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the secret teachings of all ages
Fishes, Insects,
Animals, Reptiles And Birds
CHAPTER xv
manly p. hall
THE creatures inhabiting the
water, air, and earth were held in veneration by all races of antiquity.
Realizing that visible bodies are only symbols of invisible forces, the
ancients worshiped the Divine Power through the lower kingdoms of
Nature, because those less evolved and more simply constituted creatures
responded most readily to the creative impulses of the gods. The sages
of old studied living things to a point of realization that God is most
perfectly understood through a knowledge of His supreme
handiwork--animate and inanimate Nature.
Every existing creature
manifests some aspect of the intelligence or power of the Eternal One,
who can never be known save through a study and appreciation of His
numbered but inconceivable parts. When a creature is chosen, therefore,
to symbolize to the concrete human mind some concealed abstract
principle it is because its characteristics demonstrate this invisible
principle in visible action. Fishes, insects, animals, reptiles, and
birds appear in the religious symbolism of nearly all nations, because
the forms and habits of these creatures and the media in which they
exist closely relate them to the various generative and germinative
powers of Nature, which were considered as prima-facie evidence of
divine omnipresence.
The early philosophers and
scientists, realizing that all life has its origin in water, chose the
fish as the symbol of the life germ. The fact that fishes are most
prolific makes the simile still more apt. While the early priests may
not have possessed the instruments necessary to analyze the
spermatozoon, they concluded by deduction that it resembled a
fish.
Fishes were sacred to the
Greeks and Romans, being connected with the worship of Aphrodite
(Venus). An interesting survival of pagan ritualism is found in the
custom of eating fish on Friday. Freya, in whose honor the day
was named, was the Scandinavian Venus, and this day was sacred among
many nations to the goddess of beauty and fecundity. This analogy
further links the fish with the procreative mystery. Friday is also
sacred to the followers of the Prophet Mohammed.
The word nun means both
fish and growth, and as Inman says: "The Jews were led to victory by the
Son of the Fish whose other names were Joshua and Jesus (the Savior).
Nun is still the name of a female devotee" of the Christian
faith. Among early Christians three fishes were used to symbolize the
Trinity, and the fish is also one of the eight sacred symbols of the
great Buddha. It is also significant that the dolphin should be sacred
to both Apollo (the Solar Savior) and Neptune. It was believed that this
fish carried shipwrecked sailors to heaven on its back. The dolphin was
accepted by the early Christians as an emblem of Christ, because the
pagans had viewed this beautiful creature as a friend and benefactor of
man. The heir to the throne of France, the Dauphin, may have
secured his title from this ancient pagan symbol of the divine
preservative power. The first advocates of Christianity likened converts
to fishes, who at the time of baptism "returned again into the sea of
Christ."
Primitive peoples believed the
sea and land were inhabited by strange creatures, and early books on
zoology contain curious illustrations of composite beasts, reptiles, and
fishes, which did not exist at the time the mediæval authors compiled
these voluminous books. In the ancient initiatory rituals of the
Persian, Greek, and Egyptian Mysteries the priests disguised themselves
as composite creatures, thereby symbolizing different aspects of human
consciousness. They used birds and reptiles as emblems of their various
deities, often creating forms of grotesque appearance and assigning to
them imaginary traits, habits, and places of domicile, all of which were
symbolic of certain spiritual and transcendental truths thus concealed
from the profane. The phœnix made its nest of incense and flames.
The unicorn had the body of a horse, the feet of an elephant, and
the tail of a wild boar. The upper half of the centaur's body was
human and the lower half equine. The pelican of the Hermetists
fed its young from its own breast, and to this bird were assigned other
mysterious attributes which could have been true only
allegorically.
Though regarded by many writers
of the Middle Ages as actual living creatures, none of these--the
pelican excepted--ever existed outside the symbolism of the Mysteries.
Possibly they originated in rumors of animals then little known. In the
temple, however, they became a reality, for there they signified the
manifold characteristics of man's nature. The mantichora had
certain points in common with the hyena; the unicorn may have
been the single-horned rhinoceros. To the student of the secret wisdom
these composite animals. and birds simply represent various forces
working in the invisible worlds. This is a point which nearly all
writers on the subject of mediæval monsters seem to have overlooked.
(See Vlyssis Aldrovandi's Monstrorum Historia, 1642, and
Physica Curiosa, by P. Gaspare Schotto, 1697.)
There are also legends to the
effect that long before the appearance of human beings there existed a
race or species of composite creatures which was destroyed by the gods.
The temples of antiquity preserved their own historical records and
possessed information concerning the prehistoric world that has never
been revealed to the uninitiated. According to these records, the human
race evolved from a species of creature that partook somewhat of the
nature of an amphibian, for at that time primitive man had the gills of
a fish and was partly covered with scales. To a limited degree, the
human embryo demonstrates the possibility of such a condition. As a
result of the theory of man's origin in water, the fish was looked upon
as the progenitor of the human family. This gave rise to the
ichthyolatry of the Chaldeans, Phœnicians, and Brahmins. The American
Indians believe that the waters of lakes, rivers, and oceans are
inhabited by a mysterious people, the "Water Indians."
