when we stretch it, it will return to us. However, in reality, this is not just moving backward and forward like a simple spring, but a movement of spin that folds and unfolds back and forth in a dynamic called “torsion.”

“The complexity of the universe demands feedback,” says Haramein. “The classical physics community insists on a definition of randomness in the universe because if it were to recognize the fact that nothing in the universe is a result of randomness, it would be forced to recognize aspects of spirituality. I believe that all that exists participates actively within what we call the ‘Unified Field,’ which connects everything that exists.”

It seems that “little bangs” happen at the quantum level all the time. We must abandon the notion that a Big Bang happened somewhere in history, because it is happening constantly with every breath.

For most people, it is difficult to understand the concept of resonance.

“True. The spin principle is a fundamental principle that has been neglected or misunderstood in modern physics, in the sense that it is a fundamental principle of organization. The spin principle allows the organization of the entire universe and creates coherence. This is why the Earth, the solar system, the other galaxies, and the entire universe are spinning. We find this in sacred geometry everywhere.”

ARK pendants – wearable resonance technology – Hawaii Resonance Science Foundation

Wearable Technology

Last year, the first version of the ARK resonance technology developed by Haramein was released to the market, which consists of crystals produced in his laboratory that can be worn on the body. The crystals are geometrically designed and structured, creating a molecular structure that has the ability to resonate with the quantum field. This wearable technology creates harmonic synchronization with the unified field and amplifies the energetic efficiency we can receive from it.

“We have tested these crystals in thousands of laboratory tests. The results show that exposing water to them increases the resonance of the water. For example, if we water plants with water exposed to such crystals, the plant will grow 300 percent faster, and the quality of seeds is increased by about ten percent. In other words, the resonance created by these synthetic crystals has a beneficial effect on biology. Since we are made primarily of water, I wanted to create crystals that could be worn on the body, to restructure the water within it, and receive health-promoting and beneficial effects for the body and soul.

“The crystals can positively influence agriculture and biology on a large scale. Everything biological exposed to them—human, animal, plant, or seed—is enhanced in its resonance and pH. The mother technology that produces the crystals is in development, and I hope it will provide the world with gravity-control technology and release free energy to it.”

Haramein adds that “ARK crystals restructure atoms and water molecules, empowering them and making them more vital. This allows our bodies and our agricultural and ecological systems to produce healthier growth and cellular activity and to create the conditions suitable for balance and biological integrity. This is just a glimpse of the potential changes that can occur when the basic principles of unified physics are applied. At the same time, changes in our internal values become a natural part of progress as we adopt a more holistic and integral worldview.”

Nassim Haramein’s Resonance Academy and Hawaii Resonance Science Foundation program on an expedition to Egypt, 2018

“Unified Field Theory shows that we can control the gravitational field. It offers a more diverse and safer potential for transport within the Earth’s environment, and later, interstellar travel can become a relevant possibility. Our current society is based on our ability to control magnetic and electromagnetic fields. The next stage in our evolution is the ability to control gravitational fields. It should be noted that this is not a new technology, but an ancient technology that has archaeological evidence all over the world.”

“Vacuum resonance at the quantum level has a very short wavelength, which creates very high energy within an extremely tiny space. If we manage to connect to this energy source, if we manage to draw even a tenth of a percent of the energy that exists in a Planck unit, a unit of space, we will have enough energy to operate the entire world for thousands of years.

“According to my theory, this is the energy source of everything we see in observable reality; of all matter, mass, and the physical forces known to us. Creating devices that can synchronize with vacuum energy could be the key to human survival.”

Source of Consciousness

“The unified field is a resonance field at the quantum level,” explains Haramein. “It is the source of matter, mass, and gravity, but also the source of consciousness. The dynamics of the electromagnetic field and the gravitational field create an infinite feedback loop—the outgoing feedback is the electromagnetic field radiating outward, and the feedback returning is the gravitational field returning inward.

“One can imagine this compressed information field, where every Planck unit is a compressed spark of information, like a highly compressed hard drive. The information is fluid-like and floats in space, similar to water composed of molecules that float together. When this plasma field floats outward, it is called an ‘electromagnetic field,’ and when it floats inward, it is called a ‘gravitational field.’ One can learn to blend these lenses—to use an electromagnetic field to create a gravitational field and vice versa. This is a valid proposal for experimental physics if one understands these dynamics and basic principles.”

The dynamics of vacuum resonance, the torus model connected to it, and the spin principle are among the most fascinating topics in the field. It is an intuitive, scientific, and rational subject.

“True. I believe that what we call ‘spiritual’ is the physics that has not yet been understood by us, and therefore I started writing papers in biophysics, for example, a paper I published last year containing a new model for defining consciousness.”

From Walter Russell’s sketches

Your paper The Source of Spin helped me understand the dynamics of torsion force, which spins in an infinite spin within a fractal field.

“True. In the fractal field, infinite dimensions, scales, and densities exist between the micro and the macro. The relationship between expansion and contraction is between the electromagnetic field and the gravitational field. When we observe matter, we are observing the structure of the quantum vacuum, which exists at extremely high resonance and frequency.”

“Many ask, ‘Why can I not feel or see this field?’ We must understand that this high resonance is billions of times smaller than subatomic particles; therefore, it is a quantum activity of which we have no direct experience, but the structure of consciousness is likely made of it, as is all the matter around us. Much like a fish swimming in water, unaware of its existence, we too are ‘swimming’ in a fluid-like plasma field and do not notice its existence. Where can this lead us? To understand the universe as a hard drive, as a system of infinite active memory.”

Results in the Field

Haramein adds, regarding the Law of Attraction, which he calls “vacuum engineering,” that “when we recognize that we are in an intelligent field that interacts with us and creates our reality, and that what we feed into the field returns in the feedback system, we begin to be careful to feed into the field what we want and dream to happen, and not imagine what we do not want to happen. This is how we begin to receive results that are consistent with what we experience as beneficial and positive for ourselves and for all of humanity. Anyone who understands this can exert more influence on the morphogenetic field and become a leader and an agent of change for others.”

As someone who believes in education, how do you think it is possible to turn complex ideas, such as torus dynamics, torsion force, and resonance, into simple devices that will demonstrate this to children and young people? This will help the younger generation offer radical ideas for humanity’s development and its salvation.

“Everyone can be an undiscovered Einstein, but the current global education system deeply suppresses the creativity and original thinking of children and youth. Their intelligence is underestimated, and they are forced into many hours of study of subjects that do not contribute to them. This is a very harmful process that distances them from learning what really excites them.”

“This is the reason I founded the Resonance Academy and the Envoys Program—to offer an alternative to the existing education system and create a new narrative. To give space for a different history of science and the history of humanity as a whole, and of course, to offer a new holistic science that we are in the process of developing.”

“We are also working on collaborations with educational foundations to distribute the study material. This way, more and more people will be able to understand the paradigm shift in our world and contribute to the change personally.”

End of Part 1 (See continuation: The Field Child 2)

Yasmine Bergner is a multidisciplinary artist, spiritual companion through tattooing, and researcher.

Nassim Haramein is a scientist, physicist, and sacred geometry researcher.

The article was originally published in Hayim Aherim (Other Lives) magazine, 2018.

הפוסט The Field Child | Interview with Nassim Haramein #1 | Interviewer: Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

Tattoos in 21st Century Israel – A Late Blooming

Expert from “Tattoos – The Human Body as a work of Art” Exhibition book

Curator & researcher: Yasmine Bergner

In recent years, we have been witnessing an exciting process of tattoo revival in our region, albeit belatedly. Why is the tattoo renaissance arriving in Israel with a delay of about two decades relative to the U.S., Europe, and the rest of the world? Friedman (2015) notes that the tattoo revival trends observed in other parts of the world, such as the Pacific Islands, have not yet penetrated Africa and the Middle East. Nevertheless, the globalization process has left its mark on Africa and the Middle East, and a tattoo art form rich in styles and influences imported from both East and West is flourishing. Tattoo art is thriving primarily in major urban areas, particularly in North Africa and Israel. The artistic influences of tattoo artists in our region are not indigenous, but global [1]. An underground tattoo scene is also sprouting around us. In Cairo, several tattoo studios operate through a combination of local tattooists and traveling artists from around the world, and in 2015, the first tattoo convention in Cairo was held. A local and international tattoo scene is also beginning to flourish in Lebanon, Jordan, and Dubai.

Vintage tattoo books, courtesy of David Mosko, the Tattooed Sailor

Until the late 1970s, the art of tattooing in Israel suffered from a negative image for several reasons:

Stigma and Prejudices: Most tattoos seen on Israeli streets until the early 80s were done amateurishly and were associated with crime, lack of education, and fringe culture [2]. The tattoo phenomenon was small in scale, and it was rare to see tattooed people in public spaces.

The Jewish Prohibition: The prevailing approach among the public is that Judaism categorically opposes tattoos. Until recently, this argument was a heavy element that led to a cultural attitude viewing tattoos as a “taboo.” Today, new studies and interpretations are entering the public discourse, acknowledging the possibility of the existence of an ancient Jewish tattoo culture (see the articles of Meir Bar-Ilan).

The Holocaust: The marking of millions of Jews in the Holocaust made the act of being tattooed itself abhorrent and impossible for many Israelis, especially those of the first and second generations of the Holocaust. In the collective memory, the act of tattooing was identified directly with coercion, slavery, and the dehumanization of masses of people for the purposes of a murderous and inhumane regime, rather than as an art form with beauty and meaning [3].

Tight Social Control over the Individual: Until the 1980s, the model of parental authority, the education system, and the military in Israel held significant weight within the intimate and familial sphere of the State of Israel. “The sanction for deviating from the collective standard, and especially for highlighting the self, was harsh and painful until the 1970s, deterring many young people from rebelling against Zionist conventions […] Proletarian and resource-poor Israel of the first two decades rejected expressions of aesthetic refinement and glorified a modest, ascetic, and frugal lifestyle, which found its expression, among other things, in the avoidance of external ostentation.”[4]

Undeveloped Nautical Tradition: “Israelis are not known for having produced adventurous explorers or tough admirals. The Israeli Navy has always been a tiny force within the IDF, and the merchant fleet was quite small and employed quite a few foreign crew members.”[5] In this context, it is interesting that the first Israeli tattooist, David Mosko, was a sailor by profession and drew his inspiration from global tattoo culture during his travels at sea.

A lack of information and professional literature in Hebrew on the subject of tattoo anthropology and history led to a fixation on this perception in Israel for many long years.

Images courtesy of David Moskovich (Mosko) the Tattooed Sailor

The first (unofficial) tattoo anthropologist in Israel

Tattoo Culture as a Mirror of the Israeli Existential Condition

Every society encourages a certain body and suppresses another. The meaning given to the body is also determined by society. One can call the body that society encourages to create the “Chosen Body.” We will deal with the Chosen Body in Israeli society. The supervision of society’s boundaries follows us from Jewish tradition and religion.

Art scholar Gideon Ofrat notes a stunning fact: the word “guf” (body) does not appear at all in the Bible and appears for the first time in our sources in the Talmud (in Arabic: jifa). In contrast, the word “body” returns 92 times in the New Testament, usually referring to the body of Jesus. The Bible only knows the word “gufah,” in the meaning of a corpse: “And they carried the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons” (1 Chronicles 10:12). In the Hebrew language, the word “guf” signifies the essence of a matter: “to the body of the matter” (to the point). The “I” (self) is identified in Hebrew with a body: “first person” (first body), “second person” (second body), etc. “However, there is no connection whatsoever between all these ‘bodies’ and the body of flesh-and-blood-impulse. The body of Hebrew is devoid of Eros.”[6]

Throughout history, Jews have identified themselves as persecuted by external factors. Judaism has strict laws for preserving the body—laws of kashrut, purity, and more. Halakhic laws are clear regarding the shape of the Jewish body (circumcised, whole for burial), and they distinguish between the Jew and the stranger. The figure of the pioneer (Halutz) and the Sabra constitute the ethos of the Israeli figure, to which Arabs do not belong. Israeli society exists in a state of constant war and a state of fluid national borders that create a constant threat to its “gufah” (corpse/body), whether the feeling is real or constructed by the body politic. Pegis argues for the “existence of a hierarchy of bodies in Israeli society, at the head of which stands the ‘Chosen Body.’ This body is a Jewish, masculine, Ashkenazi, healthy, whole, and perfect body. The design of this body began with the Zionist revolution, which was also a physical revolution—a people of the spirit becoming a people of the earth—and continues to this day”[7].

Courtesy of David Moskovich [Mosko], from the exhibition:

Tattoos – The Human Body as a Work of Art, Curator: Yasmine Bergner

It seems that youth in Israel live in a multi-faceted and changing existential state. The IDF is the most powerful agent of the body politic. In it, priority is given to a strong and flawless body. The family and Israeli society cooperate unconsciously with the “prestige” of the body politic. We are witnessing the modification and commodification of the body. The body of the combat soldier becomes the body politic and the Chosen Body. The personal goal and the social goal unite. The body politic through the IDF, which also engages in educational functions, creates docile bodies (Michel Foucault). The Institute of Forensic Medicine reflects the body politic. At this station in the life cycle of the body, there is complete control of the body politic over the individual body, expressed in the circumcision of uncircumcised Jews and (in the past) the removal of tattoos.

“Israeli society is a collective society with clear boundaries and a hierarchy of body, at the head of which stands the perfect combat soldier’s body. In Israeli society, there is a direct link between ideology and politics to body images. Israeli society is special in that although it is a complex society, it is still collective, and the transition to the individualism common in Western societies is unclear and not unequivocal […] The article constitutes a strong subversive call against the perceptions taken for granted in Israeli society” [8].

The complex patterns of Israeli youth can only be understood through the prism of the Israeli existential situation and its implications for the younger generation. Israeli society is very family-oriented. Familiality is a supreme value in Israeli culture, formulated primarily as mutual dependence and intimacy between family members, support, shared destiny, and agreement with family values [9] (Rappaport et al. 1995 in Jacobson and Luzzatto).

Some say that Israeli youth do not develop patterns of protest because of the individual’s immense identification with the ideology of the collective. This helps explain why Israeli youth (almost) did not develop counter-cultures, and especially today we are witnessing the emergence of social protests that are in the stage of a “revolution that has not yet been completed.” One of the prominent characteristics of Israeli youth is its centrality. Youth are considered a security asset to the state. While young people are in the transition stages between childhood and adulthood, they are expected to be future soldiers, and most boys are expected to be combat soldiers. For this reason, youth receive a lot of respect and consideration even at very young ages and are given a platform to express themselves on certain issues. Youth in Israel are aware of the possibility of death on a daily basis—whether their own death or that of their friends or relatives. It was found that awareness of death among Israeli children develops at an earlier age compared to other Western countries [10].

Courtesy of Dan Belilty and Malkiela Ben Shabat

From the exhibition “Representations of Tattoos in Contemporary Art”

Ben-Gurion University, Curators: Yasmine Bergner and Haim Maor

The flourishing of tattoo culture in Israel in recent decades

registers several important aspects:

Mass culture and a decrease in social control: Tattoo culture in the 1980s is characterized by symbols and codes that characterize a young subculture, as part of a popular culture and not as a protest or expression of a private position. Since MTV first launched in 1982, music stars have become a leading authority in various fields of fashion. The MTV style influenced popular media culture as a whole, which absorbs and mixes everything and turns alternative cultural forms like hip-hop and grunge into leading alternative fashion and advertising.

These processes bring about a gradual decrease in social control; the margins are approaching the center, and the boundaries of social tolerance are being constantly expanded. The young culture generation of the 1990s and 2000s differs from its predecessor in that it lives in a better economic situation than the generation of the 1960s and 1970s, and indeed, the increasing consumer culture encourages self-cultivation, engagement with appearance and fashion. But to understand the phenomenon deeply, it is worth recognizing the psychological, mental, and spiritual aspects of cultivating the “self” as an empowering means of expression for personal definition. In every cultural trend, there is a fluctuation between fashionability and fleeting superficiality and significant, long-term conscious development.

The tattoo as a strategy of reclaiming ownership over the self that was enslaved by post-modernist capitalist dictates: Decorating the body with tattoos symbolically expresses the yearning to take back the control that was expropriated from the individual within the framework of capitalist culture and within the educational frameworks of children and youth (schools and boarding schools, the army, and youth detention mechanisms). Military service is by its very definition total and oppressive, and a high degree of control over the individual is exercised within it.

In this context, the tattoo can become part of the process of reclaiming ownership of the self, when young people are intensely immersed in these institutions and situations in which they experience an undermining of personal freedom and self-identity (Benson 2000, Douglas 1970, Kingwell 1996, in Jacobson and Luzzatto) [11]. These situations create fluctuations between conformity and protest: sometimes this protest is directed against the establishment exerting pressure, but it is mostly directed against an oppressive existential situation that is considered inevitable and difficult to endure because of the forced uniformity within it.

