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[Aunt Clair]

The  Latin translation of the Motto of the Sphinx is
Noscere, Audere, Velle, Tacere.

The term tacere has been mistranslated to mean silent in English.  
But imho, better translations are ;
1. to shine light on the meaning without words.

Words are not as legible  in vision or projection. So, in visions spirit may illuminate them in fire or ice or skip the book and paint a picture with artistic beauty connotation and denotation. A picture paints a thousand words .

Occult wisdom is learned by being viewed in mystic visions more than by being heard by the spirit teachers. This is because the spoken word may not be heard by the mystic .Clairaudience is generally harder to recieve than clairvoyance .So the spirit teacher, mahatma, angel or avatar may present archetypical imagery instead to convey the meaning .

2. ...thus " to hold onto meaning without words "

It is the term tacere that might be misconstrued .

tacit means ;
* without using any words; implied by actions
* expressed or carried on without words or speech
* implied or indicated (as by an act or by silence) but not actually expressed
* undeclared, unexpressed, unsaid, unspoken, unuttered, unvoiced, wordless.

tace means the candle  

....."And we all shine on like the moon , the stars
and the sun ~ John Lennon

[Aunt Clair]

Ire means “to go “

The Motto of the Sphinx is Velle , Audere , Tacere , Scire . From Latin this has been wrongly translated and widely accepted as  Velle for Will , Audere for Courage  , Tacere for Silence  and Scire for Knowledge. Commonly ; To will , to dare , to keep silent and to know .

And the Fifth Power was called Ire by Crowley and it is the power "to Go" which to my mind means to go to the monad, go to the source, and project to the realms .

As for myself , I do not subscribe to the Motto of the Sphinx translated "to keep silent" . Tacere does not mean for magicians to keep silent but it means “to hold onto meaning without words” .And that to me , means to understand our magick through clairvoyant visions , meditative trance , projections and dreamstate lessons which are more easily seen but are hard to hear .Why ? Because our energy body develops it sight much earlier then it develops its hearing .

And I believe in my heart that we should add To Share as  we are all this together . We are all one .And the incorrect translation of the rule of the sphinx impairs us all .Tacere does not mean don't tell, it means to hold onto without words as to understand thru mystic visions . So if you know it , share it .

The point of Tetrapolar balance is to attain the centre in equilibrium
this is the 5th element or Akasha.
 
elements...   Earth........Water..........Fire............Air...............Akasha
magick......   OBE..........clairvoyance.healing......mystic...........acension
sphinx.......velle.........   tacere.........audere.......noscere/scire..ire
meaning....to will........to hold onto.to dare......to know.........to go
animals.....bull /cow....eagle..........lion/demon.human/angel..mystic body    
...............magical......astral..... .....hells..........heavens........high er planes
astrology...taurus........scorpio...... ..leo............aquarius........centre
principle....life............love...... ......light..........laughter........lu x
Angel.......Raphael.....Michael........ Auriel........Gabriel.........Comic Christ
Gates........Love &
of             unfinished
Death.......business.....justice....... truth & light.healing........pillar
Gospel......Luke...........John........ ..Mark..........Matthew......Gnostic
                                                                                    ie Mary, Judas
Cosmic.....Earth..........Moon......... Sun............Star............Heavens
Body.........belly...........head...... ...chest...........supernal......monad
Being........body...........mind....... ..soul............spirit...........mona dic
               /Physical     /Mental       /Emotional  /Spiritual    
Tarot.........pentacles....cups........ ..rods/wands..arrows/swords.message
tool...........altar...........cup..... .......wand........dagger/prayer.vortex
manifest....conception.visualisation.wi ll/intention.evocation....manifestation
colour.......red..............blue..... ......yellow.........green.........silv er

[Aunt Clair]

To attain the monad the magician ;

There are 3 operations of Earth
the earth is purged through the heels and hands
the earth is flushed away with water
the remaining earth is burnt to ash by fire

There are 3 operations of water
water purges earth by flushing the body
water is dumped from the body
then fire dries up the remaining water

There are 3 operations of Fire
The fire latently dries up water
fire is raised to dry water completely
then fire heats the remaining air to cause lift

There are 3 operations of Air
the latent air dries up water
the latent air soaks up water
then air is heated by fire

Together there are 3 operations

BREATH
*.......Inhale and increase vital energy crown to toes
*..........Deep breath cleanse exhaling and dumping stale prana
ENERGY
*:shudder.............Raise water to flush earth 
*..........Raise fire to heat remaining air 
PROJECTION
*...........Projecting Consciousness 
* ..........Lift from the body through the crown to ascend in projection

Thrice Great Hermes !!

