The sum of 5 on the crown, viewed as a ring would then stand for the 'hieros gamos', any marriage, but especially the sacred marriage between Heaven (=3) and the Great Mother Earth (=2). It has the meaning of love, the dynamic, natural rhythm derived from the order of life whose symbol is the Great Goddess with mother, or (Lat) mater = (Ger) mutter = matter = Mother Nature. It has vegetative form manifestation in plants with 5 leaves or points such as the vine (vitus) and (parthenocissus and hedera) species. The number 5 also symbolizes a kind of initiation and consummation, thus bringing it into consciousness. And it is equal to 'V', (although inverted - to be amplifed) which is a sign of vital Victory and a symbol of Athena/Minerva goddess of wisdom.      

Five is also the number of Leonardo da Vinci's Uomo Universale, drawn 'spread-eagled' in 2 positions within the circle as if to suggest a pentagram or pentacle, one of the oldest symbols known to man. Scholars have identified it as an early symbol of the human body, the 4 elements and the spirit, and the universe itself. The Pythagoreans are said to have used it as a sign of recognition, and appear to have identified it with the Greek goddess Hygeia, goddess of health (or hygiene: the science and knowledge that deals with the preservation of health). Five symbolizes nature, the flesh, the body which has 5 appendages, with its head, arms and legs, as the hand has 5 fingers. It means 'life' in the corporeal sense. Four is a symbol of wholeness and ideal spiritual goals in which all 4 faculties of mind become integrated, and 5 would indicate finding the navel, or body center, symbolizing the balancing point in ego-consciousness, so to keep a conscious perspective on life and keep the 4 psychological functions and other instincts in balance. The abstract square in Leonardo's circle would suggest the individual is discovering the whole range of sensual, emotional, intellectual and intuitive experience within him/herself. Or the 3 aspects of the Godhead -- being, consciousness and love -- plus matter and the realm of the feminine and 'the unconscious' including the Collective Unconscious. In the context of what has been presented earlier one would 'think' not necessarily of becoming 'Man, the Measure of all Things', which often comes off as a power trip against other humankind and nature. Rather, we may come to see it with empathy and compassion, more as achieving 'Humane Intelligence', which is the quintessentially universal personality functioning consciously in nature... with a conscience which comes from within. It is 'Enlightened Man'. Or 'Humankind' -- functioning as 'a part of' nature in a caring way, in stewardship of the resources and forces of the earth -- so to maintain the diversity and integrity and health of All, including nature's nature and our own human nature, in a dynamic and ever evolving ecosystem.  

The 'crown' in the Manta frescoes is like a key word, a recurring theme or leitmotif, as it appears again in different forms in other chambers 2 levels above. It is both a sun emblem symbolizing illumination, light, beauty, honor, and because of it's circular form, the feminine principle and the wisdom of Sophia, the knowledge of the heart. When completed with the earth component, symbolized by the 2 additional golden balls needed, and when it is worn on the head, it would stand for wisdom, insight and elevated thought (height symbolism and everything that strives upward: conscience, ideals, altruism... Heaven) and seignoral authority.  

The bird's awkward fall on its back is a very unrefined pose for such a noble animal, with right leg and claws and head with outstretched tongue pointed to our left, with left leg and claws pointed downward and wings pointed backward and curving upward to the right. It is simply an amazing sight to behold. What bold adventure awaits us?  

This ungraceful and perhaps rather uncivilized young bird is seemingly falling out of the sky on its back which is about to come into contact with the earth in the form of the upper part of a gold, black and dark blue-colored convex surface. It is obviously in the process of suffering a real upset or bruising. Below and to either side, curled or twisted lobes of acanthus leaf stretch outward and intertwine, golden in color on the light side and black on the opposite or shadow side. Acanthus was used on the capitals of the Corinthian column which is phallic or masculine, but the capital integrates both aspects of the earlier, more masculine, Doric capital and the more feminine Ionic capital. Acanthus may symbolize love of art, artifice and superficiality, awareness of pain and the temptations of the sins of the world in extreme Dionysian romanticism, with a tendency toward regression and stunted growth which must be overcome. The Acanthus plant has thorn-like stem protrusions signifying it is a thorny or difficult task. This is what may be indicated on the crest over the fireplace in this first room, signalling the beginning of a 'symbolic journey' to integrate aspects of feminine and masculine androgeny seen in the form of the Corinthian column capital which appears in a later scene indicating the task has been accomplished.  