Decorating the body as a means of social protest against the establishment or the previous generation: Tattoos as expressing a position or identification with aspects of oppression and enslavement in society. The use of a tattoo can constitute an expression of a position directed toward adults, and its central meaning is taking responsibility. The permanence of the tattoo as an irreversible act. In the context of intergenerational discourse, tattoos can express protest against the world and the values of the previous generation; they express negotiation and bargaining regarding the boundaries of their self-expression within the boundaries of conformity with the parent figure. Parents participate in the negotiation, and sometimes even support the tattoo.

Some even get tattooed themselves. This is consistent with the centrality of the family, which is one of the ultimate values of Israeli society, which is strengthened even more when the country is in a state of war. This discourse not only involves the degree of legitimate parental control over the symbolic freedom of choice of young people but may also serve as a bridge between the different existential situations of the generations. The language of tattoos and piercing is multi-faceted. Different symbolic meanings are emphasized according to the context and express a fluctuation between conformity on one hand, and individualism or protest on the other [12].

In Israel, it is reported that the demographic curve is leveling out over time, meaning the tattoo is gradually becoming a fashion that crosses age and class strata. The socio-economic status of those getting tattooed is becoming increasingly diverse. If in the past (until the 1970s) the vast majority were men from the less-educated stratum and the lower class, since the 1980s, the socio-economic status of tattoo culture has been steadily rising and includes the middle and upper class—among them a variety of people in liberal professions [13]. This process parallels the demographic changes in the U.S.

Tattoo researcher Margot DeMello [14] notes that tattoo culture in the U.S. is undergoing a gradual process of sociological and demographic change. From the beginning of the last century, tattoos were associated with fringe people, sailors, prostitution, and delinquency—that is, the lower class. From the 80s onwards, tattoos are observed among the middle class, and from the 90s onwards, tattoos are also associated with members of the upper class.

In the photo: My beloved tattoo clients: Shani, Oren, and Dave, Kinneret, 2022

The extensive backpacker culture and Israeli tourism in the world find themselves influenced by indigenous iconographies and tattoo cultures in the distant places they visit and even get tattooed in. From the beginning of the 2000s until today, tattoo culture is no longer just “young culture” but is also present among older people aged 40-50 and up.

The first decade of the 2000s was very fruitful in the field of tattoo culture in Israel. In 2002, the first museum exhibition in Israel on the subject of tattoos was presented, “Line on Body” at the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem (curator Renna Sivan). The exhibition displayed collectibles borrowed from the Dutch tattooist, collector, and tattoo researcher Henk Schiffmacher, who tattooed well-known musicians like Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and more. Schiffmacher established the Tattoo Museum in Amsterdam, which displays tattoo tools from around the world, as well as tattoo machines designed by the Israeli Tattooed Sailor, Mosko David, tattoo posters, stamps, historical photographs, and special objects.

Since then, additional exhibitions have been held in Israel on the subject of tattoo culture and art [15], and articles have explored the connection between art, culture, and tattoos [16]. Public discourse around tattoo culture has intensified drastically. Intimate blog writing like that of “Tabula Rasa” [17] (since 2010) documents the tattoo culture in Israel and the world in photography and text. The sensitive writing describes with empathy and curiosity full of respect its tattooed subjects:

“The human body fascinates me. The body in motion, the body disguised, the body naked, the body wounded. Through tattoos, I encounter every time this fetishistic idea of the body as a text. Perhaps the first time (but not really) that I encountered this idea was when I watched Peter Greenaway’s film ‘The Pillow Book,’ which describes the story of a woman who was painted on ceremonially from her childhood. The girl grows up to be a writer who wants to publish her books, but the dubious publisher rejects her books again and again. And then, she gets an idea: she will seduce him with young and beautiful men, who are favorites of his, and on their bodies, she will write her books. As she continues the project, the content of the books appears on the body as a form. The Book of Secrets is written in the hidden corners of the body. The Book of Silence is written on the mute tongue. The meaning becomes more mysterious, more coded.”

Since 2013, annual tattoo conventions have been held in Tel Aviv, in which dozens of tattooists from Israel and abroad participate, and thousands of tattooed and curious people visit.

Gender Changes

Gender differences in tattoo selection in Israel during the 1970s to 2000 are consistent with findings of studies showing that body cultivation is emphasized more in women, who are subjected to tighter social control regarding their external appearance (Silverstein et al. 1986, Stein and Nemeroff 1995, Udry and Eckland 1984, in Jacobson and Luzzatto) [18]. In their study from the beginning of the 2000s, they find prominent differences between women and men. Young women (of all ages) tend to attribute a symbolic meaning to their choice that connects to relationships and positive emotions like friendship, gentleness, love, and the search for beauty.

Furthermore, feminine choices versus masculine ones are consistent with gender construction in Israeli society, where women are educated to be dependent on emotional relationships, to demonstrate refined behavior, and to avoid aggression, while men are expected to demonstrate assertiveness and aggression and to be warriors. This limited freedom symbolizes the situation of women in society. In contrast, men tend to prefer larger tattoos (birds of prey and wild animals) (symbolizing control and physical strength), among other things, to prove masculinity, courage, and the ability to withstand physical pain. Sometimes male sexuality is expressed by decorating the body in erogenous areas.

Until the beginning of the 2000s, tattoos in Israel were done mainly by men. Until a decade ago, the number of professional female tattooists in Israel was very small, but today, Israeli tattoo culture is undergoing significant transformations in this area. There are already several dozen professional female tattooists. Numerically, the situation is still far from being equivalent to men, but it is becoming balanced. As mentioned, it seems that the choice of a tattoo among young Israelis at the beginning of the 2000s is related to the Israeli existential gender situation, which causes a high degree of conformity among members of the same sex and highlights the difference between the genders.

At very young ages (13-14) there is less difference between the genders, because boys and girls tend to choose cartoon characters. Prominent differences are registered at ages 15-17 when boys choose more powerful motifs (monsters or wild animals); it seems that military service reinforces gender differences even more. Today, such gender differences are becoming balanced, in the world and also in Israel. The tattoo is taking up a wider part of the skin of those getting tattooed, and the styles are already unisex in their essence, although not always.

Revital and Gil

Fleeting Fashion or Significant Cultural Development?

Contemporary Israeli tattoo culture is a mixture of cross-cultural influences. It is difficult to point to homogeneous lines for the figure of the average Israeli tattooee, and this is probably a combination of personal preferences and social influences. Global tattoo culture is seeping rapidly into Israeli society more than ever. Tattoo subjects in Israel are influenced mainly by tattoo cultures imported from around the world. The borrowing and artistic and value-based inspiration they provide become significant and layered and establish themselves more and more within the local culture. Tattoo art in Israel is also developing as a profession. More and more, it is possible to find tattooists who specialize in a specific style with great virtuosity.

Following the discussion on the subject of the “Chosen Body” in Israeli culture, the body as an object operated, designed, and tamed by power mechanisms. In this context, tattoo subjects who turn their bodies into an extensive and multi-year tattoo project represent a reverse process that strives to free the individual from the patterns of the “docile body.” The body that was subdued and exploited by the dictates of social, religious, political, and capitalist power mechanisms—reinvents itself and frees itself.

Methods of discipline existed for a long time (in monasteries, armies, detention facilities, hospitals, and workshops) and gradually became of a militaristic disciplinary nature that reached its peak in post-modern factories. In the 17th and 18th centuries, general formulas of rule were made that led to the construction of deep patterns of obedience and efficiency, which are at the heart of capitalist culture. “The historical moment of disciplines is that in which an art of the human body is born, which is directed not only to the growth of its skills and no longer to the burden of its enslavement, but to the creation of a relationship that in the same mechanism itself makes it more obedient the more useful it is and vice versa. Then a politics of coercions is consolidated that are work on the body, a calculated operation of its elements, of its gestures, of its behaviors. The human body enters into an array of power mechanisms that digs into it, disassembles it, and reassembles it, a ‘political anatomy'” [19].

Contemporary sociological studies show that the body is returning to the forefront of the social sciences. Since the late 70s, the study of the body has been enriched with a collection of cultural, relational, and political approaches. Issues related to the body have risen to the top of the social research agenda. Weiss [20] notes that the study of the body as a social phenomenon has undergone several changes that can be examined on a continuum moving from the physical body, through the social body, to the body politic. The social body, its origin is in the anthropology of Mary Douglas, and it is defined as the way we use the body as a symbol, as a concept through which we understand society, nature, and culture. The body as a site of self-definition and social definition, a mirror reflecting the relationship between the individual and themselves and between themselves and the society in which they live. In this context, the language of tattoos and carrying symbols on the body forever function as social networks that communicate with each other [21].

“Our perception of the body, and how it should be and look, is influenced by social control. Social control over the body exists in all human societies. In simple societies, it is direct and open control, disobedience to which leads to punishment by the community. Also in modern society, there is control over the body [22], but in an indirect and more disguised way, so that the individual is most of the time under the illusion as if he or she are supervising themselves and of their own free will over their body and determining their external appearance. But in fact, also in modern society, there exist and operate various and diverse control mechanisms over the body, according to the dictate of society and culture, class, and fashion” [23].

Effi and Liel

The body is always in the process of becoming. Or as musician Ani DiFranco says, “We are a work in progress.” This is a way to express the gap between the personal body and the social body and the process of integration between them. In the post-modern era, the body is an “unfinished project,” we are “working on the body,” and this work never ends. The body is characterized by a constant lack, and in an attempt to fill this lack, the individual can approach the ideal of the whole body. People who have chosen to cover their bodies with tattoos use this tool to approach their private ideal externally and internally.

The tattooed body is a performance, a statement that we wish to etch into our consciousness and into the consciousness of the observer. The symbol tattooed on your body gives it a public status and therefore again political. The tattoo is both an internal essence and an action in time and space. In my opinion, the main goal of tattoo subjects around the world and in Israel today is ultimately mainly empowerment and personal and social expression.

Summary

In summary, it seems that in Israel 2016 (when this article was written) tattoo art has captured our hearts and is here to stay. The idea of a tattoo as a symbol of individuation and personal expression, as a rite of passage and personal initiation, is gradually seeping into consciousness. Many Israelis say that every tattoo marks significant periods in life; many relate to the tattoo as a kind of amulet. They develop long-term relationships with their body. They change and design it gradually until it becomes a “Chosen Body” of a new, more authentic type. The tattooed body as a personal body diary, reminding us where we came from and where we are going, is experienced more and more in the Israeli public as a deep internal and spiritual process. “There is something empowering in physical pain, in the knowledge that you choose it and that it is not necessarily a negative thing, but a part of life. The tattoo has the ability to produce a creation from the pain. The tattoos connect me to this place in me and to the internal forces that I have. It’s like wearing my beliefs on my body” [24].

“A tattoo does not cross the skin barrier and yet it has a special ability to connect body and soul, between one person and another, and between the individual and the culture in which they exist. If in the past tattoos were considered an expression of rebelliousness and non-conformism, today they represent more than anything our freedom of choice. Tattoos are an illustration of our ability to change and be changed. Through them, a person can take ownership of their body and turn it into a temple, a canvas, or a private billboard” [25].

Bibliography:

[1] Anna Felicity Friedman, World Atlas of Tattoo, Yale Univ. press, 2015
[2] David Mosko, “World of Tattoos, Secrets from the Forbidden Art,” self-published, 1980
[3] Yasmine Bergner “Bodily Ownership of the Symbol,” article, Erev Rav, online magazine for culture and art 2013.
[4] Oz Almog, Tattoos in Secular Society in Israel, article. Anashim-Israel-The Guide to Israeli Society, Samuel Neaman Institute, National Policy Institute, p. 12 2008
[5] Ibid p. 12
[6] “The Body is Political,” Hadas Ofrat, Gideon Ofrat, Dror Harari, Uri Drummer, Journal: Dance Now, Issue 13, December 2005, pp. 32-34
[7] “Anthropology of the Body – Analysis of the Chosen Body Thesis,” article, Michal Pegis
[8] Ibid p. 7
[9] Diana Luzzatto, Yehuda Jacobson, Israeli youth body adornments- Between protest & conformity, Young- Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 2004
[10] Ibid p. 157
[11] Ibid p. 157
[12] Ibid p. 160
[13] Oz Almog, Tattoos in Secular Society in Israel, article. Anashim-Israel-The Guide to Israeli Society, Samuel Neaman Institute, National Policy Institute, 2008
[14] Bodies of Inscription- A cultural history of the modern tattoo community, Duke University Press, Durham & London 2000
[15] (“Ancestors,” Benjamin Gallery, Tel Aviv, July 2013, Curators: Yasmine Bergner and “Tattoos- Representations of Tattoos in Contemporary Art,” Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Curators: Yasmine Bergner and Prof. Haim Maor, October 2013.)
[16] Yasmine Bergner Archive, Erev-Rav, online magazine for culture and art, 2012-2014
[17] http://tabularasa.haoneg.com/page/2
[18] Diana Luzzatto, Yehuda Jacobson, Israeli youth body adornments- Between protest & conformity, Young- Nordic Journal of Youth Research, 2004
[19] “Discipline and Punish,” Michel Foucault, Resling, 2015, from French: Daniela Yoel p. 172
[20] Weiss, Meira (2002) The Chosen Body. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
[21] Makiko Kuwahara, Tattoo- An anthropology, Berg, Oxford International Publishers LTD, 2005
[22] “Discipline and Punish,” Michel Foucault, Resling, from French: Daniela Yoel 2015
[23] Weiss, Meira (2002) The Chosen Body. Stanford: Stanford University Press. P. 1
[24] “Tattoos of Our Character,” article, “Hayim Aherim” magazine, Oriana Shapi, 2016 (p. 40)
[25] Ibid, p. 43

Research and writing: Yasmine Bergner

Artist, tattooer, art therapist & culture researcher

הפוסט The History of Tattoo Culture in Israel | By Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

Opening Image: Tattooed slaves on a wall in the Temple of Seti I, Egypt, relief. Drawing: Yasmine Bergner

From the exhibition book “Tattoos – The Human Body as a Work of Art,”

research and curation: Yasmine Bergner, Eretz Israel Museum (MUZA), 2016–2017

The practice of body adornment may date back as far as 100,000 years ago, or even earlier. Shells and bone tools discovered in [1] Blombos Cave (today in the region of South Africa) were found containing remnants of pigment made from red ochre. Archaeologists believe the cave served as a workshop for preparing pigments. This likely represents evidence of technology, artistic production, symbolic thinking, and language during the Middle Stone Age.

It is very possible that the ochre was used for body painting and that the shells functioned as tattooing tools [2]. In the Kid Cave [3] (Es-Skhul Cave) on the Carmel coast and in Qafzeh Cave in the Galilee, caves of a similar character were discovered and attributed to the Mousterian hunter-gatherer culture, dated to the same period and possibly even earlier. In these caves, Homo sapiens bones were found buried together with animal bones, tools, and shells. Large pieces of ochre were also discovered in this cave, brought from other regions and believed to have been used for body or burial decoration.

Across Africa, extensive practices of scarification and tattooing existed, as well as practices combining both, creating a type of raised tattoo. Colonial interventions during the 20th century led to a significant decline in these traditions. As in other parts of the world, missionary activity and Christian imperialism suppressed traditional indigenous arts.

Traditional tattooing and scarification practices still exist throughout Africa, such as in Ethiopia, Cameroon, Mali, Congo, Benin, Mozambique and more [4]. In various Mesopotamian cultures, clay figurines bearing body paintings made with the common ochre pigment have been discovered. Sometimes the female figures show incisions on the body, which can be interpreted as expressions of body art.

In the exhibition “Tattoos – The Human Body as a Work of Art,” three female figurines (in the photo below, in the middle display case) are presented, likely fascinating remnants of these ancient local cultures. The Yarmukian culture was an important local culture that existed about 8,000 years ago during the Pottery Neolithic period and was probably the first in our region to use ceramics. Among the many fertility figurines discovered at the archaeological site of Sha’ar HaGolan, a clay figurine with body incisions on one of its legs was also found. The chalice symbol (the goddess holding a churn in the middle display case) is also one of the prominent symbols of the ancient Great Goddess cultures that filled the globe between approximately 30,000 and 5,000 years ago.

Photographs: Dr. Lars Krutak, tattoo anthropologist

Display case: Right: Goddess figurine, Yarmukian culture.

Center: Goddess holding a churn (the Megiddo woman),

Left: The Revadim figurine

Courtesy of the Israel Museum, Jerusalem

Special thanks to Dorit Shafir, Chief Curator of the Department of Ancient Cultures

Tattoos – The Human body as a work of art

Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv Curator: Yasmine Bergner 2016-2017

Exhibition View, Photo: Leonid Padrul

A unique figurine type was found in several locations in the Land of Israel. The Revadim figurine depicts a female figure with a tormented expression, her hands placed near her genital area. She is nursing twins who suckle from her breasts, and on her neck appears the symbol of the moon. On her thighs are engraved animals and palm trees. It is believed that this figurine served as a protective amulet for women giving birth (possibly of twins). The animals and palms likely serve as a visual reminder of sacred sexuality, fertility, and domestic harmony.

