Paul Laffoley
(b. 1940, Cambridge, Massachusetts)

The Astrakakiteraboat
1983
Oil, Acrylic, lettering on Canvas
75 1/2 x 69 1/2 in.

Subject: The Kite-Boat and Astral Projection

Symbol Evocation: The Ship as the Symbol of Eternal Wandering

Comments: Astral projection, or the journey of the Ka, was the major motif of classical Egypt; it was considered the natural link between life and death. Astral projection affected the daily lives of the Egyptians through religious ritual and the arts and architecture. The Sun was seen as the source of life, and was both the origin and final destination of the Soul. The ship was the symbol of the wandering Soul after death.

The kite-boat is an attempt to practice the art of invention with a sensibility akin to that of the ancient Egyptians. What I tried to do was place myself within the mind of Imhotep, the architect of the step pyramid of King Zoser of the Third Dynasty. Imhotep was the first noted architect in Western history, remarkable also for his rare combination of powers as an organizer, statesman and master of all arts and crafts. He was called; Grand Vizier, Chief Judge, Overseer of the King's Records, Bearer of the Royal Seal, Chief of All Works of the King, Supervisor of That Which Heaven Brings, the Earth Creates, and the Nile Brings, Supervisor of Everyting in the Entire Land, The Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, Chief Under Hereditary Nobles, and the Helioplitan High Priest. Two millenniums after his death he was raised to the stature of a god of healing. I asked myself if such a person had not died, what would he be doing now.

A clue came from the Nineteenth Century, when prompted by the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in 1789, ancient Egypt itself was rediscovered. The Nineteenth Century made two basic breakthroughs: the invention of electricity and advances in kite technology that led to the heavier-than-air flying machines of the Twentieth Century. It would have been natural for Imhotep to connect these two ideas in the kite-boat. By means of electricity he could have induced the wandering of the Soul during life (the Ka-Body) and symbolized the entire process by the kite. The kite is the Ka, the ropes are the Astral Cord, and the boat is the physical body held down but still wandering over the earth. With this invention Imhotep could have worshipped the sun directly from out on the ocean, connected life with death, and had the freedom of never having to stay in one place.