The fish has been used as an
emblem of damnation; but among the Chinese it typified contentment and
good fortune, and fishes appear on many of their coins. When Typhon, or
Set, the Egyptian evil genius, had divided the body of the god Osiris
into fourteen parts, he cast one part into the river Nile, where,
according to Plutarch, it was devoured by three fishes--the
lepidotus (probably the lepidosiren), the phagrus,
and the oxyrynchus (a form of pike). For this reason the
Egyptians would not eat the flesh of these fishes, believing that to do
so would be to devour the body of their god. When used as a symbol of
evil, the fish represented the earth (man's lower nature) and the tomb
(the sepulcher of the Mysteries). Thus was Jonah three days in the belly
of the "great fish," as Christ was three days in the tomb.
Several early church fathers
believed that the "whale" which swallowed Jonah was the symbol of God
the Father, who, when the hapless prophet was thrown overboard, accepted
Jonah into His own nature until a place of safety was reached. The story
of Jonah is really a legend of initiation into the Mysteries, and the
"great fish" represents the darkness of ignorance which engulfs man when
he is thrown over the side of the ship (is born) into the sea (life).
The custom of building ships in the form of fishes or birds, common in
ancient times, could give rise to the story, and mayhap Jonah was merely
picked up by another vessel and carried into
port, the pattern of the ship causing it to be called a "great fish."
("Veritatis simplex oratio est!") More probably the "whale" of
Jonah is based upon the pagan mythological creature, hippocampus,
part horse and part dolphin, for the early Christian statues and
carvings show the composite creature and not a true whale.
THE FIRST INCARNATION, OR MATSYA
AVATAR, OF VISHNU.
From Picart's Religious
Ceremonials.
The fish has often been
associated with the World Saviors. Vishnu, the Hindu Redeemer, who takes
upon himself ten forms for the redemption of the universe, was expelled
from the mouth of a fish in his first incarnation. Isis, while nursing
the infant Horus, is often shown with a fish on her headdress. Oannes,
the Chaldean Savior (borrowed from the Brahmins), is depicted with the
head and body of a fish, from which his human form protrudes at various
points. Jesus was often symbolized by a fish. He told His disciples that
they should became "fishers of men." The sign of the fish was also the
first monogram of the Christians. The mysterious Greek name of Jesus,
ΙΧΘΥΣ, means "a fish." The fish was accepted as a symbol of the Christ
by a number of early canonized church fathers. St. Augustine likened the
Christ to a fish that had been broiled, and it was also pointed out that
the flesh of that Fish was the food of righteous and holy
men.
It is reasonable to suppose
that the mysterious sea serpents, which, according to the Mayan and
Toltec legends, brought the gods to Mexico were Viking or Chaldean
ships, built in the shape of composite sea monsters or dragons. H. P.
Blavatsky advances the theory that the word cetus, the great
whale, is derived from keto, a name for the fish god, Dagon, and
that Jonah was actually confined in a cell hollowed out in the body of a
gigantic statue of Dagon after he had been captured by Phœnician sailors
and carried to one of their cities. There is no doubt a great mystery in
the gigantic form of cetus, which is still preserved as a
constellation.
According to many scattered
fragments extant, man's lower nature was symbolized by a tremendous,
awkward creature resembling a great sea serpent, or dragon, called
leviathan. All symbols having serpentine form or motion signify
the solar energy in one of its many forms. This great creature of the
sea therefore represents the solar life force imprisoned in water and
also the divine energy coursing through the body of man, where, until
transmuted, it manifests itself as a writhing, twisting monster---man's
greeds, passions, and lusts. Among the symbols of Christ as the Savior
of men are a number relating to the mystery of His divine nature
concealed within the personality of the lowly Jesus.
The Gnostics divided the nature
of the Christian Redeemer into two parts--the one Jesus, a mortal man;
the other, Christos, a personification of Nous, the principle of
Cosmic Mind. Nous, the greater, was for the period of three years
(from baptism to crucifixion) using the fleshly garment of the mortal
man (Jesus). In order to illustrate this point and still conceal it from
the ignorant, many strange, and often repulsive, creatures were used
whose rough exteriors concealed magnificent organisms. Kenealy, in his
notes on the Book of Enoch, observes: "Why the caterpillar was a
symbol of the Messiah is evident; because, under a lowly, creeping, and
wholly terrestrial aspect, he conceals the beautiful butterfly-form,
with its radiant wings, emulating in its varied colors the Rainbow, the
Serpent, the Salmon, the Scarab, the Peacock, and the dying Dolphin * *
*.
INSECTS
In 1609 Henry Khunrath's
Amphitheatrum Sapientiæ Æternæ was published. Eliphas Levi
declared that within its pages are concealed all the great secrets of
magical philosophy. A remarkable plate in this work shows the Hermetic
sciences being attacked by the bigoted and ignorant pedagogues of the
seventeenth century. In order to express his complete contempt for his
slanderers, Khunrath made out of each a composite beast, adding donkey
ears to one and a false tail to another. He reserved the upper part of
the picture for certain petty backbiters whom he gave appropriate forms.
The air was filled with strange creatures--great dragon flies, winged
frogs, birds with human heads, and other weird forms which defy
description--heaping venom, gossip, spite, slander, and other forms of
persecution upon the secret arcanum of the wise. The drawing indicated
that their attacks were ineffectual. Poisonous insects were often used
to symbolize the deadly power of the human tongue.