It is assumed [5] that in the cultures of the ancient Near East, the woman and the tree were intertwined symbols, since both the woman and the tree bear fruit and were therefore objects of reverence and worship as feminine deities. Parchia Beck [6] notes that the placement of the decorations on the thighs resembles tattooing customs common in nearby Neolithic cultures and in ancient Egypt, where thigh tattooing was very common, suggesting that these may indeed represent tattoos.

The special symbols on the figurine – the moon, the goats, the palm trees, the act of breastfeeding, and the vulva – indicate that the figurine most likely belongs to one of the ancient Goddess cultures of our region thousands of years ago and tell the story of a deep connection to the earth and the perception of the planet as a nurturing mother.

Goddess figurine nursing twins, Revadim,

Drawing: Yasmine Bergner after Perchia Beck

In the Middle East and in the Land of Israel, tattoo cultures existed among Muslim communities, particularly among women. Tassi [7] notes that Egyptian women dyed their hands and the area around their mouths with small blue dots, pricking themselves with needles and rubbing charcoal into the wounds. Edward Lane (1860) wrote during his stay in Egypt that women from the lower classes tattooed their faces with blue designs, usually on their chins and foreheads, but also on the backs of their hands, their arms, their feet, and the center of their chest. Dots, circles, and simple lines were common.

Tattoos played a role in defining the individual and maintaining the continuity of social relationships and social units. Blackman [8] (1937) wrote that indigo and charcoal have antiseptic properties that helped prevent infections. Medicinal herbs such as clove or white beet leaves were also used after the tattoo was completed to strengthen the design and reduce swelling of the skin.

Tattoo traditions also existed among Bedouin communities throughout the Middle East, although conservative interpretations of the Qur’an regarding the practice, along with fundamentalist political influences, led to the suppression and significant reduction of tattoo culture among Muslims today in North Africa. In the Islamic Hadith, it is argued that tattooing harms the spiritual integrity before God. It is claimed that tattoos prevent water from penetrating the skin during purification rituals, one of the five fundamental principles of Islam. Nevertheless, tattoo culture survived for centuries within Islamic cultures in North Africa. In Morocco, for example, collections of popular prayers that included quotes from the Prophet Muhammad determined that tattoos between the eyebrows and on the cheeks were “traditional” and therefore legitimate.

Drawing: Yasmine Bergner after Thomson

The Byzantine physician Aetius described in the 6th century in his medical work TETRABIBLON the method of performing tattooing and even provided recipes for preparing pigment and methods for removing tattoos, for example in cases of freed slaves who had been tattooed on their faces [9]. Levy [10] writes that during the spread of early Christianity into the Mediterranean basin, it began a missionary process among ancient pagan communities who practiced tattooing. This created an ambivalent attitude toward tattooing in Christianity. In the 8th century, Christian monks in Egypt began tattooing symbols belonging to the Coptic tattoo tradition on their bodies. The inspiration for this practice may have come from their neighbors, the Ethiopian Copts, who tattooed their faces and arms. He mentions the earliest documentation of a Jerusalem Cross tattoo on the arm of a European pilgrim, the German knight Alexander von Peppenheim, during his journey to the Holy Land in 1653–4. A Jaffa Arab tattooed a small cross on him for which he paid one medin. Those who usually performed pilgrim tattoos were translators (known as dragomans). This profession fulfilled the need for translation in a region rich in intercultural encounters like the Middle East. They became permanent residents in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, served as guides for pilgrims, and tattooed pilgrimage tattoos, especially during Easter.

By the 17th century, the reputation of the Jerusalem tattoo had already spread far and wide and was documented in travel literature about the Holy Land. In the 18th century historical documentation on tattooing decreased, but in the second half of the 19th century sources again multiplied describing the custom of pilgrimage tattoos, as missionaries, pilgrims, and curious travelers noticed the phenomenon gaining renewed popularity during their visits to Jerusalem. The French traveler Charem recounted in 1880 that he was tattooed with the symbol of the Jerusalem Cross in the Old City by Francis Souben. In Souben’s shop he found about 200 framed recommendations, including one stating: “This is to certify that Francis Souben tattooed the Jerusalem Cross on the arm of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales” (son of Queen Victoria and later King Edward VII). The Jerusalem Cross also adorned the arm of the Duke of York, later George V, as well as the Prussian Crown Prince Frederick (later Emperor Frederick III) in 1869 [11].

John Carswell visited Israel in 1956 and wrote a book on the Coptic tattoo [12] after visiting the tattoo studio of the long-established Razzouk family, who have been tattooing pilgrimage tattoos in the Old City since the 17th century. These tattoos expressed religious devotion and also served as a symbol of religious belonging, and probably symbolized identification with the stigmata wounds of Jesus. The pilgrimage tattoo is a phenomenon unique to the Land of Israel and is created using a unique technique in which the tattoo is transferred to the skin using beautifully carved wooden stamps featuring complex Christian iconography. The preserved printing blocks allow us to understand the meaning of the symbols and their frequency among pilgrim tattoo bearers. The invention of the modern electric tattoo machine replaced the manual hand-poking technique, but the use of the ancient tattoo patterns has been preserved.

Wooden tattoo stamp images: Courtesy of Wassim Razzouk

An unusual pattern in Carswell’s catalog (52a) presents the Hebrew inscription “Jerusalem”. Part of the Temple Mount plaza can be seen, and in the foreground the location of the Western Wall is hinted at. Mordechai Levy believes that the presence of this pattern among Coptic tattooists suggests that Jews may also have desired tattoos. He finds support for this hypothesis in the memoirs of the English tattooist George Burchett, who deserted the British Navy in his youth while his ship was anchored in Jaffa. When he arrived in Jerusalem, probably in the early 1890s, he opened a small tattoo stand near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Burchett recounts that “The Holy City has been the center of tattooing for fifty years. Tattooists from among the Greeks, Maronites, Syrians, French, Jews and Italians worked there. The tattooists in Jerusalem were fully occupied tattooing pilgrims and tourists.” [13]

A pattern bearing the inscription “Jerusalem”

From: John Carswell, Coptic Tattoo Designs, Beirut:

American University of Beirut, 1958

The practice continues to this day among Kurdish communities in northern Iraq and southern Turkey, and its origins are likely connected to Balkan tattoo traditions. In Iraq, until around 1930, both men and women were tattooed with protective and healing tattoos, as well as tattoos intended to enhance beauty. Women were most often the tattooers, and the ink was prepared by mixing soot and breast milk. The designs were simple and geometric, and were applied to all parts of the body [14].

In Iraq, female mullahs would conduct joint rituals of prayer and tattooing. The mullah would sit with the tattooer, reciting verses from the Qur’an, transforming the domestic space of the person being tattooed into a sacred space. From this perspective, the tattoo ritual appears as a rhythmic weaving of physical and spiritual patterns, connecting the women – guardians of tradition – with a sacred dimension (El tmk, according to Krutak; Guindi, 1999, p. 86).

Tattoos in Morocco, 1920. Drawing by Yasmine Bergner, after Haber.
From The Tattooing Arts of Tribal Women by Lars Krutak

This intimate space, created through the sacred words of the Qur’an and the baraka (blessing) embodied in the tattooist’s professional practice – through her intricate designs and healing pigments -generated an unforgettable collective experience. It became sacred for all those present through the rhythmic repetition of prayer and tattooing, word and action [15].

Rural Berber (Amazigh) communities in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, as well as nomadic groups such as the Tuareg in Mali, maintained a rich tattooing tradition. This practice was rooted in a unique form of Islamic belief that incorporated elements of atavistic animism, including faith in a supernatural force (baraka) and a soul present at the core of all things.

Today, this custom is fading and is mostly visible among elderly women. In the past, children of both sexes received protective tattoos during childhood, especially if a sibling had died. The practice was primarily associated with women, and the tattoos often functioned as protective amulets against evil spirits, as well as symbols of beauty and fertility, and sometimes as preparation for marriage. However, in some of these communities, men were also tattooed [16].

From the exhibition book:

Tattoos – The Human Body as a work of Art

Curator & researcher: Yasmine Bergner

Bibliography:

[1] Blombos Cave, South Africa
[2] Anna Felicity Friedman, World Atlas of Tattoo, Yale University Press, 2015
[3] Bar-Yosef Mayer, Daniella E.; Vandermeersch, Bernard; & Bar-Yosef, Ofer (2009). “Shells and Ochre in Middle Paleolithic Skhul and Qafzeh, Israel: Indications for Modern Behavior.” Journal of Human Evolution, 56, 307–314.
[4] ] Anna Felicity Friedman, The World Atlas of Tattoo, Yale University Press, 2015
[5] Irit Ziffer, “Western Asiatic Tree Goddesses,” Egypt and the Levant, Vol. 20, 2010, pp. 411–430, Austrian Academy of Sciences Press

[6] Pirhiya Beck, “A New Type of Female Figurine,” in Imagery & Representation – Studies in the Art & Iconography of Ancient Palestine: Collected Articles. Authors: Pirhiya Beck, Nadav Na’aman, Zevulun Uza, Irit Ziffer, Tel Aviv University, 2002
[7] Geoffrey J. Tassie, “Identifying the Practice of Tattooing in Ancient Egypt and Nubia,” Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, Vol. 14 (2003), p. 86, UCL Institute of Archaeology

[8] Blackman, Winifred S., The Fellahin of Upper Egypt, London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd, 1927
[9] Mordechai Levy, “On the History of Jerusalem Tattooing among European Pilgrims,” Cathedra 95 (Nisan 5760), pp. 37–66, p. 48
[10] Ibid., p. 39
[11] Ibid., pp. 42–45
[12] John Carswell, Coptic Tattoo Designs, Beirut: American University of Beirut, 1958

[13] Burchett, p. 52, cited in Mordechai Levy, “On the History of Jerusalem Tattooing among European Pilgrims,” Cathedra 95, pp. 37–66, p. 66
[14] The World Atlas of Tattoo, p. 216
[15] Lars Krutak, The Tattooing Arts of Tribal Women, Bennett & Bloom / Desert Heart, 2002–2007, p. 39
[16] Ibid., p. 25

Opening image: Tattooed slaves depicted on a wall in the Temple of Seti I, Egypt (relief). Drawing by Yasmine Bergner.

Yasmine Bergner is a multidisciplinary artist, tattooer, therapist and researcher of tattoo culture.

הפוסט Body Modification and Tattoos in Africa and the Middle East | By Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

What’s Going on With Men? The Mother Wound as the Missing Link in Understanding Misogyny – Bethany Webster – translated by Yasmine Bergner

As a globally recognized expert on the mother wound in women, I am often asked to speak about the mother wound in men. At this critical time of exposure of sexual assaults, I wanted to write an article that explores how the mother wound is the missing link in understanding the phenomenon of misogyny. In this article, I examine how boys develop in the modern world, analyze the unprocessed rage lurking beneath the surface in men’s lives, the role of privilege, and the internal work that men and women can do to change the situation.

The Oxford Dictionary defines misogyny as: “dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.”

In order to understand misogyny, we must explore the first-ever relationship a man had with a woman: with his mother.

For both girls and boys, the relationship with our mothers is one of the most significant relationships we will experience in our lives. The fundamental importance of this relationship and the way it affects our well-being into adulthood cannot be overstated.

In the weeks and months of our early life, the mother is nourishment, the world, the body, and the self. For both women and men, the mother wound is a product of patriarchy, a product of living in a society based on control over women.

“The mother-child relationship, blurred as the first relationship harmed by patriarchy.” – Adrienne Rich

On a personal level, the mother wound is a system of internalized limiting patterns and beliefs – arising from the relationship with the mother. The mother wound exists on a spectrum between a healthy, supportive mother-child system and a traumatic, abusive mother-child system. Many complex factors define the uniqueness of how the mother wound manifests personally and where it lies on this spectrum. In men, it largely depends on the specific dynamic between the child and his mother, and on how the father supported or opposed this initial bond.

Patriarchy is a principle of dominance and can be embodied by both men and women. The role of the patriarch in a boy’s life can be expressed through both mother and father. For example, some boys experienced their mothers as neglectful or domineering. Some experienced their mothers as victims of their fathers, while others experienced their mother as the dominant parent and the father as the more passive parent.

“Patriarchy demands that men become and remain emotionally crippled. Because it is a system that prevents full access to free will, it is very difficult for any person from any class to adopt a rebellious approach toward patriarchy, to be disloyal to the patriarchal parent, whether father or mother.” – bell hooks

A boy growing into the modern world today is socialized by his father, other men, and society regarding the meaning of being male. Media culture, education, and patriarchal religion perform the same function. Unfortunately, there is ample evidence that this socialization process includes internalizing control over others, repressing emotions, and devaluing women (see sources at the end of the article). This creates both personal and collective trauma.

Healing personal trauma is central to dismantling patriarchy.

Unlike the modern world, the history of civilization is full of examples of cultures that provide boys with initiation into mature masculinity through periods of physical challenges, helping them symbolically cross a psychological bridge from the relative comfort of childhood to the challenges of adulthood.

These boys are supported by ELDERS (mature men), who provide empowerment and positive connection. In this process, emotional or physical “wounding” occurs that helps the boy connect with his inner powers, self-confidence, and sense of personal responsibility. In today’s modern world, most boys experience this “wounding” without positive transformation. There are very few authentic initiation rites, very few mature men (ELDERS), and very few masculine role models beyond the toxic status quo.

The societal expectation to devalue women, and in this context their mothers, creates cognitive dissonance in the boy regarding the significance of his mother, destructive to his ability to express emotions, allow himself to be vulnerable, express physical affection, and more. In this way, the mother is generally experienced as a “lost source” for the boy. And the father, as the facilitator of the boy’s integration into the world of men, is experienced as severing the bond with the mother, the source.

For white men, privilege plays a critical role. In addition to repressing their emotions and enhancing their dominance, society grants them unfair advantages denied to other groups, including women and minorities. According to American sociologist Prof. Michael Kimmel, privilege is invisible to those who have it. This leaves white men with a triple wound: an impaired ability to process emotions, blindness to the privilege they possess, and a lack of empathy toward those they harm. This triple wound in white men remains relatively unconscious and causes immense suffering in our world.

I encountered a striking quote by Adrienne Rich from 1977 in her essay from the book “On Lies, Secrets, and Silence” (not translated into Hebrew), speaking powerfully about the connection between misogyny and the mother wound in men:

“Much of men’s fear of feminism is the fear that by becoming fully human, women will cease to be mothers for men, to provide nourishment, lullabies, and continuous attention associated with the mother-infant relationship. Much of men’s fear of feminism is actually infantilism – the desire to remain the mother’s baby, to fully dominate a woman for his own needs. These infantile needs of adult men toward women have been treated sentimentally and romantically, too permissively, as ‘love.’ This is the threshold of violence. Because the social, economic, and legal systems heavily favored men, the infantile needs of the grown man were validated by power structures, which did not grant the same validation to the needs of adult women. The institution of marriage and motherhood perpetuates the infantile male needs as law in the adult world.”

What is happening now, thanks to the #MeToo movement, as women share experiences of sexual assault and expose their abusers, is that men’s overall control over women in domestic and workspaces is diminishing. Women increasingly refuse to remain silent objects onto which men project their unprocessed pain and remain unaccountable. Additionally, male witnesses are increasingly unwilling to look the other way.

Sexual assault as hostile power

Sexual assault is not about sex, but about control. Alexandra Kettahakis, a sexual therapist and clinical director at the Center for Healthy Sexuality in Los Angeles, explains: “Men involved in this behavior hold immense rage toward women and often suffered abuse in childhood. For example, their mothers may have been emotionally abusive or failed to protect them from paternal abuse. As these men grow, they project the rage they feel toward women through sexualized behavior. They assign a sexual character to their feelings because they have no other way to act.”

It appears the inner child in men is unconsciously trapped between the painful longing for the “lost source” represented by their mother and social conditioning to hate her as a woman. In other words, men are caught between their natural desire for full humanity (the ability to be emotional, vulnerable, and empathetic) and their desire to maintain privilege and dominance. One cannot be both. Holding onto dominance (patriarchy) gradually erodes your humanity. True humanity means letting go of the desire for control and all the horrific ways it manifests. No amount of privilege (wealth, power, fame, or status) can ever compensate for the destruction patriarchy wreaks on the inner child. Only through internal work can one reclaim this lost inner essence.

A man can find this ‘lost source,’ not in a tangible woman but through inner inquiry, attempting to understand what the mother or feminine represents within himself. For example, the significance of emotional functioning, the world of feeling, the experience of deep connection with oneself, and the sense of authentic belonging with those around him. However, to connect with these essential qualities in the dark, the man must connect with the inner child enraged over the meager gains he received in exchange for abandoning essential aspects of his self.

It is easy to project rage onto a “mother substitute” or “father substitute” somewhere in the world. Male privilege allows a man to remain blind to the mother and father wounds while the world burns.