[Aunt Clair]

Element	EARTH	WATER	FIRE	AIR
Motto of the Sphinx	Velle	Tacere	Audere	Noscere/Scire
Meaning of Motto	To Will	To Hold onto w/o words	To Dare	To Know
Magick	OBE	Healing	Mysticism	Ascension
Animal of Sphinx	Bull/Cow	Eagle/Dragon/Serpent	Lion	Human/Angel
Principle	Life	Love	Light	Laughter
Angel	Raphael	Michael	Auriel	Gabriel
Gate of Death	Love & Unfinished Business	Justice	Truth & Light	Healing
Gospel	Luke	John	Mark	Matthew
Cosmic Body	Earth	Moon	Sun	Star
State of Being	Body/Physical	Mind/Mental	Soul/Emotional	Spirit/Spiritual
Tarot	Pentacles/Discs	Cups/Grail	Wands/Staves/Rods/Clubs	Swords
Tarot Nature	Energy Workings	Love RelationshipsR	Struggles Overcome	Conflicts/Inspirations
Colour	Red	Blue	Yellow	Green

[Aunt Clair]

http://forums.riverofenlightenment.com/index.php/topic,352.0.html
http://forums.riverofenlightenment.com/index.php/topic,127.msg471.html#msg471

[Aunt Clair]

In reply to a query about the sphinx appearing to the mystic I revised the composition of the sphinx in the human energy body and would like to share that here;

--- In Hermetic-Order-of-the-Golden-Dawn@yahoogroups.com, "Dean Scott" <dean.yoda@...> wrote:> Can anyone help me with  the meaning of the sphinx. It follows me around at the moment i keep seeing it in movies and dreaming of it or rather it is there in the back ground.. any ideas ? Thanks Dean.

THE SPHINX
First , I suggest, perform a keyword search Googling images for variations on the sphinx.


The Hermetic Sphinx;

red
earth...bull/ox.............Luke
indigo
water...eagle..............John
(dominion over the river it fishes from)
yellow/orange
fire......lion.................Mark
emerald green
air.......angel/human...Matthew
http://pftdcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/cherubim_head.jpg

These signs were chosen from fixed Zodiac signs of ancient Babylon adopted later by the Greeks; Taurus, Aquila&Scorpio, Leo and Aquarius. These are depicted at least since the Tarruchi origins and perhaps earlier on Tarot cards i.e. the Wheel, the World and the Star;
http://www.wischik.com/lu/tarot/thumb_major.jpg

Ezekiel's vision of the kerubim Ez1:1-28
http://www.heavenlyascents.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/ezekielvisionmerkabaux6.jpg
and the golden kerubim in the Temple of Solomon predate New Testament associations of the Biblical Evangelists whom were assigned Hermetically by Irenaeus the sole selector of which codices would compose the NT. Irenaeus cited; "There actually are only four authentic gospels. And this is obviously true because there are four corners of the universe and there are four principal winds, and therefore there can be only four gospels that are authentic. These, besides, are written by Jesus' true followers." Contemporary scholars would disagree citing Q as the source for 3 synoptic gospels;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_source
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/story/emergence.html#ixzz1i5sgOzps

The Motto of the sphinx espoused by Hermetic Magicians is attributed to Eliaphas Levi and modified by Aleister Crowley;

The Motto of the Sphinx is Velle , Audere , Tacere , Scire . From Latin this has been wrongly translated  imho, and widely accepted as  Velle for Will , Audere for Courage  , Tacere for Silence  and Scire for Knowledge. Commonly ; To will , to dare , to keep silent and to know. And the Fifth Power was called Ire by Crowley and it is the power "to Go" which to my mind means to go to the monad, go to the source, and astral or mystic projection through the realms.

