The Gardener

http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/graphics/640x480/gardener1640.jpg

The Mysterious Gardener
Stuart Wilde
{Excerpted from Plum Red by Stuart Wilde (unpublished)}

A tale about your silent power.
Many years ago in old China, there were a group of small villages on the banks of a muddy tributary of a great river in the province of Shan Tung. The villagers were very poor. The crops often failed, and the river flooded from time-to-time, making matters worse. The water really wasn't very clean; it carried disease and parasites, which affected animals, and sometimes the villagers became sick. At harvest time, bandits would come down from the hills, attacking the villages, and they would carry off the crop. The villagers' lives were miserable, brutal and hard.
They got together and decided they would build a temple, hoping that through prayer and dedication, their fortunes might change. The land around there was not particularly fertile or attractive, but there was a very nice spot under a small hill, which had a stream running past it. They consulted with a local master who knew where the dragon lines flowed, and he decided that that spot would be an auspicious place to build the temple. He insisted the temple be placed so that the hill was behind it.
Work commenced, and the villagers began hauling stones and digging the foundations, and about forty of them, men and women, were involved in the activity. Each took turns to work on the temple, then he or she would return to their work in fields, and so in this way the temple gradually got going in fits and starts.
They had been working about a month, when a stranger walked into the village. He seemed young. He was tall and strong, but not muscular. He sat by the village well, not far from the building site. The villagers were suspicious of him; they wanted to know who he was.
He told them he was a traveler, and he asked if he might rest by the well for a few days. He assured them he would cause them no trouble.
The stranger hardly ever spoke, except to exchange a few pleasantries with those that came to fetch water. He sat by the well for three days, watching the villagers building their temple. Finally, he asked one of them, "What are you building?" A villager told him their tale of woe, saying how the people had decided to build a temple, hoping that it might bring them better fortune.
The stranger nodded as if approving. A short silence hung in the air, and then the villager returned to his work. The stranger's presence soon became the talk of the village. They wondered who he was. Some said he must be a sage. Others disagreed; he looked too young to be a wise man. The stranger was dressed in an unconventional way. This gave rise to further discussions and speculation. He carried a long sword strapped across his back, and he wore protective clothing made of leather. His jerkin was studded with metal on the chest and shoulders. Yet the rest of his clothes were those of a peasant with one exception, tied around his waist was a silk sash. It was wound around him several times and knotted at the hip; from there it hung down to his right, almost to his knee.
The sash was plum red in color.

Lessons

I decided to try my hand at selling plants from my home this year. I have hundreds of tomato and pepper plants started but no customers. A friend made me a web page and I put an ad on Craig's list. This has been the coldest, meanest spring I can ever remember. And the whole time I have been working my rear end off, falling into bed each night totally exhausted. And what used to be a joy has become a nightmare all because I needed to make some money. In the beginning every single little seedling lived, which most gardeners know is unusual. I felt good and felt that plants loved me. Then I became doubtful, tired, fearful and started making excuses to let some die. Things went very bad. Horrible storms came, killing frosts that decimated my little plants. I lost my faith and worry over not making a dollar here or there ruled my life. And then yesterday a lovely day sitting outside still transplanting but just doing it for the love of it. And then I had a visit by two belligerant wasps who would not get out of my face. I tried and tried to ignore them but I have a deep, deep fear of wasps. When I was around 3 years old I was attacked by thousands of them and stung almost to death. Each year I grow a little more braver and tolerant. But these two tested my faith and my husband brought out the wasp spray and either they were dead or they decided to leave. My husband surprised me by saying over and over how sorry he was that he had to kill them. He wished they would have just gone away. He felt so bad and then I felt bad that he had killed them for me.

Then this morning I find this

Clarissa Pinkola Estes: "In fairy-tale justice, as in the deep psyche, kindness to that which seems less is rewarded by good, and refusal to do good for one who is not beautiful is reviled and punished. When we enlarge ourselves to touch the not-beautiful, we are rewarded. If we spurn the not-beautiful, we are severed from life and left out in the cold."