The Acanthus root has been attributed with great curative powers here associated with the earth. The whole romanticist ideal associates with the 'Myth of Arcadia', 'Paradise' and pastoralism, implying the notion of a need to steward or cultivate the inner landscape which gets projected onto the concrete outer world, hopefully, that it may be better seen to assist in bringing it to consciousness. Collectively, this appeared finally, in the 18C in painting and in the English Landscape Gardening Movement as the shift took place from a Renaissance, formal, classical ideal gone far too superficially (in the Baroque or literally, gone for broke!) as it was imported to other regions.      

The Waiting Room

On the floor above in this older wing of the castle, there is an antechamber with a door to a holding cell in the adjacent tower. In this waiting room there is a 'leitmotif' where the word "leit" (to lead and/or the inner light) is stencilled within sprays of holly (ilex), repeated in a pattern all around the room on the walls, many times in 2 horizontal rows above dark, wooden wainscotting. There are 2 frescoes in the antechamber. On the South wall in an arched niche, recessed into the wall, is painted a seated woman in dark blue and white dress nursing a boy-child and holding also on her lap what looks at first glance to be a merlot but intuition would suggest it is none other than a tiny, young eagle/falcon chick. Both mother and child have a halo painted in gold around their heads indicating the archetypal figures of the Madonna and the Christ child in the Christian mythology. So here we have the nursing mother, the sustainer of life sitting on the throne and the little king of the world sitting on her lap. She, the female, is the world support and life power and he sits on her lap as an agent of the female will, an executive of the same life. She knows more about what life is and from her he can learn. The spirit bird on her lap indicates this is not just the simple Earth Mother as the image goes all the way to the Cosmic Mother to include the notion of the mother of all our concepts, and all of our thoughts. We are thus bounded by this body and its limitations and that is our mother field. The mother of our life is also the mother of our civilization, so the culture is also our mother. This isn't just a personal mother and it isn't just the earth, it is the whole mystery of the mind. Everything we experience is in the field of time and space and is broken down into separate things so the mother is then time and space and causality. This Mother and Child appear to be staring toward the East wall and there, painted over the fireplace in much larger letters, is the single word repeated from the previous fresco/room scene "Leit".  

Now above this fireplace is a dark blue and white shield on a diagonal tilted to the left, suggesting something is still unbalanced, still unconscious, with a red Latin 'A', or chevron superimposed over the fields of blue and white on the shield. This also carries a sense of unfinished movement and suffering (blood). Both these images point in the symbolic direction of water, the prima materia, or primordial element of all things and the letter 'A', the first letter of the alphabet and beginning of all writing. Water makes the earth fruitful and enlivens language with authority which fructifies society, although when used in excess it can flood and destroy. And authority used deceptively can also be used to oppress and ruin. Writing would seem to spring from what is holy, to be made in the image of the inner Self we project onto the godhead really to be identified with the potentiality of mankind. It is the visible sign of the godhead in action, the manifestation of the Word. Writing also may be regarded as a debased form of speech, despite all efforts to elevate it into an image of God/Self and a translation of the cosmos. Writing stands in place of speech, but it symbolizes a loss of soul and presence, as when academic writing in particular comes in, the magic presence of speech in the oral tradition is extinguished. It is an attempt to encapsulate spirit and inspiration, but it remains as a symbol of the missing spoken word. It may give physical form to revelation, but it cuts the human links and replaces them with a universe of signs, thus requiring a speaking presence to reactivate the revelation. We therefore need to realize our limitations in writing. It is opposed to speech as a secondary and dangerous attempt to sign and to take possession of something symbolic of an inner presence, which is really more unknown.  

The Latin 'A' is the same as the sign which stood for Eagle in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. It symbolizes the unchanging primal cause, the Pyramid, the Trinity, the magnificnace of God and happiness in the Christian tradition. Seen from another viewpoint it is an upside down, red 'V' for vital-victory and justice, Christ's suffering and the moral principle associated with courtly love, and reward in elevation to knighthood. As there has been a Fall, it could denote inversion, or a temporary setback or reversal requiring one to go deeper in the unconscious (symbolized by a fall into the ocean) in a process causing one to work on one's own shadow. In life there is no end to work on the shadow. New things to integrate are always coming from below into liminal land in the threshold of awareness. And then in the following days or weeks they may walk right into our lives in the outer world, presenting an opportunity to bring these gifts from inner nature into consciousness.  