As for myself , I do not subscribe to the Motto of the Sphinx translated "to keep silent" . Tacere does not mean for magicians to keep silent but it means “to hold onto meaning without words” .And that to me , means to understand our magick through clairvoyant visions , meditative trance , projections and dreamstate lessons which are more easily seen but are hard to hear .Why ? Because our energy body develops sight much earlier then it develops its hearing.

The magician's subtle energy body morphs into variant forms of a sphinx in a predictable continuum of human energy body development.

The number of heads and limbs and their attributes are telling. The colouring of the sphinx is also an indicator of the magician's stage of ascension alchemy. Notably, the sphinx will appear to the magician or the reader in altered states of consciousnesss such as dreamstate or meditative trance.  
Gold indicates conclusion of that particular level. Purple indicates the alpha omega neutral stage at the conclusion of one work and the beginning of another. Typically; purple, blue , green , yellow, red ,red/black, black, black/white, silver, gold, and then purple again.

A sphinx will typically have at least 2 heads , 4 are a Hermetic Set some split double for as many as 8, 12 or even 16 heads. The limbs may be single pairs or 2 or 4 pairs, typically.

If a hermetic set is manifesting the front might be green the rear red the right indigo and the left side orange until the entire sphinx becomes silver akashic or then golden sun.

Here are some images of the limbs and phalanges during various stages and works;http://s1178.photobucket.com/albums/x366/AuntClair/

What did your sphinx look like? What beast heads, what colours, were there swan wings like an angel or bat wings like this rebus?

http://herebedragons.weebly.com/uploads/6/3/2/7/6327404/913747.jpg?390


View imagery at Adam McLean's alchemy web ie of various two headed Lagashian Eagles and rebus forms and other sphinxes.
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/

I would like to add that books could be written on the sphinx and its associations in magick. The body morphs predictably through stages of the sphinx becoming dragon, beast, demon and angel headed.

The questions of peers are hugely important to the magician. Robert Bruce remarks that he learns something from each workshop he teaches . I agree. Buddha taught that we are all both a student and a teacher to all whom we meet on our path.  

A member of VS asked about the red eye appearing to him. Christ teaches about the red demons of Seth in Gnostic apocrypha saying he is the principle archangels in previous incarnations and he is the red Christ called Seth too.

The red soul , the red eye and the red bull headed and bull horned energy body of the Guardian Demon within are not to be feared. This is an opportunity , like all morphing of the energy body ,for reflection , transmutation and pathworking in altered states of consciousness.

Typically morphing of the energy body heralds Kundalini events or is subsequent to them. The Guardian Demon is an opportunity to learn righteous anger, appropriate passion for a cause, defense of the innocent and when to stand stubbornly in one's own truth despite the bullying and disparagement which might be discharged even from one's own peers.

But it is mostly an opportunity to control the rage within, the naive prejudices, the irrational fears and the lusts, hatreds and thirst for revenge . These are the red internal demons of Seth. It is through loving service and forgiving each other that we transmute the demons .

The Cosmic Christ is a teaching spirit whom appears to many mystics irregardless of their belief system or paradigm. He teaches that 7 demons and 7 angels are within each of the inner gates.In my exegesis, these are the 7 golden lampstands of the Bible or the Chakras of Vedantic texts. We heal our inner demons with our inner angels.

We heal ourselves through love, forgiving and service . Robert Bruce calls this building up the good karma bank.

These seemingly bewildering archetypical images that appear to the magician in dreamstate or meditation are actually lessons to demonstrate how far we have come and what step is next and how much more needs to be done. That is the purpose for the archetype.

It is pertinent to note, when I see a horn upon the head of a sitter or view clairvoyantly their angelic wings that this is what would be seen by another clairvoyant should they look at that moment.  

