Phanes in the Black Books – Quotations
From the beginning of August to the end of September, he [Jung] drew a series of mandalas in pencil in his army notebook, which he preserved. The first is titled “Phanes” and bears the legend “transformation of matter in the individual.”
This image may be seen as an attempt to depict the “newly arising God” and his relation to the individual. ~The Black Books, Vol. I, Page 61
The figure of Atmavictu went through a number of incarnations, as an old man, a bear, an otter, a newt, a serpent, then simultaneously a man and an earth serpent. He was Izdubar, and became Philemon.
The black magician, Ha, was the father of Philemon. Ka was the father of Salome, and also the brother of the Buddha.
Ka was Philemon’s shadow. Philemon further identified himself with Elijah and Khidr and claimed that he would become Phanes. ~The Black Books, Vol. I, Page 70
In 1919, Jung painted his portrait in Liber Novus as a divine child, noting, “I called him PHANES, because he is the newly appearing God.”
He considered the emergence of this figure as denoting a spiritual transformation that was occurring in the world. ~The Black Books, Vol. I, Page 59
This man [Jung] would like to know who I am.
Did I not tell him who I was and who I am? I did not say who I will be.
I will be Phanes.
I will dissolve myself in his splendor when this man dies. I do not die,
I am already Phanes, not a man but a flame of God. ~Philemon, The Black Books, Vol. VI, Page 297
I was more earthy than earth. I was subterranean, I grew upward, I grew through this man. I overcame him.
I am his work, what he has lived.
He is not I. He belongs to earth.
Phanes is the eternal fire, the encompassing blaze, that has will become invisible and visible, the eternal dawning. ~Philemon, The Black Books, Vol. VI, Page 297
My light streams from necessity. My star shines from your misery.
My springs flow from the fullness of your life. Everything unlived is shadow and poverty for me.
What has been lived nourishes my strength. Heed the emissary. ~Phanes, The Black Books, Vol. VI, Page 281
You [Jung’s Soul] must not lose the connection with me. But I believe that you should try to speak with the one on the side of the light.
Perhaps he can tell you things that I don’t get.
It will not be Phanes, but the one who lives in the flame.[“] ~Carl Jung, The Black Books, Vol. VI, Page 271
Jung: Everything is still unclear. Help me find the light. Is Phanes the ultimate and the highest?
Jung’s Soul: “Yes, he is the ultimate and highest. What comes after him is development, preservation, and decline.” ~The Black Books, Vol. VI, Page 268
Jung also painted two portraits of Phanes, giving one to Emma Jung and one to Toni Wolff (The Art of C. G. Jung, cats. 50, 51, pp. 122–23).
Phanes also figures in two further paintings (Ibid., cats. 52, 53, pp. 124–25). In cat. 53, the background figures on the left and right respectively are Ka and Philemon. ~Carl Jung, Vol. VI, Page 277, fn 267
You unite yourself with Abraxas through me. First you give me your heart, and then you live through me. I am the bridge to Abraxas.
Thus the tree of light arises in you and you become the tree of light and Phanes arises from you.
You have anticipated, but not understood this. At the time you had to separate from Abraxas to become individual, opposed to the drive. Now you become one with Abraxas. This happens through me. You cannot do this.
Therefore you must remain with me. unification with the physical Abraxas occurs through the human woman, but that with the spiritual Abr. occurs through me; that is why you must be with me. ~Jung’s Soul, The Black Books, Vol. VI, Page 261
This way shall lead out into the land of men, an assignment.
The mystery of the summer morning, the happy day, the completion of the moment, the fullness of the possible, born from suffering and joy, the treasure of eternal beauty, the goal of the 4 paths, the spring and the ocean of the 4 streams, the fulfilment of the 4 sufferings and of the 4 joys, father and mother of the Gods of the 4 winds, crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and man’s divine enhancement, highest effect and non-being, world and seed, eternity and rime instance, poverty and abundance, expansion, death and the rebirth of God, borne by eternally creative force, resplendent in eternal effect, loved by the two mothers and sisterly wives, ineffable pain-ridden bliss, unknowable, unrecognizable, a hair’s breadth between life and death, a river of worlds, canopying the heavens-I give you the love of men, the opal jug of water; he pours water and wine and milk and blood, food for men and Gods.
I give you the joy of suffering and suffering of joy. I give you what has been found: the constancy in change and the change in constancy.