It takes courage to trace these consequences and process the rage toward the inner patriarch, the archetypal cruel, unfeeling father, who admitted him into the world of men at the heavy cost of disconnecting from his authentic self. The innocent child who entered the world with an innate ability to express empathy, emotion, and vulnerability. The rage belongs to the patriarchal father (personal or collective) who broke the boy’s bond, forcing him into male fraternity at the cost of cutting off an essential part of himself to be accepted as a man. The rage also belongs to the mother who could not protect him from the patriarchal wound or caused it herself. (See my article https://womboflight.com/the-most-insidious-forms-of-patriarchy-pass-through-the-mother). When men direct their rage there, where it truly belongs, things can begin to change.

“Misogyny is the outward-projected rage of the son against the mother who could not protect him.” – Gabor Maté

For both men and women, the core task of healing the mother wound is the same: to separate the symbiotic “mother” membrane from both internal and external life in order to connect with full potential and self-realization.

In his book “Under Saturn’s Shadow,” Jungian analyst and author James Hollis summarizes:

“When we understand that patriarchy is a social invention designed to compensate for helplessness, we realize that men, contrary to popular belief, are actually the more dependent sex. The Marlboro man, the rugged individualist, may find himself attacked by his inner femininity, which he completely denies. Whenever a man is required to be the ‘good boy’ or feels he must be the ‘bad boy’ or ‘wild man,’ he is still compensating for the power of the mother complex.”

I am not saying it is the man’s fault that he is so vulnerable, so dependent, so human. But his responsibility is to recognize how much every child needs positive motherhood and how much this need shapes his psyche and operates beneath the surface. He may pretend to be an empowered man, holding government offices or wallets, but stress fissures penetrate deeply into his relationship with his mother. Men must recognize this and take responsibility, or they will continue to embody these infantile patterns forever.

Healing the mother wound in men involves redirecting rage away from women and processing it directly with its true object—the patriarchy itself—and the specific traumatic events of their childhood.

For men to do this deep inner work, they critically need support from other men who have already undergone significant parts of this inner journey, including professional support from experienced male therapists in this field.

Broadly defined, internal and external work for men includes:

Processing rage toward the parent (father or mother) for parental betrayal that forced them to give up essential parts of themselves to be considered a man, mourning the heavy cost.

Examining life honestly, acknowledging hidden secrets, and taking responsibility for actions.

Finding the lost inner source and reclaiming it. Connecting with the inner child.

Connecting with genuine remorse for how they have harmed others and the planet through unconscious projections of pain, both personally and collectively, and initiating empathetic actions regularly.

Creating community with other conscious men on the path of healing and reconciliation.

Men must commit to long-term internal work and also experience the immediate consequences of their actions here and now.

Sean Wastal explains that sexual assault in the workplace is not due to lack of training or understanding by men, but because men understand too well: that they can avoid punishment. They can rationalize, hide, justify, and no one will hold them accountable. “In other words, until men achieve enough internal integrity to restrain them from sexual assault, real intervention is required in workplaces and relationships to stop toxic behavior. Fundamentally, men require global intervention. Social ‘no’ echoes calling for awakening and recognition of realities they have been blind to until now.”

To support this process, women must say “no” in every possible way to the angry boys inside the men in our lives, whether they are friends, colleagues, brothers, or husbands. Referring again to Rich’s quote, women must withdraw from over-functioning or acting as mothers for the men in their lives.

“We must step back with the demon, the lullaby, the ceaseless attention associated with the mother-infant relationship.” In this way, men can feel the weight of the difficult situation, which is the first step toward meaningful and lasting change.

Only when men feel the painful gap of what women are no longer willing to tolerate for them, will they experience sufficient motivation to finally act and fill the gap from within themselves.

The process gradually develops paths of:

-Taking responsibility for their emotions, containing and processing them internally, and obtaining support.

-Engaging in sexual relations from a place of intimate connection, not as a means to feel powerful.

-Comforting the inner child when activated.

-Differentiating past pain from what is happening in the present.

-Developing awareness of the consequences of actions and the ability to see women in their lives as humans, not objects.

-Amplifying marginalized voices, developing listening skills and learning from them.

As women, we must continue to use our voice, speak out against abuse of power whenever possible, and amplify the voices of other women suffering male abuse, especially among minorities and indigenous cultures.

As women, we must cease:

– cooperating with male illusions arising from ignorance regarding their entitlement.

– remaining silent to avoid friction.

– internalizing the consequences of unprocessed male rage.

– minimizing our feelings in their presence.

– accepting crumbs of respect instead of what we truly deserve.

– giving power and strength through therapeutic relationships.

– giving time and energy to men who refuse to do inner work.

The truth is women are very limited in their ability to assist men in healing. We can hold space for them, but cannot do the work for them. This is their journey, and they must want it. Meanwhile, let us expand our self-worth consciousness away from the male gaze, prioritize our inner work, and heal our childhood wounds. Let us maintain clear boundaries with people in our lives who are not doing inner work and spend more time with those who are. True female fellowship is a crucial source of nourishment at this time.

Harnessing our rage as fuel for wise action

The more we connect to the truth of our power as women, the more we feel rage at the destruction caused by toxic masculinity. Rage is an essential tool at this time to sharpen refusal to align with oppression of any kind, including internalized misogyny directed at ourselves. For white women, this is a refusal to play the role of the patriarch toward others and to acknowledge how we mediate oppression of men and women in ethnic groups different from our own.

“We suppress what we fear.” – James Hollis

Healing from patriarchy requires that every group benefiting from entitlement confront its ignorance and develop genuine empathy for the ways its privilege harms others.

Allowing ourselves to be emotionally affected by the horrors committed as a result of our entitlement is often avoided but is essential if we wish to create true equality among people. Just as white women must connect to a genuine shock at how we mediate white supremacy over minorities, white men must do the same regarding their ignorance toward the entitlement they enjoy and internalize the immense pain it creates in the world for women, minorities, and the planet.

“The artist’s role is identical to that of the lover. If I love you, I must make you aware of the things you do not see.” – James Baldwin

May this growing surge of female rage inspire a wave of brave men willing to explore their inner space, embrace the abandoned child within, process legitimate rage, and mourn what patriarchy stole from them: their full humanity. Collective change will occur when enough individual men change. May men take full responsibility and humbly embrace exposed discomfort as the remedy they need to heal their personal and collective mother wounds. And may women refuse to allow the behavior of unconscious men to define them.

All rights reserved to Bethany Webster 2017

Translated from English by Yasmine Bergner (For Hebrew version switch language)

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Resources:

Under Saturn’s Shadow: The Wounding and Healing of Men by James Hollis

Understanding Patriarchy by bell hooks

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette

The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife by James Hollis

The Eden Project: The Search for the Magical Other by James Hollis

Iron John: A Book about Men by Robert Bly

Castration and Male Rage: The Phallic Wound by Eugene Monick

Finding our Fathers by Sam Osherson

Phallos: Sacred Image of the Masculine by Eugene Monick

The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help by Jackson Katz

The Mankind Project

Jackson Katz

הפוסט What’s Up with Men? The Mother’s Wound as the Missing Link in Understanding Misogyny | Bethany Webster הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

Part One: Rejection of the Goddess and the Death of Paganism – The Murder of Hypatia

In the spring of 415 AD, a pagan noblewoman stepped out of the lecture hall connected to the Great Library of Alexandria and called for her carriage to take her home. Many educated pagan women enjoyed high social and academic status at that time, but Hypatia was one of the few who traveled independently in a carriage that belonged to them. She often parked her horse-drawn carriage in the heart of the city to chat with the locals or to engage in lively conversation about philosophy with anyone who wished to speak with her. Her openness and elegant pleasantness brought her appreciation and love from the city’s inhabitants.

Hypatia was officially active in city affairs, an arena dominated mainly by men. It was said of her that her self-control and pleasant manners, which were the result of inner work and years of mental refinement, helped her express her voice with restraint and composure in countless governmental assemblies in which she participated. This ability brought her efficiency and precision in achieving her educational and social goals, and earned her admiration and respect wherever she went.

Hypatia’s beauty was considered legendary, and it was said to be matched only by her intelligence. Tall and confident, commanding her carriage with ease, dressed in the long robe and scarf of the educator class, she must have been an unusual sight in the vibrant streets of the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria. Unfortunately, no realistic portrait of her has survived.

In March 415, Hypatia entered a public square near the Church of Caesar, where Christian converts would gather, and found her path blocked by an angry mob. The mob was led by a man named Peter “the Reader,” and he incited the crowd on that fateful day to close in on Hypatia and block her way. A Christian convert who admired Cyril (a Christian bishop living in Alexandria) said of Peter “the Reader” that he was “a man who believed with all his heart in Jesus Christ.” At the same time, a local governor sued one of Cyril’s protégés who had publicly attacked pagan doctrines. Hypatia supported his lawsuit, and the attacker was severely reprimanded. Bishop Cyril held a grudge against Hypatia for her stance but could not afford to look bad and attack her directly. Long after the day of the horrific murder, the people of Alexandria wondered if Peter “the Reader” had been sent by his master Cyril or had acted independently, hoping to gain the patriarch’s trust.

Public opinion was that Bishop Cyril conspired to murder Hypatia because, on various occasions, he had publicly accused her of witchcraft. Peter incited the mob to throw heavy tiles at Hypatia and knock her off her carriage. Her robes and long scarf created an advantage for the angry mob, and they quickly overwhelmed her by pulling hard on her light, long clothes from all sides. Hypatia fought with all her might to escape, but in vain. Throngs of arms grabbed her forcefully and began stripping her of her clothes. A local crowd gathered at the edges of the commotion, paralyzed and helpless, gripped by horror at the bloodshed occurring before their eyes.

The violence of the angry mob escalated thanks to the cheers of Peter “the Reader,” who called Hypatia a horrific heretic—a witch who misleads people through her beauty and teachings, which are nothing but blasphemy by the Devil. Hypatia protested and called for help, but a sharp blow aimed at her jaw prevented her from speaking. Within a few minutes, while on her knees in a pool of her own blood, Hypatia was beaten to death by cruel blows and kicks. The mob was not satisfied with her brutal killing and continued to abuse her body until nothing remained but her bones. The situation was so terrible that none of the witnesses were able to intervene for fear of the madness of the attackers’ violence. The angry cries of the mob of Christian converts turned into cheers of victory and praise for the murder they had just committed. A foreign and inhumane force took over them and created an electricity of unrestrained violence in the air. The killers took the bones to a place called Cinaron and burned her bones to ashes.

Hypatia was the daughter of the mathematician Theon of Alexandria, the last known teacher of the traditions of the Mystery Schools—the spiritual universities of antiquity. Hypatia was born around 370 AD, making her 45 years old at her death.

Historians consider her death to be “**the** event” that defined the end of the classical culture of Eastern-Mediterranean Europe. This traumatic event marked the extinction of Paganism and the rise of the Middle Ages. (Paganism – is the generic name given to pantheistic beliefs, polytheistic with multiple gods and goddesses and nature worship).

Theon was the director of the Museum of the city of Alexandria in Egypt, the place dedicated to the Muses, the daughters of the goddess of memory, Mnemosyne. Each of the Muses embodied a sacred art such as astronomy, poetry, and history. The nine daughters of the goddess of memory presented a model of study and research in the ancient Mystery Schools.

In the year 400, when she was about 30 years old, Hypatia was appointed chair of the mathematics department at the university. She earned a salary equivalent to a professorship at a modern university. Theon’s daughter was also known for her perfect command of Platonic philosophy and the practice of spiritual work called Theurgy, which was a type of magical work that can be compared to Jungian active imagination work and the active imagination practices of Dzogchen and Tantra. Her dialectical abilities were extraordinary and refined through her mathematical training. It was said of her that in philosophical discussions regarding spirituality and the sublime, Hypatia could handle any position in the Christian doctrine in northern Egypt. Her theological abilities characterized the pagan intellectual class (the Gnostics – those who “know” – who understand spiritual matters), but she also specialized in geometry, physics, and astronomy. Ancient learning was multidisciplinary and eclectic, a stark contrast to the contemporary era in the West, where there is a tendency to professionalize and specialize in one usually narrow field. The word “philosophy” means love of wisdom. For the Gnostics, “Sophia” was a revered celestial being, the goddess whose story they explained in their sacred cosmology writings. For the people of that time, Hypatia was wisdom personified.

In addition to their spiritual role, the Mystery Schools provided a framework for multidisciplinary education. The Gnostics were exceptionally talented, polymaths, and prolific writers. Between 600 BC and Hypatia’s time, the Gnostics composed thousands of scrolls and writings stored in the Great Library of Alexandria and other libraries such as Nag Hammadi (both in Egypt) that were connected to learning centers throughout the Middle Eastern basin. Hypatia wrote treatises and articles on arithmetic and astronomy, none of which have survived to the best of our knowledge. However, there are 8 historical sources documenting the circumstances of her death and her achievements (the latter not always in a complimentary tone). Bishop Cyril, who was suspected of conspiring to murder Hypatia, was later known as one of the leaders of the theology of the Holy Trinity, along with other Christian ideologues whose fundamentalist faith celebrated the victory of the Church over “heretics” like Hypatia.

Part Two: Between the Birth of Patriarchy and the Rejection of Nature to the Emergence of a New Myth – Gaia Theory

The arts in prehistory—Buddhist, Tantric, Egyptian, and Greek, and everything called “pagan”—were a direct continuation of the pulsing forces of nature. In Western culture, our ability to see the sublime in nature alone has been damaged. Joseph Campbell says this is a result of the rise of monotheistic religions. In the Book of Kings and Samuel, the Hebrew kings “offered sacrifices on the mountains and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh.”

What is the meaning of this sentence and how can it be interpreted critically? In fact, the worship of Yahweh was a certain movement in the Hebrew community, a movement that eventually gained the upper hand. It was the promotion of a specific god limited to his temple, against the nature worship that existed throughout the land. Mythologist Joseph Campbell says that the three major Western religions—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity—call the same biblical God by different names but fail to live side by side. They are stuck with their image without understanding what it refers to. Their myth and cultural ethos are a closed circle that fails to open and perpetuates violence against each other. Every mythology grows in a certain society and is bounded by its geographical area, and then the mythologies clash, manage relationships, merge, and create a larger narrative. There are two completely different orders of mythologies.

According to Joseph Campbell: there is Universal Mythology which builds the relationship between you and your nature and the natural world of which you are a part, and there is Social Mythology which binds you to a specific society. Social mythology is usually of nomadic peoples moving from place to place, so you learn that your center is there, in that group. Natural mythology belongs to agricultural peoples. The biblical tradition has a social orientation that denounces nature and tries to control it. Religions of nature do not try to control but to reach harmony with nature. When nature is perceived as something evil, you do not strive to achieve harmony with it. You control it, or at least try, hence the tension, anxiety, deforestation, imperialism, and the destruction of indigenous peoples. “In the Bible, eternity retreats, nature is corrupt, nature was expelled from Eden. In biblical thinking, we live in exile.”

According to Campbell, humanity needs myths that will not identify the individual with his local group, but with Gaia, our planet. Today there are no longer borders; the only mythology that has sustainable validity is the mythology of the planet. A mythology that will tell the narrative of the formation and true identity of our planet. In Buddhism, there are stories close to planetary mythology, as well as in Egyptian mythology and the Gnostic writings that grew out of it. Gnostic writings connect with what evolutionary biology and Gaia theory teach us, which treats the Earth as an ecological system that has a history of self-regulation and can be seen as a holistic intelligent entity where everything on it is its body. When we put race, culture, and gender before our humanity, we prevent ourselves from deeply knowing what is called “Anthropos”—our true identity as a human species and the future of our covenant with the planet Gaia.

According to Campbell, myth fulfills 4 roles: The first is the *Mystical role*—to remind us how wonderful the universe is and how wonderful we are and the awe before the great mystery. If we see mystery in everything—then everything becomes a sacred image. The second role is the *Cosmological role*—which connects science and spirituality; in this context, sacred geometry is the archetypal symbolic language of the shape of the universe, but in a way that shows us the mystery. The third role is the *Sociological role*—supporting and explaining the existing social order, and here vast differences between one place and another enter. For example, an entire mythology that supports polygamy versus a mythology that supports monogamy. Both mythologies are place and time dependent.

In our Western culture, the sociological role of myth has taken over our world. The fourth role of myth, and it is the role (which in Campbell’s opinion) we all need to learn to relate to—is the *Pedagogical role*—how to live a human life in any circumstances, a connection of universal myth and ethos. And there are many myths that can teach a person to do this. We must re-attain harmony with the wisdom of nature and realize again our brotherhood with all kingdoms. The myth of the future that will grow here will talk about Gaia, the Earth, and everything on it. And it will have to deal with everything the myths before it had to deal with—the maturation of the individual, from dependency to maturity and then departure from the physical world. What will be the relationship of such a society to the world, to nature, and to the cosmos? It will be the myth of human society as a whole.

Joseph Campbell says that in the biblical tradition, which is the basis for the three major monotheistic religions, material life is impure and every impulse is a sin. Unless circumcised or baptized. It was the serpent that brought sin into the world and the woman who brought the apple to the man. Identifying the woman with sin, and therefore, identifying life with sin, is the way the entire story was distorted in the biblical myth and the doctrine of the expulsion from Eden.