Insects of all kinds were also
considered emblematic of the Nature spirits and dæmons, for both were
believed to inhabit the atmosphere. Mediæval drawings showing magicians
in the act of invoking spirits, often portray the mysterious powers of
the other world, which the conjurer has exorcised, as appearing to him
in composite part-insect forms. The early philosophers apparently held
the opinion that the disease which swept through communities in the form
of plagues were actually living creatures, but instead of considering a
number of tiny germs they viewed the entire plague as one individuality
and gave it a hideous shape to symbolize its destructiveness. The fact
that plagues came in the air caused an insect or a bird to be used as
their symbol.
Beautiful symmetrical forms
were assigned to all natural benevolent conditions or powers, but to
unnatural or malevolent powers were assigned contorted and abnormal
figures. The Evil One was either hideously deformed or else of the
nature of certain despised animals. A popular superstition during the
Middle Ages held that the Devil had the feet of a rooster, while the
Egyptians assigned to Typhon (Devil) the body of a hog.
The habits of the insects were
carefully studied. Therefore the ant was looked upon as emblematic of
industry and foresight, as it stored up supplies for the winter and also
had strength to move objects many times its own weight. The locusts
which swept down in clouds, and in some parts of Africa and Asia
obscured the sun and destroyed every green thing, were considered fit
emblems of passion, disease, hate, and strife; for these emotions
destroy all that is good in the soul of man and leave a barren desert
behind them. In the folklore of various nations, certain insects are
given special significance, but the ones which have received world-wide
veneration and consideration ate the scarab, the king of the insect
kingdom; the scorpion, the great betrayer; the butterfly, the emblem of
metamorphosis; and the bee, the symbol of industry.
The Egyptian scarab is one of
the most remarkable symbolic figures ever conceived by the mind of man.
It was evolved by the erudition of the priestcraft from a simple insect
which, because of its peculiar habits and appearance, properly
symbolized the strength of the body, the resurrection of the soul, and
the Eternal and Incomprehensible Creator in His aspect as Lord of the
Sun. E. A. Wallis Budge says, in effect, of the worship of the scarab by
the Egyptians:
"Yet another view held in
primitive times was that the sky was a vast meadow over which a huge
beetle crawled, pushing the disk of the sun before him. This beetle was
the Sky-god, and, arguing from the example of the beetle (Scarabæus
sacer), which was observed to roll along with its hind legs a ball
that was believed to contain its eggs, the early Egyptians thought that
the ball of the Sky-god contained his egg and that the sun was his
offspring. Thanks, however, to the investigations of the eminent
entomologist, Monsieur J. H. Fabre, we now know that the ball which the
Scarabæus sacer rolls along contains not its eggs, but dung that
is to serve as food for its egg, which it lays in a carefully prepared
place."
Initiates of the Egyptian
Mysteries were sometimes called scarabs; again, lions and panthers. The
scarab was the emissary of the sun, symbolizing light, truth, and
regeneration. Stone scarabs, called heart scarabs, about three inches
long, were placed in the heart cavity of the dead when that organ was
removed to be embalmed separately as part of the process of mummifying.
Some maintain that the stone beetles were merely wrapped in the winding
cloths at the time of preparing the body for eternal preservation. The
following passage concerning this appears in the great Egyptian book of
initiation, The Book of the Dead: "And behold, thou shalt make a
scarab of green stone, which shalt be placed in the breast of a man, and
it shall perform for him, 'the opening of the mouth.'" The funeral rites
of many nations bear a striking resemblance to the initiatory ceremonies
of their Mysteries.
Ra, the god of the sun,
had three important aspects. As the Creator of the universe he was
symbolized by the head of a scarab and was called Khepera, which
signified the resurrection of the soul and a new life at the end of the
mortal span. The mummy cases of the Egyptian dead were nearly always
ornamented with scarabs. Usually one of these beetles, with outspread
wings, was painted on the mummy case directly over the breast of the
dead. The finding of such great numbers of small stone scarabs indicates
that they were a favorite article of adornment among the Egyptians.
Because of its relationship to the sun, the scarab symbolized the divine
part of man's nature. The fact that its beautiful wings were concealed
under its glossy shell typified the winged soul of man hidden within its
earthly sheath. The Egyptian soldiers were given the scarab as their
special symbol because the ancients believed that these creatures were
all of the male sex and consequently appropriate emblems of virility,
strength, and courage.
Plutarch noted the fact that
the scarab rolled its peculiar ball of dung backwards, while the insect
itself faced the opposite direction. This made it an especially fitting
symbol for the sun, because this orb (according to Egyptian astronomy)
was rolling from west to east, although apparently moving in the
opposite direction. An Egyptian allegory states that the sunrise is
caused by the scarab unfolding its wings, which stretch out as
glorious colors on each side of its body--the solar globe--and that when
it folds its wings under its dark shell at sunset, night follows.
Khepera, the scarab-headed aspect of Ra, is often
symbolized riding through the sea of the sky in a wonderful ship called
the Boat of the Sun.
THE MANTICHORA.
From Redgrove's Bygone
Beliefs.
The most remarkable of
allegorical creatures was the mantichora, which Ctesias describes
as having aflame-colored body, lionlike in shape, three rows of teeth, a
human head and ears, blue eyes, a tail ending in a series of spikes and
stings, thorny and scorpionlike, and a voice which sounded like the
blare of trumpets. This synthetic quadruped ambled into mediæval works
on natural history, but, though seriously considered, had never been
seen, because it inhabited inaccessible regions and consequently was
difficult to locate.
ROYAL EGYPTIAN SCARAB.
