mythology and religion in art

[ftil]

Hm……..I was alone here for a long time…….all of sudden this tread attracted members who have never been here.

I guess you have missed my post. For your convenience, I re- post it. Please respect it.
If you have suddenly awakened interest in mythology, there is a discussion tread with art called Poetry Discussion Group: Ovid's Metamorposes

http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=62195

I want to keep this tread as it was my original purpose to open it. I have moved art from Ovid and Metamorphosis tread that was a discussion tread not to have .... discussion tread. One of the reasons for doing it is the fact that mythology and religion is a huge subject and I don’t think that I will ever be comfortable to discuss it. Scholars who studied that subject in depth pointed out many contradictions depending what historian they take into consideration. For example, some historians believed that Venus was born in sea-foam from the castrated genitals of the sky-god Uranus whereas others believed that she was born out of egg. Similarly, Eros was a son of Venus in one myth in another a son of Iris.
I am more interested in finding the common themes or archetypes in all religions. Joseph Campbell who spent his entire career came to that conclusion. I have come to the same conclusion and I want it to be a focus of my explorations.

Secondly, I don't like influence people what I think. I prefer to ask questions than to look for the answer since when we accept a belief we close our minds for alternative explanations.

Finally, I have asked the moderators on Picture/Images How to tread to clarify about posting art. Some members interpreted the new rules as not posting art on the discussion treads. They continue posting art but I prefer to wait for the clarification.
My intentions was not to have a discussion tread and it would be sad this tread to end.

[cafolini]

They did not transact with the flesh. So they needed no clothes to undo.

[billl]

LitNet has a free blogging feature, which might be better if discussion isn't wanted.

[ftil]

Oh, Cafolini I have just asked politely to respect that it is not a discussion.
tread. Is that difficult to respect others wishes? This tread attracted a number of visitors. You not only don't respect my request....

Or you do your best ...to kill this tread.


Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?
Confucius

Just for you.

Hm……..I was alone here for a long time…….all of sudden this tread attracted members who have never been here.

I guess you have missed my post. For your convenience, I re- post it. Please respect it.
If you have suddenly awakened interest in mythology, there is a discussion tread with art called Poetry Discussion Group: Ovid's Metamorposes

http://www.online-literature.com/for...ad.php?t=62195

I want to keep this tread as it was my original purpose to open it. I have moved art from Ovid and Metamorphosis tread that was a discussion tread not to have .... discussion tread. One of the reasons for doing it is the fact that mythology and religion is a huge subject and I don’t think that I will ever be comfortable to discuss it. Scholars who studied that subject in depth pointed out many contradictions depending what historian they take into consideration. For example, some historians believed that Venus was born in sea-foam from the castrated genitals of the sky-god Uranus whereas others believed that she was born out of egg. Similarly, Eros was a son of Venus in one myth in another a son of Iris.
I am more interested in finding the common themes or archetypes in all religions. Joseph Campbell who spent his entire career came to that conclusion. I have come to the same conclusion and I want it to be a focus of my explorations.

Secondly, I don't like influence people what I think. I prefer to ask questions than to look for the answer since when we accept a belief we close our minds for alternative explanations.

Finally, I have asked the moderators on Picture/Images How to tread to clarify about posting art. Some members interpreted the new rules as not posting art on the discussion treads. They continue posting art but I prefer to wait for the clarification.
My intentions was not to have a discussion tread and it would be sad this tread to end.

Let's go back to mythology and religion.

Ardhanarishvara, is a composite androgynous form of the Hindu god Shiva and his consort Parvati (also known as Devi, Shakti and Uma in this icon). Ardhanarishvara is depicted as half male and half female, split down the middle. The right half is usually the male Shiva, illustrating his traditional attributes.

The origin of Ardhanarishvara lies in hermaphrodite figures in ancient Hindu and Greek cultures. The earliest Ardhanarishvara images are dated to the Kushan period, starting from the first century CE. Its iconography evolved and was perfected in the Gupta era. The Puranas and various iconographic treatises write about the mythology and iconography of Ardhanarishvara. While Ardhanarishvara remains a popular iconographic form found in most Shiva temples throughout India, very few temples are dedicated to this deity.
The conception of Ardhanarishvara may have been inspired by Vedic literature's composite figure of Yama-Yami, the Vedic descriptions of the primordial Creator Vishvarupa or Prajapati and the fire-god Agni as "bull who is also a cow," the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad's Atman ("soul") in the form of the androgynous cosmic man Purusha[7][10] and the androgynous myths of the Greek Hermaphroditus and Phrygian Agdistis.

The concept of Ardhanarishvara originated in Kushan and Greek cultures simultaneously; the iconography evolved in the Kushan era (30–375 CE), but was perfected in the Gupta era (320-600 CE). A mid-first century Kushan era stela in the Mathura Museum has a half-male, half-female image, along with three other figures identified with Vishnu, Gaja Lakshmi and Kubera.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardhanarishvara

Interestingly enough, Benjamin Walker in his book Gnosticism Its History and Influence cited a scholar who found Gnostic influences upon Hindu and Buddhist religion. I have to go back to Walker’s book to find the reference. It would be interesting to learn about how Gnosticism influenced Eastern religions.

I will have to explore further when the concept of androgyny began in Greek mythology.

[ftil]

Yesterday, I learned that members can only post images in original size on game treads. On other treads, however, we can only post a "thumbnail" size. Interestingly enough, I could post images from internet but I can’t do it today as I have tried to post art on another forum. The only option left to continue this tread is to post a link with an image. Very strange things are happening. I may start believing in ghosts………or demons. LOL!

During the 16th century, it was believed that each demon had more strength to accomplish his mission during a special month of the year. In this way, he and his assistants' powers would work better during that month.
Belial in January
Leviathan in February
Satan in March
Belphegor in April
Lucifer in May
Berith in June
Beelzebub in July
Astaroth in August
Thammuz in September
Baal in October
Asmodai in November
Moloch in December
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_demons

An 18th century illustration of the Canaanite deity Moloch

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Moloch_the_god.gif


Or, Bifrons? He teaches arts......I guess it must be Bifrons.

In demonology, Bifrons was a demon, Earl of Hell, with six legions of demons (twenty-six for other authors) under his command. He teaches sciences and arts, the virtues of the gems and woods, herbs, and changes corpses from their original grave into other places, sometimes putting magick lights on the graves that seem candles. He appears as a monster, but then changes his shape into that of a man.
The origin of the name is the Roman god Janus (mythology) (Janus).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janus_(mythology)

Bust of the god Janus, Vatican museum, Vatican City.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Janus-Vatican.JPG

[ftil]

I have seen From darkness to light: The Mystery religions of Ancient Greece by Joseph Campbell. He said that the pine cone in Vatican was removed from Roman Field of god Mars. The Campus Martius (Latin for the "Field of Mars", Italian Campo Marzio).

Pigna is the name of rione IX of Rome. The name means "pine cone" in Italian, and the symbol for the rione is the colossal bronze pine cone, the Pigna, which decorated a fountain in Ancient Rome next to a vast Temple of Isis. There water flowed copiously from the top of the pinecone. The Pigna was moved first to the old basilica of St. Peter's, where Dante saw it and employed it in the Commedia as a simile for the giant proportions of the face of Nimrod. In the 15th century it was moved to its current location, the upper end of Bramante's Cortile del Belvedere, which is now usually called in its honour the Cortile della Pigna, linking the Vatican and the Palazzo del Belvedere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigna_%28rione_of_Rome%29

The Pigna in Cortile Belvedere, Vatican

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Co...e_mountain.jpg



So, pine cone was located next to the temple of Egyptian Isis. However, I have found that it was a temple of both Isis and Serapis.

Serapis was an anthropomorphic god created by the Greek pharaoh Ptolemy I. Ptolemy I chose Serapis to be the official god of Egypt and Greece. He hoped a common religious base would unify the two peoples and ease tension in the country. Serapis' attributes were both Egyptian and Hellenistic. Serapis became very popular and his cult quickly spread from its center in Alexandria.
A Roman historian insisted that the god was originally from Asia Minor. However, Egypt probably provided the essential attributes of Serapis. Serapis' Egyptian nature can be seen in his roots, which were drawn from the cults of Osiris and the Apis bull. These cults had been combined prior to the reign of Ptolemy I. At that time, a sacred bull of Memphis called Osorapis was worshipped after its death. Osorapis was an agricultural god whose cult emphasized the Egyptian principles of life after death. The early Greek pharaohs seemed to have been drawn to Osorapis as a god who seemed to fuse the myriad of Egyptian deities and possessed aspects that were easily fusible with the gods of the Greeks.
http://www.egyptianmyths.net/serapis.htm

The Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis and his attributes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Se...ellenistic.jpg

With his (i.e. Osiris's) wife Isis, and their son Horus (in the form of Harpocrates), Serapis won an important place in the Greek world, reaching Ancient Rome, with Anubis being identified as Cerberus. In Rome, Serapis was worshiped in the Iseum Campense, the sanctuary of the goddess Isis located in the Campus Martius and built during the Second Triumvirate.
According to Plutarch, Ptolemy stole the cult statue from Sinope, having been instructed in a dream by the "unknown god" to bring the statue to Alexandria, where the statue was pronounced to be Serapis by two religious experts. One of the experts was of the Eumolpidae, the ancient family from whose members the hierophant of the Eleusinian Mysteries had been chosen since before history, and the other was the scholarly Egyptian priest Manetho, which gave weight to the judgement both for the Egyptians and the Greeks.
Plutarch may not be correct, however, as some Egyptologists allege that the Sinope in the tale is really the hill of Sinopeion, a name given to the site of the already existing Serapeum at Memphis. Also, according to Tacitus, Serapis (i.e., Apis explicitly identified as Osiris in full) had been the god of the village of Rhakotis before it expanded into the great capital of Alexandria.
Serapis with a basket/grain-measure, on his head, a Greek symbol for the land of the dead
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kopf_des_Serapis.jpg

Interestingly enough, I have found a pine cone in the basket of Cybele. I talked about Cybele and her connections with Dionysus.