It is not like the more personal transient visions we might have in the astral plane where what I see may not parallel what the peer beside me sees, in any fashion.

As magicians, we need to distinguish as magicians what are temporally stable archetypical images and what are the dream like images of the subconscious mind unique to each magician.

By teaching each other,we find the universal commonality of such imagery. A good example of universal morphing would be in the Uraeus Effect described aptly by Robert Bruce. At that stage the magician will feel this heavy fleshy serpent fall flacidly over the nose and mouth like the uncooked steak he described. It is telling when we find these descriptions in other texts, sites and in other eras and locales. Than we can suppose it is a true universal archetype which would manifest on any magician at that stage.

The hermaphroditic rebus depicted in numerous images on Adam Mclean's Alchemy Web are a testament to another universal archetype.

Despite tradition that angels are immortal spirits created separately prior to the human race, the human manifests angels or demons according to their vibration.The human becomes angelic in gradual stages of enlightenment over subsequent lifetimes.

And I am excited to discover that;
The blue Guardian Angel
projects from the indigo brow chakra and third blue eye
winged like the eagle.

The red Guardian Demon
projects from the red chakra and red eye of Seth
horned and hooved like the bull.

The yellow Higher Self
projects from the chest/solar plexus/heart
the aura around the head and shoulders is like a lion's mane blazing in sunlight.

The emerald green HS/GA
projects from the supernal centres
like the Angel of the Sphinx.

The amber Lower Self
projects from the lower back secondary amber chakra
it unites with the red Guardian Demon
to form the orange LS/GD

If you would like to participate in this research with me, I offer free clairvoyant readings of the human energy body on Skype under the handle Aunt Clair.
Om Shanti.

[Aunt Clair]

A member of VS posted a question about a Red Eye in altered states of consciousness;
http://forums.vsociety.net/index.php/topic,19999.msg199401.html#msg199401

Replying to their post made me think and revise. Then a member posted a question about the Hermetic Sphinx on a Yahoo Group and I saw a connection that had previously escaped me which related to my own research.

I had begun to communicate with my aspects of my soul especially the HS/GA by projecting out of the self. And I learnt that it was good to fly about a metre from the body to avoid being reunited to the physical form. In this manner, I was able to view and hear various aspects of my consciousness in these subtle energy form projections.

Through the clairvoyant observation of my own Higher Self and the clairvoyant view of the HS of my able peers in circle, I determined that the cosmology of the soul has distinct aspects each of which is a uniquely coloured Hermetic subtle energy body which can be separated from the physical body of the magician at will. And I became able to evoke these subtle energy body forms from online sitters and local peers.

In 2003, I began to conduct Hermetic Research through the clairvoyant reading of sitters. I learnt to evoke their HS , GA and united HS/GA and noted the appearance of these forms and from whence they projected from the physical form.

I noted that the face of the able magician appeared on their subtle body forms in perfect health and prime form so that an aged peer could project a 32 year old HS. The LS might take the form of a fear or trauma which had not fully healed and thus arrested the maturation of their soul. And I learnt that the face of the Highest Past life would appear on a magician who had not yet begun work , in this life. A higher vibration magician projects a tetrapolar HS which is realistically coloured and fully 3D like the physical body. But the muggly unawares have no face at all. They lack eyes, a nose, a mouth and ears and appear hanging like wet clothes in a zombie like monochrome coloured silhouette without substance seeming flat and transparent.

One of the beauties of forums is that through discussions with peers and the sharing of answers , we can learn so very much ourselves. This week two different questions on two different forums helped me make a new connection. I had a Eureka event !!

I discovered earlier that each aspect of the cosmology of the soul
*resides within us and external to us like the microcosm and the macrocosm
*has a specific vibration which affords a unique colour and sound
*has a specific Hermetic elemental nature which affords access to specific realms
*is manifested from a cauldron/stone of that same Hermetic nature.

