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Welcome
The above main tabs contain introductory comments on the following areas, to which are linked additional pages:
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About this site
Fourhares.com began as a place for content that does not fit easily on other sites I maintain. Though FourHares contains a variety of pages across a broad spectrum, most predominantly reflect four fields of personal interest.
It should be noted that other people who may be involved in any one of these fields do not develop an interest in the others. FourHares, therefore, simply reflects my syncretic interests, weaved in a personal and eclectic style.
Please note that some incomplete pages may have been created to answer specific questions that, serving the purpose, have remained as is for the present.
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Petroglyph from Lyon Notre Dame Cathedral, France |
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Mediæval triple-hares, and why “fourhares”…
I was fascinated by the geometry and optical illusion of mediæval representations from various parts the world that show three hares (or deer) arranged in such a way that their ears are drawn in common — resulting in three ears for three hares. In 2005, when in Lyon (France), I saw upon its Notre Dame Cathedral a petroglyph of the same concept, save that here were four hares. The photo I took is above. Wherever the image is shown on other pages, it is intended as a link that will return you to this Home page.
So why 'fourhares'? when selecting a domain name that initially focussed on four areas of more esoteric and, for myself at any rate, interconnected and personal interests, the option “fourhares” simply rose to the fore. So here we are!
The hare in the left-hand border is of a mosaïc from the Roman era, edited a little to remove the menacing jaws of a wolf (L. Lupus) from near the hare (L. Lepus), and to feign a repeated pattern.
This same 'wolf-hare' (or hound-rabbit) relationship is also found in later representations, such as Basil Valentinus's alchemical works – below is his three-hare Venus image: |
How this site is organised
This main Home page has an overview of some key points arranged in tabbed sections on each of the following:
Philosophy & Kabalah;
Anthroposophy;
Freemasonry; and
Tarot.
From each section, a table of contents is provided linking to further pages.
For participants of either my online courses or mesg, please email me if you cannot locate the non-linked pages.
If looking for a specific term, do make use of the search engine.
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N.B.: This section originally started out as solely on Kabalah. I am slowly altering it to reflect my more general interest in Philosophy.
Philosophical considerations
Perhaps this area should be considered as the core around which the other four areas (anthroposophy, kabalah, tarot and freemasonry) emerge. Philosophy not only in its more academically inclined sense, but also and essentially as ever so central to epistemological, ethical, and metaphysical foundations out of which outpours various expressions.
Epistemology
When considering epistemological considerations, I find myself in general agreement with two dominant views: the first is what is an Aristotelean-Steiner reflection that each area has its own (near unique yet multidimentional) ways of being known. Consequentially, and as an example, methods that are appropriate to knowing the plant world will likely, when applied to either physics or ethics, simply lead us to misguided judgements or oversights.
The second is the Lockean-Deely (via a Peircean detour) contributions to epistemology from semiotic considerations. In fact, I consider that these semiotic considerations also have much to play in more deeply understanding both Steiner's concept of Vorstellung and Lonergan's concept of Insight and their role in the epistemological process.
Ethics
With regards to ethics, I stand squarely in agreement with Steiner's development of ethical individualism as developed in his seminal work Philosophy of Freedom, mirrored in some ways in the works of Charles Taylor (for example, in his Sources of the Self).
Its key characteristic reflects virtue ethics, which stands in contradistinction to both Kantian deontological and various consequentialist views of ethics - these last two inadequately reflecting what makes a specific act ethical (which is always an act by a specific person in the context of a specific event).
Not only the individual's motive, but also his or her characterological disposition, and her or his insight into the situation at hand all play into the moral dimension. |
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Kabalah's development and appropriation
Over time, 'Kabalah' has acquired various spellings, including 'Kabbalah', 'Cabala', and 'Qabalah' (amongst others!).
Though it arises out of a Jewish mystical tradition, it is fair to claim that various of its important contributions transcend the soil out of which the seed has germinated and continues to also blossom. In order, however, to be better grounded in the discipline and its nuances, it is perhaps fair to state that a grounding in the Jewish spiritual traditions is desirable.