Cybele) was the great Phrygian Mother of the Gods, a primal nature goddess worshipped with orgiastic rites in the mountains of central and western Anatolia. The Greeks closely identified her with their own mother of the gods, the goddess Rhea.
http://www.theoi.com/Phrygios/Kybele.html

Cybele

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...7.AA.19_n2.jpg


Detail Cybele with basket and pine cone

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...7.AA.19_n4.jpg


I have also found that pine cone was a talisman.

The Pine Cone, the symbol of Cybele the goddess of abundant benefits, was worn by her votaries for Health, Wealth, and Power, and all good and necessary things which flow in abundance without ceasing from her influence. She had many names, and was called by the Greeks, Pasithea, signifying Mother, as she was the great mother of all the gods. Her priests were famous for their magical powers, and it was customary to fix her symbol, the Pine Cone, on a pole in the vineyards, to protect them from blight and witchcraft, a practice still to be seen in Italy at the present time, and presumably this was the origin of the Pine Cones which surmount the gateways at the entrances of some of the carriage drives of old country seats (see Illustration No. 117, Plate VIII); it also survives as an ornament to the spikes of iron railings enclosing the grounds of old-fashioned houses on the outskirts of many of our provincial towns.
• http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/spir...And-Roman.html

In Joseph Campbell ‘s interpretation the pine cone is not important but the seeds of pine cone as seeds represent consciousness. He argued that New Adam is realized after the old Adam died. I don’t agree with his interpretation considering the fact that pine cone has been found in ancient world from India to North America as I have posted. Those ancient gods were blood thirsty, demanding human and animal sacrifices that is documented in all religions. They didn’t care about New Adam……. LOL!

Well, we can make own interpretations.

[ftil]

Let’s go back to my previous post.

I haven’t noticed before on Entruscan, Greek and Oriental talismans a talisman no 118 and no 106. Interestingly enough, this link doesn't work here but if you copy and paste a link on Google you will find it.

http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/spir...And-Roman.html

Let’s start with no 118 –horn of plenty

The cornucopia (in Latin also cornu copiae) or horn of plenty is a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornucopia

Cornucopia – horn of plenty

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archivo...thago_Nova.jpg

We can find horn of plenty as a symbol of goddess Fortuna.

Fortuna ( Greek Tyche) was widely worshipped as the guardian spirit of a city's good fortune. TYCHE was the goddess or spirit of fortune, chance, providence and fate. She was usually honoured in a more favourable light as Eutykhia, goddess of good fortune, luck, success and prosperity. As such she was usually depicted crowned with the turrets of a city-wall and holding a cornucopia (horn of plenty) brimming with the fruits of the earth.
In most of her representations she is barely distinguishable from Demeter: the crown, cornucopia and Ploutos-child being common attributes of both goddesses. Indeed Tyche (Lady Fortune) often appears to be merely an aspect of the goddess Demeter.
http://www.theoi.com/Cult/TykheCult.html

Demeter (or perhaps Tyche) with turrent crown, plough-shaft, and a corncopia (horn of plenty) brimming with fruit. And pine cone.

http://www.theoi.com/image/S3.2Demeter.jpg

We can find horn of plenty with pine cone with Isis son, Harpocrates.

2nd century statuette of the Hellenistic god Harpocrates, son of Isis, in Dion's Archaeological Museum

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...s_Dion649a.jpg

We can find horn of plenty with pine cone and fleur de lis on Coat of arms of Pope Innocent X Pamphilj, from the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (1651) in Rome

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...X_Pamphilj.jpg

And at Sistine chapel

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ignudo_03.jpg


Hades, god underworld has it too.
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fil:NAM...Cornucopia.JPG

Pine cone can be found with Nisroch.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nisroch.gif

Nisroch is the Assyrian god of agriculture,[verification needed] in whose temple Sennacherib was worshipping when he was assassinated (2 Kings 19:37; Isa. 37:38). Josephus calls him Dagon.
According to the etymology, the name would signify eagle.[verification needed] Among the ancient Arabs, also, the eagle occurs as an idol.

His identification as a god in Mesopotamia is unclear. Some suggest he could be the same as Nusku.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisroch

Let’s look at talisman no 106.

http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/spir...And-Roman.html

This reminds me about Aztec calendar you can see at post no 36. What Entruscan, Greek and Oriental talismans has to do with Aztecs?

http://www.online-literature.com/for...t=62728&page=3

[ftil]

Let’s look again at Etruscan, Greek, and Roman talismans. I haven’t noticed that a caduceus has a pine cone located on the top. I have noticed the pine cone on many sculptures of caduceus but not on a talisman.

A talisman (from Arabic طلسم Tilasm, ultimately from Greek telesma or from the Greek word "telein" which means "to initiate into the mysteries") is an amulet or other object considered to possess supernatural or magical powers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talisman

Let’s start with the caduceus.

The Gnostics had great faith in the efficacy of sacred names and sigils when engraved on stones as Talismans; also in magical symbols derived principally from the Cabala.

The origin of Talismans and Amulets is lost in the obscurity of the ages, In the writing of the philosophers and Alchemists of the Middle Ages directions are given that these Talismans should be made, or commenced, under favorable aspects, so that the Work may receive the vitalizing rays proceeding from the planet represented.

From The Evil Eye, by Frederick Thomas Elworthy

The Caduceus, The Wand Of Mercury (Illustration No. 105, Plate VIII), was considered an extremely efficient Talisman, being worn to render its possessor wise and persuasive, to attract Health and Youthfulness, as well as to protect from the Evil Eye.
In its composition the Pine Cone, which surmounts the staff, was credited with great health-giving powers; is a symbol of Apollo, or the Sun; the wings are emblematic of the flight of thoughts in the minds of men, the two serpents in amity signifying love prototypes of Aescu-lapius and Hygiea who influence the health-giving attributes of the Sun and Moon respectively, both deities being associated with serpents because by their aid maladies are sloughed off and vigour renewed, just as serpents were believed to renew their lives each year by casting their skins.
http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/spir...And-Roman.html

According to the author, pine cone is a symbol of Apollo or the Sun. It is another explanation and different explanation than of Joseph Campbell. It is really a symbol of Apollo?

He was depicted as a handsome, beardless youth with long hair and various attributes including:--a wreath and branch of laurel; bow and quiver; raven; and lyre.
http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Apollon.html

Apollo was depicted with a snake.

Apollo rests his arm on a pillar coiled with a snake. Louvre.

http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/S5.5.html


Apollo Belvedere statue in Museo Pio-Clementino.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...elvedere_5.jpg

I have found only found a pine cone and Apollo at: Apollo, Poetry and Music by Aimé Millet (ca. 1860–1869), viewed from the boulevard de l'Opéra. Roof of the Palais Garnier, Paris.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...Garnier_n3.jpg


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...9_Millet_1.jpg

In the British Museum may be seen a life-sized hand in bronze in the form assumed in the Benediction of the Christian Church, the third and fourth fingers being closed, with thumb and first two fingers extended; this form has its efficacy as a Talisman against the Evil Eye increased by numerous other symbols (already dealt with), a pine cone being balanced on the finger-tips, a serpent running along the whole length of the back of the hand and towering above the third finger; and, amongst others, the Asp, Lizard, Caduceus, Frog, and Scales may be seen, all probably connected with the worship of Isis and Serapis. This form, known as Mano Pantea, and the life-sized hands were kept in the house as Talismans to protect it against every evil influence of magic and of the Evil Eye, whilst small replicas were worn as Amulets for personal protection.
http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/spir...And-Roman.html

Mano Pantea

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/mano-pantea


We have seen a bronze hand used in the worship of Sabazios (British Museum). Roman 1st-2nd century CE. Post # 107

http://www.online-literature.com/for...t=62728&page=8


Pompei, Mano Pantea

http://www.archart.us/galleries/exhi...e-msanm22.html

The Lizard And The Tortoise were symbols of Mercury, and the Caduceus is frequently depicted placed between them on ancient Talismans. The Lizard is also to be found engraved on many of the old Roman rings, and was used as charm against weak eyesight, the brilliant green of its body, like the Emerald, causing it to be held in high esteem, both spiritually and physically.
http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/spir...And-Roman.html

Apollo rests his arm on a pillar with a lizard. Date: C1st - C2nd AD, Louvre

http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/S5.2.html

The Spider, like the Lizard, was sacred to Mercury and was considered a most fortunate symbol engraved on precious stones, its remarkable quickness of sight recommending it as a Talisman for shrewdness in business matters and foresight generally; and according to an old writer, prognostications were made from the manner of weaving spiders' webs, and it was deemed a sign that a man would receive money if a little spider fell upon his clothes. http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/spir...And-Roman.html

Let’s look at spider structure by Louise Joséphine Bourgeois.

