Sometimes the struggles are between light and dark, of logic and intuition, of head and heart, of knowing and uncertainty. Sometimes choosing is an illusion, though often is the case when a choice needs be made, for the lack of choosing creates a paralysis in the self, or dilutes the potential of either direction. These struggles of choice have been known throughout time, they arise when the situation isn’t obvious or the choice of one over another seems unbearable. The thought that we are alone in our deliberations is an illusion.

Just beyond the veil of our perception, forms of wisdom observe and transformation offers a third way — but we must move beyond the immediacy of our tensions to receive it. The ghostly hawk forms are representations of Sokar who resides in the underworld. As a god of death, of transformation, of knowing the full cycles of creation, of the interplay of light and dark, he is depicted as a hawk head emerging from the primeval mound.

In this terrain of change, the djed pillar represents stability and resurrection, a tree of life to integrate and express the creative light streaming forth in solar rays. Not choosing can be costly, not everyone gets it all, sometimes all you can do is make peace with the past and choose to move on.

Photography notes for bird: 1999, sidewalk near home, San Jose, California

Photography notes for Sokar: 2006, Canon Powershot, Abydos

Archetype and Symbols: Sokar, solar rays, djed pillar

K. M. Ehrenfeldt, 2013