Could anything be any clearer? Now all he and I can do is try to make amends and learn to live and let live.

Life is painful and full of lessons lately even in the smallest things. But I know great joy is there too, but I am being taught to appreciate that. Just wanted to share in case we are all at some crossroads now and it seems hopeless, we have to keep trying and not give in to the things we know are wrong and lead to a dead end. And even the "not beautiful" deserves our love.

---

The Sound of Music

4 corners, 4 elements,  crosses, Xs, flags, symbols, positive, negative, motion, spin, stars,  humans are made in the shape of the universe. Taking a little esoteric stop on the magic bus today, secrets are everywhere.

When you look at the above movie poster for The Sound of Music, what do you see?

And the composer, Richard Rodgers is also famous for a musical documentary that most everyone from my generation recognizes immediately entitled “Victory at Sea”. My father was a WWII veteran and these documentaries played endlessly on that new contraption at our house called “television”. And the music from one of them became imprinted on my brain. It was called – Beneath the Southern Cross. A sultry, moody tango musical interpretation that accompanies this story

Beneath the Southern Cross is another essential Victory at Sea episode, 25 June 2007

Author: tavm from Baton Rouge, La.

It's the battle of the South Atlantic between the British ship Devonshire and the German ship Atlantis. Plenty of footage of South America, both as sympathizers to the Nazi cause and, much later, as American allies willing to aid their northern neighbor's cause...More compelling footage of sea battles accompanied, as always, by the stirring music of Richard Rodgers and likewise that of Leonard Graves' narration. Highly essential viewing for anyone interested in the way World War II was filmed for the record of depicting the what, how, and why of the decisions of the various world leaders and the way it affected the rest of the fighting men doing the actual battles. 

Here is a link to a mp3 of “Beneath the Southern Cross” and the main theme of Victory at Sea. 

http://home.comcast.net/~pflyersboy/victory/victory_at_sea_theme.mp3
http://home.comcast.net/~pflyersboy/victory/beneath_the_southern_cross.mp3

And The Sound of Music is famous for so many beautiful songs, one of them Edelweiss (like the swastika and the cross) has been corrupted and changed to fit Christian soldiers and white power groups. The true words of the song are taught and sung by………………….The Boy Scouts.

http://www.usscouts.org/songs/songbk2a.asp

10 EDELWEISS

Edelweiss, Edelweiss                   

Every morning you greet me             

Small and white,                       

Clean and bright,                      

You look happy to meet me.             

Blossom of snow                        

May you bloom and grow,                

Bloom and grow forever,                

Edelweiss, Edelweiss,                  

Bless my homeland forever.   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edelweiss_%28song%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sound_of_Music

During the Cold War, BBC planned to broadcast The Sound of Music on radio in the event of a nuclear strike on the United Kingdom. The broadcast would be part of an emergency timetable of programs designed to "reassure" the public in the aftermath of the attack. BBC officials didn't realize that a television broadcast would not be possible, because television sets would be rendered inoperable by the electromagnetic pulse effect.[3]

http://www.btinternet.com/~pdbean/threads.html

article about the BBC planned broadcast, if you thought the TV show Jericho was scary, read this

and some quotes that speak to me from Hazrat Inayat Khan

"But among all the different arts, the art of music has been especially considered divine, because it is the exact miniature of the law working through the whole universe."

"According to the esoteric standpoint, music is the beginning and the end of the universe. All actions and movements made in the visible and invisible world are musical. That is: they are made up of vibrations pertaining to a certain plane of existence." 

 "Those who have probed the depth of material science as far as modern science can reach, do not deny the fact that the origin of the whole creation is in movement, in other words; in vibration. It is this original state of existence of life which is called in the ancient tradition sound or the word. The first manifestation of this sound is therefore audible, the next manifestation visible. In the forms of expression of life, life has expressed itself first as sound, next as light."