Louise Joséphine Bourgeois (French pronunciation: 25 December 1911 – 31 May 2010), was a renowned French-American artist and sculptor, best known for her contributions to both modern and contemporary art, and for her spider structures, titled Maman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Bourgeois

Spider. Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...%2C_Bilbao.JPG

Ottawa

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NGC_Maman.JPG

Notre Dame Cathedral in Ottawa

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...an_July_05.jpg

Cast of the bronze spider sculpture "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois, Bundesplatz, Bern, Switzerland. In the background, the Swiss Parliament Building.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...platz_Bern.jpg


Geneva
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...PICT3813BW.JPG

Geneva

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...2_PICT3793.JPG

Paris

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..._Tuileries.jpg

Let’s look at other talismans.

We have Anubis talisman. (# 107)

Anubis is symbolized as a Jackal-headed god who, in the Egyptian religion, is depicted in the Judgment as weighing the souls of the dead; he is the Guardian of Souls in the under-world.
http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/spir...And-Roman.html

Another mystery resolved as we have seen a big statue of Anubis post # 98.

The big statue, 26 tons of jackal-headed deity, will spend the winter in Landmark Plaza, next to Landmark Center and Rice Park. The statue also was displayed before the exhibit's opening in Atlanta, New York City, London, Toronto and Vienna.
http://www.minnpost.com/politicalage...ian_god_anubis

http://www.online-literature.com/for...t=62728&page=7

A nice connection: Anubis - Hermanubis, caduceus……..and a pine cone.

[ftil]

Let’s go back to ETRUSCAN, GREEK, ROMAN, AND ORIENTAL TALISMANS

The symbol of the Bull's Head (see Illustration No. 108, Plate VIII) was commonly worn as earrings, for success in love and friendship, and as the god of Hades could lengthen or shorten men's lives as he thought fit, the Bull's Head was also worn by men for Strength and Long Life.

My oh my….even bull head is a talisman. We have Egyptian goddess Hathor as a cow.

Hathor with sacred eye in papyrus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ha...in_papyrus.JPG


We have in Egyptian mythology, Apis or Hapis (alternatively spelled Hapi-ankh), was a bull-deity worshipped in the Memphis region.

Apis was the most important of all the sacred animals in Egypt, and, as with the others, its importance increased as time went on. Greek and Roman authors have much to say about Apis, the marks by which the black bull-calf was recognized, the manner of his conception by a ray from heaven, his house at Memphis with court for disporting himself, the mode of prognostication from his actions, the mourning at his death, his costly burial, and the rejoicings throughout the country when a new Apis was found.
Mariette's excavation of the Serapeum at Memphis revealed the tombs of over sixty animals, ranging from the time of Amenophis III to that of Ptolemy Alexander. At first each animal was buried in a separate tomb with a chapel built above it. Khamuis, the priestly son of Ramesses II (c. 1300 B.C.), excavated a great gallery to be lined with the tomb chambers; another similar gallery was added by Psammetichus I.

The cult of the Apis bull started at the very beginning of Egyptian history, probably as a fertility god connected to grain and the herds. In a funerary context, the Apis was a protector of the deceased, and linked to the pharaoh. This animal was chosen because it symbolized the king’s courageous heart, great strength, virility, and fighting spirit. The Apis bull was considered to be a manifestation of the pharaoh, as bulls were symbols of strength and fertility, qualities which are closely linked with kingship ("strong bull of his mother Hathor" was a common title for gods and pharaohs).

Occasionally, the Apis bull was pictured with her sun-disk between his horns, being one of few deities associated with her symbol.
When Osiris absorbed the identity of Ptah, becoming Ptah-Seker-Osiris, the Apis bull became considered an aspect of Osiris rather than Ptah. Since Osiris was lord of the dead, the Apis then became known as the living deceased one. As he now represented Osiris, when the Apis bull reached the age of twenty-eight, the age when Osiris was said to have been killed by Set, symbolic of the lunar month, and the new moon, the bull was put to death with a great sacrificial ceremony.

There is evidence that parts of the body of the Apis bull were eaten by the pharaoh and the priests to absorb the Apis's great strength. Sometimes the body of the bull was mummified and fixed in a standing position on a foundation made of wooden planks. Bulls' horns embellish some of the tombs of ancient pharaohs, and the Apis bull was often depicted on private coffins as a powerful protector. As a form of Osiris, lord of the dead, it was believed that to be under the protection of the Apis bull would give the person control over the four winds in the afterlife.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_%28god%29

The sacred Apis bull shown on a Twenty-first dynasty Egyptian coffin.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..._on_coffin.jpg

Statue of Apis, 30th Dynasty, Louvre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lo...s-p1020068.jpg

The Myth of the Bull Apis Fresco Borgia Apartments, Hall of the Saints

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...rtment_010.jpg


Stele dedicated by the doorman of Horudja temple to the God-bull Apis. We see winged sun disk- symbol of Horus.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...7-mp3h8842.jpg

The Greeks had little respect for animal-headed figures, and so a Greek statue was chosen as the idol, and proclaimed as anthropomorphic equivalent of the highly popular Apis. It was named Aser-hapi (i.e. Osiris-Apis), which became Serapis, and was said to be Osiris in full, rather than just his Ka.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apis_%28god%29

Bust of the Hellenistic-Egyptian god Serapis, Roman copy of an original by Bryaxis which stood at the Serapeion of Alexandria, Vatican Museums

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Se..._Inv689_n2.jpg

We have seen Zeus as a bull, St. Luke also has a bull.


Let’s look at Crescent Moon tlalisman.

The most common symbol of Isis was a Crescent Moon, which was worn by Roman women upon their shoes as a safeguard from witchcraft and to prevent the evil spirits of the moon from afflicting them with delusions, hysteria, or lunacy; also to attract the good-will of Isis that they might be successful in love, happy in motherhood, and fortunate in life. From this Crescent symbol (Illustration No. 113, Plate VIII) the Horseshoe undoubtedly became regarded as a Talisman, and as such was used by the Greeks and Romans, who nailed it with the horns upward as a charm against the Plague.

Jewel by the name of king Osorkon II, featuring the family of Osiris
874 - 850 BCE (22nd dynasty) (Isis right) Louvre

http://pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...20090702200647

Isis breast feeding Horus

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...JPG?uselang=pl


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...png?uselang=pl

We have goddess Astrate depicted with crescent moon.

Astarte's name was first recorded about 1478 BC, but her cult was firmly established by then. The cult spread westward from Phoenicia into Greece, Rome, and as far as the British Isles. Prophets of the Old Testament condemned her worship because it included sexual rituals, and sacrifices of firstborn children and newborn animals to her.

Her other counterparts are Isis, Hathor of Egypt, Kali of India, and Aphrodite and Demeter of Greece.
http://www.themystica.com/mythical-f...s/astarte.html

Astrate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St...re_AO20127.jpg


Tanit was a Phoenician lunar goddess. Stele with Tanit's symbol in Carthage's Tophet, including a crescent moon over the figure

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tophet_Carthage.2.jpg

We have seen goddess Diana and goddess of Hecate depicted with Crescent Moon.


But we also have Virgin of Guadalupe depicted with Crescent Moon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vi...guadalupe1.jpg


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...aGpe.Repro.jpg

THE FISH Talisman (Illustrations Nos. 96, 97, Plate VII) is a symbol of Hathor (who controlled the rising of the Nile), as well as an Amulet under the influence of Isis and Horus. It typified the primeval Creative principle and was worn for domestic felicity, Abundance, and general Prosperity.

Hellenistic religion

Magic was practiced widely, and these too, were a continuation from earlier times. Throughout the Hellenistic world, people would consult oracles, and use charms and figurines to deter misfortune or to cast spells. Also developed in this era was the complex system of astrology, which sought to determine a person's character and future in the movements of the sun, moon, and planets. The systems of Hellenistic philosophy, such as Stoicism and Epicureanism, offered an alternative to traditional religion, even if their impact was largely limited to the educated elite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenistic_religion

By the late Egyptian historical period, after the occupations by the Greeks and the Romans, Isis became the most important and most powerful deity of the Egyptian pantheon because of her magical skills. Magic is central to the entire mythology of Isis, arguably more so than any other Egyptian deity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis
In 1888, the Isis-Urania Temple was founded in London, where the rituals decoded from the cipher manuscripts were developed and practiced. We have connection with Crowley.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeti...he_Golden_Dawn

Kemetic Wicca is a variation of Gardnerian Wicca that follows an Egyptian pantheon. SomeKemetic groups focus on the trinity of Isis, Orsiris and Horus and utilize prayers and spells found the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead.
http://paganwiccan.about.com/od/gods...ses/p/Isis.htm

Today she is the second name in an energy chant sometimes used in Wicca: "Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hecate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna."
http://www.egyptiandreams.co.uk/astarte.php

Neopaganism

In 1933, the Egyptologist Margaret Murray published the book, The God of the Witches, in which she theorised that Pan was merely one form of a horned god who was worshipped across Europe by a witch-cult.[38] This theory influenced the Neopagannotion of the Horned God, as an archetype of male virility and sexuality. In Wicca, the archetype of the Horned God is highly important, as represented by such deities as the Celtic Cernunnos, Indian Pashupati and Greek Pan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_%28god%29

[ftil]

Let's look again at rainbow symbolism.

