Mountain is visible— towering the landscape The Well is invisible— dark and mysterious Mount Ladakhi near India-Pakistan border Matterhorn from Train Tracks, Switzerland Well with Bucket Photo: Macci Glass It's obvious that mountains are visible and wells invisible. Mount Ladakhi towers the India-Pakistan border (photo from Smithsonian magazine). Matterhorn (14,692 ft) is one of the highest summits in the Alps and Europe. The mountain overlooks the Swiss town of Zermatt, in the canton of Valais. Since wells are underground, they are invisible. While mountains tower the landscape, the well is dark & mysterious. Photo Sources: Mount Ladadakhi (wisdomportal.com); Matterhorn (commons.wikimedia.org); Well with Bucket (marciglass.com)

Mountain is like the day basking in the sunlight The Well is like the night telescoping the stars Sunlight over Mountain Mountain: Masculine, Yang, Day Japan 478: Telescope (issued 10-24-1949) Telescoping Stars at Night Well: Feminine, Yin, Night Continuing with the metaphor of Mountain as masculine (Yang & Day), the Well as feminine (Yin & Night). In Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier writes "Looked at from bottom to top, a well is like some giant astronomical telescope pointed from bowels of the Earth at the celestial pole. This image of Well as a telescope reminded me of a Japanese stamp (Scott #478) showing a telescope. Found stamp on the web (centered with even perforations in Photoshop), along with image of "Telescoping Stars at Night". Photo Sources: Sun over the mountain (nature.desktopnexus.com); Japan 478 Telescope (ianridpath.com); Telescoping Stars (sf.funcheap.com) Mountain is home of Zeus where nine Muses are dancing The Well is home of Hades Underworld King of the dead Zeus with Lightning Bolt from Mount Olympus Nine Muses Dancing with Apollo playing the Lyre on Mount Parnassus Hades & Persephone Lord of the Underworld Hades: King of the Underworld Mount Olympus is notable in Greek mythology as the home of the Greek gods. Zeus was the King of the gods, ruling the Sky and hurling thunderbolts. On Mount Parnassus, Nine Muses are dancing with Sun God Apollo playing the Lyre. Since Hades is King of the Underworld, and the Well is beneath the ground, and the dead are buried underground, The Well as the home of Hades, King of the dead, have been linked together. Photo Sources: Zeus (pinterest.co.uk); Nine Muses Dancing (greekmyths-greekmythology.com); Hades & Persephone Marble at Calabria, Italy (timelessmyths.com); Hades Vase at Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich (theoi.com) Gods inhabit mountain tops closest point to heaven Demons dwell inside wells some say is the place of hell Greek Gods Gathering on Mt. Olympus Moses Met God on Mount Sinai Entrance of Well to Hell Quinta da Regaleira, Sintra, Portugal In An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols, J.C. Cooper notes that the mountain is the "abode of the gods" and place of "communion with the gods" (p. 109) as Moses met God on Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments. In The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, Jean Chevalier writes "Mountains are places where Heaven and Earth meet, where the gods have their home." (p. 680). Mt. Meru is the sacred five-peaked mountain of Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmology. A Bhutanese Thanka shows several Buddhist gods on mountain tops. In Woman's Dictionary of Symbols (p. 163), Barbara Walker writes "Martin of Braga said female devils called nymph lived in wells." British wells are sacred to underground Goddess Hel, & her Celtic counterparts Morgan & Brigit. "Entrance of Well to Hell" photo above shows an initiation well, which provides access to a portal, that's guarded by two stone demons/dragons/lizards and leads to a labyrinth of underground galleries. Access to the well is gained by a hidden revolving door in the rocks. Photo Sources: Gods on Mt. Olympus (drivethruhistoryadventures.com); Moses Receiving Ten Commandments (crystalinks.com); Entrance of Well to Hell (entrancestohell.com) Climb every mountain... Till you find your dream Snow White at Wishing Well found the Prince of her dream Mother Abbess singing "Climb Every Mountain" Snow White Singing to the Wishing Well Snow White's Dream Prince Shows Up at the Well Mother Abbess sings to Maria (Julie Andrews) to "climb every mountain till you find your dream" in The Sound of Music (1965). But Snow White sang to the Wishing Well, and found her Dream Prince, in Walt Disney's Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs (1937). It's interesting that both films broke the highest grossing film record— Snow White made $418 million, while The Sound of Music made $286 million. Rodgers & Hammerstein: "Climb Every Mountain" from The Sound of Music (1965). Climb every mountain Ford every stream Follow every rainbow Till you find your dream "I'm Wishing/One Song" by Frank Churchill & Larry Morey— Want to know a secret? Promise not to tell? When you're standing by a wishing well Make a wish into the well That's all you have to do And if you hear it echoing Your wish will soon come true Photo Sources: Mother Abbess Singing (youtube.com); Snow White Singing to Wishing Well (youtube.com); Prince of Her Dream Comes (youtube.com) Birds fly to the mountain where the air is pure & fresh Fairies go to ancient wells for living water that heals Bird on Table Mountain Cape Town, South Africa Eagle on Mountain-top Barrow, Alaska Wishing Well Fairy by David Weston Fairy Scattering Herbs by Ida R. Outhwaite In Notes to poem "Chinese Ideogram Shan for Mountain", Michael Maier's 1617 alchemical work shows birds on mountaintops (Emblema VII & Emblema XLIII). Found 7 photos of birds on mountain tops, two of them shown above (Cape Town, South Africa & Barrow, Alaska). Harold Bayley writes in The Language of Lost Symbolism, "Fairies dipped children in the Fountain of Youth ("Living Water") in order to free them from mortality (p. 241). Photo Sources: Bird on Table Mountain (flickr.com/); Eagle on Mountain (etsy.com); Wishing Well Fairy (wtv-zone.com); Fairy Scattering Herbs (bookdepository.com) Contemplate up the Mountain— found the light of my childhood Trees are Wells above ground lifting water out of the earth Peter Contemplating on Mt. Lao peak (9600 ft) Cortina d'Ampesso, Italy (August 4, 1972) Transport of Water Upward in Trees from Roots to Leaves Water Transport in Plants via the Xylem Sap On August 4, 1972, on my first trip to Europe, went up to Mt. Lao via cable car, and climbed to the peak. The view was majestic & breathtaking. Sat down to meditate while my brother-in-law David snapped the above photo. Upon closing my eyes, saw a sky-blue circle with a golden circumference with a green dot in the center (Sun Logo). This image came to me spontaneously without effort. Suddenly, I remembered seeing this golden-blue circle before falling asleep when I was 6-years-old in Shanghai. But I've never seen it during my four years of meditation (1968-1972). Later this circle reappeared when meditating in Ausburg Cathedral, Germany, where Leopold Mozart was born, and young Wolfgang von Mozart had performed. Hexagram 48 of the I Ching is "Ching/The Well" with commentary (p. 185) "The wood goes down into the earth to bring up water... The image also refers to world of plants, which lift water out of the earth by means of their fibers (sap) through osmosis. A Scientific American article (Feb. 1, 1999), explains that "Loss of water during transpiration creates more negative water potential in the leaf, which in turn pulls more water up the tree. So water loss from leaf is the engine driving water upward. Biofluid & Biomimic Research Center (BBRC) is focusing on plant hydraulics.on how plants transport water from the roots to the leaves. Photo Sources: Peter contemplating on Mt. Lao (wisdomportal.com); Water Transport in Trees (dogonews.com); Water Transport via Xylem Sap (bbrc.postech.ac.kr); Blue Circle with Gold Ring (wisdomportal.com) Praying to trees on my walks communing to Wishing Wells Well is Yin, Mountain is Yang The Tao embraces them both Eucalyptus Tree "Three Graces" Trunks Redwood to Sky Montebello Ave Pepper Tree "Lion of Courage" Face Pepper Tree "Platonic Lambda Λ" Yin-Yang Symbol Embraced by The Tao In my page on "Walk to Jane Lane", I've listed the prayers of blessings to the trees on Montebello Ave, during my daily walks to catch Bus #40 at Rengstorff Ave to Foothill College. With insights from the I Ching, I now realize that trees are wells above the ground, so when I pray to them for blessings, am I not communing with Wishing Wells? The Yin symbol is a black tear-drop with a white dot in the middle. The Yang symbol is a white tear-drop with black dot in the middle. They nestle together in a circle "The Tao" embracing them both. Photo Sources: Eucalyptus (wisdomportal.com); Redwood to Sky (wisdomportal.com); "Lion" Pepper Tree wisdomportal.com); "Platonic Lambda" Pepper Tree wisdomportal.com; Yon-Yang Symbol (commons.wikimedia.org) — Peter Y. Chou     Mountain View, 1-29-2019 | Top of Page | Mountain & The Well | Poems 2019 | Poems 2018 | Poems 2017 | Poems 2016 | Poems 2015 | | Poems 2014 | Poems 2013 | Poems 2012 | Poems 2011 | Haikus 2018 | Haikus 2017 | Haikus 2016 | | Haikus 2015 | Haikus 2014 | Haikus 2013 | Haikus 2012 | News | CPITS | Books | A-Z Portals | Home | © Peter Y. Chou, Wisdom Portal P.O. Box 390707, Mountain View, CA 94039 email: (1-29-2019)