"Philosophy or science, mysticism or esotericism will all agree on one point if they touch the summit of their knowledge, and that point is that behind the whole of creation, behind the whole of manifestation - if there is any subtle trace of life that can be found, it is motion, it is movement, it is vibration. This motion has its two aspects. There are two aspects because we have developed two principal faculties: sight and hearing. One aspect appeals to our hearing, the other to our sight."

And some links that speak to me about symbols and the universe and what all this alien language of symbols and multi levels of meaning are…

http://vincentbridges.com/?page_id=51

Fulcanelli’s Final Revelation: Raising the Djed at the End of Time

By Vincent Bridges and Jay Weidner

http://www.shout.net/~bigred/Cthulhu.html

Battling Cthulhu

Who Is Cthulhu?

Cthulhu comes from the “fictional” works of H.P. Lovecraft. From what vision-world did H.P. Lovecraft perceive and write about “the Great Old Ones who lived ages before there were any men... They had shape but that shape was not made of matter... the Great Old Ones spoke to (the first men) by molding their dreams; for only thus could Their language reach the fleshy minds of mammals...” This, as will be seen, contains a great deal of truth.

I apologize for all the hopping and roundabouts, I doubt that sadly that I make sense to anyone but me. Like the elves said to Terrence McKenna, we want you to change your language, maybe we finally are.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f7fZrQzgQc&feature=related

Indiana Jones: The Cross of Coronado

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones_and_the_Last_Crusade

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is a 1989 adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denholm Elliott, Julian Glover, Alison Doody, River Phoenix, and John Rhys-Davies. This film is the third released, though the twenty-fifth chronologically, in a series of film and TV productions about the adventures of the heroic fictional archaeologist Indiana Jones.

When Dr. Henry Jones Sr. (played by Connery) vanishes while pursuing a life-long search for the Holy Grail, Indiana must retrace his father's steps in the hopes of rescuing him – and the Grail – from the clutches of the Nazi military machine. Worldwide, the film was the highest grossing movie of 1989

In 1912, boy scout Indiana Jones steals the Cross of Coronado, an ornamental cross belonging to Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, from grave robbers, believing it should be in a museum instead of a private collection, in the process using a whip, scarring his chin, and gaining his fear of snakes. Although he rescues the cross, the robbers tell the police that Indiana was the thief, and he is forced to return it, while his oblivious father, Henry Jones, is working on his research. One of the robbers, dressed very similarly to the future Indiana, gives him a fedora. In 1938, an adult Indiana is on the robbers' ship, the Coronado, off the Portuguese coast, finally retrieving the Cross and donating it to Marcus Brody's museum.

http://indianajones.wikia.com/wiki/Cross_of_Coronado
The Cross of Coronado was a jewel-encrusted golden crucifix with a chain; named for Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado. It was believed to contain a piece of the cross Jesus was crucified on.

 Coronado Naval Base barracks -

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Amphibious_Base_Coronado

Complex 320-325, which is located at the Naval Amphibious Base Coronado and is surrounded by Bougainville Road to the north, Tulagi Road to the south, Eniwetok Road to the east, and ROI Road to the west, looks like a swastika when seen from above. The final look of the 6-building complex as seen from the air, was the result of an oversight by Navy planners at the time. A draft study conducted by the National Register of Historic Places noted that the shape of the six-building complex was simply an oversight that went undetected during the Navy’s approval process


http://aftermathnews.wordpress.com/2007/10/01/blackwater-knights-of-malta-in-iraq/

12 Around 1, Miners, and Me

I have a vast treasure trove of articles that I posted on a now defunct forum called "Stargate Zero 2012". I was a forum administrator for over 7 years. I was very upset when one day it just disappeared and all the wonderful articles were gone. That forum was my indoctrination into a new way to view all of life, as deeper, richer and find that connections abound. I often wonder if these connections are just happenstance or did we ourselves leave signposts to help guide us through the maze.