Post # 119
http://www.online-literature.com/for...t=62728&page=8

Reconstruction of the banner of the Inca emperors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ba...nca_Empire.svg


Inca State, founded in the twelfth century , was expanded in a vast empire in less than 200 years before the discovery of America by Europeans. State of the Incas, the Kingdom of the Incas, the Inca Empire ( Empire of the Four Parts, Part Four States - see the map of administrative division) - the historical state in the western part of South America , during its heyday covering the areas of present-day Peru , Ecuador and part of Bolivia , Chile , Colombia and Argentina.



Let’s look at L. Frank Baum, the author of Wizard of Oz.

Later, he and his wife, encouraged by Matilda Joslyn Gage, became Theosophists, in 1897. He wrote 17 of Oz books. One is titled The Emerld city of Oz.
In 1900, Baum and Denslow (with whom he shared the copyright) published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to much critical acclaim and financial success.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum

It reminds me The Emerald tablets of Hermes.

The Emerald Tablet, also known as Smaragdine Table, Tabula Smaragdina, or The Secret of Hermes, is a text purporting to reveal the secret of the primordial substance and its transmutations. It claims to be the work of Hermes Trismegistus ("Hermes the Thrice-Greatest"), a legendary Hellenistic[1] combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Tablet

We also have Order of the Rainbow Girls.

Order of the Rainbow Girls - Founded in 1922 , the American organization associated with Freemasonry . It brings together girls aged 11-20 years that are usually daughters of Freemasons. Local groups were generally supported and sponsored by local Masonic lodge . The symbol of the Order is a rainbow

The order came into existence in 1922,[1] when the Reverend W. Mark Sexson, a Freemason, was asked to make an address before South McAlester Chapter #149, Order of the Eastern Star, in McAlester, Oklahoma. As the Order of DeMolay had come under his close study during his Masonic activities, he suggested that a similar order for girls would be beneficial. The first Initiation consisted of a class of 171 girls on April 6, 1922, in the auditorium of the Scottish Rite Temple in McAlester. The original name was "Order of the Rainbow for Girls".[2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interna...nbow_for_Girls

Franz von Stuck The angel of the court
http://www.canvaz.com/gallery/14002.htm



Evelyn Pickering De Morgan : Death of a Butterfly

http://www.artflakes.com/en/products...of-a-butterfly

Evelyn Pickering De Morgan, An Angel Piping to the Souls in Hell

http://www.paintinghere.com/painting...ell_23745.html

Evelyn de Morgan S.O.S

http://www.paintinghere.com/painting/S.O.S._23763.html

Evelyn de Morgan
Sophia Frend De Morgan (1809-1892), hightened her awareness of the spiritual potential within herself. The book From Matter to Spirit was published by her mother-in-law in 1863 and it became a standard work on the subject of Spiritualism. As such it is likely to have had a profound effect on Evelyn in the later development of her notions of the correspondences between the natural and supernatural realms, spiritual survival and evolution, and a strong belief in the afterlife.
At about the time of their marriage, Evelyn and William embarked upon a long-term collaborative experiment with automatic writing. The result was a series of transcripts having a highly metaphorical nature and expressing various spiritual truths derived from such classical sources as Ovid, Plato, St Augustine, Shakespeare, Bunyan and the Bible. The collection was eventually published anonymously in 1909 under the title The Result of an Experiment.
http://www.mezzo-mondo.com/arts/mm/p...de_morgan.html

[ftil]

PROMETHEUS is sometimes called a Titan, though in reality he did not belong to the Titans, but was only a son of the Titan Iapetus (whence he is designated by the patronymic Iapetionidês, Hes. Theog. 528; Apollon Rhod. iii. 1087), by Clymene, so that he was a brother of Atlas, Menoetius, and Epimetheus (Hes. Theog. 507). His name signifies "forethought," as that of his brother Epimetheus denotes "afterthought." Others call Prometheus a son of Themis (Aeschyl. Prom. 18), or of Uranus and Clymene, or of the Titan Eurymedon and Hera (Potter, Comment. ad Lyc. Cass. 1283; Eustath. ad Hom. p. 987).

The following is an outline of the legends related of him by the ancients. Once in the reign of Zeus, when gods and men were disputing with one another at Mecone (afterwards Sicyon, Schol. ad Pind. Nem. ix. 123), Prometheus, with a view to deceive Zeus and rival him in prudence, cut up a bull and divided it into two parts : he wrapped up the best parts and the intestines in the skin, and at the top he placed the stomach, which is one of the worst parts, while the second heap consisted of the bones covered with fat. When Zeus pointed out to him how badly he had made the division, Prometheus desired him to choose, but Zeus, in his anger, and seeing through the stratagem of Prometheus, chose the heap of bones covered with the fat. The father of the gods avenged himself by withholding fire from mortals, but Prometheus stole it in a hollow tube (ferula, narthêx, Aeschyl. Prom. 110). Zeus now, in order to punish men, caused Hephaestus to mold a virgin, Pandora, of earth, whom Athena adorned with all the charms calculated to entice mortals; Prometheus himself was put in chains, and fastened to a pillar, where an eagle sent by Zeus consumed in the daytime his liver, which, in every succeeding night, was restored again. Prometheus was thus exposed to perpetual torture, but Heracles killed the eagle and delivered the sufferer, with the consent of Zeus, who thus had an opportunity of allowing his son to gain immortal fame (Hes. Theog. 521, &c., Op. et Dies, 47, &c. ; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 15; Apollod. ii. 5. § 11). Prometheus had cautioned his brother Epimetheus against accepting any present from Zeus, but Epimetheus, disregarding the advice, accepted Pandora, who was sent to him by Zeus, through the mediation of Hermes. Pandora then lifted the lid of the vessel in which the foresight of Prometheus had concealed all the evils which might torment mortals in life. Diseases and sufferings of every kind now issued forth, but deceitful hope alone remained behind (Hes. Op. et Dies, 83, &c.; comp. Horat. Carm. i. 3. 25, &c.). This is an outline of the legend about Prometheus, as contained in the poems of Hesiod.
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html

Aeschylus, in his trilogy Prometheus, added various new features to it, for, according to him, Prometheus himself is an immortal god, the friend of the human race, the giver of fire, the inventor of the useful arts, an omniscient seer, an heroic sufferer, who is overcome by the superior power of Zeus, but will not bend his inflexible mind. Although he himself belonged to the Titans, he is nevertheless represented as having assisted Zeus against the Titans (Prom. 218), and he is further said to have opened the head of Zeus when the latter gave birth to Athena (Apollod. i. 3. § 6). But when Zeus succeeded to the kingdom of heaven, and wanted to extirpate the whole race of man, the place of which he proposed to give to quite a new race of beings, Prometheus prevented the execution of the scheme, and saved the human race from destruction (Prom. 228, 233). He deprived them of their knowledge of the future, and gave them hope instead (248, &c.). He further taught them the use of fire, made them acquainted with architecture, astronomy, mathematics, the art of writing, the treatment of domestic animals, navigation, medicine, the art of prophecy, working in metal, and all the other arts (252, 445, &c., 480, &c.). But, as in all these things he had acted contrary to the will of Zeus, the latter ordered Hephaestus to chain him to a rock in Scythia, which was done in the presence of Cratos and Bia, two ministers of Zeus. In Scythia he was visited by the Oceanides; Io also came to him, and he foretold her the wanderings and sufferings which were yet in store for her, as well as her final relief (703, &c.). Hermes then likewise appears, and desires him to make known a prophecy which was of great importance to Zeus, for Prometheus knew that by a certain woman Zeus would beget a son, who was to dethrone his father, and Zeus wanted to have a more accurate knowledge of this decree of fate. But Prometheus steadfastly refused to reveal the decree of fate, whereupon Zeus, by a thunderbolt, sent Prometheus, together with the rock to which he was chained, into Tartarus (Horat. Carm. ii. 18, 35). After the lapse of a long time Prometheus returned to the upper world, to endure a fresh course of suffering, for he was now fastened to mount Caucasus, and tormented by an eagle, which every day, or every third day, devoured his liver, which was restored again in the night (Apollon. Rhod. ii. 1247, &c. iii. 853; Strab. xv. p. 688 ; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. ii. 3; Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 15; Aeschyl. Prom. 1015, &c.). This state of suffering was to last until some other god, of his own accord, should take his place, and descend into Tartarus for him (Prom. 1025). This came to pass when Charon, who had been incurably wounded by an arrow of Heracles, desired to go into Hades; and Zeus allowed him to supply the place of Prometheus (Apollod. ii. 5. § 4; comp. Cheiron). According to others, however, Zeus himself delivered Prometheus, when at length the Titan was prevailed upon to reveal to Zeus the decree of fate, that, if he should become by Thetis the either of a son, that son should deprive him of the sovereignty. (Serv. ad Virg. Eclog. vi. 42 ; Apollod. iii. 13. § 5; Hygin. Fab. 54; comp. Aeschyl. Prom. 167, &c. 376.)
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html