The historical explanation according to Campbell is based on the conquest of Canaan by the Hebrews and the subjugation of the Canaanite peoples. “The main deity of the Canaanite peoples was the Goddess, and the serpent is associated with the Goddess. This is a symbol of the mystery of life. The group that promoted a male god rejected it. In other words, in the story of Eden, a historical rejection of the Mother Goddess is implied.”

The Hebrew language constantly forces us to make an effort and choose repeatedly whether to use male or female language, in a way that can always exclude or diminish one of the genders. The default in the language is to use male language as the norm, which repeatedly illustrates the patriarchy within the language. The reference to “God” is always in the masculine, and as much as we are reminded that He is neither male nor female, according to the rules of grammar—the image that comes to all of us is of a male god.

The story also does a great injustice to women because Eve is cast as the one responsible for the expulsion from Eden. Women represent life; the man cannot enter the world of life except through a woman, so the woman is the one who brings us into this world of pairs of opposites and suffering. In the biblical perception, sin begins with the exit from the mythological dream-time zone of Eden, where there is no time, where men and women do not even know they are different from each other, and then they eat the apple and wake up to the world of duality and opposites. In the monotheistic perception, God is “the Father,” but in religions where the God or Creator is a Mother, the whole world is her body; there is no other place.

Part Three: So what is happening with men? The missing link to understanding misogyny

*Selected excerpts from Bethany Webster’s article (the full article is here on the site)

Many of us, women and men alike, are beginning to perceive the breadth of this reality of rampant misogyny. A brave wave of women in recent years has been uncovering records of sexual harassment through the #metoo movement. As a culture, the question is asked: Why does the urge to disparage, hate, and harm women exist in so many men? Where does this reality come from? And what can we do to stop it?

The development of boys and men in the modern world places them in a privileged position, beneath which un-processed rage is hidden under the surface. What is the inner work that men and women can do in order to change the situation? Patriarchy constitutes the principle of dominance, and it can be embodied by both a man and a woman. The role of the patriarch in the boy’s life can be manifested through the mother as well as the father.

The Oxford Dictionary defines misogyny as: “dislike of, contempt for, or ingrained prejudice against women.”

Bethany Webster says that in order to understand misogyny, we must investigate the first relationship a man ever had with a woman—with his mother.

“The relationship of mother and child is revealed as the first relationship damaged by patriarchy” – Adrienne Rich.

“Patriarchy demands of men that they become and remain emotional cripples. Because it is a system that prevents full access to free will, it is very difficult for any person of any class to take a rebellious stance toward patriarchy, to be unfaithful to the patriarchal parent, whether it be a father or a mother” – bell hooks.

A boy maturing into the modern world today undergoes socialization by his father, by other men, and by society, regarding the meaning of being a man. Media culture, education, and patriarchal religion perform the same role. Unfortunately, there is much evidence that the boy’s socialization process largely includes internalizing control over others, repression of emotions, and the devaluation of women. This situation creates personal and collective trauma for the entire human species and the planet as a whole.

Healing personal trauma is central to undoing patriarchy. Unlike the modern world, the history of civilization is full of examples of cultures that give boys the initiation experience of maturing into adult masculinity through periods of physical challenges, helping them symbolically cross a psychological bridge from the relative comfort zone of childhood to the challenges of adulthood.

These boys are assisted by ELDERS (adult men) who provide them with empowerment and positive context. In this rite of passage and initiation, an emotional or physical “wound” occurs that helps the boy come into contact with his inner powers, his self-confidence, and his sense of personal responsibility. Today in the modern world, most boys experience the “wounding” without the positive transformation. There are very few authentic rites of passage and initiation, very few elders (ELDERS), and very few male role models beyond the toxic status quo.

The social expectation to devalue women, and in this context also their mothers, creates cognitive dissonance in the boy regarding his mother’s meaning to him, which is destructive to his ability to express emotions, allow himself to be vulnerable, express physical affection, and more. In this way, the mother is usually experienced as a “lost source” for the boy. And the father, as the socializer of the boy into the world of men, is experienced as the one who breaks the alliance with the mother, with the source.

“The core of men’s fear of feminism is the fear that by becoming complete human beings, women will cease to be mothers for men, to provide the nourishment, the lullaby, the continuous attention associated with the mother-infant relationship. Much of male fear of feminism is actually infantilism—the longing to remain the mother’s infant son, to completely take over a woman for his own needs. These infantile needs of adult men toward women have received sentimental and overly forgiving romantic treatment until now as ‘love.’ This is the threshold of violence. Because the social order, the economy, and the legal system have leaned heavily in favor of men, the infantile needs of the adult male received validation by the mechanisms of power—those same mechanisms that do not give the same validity and approval to the needs of the adult woman. The institution of marriage and motherhood perpetuates the needs of the infant male as law in the adult world.”

Researcher and therapist Tamir Ashman says that the prison system is the capital city of patriarchal culture, a place where wounding masculinity merges with wounded masculinity.

What is happening now thanks to the #metoo movement, when women tell their experiences of sexual assault and bring their abusers to light, is that the total control of men over women in the domestic space and the workspace is decreasing. Now women are less and less willing to remain a silent slate upon which men project their un-processed pain and remain unpunished. Additionally, many male witnesses are no longer willing to look the other way.

It seems that the inner child in the man is unconsciously trapped between his painful longing for the “lost source” represented by his mother and his social conditioning to hate her as a woman. In other words, men are trapped between the natural desire for their full humanity (the ability to be emotional, vulnerable, and empathetic) and their desire to remain in a state of privilege and dominance. The point is that you cannot be both. To hold onto a position of dominance (patriarchy) means gradually losing your humanity. The meaning of being a real human being means giving up your desire for control and all the horrific ways it is manifested. No amount of privilege (wealth, power, fame, and status) can ever compensate for the destruction that patriarchy wreaks on the child within. No amount of power over others can compensate for the loss of that part within him. Only through inner work can one reclaim ownership of the loss of this inner essence.

A man can find this “lost source” not within a tangible woman but in the form of inner inquiry, through the attempt to understand what the *mother* or the feminine represents within himself. For example, the meaning of emotional functioning, the world of feeling, the experience of deep connection with himself, and the sense of authentic belonging to those around him. However, in order to create a connection with these vital qualities found in the darkness, the man must create a connection with the inner child angry at the meager profit he received in exchange for abandoning the vital aspects of his selfhood.

It is easy to project rage onto a “mother substitute” or “father substitute” somewhere in the world. Male privilege allows a man blindness toward the mother and father wound while the world is on fire.

It takes courage to reconstruct these projections and process the rage at the inner patriarch—the archetype of the cruel, emotionless father who welcomed him into the world of men at the heavy price of disconnection from his authentic self. The innocent child who came into the world with a built-in ability to express empathy, emotion, and vulnerability. The rage belongs to the patriarchal father (personal or collective), the alliance-cutter who betrayed the boy, who brought him into the brotherhood of men at the price of amputating a vital part of himself in order to be accepted in the world as a man. The rage also belongs to the mother who was unable to protect him from the patriarchal wound, or who caused it herself. When men manage to direct their rage there, to the place where the rage truly belongs, then things can begin to change.

“Misogyny is the outward-projected rage of the son at the mother who could not protect him” – Gabor Maté.

“When we understand that patriarchy is a social invention, an invention intended to compensate for helplessness, we understand that men, contrary to popular opinion, are actually the more dependent sex.”

Webster says it is not the man’s fault that he is so vulnerable, so dependent, that he is simply human (and in Part 2 we stood on the deep sources of man’s dependency on woman, which is the only way for him to “enter life”). But his responsibility is to identify how much every child needs positive parenting and how much the pattern of this need affects his soul life and continues to operate beneath the surface. He may pretend to be an empowered man, holding the reins of government or the wallet, but the cracks of tension seep through and reach deep into his relationship with his mother. Men must understand this fact and take responsibility for it; otherwise, they will continue to enact these infantile patterns forever.”

Healing the *mother wound* for men involves shifting the projected rage away from women and processing it directly against its true object—patriarchy itself—and against the specific traumatic events that occurred in their childhood.

In order for men to succeed in doing this deep inner work, they critically need support from other men who have already undergone a significant part of this process and inner journey, and this also includes professional support from male therapists experienced in this field.

To define it broadly, inner and outer work for men includes:

1. Processing the rage toward the parent (father or mother) for the parental betrayal that forced him to give up vital parts of his selfhood in order to be considered a man in the world. Mourning the heavy price this took from him.
2. Looking honestly at his life, acknowledging the secrets kept within him, and taking responsibility for his actions.
3. Finding his lost inner source and working to reclaim ownership of it. Connecting with the inner child.
4. Connecting to sincere feelings of remorse for the way he harmed other human beings and the planet itself through the externalization of his pain in unconscious ways, personally and collectively, and initiating empathetic actions on a regular basis.
5. Creating a community together with other conscious men who are on the path of recovery and reconciliation.

Men must devote themselves to long-term inner work, and it is also essential that they immediately experience the consequences and results of their actions here and now.

Until men gain enough inner integrity to restrain them from sexual assault and acting with physical violence—the results of which we see increasing in the world and in our country—real intervention actions are required in legislation, police and judicial enforcement, and in protecting women in the workplace and within their family relationships, which will bring toxic behavior to a halt.

In principle, men themselves require global intervention. A resounding social “no” calling for an awakening and recognition of realities they were blind to until now.

In order to support this process, we as women must say “no” in every possible way to the angry boys inside the men in our lives. Whether they are friends, colleagues, brothers, or husbands. Women are required to withdraw from the ways in which they act in “over-functioning” or act as mothers of the men in their lives.

“We must withdraw with the breast, with the lullaby, with the incessant attention associated with the mother-infant relationship.” In this way, men will be able to feel the weight of the difficult situation, and this is the first stage on the path to significant and sustainable change.

Only when men feel the painful gap of what women are no longer willing to endure for them will a sufficient experience of motivation awaken in them that will finally help them act and complete the gap from within themselves.

The process will gradually open paths of:

* Taking responsibility for their feelings, containing and processing them within, and obtaining support.
* Having sex out of a desire for intimate connection, and not as a means to feel powerful.
* Comforting the inner child when it is triggered.
* Distinguishing between past pain and what is happening in the present.
* Developing awareness regarding the consequences of actions and the ability to see the women in their lives as human beings and not as objects.
* Centering and empowering marginalized voices, developing the ability to listen and learn from them.

As women, we must continue to use our voices and speak about inappropriate use of power at every opportunity we have and empower the voices of other women suffering from male abuse, especially among minorities and indigenous cultures.

As women, we must cease:

* Collaborating with male illusions stemming from ignorance regarding their over-entitlement.
* Remaining silent and avoiding friction.
* Internalizing within ourselves the consequences of un-processed male rage.
* Minimizing our feelings in their presence.
* Accepting crumbs of respect instead of what we truly deserve.
* Giving our power and strength in the form of a therapeutic relationship.
* Giving time and energy to men who refuse to do the inner work.

The truth is that women are very limited in their ability to assist men in their healing. We can hold space for them, but we cannot do the work for them. This is their journey and they must want it. Meanwhile, let us expand the consciousness of our self-worth away from the male gaze, prioritize our inner work, and heal our childhood wounds. Let us maintain clear boundaries with the people in our lives who are not doing inner work and spend more time with those who are. True sisterhood is a crucial source of nourishment at this time.

Harnessing our rage as fuel for wise action

The more we connect to the truth of our power as women—the more we will feel rage at the destruction and devastation caused by toxic masculinity. Rage is an essential tool at this time, in order to sharpen the refusal to fall in line with oppression of any kind, including internalized misogyny directed at ourselves, and for white women—it is a refusal to play the role of the patriarch toward others and to look straight at the way we mediate oppression of men and women in ethnic groups other than our own.

“We oppress what we fear.” – James Hollis

Recovery from patriarchy requires that every group enjoying over-entitlement confront its ignorance and develop sincere empathy regarding how its privilege caused harm to others.

May there come, following this mounting tide of female rage, a surge of brave men ready to explore their inner space, to embrace the abandoned child within them, to process the legitimate rage, and to mourn what patriarchy stole from them: their full humanity. Collective change will occur when enough individual men change. May men take full responsibility and humbly embrace the exposed discomfort—as the medicine they need in order to heal their personal and collective *mother wound*. And may women refuse to allow the behavior of unconscious men to define them.

Sources:

Bethany Webster – The Mother Wound as the Missing Link to Understanding Misogyny, Article

[https://womboflight.com/article-169257](https://womboflight.com/article-169257)

John Lamb Lash

Not in His Image: Gnostic Vision, Sacred Ecology, and the Future of Belief, Chelsea Green Publishing, Vermont, 2006

Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth, Modan Publishing, from English: Matti Ben Yaakov, 1998

Elisabet Sahtouris, EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution, iUniversity Press, USA, 2000

Rina Kesem, The Way of Magic – The first Hebrew guide to ancient religion, the art of witchcraft, Wicca and the Goddess movement, Astrolog Publishing, 2006

Why it is critical for women to heal the mother wound, Bethany Webster, article, 2015, from English: Yasmine Bergner (Hayim Aherim Magazine, 2017)

[https://www.facebook.com/notes/yasmine-bergner/%D7%9E%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A2-%D7%96%D7%94-%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%98%D7%99-%D7%A2%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A8-%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%A8%D7%A4%D7%90-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%A4%D7%A6%D7%A2-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9D-%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%95%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%A8/10208677320510123/](https://www.facebook.com/notes/yasmine-bergner/%D7%9E%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A2-%D7%96%D7%94-%D7%A7%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%98%D7%99-%D7%A2%D7%91%D7%95%D7%A8-%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%9C%D7%A8%D7%A4%D7%90-%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%A4%D7%A6%D7%A2-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%9D-%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%AA%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%95%D7%95%D7%91%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%A8/10208677320510123/)

הפוסט The Murder of the Philosopher Hypatia and the History of Misogyny | By Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

These days, a fascinating exhibition curated by Chaim Maor (curator of the university galleries) in collaboration with students from the curation course, titled “Portraits of Cain – Representations of Others in Contemporary Israeli Art,” is being presented at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

In many ways, no one is more suitable than Maor, born in 1951, to curate a group exhibition that constitutes an additional and impressive layer of his long-standing exploration of the subject. In the opening of the catalog accompanying the exhibition, he writes that “[…] even now, as I return to this subject as a curator and teacher, I do not cease to engage with it as an artist. The figure of Cain and its incarnations, the mark of Cain, and the gazes directed at the ‘others’ are subjects of great importance, and my engagement with them has accompanied me for many years.” This curatorial approach is part of a long-term process of expanding the scope, from Maor’s interpersonal research to collective exploration of this topic in the Israeli art world, as well as a universal phenomenon.

At the same time, a large-scale solo exhibition of Maor called “They Are Me” is currently on display at the Open Museum in Omer (curator: Ruth Ofek). The exhibition reflects the broad range of the artist’s interdisciplinary work and distills the content he has been dealing with over the years. The exhibition consists of six rooms, each dedicated to a different figure connected to Maor’s life, through whom he addresses the concept of the “other.” The first room of the exhibition is dedicated to the figure of “Cain” and the mark of Cain, to the concept of the “double” / “shadow” that follows. Another room is devoted to the fragile relationship with second- and third-generation Germans post-Holocaust, the chasm between us and them, alongside the sincere effort to heal the wound through Suzanna, Maor’s German friend. Sibling rooms are dedicated to Maor’s family anthology, which is a microcosm of genocide, a genealogy of memory. Another room is dedicated to Hader and Ashah and their family, a Palestinian artist married to a Bedouin woman, and the Palestinian “other.” All the rooms together form a kind of mental map of reflection and a humanistic worldview, a sincere contemplation of the human psyche. Each room is constructed as an independent space emerging from an inner center. In the center of each room stands a central work acting as a compass (visual and ethical), and the works hanging on the surrounding walls relate to it.

Maor’s first solo exhibition, called “The Mark of Cain,” was presented in 1978 (Kibbutz Gallery, curated by Miriam Tuvia Bona). Observing his work over the years allows a better understanding of the contextual and emotional background to the exhibition “Portraits of Cain.” His pioneering body of work as a body artist since the 1970s is among the most impressive seen in Israel. Compared to the extensive American and European body art, in the 1970s only a handful of Israeli body artists worked alongside Chaim Maor, the most prominent of whom were Yocheved Weinfeld, Gideon Gechtman, Michael Druks, and Moti Mizrahi (the latter two also participate in the “Portraits of Cain” exhibition).

The performance works Maor created between 1975 and 1980 deal distinctly with the heavy personal traumatic legacy of a “second-generation Holocaust” artist, with representations of oppression and stigma through markings and body boundary delimitations (see my reference in the article “Bodily Ownership of the Symbol”). The family myth of Cain becomes a formative myth for large-scale and severe historical events, such as the Holocaust (Ch. Maor, from the 2012 catalog). He creates visual connections between concepts like “marking,” “victim,” and “sacrifice” through a disturbing physical presence. This breadth of meaning strengthens the understanding of social oppression as a universal human phenomenon.