The jug made of stone, the vessel of completion. Water flowed in, wine flowed in, milk flowed in, blood flowed in.
The four winds precipitated into the precious vessel. The Gods of the four heavenly realms hold its curvature, both the mothers and both the two fathers guard it, the fire of the North burns above its mouth, the serpent of the South encircles its bottom, the spirit of the East holds one of its sides and the spirit of the West its other side. Forever denied, it exists forever.
Recurring in all forms, forever the same, this one precious vessel, surrounded by the circle of animals, denying itself, and arising in new splendor through its self-denial. The heart of God and of man.
It is the One and Many.
A path leading across mountains and valleys, a guiding star on the ocean, in you and always ahead of you.
Completed, indeed truly completed is he who knows this. Completion is poverty. But poverty is means gratitude. Gratitude is love. ~Phanes, The Black Books, Vol. VII, Page 192-193
He who is complete knows me and hence he is different from me. ~Phanes, The Black Books, Vol. VII, Page 193-194
Yes, but you still need to take care of what is yours. You should have asked.
I had to make you uneasy. Salome cooks poisonous potions. She is a Medea, adept in magic. ~Phanes, The Black Books, Vol. VII, Page 194
Truly, Phanes is the consoler. He leads the hands of those who err. He is the counsellor of the widow.
He fills the empty beaker.
He lays bread on the table of the hungry.
He is the friend of the lonely.
He gives voice to the misunderstood.
He lays a weight on the scales of justice.
He is the wealth of the poor.
His light shines on the mountains.
He is born from sorrow and joy.
The devils too have served him.
He shines in the helpless eyes of the animal.
He is the understanding of what the devils speak.
He is the redemption of the dead.
He is the healing of the sick.
He is the compassion with all living things.
He is the beauty of the crystal.
He is the ascent from sin.
He is the law above all laws.
He is liberation through blood sacrifice.
Where he shines, there is no damnation.
He is the allegory of the highest, the sum of all riddles. ~Philemon, The Black Books, Vol. VII, Page 165
Philemon: Phanes is the God who rises agleam from the waters.
Phanes is the smile of dawn.
Phanes is the resplendent day.
He is the eternal undying present.
He is the gushing of the streams.
He is the soughing of the wind.
He is hunger and satiation.
He is love and lust.
He is mourning and consolation.
He is promise and fulfilment.
He is the light that illuminates every darkness.
He is the eternal day.
He is the silver light of the moon.
He is the flickering of the stars.
He is the shooting star that flashes and falls and lapses.
He is the stream of shooting stars that returns every year.
He is the returning sun and moon.
He is the trailing star that brings wars and noble wine.
He is the boon and fullness of the year.
He fulfils the hours with life-filled enchantment.
He is love’s embrace and whisper.
He is the warmth of friendship.
He is the hope that enlivens the void.
He is the magnificence of all renewed suns.
He is the joy at every birth.
He is the blooming flowers.
He is the velvety butterfly’s wing.
He is the scent of blooming gardens that fills the nights.
He is the song of joy.
He is the tree of light.
He is perfection, everything done better.
He is everything euphonious.
He is the well-measured.
He is the sacred number.
He is the promise of life.
He is the contract and the sacred pledge.
He is the diversity of sounds and colors.
He is the sanctification of morning, noon, and evening.
He is the benevolent and the gentle.
He is salvation.
But after this eulogy Philemon sat down in the gate of splendor and closed his eyes and looked at the light of the eternal present.
And after a while, he rose up and said:
“Truly, Phanes is the auspicious day.”
He sat down again and remained in contemplation. And after some time passed, he
rose for the third time and said:
“Truly, Phanes is the work, its accomplishment and reward.”
He is the troublesome deed and the evening calm.
He is the step on the middle way, its beginning, its middle, and its end.
Phanes He is foresight.
He is the end of fear.
He is the sprouting seed, the opening bud.
He is the gate of reception, acceptance and offering.
He is the spring and the desert.
He is the safe haven and the stormy night.
He is the certainty in desperation.
He is the solid in dissolution.
He is the liberation from imprisonment.
He is counsel and strength in progression.
He is the friend of man, the light emanating from man, the bright glow that man
beholds on his path.
He is the greatness of man, his worth, and his force. ~Philemon, The Black Books, Vol. VII, Page 157-159