This is the beginning of my journey into finding a signpost:

Perhaps some of you may wonder why I just won’t leave West Virginia and the Sago Mine disaster alone. Well to be honest I wonder myself. But this story caused a strange rift to happen inside me. Almost like someone drilled a bore hole in my brain and flicked a light switch that opened up a strange doorway into a whole new way of seeing life and ordinary common events. And many strange things have continued to happen to me since. And not all of them good, but many are. Almost as if by journeying down this deep mine I took on my own journey to find the Golden Fleece.

Caves are deep dark areas of all human psyches, and anyone who has the courage to overcome their fear of the dark and hidden enclosed spaces are to be considered heroic in my viewpoint. Caves scare the hell out of me. Being trapped deep underground is something that I don’t think I mentally could survive. The dark hidden places within the earth seem to hold a very intense fascination for all of us. Something within all of our buried unconscious remembers this and it is a piece of our unremembered history.

The original story of who we are and where we came from starts with us being miners and cave dwellers. Miners to the brothers Enki and Enlil. And all the “Hollow Earth” stories of strange beings and men from the stars. You have to admit it does resonate in you.

The Sago Mine Disaster is like one of those hidden picture stories for me. You hold it one way and a unique story appears, hold it another way and another story appears. And strangely enough all the stories are stories within other stories and they all relate to who we are and where we came from.

12 around 1. Everything within our present existence is based upon this. 13 miners were lost and 1 miraculously survived.

Take a look at a clock face. Take a look at the painting of the Last Supper with Jesus.

12 around 1 is all about us discovering the sacred geometry of life and who we truly are.

Many strange synchronicities started to appear when I started looking at Sago. And like I said some were not good.

Randal came out of the mine in a deep coma. On the exact same day Ariel Sharon in Israel went into a coma that he never has come out of. The miners wrote stories of just going to sleep and I’ll see you on the other side. One of my dearest friends in the midst of Sago just went to sleep and never woke up. Her name was Sharon.

Weeping uncontrollably, somehow feeling responsible for her death for “looking” at Sago, I felt that I was trapped deep underground also. One night during all this darkness I was in my kitchen making dinner and pulled out plates out of the cabinet to serve dinner. Looking down at the plates my heart stopped. Right there in my hand was 12 around 1.

When my husband and I first got married money was tight and we started life out together with practically nothing. We had a bed, a TV, a folding card table with 4 chairs and no plates, silverware or pots and pans.

Our grocery store used to offer dinner plates for free if you spent around $20, and trust me $20 was a LOT of money back then. So over the years I have collected a mishmash of plates this way. Some I have 4 of, some 3 and some 2. But this particular plate I only have one of. And it is the first plate that we started our journey together with. Standing there in my kitchen holding this plate, that had sat there all these years, followed me from home to home, waiting silently, patiently for me to one day really see it and know that something or someone was speaking to me.

It is a perfect example of 12 around 1 and the flower of life.

Now if I haven’t totally convinced you of my craziness, if you’re interested take a journey with me to discover all the secret, hidden things that are locked up in this crazy ride of life.

And many tears later, I can read this article with new wisdom -

Roof Collapse Kills Miner in Eastern Ky.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PIKEVILLE, Ky. - A roof collapse at an eastern Kentucky coal mine killed one miner, a state official said.

The rock fall occurred about 900 feet inside the Maverick Mining Co. LLC mine in Pikeville, near the Virginia line, said Chuck Wolfe, spokesman for the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/355976/roof_collapse_kills_miner_in_eastern_ky/index.html?source=r_science#

And now we are back to 13. And on the other side of the river in Pikeville. Home of The Hatfields and McCoys. And home to where the families held a truce in 2003 and finally realized that we are all brothers and sisters.

All I know is that this story has opened my heart (my third eye) and leads me ever onward. The deaths along the way are so frightening to me. I spent the entire weekend frightened and curled up into a ball. I refused to look at it or go anywhere near it. So frightened. Was I making this happen? Just by looking at it?

I think that is my ego talking to me. Only God can make this happen.

This story happened late last week. I refused to talk about it, or look at it, I didn’t want anyone else to die. But they did.