“Portraits of Cain” observes the figure of Cain and the essence of the mark of Cain from multiple perspectives. This is a subject that currently arouses great interest among artists and scholars. The academic, philosophical, literary, and artistic interpretation of the biblical story is nourished by the social, political, religious, and criminal realities, in Israel and worldwide, and responds to them. Maor notes that hovering above the exhibition are the figures of social psychologist Dan Bar-On, who researched the ‘others’ within us and beside us, and the artist Michael Sgan Cohen, who offered fascinating interpretations about the figure of the artist as ‘Cain.’

Already in the Book of Genesis (Chapter 4, Verse 15), in the story of Cain and Abel, the idea of a tattoo is presented, at least conceptually: “And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.” Cain becomes a wanderer, the first exile in history, as an act of punishment and atonement for the bloodshed he committed (Murder Case No. 001). The nature of the “mark” is not specified, but it likely refers to some external sign, a kind of identification meant to protect him from harm Cain fears. There is a dual meaning: the symbol is on the one hand a revealing mark of disgrace, and on the other hand, a protective symbol. Since then, the “Mark of Cain” has become an archetype symbolizing the gaze directed at the other, the ways in which society marks human beings. The act of marking is a primary means of their segregation, ostracism, expropriation, humiliation, and sometimes elimination. Many interpretations have been linked to the story of Cain and Abel, whose core is perhaps humanity’s internal struggle with the forces of good and evil within them: “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 4:7). Historical interpretation links the conflict to the clash between ancient agricultural culture and pastoral culture – between those settled on their land and nomads following their flocks.

It is no coincidence that the exhibition “Portraits of Cain” was accompanied by a fascinating interdisciplinary conference, inviting researchers from various fields to delve into issues of labeling and stigma, to investigate the socio-semiotic tools available to society, which create on the one hand protection and glorification, and on the other, exclusion and deprivation. The exhibition presents many such faces: Jews and Arabs, religious settlers and seculars, men and women, wanted individuals and snipers, hunters and hunted, captives, prisoners, and more. In some works, the stereotypical image is distorted, displaced, or shifted to different contexts of time and place. In some works, the artists present themselves or their characters as marked with the mark of Cain and sometimes rebel against being marked. Marking and identity, then, are complex and intricate concepts in themselves, and they accompany the works displayed in the exhibition in various ways. They shed light on social, political, religious, and gender issues present in both the works and the society in which they were created. These definitions have probably been in use since the dawn of history. The conflict arises in the encounter between different systems that oppose each other or express intolerance toward another group. In the exhibition catalog text, Maor wisely asserts that the identity of the marker is as important as that of the marked and their identifying signs.

The work of Micha Bar-Am, “S = Captive,” stands out as a chilling example of identity erasure. The captives are photographed from behind, with a large black stamp in the form of the letter “S” (“Shavuy” – captive) on the back of their shirts. The captives are faceless, without identity. The mark is a decisive factor in creating the dehumanization of the marked. A glimpse over the bent bodies evokes, like a punch in the stomach, the feeling of humiliation accompanying the denial of human dignity. “S” also = “Shavur” (broken). “The work is an example of Bar-Am’s ongoing attempt to create complex and layered images, going beyond dry documentation of the subjects photographed. The camera angle exposes the viewer to the position and interpretation he gives to the situations he encounters during his work as a field photographer.”

In the work “Marking, Trade Strike, East Jerusalem,” the concepts of “marking” and “designation” receive interpretation in connection to the mark of Cain in several ways: as tangible marks meant to highlight an object (a closed shop door), or as association with a certain status (such as a prisoner of war). The letter “S” printed on the captives’ backs (resembling also a target on a shooting board) or the X inside a painted circle on a photographed iron door are powerful logo-like symbols. Bar-Am does not shy away from emphasizing the stigmatic mark in ways that evoke mixed, difficult, and provocative feelings, “similar to branding on living flesh or tattoo inscription,” in his words (Bismuth, Omer, Leibovitz, 2012).

Biblical scholar Meir Bar-Ilan points to fascinating findings revealing the existence of a Jewish tattoo culture in biblical times, providing evidence in his remarkable article “Magical Seals on the Body among Jews in the First Centuries CE” (2011). He argues that biblical tattooed individuals marked themselves with the last letter of the ancient Hebrew alphabet, which was likely the letter “X.” Simply because this was the simplest and clearest marking method. Various Torah laws were written to define what constituted a “proper” tattoo of a work of God, as opposed to a tattoo “like the gentiles.” A tattoo done for the service of God was an essential part of ritual and sacred intention before entering the mystical Merkavah vision. There is a theory that biblical Cain was tattooed with this mark. An ethnographic survey I conducted of various tribal tattoo cultures clearly shows that the “X” or “cross” symbol is the most ancient and widespread tattoo archetype in the world, originating in sun worship in ancient animistic belief systems, the cradle of religions.

The work of Eric Weiss presents his double portrait, in positive and negative, echoing billboards. On his forehead is stamped the mark of Cain in the form of the bitten apple, the logo of the company “Apple.” The caption under the portraits, ICain, references the word iPad, the company’s flagship product. “Weiss uses the brand to divert it to a new context: from the biblical context of Cain and his punishment, he connects it to the contemporary story of enslavement to brands. The mark of Cain on his forehead – in Weiss’s work – alludes to the original sin of his parents, eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. In a contemporary context, Weiss responds that ‘in today’s world, the “sinners” are branded toward themselves. They lose their inner self-personality and become part of a herd of users, worshipping their idols, external signs, and branded objects'” (Maor, 2012).

Paul Goldman titled the photograph presented in the exhibition ‘Holocaust Survivor, Nahalal, 1945,’ but left no information about the subject, the circumstances of the photo, or its context. There is no doubt regarding the shocking power and implied meaning of the image – Jewish women in the Holocaust forced to serve as ‘field prostitutes.’ However, historically and in other respects, the photograph raises questions and no one can provide a definitive answer about it. There are hypotheses that the photo is staged. The reliability of the photograph as authentic documentation of a Holocaust survivor is undermined by the fact that the words on the woman’s chest (‘field prostitute’) are written in German as one word, Feldhure, not as two words separated by a space, as seen in the photo. Additionally, such a tattoo would be on the women’s back, not the chest. The main question is that Jewish women did not serve as field prostitutes to satisfy German soldiers or officers, since racial laws forbade any contact between Aryan men and Jewish women. ‘Field prostitutes’ were only Polish or German women. Nevertheless, this photograph is one of the most chilling artistic images in the Holocaust context” (Teshuva, Alon, Bernstein, 2012).

Among the participants in the exhibition are Asad Azi, Eyal Adler-Klener, Adi Ness, Micha Kirshner, Vardi Kahna, Vered Aharonovitch, Erez Israeli, Hader and Ashah, Michael Druks, Ken Goldman, Boaz Lanir, Assi Meshulam, Moti Mizrahi.
Quotes in the article are taken from the exhibition catalog.

“Portraits of Cain,” group exhibition, Art Gallery, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, curators: Prof. Chaim Maor and students from the curation course, Department of Arts, April 2012 – June 2012
Chaim Maor: “They Are Me,” solo exhibition, Open Museum Omer, curator: Ruth Ofek, February 2012 – September 2012

הפוסט Mark of Shame & Symbol of Protection | Article By Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

Ancient Future – The Great Initiation Journey:

Yasmine Bergner on mythical art, utopian art, and the sweeping spiritual proposition of transformative festivals.

Originally published in the online magazine Erev Rav 2014

The identity of this emerging social movement, as reflected in the documentary series “The Bloom”, mirrors the blossoming of a global cultural renaissance. The filmmakers, Jeet K. Long and Akira Chan, show how, through ancient and new modes of expression, the triad of myth-ritual-the sacred merges in a way that reflects the era we live in — one of evolving consciousness.

Mythical art seeks to create a personal myth to guide the individual’s path and provide keys to self-discovery. This artistic trend demonstrates that it is possible to live the myth and the longing — to walk within your own legend. These emerging artists bring their persona into the public space, become visible to others, and create interaction, aiming to traverse boundaries from one space to another.

Burning Man Festival

Ideas resonating from the Earth

The festival “Faeryworlds” takes place annually in England in nature, after the first harvest — a period celebrated since ancient times. During this ancient pagan festival, people pray to the earth to remain fertile and abundant throughout the season and offer her gifts. Modern festivals like “Faeryworlds” awaken gratitude and appreciation for the universe and the abundance that sustains us.

The contemporary world and industrial revolutions have freed us from many dark sides of prejudice, yet life in a materialistic Western society — where the highest value is maximizing profit, and humans are reduced to “consumers” and “service providers”, “clients” and “bosses” — leaves many in spiritual emptiness and existential death.

We now live in a secular and rationalistic society where a process of “disenchantment”, or awakening from the mythical state, has occurred. Religions hold a monopoly over spiritual concepts and ritual boundaries. The new movement represents the longing to return to a state of enchantment, where myths are recreated through a diverse and compelling personal ritual, filling participants’ lives with content that was previously dictated to them.

The narratives we tell each other about what is “real” and “unreal” gradually lose their rigidity, partly through contemporary physical theories that collapse prior theories and challenge our perception of reality. As utopian artists, we bear the duty and responsibility to respond to this call and spread these ideas, resonating from the earth calling to us, so we can tell a new story of connection with the sacred. Myth is the tool that helps us tell this story.

Performance is one of the most powerful tools for embedding myth. This art acknowledges the deep meaning inherent in the act of creation and theatrical gesture. Connection with myth is vital to the soul and heart of the individual and to the joint creation of a new culture, welcoming artists from all creative paths.

This is a continuation of a collective narrative emerging since the dawn of history. Especially now, in the technological age, we can “pull” what is relevant to us, choose which archetype we must embody as artists, and bring the myth into performance, expressing different states of mind through dance, theater, music, and visual arts.

Burning Man Festival

Every person is a mirror of the sacred, an aspect of ourselves. Performance functions as a reflection of the self. The movement reconnects us with the body. Through renewed awareness of the body, there is enormous potential for transformation. Especially in an era when we are glued to computers for hours, it is vital to rethink our relationship with our body, go outside, and share what is true for us, what inspires us.

This is how spirit moves through us. We can consider ourselves fortunate that our art transforms into broader myths for our surroundings, creating collective consciousness.

One of the goals of transformative festivals is to allow internal content to be revealed and manifested externally. This trend empowers the creators and requires dismantling the master narrative. We are allowed to play, invent new myths, and engage in fully personal rituals where we connect with inner inspiration.

Myth is meant to create a mental space, a sanctuary of consciousness, for humans. The larger the story, the more it can contain. At the “Burning Man” festival, many installations conclude with a large bonfire (similar to the Israeli counterpart, the Zik group). In the apocalyptic era we live in, destruction manifests visually in many ways. Many structures collapse, and what enters next remains unclear. When something ends, space opens for surprises.

In tribal cultures, rites of passage and initiation were integral to collective culture. Today, rites of passage and initiation are almost entirely absent from our Western lives. Transformative festivals explore how rituals can restore meaning and purpose to collective experience in a non-imposing, inviting, and enabling way, offering personal and artistic freedom above all.

Tears are the river that washes the salt

Artist Paradox Folk says that ritual is “myth in practice.” Mythology embodies symbols charged with meaning, while ritual expresses how humans embody mythical perception. Ritual is a tool that brings people closer, fostering connection between self and self, self and others, and self and place — a call for the soul to rise.

Ritual focus frames attention on something experienced as important and significant beyond daily life, yet returning to it. Artist Lux Moderna seeks in transformative festivals to act as a catalyst for experiences of unity.

At a South American festival synchronized with “Burning Man”, various indigenous tribes were invited to share their ancient knowledge. Our learning is that to receive, we must give, and to give, we must learn to receive. This creates a circle of gratitude to the earth for all we receive, asking permission to be here and create space, allowing ourselves to be present and authentic, connecting from the heart with open arms regardless of background or life experiences.

As we engage in integrative internal work, we can overcome inhibitions and lift the veil from what prevents us from connecting to essence. The more we externalize beauty and truth, the more we can touch others who feel separate. The ancient essence of these festivals originates in intention; intention to sow seeds or give thanks to the heavens. Communally, this is grounding. A collective connection between heaven and earth.

Ideas that endure through history and evolution must stimulate and develop human instincts. Tragedies occur daily worldwide, yet systems do nothing to improve the situation. They do not know how. If we do not externalize our sorrow and grief, we remain blocked.

“Tears are the river that washes the salt,” says myth researcher Michael Meade. Through creating a collective and supportive community, we enable the capacity to contain and cope with grief, sorrow, and loss. We must improve our communal response to individual grief.

A canon of collective consciousness leaps

A new collective narrative is emerging, defining the meaning of being human, based on an intimate connection to the source; being here and now in receptivity. This social trend moves from the more peripheral areas of society into the mainstream, into music, cinema, and visual arts. Films like “The Matrix” and “Avatar” present agendas of consciousness development and humanistic and ecological stances, serving as representatives of new artworks that have already become canonical, a canon of collective consciousness leaps in our culture.

The technological age provides us with precious gifts. All information about traditions across generations and world mythologies is accessible to us at the touch of a button. We can deconstruct and reassemble them, integrate them in ways relevant to our lives. We are undergoing a quantum leap in understanding our individuality and its power, reconnecting with the ecstatic unity of the self and the world. This trend demonstrates how prayer can become play or a daily artistic act, and that we can indeed enjoy lives of devotion.

Terence McKenna calls this trend the “Archaic Revival”; individuals relating to their community as Beloved can awaken the sacred within the community. This transformation lifts the veil from the symbols separating us from the sacred, making them more accessible.

Our connection to the sacred is actually the most essential element in our lives, whether we are aware of it or not. It is the highest way to connect as humans. If we make this connection central, it becomes the key unlocking enormous potential for expressing inner wisdom through community service.

Jeet K. Long, director of “The Bloom”, says interpersonal connection, inclusion, and inspiration propagated through transformative festivals actually express the fundamental frequencies humans need. We need these in the pragmatic society we live in to realize our potential. “Burning Man” most clearly represents this ethos.

Temples were originally mental spaces for soul healing, says the artist Shrine, creator of stunning temples/installations from waste. The temple as a concept returns to the landscape of our hearts — shared spaces of communion. We must re-sanctify art, enter it knowing nothing except our naked longing for true substance. It is an undeniable reminder of compassion. Kneeling in humility reminds us that we are all fractals of the One.

Sources:
Mircea Eliade Archive
http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%A6%27%D7%94_%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%90%D7%93%D7%94
Jeet K. Long

“The Bloom” film series
http://thebloom.tv/public/index.php/dashboard/view/25

Myth researcher Michael Meade

Lux Moderna
http://luxmoderna.bandcamp.com/
Shrine

Shrine

Burning Man
http://www.burningman.com/

הפוסט Ancient Future | The Great Initiation Journey | Article by Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

ManWoman, the Canadian artist and poet who passed away last week,

Reclaiming the Swastika – by Yasmine Bergner
Originally published in the online magazine Erev Rav, 24/12/2012

ManWoman, a Canadian artist and poet who passed away last week, dedicated his life to reclaiming the swastika. Since the 1960s, he worked to take the symbol back from evil, following a series of dreams that called him to undertake this mission. He tattooed approximately 200 swastikas on his body, all representing “Let there be good” in Sanskrit, and authored a book titled Gentle Swastika: Reclaiming the Innocence. He is considered the spiritual father of the Reclaim the Swastika movement, which seeks to restore the symbol’s original, innocent meaning. His unique name was given to him by entities he saw in dreams, and in 1971 he made it his official name.

In his book “Gentle Swastika”, ManWoman describes the circumstances that led him to this mission:

“In the year before this, I experienced inner events in which I was swept into a swirling energy, into what I could only call the ‘Womb of the Sacred’ — an image of a vortex that recurred in my later dreams in 1967, eventually taking the shape of a white swastika. In these dreams, I saw the figure of an old wise man marking a white swastika on my throat, telling me to take on the mission ‘to redeem the symbol so that it touches the hearts of those who behold it with love.'”

“My mother immigrated from Poland, and her sister and son were sent to Auschwitz. I grew up in the presence of the intense emotions of Jews against the swastika and the trauma left by the Holocaust and World War II. It is no surprise that I felt apprehensive about the challenge before me. Yet the dreams continued — dreams of small children playing with jump ropes decorated with tiny swastikas; waitresses in cafes wearing dresses covered in swastika patterns; and strange animals shaped like swastikas. And in all of this was such a playful feeling.”

ManWoman told Vice magazine that his mother thought he was having a nervous breakdown, and his close friends whispered behind his back. He explained to them that the swastika is a sacred symbol. One friend showed him a Native American beadwork with a swastika from North America. Another friend showed him a photo of a women’s hockey team in Edmonton with the swastika printed on their uniforms. His grandmother had been a member of that team.