So each aspect resides within us in a subtle energy which can form a projected subtle energy body and separate from the physical form.Each energy has a unique vibration or wavelength of colour and sound. We are a divine and exotic instrument which can paint a colour and play a fine tune.This weekend I learnt through retrospection ,clairvoyant observation of projections and replication that;

*each animal of the sphinx is specifically related to a cosmological aspect of the soul
*4 principle aspects of soul HS. GA. HS/GA & GD are 4 distinct Hermetic elements
*each principle aspect projects from the magician appearing like that animal !!;
..........HS/GA green angel human; the face of that magician is on an emerald angel
..........GA blue eagle winged human; the magician is blue with eagle wings
..........HS yellow lion; the aura forms a yellow lion maned corona on head of magician
..........GD red bull ; a bull faced horned & hooved red minotaur with a tail
*one tetrapolar projection occurs as the silver akashic sphinx separating supernally
*the Third Eye/Eye of Horus/Brow Centre is the eye of the Guardian Angel
*the Red Eye/The Red Eye of Seth is the eye of the Guardian Demon
*each of those energy centres/stones/cauldrons may manifest an eye .

The Eye of the GA at the centre front of the forehead indigo chakra has been called the Eye of Horus, the Eye of Fatima, the Third Eye et cetera. The GA sees the Heavens and the Astral realms and is switched on or tuned in by drawing golden fire called shen either from heart to brow or from crown to brow. The centres of the head are deep waters and darkest blue. The reciprocal energy is fire. Cultivation of the noble golden fire called Shen affords clairvoyance.

The Eye of the GD is at the navel in the red EarthStone or cauldron of the belly. This is called the Red Eye of Seth.The GD sees the qlippothic realms of the Death Chamber and the lower planes afterlife realms .

So forum peers can become our very good teachers.

Hermetic Sphinx.Colour............Element.Motto
cosmology..location on body..attributes

Angel....Emerald Green............Air..............Nosce re.To Know
HS/GA.............supernal,HeavenStone....................winged human
Treasure Noble Earth Ruby Red Xie? Manifestation

Eagle....Sapphire Blue.............Water..........Tacere. ..To Hold onto meaning without words
Guardian Angel.MoonStone,third eye,female tan tien.eagle winged,Eye of Horus
Treasure Noble Fire Golden Shen;Clairvoyance,Mind of Mystic, Crown of Goddess,

Lion......Yellow....................... .Fire.............Audere...To Dare
Higher Self.......SunStone,middle tan tien..................lion maned auric corona
Treasure Noble Water Chi;Restoration & Flow,Heart of Mystic,Microcosm

Bull.......Ruby Red...................Earth...........V elle.....To Will
Guardian Demon.womb,EarthStone,belly,male tan tien.horned minotaur w/tail & hooves
Treasure Noble Air Emerald Ching;Power Regeneration, Womb of Mystic, Throne of God

[Aunt Clair]

citation   http://mesocosm.net/category/analysis-artifact-or-image/

The Tetramorph; The Sumerian Origins of a Christian Symbol

Christ with the Four Evangelists, Bode Museum~...The  Christian symbol known as the tetramorph, which usually refers to the iconographic convention of depicting the Four Evangelists in animal form, with Matthew depicted as a man, Mark as a lion, Luke as a bull, and John as an eagle. This symbolic bestiary has a long history that goes back to the earliest days of Sumer in the Fertile Crescent.

The tetramorph will round out our introductory look at imagery coming from Mesopotamia during the great period of urban development. Mesopotamia was source for key symbolic forms that were disseminated outward along with the arts of civilization, which included writing, mathematics and geometry, astronomy and astrology, and monumental architecture. This cluster of technologies and ideas spread both west and east, giving rise to the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the Indus Valley civilization in India and Pakistan, the Shang Dynasty of China, the palatial period of Crete, and the Mycenaean kingdoms of Bronze Age Greece.

We have previously examined how Mesopotamia acted as a conduit for symbols dating back to the Stone Age in our look at the Assyrian Tree of Life motif. We then turned to the spread of Mesopotamian symbols into classical culture in our look at the Lion-Bull motif of Archaic Greece. In the tetramorph, we find evidence of the widespread diffusion of Sumerian symbols through Christian Europe, providing a clue to the extraordinary resilience of mythological symbols. They may persist in their essential meaning and configuration for millennia, despite being expressed in radically different religious idioms.