One of my dearest friends died late Saturday night. Her name was Sharon. She was an angel. She rescued animals and homeless people. She loved life, she loved people. She was very special and kind.

She just went to sleep and never woke up. She just stopped breathing. She was 49 on Christmas Eve. I am going to her wake today. It is at 2099 Miner Street in Des Plaines, Illinois.

Dreams

This entry is weird and long. So if you are not so inclined then move along. Nothing to see here. I wrote this as an entry in my daily journal and it is directed at my daughters.

Dreams and what to make of them? I so very rarely remember any of my dreams anymore that I was positive that I just didn’t have any. For years I always had the most vivid dreams. The majority of them were always frightening as hell. I was forever being chased by some monster (always male and always evil as hell). Most times I had some little child that I was trying to save or protect. Many times I would wake up sobbing and run into my babies rooms as they were sleeping to make sure they were okay. I think deep down my most horrible fear is that someone would hurt one of my children and I wouldn’t be able to protect them. Dreams are weird. I can’t remember ever having any happy ones. Just always this horrifying running from something and trying to save one of my babies.

Well a couple of weeks ago, I had this dream that I can’t get out of my head. It started out as this nice beautifully peaceful day. Everything was green, the sky was blue and I was playing with my granddaughters outside. Something alerted me that danger was coming. I gathered up all the girls, holding tight to all their little hands and dragging them inside to their apartment. We had to run up a bunch of stairs to get inside to their apartment. Something in my mind said that wolves were coming. I never saw any wolves and wouldn’t think that I would be afraid of wolves. Well we had to go up all these stairs to get inside. Each stair was a big wooden deck and they were arranged in a spiral. Holding tight to all three girls we ran up and up. Finally we made it into their apartment. It was a nice place but not where they really live, I had never seen this place before. I started to calm down and the girls were all making fun of scarety cat grandma. I set them up watching TV and began to look around. The first thing I noticed was the patio door was open and the outside deck was rotten and filled with holes big enough for a child to fall through and Gabby was headed right for it. I ran and slammed the door shut and locked it. Well all of you know me well enough to know that I am absolutely scared to death of heights, and the thought that a child might fall, and I wouldn’t be able to save them makes my heart stop. I think you can all remember how tight I used to hold on to your hands anytime we went on any kind of ride that took us up in the air. Then I made them some lunch (spaghettios) and everyone was happily eating and watching cartoons.

 

As I was walking around the kitchen reading the notes on the refrigerator I turned and there was a long hallway, like the hallway separating apartments on the inside. Walking down this hallway came an elderly lady who said hello and walked on past me. Next came this man. In my dream I realized that he looked familiar but nothing registered. He was in his late forties maybe. He had black hair and cold pitch black eyes. He had pockmarked skin and he was balding but combed his hair over the balding part. He wore a colorful tropical shirt, trousers (the dockers kind) and gym shoes. I immediately sensed danger but my stupid southern courteousness made me say hello. He asked to borrow some paper towels. I said sure and turned to grab some to hand to him. In a flash his hands went around my neck and started to choke me. He was incredibly strong and the more I tried to fight him off, it seemed the more he liked it. I became furious, kicking, twisting trying to break free but he was too strong. I began to sob as I realized that he was going to kill me and then my grandbabies would be at his mercy also. Just as I could feel his hands choking the life out of me, Heidi shook me and woke me up. I woke up scared as hell, and knew that she had saved my life. Now number one, Heidi never wakes me up but this one night she did. Number two, on the news the next day was the story of the BTK murderer and his sentencing. This was the guy in my dream. Now did I just have this guy in my subconscious for some reason, or did his evil persona just float on into my dreams, or did I actually experience one of his victims being murdered? Creepy, eh? I still can’t get this dream out of my mind. It was chilling to say the least and I know that Heidi saved my life. Now how and why did she know to wake me up just at the moment before I would have died?