Assuming it is an 'A', and noting the shield is placed on the diagonal, at something like a 45-degree angle, pointing upward to our left, it perhaps suggests there is an interesting slant on 'collective' reality in the theme. One should not merely take things literally or as they seem on the surface. We should not take this fresco and the cycle we are about to see in the adjoining room as nothing more than representation of ancestral history, seeing family likenesses painted into some of the figures with heraldic signs. The courage of the mature Eagle is needed to fly to the heights to get a perspective on what may lie beneath the surface and to connect with an underground current of thought that is universal in value. The strong arm or masculine principle is needed under the protection of the armored gauntlet of the knight to take command of the noble bird and send it aloft for the hunt, to see into the animal instincts that lie below and capture them by bringing them home to consciousness. The flat-topped upper part of the shield is intense blue, the color of practicality, melancholy, authenticity, spiritual process and intellectual light. The bottom of the shield is white, the symbol of purity.  

The uppermost corner of the shield comes into contact with the lower part of a silver colored armoured gauntlet above or, or it may be a hood for the falcon, or a metal tilting helmet for a knight which appears as if to support an elaborate golden crown, having 9 silver balls across the top of it perhaps signifying the end of one series, or cycle.  

The crown in turn is surmounted by a 2-dimensionally rendered, very dark grey-colored, mature falcon, with its head turned to its right in the conscious direction (to its right, our left). Its wings are outstretched in Teutonic, authoritative fashion, where the wingtip and outer tail covert feathers are spread widely. This time the bird is painted a dark, blue-gray associated more with water and the depths of the sea and introverted, intuitive understanding of inner realities such as archetypes and patterns of the soul. It is as if we are at the entrance to a labyrinth having gold at the center, some hidden treasure in the shadow of darkness, some unrevealed truth.  

Baronial Hall  

We now proceed to the main event in the next room, the Sala Baronale, which was for jursiprudence. It is situated immediately behind the previous fireplace now accessed from a central corridor leading further, past 2 small servants' rooms on the left, to a twin-roomed library at the end of this wing of the building complex. There is a second door to the Baronial Chamber giving access from the second of the 2 library rooms which at one time contained a fine collection of illuminated manuscripts which undoubtedly inspired manuscripts creating the presently depicted story. In the large Baronial Hall, which is immediately above the Coat of Arms Gallery below with the falling falcon theme, there is a fresco sequence covering all 4 walls. The first wall on the interior side of the room has 18 larger than life-sized figures. Below each figure is a verse written in Old French. The concrete floor has been stained a dark, sanguine red with oxblood, and there is a painted wainscotting with the familiar leitmotif, this time running in 4 horizontal bands with leit stencilled in white over a red, diagonally chequered background.  

On the North/interior side of the room we find 9 Heroes followed by 9 Amazon Heroines all in beautiful gothic dress representing historical figures with the faces and formal dress of castle owner family at the time they were made. The overall sequence of the frescoes is meaningful on the symbolic level. This will be further amplified and illustrated with photographs as this work evolves into a distinct, symbolically interpretive Chapter. It is important now merely to note that the figures are separated by sexes and further divided into groups of 2 and 7 for each sex. Beginning near the North corner on the West wall we find 2 males before turning the corner followed by a doorway into the chamber on the West end of the North wall. Then along the approximately 15m North wall we find 7 males before the sex changes to 7 female figures with this sequence then turning the corner onto the East wall where we find another door, this time with access from the second of the 2 smaller library rooms, and 2 more female figures.  

In the middle of the East wall there is a recessed niche containing at the back of this altar-like alcove, a Crucifixion scene with Christ on the cross, the grievous Virgin Mary to his left clothed in dark blue and white. Stabat Mater. There is a male figure to the right of the cross clothed in shades of crimson, and there are 2 other male figures, one on either side at right angles on the 2 sides of the alcove, thus forming the Trinity representing the upward pointed triangle. With the addition of the Virgin and a quaternity is completed with the downward pointed triangle representing the feminine.  

Occupying the entire South/exterior wall of the Chamber is a Fountain of Eternal Youth scene interrupted by 3 windows emitting daylight into the room and providing a view over the plain of the Piemonte toward the left and South-East, with the famous foothill vineyards of the Langhe in the distance. Straight ahead to the South are the Apuan Alps and mountains bordering Liguria and the Riviera. Toward the right there are foothills leading up to the alps on the border with France to the West including the famous Monviso peak above the headwaters of the Po (visible from the terrace below on the opposite or North side of the castle behind us).  

