Appreciating the Legendary Musician Orpheus - I

Invocation of Orpheus - Robert Xavier Rodríguez. Source: Orpheus Lyre Mythology

The Orphic Mysteries

Orpheus is a legendary figure in the Thracian culture – so many books, studies, legends and myths are consecrated to him. It is well-known that Orpheus with his magic music was able to tame the wild animals, to influence the weather and to awaken human souls and spirits. In fact, Orpheus was one of the first Initiates on Earth to bring the Solar Mysteries in the spiritual life of humankind.

With his Divine Spirit Orpheus revealed the harmony of the spheres and the essence of Creation as a magnificent spiritual ocean of Divine light, love, music, sacred words and creative thought-forms. For Orpheus the Universe is a continuum of living spiritual energies which weave the substance of the physical cosmos. Behind all objects, plants, animals and creatures he feels the spiritual realities of higher worlds, projected into and reflected by the physical world. The aura of the whole material world resembles a vast sea of brilliantly shining colour rays of light from the entire spectrum of the rainbow. All the worlds of the three-fold structure of the Universe become completely transparent, penetrating and reflecting each other.

At the same time, the Divine Ocean of light and love resounds with refined and tender celestial music. It reflects the living creative sounds in the Universe which are interwoven into the reality of all spiritual worlds. These creative sounds form beautiful celestial music which permeates everything - the physical universe, the planets and the stars, nature and human beings, and all spiritual worlds. Everything resounds and the unique sounds of each being determine its essence and constitute its very existence.

The great laws of Creation are hidden in music. They are the laws of the great Spirit of Being. The Divine Spirit works musically; it could even be said that the music in which the harmony of the numbers reverberates is a materialized movement of the Spirit.  (The Master Beinsa Douno)

It is not by chance that the Solar Initiation of Orpheus and his Divine Music influenced many spiritual teachers (like Pythagoras), musicians (Monteverdi, Gluck, Scriabin), poets (N. Gigov) and many other creative human beings. Below I will give an inspiring example of the influence of Orpheus on the great Russian composer Scriabin, who in the last years of his life tried to activate the Orphic dimension in music – its magic transfigurative power. The Great Russian composer A. N. Scriabin was deeply influenced by the legendary musician Orpheus and his Divine musical art. He was also interested in the ideas of Theosophy, and especially in the books of H. P. Blavatsky. In the last years of his life Scriabin, following the principles of the Orphic music, envisaged a monumental project for spiritual transfiguration through music and dance called Mysterium:

"Mysterium" is an unfinished musical work by composer Alexander Scriabin. He started working on the composition in 1903, but it was incomplete at the time of his death in 1915... Scriabin planned that the work would be synesthetic, exploiting the senses of smell and touch as well as hearing. He wrote that there will not be a single spectator. All will be participants. The work requires special people, special artists and a completely new culture. The cast of performers includes an orchestra, a large mixed choir, an instrument with visual effects, dancers, a procession, incense, and rhythmic textural articulation. The cathedral in which it will take place will not be of one single type of stone but will continually change with the atmosphere and motion of the Mysterium. This will be done with the aid of mists and lights, which will modify the architectural contours... Scriabin intended that the performance of this work, to be given in the foothills of the Himalayas in India, would last seven days and would be followed by the end of the world, with the human race replaced by "nobler beings". At the time of his death, Scriabin left seventy-two pages of sketches for a prelude to the Mysterium entitled Prefatory Action. (Wikipedia)

Scriabin planned to write the music and to develop the whole ritual, so that the participants in it could undergo a transfiguration and enter into the blissful state of enlightenment. Unfortunately, Scriabin only wrote the Prefatory Action to this Musical Mystery and was not able to complete the dream of his life.

The fundamental idea of spiritual transfiguration through sacred dance, however, was realised later by the World Teacher Beinsa Douno. Within the community of the Universal Brotherhood in Bulgaria, he developed the sacred dance Paneurhythmy (high cosmic rhythm), which is now becoming very popular in the world. The Paneurhythmy is a synthesis of the entire Teaching of the Master Beinsa Douno and contains the living seed for the evolution of humankind in the new epoch. It is the gateway to the reality of the Kingdom of God, which is woven by heavenly music, spiritual colour rays of light and sacred words. In essence, the Paneurhythmy reflects the 'dance' and the cosmic-spiritual rhythm of life in all planes of the Universe; it is an earthly reflection of the harmony and music in the celestial spheres. By dancing Paneurhythmy, one links with the living energies of Nature, the Sun and the Earth, and with the higher spiritual worlds. This brings a transformation of the spiritual community and the whole physical environment. As a result, the Paneurhythmy becomes a heavenly dance on sacred Earth and it is like the ‘new song’ for the epoch of Aquarius.

As to the seven-day duration of Mysterium envisaged by Scriabin, the special celebration of the Paneurhythmy and the Festival of Light on the sacred Rila Mountain in Bulgaria from August 19 to 26 each year corresponds perfectly to the Scriabin project. In the Universal Brotherhood, initiated by the Master Beinsa Douno in Bulgaria, this is the celebration of Christ‘s Transfiguration (Gregorian Calendar, August 6) appreciated as the festival of the Solar Logos. The Paneurhythmy is practiced from March 22 until September 22, but the culmination is August 19-26. Even now more than 1000 people gather on the sacred mountain Rila to experience their Christ-like Transfiguration with the sacred dance Paneurhythmy (as a synthesis of celestial Music, spiritual Colour Rays of Light, sacred Words and psychic movements), created by the World Teacher Beinsa Douno.