Pollaiuolo’s Hercules and the Hydra (c. 1475): an image of heroic ego standing against unconscious, dark parts of the Self

In human’s inner world, rich and diverse, there is no single commanding center. On this, modern psychology agrees with the ancient Eastern teachings like Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism. The conscious ego gives the delusion of a commanding center, but in reality it is a mere observer that reflects on its surroundings, a traveler in a small boat of focused attention in the vast sea of impressions. However, despite the absence of an obvious commanding center, our psyche does have a center of gravity, located deep inside. This center of gravity is multiple by its nature, with so many facets that it becomes very hard to identify it. The ego is just a small part of this center of gravity — and being the part that we comprehend more easily, it is often mistaken for the whole. This is much like a dream, where the hero (=the ego) slays the monsters, but fails to comprehend that these monsters are his own fears and hopes, and that he, along with all other parts of the dream, is a proxy of the dreamer himself. The dreamer exists and is very real, although his reality is on a different, deeper level than that of the subjects of his dream. In a similar way, our deeper inner Self exists and is the real driving power behind the choices we make and, more generally, behind the patterns of our life. Any development and personal growth would mean improving and synchronizing the way that the Self works, empowering the Self to interact better with all its (ours) integral parts (such as ego) and with the surroundings.

From the scope of occult, the Self, which we (at The Thirteen) also name after an ancient Sumerian term “ME”, is the subject of the sinister alchemical Great Work (opus magnum), the result of this Work, and the very process of the Working. Although the Self is a concept that has many parallels in various cultures, our approach is somewhat unique. We see ME as a non-homogenous system consisting of two major parts united in the labor of Love (in Crowleyan meaning), and possibly a legion of minor parts. The two major parts are very unlike each other, and are known as Nature and Will, Mercury and Sulfur, and under many other names and guises, such as perhaps ka and ba of the ancient Egyptians or p’o and hun in Taoism. These two major parts are not intermixed into homogeneity, but interact while having plenty of empty space between them, like for example the Planets and the Sun. In addition, multiple swarms of minor planets, asteroids and comets could symbolize the third component of ME, also known as Salt and by many other names.

Observable Universe in logarithmic scale – pretty much an illustration for the internal structure of the Self

This symbolic example blends alchemy, astrology and theurgy. It also illustrates the idea of non-locality, fractality of ME, its multiplicity, since many different objects are viewed as parts of the same essential force. Besides, planets can be viewed hermetically as more than just physical bodies — Venus is alchemical Copper, passionate love, number 6 and many other wonderful things. Ancient Sumerians believed that the ME of the deities are multiplied by their temples, priests and offerings. In the same way, bits of our ME project into everything we do in our lives — our deeds, books that we write and artifacts that we craft, people that we influence, places that we are fond of, and ideas that we support. In fact, when a Magician dies, his ME (not ego or human psyche) can persist through death, being transformed by it, and continue to affect the world as a part of human culture, as a ME of a deity. Thus, an occultist is not a simple mortal: as above so below, and men are like gods. To take the astronomical analogy one step further, men are at the same time fractal parts of godly entities, and also gods in their own right — in the same way as our solar system along with many other solar systems is a part of our Galaxy. Think of planets moving around the Sun — and at the same time Sun moving around the Black Hole that is the center of our Galaxy. And the Galaxy is moving too, with a breathtaking speed, around larger centers of gravitation, and so on.

Mahavidyas: a pantheon of Hindu dark goddess as a sample of multi-identity and antinomianity of the Self

The comparison of an expanded ME with the singularity of a black hole is not accidental. While the surface of a developed human psyche resembles an analogy of the Solar System, with a polytheistic Olympic pantheon of deities patronizing the surface of our emotions, passions and energies (the classical antique Greco-Roman pantheon which lends names to our solar system planets is a good example), the deeper layers of human psyche are much darker. It was discovered by post-jungian psychologists, such as James Hillman or Miller David (see for instance The New Polytheism, Harper & Row, 1974), that once we remove monotheistic oppression from psyche and allow the inner polyphony to appear from the underneath, we can start to approach in awe the mysterious, dark, numinous Self, which is another guise for what we call ME. By its nature, this Self is antinomian towards social standards, as it contains both the conscious and the non-conscious, known and unknown, acceptable and not acceptable by the society. It is unique, personal and unlike any other, but at the same time trans-personal and links to the collective unconscious levels. It is inside and outside; it is more than one thinks that he is. Thus, such Self is fearful for the uninitiated, because it can devour social personas identified with a human ego. At the same time such Self grants humans a deeper, deified existence in return for overcoming the fears. Thus, for example, Stanton Marlan, a post-jungian psychologist, speaks of the Self as the “Black Sun” in human psyche (however, “Back Hole” would be even a better analogy). When viewed as the power behind any true initiation, ME is viral, expansionistic and infiltrating. As a serpent that seeks and charms its prey, it attracts and mesmerizes. Nietzsche suggested: find the courage to look into this Abyss once, and it will look back at you for all eternity. While a person’s first approach to ME is often accompanied by chaos and confusion (see, for instance, the rich imagery for alchemical nigredo), one can learn to work with the inner polyphony and multiplicity of Pandaemonium, and hence introduce a henotheistic approach described above.