From Hall's Catalogue of
Egyptian Scarabs, Etc., in the British Museum.
The flat under side of a scarab
usually bears an inscription relating to the dynasty during which it was
cut. These scarabs were sometimes used as seals. Some were cut from
ordinary or precious stones; others were made of clay, baked and glazed.
Occasionally the stone scarabs were also glazed. The majority of the
small scarabs are pierced as though originally used as beads. Some are
so hard that they will cut glass. In the picture above, A shows top and
side views of the scarab, and B and B the under surface with the name of
Men-ka-Ra within the central cartouche.
The scorpion is the symbol of
both wisdom and self-destruction. It was called by the Egyptians the
creature accursed; the time of year when the sun entered the sign of
Scorpio marked the beginning of the rulership of Typhon. When the twelve
signs of the zodiac were used to represent the twelve Apostles (although
the reverse is true), the scorpion was assigned to Judas Iscariot--the
betrayer.
The scorpion stings with its
tail, and for this reason it has been called a backbiter, a false and
deceitful thing. Calmet, in his Dictionary of the Bible, declares
the scorpion to be a fit emblem of the wicked and the symbol of
persecution. The dry winds of Egypt are said to be produced by Typhon,
who imparts to the sand the blistering heat of the infernal world and
the sting of the scorpion. This insect was also the symbol of the spinal
fire which, according to the Egyptian Mysteries, destroyed man when it
was permitted to gather at the base of his spine (the tail of the
scorpion).The red star Antares in the back of the celestial
scorpion was considered the worst light in the heavens. Kalb al
Akrab, or the heart of the scorpion, was called by the ancients the
lieutenant or deputy of Mars. (See footnote to Ptolemy's
Tetrabiblos.) Antares was believed to impair the eyesight,
often causing blindness if it rose over the horizon when a child was
born. This may refer again to the sand storm, which was capable of
blinding unwary travelers.
The scorpion was also the
symbol of wisdom, for the fire which it controlled was capable of
illuminating as well as consuming. Initiation into the Greater Mysteries
among the pagans was said to take place only in the sign of the
scorpion. In the papyrus of Ani (The Book of the Dead),
the deceased likens his soul to a scorpion, saying: "I am a swallow, I
am that scorpion, the daughter of Ra!" Elizabeth Goldsmith, in her
treatise on Sex Symbolism, states that the scorpions were a
"symbol of Selk, the Egyptian goddess of writing, and also [were]
revered by the Babylonians and Assyrians as guardians of the gateway of
the sun. Seven scorpions were said to have accompanied Isis when she
searched for the remains of Osiris scattered by Set"
(Typhon).
In his Chaldean Account of
the Genesis, George Smith, copying from the cuneiform cylinders, in
describing the wanderings of the hero Izdubar (Nimrod), throws
some light on the scorpion god who guards the sun. The tablet which he
translated is not perfect, but the meaning is fairly clear: "* * * who
each day guard the rising sun. Their crown was at the lattice of heaven,
under hell their feet were placed [the spinal column]. The scorpion man
guarded the gate, burning with terribleness, their appearance was like
death, the might of his fear shook the forest. At the rising of the sun
and the setting of the sun, they guarded the sun; Izdubar saw them and
fear and terror came into his face." Among the early Latins there was a
machine of war called the scorpion. It was used for firing arrows and
probably obtained its name from a long beam, resembling a scorpion's
tail, which flew up to hurl the arrows. The missiles discharged by this
machine were also called scorpions.
The butterfly (under the name
of Psyche, a beautiful maiden with wings of opalescent light)
symbolizes the human soul because of the stages it passes through in
order to unfold its power of flight. The three divisions through which
the butterfly passes in its unfoldment resemble closely the three
degrees of the Mystery School, which degrees are regarded as
consummating the unfoldment of man by giving him emblematic wings by
which he may soar to the skies. Unregenerate man, ignorant and helpless,
is symbolized by the stage between ovum and larva; the disciple, seeking
truth and dwelling in medication, by the second stage, from larva to
pupa, at which time the insect enters its chrysalis (the tomb of the
Mysteries); the third stage, from pupa to imago (wherein the perfect
butterfly comes forth), typifies the unfolded enlightened soul of the
initiate rising from the tomb of his baser nature.
Night moths typify the secret
wisdom, because they are hard to discover and are concealed by the
darkness (ignorance). Some are emblems of death, as Acherontia
atropos, the death's-head moth, which has a marking on its body
somewhat like a human skull. The death-watch beetle, which was believed
to give warning of approaching death by a peculiar ticking sound, is
another instance of insects involved in human affairs.
Opinions differ concerning the
spider. Its shape makes it an appropriate emblem of the nerve plexus and
ganglia of the human body. Some Europeans consider it extremely bad luck
to kill a spider--possibly because it is looked upon as an emissary of
the Evil One, whom no person desires to offend. There is a mystery
concerning all poisonous creatures, especially insects. Paracelsus
taught that the spider was the medium for a powerful but evil force
which the Black Magicians used in their nefarious
undertakings.
Certain plants, minerals, and
animals have been sacred among all the nations of the earth because of
their peculiar sensitiveness to the astral fire--a mysterious agency in
Nature which the scientific world has contacted through its
manifestations as electricity and magnetism. Lodestone and radium in the
mineral world and various parasitic growths in the plant kingdom are
strangely susceptible to this cosmic electric fire, or universal life
force. The magicians of the Middle Ages surrounded themselves with such
creatures as bats, spiders, cats, snakes, and monkeys, because they were
able to appropriate the life forces of these species and use them to the
attainment of their own ends. Some ancient schools of wisdom taught that
all poisonous insects and reptiles are germinated out of the evil nature
of man, and that when intelligent human beings no longer breed hate in
their own souls there will be no more ferocious animals, loathsome
diseases, or poisonous plants and insects.