The fountain fresco scene along the entire 15m wall depicts something resembling 'the age of decrepitude' on the left, with people appearing very old, or tired or worn out as may also happen at midlife, or at various times of passage, when an outwowrn attitude is due for a change. The people arrive on foot, by horse, cart and cariolla (an old man in this wheelbarrow is being pushed toward the fountain by his woman), or in a tandem horse-drawn wagon containing among others an old king and queen wearing their golden crowns. Others closer to the lower basin of the fountain are seen disrobing. Older people are being pulled into the water basin on the left by younger looking individuals inside, and there are 3 younger couples to the center and right in the water in various stages of embrace. A young, naked couple gesture toward each other in the smaller, upper bowl of the fountain which has 2 spigots spouting water down into the larger basin below which is crowded with bathers. The couple above have their arms extended to each other around a spiral column between them which extends upward from the upper fountain's bowl to support a tabernacle with presumably 4 water spigots raining down upon them. The tabernacle supports a winged Cupid, or Eros figure topmost, who appears to have just released an arrow from his bow into the crowd of rejeuvenated people who are putting on their finery and departing off to the right.  

One man above the group to the right of the fountain is attempting to pull a woman into a forest of oak trees, but she has her feet firmly planted and her right arm is raised in protest and appears to be having nothing of this distraction. It would suggest there may be some underlying, higher, more spiritual purpose at hand. Many are now riding horses. All appear very youthful, re-energized and animated, moving away to the right to accompanyment of musical instruments. This theme carries around the corner onto the West wall. It ends at the large fireplace which projects into the room slightly like the fireplace in the hall below it. The sequence is now complete as we return to the 2 male figures to the right of the fireplace mentioned earlier.  

Around the corner of the room we now see on the west wall, over the Baronial Chamber's fireplace, what appears to be a final scene illustrating containment and the spiritual transformation of the darker bird-of-prey instincts.      

"High stands on low" (Lao-tzu)

Interpreting the symbolism, the instincts may include the more unconscious, lower, intellect-without-spirit drives causing one to soar -- as in the fresco immediately below on the wall downstairs -- to the extreme heights of hubris too soon, too close to the sun. The Phoenix-like character in one's bird instincts are not yet grounded enough for such lofty intellect or spirit work. We may think our thoughts noble, but the Phoenix-like character of our intellect may not yet be noble or accustomed to such lofty heights without the power to discriminate with feeling, or to discern with intuition the wisdom of deeper truths. With Phoenix-like movements, we experience the ups and downs of life's adventures when we are not ready take the direct light of too much solar consciousness with an over-educated one-sided power of intellect, that is to say, without the other 3 psychological functions being differentiated together with and introverted attitude being brought more or less into balance with extroversion.  

Filling in from comparative mythology then, our youthful 'bird' nature gets its feathers burnt, causing a spectacular return as he Falls downwards to earth awkwardly, on his back, with his singed wings flailing wildly. When the spirit is made to serve base ends, sooner or later there is upheaval and everything is turned upside down. This enantiodomia is often necessary to reach the goal which may be transformation. The roots must be in the ground. One part of the personality must be the deep foundation in the earth with access to the wellsprings so the other can soar high into the sky. 'Down to Earth'. Its a hell of a way to get grounded, but our culture conspires with formal education to set us up in ignorance for the whole trip, the really big show..  

What we actually see in the Baronial Chamber is a repetition of the diagonal inverted 'V' shield from above the fireplace on the other side of the wall in the Antechamber, but now we see a more elaborately finished, silver-colored gauntlet -- or falcon hood. Whether it is a gauntlet or hood is difficult to infer with certainty -- it could represent as mentioned before the tilting the helmet from a suit of armour, and/or more likely perhaps, the hood to keep the hunting falcon at rest while perched on one's arm while being taken into the field. It is probably wise to consider both bearing in mind the duality in all things. As it appears to support the large dark-feathered falcon, one may surmise credibility for the gauntlet necessary to support the bird on the armpiece armoured to protect one's flesh from the birds sharp talons.  

The dark bird is visibly 'stuffed' into a simple golden crown, which is now like a ring or collar, as it is without the crenulations and golden balls of ornament. Body and wings are contained within the ring and the dark feathered wings are pointed directly upward. On either side of the falcon the word leit is painted in tall, thin letters, implying there are not one but 2 sources of light, like the 'Yin' and the 'Yang', or lunar and solar aspects of consciousness. The golden crown appears more like a simple wedding band implying ther may have been a sacred inner marriage within the psyche integrating these opposites. The diagonal blue and white shield with the 'A' for eagle and/or inverted red 'V', suggesting a symbolic 'Victory', is once again repeated immediately below the gauntlet. A canopy, pure white above (suggesting purification) and sanguine red on the underside (inferring it is from suffering), with feathered edges is suspended over the shield from the rear of the crown behind the gauntlet. 4 corner points arch upward, with 2 on either side of the shield and gauntlet, pointing to where leit is inscribed 2 times, once on each side of the falcon. 4 is the number of wholeness and 2 implies with the opposites of extroversion and introversion, which we may infer as being the 2 sets of 4 typological functions. What appear to be tassles on the tips from which the canopy is suspended are each rendered like an inverted figure 8 with 2 white balls, one larger on top and one smaller beneath implying 2 sets of 4 psychological functions, one extroverted, one introverted which may be differentiated into 16 cardinal directions or combinations as explained earlier.  