George Frederic Watts, Hope

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:As...rt_Project.jpg

Cossiers, Jan, Prometheus Carrying Fire

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...rying_Fire.jpg

George Frederick Watts, Prometheus

http://www.mystudios.com/artgallery/...eus,-1904.html

There was also an account, stating that Prometheus had created men out of earth and water, at the very beginning of the human race, or after the flood of Deucalion, when Zeus is said to have ordered him and Athena to make men out of the mud, and the winds to breathe life into them (Apollod. i. 7. § 1; Ov. Met. i. 81; Etym. Mag. s. v. Promêtheus). Prometheus is said to have given to men something of all the qualities possessed by the other animals (Horat Carm. i. 16. 13).
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.htm

Otto Greiner. Prometheus.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...Prometheus.jpg

Sappho, Fragment 207 (from Servius on Virgil) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric I) (Greek lyric C6th B.C.) :
"After creating men Prometheus is said to have stolen fire and revealed it to men."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 1. 363 ff :
"[Deukalion speaks aloud, after the Great Deluge has wiped out all of mankind:] ‘O for my father's [Prometheus'] magic to restore mankind again and in the moulded clay breathe life and so repopulate the world!’"
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html

After Prometheus has created man out of mud, Athena breathes life into him, imparting reason and understanding. Part of a cycle on the myth of Prometheus by Christian Griepenkerl.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...rch_Athena.jpg

Aesop, Fables 535 (from Life of Aesop 94) :
"Zeus once ordered Prometheus to show mankind the two ways: one the way of freedom and the other the way of slavery. Prometheus made the way of freedom rough at the beginning, impassable and steep, with no water anywhere to drink, full of brambles, and beset with dangers on all sides at first. Eventually, however, it became a smooth plain, lined with paths and filled with groves of fruit trees and waterways. Thus the distressing experience ended in repose for those who breath the air of freedom. The way of slavery, however, started out as a smooth plain at the beginning, full of flowers, pleasant to look at and quite luxurious, but in the end it became impassable, steep and insurmountable on all sides." [N.B. In another text, Prometheus is replaced by Tykhe (Fortune).
http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html

P. Rubens, Prometheus
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...Rubens_032.jpg

Aesop, Fables 517 (from Phaedrus 4.16) :
"Someone asked Aesop why lesbians and effeminates had been created, and old Aesop explained, ‘The answer lies once again with Prometheus, the original creator of our common clay. All day long, Prometheus had been separately shaping those natural members which modesty conceals beneath our clothes, and when he was about to apply these private parts to the appropriate bodies Liber [Dionysos] unexpectedly invited him to dinner. Prometheus came home late, unsteady on his feet and with a good deal of heavenly nectar flowing through his veins. With his wits half asleep in a drunken haze he stuck the female genitalia on male bodies and male members on the ladies. This is why modern lust revels in perverted pleasures.’"http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html

PROMETHEUS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:12orozco2.jpg

Aesop, Fables 515 (from Chambry 322) :
"Following Zeus's orders, Prometheus fashioned humans and animals. When Zeus saw that the animals far outnumbered the humans, he ordered Prometheus to reduce the number of the animals by turning them into people. Prometheus did as he was told, and as a result those people who were originally animals have a human body but the soul of an animal."http://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanPrometheus.html

Prometheus at Rockefeller Center by David Shankbone

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..._Shankbone.jpg


Let's look at King Louis XIV

Louis XIV chose the sun for his emblem. The sun was Apollo, god of Peace and the Arts; it was also the heavenly body giving life to all things, the embodiment of regularity, which rises and sets each day. Like the Sun God, Louis XIV, the warrior hero, brought peace to his people; he protected the arts and dispensed all the graces. Through the regularity of his work, his public levers and couchers (morning rising and evening retiring ceremonies), he insisted on the resemblance, carved in stone: the decor of Versailles was filled with the depictions and attributes of the god (laurels, lyre, tripod) on all the royal portraits and emblems.
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/histo...-by-divine-law

Nec pluribus impar (literally: "Not unequal to many") is a Latin motto adopted by Louis XIV of France from 1658. It was often inscribed together with the symbol of the "Sun King": a head within rays of sunlight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nec_pluribus_impar

The Nec pluribus impar motto and the sun-king emblem, on a de Vallière gun, 1745

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ne...ibus_Impar.jpg

The "S" letter (for Sun) with the motto Nec pluribus impar. Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française, 1694.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:16...ibus_Impar.jpg

Grand appartement du roi
Le Vau’s plan called for an enfilade of seven rooms, each dedicated to one of the then known planets and their associated titular Roman deity. Le Vau’s plan was bold as he designed a heliocentric system that centred on the Salon of Apollo. The salon d’Apollon originally was designed as the king’s bedchamber, but served as a throne room. During the reign of Louis XIV (until 1689), a solid silver throne stood on a Persian carpet covered dais on the south wall of this room (Berger, 1986; Dangeau, 1854–1860; Josephson, 1926; 1930; Verlet, 1985).
The original arrangement of the enfilade of rooms was:

Salon de Diane (Diana, Roman goddess of the hunt; associated with the Moon)

Salon de Mars (Mars, Roman god of war; associated with the planet Mars)

Salon de Mercure (Mercury, Roman god of trade, commerce, and the Liberal Arts; associated with the planet Mercury)

Salon d’Apollo (Apollo, Roman god of the Fine Arts; associated with the Sun)

Salon de Jupiter (Jupiter, Roman god of law and order; associated with the planet Jupiter)

Salon de Saturn (Saturn, Roman god of agriculture and harvest; associated with the planet Saturn)

Salon de Vénus (Venus, Roman goddess of love and beauty; associated with the planet Venus)


The salon d’Apollo originally was designed as the king’s bedchamber, but served as a throne room. During the reign of Louis XIV (until 1689), a solid silver throne stood on a Persian carpet covered dais on the south wall of this room.

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

Let's look at Mercury/Hermes Salon

Hermes/Mercury

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...S_SCIENCES.jpg

Hermes

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Herm%C3%A8s1.jpg


Holly Family

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...TE_FAMILLE.jpg

Last Supper

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...R_A_EMMAUS.jpg

HERMES was the great Olympian god of herds, travel, trade, heraldry, language, athletics and thievery. This page describes his divine roles and privileges including:--
1. Hermes God of Animal Husbandry
2. Hermes God of Heralds
3. Hermes God of Birds of Omen
4. Hermes God of Thieves & Trickery
5. Hermes God of Trade & Merchants
6. Hermes God of Language & Crafty Wiles
7. Hermes God of Roads, Travelers & Hospitality
8. Hermes God of Feasts & Banquets
9. Hermes God Protector of the Home
10. Hermes Guide of the Dead
11. Hermes God of Sleep & Dreams of Omen
12. Hermes God of Rustic Divination
13. Hermes God of Contests, Gymnasiums & the Games


GOD OF GUILE
Hermes was the god of guile in its many aspects: including deception, crafty words, persuasion, and the wiles of thieves and merchants. He also employed the sleep to maze the minds of men.

"May Maia's son [Hermes], as he rightfully should, lend his aid [to Orestes in the slaying of the murderers of his father, using a false identity and guile to gain access], for no one can better sail a deed on a favoring course, when he would do so. But by his mysterious utterance he brings darkness over men's eyes by night, and by day he is no more clear at all." - Aeschylus, Libation Bearers 811

GOD OF THIEVES & CATTLE HUSTLING

Another role of Hermes, derived from his function as the god of cattle, was thievery. A major form of banditry in ancient Greece was cattle-hustling.

"Autolykos ... excelled all mankind in thieving and subtlety of oaths, having won this mastery from the god Hermes himself." - Homer, Odyssey 19.396
She [Maia] bare a son [Hermes], of many shifts, blandly cunning, a robber, a cattle rustler, a bringer of dreams, a watcher by night, a thief at the gates." - Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes


"[Apollon to Hermes:] `O rogue, deceiver, crafty in heart ... I most surely believe that you have broken into many a well-built house and stripped more than one poor wretch bare this night, gathering his goods together all over the house without noise. You will plague many a lonely herdsman in mountain glades, when you come on herds and thick-fleeced sheep, and have a hankering after flesh ... you comrade of dark night. Surely hereafter this shall be your title amongst the deathless gods, to be called the Arkhos Pheleteon (prince of robbers) continually." - Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes 282


Hermes ... to rejoice is thine ... in fraud divine." - Orphic Hymn 28 to Hermes


Into the house came Hermes in the shape of a young man, unforeseen, uncaught, eluding the doorkeeper with his robber’s foot." - Nonnus, Dionysiaca 3.373

GOD OF LANGUAGE, LEARNING & CRAFTY WILES

Hermes came to be regarded as the god of language, alongside Mnemosyne (the goddess of memory). He was said to have been the inventor of writing, which in ancient Greece was first employed in the missives carried by heralds and the stock-taking of merchants and property owners. In addition, he was sometimes said to have taught mankind their many tongues, and so was the god of the "babelisation" of language, so to speak.
As well as writing, he presided over eloquence and persuasion, skills employed by those under his patronage: heralds, merchants, thieves and conmen. Similarly he was the god of crafty thoughts and wiles, and the use of persuasive deception and trickery.