Among the American Indians is
the legend of a "Spider Man," whose web connected the heaven worlds with
the earth. The secret schools of India symbolize certain of the gods who
labored with the universe during its making as connecting the realms of
light with those of darkness by means of webs. Therefore the builders of
the cosmic system who held the embryonic universe together with threads
of invisible force were sometimes referred to as the Spider Gods and
their ruler was designated The Great Spider.
The beehive is found in Masonry
as a reminder that in diligence and labor for a common good true
happiness and prosperity are found. The bee is a symbol of wisdom, for
as this tiny insect collects pollen from the flowers, so men may extract
wisdom from the experiences of daily life. The bee is sacred to the
goddess Venus and, according to mystics, it is one of several forms of
life which came to the earth from the planet Venus millions of years
ago. Wheat and bananas are said to be of similar origin. This is the
reason why the origin of these three forms of life cannot be traced. The
fact that bees are ruled by queens is one reason why this insect is
considered a sacred feminine symbol.
In India the god Prana--the
personification of the universal life force--is sometimes shown
surrounded by a circle of bees. Because of its importance in pollenizing
flowers, the bee is the accepted symbol of the generative power. At one
time the bee was the emblem of the French kings. The rulers of France
wore robes embroidered with bees, and the canopies of their thrones were
decorated with gigantic figures of these insects.
The fly symbolizes the
tormentor, because of the annoyance it causes to animals. The Chaldean
god Baal was often called Baal-Zebul, or the god of the dwelling place.
The word zebub, or zabab, means a fly, and Baal-Zebul
became Baalzebub, or Beelzebub, a word which was loosely translated to
mean Jupiter's fly. The fly was looked upon as a form of the divine
power, because of its ability to destroy decaying substances and thus
promote health. The fly may have obtained its name Zebub from its
peculiar buzzing or humming. Inman believes that Baalzebub, which the
Jews ridiculed as My Lord of Flies, really means My Lord Who Hums or
Murmurs.
Inman recalls the singing
Memnon on the Egyptian desert, a tremendous figure with an Æolian harp
on the top of its head. When the wind blows strongly this great Statue
sighs, or hums. The Jews changed Baalzebub into Beelzebub, and made him
their prince of devils by interpreting dæmon as "demon." Naudæus,
in defending Virgil from accusations of sorcery, attempted a wholesale
denial of the miracles supposedly performed by Virgil and produced
enough evidence to convict the poet on all counts. Among other strange
fears, Virgil fashioned a fly out of brass, and after certain mysterious
ceremonies, placed it over one of the gates of Naples. As a result, no
flies entered the city for more than eight years.
REPTILES
The serpent was chosen as the
head of the reptilian family. Serpent worship in some form has permeated
nearly all parts of the earth. The serpent mounds of
the American Indian; the carved-stone snakes of Central and South
America; the hooded cobras of India; Python, the great snake o the
Greeks; the sacred serpents of the Druids; the Midgard snake of
Scandinavia; the Nagas of Burma, Siam, and Cambodia; the brazen serpent
of the Jews; the mystic serpent of Orpheus; the snakes at the oracle; of
Delphi twining themselves around the tripod upon which the Pythian
priestess sat, the tripod itself being in the form of twisted serpents;
the sacred serpents preserved in the Egyptian temples; the Uræus coiled
upon the foreheads of the Pharaohs and priests;--all these bear witness
to the universal veneration in which the snake was held. In the ancient
Mysteries the serpent entwining a staff was the symbol of the physician.
The serpent-wound staff of Hermes remains the emblem of the medical
profession. Among nearly all these ancient peoples the serpent was
accepted as the symbol of wisdom or salvation. The antipathy which
Christendom feels towards the snake is based upon the little-understood
allegory of the Garden of Eden.
THE FLEUR-DE-LIS.
The bee was used as, a symbol
of royalty by the immortal Charlemagne, and it is probable that the
fleur-de-lis, or lily of France, is merely a conventionalized bee and
not a flower. There is an ancient Greek legend to the effect that the
nine Muses occasionally assumed the form of bees.
THE SCORPION TALISMAN.
From Paracelsus' Archidoxes
Magica.
The scorpion often appears upon
the talismans and charms of the Middle Ages. This hieroglyphic Arachnida was supposed to have the power of curing disease. The
scorpion shown above was composed of several metals, and was made under
certain planetary configurations. Paracelsus advised that it be worn by
those suffering from any derangement of the reproductive
system.
The serpent is true to the
principle of wisdom, for it tempts man to the knowledge of himself.
Therefore the knowledge of self resulted from man's disobedience to the
Demiurgus, Jehovah. How the serpent came to be in the garden of
the Lord after God had declared that all creatures which He had made
during the six days of creation were good has not been satisfactorily
answered by the interpreters of Scripture. The tree that grows in the
midst of the garden is the spinal fire; the knowledge of the use of that
spinal fire is the gift of the great serpent. Notwithstanding statements
to the contrary, the serpent is the symbol and prototype of the
Universal Savior, who redeems the worlds by giving creation the
knowledge of itself and the realization of good and evil. If this be not
so, why did Moses raise a brazen serpent upon a cross in the wilderness
that all who looked upon it might be saved from the sting of the lesser
snakes? Was not the brazen serpent a prophecy of the crucified Man to
come? If the serpent be only a thing of evil, why did Christ instruct
His disciples to be as wise as serpents?