We will see these opposites projected into 3-dimensional garden space at the Villa Lante, later. To clarify this, we now have the symbolism of 2, of the fourfold and of the number eight. From earlier chapters we may connect this with the opposites, including but certainly not limited to introversion and extroversion, the fourfold and wholeness of the number 4, including the 4 humors, 4 psychological functions, and the combinations of these functions on the diagonal points of the cross, or compass, adding 4 more to make 8. One may think of the 8 as an introverted and an extroverted set of functions, or one may take it with reference to the diagonal positions on the compass adding the main auxiliary to the 4 single primary functions to derive Sensation-Thinking, Thinking-Intuitive, Intuitive-Feeling, Feeling-Sensation. It is possible one's primary function may be Sensation and the secondary auxiliary, Intuition. And so one may describe oneself being gifted or functionally superior in Sensation-Feeling, or Intuitive-thinking, etc. with the opposing functions being the third function and the fourth function which connects one with the unconscious and creativity.  

What is important is one should not use typology as an excuse in life to ignore one's third auxiliary function, often called the 'transformative function', and even more importantly, the fourth, or 'inferior function'. It is the inferior function which is our 'least gifted side'. It is usually easier to identify than the others, as it is the weakest and it has a tendency to trip us up with a Fall. It happens typically when we get stuck when the whole phylogenetic program is calling for us to move forward, to differentiate and integrate the opposites in ever wider consciousness.  

We may surmise the noble soul of the sun/fire bird, mediating between heaven and earth, is contained with its wings pointing upward. Above the bird is the crown of a tree with its spreading branches. This is admittedly a bit of an intuitive leap in the interest of brevity, but what we are seeing here in this castle is a fresco sequence spread over various rooms executed by several artists over a period of time. The Salone Grande or 'Drawing Room' in the castle, completed at a later date, contains many Grotesque Paintings on its ceiling. In the center panel we find a frame surrounded by a whole range of designs in the Pompeian style. It frames the scene of the 'Fall of Phaeton' in his chariot of fire. It is similar to the theme of Prometheus descending, having stolen the fire of the gods, an aspect of wider consciousness involving, particularly, the introverted aspect of intuition to complement the extroverted form. Together, they may give one both hindsight and foresight as one reflects on both inner and outer worlds, with some ability to predict events. It may be due to the fact that various events are constellated by the archetypes which are not visible in themselves, but become projected and enclothed in the forms of mythical personalities and events we may see in certain art including, 3-dimensional sculpture and architecture (in the fountains and sculptures of the Piazza Navona in Rome for example), in old myths and fairy tales, in literature and film stories, and in our dreams. 'Star Wars' would be contemporary dress for themes which on closer inspection are timeless.  

All of the Manta frescoes reflect aspects of psychological growth. They are an outward projection of a transformative, maturing process which goes on within our psyches and there are connections between inner and outer life. As it happens we become more grounded in our typology of introversion and extroversion and Jung's 4 functions, originally projected by the ancients as the 4 humors. They are, again, 'Sensation and Intuition' opposed at each pole of a perceptive 'axis' in the psyche, and 'Feeling and Thinking' opposed to each other on another, sometimes referred to as the evaluative 'axis', with the 2 axes thus forming the Cross.  

The bird with its Phoenix-like, up and down movement mediating between Heaven and Earth is the sublimated counterpart of the wild instincts of the falcon, or eagle. Both are from the same family of bird life. And when we may see this noble, highest flying bird (symbolically speaking) is finally perched before or on top of the 'Cosmic Tree', it is the end of a process. Perhaps it is not quite finished in this sequence, as the 'serpent' is missing at its foot. It then symbolizes the successful completion to the Alchemist's 'Work', which is also the Philosopher's Stone. C.G. Jung characterized it as INDIVIDUATION, otherwise described by the sociologist Abraham Maslow and high school or university psychologists as the inner, or SELF-REALIZATION process. Regardless of the terminology, one gradually fishes up more and more unconscious contents and attaches them to the ego. One's ego consciousness eventually discovers it is but a small part of a much larger Self, which is more whole and balanced and to which one must learn to deepen the connection, to allow it respect and to honor its way in granting us ever widening awareness.  