Hebrew alphabet and the Tree of Life
Some of Kabalah's important elements have for some centuries become syncretised within the occidental esoteric traditions and movements. Of especial note are the Hebrew alphabet (or 'Alefbeit') and the Tree of Life. There are some, it seems, that see in Kabalah first and foremost a particular version of the glyph of the Tree of Life as its ultimate expression.
Relationship of Kabalah to other disciplines
In the Kabalah I personally see an acute development of the spiritual faculty of Inspiration, of careful listening to, as described in other context, that still and small voice that speaks within the confines of that sacred repository: one's heart.
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With regards to Anthroposophy (also referred to as Spiritual Science), I refer to two especial things. On the one hand, an understanding of the world as essentially spiritual, from and for which knowledge (science) may be obtained. On the other hand, without contradiction to the first, that body of insights provided by Rudolf Steiner in his various anthroposophical works.
Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy (Spiritual Science)
Rudolf Steiner, who lived between the years 1861 and 1925, established the Anthroposophical Society and was influential in providing some of the key impulses behind Waldorf education, Bio-dynamic farming, the Christian Community, some important architectural innovations, and Eurythmy - amongst other things.
This site is not about Rudolf Steiner nor Anthroposophy, but will nonetheless provide some important considerations arising out of his work on the Spiritual Science pages. In my personal view, he encapsulates the whole Anthroposophical impulse in his seminal work Philosophy of Freedom (Cf chapter nine):
To live in love of action and to let live in understanding of the other's volition, this is the fundamental maxim of the free man.
Spiritual Science in general
In order to view and understand the world from such a perspective, a number of considerations are taken as given.
Firstly, that the physical world fundamentally arises out of a manifestation of the spiritual, in which can be said to 'inhabit' various spiritual beings. In itself, then, even the physical world is, in essence, weavings of spiritual substance.
Secondly, we are ourselves spiritual beings in temporary incarnation, having before, and will again further incarnate after some time following our next death. Our time between death and rebirth is as important as our time on earth between birth and death — during which, as Steiner was said to have inadvertently stated without awareness of its English ambiguity, 'we have the time of our life'.
Thirdly, knowledge of the spiritual realms is possible and, as for any body of knowledge, requires careful study, observations, reflections, ... and reverence.
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What is Freemasonry
Freemasonry described as a 'system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols' seems to have become no more than verbal caricature, yet remains accurate. Nonetheless, I here attempt to also provide what I consider essential characteristics as to the nature of Freemasonry.
Freemasonry provides an initiatic tradition that slowly and fundamentally improves one's character, one's participation in the world, and one's relations and acceptance of fellow human beings.
Part of its own character, having a solid framework which it imparts to those who participate, also means that it has a conservative streak, its own change taken in very slow and sure steps. Societal fluctuations and mores tend to have, therefore, a slow impact on its own structure, and only when there has been a clear and unequivocal shift does Freemasonry tend to also take the step.
This combination of sure steps and solid foundations has at times resulted in the foremost social reformers arising out of its pillars, despite the fact that the order itself may not have adopted corresponding changes. A case in point is the exclusion of women in some (but not all) Freemasonic constitutions.
Fundamentals of Freemasonry
Freemasonry, based as it is on an initiatic and progressive model, is structured according to grades or degrees. Depending on the constitution and form, it may recognise 3 (Blue or Craft degrees), 33 (Ancient and Accepted or Scottish rite), or 90+ degrees (Primitive and Memphis-Misraim rite). Various constitutions have also incorporated or annexed chivalric (such as Knight Templar) and mystical grades.
Relationship of Freemasonry to other disciplines
In Freemasonry, one is called upon to act in the world. One's Will, one's moral development, and one's faculty of Intuition, are all called to be engaged.
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From whence Tarot?
Tarot has been around since at least the 15th century C.E. in one form or another. Many of its images, however, harken back to times much earlier, including masonic carvings on romanesque and lumiere (or gothic) cathedrals, churches and other religious buildings.