GOD OF SPEECH, CRAFTY WORDS & ELOQUENCE
"Also the Guide, Argeiphontes [Hermes], contrived within her [Pandora, the first woman] lies and crafty words and a deceitful nature at the will of loud thundering Zeus, and the Herald of the gods [Hermes] put speech in her." - Hesiod, Works and Days 80


IDENTIFIED WITH FOREIGN GODS

Hermes was identified with the Roman god Mercury, the Thracian Zalmoxis and the Egyptian ibis-headed god Thoth.

I)[B] IDENTIFIED WITH THRACIAN ZALMOXIS[/B]

Herodotus, Histories 5. 7 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
"They [the Threikoi or Thracians] worship no gods but Ares, Dionysos, and Artemis [the Thrakian gods Ares, Sabazios and Bendis]. Their princes, however, unlike the rest of their countrymen, worship Hermes [probably the Thracian god Zalmoxis] above all gods and swear only by him, claiming him for their ancestor."

Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat Thoth's chief temple was located in the city of Khmun, later renamed Hermopolis Magna during the Greco-Roman era (in reference to him through the Greeks' interpretation that he was the same as their god Hermes) One of Thoth 's titles, "Three times great, great" was translated to the Greek τρισμεγιστος (Trismegistos) making Hermes Trismegistus.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoth

II) IDENTIFIED WITH EGYPTIAN THOTH

Herodotus, Histories 2. 138 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
"[In the city of Bubastis is a] temple of Hermes [i.e. the Egyptian god Thoth]."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 319 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"Typhoeus, issuing from earth's lowest depths, struck terror in those heavenly hearts, and they all turned their backs and fled, until they found refuge in Aegyptus and the seven-mouthed Nilus . . . Typhoeus Terrigena (Earthborn) even there pursued them and the gods concealed themselves in spurious shapes . . . Cyllenius [Hermes] [as] an ibis [i.e. the ibis-headed Egyptian god Thoth]."
http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/HermesGod.html

[ftil]

Let's look at religion in ancient Rome.

From the beginning of the Roman Republic to the end of the empire, people ruled by Rome didn’t have freedom of choice what deities they wanted to worship as well as what rituals they wanted to be a part of. To proper functioning of Roman state depended on a strict supervision of religion by Roman authorities. In fact, new deities and cults couldn’t function without being approved by the senate or the emperor and senate decided what was acceptable or not in religious worship. Control of religion was perceived to be necessary in order to have a full control over people. Since politics and religion were inextricably linked, roman religion did adapt itself to political changes. (Cowley, 2008, p. 2-3).

Cesare Maccari, Representation of a sitting of the Roman Senate: Cicero attacks tCatilina, from a 19th century fresco

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maccari-Cicero.jpg


Religious power was dived among pontifices, augures, and decimviri and priests occupied a critical position in Roman political life. The power of pontifices rested in meditating between the senate and the citizens. The leading member of the College of Pontiffs was the Pontifex Maximus. (Cowley, 2008, p.8-9)

The Collegium Pontificum was the most important priesthood of ancient Rome. The foundation of this sacred college and the office of Pontifex Maximus is attributed to the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius.

In the Roman Republic, the Pontifex Maximus was the highest office in the state religion of ancient Rome and directed the College of Pontiffs. According to Livy, after the overthrow of the monarchy, the Romans created the priesthood of the rex sacrorum, or "king of sacred rites," to carry out certain religious duties and rituals previously performed by the king. The rex sacrorum was explicitly deprived of military and political power, but the pontifices were permitted to hold both magistracies and military commands.]
The official residence of the Pontifex Maximus was the Domus Publica ("State House") which stood between the House of the Vestal Virgins and the Via Sacra, in the Roman Forum.

The Pontifex was not simply a priest. He had both political and religious authority. It is not clear which of the two came first or had the most importance. In practice, particularly during the late Republic, the office of Pontifex Maximus was generally held by a member of a politically prominent family. It was a coveted position mainly for the great prestige it conferred on the holder; Julius Cesar became pontifex in 73 BC and pontifex maximus in 63 BC.

Later, the word "pontifex” become a term used by Catholic bishops and and the title of "Pontifex Maximus" was applied within the Roman Catholic Church to the pope as a chief bishop.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontifex_Maximus

The pontifical collage, a religious expert, supervised both religion and religious officials that included the vestals, rex sacrorum, and flamines, (Cowley, 2008, p.8)

Portrait of a flamen. Marble, ca 250-260 AD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fl...uvre_Ma431.jpg


The augurs, on the other hand, mediated between men and god. The main role of augurs was to interpret the will of the gods by studying the flight of birds. This was known as "taking the auspices” Romans inherited predicting the future through studying birds from the Etruscan who were masters of this art. Cicero was a member of this collage. The importance of the tradition of taking the auspices was emphasized by Cicero as he stated that "No public business was conducted without taking the auspices first” The interpretation of omen was used as an excuse to suspend a session that was not going the way they wanted or stopped the legislation. (Cowley, 2008, p. 9 -10).

An augur holding a lituus the curved wand often used as a symbol of augury on Roman coins

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Au...familjebok.png

A lituus (reverse, right, over the patera) as cult instrument, in this coin celebrating the pietas of the Roman Emperor Herennius Etruscus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RSC_0004a.6.jpg

A crosier (crozier, pastoral staff, paterissa, pósokh) is the stylized staff of office (pastoral staff) carried by high-ranking Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and some Lutheran and Pentecostal prelates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crozier

Western crosier of Archbishop Heinrich of Finstingen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cr...Finstingen.jpg

More croziers

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Croziers


Finally, the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, priests of sacred matters, were the fifteen (quindecim) members of a college with priestly duties. Most notably they guarded the Sibylline Books, scriptures which they consulted and interpreted at the request of the Senate. This collegium also oversaw the worship of any foreign gods which were introduced to Rome. Romans believed that Tarquinius Priscus, was the legendary fifth King of Rome brought the Sibylline books from the Cumaean Sibyl and place them in the care of quindecimviri sacris faciundis to be consulted only at the command of the senate when state was facing a disaster or prodigies. (Cowley, 2008, p. 10-11).

According to Wikipedia, The Sibylline Books should not be confused with the so-called Sibylline Oracles, twelve books of prophecies thought to be of Judaeo-Christian origin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibylline_Books

First, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was a king between 616 BC to 579 BC.
Second, those books were vital components in legitimating change in the state religion since the books were understood as being very old, yet recommended introducing new deities and rituals. (Cowley, 2008, p 11). Those books couldn’t be of Judeo-Christian religion.

Michelangelo, Cumaean Sibyl, the Sistine Chapel, Vatican


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cu...chelangelo.jpg


It is important to mention the order of Aruspices.

The order of Aruspices was made up of twelve priests although towards the end of the Republic they were increased to something closer to 20. The name itself comes from "ab aris aspiciendis" - looking upon the altars.
http://www.mariamilani.com/ancient_r...cient_rome.htm

A soothsayer (from Latin ara, altar, and Inspicio, examined), Haruspex transcribes Latin, Etruscan soothsayer was examining the entrails of a sacrificial animal for omens for the future.
The soothsayers of Etruria were consulted privately throughout the Roman Empire .The Roman Senate had to "Etruscan discipline" in high regard and consulting soothsayers before making a decision. The Emperor Claudius studied the Etruscan language. , learned to read, and created a "college" of 60 haruspices which existed until the 408 . They offered their services to Pompeian, prefect of Rome, to save the city from the assault of the Goths , the Christian bishop Innocent, but reluctantly agreed to this proposal provided that the rites remain secret. As is known, the practice had little effect on invasions. It lasted, therefore, throughout the six century.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ar%C3%BAspice

Let’s look at foreign cults in Rome.

Isis had reached Italy through Italian merchants who carried her cult from Delos to Compania some time during the Republic. The goddess Isis was the Egyptian throne personified and deified and her son Horus was thus the god with whom the king of Egypt became identified, the living manifestation of his divinity (Lesko, 1999, p. 190). In fact, The epithet of Horus “the Great God” appeared with the names of the kings in the Fourth and fifth Dynasties – Snefru, Khufu ( Cheops), and Sahure. Even Pepi I was called on his coffin,”the Great God, Lord of the Horizon” and “Horus of the Horizon, Lord of Heaven”( Frankfort, 1978, p. 39).

The embodiment of the king of gods promoted in ancient Egypt probably served as a validation of their claim of absolute power, providing them with more effective mechanism of political control. Likewise, Roman emperors clearly saw the benefit of employing the idea of divine kingship always associated with Egypt’s pharaohs as many favored a cult of Isis and Serapis. Emperors easily assimilated Egyptian features. For example, Caesars were portrayed in the traditional nemes headdress and short kilt of Egypt's kings or Caligula who claimed divinity, brought an obelisk from the Egypt and built a temple for her at Campus Martius. (Lesko, 1999, p.190 -193).

Vatican obelisk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vatican_obelisk.jpg


In 59, 58, 53, 50, and 48 BC, the senate took action against the cult of Isis and Sarapis primarily for political reasons. The suppression of Isis and serapis was an attempt to regain political power as it occurred in times when senate was weak. In times of Julius Cesar anti Egyptian attitudes intensified and were exacerbated after Decius Mondus, the Roman Knight, masqueraded as god Anubis raped a noble woman in Isis temple. After closing the temple the cult of Isis appeared again, proving that the cult was popular to be ignored. However, the cult was prohibited again in 28BC that signified Octavian’s victory over Antony and Cleopatra. (Lesko, 1999, p. 193).


Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Anthony and Cleopatra

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:La..._Cleopatra.JPG

As the cults of Isis reappeared again in Rome in 21 BC, Agrippa took action against them to protect Augustus policy and as such his authority. Isis’ devotees were forbidden to move freely. and were banned within one mile of the city. The repercussion reflected the anxiety of those in power about large groups and its potential to disrupt that those in power disliked the most.

Finally, Isis and Serapis found a place in roman pantheon under Flavian patronage in an attempt to restore the inner order of the empire. To accomplish this required re-establishing pax deorum ( peace with gods). Since Egypt provided economic stability, Isis and Serapis had to be appeased. Even though some emperors were actively involved in suppression of the cult of Isis and Serapis, their desire for autocratic power led to their association and imitation of Egyptian rulers. (Cowley, 2008, p.28).


Reference
Cowley, A. (2008). Religious Toleration and Political Power in the Roman World.

Frankfort, H.( 1978) Kingship and the gods.

Lesko, B. (1999). The Great Goddesses of Egypt.

[ftil]

Madonna and Super Bowl inspired me to look at sphinx. (photos # 3)

An interesting title, Did Madonna put on the greatest show on Earth? Lot’s of ancient Egyptian themes. We even find Apollo’s lyre.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...l-slip-up.html

SPHINX, a monstrous being of Greek mythology, is said to have been a daughter of Orthus and Chimera, born in the country of the Arimi (Hes. Theog. 326), or of Typhon and Echidna (Apollod. iii. 5. § 8; Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 46), or lastly of Typhon and Chimera (Schol. ad Hes. and Eurip. l. .c.).

According to some she had been sent into Boeotia by Hera, who was angry with the Thebans for not having punished Lains, who had carried off Chrysippus from Pisa. She is said to have come from the most distant part of Ethiopia (Apollod. l. c. ; Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 1760); according to others she was sent by Ares, who wanted to take revenge because Cadmus had slain his son, the dragon (Argum. ad Eurip. Phoen.), or by Dionysus (Schol. ad Hes. Theog. 326), or by Hades (Eurip. Phoen. 810), and some lastly say that she was one on the women who, together with the daughters of Cadmus, were thrown into madness, and was metamorphosed into the monstrous figure. (Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 45.)

THE SPHINX was a female monster with the body of a lion, the breast and head of a woman, eagle's wings and, according to some, a serpent-headed tail.

She was sent by the gods to plague the town of Thebes as punishment for some ancient crime. There she preyed on the youths of the land, devouring all those who failed to solve her riddle.
http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Sphinx.html

Summary
Detail of the winged, lion-bodied Sphinx seated on a plinth and presenting her riddle to Oidipous. Her hair is held back with a head-band. ca 450 - 440 BC

http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/M18.3B.html

Hesiod, Theogony 326 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"But she [Chimera] also, in love with Orthos, mothered the deadly Sphinx, the bane of the Cadmeians."

Lasus, Fragment 706A (from Natale Conti, Mythology) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) (Greek lyric C6th B.C.) :
"The Sphinx was daughter of Echidna and Typhon, according to Lasus of Hermione."http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Sphinx.html

In Greek mythology, Echidna was half woman half snake, known as the "Mother of All Monsters" because most of the monsters in Greek myth were mothered by her. In Theogony, Hesiod described her as:
[...] the goddess fierce Echidna who is half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin, eating raw flesh beneath the secret parts of the holy earth. And there she has a cave deep down under a hollow rock far from the deathless gods and mortal men. There, then, did the gods appoint her a glorious house to dwell in: and she keeps guard in Arima beneath the earth, grim Echidna, a nymph who dies not nor grows old all her days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna_%28mythology%29

Summary
Apollo, seated on the omphalos stone of Delphi, and beside the Delphic tripod, shoots arrows at the monster Python, the old guardian of the shrine. The beast is depicted with a woman's head and breast, matching the poet Hesiod's description of Echidna. ca 470 BC

http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/K5.12.html

Typhon also Typhoeus, Typhaon or Typhos was the last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus, and the most deadly monster of Greek mythology. He was known as the "Father of all monsters"; his wife Echidna was likewise the "Mother of All Monsters."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhon

Summary

Detail of the winged, serpent-legged giant Typhon.

http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/M10.1.html

Aeschylus, Fragment 129 Sphinx (from Aristophanes, Frogs 1287 with Scholiast) (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"The Sphinx, the watch-dog that presideth over evil days."

Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 52 - 55 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"While he [Kreon] was king, quite a scourge held Thebes in suppression, for Hera sent upon them the Sphinx, whose parents were Echidna and Typhon. She had a woman's face, the breast, feet, and tail of a lion, and bird wings. She had learned a riddle form the Mousai, and now sat on Mount Phikion where she kept challenging the Thebans with it. The riddle was: what is it that has one voice, and is four-footed and two-footed and three-footed? An oracle existed for the Thebans to the effect that they would be free of the Sphinx when they guessed her riddle, so they often convened to search for the meaning, but whenever they came up with the wrong answer, she would seize one of them, and eat him up. When many had died, including most recently Kreon's own son Haimon, Kreon announced publicly that he would give both the kingdom and the widow of Laios to the man who solved the riddle. Oedipus heard and solved it, stating that he answer to the Sphinx's question was man. As a baby he crawls on all fours, as an adult he is two-footed, and as he grows old he gains a third foot in the form of a cane. At this the Sphinx threw herself from the acropolis."
http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Sphinx.html

Summary

Oedipus ponders the riddle of the Sphinx. The woman-headed, winged lion sits poised on a plinth. Oedipus stands wearing a traveler’s cloak and a petasos cap hanging over his shoulder. ca 450 - 440 BC

http://www.theoi.com/Gallery/M18.3.html

Herodotus, Histories 4. 79. 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) :
"In the city of the Borysthenites [in Asia Minor] a spacious house, grand and costly . . . all surrounded by Sphinxes and Grypes (Griffins) worked in white marble."


Aelian, On Animals 12. 38 :
"Every painter and every sculptor who devotes himself and has been trained to the practise of his art figures the Sphinx as winged."

The Sphinx, Athenian red figure amphora, C5th B.C., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Sphinx.html


Sphinx received lot’s of attention through centuries.


Spain, mid-18th century

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:La...so_Sfinx01.jpg

A sphinx at the entrance of the Upper Belvedere, in Belvedere Palace, Vienna, Austria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wi...e_DSC03014.JPG


Potsdam, Sphinx in Park Sanssouci

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bu..._Sanssouci.jpg


Belgium, right Greek sphinx on the northern perron of the « Empain » castle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Enghien_CHSph1JPG.jpg

Female sphinx on the tower of the Town Hall of Paris.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pa...le_2497_07.jpg


Sphinx guarding the entrance of Parque Guinle, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sphinx_guinle_1.JPG

London

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...l_2_London.jpg


Sphinx, Thames_Embankment, London

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...nt,_London.jpg


The sphinx in the Blickling Hall gardens was supplied to Lady Lothian by Austin & Seeley in 1877.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..._Blickling.JPG

Gardens of Harewood House in Harewood, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...t_Harewood.jpg


One of a pair of sphinxes, circa 1700 by John Nost, flanking steps on the north east side of the terrace at Trent Park House, Trent Park, Enfield.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi..._Enfield_2.jpg

Sphinx adopted as an emblem in Masonic architecture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sp...mple,_Utah.JPG



Sphinx in Germany

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ca...xes_in_Germany

Sphinx in France

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Ca...nxes_in_France

More sculpture of sphinx.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Sphinxes


Sphinx also received lots of attention in paintings.


Gustave Moreau, Oedipus and the Sphinx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gu...Moreau_005.jpg


Fernand Khnopff, The Sphinx

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...hnopff_002.jpg


Oedipus and the Sphinx, Francois Xavier Fabre

http://0.tqn.com/d/arthistory/1/0/V/...tz_2010_08.jpg



Franz von Stuck, The Kiss of the Sphinx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Th...the_Sphinx.jpg


Michael Parkes Sphinx

http://redux.com/stream/item/1875859...-Parkes-Sphinx


Micheal Parkes Sphinx

http://www.artbrokerage.com/artist/M...w-Sphinx-19580


Micheal Parkes, the Sphinx

http://www.wallcoo.net/paint/Michael...he_Sphinx.html


Helene Knoop, Sphinx

http://figurativeartlivingmasters.fi...02/sphinx1.jpg



The Sphinx of the Seashore, Elihu Vedder

http://www.the-athenaeum.org/art/full.php?ID=20056

[ftil]

I was looking at Lucifer origin. Let’s look at Eosphorus and Hesperus myth.

Hesiod, Theogony 378 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :

"And Eos (Dawn) bare to Astraios (the Starry) the strong-hearted Winds, brightening Zephyrus (West Wind), and Boreas (North Wind), headlong in his course, and Notus (South Wind),--a goddess mating in love with a god. And after these Erigenia (the Early-Born) bare the star Eosphorus (Dawn-bringer) [the planet Venus], and the gleaming stars with which heaven is crowned."

