06/03/2025
André Consciência - Occult Author foreword to "Dark Matter - The Order of the Hidden Cross" by Ian Bayly, Author
Dark Matter: The Order of the Hidden Cross, follows Joshua, a messianic child whose mysterious birth on a stormy night is marked by ominous phenomena; The Order of the Hidden Cross, which appears to safeguard dangerous secrets, entities or knowledge that could destabilize reality; Malleck, embodying the forbidden, divine rebellion, and magical authority; and many other characters, all of them of relevance.
I must focus on only a few to prove how interesting fiction is to the Philosophy of Mystery, being able to give life to universal principles through animated characters and having their corresponding force and polarity interact. Fiction, well done, can be truly the Dyonisian way of philosophy as opposed to theory and the Apollonian via and follows the metrics of invocation (building characters from the universals) and evocation (transporting them to the world of communication through relative traits and full individual or collective personalities).
The Order of the Hidden Cross
It represents the point where spiritual and temporal power converge, balancing light and shadow, creation and destruction. The Order’s practices put free will into question, and that the preservation of cosmic balance depends on the “Hidden Cross” seems to imply the crucifixion of divine truth. The Gnostic view of the material world as a flawed creation is seen in the Order’s aim to protect or counterbalance higher, uncontrollable forces.
Malleck
Malleck is a Malakh (Hebrew word for messenger), divine and infernal, the voice of the liminal “in-between” that awaits release through Joshua, whose name immediately reminds of Jesus, God and man. At once, this release threatens with revelations and cosmic chaos, destruction and enlightenment.
Joshua
Pure human and divine individual potential, Joshua is the kind of power that should be used as a pawn to the Order of the Hidden Cross or disrupt order. A duality that can be seen in the order’s ritualistic control and Joshua’s innate and raw power. While Joshua is individualized enlightenment, the Order represents the guidance of dogma. In this guise, Joshua leaves a variety of questions to the attentive reader: is enlightenment an inherent right, or must it be regulated? Does unmediated access to truth empower or destabilize? Is Joshua liberating humanity from ignorance, or is he unleashing dangers best kept hidden? Does Joshua act of his own will, or is he a pawn in a larger cosmic game? What about you?
The Hall of Memories
The Hall transcends time and space. Simply put, it is the Akasha, a mystical element represented as a black primordial egg analogous to dark matter or a violet inbetween which in occult lore contains all events, thoughts, and actions in existence.
Accessing the Akasha requires immense spiritual authority, it requires one to be enlightened or chosen by supernatural forces. Nevertheless, the Hall serves as a narrative device between personal memory and collective history, gifting with insights or powers that shape destinies. This reflects existentialist philosophy, where the act of recollection births identity and purpose.
Put another way, the Hall of Memories is the container of the ideal or platonic form of memory and all the shapes that are derived from it, an astral plane that is the shared repository of human archetypes and experiences not unlike Jung’s collective unconscious. Here, the act of remembering is akin to awakening to divine truth. The Order of the Hidden Cross seems to believe premature enlightenment can overwhelm or corrupt. At the same time, if the Hall of Memories symbolizes divine truth, the Order’s control of it suggests parallels to the Catholic Church’s historical monopoly on scripture. This becomes even more evident when we meet Yehoshua, the very human cross locked and hidden in the crucifixion of isolation, the Living Word imprisoned in wood. And, if you contemplate that the name "Yehoshua" is the original Hebrew form of Joshua, this may lead you to new findings about how both are intertwined and a fresh understanding of concepts like the Higher Self or the Holy Guardian Angel of High Magic and the metaphysical nature of true individuality.
Dark Matter
The abyss of dark matter binds everything (including different planes of existence) together. It is not static but a living, sentient force that responds to intention and action. It is the isolated essence of connection, enabling entities like Joshua to access the Hall and command beings; it also unravels reality, blurring the lines between dimensions and unleashing entities like Malleck. This prima materia (the original substance), a formless essence from which all creation emerges, and the Hall of Memories, seem to give life to the two aspects of akasha, as before hinted. Dark Matter binds the substance of the universe, the hall binds the knowledge radiated from this substance; Dark matter functions as a medium for entities and powers, the Hall of Memories as a medium for their truth; Dark matter is creative and destructive, the Hall is enlightening and destabilizing; Dark matter is reactive and alive, the Hall is eternal and static; in sum, Dark matter is the akashic substance and force (potential) while the hall is its place and dimension (wholeness). Dark matter (akashic action) is the substrate directly fueling the Hall (akashic reflection) that exists within it, making the hall able to be across dimensions. Joshua has access to both.
The book, then, explores the use or misuse of this gift, which we all have knowingly or unknowingly, or if only at a microcosmic level, and bears lessons for reflection. Like all the important lessons, they come bearing a question mark. The work transmits the idea of reality as a fragile construct, where physical acts are capable of puncturing the veil when connected with this principle. If this power is true as we know it is, what is our role in it?
apotheosis by Eric schoch Follow the epic journey of a 12th-century crusader, Henry James Oldecroft, who finds himself in another world after dying in the crusades. Charged to ascend the Sacred Mountain by a being of this realm, the Baron, Henry meets unexpected allies and adversaries along the way....