The accepted theory that the
serpent is evil cannot be substantiated. It has long been viewed as the
emblem of immortality. It is the symbol of reincarnation, or
metempsychosis, because it annually sheds its skin, reappearing, as it
were, in a new body. There is an ancient superstition to the effect that
snakes never die except by violence and that, if uninjured, they would
live forever. It was also believed that snakes swallowed themselves, and
this resulted in their being considered emblematic of the Supreme
Creator, who periodically reabsorbed His universe back into
Himself.
In Isis Unveiled, H. P.
Blavatsky makes this significant statement concerning the origin of
serpent worship: "Before our globe had become egg-shaped or round it was
a long trail of cosmic dust or fire-mist, moving and writhing like a
serpent. This, say the explanations, was the Spirit of God moving on the
chaos until its breath had incubated cosmic matter and made it assume
the annular shape of a serpent with its tail in its month--emblem of
eternity in its spiritual and of our world in its physical
sense."
The seven-headed snake
represents the Supreme Deity manifesting through His Elohim, or Seven
Spirits, by whose aid He established His universe. The coils of the
snake have been used by the pagans to symbolize the motion and also the
orbits of the celestial bodies, and it is probable that the symbol of
the serpent twisted around the egg--which was common to many of the
ancient Mystery schools--represented both the apparent motion of the sun
around the earth, and the bands of astral light, or the great magical
agent, which move about the planet incessantly.
Electricity was commonly
symbolized by the serpent because of its motion. Electricity passing
between the poles of a spark gap is serpentine in its motion. Force
projected through atmosphere was called The Great Snake. Being symbolic
of universal force, the serpent was emblematic of both good and evil.
Force can tear down as rapidly as it can build up. The serpent with its
tail in its mouth is the symbol of eternity, for in this position the
body of the reptile has neither beginning nor end. The head and tail
represent the positive and negative poles of the cosmic life circuit.
The initiates of the Mysteries were often referred to as serpents, and
their wisdom was considered analogous to the divinely inspired power of
the snake. There is no doubt that the title "Winged Serpents" (the
Seraphim?) was given to one of the invisible hierarchies that labored
with the earth during its early formation.
There is a legend that in the
beginning of the world winged serpents reigned upon the earth. These
were probably the demigods which antedate the historical civilization of
every nation. The symbolic relationship between the sun and the serpent
found literal witness in the fact that life remains in the snake until
sunset, even though it be cut into a dozen parts. The Hopi Indians
consider the serpent to be in close communication with the Earth Spirit.
Therefore, at the time of their annual snake dance they send their
prayers to the Earth Spirit by first specially sanctifying large numbers
of these reptiles and then liberating them to return to the earth with
the prayers of the tribe.
The great rapidity of motion
manifested by lizards has caused them to be associated with Mercury, the
Messenger of the Gods, whose winged feet traveled infinite distances
almost instantaneously. A point which must not be overlooked in
connection with reptiles in symbolism is clearly brought out by the
eminent scholar, Dr. H. E. Santee, in his Anatomy of the Brain and
Spinal Cord: "In reptiles there are two pineal bodies, an anterior
and a posterior, of which the posterior remains undeveloped but the
anterior forms a rudimentary, cyclopean eye. In the Hatteria, a New
Zealand lizard, it projects through the parietal foramen and presents an
imperfect lens and retina and, in its long stalk, nerve
fibers."
Crocodiles were regarded by the
Egyptians both as symbols of Typhon and emblems of the Supreme Deity, of
the latter because while under water the crocodile is capable of
seeing--Plutarch asserts--though its eyes are covered by a thin
membrane. The Egyptians declared that no matter how far away the
crocodile laid its eggs, the Nile would reach up to them in its next
inundation, this reptile being endowed with a mysterious sense capable
of making known the extent of the flood months before it took place.
There were two kinds of crocodiles. The larger and more ferocious was
hated by the Egyptians, for they likened it to the nature of Typhon,
their destroying demon. Typhon waited to devour all who failed to pass
the judgment of the Dead, which rite took place in the Hall of Justice
between the earth and the Elysian Fields. Anthony Todd Thomson thus
describes the good treatment accorded the smaller and tamer crocodiles,
which the Egyptians accepted as personifications of good: "They were fed
daily and occasionally had mulled wine poured down their throats. Their
ears were ornamented with rings of gold and precious stones, and their
forefeet adorned with bracelets."
To the Chinese the turtle was a
symbol of longevity. At a temple in Singapore a number of sacred turtles
are kept, their age recorded by carvings on their shells. The American
Indians use the ridge down the back of the turtle shell as a symbol of
the Great Divide between life and death. The turtle is a symbol of
wisdom because it retires into itself and is its own protection. It is
also a phallic symbol, as its relation to long life would signify. The
Hindus symbolized the universe as being supported on the backs of four
great elephants who, in turn, are standing upon an immense turtle which
is crawling continually through chaos.
