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Since there is really no beginning and no end to the flow life or of mystical and mythical imagination, let’s explore how art may often reflect mass consciousness. In my home hangs one of my favorite paintings. As I gaze at it, there are some aspects that seem incredibly symbolic and perceptually relevant in our world today. Think “mass illusion” as we proceed. Perhaps we can discover how to use the metaphor of a river for humanity itself and maybe even unravel some symbology and secrets of the Unicorn.
Let’s start with a contemporary online definition of hope. It is described as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. With that description “please, hold your finger on that page”, as a friend of mine often says, until we can clarify more a bit later.
Now, for your potential delight, a cropped photo of the painting, Hope for the River of Babylon, is shown below.
The artist, Carol Zukosky is a long time friend who illustrated a children’s story that I wrote named Little Buckets Full of Big Love. She also serves the world as a Spiritual Life Coach, a Beloved Community Peace Minister and much, much more. She received the painting’s title via an intuitive whisper. Be warned, the images may grab you (as they did me) and haunt your imagination indefinitely (or at least to the end of this article).
So, how do these images justify the title? Note, in the lower left hand corner, there is the illusion of a flowing river that is barely touching the huge heart. The heart likely represents the full capacity of a human heart to love everyone and everything. Wonder with me for a moment what our world might be like, if humans gave more credence to the callings of the heart and less to the mental judgments that seem to run rampant in society today. This scene hints of great potential through humanity’s full immersion with the heart.
Please, now, place your attention for a bit on the Unicorn, which appears to be the primary focus of the painting. Notice how it intently observes the river. Unicorn carries the most deeply significant meaning of the scene as it represents the miraculous ability of transformation. In medieval times, it was said to be a shining symbol of Christ Consciousness. The Unicorn observes the river waiting, without judgment, to be invited to engage and to enter into the river’s flow. Note the sharply pointed horn that is often depicted as golden in classic literature. With a single swish, and only by invitation, the horn can part the veil of illusion and thus raise human consciousness to a higher, more connected, state.
From the connected realm of higher consciousness, all true hearts desires may become manifest. In this writers case there is a strong desire to see the restoration of Earth’s inhabitants into harmony with the rhythms of Nature. As anyone resumes the childlike innocence of perfect alignment between body, mind, and spirit, the current state of stress, confusion and chaos sweeping our planet will simply begin to dissipate.
As a master of transformation the Unicorn is capable of clearly seeing and holding infinite evolutionary potential for human consciousness. The Unicorn embodies wisdom allowing it to shift between the visible and the invisible worlds in order to move humanity forward without limitation and fear. Because all life is interconnected, the planet would, naturally then, reflect individual and collective changes in consciousness. In this manner our most dearly desired destiny, peace on Earth, could actually manifest. If your finger is ready, you can stop holding that previous page now and take a glance at the word Babylon.
By now, you are probably wondering how Babylon fits into the equation. Babylon is defined in The Metaphysical Bible Dictionary published by the Unity School of Christianity. This definition begins to shed some symbolic light on why one might perceive that Babylon specifically refers to the seeming perpetual state of humanity as “Confusion or mixture, outer confusion, sense confusion, mental confusion, a chaotic condition. There are times when we find ourselves in the confusion of the (five) sense consciousness, and its thoughts are so strong that they seem to have us in complete subjugation…” With those basic descriptions, let’s leave the painting and venture more deeply into the mysteries of the Unicorn, which might help us, better understand.
Though the modern world of art accepts that there are multiple cultural renditions of serial Unicorn tapestries, “The Unicorn in Captivity” (shown below) may have originally been created in the 1400s as a single image. In this depiction, the unicorn probably represents the Beloved (Christ Consciousness), already claimed on Earth. (Note “It” is used in this writing to avoid gender bias although most written descriptions use the pronoun “He”.) It is tethered to a pomegranate tree, which Jewish tradition teaches is a symbol of righteousness and represents fruitfulness, knowledge, learning, and wisdom. It is encircled (meaning wholeness) by a fence, but the golden chain is not secure and the low fence height could easily be leapt over: The unicorn could choose to escape the worldly realm in a single movement if it truly desired to do so.
My personal fascination with the Unicorn tapestries began in the late 1970s when I first purchased a small replica of “The Unicorn in Captivity”. That piece began many decades of interest in the magical creature that continues to this day. I continue to discover more of the unicorn’s symbolic secrets.
Shortly after my discovery of the tapestry, a poem of the same name penned by Anne Morrow Lindberg struck my awareness and tweaked my desire to further explore its message. One image of the tapestry is displayed below and the full poem can be reviewed here:
The symbolism of the Unicorn is also widely known in other great literature across many of Earth’s cultures and over several historical eras. There is evidence to support that the Christian Bible has several Unicorn references that were either inadvertently mistranslated or intentionally modified. More extensive information, including the biblical references may be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unicorn.
Now that you have learned my version of Unicorn fascination, perhaps your creative imagination has been stirred. Hopefully you feel inspired to dive more deeply into your own awareness of the mythical, mystical realm of divine possibilities. And may those whose inner Christed vision has been activated, dream a new world together.
– Wanda Gail Campbell
Wanda has served thirty plus years as a healthcare professional. Currently, she serves as a Minister of Peace ordained by The Beloved Community. In July, 2007 she completed her PhD in Philosophy focused on Intercultural Peacemaking. For her own spiritual nourishment, she enjoys reading both contemporary and ancient spiritual writings.
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