Well told you this would be long, so no complaining –

I started to do some research on dreams (too scared to look up anything about the BTK murderer, can’t even look at his picture!). I found this place and here is a very good article on dreams. This place is the oldest American organization to conduct psychic research. They are our own real-life “Talamasca”. All you Anne Rice aficionados should be familiar with the Talamasca introduced to us in her novel The Witching Hour

 

Anyways here is the article and the link to their website is below, a pretty damn interesting place, with loads of old books and dusty secrets. I love it!

Mindscape

Mindscape

Mindscape magazine is an eclectic mix of sub-culture and underground thoughts , ideas, discoveries , mysteries, musicians , films , books , gadgets and anything else that rocks the boat.

It’s a fun and irreverent look at the universe and everything within it. Sometimes serious, sometimes contemplative, but always thought provoking. There’s something for everybody.

A new magazine by Andrew Gough of the famous Arcadia discussion site.

Awakening

I am happy how many people are feeling the same and questioning our lives. Once you "wake up" into the deeper divine it is so amazingly wonderful you want to send everyone to wake up.

But sadly, it doesn't work that way, since we are all unique my spiritual revelations don't make sense to everyone, and it is my journey and this is as it should be.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and Universal Truths

I am changing and beginning to see how ALL of religion actually celebrates life, birth and renewal. We just don't realize it. Religion is a universal celebration of life and nature and renewal. And how very silly of us to kill each other over who's is better when they are all the same.

Today is St. Patrick's Day, a day to wear your green. And the green is returning as my little world wakes up and returns to life. It is so majestic and wonderful to walk outside in the mornings to hear symphonies of bird songs and each day way, way high up in the sky are the long legged migrating birds headed west. Are they like the gray elves headed for the West?

On Ash Wednesday we received the ashes on our foreheads to remind us Of the Most Important Truth in the Universe.
http://quantumtantra.blogspot.com/2011/03/most-important-truth-in-universe.html

Momento, homo,
Quia pulvis es,
Et in pulverem reverteris.


The most important truth in the Universe.


Remember, Man,
That thou art dust
And unto dust shalt thou return.

Remember, Woman,
That thou art water
And unto water shalt thou return.


Remember, Woman, thou art air
And unto air shalt thou return.


Unto earth shalt thou return

Moby We Are All Made of Stars

2011 - The Year of Illumination

http://www.leeharrisenergy.com/

Mirror of Erised

The word "Erised" (pronounced eer-ih-sehd) is "desire" spelled backwards meaning the name could also be known as the "mirror of desire." The backwards text is a symbol of the odd nature of the mirror, because the mirror works in a very backwards way from regular mirrors in a way that it shows the inside and not the outside of a person. The inscription around the mirror reads "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi" The message backwards is "I show not your face but your heart's desire."

The Mirror of Erised is a magic mirror, which, according to Albus Dumbledore, shows the "deepest and most desperate desire of our hearts." The happiest person in the whole world would look in the mirror and see a reflection of exactly the way he or she is. Inscribed across the top of the frame is the following text:

Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi

Reversing the inscription and rearranging the spaces produces:

I show not your face but your heart's desire

Through the recent journey I've taken through death and life, I have made some discoveries about love. The first is that love is always there. Whether we know it or not, we are surrounded by an ocean of love. Our challenge is not to find love, as though it were a distant, half-mythical goal. Our challenge is to become aware of love. Like the object you search the house for and then find was in your pocket all along, love is right with us. Our task is to abandon the distraction of searching and give ourselves to the love that is always there.

Perhaps, when reading this, you thought as I did of the scene before the Mirror of Erised where Harry sought the Stone and suddenly found it in his pocket.

I would like to quote from this book 'Facing Death Finding Love -The Healing Power of Grief & Loss In One Family's Life' (1994) by Dawson Church.  This is mainly a meditation over the author's loss of a new-born child.  Writing of the earlier birth of his other son, in a chapter called 'Welcoming the Soul' -- to compare with what Ms Rowling wrote of the contrast between Voldemort and Harry:  the different circumstances of their birth and the choices they made later.