The Egyptian sphinx, the Greek
centaur, and the Assyrian man-bull have much in common. All are
composite creatures combining human and animal members; in the Mysteries
all signify the composite nature of man and subtly refer to the
hierarchies of celestial beings that have charge of the destiny of
mankind. These hierarchies are the twelve holy animals now known
as constellations--star groups which are merely symbols of impersonal
spiritual impulses. Chiron, the centaur, teaching the sons of men,
symbolizes the intelligences of the constellation of Sagittarius, who
were the custodians of the secret doctrine while (geocentrically) the
sun was passing through the sign of Gemini. The five-footed Assyrian
man-bull with the wings of an eagle and the head of a man is a reminder
that the invisible nature of man has the wings of a god, the head of a
man, and the body of a beast. The same concept was expressed through the
sphinx--that armed guardian of the Mysteries who, crouching at the gate
of the temple, denied entrance to the profane. Thus placed between man
and his divine possibilities, the sphinx also represented the secret
doctrine itself. Children's fairy stories abound with descriptions of
symbolic monsters, for nearly all such tales are based upon the ancient
mystic folklore.
THE URÆUS.
From Kircher's Œdipus
Ægyptiacus.
The spinal cord was symbolized
by a snake, and the serpent coiled upon the foreheads of the Egyptian
initiates represented the Divine Fire which had crawled serpentlike up
the Tree of Life.
GOOD AND EVIL CONTENDING FOR THE
UNIVERSAL EGG.
From Maurice's Indian
Antiquities.
Both Mithras, the Persian
Redeemer, and Serapis, the Egyptian God of the Earth, are symbolized by
serpents coiled about their bodies. This remarkable drawing shows the
good and evil principles of Persia--Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman--contending
for the Egg of the Earth, which each trying to wrench from the teeth of
the other.
As appropriate emblems of
various human and divine attributes birds were included in religious and
philosophic symbolism that of pagans and of Christians alike. Cruelty
was signified by the buzzard; courage by the eagle; self-sacrifice by
the pelican; and pride by the peacock. The ability of birds to leave the
earth and fly aloft toward the source of light has resulted in their
being associated with aspiration, purity, and beauty. Wings were
therefore often added to various terrene creatures in an effort to
suggest transcendency. Because their habitat was among the branches of
the sacred trees in the hearts of ancient forests, birds were also
regarded as the appointed messengers of the tree spirits and Nature gods
dwelling in these consecrated groves, and through their clear notes the
gods themselves were said to speak. Many myths have been fabricated to
explain the brilliant plumage of birds. A familiar example is the story
of Juno's peacock, in whose tail feathers were placed the eyes of Argus.
Numerous American Indian legends also deal with birds and the origin of
the various colors of feathers. The Navahos declare that when all living
things climbed to the stalk of a bamboo to escape the Flood, the wild
turkey was on the lowest branch and his tail feathers trailed in the
water; hence the color was all washed out.
Gravitation, which is a law in
the material world, is the impulse toward the center of materiality;
levitation, which is a law in the spiritual world, is the impulse toward
the center of spirituality. Seeming to be capable of neutralizing the
effect of gravity, the bird was said to partake of a nature superior to
other terrestrial creation; and its feathers, because of their
sustaining power, came to be accepted as symbols of divinity, courage,
and accomplishment. A notable example is the dignity attached to eagle
feathers by the American Indians, among whom they are insignia of merit.
Angels have been invested with wings because, like birds, they were
considered to be the intermediaries between the gods and men and to
inhabit the air or middle kingdom betwixt heaven and earth. As the dome
of the heavens was likened to a skull in the Gothic Mysteries, so the
birds which flew across the sky were regarded as thoughts of the Deity.
For this reason Odin's two messenger ravens were called Hugin and
Munin--thought and memory.
Among the Greeks and Romans,
the eagle was the appointed bird of Jupiter and consequently signified
the swiftly moving forces of the Demiurgus; hence it was looked upon as
the mundane lord of the birds, in contradistinction to the phœnix, which
was symbolic of the celestial ruler. The eagle typified the sun in its
material phase and also the immutable Demiurgic law beneath which all
mortal creatures must bend. The eagle was also the Hermetic symbol of
sulphur, and signified the mysterious fire of Scorpio--the most
profoundly significant sign of the zodiac and the Gate of the Great
Mystery. Being one of the three symbols of Scorpio, the eagle, like
the Goat of Mendes, was an emblem of the theurgic art and the secret
processes by which the infernal fire of the scorpion was transmuted into
the spiritual light-fire of the gods.
Among certain American Indian
tribes the thunderbird is held in peculiar esteem. This divine creature
is said to live above the clouds; the flapping of its wings causes the
rumbling which accompanies storms, while the flashes from its eyes are
the lightning. Birds were used to signify the vital breath; and among
the Egyptians, mysterious hawklike birds with human heads, and carrying
in their claws the symbols of immortality, are often shown hovering as
emblems of the liberated soul over the mummified bodies of the dead. In
Egypt the hawk was the sacred symbol of the sun; and Ra, Osiris, and
Horns are often depicted with the heads of hawks. The cock, or rooster,
was a symbol of Cashmala (Cadmillus) in the Samothracian Mysteries, and
is also a phallic symbol sacred to the sun. It was accepted by the
Greeks as the emblem of Ares (Mars) and typified watchfulness and
defense. When placed in the center of a weather vane it signifies the
sun in the midst of the four corners of creation. The Greeks sacrificed
a rooster to the gods at the time of entering the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Sir Francis Bacon is supposed to have died as the result of stuffing a
fowl with snow. May this not signify Bacon's initiation into the pagan
Mysteries which still existed in his day?