This marked the beginning of ManWoman collecting artworks, photographs, and historical pieces of various swastikas from around the world to document the symbol’s presence globally, independent of Nazism, and he established the Swastika Museum in his hometown in Canada. He emphasized the innocence and joy associated with the swastika before the rise of Nazism.

Historians agree that the oldest origins of the swastika trace back to Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley (around 3000 BCE). From the Upper Paleolithic period — in Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Native American traditions, Africa, Islam, and even in Judaism — swastikas appear as part of ethnographic symbolism. An ancient synagogue mosaic in the Golan Heights shows swastikas. Buddhist examples integrate the swastika within a Star of David as part of prayer; there is also a geometric and formal similarity between the swastika and the Star of David.

The swastika visually represents creation in all its forms, evolving from the image of a cross within a circle, symbolizing the sun’s path in relation to the heavens (the zodiac). The four directions represent the four winds of the sky and the four equinox points in the year.

Thus, long before World War II, the swastika was a sacred universal symbol of power and blessing, visually representing the “spin” of the universe. Spin is a fundamental principle in unified field physics and sacred geometry, demonstrating how all natural phenomena rotate — from sound waves to the DNA helix to celestial movements. In other words, this ancient graphic is a 3D representation. The principle of spin illustrates movement in space — just as sound waves spiral.

In an interview, ManWoman explained why the tattoos were essential: “It started with a small swastika tattoo on my pinky. Later, in 1970, I dreamed that Hitler himself stole the swastika from me, so I felt compelled to tattoo swastikas on my arms to reclaim them. Then came visions of the third eye, awakening in a mystical experience, which I tattooed on my forehead. My wife was shocked, and that ended our marriage. Many called me ‘obsessive,’ but for me it was a positive obsession.” Eventually, he tattooed about 200 swastikas on his arms, chest, and back, designing a swastika with doves inside: “I wanted to create a special swastika that even my Jewish friends would appreciate.”

ManWoman often faced confrontations regarding his swastika tattoos from people who assumed he was a neo-Nazi. In such situations, he explained the true history of the symbol and his mission. Generally, this helped open hearts. In recent years, awareness of the symbol and its true essence has grown, and instead of negative reactions, ManWoman received hundreds of appreciative and supportive messages.

At age 74, ManWoman stopped tattooing. For him, the tattoos always served a very specific purpose, inspired by his dreams: “I no longer have such dreams. I dream differently now, so continuing would be pointless. It was truly magical, and I received support from… you could call it ‘Spirit’ or internal forces beyond our knowledge. I am happy to have walked this path, as so many joined me in collaboration, filling my life with excitement.”

For Israeli readers, this may seem absurd, even offensive. Yet, one cannot help but admire ManWoman’s work and his sincere attempts to purify the symbol, innocent of any wrongdoing, because no symbol has inherent meaning except what we give it.

Sources:
Original article in English in VICE magazine.
Translation and additions: Yasmine Bergner, multidisciplinary artist, spiritual guide through tattoos, and researcher.

הפוסט Rebooting the Swastika | Article by Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

yet in recent years, more and more artists have been using tattooing as a practice, a symbol, or an artistic act.

Physical Ownership of the Symbol – Article by Yasmine Bergner

Originally published in the online magazine Erev Rav, 2012

Photograph: Haim Maor, “Map of Auschwitz”, photograph, 2001

Tattoo art today is distinguished as an independent branch within the art world and engages in dialogue with contemporary, classical, and tribal art. It produces intriguing hybrids between “high” and “low” art, contributing to the breakdown of conventional dichotomies and hierarchies. At its core, this is a pluralistic and inquisitive space that seeks to learn from others within a multicultural existence, emerging here almost as a cultural agenda.

Thus, in the realm of tattooing, a traditional design from the past can coexist alongside a contemporary design, as well as with conventions from digital, graphic, comic, or manga design. This article briefly examines the mutual influences between canonical fine art and tattoo art in one specific context: oppression versus social individualism. This is, of course, only one of many aspects that could be discussed in this context.

Until recently, the art world ignored tattooing, marginalizing it as primitive and inferior. In recent years, there has been a clear trend of warmly embracing the genre, with more and more artists using tattoos as practice, symbol, or artistic act. Many cultural researchers have recently pointed to the phenomenon of “renewed fascination,” expressed in a return to mystical, transcendent, spiritual, and even religious elements. According to art historian David Shparber, this trend is expressed in the general art world and also locally, in works based on the creation of private systems of myths and rituals.

As an artist and tattooist, I believe contemporary tattoo art is distinguished by its ability to “create” and redefine personal and collective identity, through historical influences gaining new meaning in the present era. Tattoo art rekindles a connection to mythic ancestors and artistic and historical contexts of the past, while providing a personal and contemporary context to what they represent.

Since the spread of Christianity, tattoo culture was condemned as a pagan relic. In classical times, tattoos were associated with terms such as barbarism, crime, and slavery. Tattoos marked slaves, soldiers, or criminals, as well as shame and regret (according to Hygatius Renatus, 3rd century, and physician Aetius, 6th century, Constantinople). Consequently, tattoos have been stigmatized as acts of social rebellion expressing deviance. Until recently, tattooists in Western society were considered “rebels” who helped others express their uniqueness through conspicuousness. In contrast, in tribal worlds, tattooing is embedded in social conventions and ancient ritual traditions.

In his book “Madness and Civilization,” Michel Foucault extensively discussed how one of the main tools for oppressing the individual and labeling them in society was through asylums. “The asylum is a religious domain without religion, a domain of pure morality, ethical uniformity. It expels everything that could preserve the traces of dissent from ancient times. The last remnants of ritual were suppressed,” he wrote.

In modern times, the topic was notably addressed in the 1908 essay by architect Adolf Loos, “Ornament and Crime,” in which he condemned the urge for ornamentation and exalted functionalism and minimalism. His ideas became a political agenda that prefigured, to some extent, the Nazi aesthetic. Loos found a common denominator between Western society and tribal cultures, arguing that both were, in essence, amoral. His claim was based on what he observed as an unconscious existence shared by every infant and by the elders of tribes in Papua New Guinea. According to him, the “barbaric” customs of a tribal member (murder, tattooing, etc.) cannot be judged by moral standards, as they are like infants. However, Loos considered the modern tattooed person a “degenerate or criminal.” He noted, “Eighty percent of prisoners are tattooed, and those tattooed but not in prison are either potential criminals or degenerate aristocrats.” He continued with his criminological thesis, stating, “A tattooed person who commits suicide dies years before they could commit murder.” More sharply, he wrote, “Cultural evolution is synonymous with the elimination of all ornamentation from everyday objects.”

Psychologist Ernst Jentsch in his 1909 essay on the psychology of the uncanny, followed by Sigmund Freud in 1919, explored the phenomenon of the “uncanny” — the foreign and unconscious that triggers anxiety in human life. To them, frightening and unpleasant content that we do not wish to confront occasionally manifests in real-life encounters, creating a sense of threat. While the literal translation of Unheimliche (the uncanny) is “not familiar,” it can also signify what was meant to remain hidden but came to light, like a revealed secret. Thus, two opposing meanings are fused in the term — the familiar and the repressed. Similarly, tattooing brings repressed, raw content to the surface. Tattoos serve as a daily, surface-level reminder of psychic content, sometimes even the darkest and hardest aspects of life. The most private secrets are embodied on the skin. Symbolically, tattoos act as a “second skin,” sometimes serving as protective armor, a healing act, or as a “veil of suffering,” expressing trauma and pain.

As I noted in my article “Experiencing Pain in a Controlled Way,” tattoo concepts examine and challenge bodily boundaries. A special significance is woven into the conventional terms of “signifier” and “signified” — the tattooed body becomes both signifier and signified; object and subject coexist in unison.

In local artistic contexts, this topic has been notably addressed by Israeli “second-generation” artists regarding the Holocaust. The Nazi regime cynically used tattoos to label (and literally “mark”) individuals as objects. Holocaust tattooing embodies a cruel mechanism for stripping personal identity, rendering the individual cataloged and documented for a merciless mechanical purpose. A strong artistic response appears in the work of Chaim Maor. In his series of performance and sculptural works, Maor addresses Holocaust tattoos, including the number tattooed on his father, and even created a striking portrait showing an Auschwitz map tattooed on the back.

“Dealing with the Holocaust is not about national memory or a historical problem expressed through art. It is a private, personal, familial case expressed in the pursuit of identity, out of necessity, compulsion, internal drive, obsession, therapy, etc. In other words, the personal motive, engagement with personal identity or awareness of the ‘shadow’ or the ‘follower’ attached to one’s back” (Chaim Maor, “The Sabras Who Did Not Walk in the Fields” in: “Hidden Memory / Visible Memory: Holocaust Awareness in Israel,” Ministry of Defense, 1998)

Haim Maor, “Map of Auschwitz”, photograph, 2001

On the other side of the world, yet within a similar cultural context, Chinese artist Qin Ga (b. 1971) tattooed a map of China on his back. During an ongoing personal race, he tattooed the map of China across a span of time and space as a protest against the inhumane treatment and trampling of human rights by the Chinese government toward its citizens.

Qin Ga, “Site 22: Temple of Mao Zedong”, Beijing, 2005

Another artist addressing the oppression of the individual by society is Spanish artist Santiago Sierra (b. 1966). Sierra created video and still photography documenting laborers hired to stand in a line against a wall, backs to the audience. The artist tattooed a continuous line on their backs to illustrate how capitalist society “erases” the individual and exploits them. Again, the back was chosen to highlight the erasure of personal identity.

Santiago Sierra, “250 cm Tattooed Line on the Backs of Six People”, Cuba, 1999

In a very famous photograph, American artist Catherine Opie (1961) presents the viewer with a seemingly innocent childlike drawing tattooed on her skin, in fact a colorless “childized” tattoo. The tattoo creates a conflict between the simple, childish symbolism and the harsh, painful presentation. Opie, who works extensively with the LGBTQ+ community, communicates her longing for a partner and building a home with them, evoking childhood trauma memories poignantly.

Catherine Opie, “Self-Portrait”, 1993, chromogenic print, 40 × 3 inches

Thus, one can see a similar approach by several artists operating on different cultural, mental, and physical extremes, addressing various situations of oppression through tattooing. The artists chose the back as a site to imprint the mark of oppression; in all cases, the figure emerges faceless and identity-less, persecuted metaphorically through personal and collective memory.

The social policing of women’s bodies is also explored by Israeli artist Raya Brokental (b. 1975) in the context of kosher dietary laws, which derive from an intrinsic form of internal propriety. Brokental created a video in which a figure wearing a “Miss Piggy” mask tattoos the kosher mark on another woman. The work engages with cultural legitimacy and tradition versus what is condemned, creating paradoxes related to “prohibitions.” The tattooed mark, normally forbidden by Jewish law, paradoxically appears as a kosher symbol. The pig, as the “certifying” figure, becomes a symbol of impurity and degradation in Jewish culture. Here, the tattoo act is invasive and transforms the skin into an ethical and tangible boundary. The mark Piggy tattoos is the American kosher symbol for food, giving it a global dimension akin to pop art, where essential values are distributed through the apparent universality of American culture. Piggy’s pop-art image softens the fact that it is a pig, revealing both the difficulties of being a pig and a woman in the Jewish state, highlighting the notion of “the Other.”

Raya Brokenthal, “Miss Piggy”, Video, 2002

Back to pigs, Belgian artist Wim Delvoye (b. 1965) is known for his controversial and problematic act of tattooing pigs. Delvoye creates simultaneously appealing and repulsive images that provoke antagonism and internal conflict. Rumor has it Delvoye explored how a pig’s economic value could increase by turning it into “art,” raising questions about the economic aspect of art. Delvoye (like Santiago Sierra) uses the economic system to “exploit” and expose its coercion and force. Through this, he produces striking contradictions regarding morality and ethics.

Wim Delvoye, “Tattooed Live Pigs”, Beijing, 2005

Creating a tattoo on the skin is a powerful sensory experience. The skin is the largest sense organ in the body, defining the boundaries between inside and outside. It functions as receptor and absorber, as well as transmitter and emitter. The tattoo act manifests psychic material in tangible form. An abstract idea from the tattooed person’s psyche becomes everyday presence through tattooing, allowing contemplative observation. Artists and tattooists engage in an act akin to framing — a focused archetype of mental experience given value as a “visual signifier.”

As a final contrasting example, artist Anisa Ashkar seeks to empower the individual and highlight their personal identity. She uses her face and body as a canvas, raising questions about social, gender, and national identity. In recent years, she performs a ritual each morning, painting (symbolically tattooing) Arabic calligraphy on her face — a traditional male artistic form born from Islam. In this act, Ashkar highlights the power of the gaze — experiencing individuality and “visibility” to others versus “erasure” and transparency. Ashkar notes, “I was tired of being looked through […] I had a strong physical need to do something on my body […] Freedom is taken by teeth and nails, and it returns you to being an animal.” This is a call for individual, cultural, and feminist freedom, as a woman claiming sovereignty over her fate and transcending oppressive life circumstances. In this sense, tattooing marks uniqueness and acts as liberation.

Anisa Ashkar, “Identity”. Photograph by Yossi Aloni

In his book “Black Skin, White Masks,” post-colonialist writer Frantz Fanon addresses the identity and self-image problems of “any people who underwent colonization — that is, any people who developed an inferiority complex due to the erasure of their native culture — facing the language of the colonizing nation.” According to him, “A person who has ownership of language also thereby has ownership of the described world […] Language is ‘the lost God in flesh and blood.’ I feel the depth of this statement in the context of tattooing. The tattooed person, as Fanon noted, takes ownership of the tattooed symbol. Physical ownership of the symbol creates inherent magical ownership over everything related to it. Adopting a language or symbol and inscribing it on flesh creates identity and develops culture in its deepest sense.”

Yasmine Bergner is a multidisciplinary artist, tattooer, Therapist and researcher

Special thanks to David Shperber

הפוסט Body Reclamation of the Symbol | Article by Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

To Experience Pain in a Controlled Way – by Yasmine Bergner

Originally published in the online magazine Erev Rav, 2012

TUFF ENUFF – On the Solo Exhibition of Photographer Rona Yefman

Zomer Gallery, Tel Aviv, 2012

Photographer Rona Yefman, currently presenting a solo exhibition at Zomer Gallery, created a series of works in video, photography, and print on various materials, sewing on textiles and leather, and neon sculpture, uniquely exploring the lives and personas of two American tattoo artists. One of them is “Shanghai Kate”, a 65-year-old renowned American tattoo artist, an iconic figure in the history of American tattooing, active in the tattoo scene since the 1960s in the old-school genre (sailor and military tattoos). The other is Caitlin, a 20-year-old New York artist who tattoos herself at home as an amateur.

Yefman explains that a subconscious impulse causes her to be “magnetized” to a person, turning them, for a period, into the subject of her artistic investigation. Her focus on the unique personas of these two women expresses a deep and empathetic observation that arises organically from the interaction and intimacy created between them. “The photographs of ‘Shanghai Kate’ were taken during nine intense days we spent together. I came to the hotel room every day to photograph her,” Yefman says. “The initial encounter with Shanghai Kate and Caitlin was a chance meeting in the New York subway. I saw the tattooed arm of an older woman as a storm of hair, and a certain impulse made me start a conversation with her.” Yefman says that tattooing is not necessarily the main essence of the works, but an opportunity to connect with people (as with any other subject of her artistic investigation). She shoots at eye level, does not elevate herself above her subjects or impose a private worldview, but is present as an enabling figure, observing with empathy and full acceptance, without judgment or interpretation.

“Only when Caitlin came to my studio and removed her long shirt because it was hot that day did I notice her tattoos… This was about a year after photographing Shanghai Kate. When I had the materials of both women, it felt right to connect the two sets, and something happened that complemented each other,” she recounts. Indeed, the exhibition surprisingly and naturally combines two worlds. The photographs reveal coherent and complete figures. Fragile and vulnerable, yet possessing a strong center and clear identity. They are so human, intriguing, shining with the light of their unique personality, strong and vulnerable at the same time. They also resonate profoundly with questions of self-image and the perception of the “self” in relation to the world. The video work of “Shanghai Kate” focuses on the tattoo artist lying on a bed, smiling a weary and tough smile while talking about her life.

It points to a fundamental feeling accompanying her throughout her life, of being subjected to oppression and struggle as a female tattoo artist, a rare situation in 1960s New York in a male-dominated field. She describes a competitive and challenging career from which she forgoes motherhood. Her struggle as a woman among men, and her strong ambition to succeed and overcome difficulties, finds artistic expression in a biker-style denim jacket sewn by Yefman. On the back of the jacket, Yefman imprinted Shanghai Kate’s “manifesto,” starting with the words “I’M A BORN FIGHTER.” As a mental action, there is a connection between tattooing and sewing, and between tattooing and imprinting color on textile. The needle penetrates the skin, sews the fabric, wounding and healing simultaneously.