Some images are also reminiscent of ancient Greek, Egyptian and Babylonian depictions in paintings, carvings, bas-reliefs and writings. These latter are not, of course, specifically tarot - but neither does tarot arise in a cultural and spiritual vacuum.
Fundamentals of Tarot
Basically, a Tarot deck reflects what a Marseille-style deck has, including twenty-two Atouts, and four 'minor' suits of ten pips and four courts each. In that sense, the Marseille-style decks provide a trunk out of which has emerged various branches to other related decks, and whose roots have drawn together yet other decks and images embedded in rich European soil - a soil that is part of the whole being of the Earth, and thus itself connected intrinsically to expressions transcending national or local cultural beings.
Relationship of Tarot to other disciplines
Tarot, as for Kabalah and Freemasonry, has its peculiar focus. In this case, its expression is one of imagery which serves to acutely develop the faculty of Imagination - or, to be precise, that which Goethe calls precise imagination, which has both a moving and flexible quality as well being a spiritual sense organ.
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about jmd…
If you're really curious about what makes me tick, you're more likely to find this in the other pages on this site than here. Still, I've prepared below a short personal description.
my work
I've been teaching in adult education since 1987 (including University), and in secondary (ie, high school) education since 1989. Since 1995, my main employment has been in a Steiner (Waldorf) secondary school and in teacher training. Some of my responsibilities over this time has also involved the national association of Steiner schools, as well as acting on a consultancy basis for interstate schools and the development of (secondary) Steiner streams within State schools.
active engagements
I have been involved in various offices in Masonic Lodges and other Societies, given papers on various aspects of Freemasonry, and been actively involved in Masonic education.
With regards to Tarot, apart from running various courses since 1990, I have prepared an online pdf year-long course, as well as being one of the organisers for the 2005 International Tarot Conference, and of course continue to give various presentations.
about me per se...
Not much to say other than to suggest perusing my abridged C.V..
I quite liked the description someone else once gave of themselves, so, to closely paraphrase (without sounding like the crowd in Monty Python's Life of Brian):
I generally prefer to do things in my own manner, and have never been a 'team player': I can work with a 'team' and for a 'team' and still not be of a 'team'. I do not wish to bask in any 'team glory' nor take credit from collective achievement. Nor, for that matter, take the blame for others’ shortcomings (unless of course they were acting under my instruction or direction or I had trained them and fallen short in that task).
I of course do come together with others for a variety of common purposes, but in the end reserve my rights, as far as is legally and contractually possible, to follow my own judgement.
This above concept of a 'team' is quite distinct to the fructifying influence at work in a community. In such a case, the individuality of each of its members is not subsumed to the collective 'herding' instinct, but instead respected and celebrated.
My dominant personal and professional interests are reflected in the areas covered within this website, viz., Philosophy (including Kabalah), Anthroposophy, Freemasonry (including various 'higher' or 'side' Orders), and Tarot (predominantly in its classical 'Marseille' form).
For those who take delight in noting characterological dispositions, here follows some commonly used differentiations using four typological models (with of course their respective attendant limitations):
- using the MBTI, I'm pretty much an INTP;
- using the more traditional temperaments, I am primarily choleric with melancholic secondary qualities;
- using the enneagramme, a 5 with a 6 'wing'; and
- astrologically (ie., tropical natal chart): Sun is in Aquarius, Moon in Capricorn, and Mercury in Pisces.
My ethical views are entirely in agreement with R. Steiner's ethical individualism as described in his Philosophy of Freedom. My spiritual orientation is Judeo-Christian (influenced and syncretised with neo-pagan, secular-Humanist and Hindo-Buddhist elements).
I may add to this page in due time — but it will continue to remain a very basic one. This site remains, after all, about areas of personal interest rather than about myself, though much about me can be gleaned from its content and tone.
As to my C.V., it's always a little out of date!
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Abridged Curriculum Vitæ
email me
Cf also:
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