Customer Reviews

The Mystic Spiral: Journey of the Soul (Art and Imagination)

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"The "Mystic Spiral" is the clearest expression I have ever come across of the system I have glimpsed in the intuitive flashes my poems are composed of. The bones of the universe, one potent sunbird structure. Ms. Purce is the magic maiden with the skeleton key that opens a myriad of doors." George Andrews - Poet and author.

"Jill Purce's book is extraordinary, it shows the spiral going through all the manifestations of life- art, music, literature, dance, religion, mythology, physics, biology, botany and astronomy. Everything is spiral. She points to the unity of the cosmos, and acts as a counterbalance to the atomization of the world. There are hundreds of wonderful illustrations. She gives you the key - like the thread of Ariadne which leads you out of the labyrinth." Karlheinz Stockhausen

"A brilliant and beautiful book...superbly written, stunningly illustrated and extremely illuminating." Michael Sayers.

"I deeply appreciate, this marvellous book, "The Mystic Spiral". It seems to me that this book- and indeed the whole series "Art and Imagination" of which Jill Purce is the General Editor - heralds the consolidation of a new philosophy of life in which art takes its place as an essential guide to, and expression of, our development -if the world is to continue to live." Peter Redgrove - Author of "Wise Wound".

Mere words can not do justice to the beauty of this book. Elegant, graceful, profound, these spirals embody such concepts as eternity, evolution, birth and death, expansion and contraction, the Tao, and God." Stanley Krippner in "Association for Humanistic Psychology Newsletter".

"The Mystic spiral, together with its spiritual message, has much to tell us architects of the laws of growth and its archetypal forms. This would help us design buildings which are within the flow of nature rather than in opposition to it." Professor of Architecture, Birmingham School of Architecture.

"Jill Purce"s The Mystic Spiral is thoughts I have thought and is the most thought-furthering / interesting work I have read for a very long time." Dean Melles - Hacks, Singapore.   "I found the Mystic Spiral one of the most absorbingly fascinating books I have ever laid hands on." Lionel Miskin - Professor of Art, Falmouth School of Art.

"Her book, The Mystic Spiral and the BBC film of the same have enlisted not so much my imagination as my heart. I count myself a genuine admirer of her work. Jill Purce is an alchemist, the first I have noticed in this age." Sebastian Barker - Author of "Guarding the Border".

"Purce's prose has the ultimate effect of poetry." Chellis Glendinnng in "Codex Shambhala" Vol. 4 No.2.

"It is bridging the gap, the irreconcilable chasm between Science and Religion- "reason" and "feeling" which Ms. Purce has dexterously pursued by way of "The Mystic Spiral"- The spiral is both a universal mythological symbol as well as an empirical picture of the most fundamental ordering of matter and energy. In "The Mystic Spiral" Jill Purce has excelled in the dovetailing together of rational and mythological language and ideas, and by so doing she illustrates how the spiral is an archetypal symbol which reverberates, unaltered, between the extremes of empirical science and spiritual growth. Her juxtaposition of images as well as her well-chosen words unite the disparate threads of our experience into a single, self-perpetuating, spiral expression." Dr Lawrence Blair. Author of "Rhythms of Vision".

This book is an in-depth contemplation of the significance of the spiral. It is demonstrated that the spiral in its several forms has been a universal cosmic symbol from earliest human history. Indeed, this book traces the history of its use from stone age cultures, Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Greco Roman world, Islam, India, China, the Jewish world, the Celts, Medieval Europe, the Americas, etc., etc, etc. The reoccurrence of spiral forms in nature, and hence science, is also examined.

The spiral is shown in its various forms and interpretations. This includes the evolutionary spiral (constant upward advancement through repeating cycles- reaching the same point, but at a higher level of attainment every time.) It can also be seen as the inward spiral of the hero's journey to the center where the great secret or gift lies. It can as well be the double spiral of descent, rebirth, and upward climb. It can also be the spherical spiral of expansion and contraction, or the never-ending vortex ring which periodical passes through it's own center. All variations and their deeper metaphorical meanings are examined- for it is assumed that the cycles of the spiral in nature, or human life, are microcosmic resonances of the great cosmic cycles and rhythms.

Yet, it is also shown that at the center of the spiral must lay a straight upward path, a "short cut." This is the Axis Mundi, the World Tree that leads directly to the highest planes, the ultimate Source. This is the path of illumination of the mystic, the shaman.

The layout of this book is that approximately the first third is an in-depth essay on the significance of the spiral, while the remaining two thirds are excellent color and black and write illustrations (with detailed descriptions and explanations.)

THE MYSTIC SPIRAL packs a staggering amount of essential information in a handsome, reader-friendly, and hugely enjoyable book. The main text (page 7 - 31) embraces all strains of mysticism, Eastern, Western, and everything in between, with scholarly exactness but also lyrical charm. Its density prompts (welcome) re-readings. The illustrations are exceptionally well chosen, and transporting. The reader, certainly this reader, comes away wishing for more. I am happy to see that an integrative book is being planned. Possibly, no theme is more consequential to us bipeds on the earthly tariqa than the one of the Spiral.

I had had the impression this book would have more text addressing the spiral and its spiritual symbolism, with illustrations throughout. Instead, the book had a brief 30 page introduction with page after page of various artworks that feature a spiral somewhere in their design. I found the pictures to be poorly notated and wished that each photo had a more in-depth discussion to accompany it.