In the Metaphysics of Beauty Rituals, Naida, at Orphic Transcendence, broaches the topic of Beauty in relation to the Feminine. This is often a neglected topic in metaphysical systems, since Beauty is considered arbitrary and subjective at best, and prone to artificial eroticism at worst. Yet Beauty is on a par with Truth and Goodness as one of the transcendentals; to neglect it is to fall short. This is clear from the Platonic Tradition:

The first and last lesson of metaphysics in the classical tradition is the erotic orientation of the soul toward being. This is expressed in Parmenides’ image of the chariot — ride to heart’s desire; in Plato’s sexual and conjugal metaphors for knowledge; in Aristotle’s dictum “All men by nature desire to know”; in Plotinus’ account of being as beauty; and in Aquinas’ treatment of the transcendentals good, true, and beautiful. Ex visu amor: this desire begins with the most rudimentary encounter with reality which is the nature of all awareness, and is consummated in the intellectual union which is at once perfect apprehension and perfect reality: thinking-being. ~ Eric Perl, Thinking Being

Unlike Truth and the Good, which raise us up, Beauty seeks to manifest itself in the world, to restore Beauty to its rightful place in the world of manifestation. Naida shows us where to look for it:

In Western thought, Venus or Aphrodite is related to earthly matters. As an archetype, and not only as a deity, she is connected with beauty, fertility, harmony, and love. … Venus, therefore teaches or instructs in the philosophy and knowledge of the world — how to speak, how to dress, how to earn money, how to negotiate a good deal, how to be just in a worldly sense, not just a heavenly one.

Julius Evola, following the anthropologist Bachofen concurs:

The properly Aphroditic race; tellurism, i.e., the adherence to terrestriality, assumes the forms of an extreme refinement of material existence in it, and not infrequently then promotes an opulent development of everything that is pomp and luxury in the outer life, therefore also in the world of the Arts and aesthetic sentiment.

The pursuit of Beauty cannot be an abstraction:

To honour the Venus, or to create a positive Venus Karma, is to engage with the Venusian in balance. It is to have the best, highest quality clothes one can have, to eat the most quality food, but not without restriction, because indulgence creates a negative Venus Karma. To deny Venus, if there is a desire, is also to create, the negative Karma with it. … From this, it is seen that Venus is not just beauty in a static sense, it is also the process of beautification. Connected with this archetype, we do not eat just to fill the belly — we eat food that is quality, we assemble and arrange it beautifully, we place it on a beautiful plate.

The Beauty Ritual

But, in the inner life, a passivity and a lunar inconsistency subsist, compensated by a particular prominence given to eroticism, thus also to everything which is related to woman, which then exercises control because of that and silently secures dominance for itself. ~ Julius Evola

That is only part of it, as the urge for dominance overcomes passivity. The Moon is cold and dry, while Venus is warm and moist. The Venusian spirit is hardly passive; the beauty ritual is energizing.

The beauty rituals also embody this sentiment of refinement and beautification. Indeed, body, face or anything else may be naturally beautiful, and perfectly enough. Yet, the Venusian spirit desires to enhance it, to dramatise it, to direct a light to a specific part, area or act. Venus, unlike the other symbol of the feminine, the Moon, is warm and active. Unlike the Moon which is cold and seeks to receive warmth from some external source, Venus is libidinous, warm, and seeks to release the energy into something.

The woman’s Anima may even become Phallus hungry:

Aphrodite/Venus as a deity, and also the nymphs or sirens who are the same archetype, were often assertive and pursuing. Sometimes, even forcing themselves on the male object of their affection.

The Knight’s Indifference

In a world in which the ugly, the bizarre, the unusual are valorized, it is good to be reminded of the role of Beauty in life. For the Knight, therefore, the path of the Ascetic is not appropriate; rather the path of Indifference. The Knight may enjoy a sumptuous feast one night or he may have to forage for food on another; it is all the same to him.

A couple of years ago, a woman sent me a video clip from the Sound of Music with Maria dancing with the Captain. That was her fantasy: the elegant and charming Captain dressed in his finery. But perhaps the week before he was in a battle: sleeping on the ground, eating poorly, body odor permeating the air, the agonous cries of the wounded, death all around him. It is all the same to him.

Indifference does not mean to be cold and without feelings; rather, it requires the wisdom to know when to express them and when not to. For the Knight, the world is the battleground in which he plays out his destiny. That is the horizontal dimension, but the cross requires the vertical axis. Hence, he is in the world but not of it. Naida attributes that axis to Jupiter:

Jupiter, also known as Guru, is the guru or teacher of the devas or gods, his principles are heavenly, not worldly. He is the Divine, universal law and not the particular law of worldly concerns.

Earthly concerns are ambiguous: Aphrodite’s instruction may be the cunning of the Serpent or the Wisdom of Sophia. Cunning results from the ignorance of the vertical axis. It is the closed circle, so the cunning man is limited to past experiences and future projections.

Wisdom, on the other hand, teaches us to look with the eye of the heart. The world is Maya, illusion, but also a reflection of the Divine. Hence, Aphrodite can either entrap us or expose Reality to us.

In this essay, Naida uses Vedic mythology to explore and, ultimately, resolve this paradox. For an enjoyable and informative trip through the world of beauty, illusion, asuras, nonduality, and God, please visit The Metaphysics of Beauty Rituals.