The blackbird
Sharing these alchemical encounters from a couple months ago
A blackbird came to visit me the other day. I have been going to my old campus, where I graduated from in Art Histor It is located in a nice area of Lisbon, close to major city attractions, The Gulbenkian and Campo Pequeno.
While I am now a student at FBAUL (Lisbon School of Fine Arts), I do not enjoy that campus very much. Located in the middle of downtown, the building is an old monastery, with little to no space for actually studying. And on top of that, they close super early, like the library closes at 6pm. That’s insane right?!
Something you should know about the main building at FCSH is that it is 7 story high, called “the tower”.
Some views from FCSH. I always see the most beautiful skies there.
So, back to the blackbird. I was sitting there, in one of the tower’s study rooms, located on the ground floor. I had all my study stuff out, I ate my cereal bar, and then I pulled a green apple from my backpack.
When I took a bite, a black bird flew from nowhere and landed by my foot. He looked at me moving his head left and right, and then he hopped around the room, looking for crumbs on the floor. Well. I watched him. I took another bite and threw it on the floor when it wasn't looking.
Earlier that day, when I was crossing the road towards fcsh campus, I looked at Nossa Senhora do Rosário de Fátima, which faces the campus on the opposite side of the road.
I’ve been to this church a couple times now. Almada Negreiros, the Portuguese futurist artist from the 20th century (and a personal favorite of mine), has decorated the stained glass in this church. I remember the last time we went there, it was around 7pm and it was dark out, it was December, I think.
A homeless man sat by the door, which is often common in Catholic Churches (at least here in Lisbon). He said he was hungry, and then he shouted PÃO (bread) at us. I was thinking, if I had bread, I should have given it to him.
And this blackbird showed up, and I threw the piece of apple. He bit it and flew away. Didn’t come back, nothing like that.
The blackbird has this direct relation with the first alchemical stage. Nigredo, the blackening. Representing the deep knowledge and the unseen, this bird also symbolizes transformation and a connection with a spiritual realm. Another thing I should mention is that for my final project, I've been learning a lot about alchemy.
The Alchemical Process is composed of four stages: Nigredo, the decomposition of the initial matter, resembling the mortification of the soul. Next, Albedo is a phase of clarification of the matter. The third stage is Citrintas, the mental awakening, and, finally, Rubedo completes the Alchemical process, this last phase being proof of the transformation of matter and mind. The rubedo stage is also something related to the completion of the Great Work (Magnum Opus).
All this talk about alchemy makes me understand why it is so confusing to study it, and even more on how difficult it is to take it seriously. Either way, the more i come in contact with esotericism and its academic studies, I can’t help but notice how everything could be associated to our creativity, our state of mind, and our deepest emotional wounds.
So… for my thesis work, I have been exploring the capacity our mind has in creating, be it art, or be it a new insight for a personal issue.
I guess I get pretty personal here, because my love for all sorts of mythological and esoteric things has always been associated with my capacity to understand nature, and our relationship to it.
I found a way to add some esotericism in a graphic design course! I guess that's the good part of studying the arts. In humanities (art history), you have to be very grounded in theoretical readings. For my art's degree, I am choosing many different sorts of readings, and I get to add my own take into it.
I've been learning more about psychology. Although I am no specialist, and I am an art historian by degree, I think about spirituality in a different manner now. I believe in manifestation, because it is nothing more than visual imagery being created in the mind first, then projected into real life. However, we must first learn our past, our patterns, and traumas. And then, figure out how and what we want to do next. We can’t solve the great mystery (be it death, if there's a god, and any other sort of spiritual or even religious questions), because we must solve ourselves first.
My personal take is that through an active imagination, and criative practices, the answers will start coming.