The Garden Of Exile
I did a quick sketch today trying to capture an image I’ve had in my head for some time now.
I started sketching the two figures sitting in a tree, then somehow it evolved into this world ripped from its mooring, drifting through the cosmos.
I applied the curious tales tarot aesthetic I’ve been developing and … it worked perfectly. Well after a few iterations, corrections and tweaks … it worked perfectly.
The final piece became The Garden of Exile.
As I look at it now, it feels deeply tied to old mystical and gnostic ideas, the notion that the universe itself expresses itself through matter, and that consciousness is something ancient temporarily wearing earth, water, air, and fire in order to experience its own living Self.
The tree became the Tree of Life without me even planning it. The rivers flowing through the earth feel like spirit moving through matter. The crystals and gemstones became hidden fragments of light and memory buried within the world itself, while the droplets flying off into space feel like tears, seeds, or even pieces of soul returning to the cosmos. And the pomegranates address the cyclical nature of life as we know it.
To me, the piece sits somewhere between dream, memory, mythology, and psychedelic vision. A floating garden suspended between worlds. A kind of sacred exile.
The Garden of Exile is ultimately about the strange feeling that we are not separate from the universe at all, but the universe itself, briefly wearing the shape of a world.
Sources for the Curious Reader
Hermeticism / Gnosticism
The idea that divine consciousness is hidden within matter is central to many gnostic traditions.
Concepts:
Divine spark trapped in material existence
Matter as both prison and revelation
Gnosis as remembering one’s cosmic origin
Texts:
The Apocryphon of John
The Apocalypse of Adam
The Book of Enoch
Especially relevant:
the idea that hidden light or wisdom became embedded within the created world.
Neoplatonism
The universe emanating into material form from a higher source.
Key thinker:
Plotinus
Core idea:
matter is a distant but still meaningful expression of the One.
Carl Jung
collective unconscious
archetypes
mandalas
the Tree of Life
alchemical symbolism
individuation through descent into matter
Alan Watts / Eastern Philosophy
The line:
“the universe experiencing itself”
is strongly associated with:
Alan Watts
Particularly his interpretations of:
Vedanta
Taoism
Buddhism
The famous idea:
“You are the universe experiencing itself.”
William Blake
Blake constantly merged:
cosmology
mysticism
mythology
apocalypse
symbolic landscapes
divine imagination embodied in matter
Psychedelic Thought / Cosmic Consciousness
Visionary traditions explored by:
Terence McKenna
Carl Sagan
Aldous Huxley
Especially the recurring psychedelic insight:
self dissolves into cosmos
matter becomes alive/symbolic
consciousness appears fundamental rather than secondary
Literary / Mythic Echoes
The “Garden of Exile” title evokes:
Eden after the fall
Persephone
exile from paradise
incarnation as separation
return through remembrance
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