The Spell of Ai........
Chapter 8: The Hex
Fantasy and Mystery have always been my friends. Ever the daydreamer, this is where my pathos can come alive in neat rows of words.
The Hexagon:
Geometry must sooth the nerves of certain anxious minds. Worlds can be constructed by its practical uses. The hexagon is interpreted so many ways it goes well beyond my wheelhouse. The levels of complexity can go on forever in the anxious mind - yet it is one of the simplest designs to construct. Set your dividers or your fingers or any two- legged pair of sticks and describe a circle of any size. You now have a radius. Walk your sticks around the circle six times and connect the dots. You’ve constructed a hexagon.
You also have a circle, triangles, straight lines and the building blocks of life. Exquisite.
Where is the individual who first stumbled upon this revelation? What was the motivation? What does it all mean? Is it real?
Language, art, geometry, mathematics, science in whatever order you choose, all give voice to our yearning for meaning. Once released that expression can never be contained; it’s what we do.
The schism:
The struggle between a mechanical reality and a faith/mystic based reality appears to be much older than biblical time. The hexagon is very, very old. It is the symbol of God in more than one faith historically as well as in mystic cultures. It is the mean of numerologists and mystics of every robe and makes its appearance throughout our history and present world. It must possess great power. Powers to heal and to ward off disaster, powers to feed and defend and shelter. Powers to give life.
What is at work here?
The only answer lies within the question itself. The tension that exists between the seen and unseen. We will never know the answer. We will always know the question.
The schism between the Stoneman and the Mystic. The Stoneman’s hexagon builds protection for the Mystic and the Mystic’s hexagon offers meaning to the Stoneman. A symbiosis which might prevent warfare and provide a level of security. Survival means we cannot have one without the other.
Reform:
Schism and reform; the pattern will be familiar to many and it is ageless. The universe we reside within (and consequently our Many Worlds) is steeped in pleasure/pain, joy/sorrow, placidity and great violence. Nature will always seek a balance. To be the one or to be the other is the struggle. It is what it is.
1775 Mennonite address to the Pennsylvania Assembly:
It is our principle to feed the hungry and give the thirsty drink; we have dedicated ourselves to serve all men in everything that can be helpful to the preservation of men’s lives, but we find no freedom in giving, or doing, or assisting in anything by which men’s lives are destroyed or hurt. Taken from britannica.com.
But this is an allegory, not a reference work.
Growing up in central Pennsylvania near the boundary with Lancaster County was a childhood in Wonderland. Giant groping trees and erratic boulders, stone rows that led for miles, barns, meadows, crayfish, mussels and lore. The origin of the Spooky Hollow tales is here; Spooky Nook Road led to Root’s Sale in Manheim, (still there) and the Strange and Unusual world of the Plain Folk.
The Mighty Adam, world’s strongest man and Daniel the blind pig trainer among a host of other-worldly characters. A shadowy wilderness of mysteries. Things happened there, real things; things that defy the normal. Halloween is still my favorite holiday.
And barns. My soul lives in barns, the country cathedral; to me the apex of human endeavor and the central tenant of rightful living. And the abode of the Agrarian, (another metaphor) topic of the next chapter.
Known among other names are the Pennsylvania Dutch who it was said adorned their barns with Hex Symbols to ward off spirits; those and the color Haint Blue (Hex#d1eaeb)1 reside with me, in the cellars, gates and porches; on the barns.
As it turns out, the hexagon forms the basis of those designs and is in all ways intended for its healing nature. Like all spells the only power it has is given by you, the observer. Should you be tempted to fear this out of some misguided interpretation of occult, try and recall that when we initiated the exercise, we started with a circle, which has no beginning and no end.
for more on Haint Blue see Sherwin Williams, the paint people, and foremost authority.