Homer, Iliad 23. 226 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"At that time when Eosphorus (Dawn Star) passes across earth, harbinger of light, and after him Eos (Dawn) of the saffron mantle is scattered across the sea."


Phosphorus (Greek Φωσφόρος Phōsphoros), a name meaning "Light-Bringer", is the Morning Star, the planet Venus in its morning appearance. Φαοσφόρος (Phaosphoros) and Φαεσφόρος (Phaesphoros) are forms of the same name in some Greek dialects.

Another Greek name for the Morning Star is Ἑωσφόρος (Heōsphoros), which means "Dawn-Bringer". The form Eosphorus is sometimes met in English, as if from Ἠωσφόρος (Ēōsphoros), which is not actually found in Greek literature, but would be the form that Ἑωσφόρος would have in some dialects. The Latin name Lucifer is an exact translation of the Greek term Φωσφόρος.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phospho...orning_star%29

So, the Greek term Φωσφόρος (Phōsphoros) means in Latin Lucifer that is Phosphorus, Morning Star, the planet Venus. But it gets a little bit tricky as we read Ibycus that Eosphorus (Dawn-Bringer) and Hesperus (Evening-star) were the same. But myths had been changing through centuries.

Ibycus, Fragment 331 (from Scholiast on Basil, Genesis) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) (Greek lyric C6th B.C.) :
"Eosphorus (Dawn-Bringer) and Hesperus (Evening-star) are one and the same, although in ancient times they were thought to be different. Ibycus of Rhegium was the first to equate the titles."

Hesperus as Personification of the Evening by Anton Raphael Mengs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Me...des_Abends.jpg



Phosphorus and Hesperus, Evelyn De Morgan

http://www.illusionsgallery.com/Phos...-Hesperus.html



The Lucifer name showed up in Cicero 1BC, Ovid, 43BC-AD and Pseudo-Hyginus 2 AD.

Cicero, De Natura Deorum 3. 19 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
"If Luna [Selene the moon] is a goddess, then Lucifer (the Morning Star) also and the rest of the Wandering Stars (Stellae Errantes) will have to be counted gods as well."

Cicero, De Natura Deorum 2. 20 (trans. Rackham) (Roman rhetorician C1st B.C.) :
"The star of Venus, called in Greek Phosphoros (the light-bringer) and in Latin Lucifer when it precedes the sun, but when it follows it Hesperos."

Ovid, Metamorphoses 2. 273 ff : (43 BC – AD)
"As Lucifer (the morning star) more brilliant shines than all the stars, or as golden Phoebe (the Moon) outshines Lucifer (the morning star)."

Pseudo-Hyginus, Astronomica 2. 42 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"The fourth star is that of Venus [Aphrodite], Luciferus [Hesperus] by name . . . In many tales it is recorded that it is called Hesperus, too. It seems to be the largest of all stars . . . It is visible both at dawn and sunset, and so properly has been called both Lucifer [Eosphorus] and Hesperus."

Let’s look at the Excerpt from The Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky — Vol. 2

VOL. 2, PAGE 233 HOLY SATAN.

The true esoteric view about “Satan,” the opinion held on this subject by the whole philosophic antiquity, is admirably brought out in an appendix, entitled “The Secret of Satan,” to the second edition of Dr. A. Kingsford’s “Perfect Way.” No better and clearer indication of the truth could be offered to the intelligent reader, and it is therefore quoted here at some length: —

“1. And on the seventh day (seventh creation of the Hindus),* there went forth from the presence of God a mighty Angel, full of wrath and consuming, and God gave him the dominion of the outermost sphere.†

2. “Eternity brought forth Time; the Boundless gave birth to Limit; Being descended into generation.”‡

4. “Among the Gods is none like unto him, into whose hands are committed the kingdoms, the power and the glory of the worlds:”

5. “Thrones and empires, the dynasties of kings,§ the fall of nations, the birth of churches, the triumph of Time.”

For, as is said in Hermes, “Satan is the door-keeper of the Temple of the King; he standeth in Solomon’s porch; he holdeth the key of the Sanctuary, that no man enter therein, save the Anointed having the arcanum of Hermes” (v. 20 and 21).

These suggestive and majestic verses had reference with the ancient Egyptians and other civilized peoples of antiquity to the creative and generative light of the Logos (Horus, Brahma, Ahura-Mazda, etc., etc., as primeval manifestations of the ever-unmanifested Principle, e.g., Ain-Soph, Parabrahm, or ZeruanaAkerne — Boundless Time — Kala)

VOL. 2, PAGE 234 THE SECRET DOCTRINE

33. “Satan is the minister of God, Lord of the seven mansions of Hades” . . . .
The seven or Saptaloka of the Earth with the Hindus; for Hades, or the Limbo of Illusion, of which theology makes a region bordering on Hell, is simply our globe, the Earth, and thus Satan is called —
33 “. . . . the angel of the manifest Worlds.”

It is “Satan who is the god of our planet and the only god,” and this without any allusive metaphor to its wickedness and depravity. For he is one with the Logos, “the first son, eldest of the gods,” in the order.

So, occultists believe that Satan is the only god.

Let's look at the Bible.

Use of the name "Lucifer" for the Devil stems from applying to the Devil what Isaiah 14:3–20 says of a king of Babylon whom it calls Helel (הֵילֵל, Shining One), a Hebrew word that refers to the Day Star or Morning Star (the Latin term for which is lucifer) In 2 Peter 1:19 and elsewhere, the same Latin word lucifer is used to refer to the Morning Star, with no relation to the Devil. In Revelation 22:16, Jesus himself is called the Morning Star, but not "Lucifer", even in Latin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isaiah 14: 12
( from King James Version)

How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
you who once laid low the nations!
Isaiah 14: 12
( New International Version, 1984)

How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
Isaiah 14: 12
(from English Standard Version)

How you are fallen from heaven,
O shining star, son of the morning!
You have been thrown down to the earth,
you who destroyed the nations of the world.
Isaiah 14: 12
( from New Living Translation 2007) ]

More versions http://bible.cc/isaiah/14-12.htm

So, New International Version, Standard Version, or New Living Translation removed Lucifer. I am wondering why.......

Let's look at 2 Peter 1: 19

19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
2 Peter 1: 19-21
(from King James Version)

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.

21 For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1: 19-21
(from New International Version)

Wikipedia in not accurate. There is no Lucifer at 2 Peter but "morning star".



For now, we know that in Greek mythology Morning Star and Evening Star were one and the same.
In the Bible Lucifer was a Morning Star.

We also have Diana Lucifera.

Artemis (Diana ) was a dawn-goddess, the bringer of light, and crop-destroying frost. This role was later devolved to Eos (the dawn personified, a goddess developed in Homeric epic).


Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 10 ff (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) :
"[The child Artemis asks Zeus for divine privileges:] ‘But give me to be Phaesphoria (Bringer of Light).’"

Callimachus, Hymn 3 to Artemis 188 ff :
"[Artemis], O queen, fairfaced Bringer of Light."http://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Artemis.html

[ftil]

Let's look at heart symbolism

Human sacrifice was a religious practice characteristic of pre-Columbian Aztec civilization, as well as of other mesoamerican civilizations such as the Maya and the Zapote.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_s..._Aztec_culture .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Co...cropped%29.jpg

Human sacrifice as shown in the Codex Magliabechiano.

In ancient Egypt.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:We...the_heart3.jpg

Anubis weighing the heart of Hunefer

We have Egyptian heart talismans.

The Heart was believed to be the seat of the Soul, and Illustrations Nos. 67, 68, 69, Plate V, are examples of these Talismans worn to prevent black magicians from bewitching the Soul out of the body. The importance of these charms will be realized from the belief that if the Soul left the Heart, the Body would quickly fade away and die. According to Egyptian lore at the judgment of the dead the Heart is weighed, when if found perfect, it is returned to its owner, who immediately recovers his powers of locomotion and becomes his own master, with strength in his limbs and everlasting felicity in his soul.
http://chestofbooks.com/new-age/spir...er-Part-4.html

We have in Catholic church.

Marguerite Marie Alacoque or Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (22 July 1647, Verosvres – 17 October 1690) was a French Roman Catholic nun and mystic, who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in its modern form.
She had visions of Jesus Christ, which she thought were a normal part of human experience and continued to practise austerity. However, in response to a vision of Christ, crucified but alive, that reproached her for forgetfulness of him, claiming his Heart was filled with love for her due to her promise, she entered, when almost 24 years of age, the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial on 25 May 1671, intending to become a nun.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Marie_Alacoque

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St...t_of_Jesus.png

St Margaret Mary Alacoque Contemplating the Sacred Heart of Jesus


Veneration of the Heart of Mary is analogous to worship of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bl...irgin_Mary.jpg



I watched an interesting interpretation of heart symbolism and Fibonacci number.


Golden spiral.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FakeRealLogSprial.svg

If we add numbers we have number 33 that is 9. Let's look at the heart. We have two 9 or 2 spirals.


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...syd%C3%A4n.png



http://philip.greenspun.com/images/p...ircase-4.4.jpg

Vatican Museum staircase



http://chevalfineart.com/gallery/sense/b/23

Cavalier of Flitting Past, Micheal Cheval