Ultimately, the tetramorph is rooted in the Sumerian zodiac. The first written evidence that we possess of a science of the stars comes from Sumer. The first constellations were probably defined no later than the 3200 BCE, when the first cities were being built. Taurus the bull, Leo the lion, and Scorpius the scorpion were the first to be designated, with Aquarius the water-carrier occurring later

Assyrian Palace Guardian Nimrud, Assyria, c. 965 BCE British Museum
http://mesocosm.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/img_5968.jpg

Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius occupy and define the zones of the sky that the sun would traverse on the vernal equinox, summer solstice, autumnal equinox, and winter solstice, respectively. The eagle serves as the astrological equivalent of the scorpion (2), and thus, the lion, bull, man, and eagle represent the complete cycle of the year, and the four quarters of the earth.

This set of four creatures was popular in Mesopotamian art and iconography, as shown in this human-headed composite portal guardian from the Palace of Nimrud, composed of human, eagle, and lion parts. Its companion piece is similarly assembled from a human, an eagle, and a bull.

These four creatures first appear together in the Judeo-Christian context in Ezekiel, which was probably written around the third century BCE. In chapter 1, the prophet encounters fantastic beings in the heavens: “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle,” (Ez. 1:10).

Ezekiel’s vision is generally interpreted as being rooted in the four Babylonian fixed signs of the zodiac, adopted from Sumer without significant modification. The vision took place during the Babylonian Captivity of Israel, and the astrological reading helps us to make sense of obscure passages such as:

    As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four. And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. (Ez. 1:20).

The association of spirit of the living creature with the wheels, “lifted up over against them,” strongly suggests the symbolism of the zodiac is at work here.

Himmelsvision des Johannes, Matthias Gerung
http://mesocosm.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/himmelsvision-des-johannes.jpg

A similar vision, no doubt inspired by Ezekiel, was described by John of Patmos in Revelation:  And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (Rev 4:6-8)

Like Ezekiel’s rings, the eternal quality of a God “which was, is, and is to come,” suggests the never-ending cycle of the heavens.

In the second century CE, the church father Iraeneus argued in Against Heresies that there must be four and only four true Gospels, using the four creatures of Ezekiel to illustrate the intrinsic perfection of the number four:

    It is not possible that the Gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four zones of the world in which we live, and four principal winds, while the… “pillar and ground” of the Church is the Gospel and the spirit of life; it is fitting that she should have four pillars, breathing out immortality on every side…. He who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four aspects, but bound together by one Spirit….

    For the cherubim, too, were four-faced, and their faces were images of the dispensation of the Son of God. The first living creature was like a lion, symbolizing His effectual working, His leadership, and royal power; the second was like a calf, signifying His sacrificial and sacerdotal order; but the third had, as it were, the face as of a man – an evident description of His advent as a human being; the fourth was like a flying eagle, pointing out the gift of the Spirit hovering with His wings over the Church. And therefore the Gospels are in accord with these things, among which Christ Jesus is seated. (3)

The earliest literary source explicitly equating the Four Evangelists to the four creatures of the Babylonian zodiac is Saint Jerome (c. 347-420), who makes this attribution in his Preface to “Commentary on Matthew”:
Book of Kells

    The first face of a man signifies Matthew, who began his narrative [with the genealogy of the human lineage of Christ] as though about a man…. The second, Mark, in whom the voice of a lion roaring in the wilderness is heard [in his account of John the Baptist]. The third [is the face of] the calf which prefigures that the evangelist Luke began with Zachariah the priest. The fourth John the evangelist who, having taken up eagle’s wings and hastening toward higher matters [in beginning from the standpoint of Christ the Logos], discusses the Word of God.

During the Early Middle Ages, this set of associations was fixed as the canonical depiction of the Four Evangelists.