And finally, from the same book --

If your heart is open, the soul of your baby will surely know it.  Just imagine you were a stranger landing in a strange country, where you didn't know any of the customs or the language.  How grateful you would be for a guide who would feed you, clothe you, teach you the language, and care for and protect you while you were learning to fend for yourself.  If the soul of your child knows you welcome it and will be a loving guardian of its growth, it can easily make the confining transition into a physical body.

Lionel was traumatized by his difficult birth.  It toook several hours after the umbilical cord was cut for him to calm down and got to sleep.  For the next few days, he cried and cried.  I knew that newborns can cry a great deal, but Lionel's constant crying began to weary me.  We tried everything.  We would feed him, clean him, burp him, cuddle him, and he still cried.  After six weeks of relentless crying, I was at my wit's end.  I felt as though I was on the brink of insanity.  I wanted to throw him out the window.

'Why don't you try giving him an attunement?' Brenda then suggested.  Doing this frequently when Lionel was in the womb had conditioned me to think of this primarily as a prenatal technique, not something to do after birth.  I placed my hands over his body and shared a long, loving attunement with him.  I spoke to his soul  'What is going on with this baby?  Why is he so distressed?'

'He didn't know you were here,' his soul replied.  'You spent time with him in spirit like this every day while he was in the womb, then once he was born, this conscious contact suddenly stopped.  He's reached out to you in spirit and found no one there.'

How could I have been so blind?  I had been a presence welcoming and loving him all through gestation, and suddenly he finds himself born into this uncertain new environment, and his friend isn't there!  The constant attunement signal he has been orienting to has suddenly disappeared, and he finds himself all alone.  Of course he is distressed.  I had been so focused on the physical level of actually having a baby I could hold and see that I had completely forgotten the spiritual level of parenting.  At the soul level, I had abandoned my baby.

As I held my hands over Lionel's body, his crying stopped.  His breathing became regular, and he fell asleep.  He had rediscovered his friend.  From that day on there was a complete change in his behavior. He cried infrequently and quickly stopped when we took care of his needs. He became an amazingly happy baby,and to this day is the happiest person I have ever met.

The happiest man on earth would be able to use the Mirror of Erised like a normal mirror, that is, he would look into it and see himself exactly as he is.
In 1992, the Mirror was the final guardian of the Philosopher's Stone in its Chambers. Dumbledore placed an enchantment on the mirror, hiding the stone inside of it and allowing the mirror to transfer the stone to anyone who wanted to find the stone but not to use it. Anybody wishing more than simply finding it would see themselves making gold or the Elixir of Life, or in Professor Quirrell's case presenting the stone to his master.

When Quirrell/Voldemort ordered Harry to look into the mirror, Harry focused on finding the stone, and, uninterested in actually using the stone for his own purposes, saw his reflection pocketing the stone, at which time it magically appeared in his real pocket.^[1]

Harry did not do the hero's thing and slay the villain.  Harry was the means that Voldemort brought death upon himself.  Harry was the mirror that destroys the basilisk by reflecting the basilisk's gaze.  He is like the 'fetch' that Emerald mentioned, 'a spirit counterpart of one's own soul that connects it to the realm of the Gods.'  Loosely speaking, that could be the substance which produces the ecstatic state....

But how did Harry become able to be that mirror to begin with? Through Voldy's inadvertent semi-transformation of him. (I say "semi-" in the sense that the transformation, or alteration, was temporary, to the tune of 16 years.) The basilisk does not create the mirror with which it can itself be destroyed. But Voldemort does. (And he does so by choosing to act on the Prophecy, as DD drives home in HBP.)

But... even though Voldy made his own mirror, by altering/transforming Harry, Harry's response to that transformation - to use it against V rather than give in to the allure of Dark Magic - was all Harry. Even his mother's love protection didn't achieve that all on its own. He wasn't a static instrument, like a literal mirror would be; he was a participant. DD also tells us that it was Harry choosing to live up to the potential for love that his mother gave him that had allowed Harry to stay in the Light. And it was by choosing to stay in the Light that put Harry put himself into the position of being a mirror at the right time and place.