Mandala of the Soul

The Mandala
Vaguely described in ancient texts, it supposedly was one of the 99 most holy artifacts brought from Earth by the original colonists. Recently a copy of the mandala has been recovered by Father Hierodoctor Daam. If his version is as genuine as he claims, none can know at this point, but it is certainly impressive.

The Mandala of the Soul, as supposedly recovered by Daam, is a 3d projection, created by a mysterious and small artifact, an icosahedron about the size of a human hand. The projection is ever-changing, in ways both obvious and subtle, but the core structure, at least to the untrained perception, is that of a procession of 1,024 saints through the four elements, the seven crucial virtues, the eight sins and the eight blasphemies. Each of the twenty-seven spheres has at its centre a saint-god or demon-god, while surrounding it are the domains of the innumerable muses of the 999,999,999 teachings of enlightenment. The latter are ever shifting, and some say even reflect the unspoken thoughts of the viewer.

Meditation on the mandala is said to be able to bring anyone to a greater consciousness, most importantly, in Daam’s teachings, the awareness of the Soul Indivisible.

The Mandala Meditations
The practice of meditating on the mandala involves imagining a mental path through the some or all of the twenty seven spheres. In each sphere, the practitioner encounters its god. First, the practitioner imagines themselves standing in awe in front of the god. Then, the practitioner imagines themselves becoming the god. Finally, the practitioner imagines themselves triumphant over the god, and ready to continue their path.

Key decisions in laying out this mental pilgrimage, this mental Vigil, is from which direction to first approach the mandala, which spheres to visit, and which order to visit the spheres in. All these decisions have implications for the nuances of the mental path traveled, and thus for the potential revelations and awakenings the journey may invoke.

The Twenty-Seven Gods
The twenty seven gods of the mandala are as follows:

Four Elements
Earth – High-god Gaia

The high-god Gaia is understood as the goddess of both the element and the planet Earth, our original home. She is the womb and the cradle, the life-giver.

Water – High-god Neptune

The high-god Neptune is understood as the god of water in all its forms, from the oceans to the raindrops. He is the seed and the milk, the egg and the nest, the life-keeper.

Fire – High-god Apollo

The high-god Apollo is understood as the goddess of fire and heat, from a single candle to the stars themselves. She is destruction, but also fertilization, both the highs and the lows of fortune that mark any life's trajectory, the life-bearer.

Wind – High-god Zeus

The high-god Zeus is understood as the god of wind, the heavens, and the soul itself. He is the re-union of the separate, the end that completes the circle, and the circle itself, the life-filler.

Seven Crucial Virtues
Honesty – Saint-god Chiron

The saint-god Chiron is remembered as a saint of honesty. Chiron was a great teacher, whom would teach all who came to him. He did not ask for any compensation, but he refused to ever tell any of his students a lie. He was killed one day when he taught a student a lesson they could not bear to hear.

Loyalty – Saint-god Orpheus

The saint-god Orpheus is remembered as a saint of loyalty. He had psychic powers so great, he could even revive the dead. He was killed through betrayal, because he could not abandon anyone whom he loved, even when they no longer loved him.

Discipline – Saint-god Jason

The saint-god Jason is remembered as a saint of discipline. He was a ship captain, who led his ship and crew through many dangers over a journey that took many years. He is also a patron-saint of leaders, as his crew was made up out of dozens of saints themselves. Jason died when his ship suffered a reactor core malfunction, and he stayed behind to steer it away as his crew escaped to a safe distance in the escape pods.

Repentance – Saint-god Hercules

The saint-god Hercules is remembered as the saint of repentance. He committed a great sin and blasphemy, and to repent spend twelve years laboring in servitude. He died sacrificing himself for his love, saint Meg.

Courage – Saint-god Theseus

The saint-god Theseus is remembered as the saint of courage. His colony lay on a planet orbited by a station within which roamed a great beast. The people of the station demanded yearly sacrifices to appease the beast, and protect themselves from its wrath, or else they would bombard the planet below. Those chosen to be sacrificed were put in a labyrinth, and broadcast live across the planet as the beast hunted them down and devoured them one by one. Theseus volunteered as tribute, entered the labyrinth, and slew the beast. He died after staying behind on the station to activate its self-destruct sequence.

Charity – Saint-god Penelope

The saint-god Penelope is remembered as a saint of charity. She would always welcome into her house anyone who came, and never turn anyone away. As he uninvited guests grew, her wealth and house shrank, till at last the only thing she had to give was her own flesh and bones, these she donated to science.

Respect – Saint-god Perseus

The saint-god Perseus is remembered as a saint of respect. He never looked at anyone directly, out of fear they'd consider his gaze desirous and disrespectful. He fell in love when a woman tricked him into looking at her directly, by removing the mirror between the men and women's bathroom in his palace, and standing on the opposite side as he came to wash his face. He died after being challenged to a duel in a maze of mirrors.

Eight Sins
Dishonesty – Demon-god Hydra

Envy – Monster-god Medusa

Lust – Monster-god Briareos

Sloth – Monster-god Seiren

Wrath – Monster-god Minotauros

Gluttony – Monster-god Cyclops

Pride – Monster-god Leon

Greed – Monster-god Drakon

Eight Blasphemies

Treason – Demon-god Menoetius

Defamation – Demon-god Melinoe

Abuse – Demon-god Japetus

Ingratitude – Demon-god Cronus

Murder – Demon-god Epimetheus

Division – Demon-god Atlas

Theft – Demon-god Prometheus

Violation – Demon-god Uranus

The Vigil of the Elements
This is the simplest path through the mandala, and one Daam often recommends as the first path for new students of the mandala to travel:

“As humanity began on Earth, so the Mandala of the Soul Indivisible begins in Earth and the blessed high-god Gaia. She is the womb, and the cradle. Not just ours, but the womb and cradle of all sentient beings. From her all proceeds. And likewise, we begin our path in believing that the soul is born from the body.

As we progress, through the floods of the high-god Neptune, and the fires of the high-god Apollo, we see our earth washed and melted, and we see our soul still remaining, and we understand that the soul does not proceed from the body, but that the soul animates the bodies. When we at last reach the winds of the high-god Zeus, we open the gate of flight. There we see that what we thought was Earth divided, was in fact Heaven Indivisible. Wind has no end, nor beginning. To think the storm as separate from the breeze is a thought born from rocks whom are moved by some winds but not others. To the wind, it moves everywhere, all the time, what changes is but its concentration and force.

So all souls are one, and move not merely sentient beings, but all being. What separates us from our siblings is our imagination of Earth divided. And as we imagine, so we split our own soul asunder in hatred and strife, and hurt ourselves.

The enlightened mind, born by wings of wind, sees all as one. It teaches us the first truth, that of the Soul Indivisible, and from this truth we step back down towards the world, and into the sphere of repentance. This is the first vigil, the path of the elements to the summit of heaven. The lesson it teaches us is the first and the last, and will guide us on all our future travels.”