The Invocation of the Three Furies

Reader Beware!The responsible and considered reader will quickly realize that this essay presents an understanding of themes of western esotericism that may confuse or disorient those who do not read the entire essay, and as such, those themes should not be abbreviated, offered in bits and pieces, bandied about, guessed at, hinted at, joked about, stolen, plagiarized, leaked, or paraphrased. The western esoteric tradition warns that such incaution is dangerous not only for the listener but also for those who reveal the material in a haphazard manner. The "Invocation of the Three Furies" is a psychological exercise in exorcism, an exorcism of the masses. It is inspired by the culture of the Ancient Greeks as well as Renaissance Era Christianity and Tibetan Buddhism. More immediately, it was inspired by August Rodin's sculptural interpretation and elaboration of Dante's Inferno, the first book of Dante's trilogy, Comedia, in Rodin's well-known work, the "Gates of Hell." The Invocation brings together elements of all three cultures to create a modern, western adaptation of powerful tools of psychological transformation in a ritual-like performance that combines a recited invocation coupled with a cultured imagination as well as a physical offering of tea and a cookie to the spirts of the Three Furies to clear the mind of neurotic influences not only in one's personal psychology but in the collective psychological environment one inhabits as well. It specifically addresses the madness in the masses of a polarized culture in never ending battles of outrage, deception, and negativity that have significantly disrupted the flow and progress of the individual in modern society as well as of that society itself. The only thing needed to enact the performance is imagination and a small cup of tea and a cookie. The entire performance, once the reading of this essay is complete, will take about twenty minutes. Most high school grads are familiar with Dante's Inferno either from High School or from popular culture and many are familiar with Rodin's "Thinker." Some were even required to read the Inferno in English class, but even though most people are familiar with it, few people have read it or care to but enjoy and are even enthralled by the story line and the imagery. To read this essay, it is not expected that the reader has or should read any of them. Common knowledge, or a little basic research on the imagery and basic story lines is all that is required. Those who want more detail on the work but still don't want to read the full poem are referred to the Penguin Classic editions of the Comedia which include very informative and elucidating introductions. Rodin's imagery in his famed sculpture of the Gates of Hell provides not only a sculptural interpretation of Dante's Inferno but also an intricate presentation of the cultural confusion of Rodin's time as well as a continuation and elaboration of the artistic tradition of the Judeo-Christian tradition from Homer to Virgil to Dante to Michelangelo to Milton and finally to Rodin through his interweaving of the culture of his time with the work of Dante and other past masters. The cultural foundations of the modern world and the cultural psychology that Homer, Virgil, Dante, Michelangelo, Milton, and Rodin have depicted in all its strengths and weaknesses must be reviewed in brief and coordinated with a little discussion of the beliefs of their time and of ours to properly understand and relate to such a seemingly archaic and primitive activity as invoking and making offerings to the Three Furies. To provide this necessary cultural background, Part 1 of this essay provides four necessary but short preliminary discussions on: a) the Renaissance Era world view, b) imagination before modern science, c) the reality of spirits, and d) the role of physical offerings to imagined spirits; Part 2 ...