Another powerful work is a striking close-up photograph of a tattoo on the skin of the young tattooer Caitlin, a tattoo she created and signed herself. It is an almost enigmatic text saying: TIME KILLS, framed within a lightbox. The light emanating from the box seems to “illuminate” the skin from within, creating transparency. The viewer receives a close-up of the tattoo, almost as if looking into the skin itself. In a nearby video work, Yefman’s camera focuses on a similar close-up. Viewers watch Caitlin tattoo herself in real time, as if they were in the room with her while she holds the needle (usually inside a tattoo machine) in a decisive hand, unaware of the pain.

She stretches the skin with one finger and tattoos with the other, pressing repeatedly and inserting the color-filled needle into the skin, creating dots that eventually merge into lines. With great determination, she traces symbols on the human skin, as if immersed in a private ritual. Intimate therapy through pain. She sketches a personal manifesto: a broken heart with “OVER & OVER” inscribed in the skin below it. She tattoos on herself her life, her fate as she perceives it, in the privacy of her home.

Caitlin’s face, with her giant childlike eyes and shy, quiet body language, radiates fragility and insecurity, yet self-acceptance and serenity. She is presented to the viewer in all her humanity, and even beyond. Rona Yefman creates a kind of “restoration” where these two women, who perceive themselves as “outsiders” and have undergone a certain type of social oppression, are given a place of “honor” and recognition of their humanity (and as artists!), presented in the sterile gallery space and subversively returned to the consensus. This is characteristic of Rona Yefman’s work throughout her career, consistent in her interactive observation of the “other” and the different.

Tattooed individuals, as young Caitlin demonstrates, are people willing to “experience pain in a controlled way”. One role of the tattoo artist is to help the client moderate impulses related to pain and harm. Even today, the act of tattooing is an act of symbolic pain operating on two levels: physically, it is a form of “pain therapy,” ventilating excess or lack of sensory stimulation. Psychologically, it is a physical action refining impulses. Its purpose is to “guide” and elevate beyond everyday life. It is also an opportunity to reinvent oneself, to create a personal identity the individual can embrace while marking themselves with their own archetypes and personal mythology. After all, the body is both the marker and the marked.

Although the two women in Rona Yefman’s exhibition come from different backgrounds and belong to different generations, both resonate with the American history of tattoo culture. In the Bowery neighborhood of New York, a tattoo culture flourished, originating from France in the early 20th century and lasting until the 1960s, as a marginalized subculture compared to mainstream culture. It was a meeting place for rebels, criminals, sailors, and prostitutes. On the streets near where the Chrysler building now stands, one can still sense the era’s atmosphere. Didier Anzieu’s significant book, *The Skin Ego*, helps understand the tattoo phenomenon in its proper psychological context. In his research, Anzieu claims that a person’s primary sense of identity is formed through the consciousness of the “skin ego”—a psychological envelope through which one experiences the world. “By directing attention to the skin as both a primary, organic, and simulated medium, it functions as the individual’s protective system and simultaneously as the first tool and exchange space with others” (p. 43).

“The ‘Skin Ego‘ envelope is a psychological envelope (like other envelopes related to smell, memory, dream, etc.), oriented simultaneously inward and outward. It develops properly only if the mother expresses something of herself and the child, related to the quality of the child’s emotional experiences” (p. 35). These psychological imprints influence lifelong aesthetic and ethical choices regarding body image, expressed in harmony versus disharmony, compositional perception, and geometric balance relative to the body, or in contrast, creating dissonance or formal chaos. The tattoo ritual serves as an alternative means of coping with psychological content, and although it is not commonly recognized in the West, tattoos are catalysts for development.

Through the tattooed image, the tattooed person creates a memory pattern that helps bring psychological content to the surface, literally. Once a certain image is imprinted on the skin, it is there to stay, representing a desire to create something eternal in the world. Rona Yefman sees the tattoos of Kate and Caitlin as deeply personally meaningful. The “ship” tattoo on Shanghai Kate’s shoulder, shown in one portrait, is a tattoo she “earned” from a colleague after years of resistance to her work. Caitlin regards her body as a “journal” or “sketchbook,” as Yefman explains, on which she writes and draws. Like a parchment scroll, it narrates her life circumstances and personal insights, which, through Yefman’s lens, become poetic. In a beautiful photograph printed on textile resembling a red-striped flag, somewhat echoing the United States flag, Yefman photographed Caitlin as a sailor directly engaging with this specific subculture and its history.

The act of tattooing involves dual exposure. First, the tattooed person “reveals” to themselves, consciously or unconsciously, hidden content, dark material usually concealed from view. Second, on a collective level, the tattooed individual displays their tattoos, symbolizing, for the conservative observer, an “improper disclosure” of content they themselves do not wish to explore. The very nature of the tattooed person as outside the mainstream is threatening. This is why Western culture stigmatized tattoos. They represent inappropriate visibility, and certain arts are only accepted after rebellion or a long evolutionary period, after which society could assimilate innovations safely. In her exhibition, Yefman continues her work exploring “others,” human personas who demonstrate courageous paths, not necessarily mainstream. People operating from social oppression or striving for individualism ultimately reveal humanity that transcends social definitions.

Rona Yefman TUFF ENUFF
Zomer Gallery, March–April 2012

Yasmine Bergner is an artist, spiritual guide through tattoos, art therapist and researcher

הפוסט To Experience Pain in a Controlled Way | An Article by Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.

The verse most often cited as proof  of the Jewish Tattoo prohibition is:
“And you shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:28).
This article presents evidence that turns this assumption on its head, suggesting that in fact a folk Tattoo culture, did exist among Biblical Jews.

“And You Shall Cleave Unto Him” – Tattoos in Judaism – Article by Yasmine Bergner

Originally published in the online magazine Erev Rav, 2012

The groundbreaking research of Biblical scholar Prof. Meir Bar – Ilan provides us with new insights into the subject of tattoos in the Hebraic tradition and compiles numerous references and halachic rulings from the Bible and Hekhalot literature (Kabbalah). These sources shed surprising new light on the phenomenon of Jewish tattooing and suggest that ancient Jews tattooed themselves with sacred markings as part of their devotional rites of passage.

Already in the Book of Genesis (Chapter 4, verse 15), in the story of Cain and Abel, the idea of a tattoo appears at least conceptually:
“And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.”

Cain becomes the first wanderer and exile in history, as an act of punishment and atonement for the bloodshed he committed. The nature of this “mark” is not specified, yet it was likely some external sign – an identifying mark, meant to protect him from harm. The symbol carries a dual meaning: both revealing and protective at the same time (see my article “A Mark of Shame and a Symbol of Protection“).

Eric Weiss, 2010, Hand Bound with Masking Tape, photograph

In the Book of Ezekiel, the idea of tattooing appears as a mark of identification and protection of the righteous in a situation reminiscent of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. In a divine revelation experienced by the prophet Ezekiel during the Babylonian exile, far from his home, he describes:

“The Lord said to him: Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations committed in it… But do not touch anyone who has the mark.” (Ezekiel 9)

The deeper meaning of the story is difficult to determine, yet seemingly Ezekiel is commanded by a mysterious divine presence appearing in the vision of the chariot to physically mark the righteous so that no harm would come to them during the destruction of the sinners.

In his foundational article “Magical Seals on the Body Among Jews in the Early Centuries CE,” Meir Bar – Ilan writes that the mark placed on people’s foreheads served as an apotropaic symbol meant to protect the righteous, similar to the blood marks placed on the doorposts during the Exodus from Egypt.

Bar-Ilan notes that the “sign” used to mark the righteous was likely the final letter of the ancient Hebrew alphabet, which many researchers believe resembled a cross shape (+), similar to the letter “X”. This symbol may have been chosen simply because it is the most natural form of marking: two intersecting lines.

It is also possible that the mark given to Cain was this same final letter of the ancient Hebrew alphabet – which also resembles the  “X” symbol (Haim Maor, 2012). The motif of the symbol “X” tattoo appears in every tribal tattoo culture around the world without exception. It is important to note that long before the rise of Christianity, ancient humans used the iconography of the cross, whose fundamental meaning was simply – place marking, celestial rotation & sun worship.

Animism represents the earliest form of belief, predating organized religion, and the sun was the purest archetype of divinity within this worldview. From it derives the shape of the “X” or cross: the endless rotational movement of the celestial bodies.

Bar – Ilan also suggests that members of the Qumran sect marked themselves with various symbols, and later Hekhalot literature clearly references the idea of sacred Body markings.

Who, then, were these ancient Hebrew tattoo or body modification practitioners?

To approach a possible answer, one must understand the development of priestly traditions in the Bible. Biblical and Kabbalistic scholar Prof. Rachel Elior writes that:

“Hekhalot literature is the final link in the tradition of the mystical chariot (Merkavah), which began with Ezekiel’s chariot vision toward the end of the First Temple period in the Babylonian exile, continued in the ‘Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice,’ angelic blessings, the Book of Enoch, the Testaments of the Tribes and many other intellectual treasures discovered in the caves of Qumran during the Second Temple period, and concluded with mystical writings known as ‘Hekhalot’ and ‘Merkavah’ composed after the destruction of the Second Temple and attributed to Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha the High Priest and Rabbi Akiva.”

(Memory and Oblivion: The Mystery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, R. Elior, p. 111)

What these traditions share is that they were written by priestly circles that were prevented from serving in the Temple due to exile, destruction, or separation from the priesthood.

Eric Weiss, 2010, Tattoo – imprinting a tefillin icon on the forehead, photograph

Changes in the meaning of tattoo cultures often occur alongside historical and political transformations. Based on the evidence, I tend to assume that the dispute regarding the legitimacy of tattooing in Biblical culture during this period arose from shifts in priestly hegemony over time. These shifts altered sacred rituals and created cultural divisions.

It is possible that the mainstream priestly traditions of that time rejected tattoo rituals and defined them as pagan practices (“Customs of the gentiles”), while other priestly traditions that had been exiled, marginalized, or separated from the Temple rituals, maintained independent doctrines and philosophical approaches and made extensive use of tattooing as a shamanic act within a holistic mystical ritual.

Many texts discovered in Qumran and studied by “The Yahad Community” were unknown to us before their discovery. This community possessed a rich library of invaluable spiritual and intellectual works, and its members were engaged in study, philosophical reflection, writing, and translation. These writings later formed the foundation for Kabbalistic thought.

The nature of this group remains somewhat mysterious. In some places it is described as an idealistic and peace-seeking community living in isolation, though scholars disagree about whether it consisted of the Essenes or the Sons of Zadok.

According to Elior, we are witnessing a profound social rupture following changes in priestly leadership when authority passed from the House of Zadok to the Hasmonean dynasty. This cultural and religious conflict produced three main groups: the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes.

The appointed house of Hasmoneans is politically corrupted. The Zadokite priests and the Pharisees challenged its legitimacy and criticized the unnecessary bloodshed associated with it’s reign.

This conflict reflects deeper differences in worldview and ritual practice. The new mainstream tradition followed lunar-based ritual calendars, while the marginalized priestly culture followed solar calendars and sometimes combined lunar and solar systems.

Rachel Elior points out that these three central themes – once at the heart of ancient priestly tradition and associated with celestial worship—were rejected by rabbinic tradition, marginalized, or even erased from the cultural memory preserved by later sages.

Eric Weiss, And You Shall Cleave – Self Portrait, 2010, photograph

It is therefore quite possible that certain cultural practices were excluded for political reasons through a process of canonization that elevated some traditions while suppressing others. Another possibility is that society was not ready to accept certain spiritual concepts.

The scholar Gershom Scholem spoke about the tension between mysticism and religious authority, highlighting the conflict between the mystic and the religious structures of his time.

It may be that traditions associated with ancient solar rituals were pushed aside or classified as “external literature” because they symbolized older worldviews that the new leadership sought to replace with a renewed Biblical identity.

As Scholem notes, mysticism contains two opposing yet complementary aspects: a conservative side and a revolutionary one.

Several centuries later, in Hekhalot literature, the concept of “Marking the body” appears in various forms – both regarding the design of the Mark / Seal and its purpose – and takes on a dramatic character.

In the text “Ma’aseh Merkavah,” one of the most significant works of Hekhalot literature, marking the body – appears as an integral element of the Sacred ritual. An angel explains to Rabbi Ishmael that one who seeks entry into the mystical vision “must fast for forty days, eat sparingly, immerse in twenty-four ritual immersions, pray with complete devotion, and “seal himself with the seals  / marks.”

Additional references appear among the Tannaim:

“One who writes a tattoo – if he wrote but did not tattoo, or tattooed but did not write, he is not liable until he both writes and tattoos with ink, blue dye, or any substance that leaves a mark.”

Prof. Bar-Ilan interprets this in two possible ways. One interpretation is that it is forbidden to tattoo the name of God on the body, implying that a neutral tattoo is not necessarily prohibited. Another interpretation suggests that the prohibition refers not to the name of God but to the name of a foreign deity / divinity.

This indicates that ancient sages were familiar with the practice of inscribing God’s name on the body and addressed it in their legal discussions. In some cases, the halachic texts suggest that tattooing could be permitted if it functioned as an aspect of devotion to God, while tattoos related to idolatry were forbidden.

In another passage it is written that God revealed visions of hell to the disciples, who “fell upon their faces, wept, and fainted for forty days and forty nights”. Afterward, God raised them and “they marked their faces.” Bar – Ilan believes that the combination of mystical vision with the sealing of the body signifies one who has experienced divine revelation.

Thus, the “marking of the body,” as described in Hekhalot literature, carries a clearly magical tattoo reference. References indicate that these seals / marks were placed on various parts of the body, including the forehead. The motif of the forehead tattoo in the shape of an “X” appears in tattoo cultures across the world.

From Rabbi Ishmael’s descriptions, it appears that the essence of the tattoo was the encoded name of God, similar to practices found in other magical traditions. According to Bar-Ilan, these tattoos functioned as spiritual “Boarding passes” granting entry into the Kingdom of Heaven – in other words, Rites pf passage & Initiation.

Rabbi Ishmael declares in the first person:
“I marked myself with seven seals when the angel Padkars, the angel of the Presence, descended.”

The meaning of this statement remains enigmatic. What exactly were these seals? The declaration appears to arise from an authentic emotional expression and personal experience – perhaps even a trance state or revelation.

These references reach their climax in the mystical work “Ma’aseh Merkavah,” which describes the 7 heavenly gates through which the righteous pass among the angels. Those ascending through the gates must present various “seals” to the angels guarding each gate, proving their readiness and worthiness to proceed with the ascension process.

God sits upon His throne in the seventh palace. The mystical vision – “This great mystery” – is described in concrete terms as an actual geographical space through which the initiate must pass.

Descriptions of inter-dimensional spiritual journeys appear in many traditions worldwide. The Tibetan “Bardo Thodol” (The Tibetan Book of the Dead) and the Egyptian “Book of the Dead” describe the soul’s journey from this world to the next through gates and encounters with celestial beings.

The instruction to “seal oneself” before entering the vision resembles a structured initiation ritual and closely parallels Indigenous tattoo traditions meant to ward off harmful spirits and summon protective ones.

The narrator of Hekhalot literature is traditionally attributed to Enoch, son of Jared, the righteous man who ascended and became the exalted angel Metatron, a being nearly divine in stature.

In the science of Sacred Geometry, “Metatron’s Cube” is a complex mathematical formula – a geometrical signature in itself – within which the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is embedded.

The “seals” marked on those who travel through the 7  heavenly palaces serve as a means of communication with the guarding angels. The seal or tattoo functions simultaneously as a symbol of spiritual status and as a protective sign.

Later in “Ma’aseh Merkavah,” even the angels themselves are described as bearing seals:
“…and four seals of the Ineffable Name were in their hands, two at each gate.”

In the Hekhalot text “Shi’ur Komah,” which describes the “physical” form of the divine, it is explicitly written that:
“Upon His heart are written seventy names […] and upon His forehead seventy letters.”

Thus, those engaged in mystical visions in antiquity often described their Creator in their own image – and consequently sought to imitate Him. In other words, God Himself is described as having letters markings and sacred inscriptions embedded upon His anthropomorphic body.

Bar-Ilan provides further examples:
“Before the world was created, neither silver nor gold existed, but the Torah was written upon the arm of the Holy One, blessed be He.”

Bar – Ilan wonders why such testimonies have not received deeper attention among rabbinic scholars. In her book Memory and Oblivion, Rachel Elior seeks to recover the voices of the “forgotten, silenced, marginalized, and defeated” whose sacred library was discovered in the caves of Qumran by the Dead Sea – voices that had almost entirely disappeared from Hebreic history and collective memory for nearly two thousand years.

According to these testimonies, there is reasonable ground to believe that a Biblical tattoo culture once existed and later faded from cultural consciousness alongside these historical developments.

I would like to thank Prof. Meir Bar-Ilan.

Yasmine Bergner is an artist, a spiritual guide through tattooing, art therapist and researcher.

הפוסט “And cleave unto Him” | Tattoos in Judaism | Article by Yasmine Bergner הופיע לראשונה ב-גיאומטריה מקודשת.