Introducing ROOT+RISE

I have always been fascinated by roots. Those parts of plants and trees that live underground, feeding that which exists above, just as the sunlight feeds the subterranean synapses. It is the roots, those parts that exist under the ground, unseen in the rich soil of darkness, that nourish and sustain, that largely dictate the condition, nature and health of the whole. Cut off the visible, above-ground parts of the organism, it will most likely regenerate and grow back. But destroy its roots and it is done for.

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In the darkness, roots absorb and gestate nutrients, energy and information from the surrounding soil and its microorganisms to feed the parts that reach heavenward, to propel them up and out into the world.

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The roots of things. Formed by the planting of seeds in soil, which germinate, once again, in the dark, numinous unseen.

What is it to feel rooted as a human? We are rooted to the earth, yet ours are invisible roots. We too reach heavenward. How that is expressed depends on the nature of our roots, and what they nourish themselves with in the subterranean realms. And on the seed that gave birth to them.

There are some roots that keep the organism bound, not to a joyful growth towards sun and sky, but to patterns of imbalance, disease and suffering that eventually destroy the whole. So it is with humans. And if there is any Gnosis of oneself to be had, any re-membering and re-wholing to be done, one must begin by excavating back to the original seed, and to what was feeding it in the dark and fertile unseen.

In the ancient esoterica of western alchemy, there’s an acronym which powerfully encapsulates the process of Self-remembering through this chthonic journey:

V.I.T.R.I.O.L

Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem

or

Visit the interior of the earth, and by rectifying what you find there, you will discover the hidden (philosopher's) stone.

Or the stone of Gnosis, as I like to call it: the result of inner alchemy that leads to the deepening processes of Know ThySelf.

​Over the years, I’ve had some memorable adventures with this acronym, and I’ll be diving more into its rich chemical - philosophical symbol-set soon.

In the meantime, I ask you to bypass the grasping of your intellectual mind - the cyclical processes of embodied Gnosis will forever elude us if approached through our rational, intellectualizing left brain - and leave you to meditate on V.I.T.R.I.O.L, and its 7 letters which are congruent with the 7 stages of western alchemy, the 7 classical planets and the 7 main chakras in Yoga.

All of which leads me to introduce and welcome you to -

Please enjoy exploring the details of this new creation + offering HERE.