This is the aim of the symbolic quest Jung explored in his revolutionary discoveries aided by personal inner experience from dreams and active imagination and that of his clients, together with his study of comparative religion, mythology and alchemy. The quest is for symbolic experience. It is a quest which has urgency and meaning for our time, when so many people have become alienated from symbolic life and have lost their roots in their history and in the archetypes of the human soul. Without introversion and the inner life we tend to project a spiritual quest entirely onto the outside world. We seek god and look for meaning mostly 'out there', in the external world of the universe. Our outer projections mirror aspects of the Self and our inner wholeness, our holiness, our wellness, our very Being in-the-world. Many great physicists and other scientists have begun to see the veil of separation between the inner/outer universe disappear.  

It is noteworthy these frecoes by the unknown 'Master of Manta' are based on 14C illuminated manuscripts, including the story, in old French le Chevalier Errant, or The Errant Knight. The original Manta manuscripts are in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. Anyone with an inquiring mind concerned with mythology, comparative religion, symbolism and education, particularly design education, urban design, or the arts and the art or significance of gardens, garden design, or simply gardening, would be fascinated by meanings apparent in the imagery of these well-preserved works with life-sized figures, many painted beautifully in Gothic formal dress.  

The Hypnerotomachia, the Manta frescoes and Italian gardens based on common motifs appear to have a subterranean theme with a teleological aim of constellating, at an unconscious level, archetypes serving the human psychological growth and maturing process. In studying these works of art we may gain a meaningful perspective on the evolving relationship between humankind and environment as well as insight into our own personal being and maturing process.  

The underlying story is about (Lat) humanitas, 'humane' intelligence, creativity, the path of life and a metaprogram we are born with, phylogenetically.  

For many, today, it is simply the need to compensate a cultured, overriding power of intellect, or mind, rather 'being in the head', by grounding or integrating through the body the opposites, such as we see in the symbol combining the ancient Chinese feminine (Yin) and masculine (Yang) principles enfolded in unity, each containing the seed of the other. They are archetypal, also represented historically in the Ancient Greek philosophers' notion of the opposites and in their quaternity of 'the 4 humors' which Jung amplified in his framework of opposites, including introversion and extroversion, and in Jung's 4 functions in his "Psychological Types". As in Egyptian mythology, where the male contains the anima, or Ba soul and the female contains the animus, or Ka soul, life's unfolding normally brings to us that we must individually find a way to differentiate and integrate these universal opposites, one way or another.  

THE VILLA LANTE AT BAGNAIA

In the middle of the journey of our life I came to myself within a dark wood where the straight way was lost.

la Divina Comedia, Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321

Villa Lante was built over a period of time involving several owners and their designers, working on different projects unconsciously, in a kind of grand synchronicity. They appear to have projected and implemented parts of a larger scheme as an archetypal constellation emerging from the collective psyche. The total effect from the symbolism apparent is a concretization of various images representing the entire individuation, or self realization process.  

The following brief description of the Villa Lante will be further amplified and illustrated with plans and photographs along with the Hypnerotomachia and the Manta frescoes, as these and other Chapters further unfold.  

In brief, there is a path going through a gate from the town, into a parterre garden in the form of a square mandala with the symbolism of the opposites represented by 2 dark-skinned male Moor figures holding up a pear fruit spouting water. The square reminds us our point of departure may have something to do with intellect. The 2 figures are part of a central fountain complex with the number '4' taking form below in 4 separate identical basins with waterworks, surrounded by no less than 16 different planted parterre compartments separated by loose stone pebbled walkway surfaces.  

The entire garden has a formal north-south primary axis going upward through it in a southerly direction from the main gate and mandala garden. One cannot follow this axis passing to higher levels and to the 'warmer' regions of the South, directly, requiring 'the adventurer' to undertake more or less spiralling paths of discovery. It reminds one of the DNA double-helix, or the double snake-entwined sword of the cadeuceus of the healer-physician, or Shaman healer-magician, projected 3-dimensionally onto the ground, in a form reminding us of apects of the human mind-body system. One crosses the main axis from time to time, as one goes up, encountering 7 different waterworks. One passes between 2 identical casino houses on either side of the axis, and through 4 separate terraced levels and between another 2 smaller pavilions before reaching a grotto with a water 'source'.  

As the plan unfolds in a kind of Kundalini-like scheme, there are 7 major developmental encounters with water, the symbol par excellence of the unconscious. The number 7 corresponds with evolution, development, transition, the 7 celestial stairs, spheres or planets (astrologically as well), the 7 rungs of perfection, the 7-petalled rose, the 7 days of creation, and symbolizes the dynamic perfection of a complete cycle. Since it corresponded to the number of the planets and characterized perfection for the Gnostics (their pleroma) if not the godhead itself, we may see it as the true, inner Self. Seven indicates initiation and the passing from the known to the unknown. The cycle has ended, now what will its successor be?  

