Archetypes and symbols
The Hounds of Heaven represent a powerful archetype. They are the dark messengers of the unconscious, pursuing and hounding the conscious mind from the shadows. They represent all that is unknown, all that is exiled. They carry the missing aspects of self. Avoided, they are bent on savagery. Confronted, they bear sacred gifts.
The Tibetan Book of the Dead, or Bardo Thodol, is a window into Tibetan Buddhist conceptions of death, and has also informed Western Spiritualist Traditions about the nature of afterlife.
Alchemy is an ancient art of transmutation, based historically on the hermetic mystery-knowledge of the ancient Egyptians. Legend states that the founder of alchemy was Hermes Trismegistus, a name based on the Egyptian god of magic Thoth and the Greek god of wisdom Hermes.