By the time we get to the Renaissance painting shown at the beginning of this post, we have traveled far from Sumer in 3200 BCE, where the four fixed signs of the zodiac were understood as a symbol expressing the completion of the celestial cycle. In Judeo-Christian usage, the basic meaning of this quaternary remains the same. Christ stands as the Lord of the Cycle, with his Four Evangelists acting as his “dispensation,” as Iraeneus put it. The basic symbol still represents an umbilicus linking earthly affairs with the ever-changing, unchanging heavens above.

One of the themes that emerges from this series is that symbols possess extraordinarily resilience. In the first three posts alone, we’ve seen a small collection of symbols that have spanned the entire history of human expression, from the Stone Age to the present day, living on in the collective repository of symbols and meanings that is human culture, like new wine in old wineskins.

References and Notes

(1) Rogers JH. “Origins of the Ancient Constellations: I. The Mesopotamian Tradition.” J. Br. Astron. Assoc. 108, 1, 1998. p 10.

(2) In Ezekiel commentaries, it is frequently claimed that the sign of the eagle is equivalent to the scorpion, perhaps because the constellation Aquila the Eagle is in the House of Scorpio. However, the origins of this equivalence are extremely obscure. When Scorpio was first described in Sumer, the constellation and the associated region of sky was represented by a scorpion, and this association appears to have persisted in Mesopotamian literature for the next 1500 years.

Although the bull, the eagle, the lion, and the human were clearly associated in Mesopotamia before the time of Ezekiel, as shown by the guardians of the Assyrian palace at Nimrud pictured above, I have yet to find a literary reference associating the eagle with the House of Scorpio that predates Ezekiel, and it is possible that the association is anachronistic.

Written by mesocosm
December 22, 2011 at 11:56 am
Posted in Analysis: Artifact or Image
The Lion, the Bull, and the Birth of Tragedy

This remarkable statue group depicting a bull wracked by two lions is one of the most powerful works of art I have ever seen. Perhaps ten feet across, it once occupied the central pediment of the Hekatompedon temple, the predecessor of the Parthenon at the Acropolis of Athens.

This temple was built in the late sixth century BCE during the Archaic period of Greek history, which saw a great influx of political and cultural influences from the Near East. It was during this time that Greece adopted the polis city-state model of political organization from the Fertile Crescent, where it had been in use since the first cities were built around 3200 BCE.

Greek art, literature, and religion were transformed by the wave of ideas coming from the Near East. Archaic statues and vase paintings show a marked Mesopotamian influence. One of the earliest and most important literary sources for Greek religion, Hesiod’s Theogony, dates to this period, and shows the clear influence of the Babylonian epic Enuma elish, which we looked at in an earlier post on the Assyrian Tree of Life motif.

This pediment sculpture group is itself Oriental in subject and style. As with the Tree of Life, this group features an axial primary subject, a bull, flanked by a pair of heraldic figures, in this case lions, in a typically Mesopotamian style. Animal battles were a popular subject of art throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

Although it came to Greece through Mesopotamia, the lion-bull motif predates Sumerian civilization by tens of thousands of years. It is one of the oldest mythological symbols in the world, possibly as old as the Great Goddess motif of the Stone Age. It can be found in numerous cultures in a clear line of historical transmission. It passed from culture to culture during periods of contact, with each new group expressing the symbol with its own emphasis. It is a symbol of great complexity and range, and we can only begin to trace its history here.

The basic sense of the bull brought down by beasts of prey is an image of the fundamental forces of life and death in a terrible, intense struggle. As an image of the conflict that provides the sustenance of life, the lion and the bull are bound together as a single symbol.

In Ancient Greece, the bull is the sacrificial animal par excellence. The bull sacrifice played a prominent role in Hesiod’s Theogony, which was created in the same historical period as this statue group, and, as noted earlier, also shows a deep influence from the Near East.
bird-bull

Cyprus, 13th century BCE, British Museum
Theogony contains the earliest-known version of the Prometheus myth. In Hesiod’s telling, the tragic god enraged Zeus by establishing the ritual of the bull sacrifice such that the humans receive the flesh of the animal, while the gods receive only the fat and the bones. When Zeus learns of this betrayal, he proscribes a terrible punishment: �

Julie by Crip
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