In either outer life, or inner life this garden journey is not something which can be undertaken in a straight-line trajectory, as with Guide Michelin in hand with recommended itinerary. Merely experiencing the place as one wanders through it in contemplation may help to constellate something, 'downstairs', however.  

As in journeys, including therapies, if one is accompanied one would want to be with a Master who has undertaken the journey himself, or at the very least one who is well along the path to have discovered sufficient hindsight and foresight to know what the journey entails. Otherwise, it will be difficult to get beyond the level of the 'Guide', where there may be dangers of a classic, therapeutic 'analysis paralysis', falling into 'a pickle', so to speak, where the 2 may become entangled, emotionally, and get lost together, and then possibly may act out in some way which aborts the journey so that both become stuck in the process. Blocked.  

Above the mandala garden, in the first of transition areas between each of the larger terraced levels, there is a semi-circular complex with a circular stone dining table overlooking the parterres and the village below. One likes to think of this as the Cardinal's rather posh, outdoor breakfast room. It has terraced stone 'candle' fountains cut into the slope above pavement level on the South side suggesting intuition, symbolically, and that the whole journey is something more than a secular experience. The candles and stone paving are cut into the slope following the circular theme. The circle symbolizes the whole Self. Candles are images of light or spiritual illumination in the darkness of ignorance. They are symbols of romantic mood, ritual, purification and the true Church of God which tends to get projected 'out there', but it is really the Self, one's inner spiritual container and a great deal more, including the inner, unfolding process of realization involving joy, faith and witness.  

On the next level, in the middle of the space in a clearing, there is a long, rectangular dining table called The Cardinal's Table. This space is more like a formal, outdoor banqueting room. Previous emphasis was on the secular or material square, moving up to a more heavenly, circular form suggestive of the inner being in undifferentiated wholeness, unity and perfection, in a state of innocence. Now we move upwards again, to where the rectangle is featured in another stone table which implies eating or taking things in and digesting them, so to bring the experience into consciousness. The long table is centered on the main axis with a water channel cut into it, lengthwise. It may be used for slowly passing down floating serving dishes in the form of little boats, or for cooling decanters of wine which may have a Dionysian intoxicating or relaxing effect, so to turn the mindspin off to be more receptive. The symbolism of the rectangle in this context may be significantly associated more with feeling and compassion and this will be amplified at a later date.  

On a cross-axis off to either side one finds little courts with the upper level, main entrances to the 2 identical Casinos or small, 3-storey vacation houses which are really not small by modern standards. They are built into the transition slope down to the mandala garden on either side of the main axis and walled garden compound, where each has also a lower level, North entrance under a portico facing the lower terrace. On a cross-axis on the upper entrance level, across the court opposite each of the south facing Casino main entrance doors, there are grottoes built into the slope with a pool in each. One has a male Neptune and the other a female Venus water god with small water jets creating pleasant sounds, with an echo.  

Along the way up to the banqueting terrace on narrow paths through yew hedges on either side of the main axis, there are surprise 'water tricks' where the adventurer in 'Mannerist' times could get sprayed from jets concealed in the path's stonework. One could get doused again from the ground level, while taking food in proximity of the rectangular dining table, as it is surrounded by a row with many jets concealed along all 4 sides of its stone base. Someone would be waiting in strategic places where water control valves are placed. Before the next level change there is a large water basin built into the steep slope across the main axis with the Fountain of the River Gods, representing various emotional forces and other aspects of one's inner nature.  

Just above this on a landing with symmetrically placed staircases on either side of the main axis, in the transition zone between levels there are Aviaries, one on each side of the axis, containing the winged messengers or intermediaries, positively serving as symbols of the soul and links between Heaven and Earth. Alternatively, in the negative aspect, one may see them as the workings of ungrounded imagination, in terms of their volatility, flitting hither and thither without aim or purpose: what Buddhism would call 'distraction' or worse, 'diversion'. In dreams, birds are thus one of the symbols of the personality of the dreamer.  

One goes up more steps and arrives at the base of a long, descending, carved stone channel, which is a musical water chain feature, Catene d'Acqua. Water bounces and splashes audibly, with delightfully repetetive sounds, as it falls down over cups in the channel. The water is emitted from the mouth of a stone crayfish high above (belonging to the species 'crab', one is reminded). There is a very lively sound effect, like the stepped 'chaddar' of the Persian and East Indian Islamic garden, when there is enough head built up from the stream piped down through the garden from above. The crayfish, gambero in Italian, is a punning refence to Cardinal Gambera, the first owner of the villa identified as being the controller of the water in his garden. On the other hand, from the left hand path, this very well may be the handiwork of his inner Self, projecting activities like the 'Wizard of Oz' at his control panel in Disney's film. How conscious of the hidden, underlying process the Cardinal actually may have been, we do not know.  

On the top level one comes to a clearing with the octagonal Fountain of the Dolphins. It is similar to those illustrated in alchemical and/or fountain of eternal youth themes, where the octagon may be taken as a form which is midway between the heavenly circle and the earthly square representing material existence. There is another water trick feature with jets surrounding the fountain base in a coping at ground level which can be made to spray everyone in the court around the fountain. The green walls of surrounding hedges make it difficult to back away from this experience easily.      

The Villa Lante is now owned by the Italian State and the plumbing for these water tricks has been redone, recently. The stream course passes through the garden on its descent from the Monte Cimino, a former volcano to the South and a little east of this village, Bagnaia. The water is piped by gravity down through the entire garden complex where it is brought to the surface and reused many times in the various water features.  

Beyond the octagonal fountain, water is first introduced into the formal part of the garden in a grotto Nymphaeum. It is at the end of a 'U'-shaped court contained on both sides by 2 smaller, identical, single story pavilions with stone picnic tables under front porticos. These are the Houses of the Muses, each having a door to an interior room, which is frescoed depicting Muses. Amusing, yes. One is beckoned with seduction as the soul is called forth, but one must get above the Freudian interpretation to keep the whole thing in perspective by comprehending meaning on the inner level, or risk the consequences of acting out. 

In the courtyard between the 2 little houses open under porticos on the North approach facing the Octagonal Fountain, one may encounter the grotto scene at the South end with its water source, dripping down over rocks through maidenhair ferns, into a dark, still reflecting pool which one, perchance, may look down into, like Narcissus to discover one's likeness. This experience is comparable to the projection concretizing the image of the self as a face mirrored while looking down into the sand tray typical in in the later stages of sandplay processes. While remaining in this little court contemplating the Nymphaeum, and hopefully, one's own mirror image reflected in the water, one may then be subjected to the Fountain of the Deluge, under a thick blanket of water which shoots out horizontally from both sides to descend over the court, from hundreds of jets, one concealed under each of the lower terra-cotta tiles along the entire edge of the 2 flanking pavilion roofs. In the whole, formal garden experience of the Villa Lante (translate as 'lantern', with 'light' again, also a man-made device providing more perspective in the dark), one really gets the complete, unconscious waterworks, from below and from above.  

Off to the 'left' or East side of the main axis, as one backs away from this extra 'heavy duty' soaking, if one should notice it, there is an escape for those alert enough to discover it. It is through a little gate on the left, or East side of the axis, into a square rose garden. Like the lotus of the East, in the West the 5 or 7-petal rose is a symbol of the Self. On exploring this garden one finds a door on the 'Southernmost' side at the back giving access to the bosco, or forest, representing the wilderness of the unconscious, where one may wander in nature's nature as it were. There, in a little clearing, one discovers a circular reflecting pool with a tall, thin jet of water rising and arching in the breeze as it falls back into the pool, rippling the surface, slightly. On standing near the edge of the rim of this circular pool one may bend again, if so inclined, to discover the reflection of one's face flashing, as the surface ripples. One may wander about in the woods and discover yet another similar pool where one may repeat the same experience. We are thus given several mirroring opportunities to 'get the picture', perhaps 5 if you count the Nymphaeum and the 2 grottoes earlier in the possibilities for a potential experience opposite the main door to each Casino. Out of necessity, one must find one's return back down the hill and through the whole garden to society and civilization which is further to the North, and what that implies.  

The word Casino: as in casino di caccia translates as a hunting lodge, (circolo) club, (bordello) brothel, (baccano) din/racket/row, (confusione/pasticcio) mess/shamables/botch/failure, fare casino means to make a din or to make whoopee, and fare un casino is to raise the roof or to raise hell. By working on one's shadow and getting to know it, as in the ancient Chinese proverb, 'high stands on low', one builds one's own proper foundation for spiritual life and creativity -- as one realizes both the darker and the lighter aspects of the Self. Heaven and Hell. It's like Daisatz Suzuki remarked at one of the Eranos Conferences:

Man against man. Man against nature. Nature against man. Nature against nature. Very funny religion.