Both the peacock and the ibis
were objects of veneration because they destroyed the poisonous reptiles
which were popularly regarded as the emissaries of the infernal gods.
Because of the myriad of eyes in its tail feathers the peacock was
accepted as the symbol of wisdom, and on account of its general
appearance it was often confused with the fabled phœnix of the
Mysteries. There is a curious belief that the flesh of the peacock will
not putrefy even though kept for a considerable time. As an outgrowth of
this belief the peacock became the emblem of immortality, because the
spiritual nature of man--like the flesh of this bird--is
incorruptible.
The Egyptians paid divine
honors to the ibis and it was a cardinal crime to kill one, even by
accident. It was asserted that the ibis could live only in Egypt and
that if transported to a foreign country it would die of grief. The
Egyptians declared this bird to be the preserver of crops and especially
worthy of veneration because it drove out the winged serpents of Libya
which the wind blew into Egypt. The ibis was sacred to Thoth, and when
its head and neck were tucked under its wing its body closely resembled
a human heart. (See Montfaucon's Antiquities.) The black and
white ibis was sacred to the moon; but all forms were revered because
they destroyed crocodile eggs, the crocodile being a symbol of the
detested Typhon.
Nocturnal birds were
appropriate symbols of both sorcery and the secret divine sciences:
sorcery because black magic cannot function in the light of truth (day)
and is powerful only when surrounded by ignorance (night); and the
divine sciences because those possessing the arcana are able to see
through the darkness of ignorance and materiality. Owls and bats were
consequently often associated with either witchcraft or wisdom. The
goose was an emblem of the first primitive substance or condition from
which and within which the worlds were fashioned. In the Mysteries, the
universe was likened to an egg which the Cosmic Goose had laid in space.
Because of its blackness the crow was the symbol of chaos or the chaotic
darkness preceding the light of creation. The grace and purity of the
swan were emblematic of the spiritual grace and purity of the initiate.
This bird also represented the Mysteries which unfolded these qualities
in humanity. This explains the allegories of the gods (the secret
wisdom) incarnating in the body of a swan (the initiate).
Being scavengers, the vulture,
the buzzard, and the condor signified that form of divine power which by
disposing of refuse and other matter dangerous to the life and health of
humanity cleanses and purifies the lower spheres. These birds were
therefore adopted as symbols of the disintegrative processes which
accomplish good while apparently destroying, and by some religions have
been mistakenly regarded as evil. Birds such as the parrot and raven
were accorded veneration because, being able to mimic the human voice,
they were looked upon as links between the human and animal
kingdoms.
The dove, accepted by
Christianity as the emblem of the Holy Ghost, is an extremely ancient
and highly revered pagan yonic emblem. In many of the ancient Mysteries
it represented the third person of the Creative Triad, or the Fabricator
of the world. As the lower worlds were brought into existence through a
generative process, so the dove has been associated with those deities
identified with the procreative functions. It is sacred to Astarte,
Cybele, Isis, Venus, Juno, Mylitta, and Aphrodite. On account of its
gentleness and devotion to its young, the dove was looked upon as the
embodiment of the maternal instinct. The dove is also an emblem of
wisdom, for it represents the power and order by which the lower worlds
are maintained. It has long been accepted as a messenger of the divine
will, and signifies the activity of God.
The name dove has been given to
oracles and to prophets. "The true name of the dove was Ionah or
Iönas; it was a very sacred emblem, and atone time almost
universally received; it was adopted by the Hebrews; and the mystic Dove
was regarded as a symbol from the days of Noah by all
those who were of the Church of God. The prophet sent to Ninevah as
God's messenger was called Jonah or the Dove; our Lord's forerunner, the
Baptist, was called in Greek by the name of Ioannes; and so was the
Apostle of Love, the author Of the fourth Gospel and of the Apocalypse,
named Ioannes." (Bryant's Analysis of Ancient
Mythology.)
THE PHŒNIX ON ITS NEST OF
FLAMES.
From Lycosthenes' Prodigiorum,
ac Ostentorum Chronicon.
The phœnix is the most
celebrated of all the symbolic creatures fabricated by the ancient
Mysteries for the purpose of concealing the great truths of esoteric
philosophy. Though modern scholars of natural history declare the
existence of the phœnix to be purely mythical, Pliny describes the
capture of one of these birds and it exhibition in the Roman Forum
during the reign of the Emperor Claudius.
In Masonry the dove is the
symbol of purity and innocence. It is significant that in the pagan
Mysteries the dove of Venus was crucified upon the four spokes of a
great wheel, thus foreshadowing the mystery of the crucified Lord of
Love. Although Mohammed drove the doves from the temple at Mecca,
occasionally he is depicted with a dove sitting upon his shoulder as the
symbol of divine inspiration. In ancient times the effigies of doves
were placed upon the heads of scepters to signify that those bearing
them were overshadowed by divine prerogative. In mediæval art, the dove
frequently was pictured as an emblem of divine benediction.
THE PHoenIX
Clement, one of the ante-Nicæan
Fathers, describes, in the first century after Christ, the peculiar
nature and habits of the phœnix, in this wise: "There is a certain bird
which is called a Phœnix. This is the only one of its kind and lives
five hundred years. And when the time of its dissolution draws near that
it must die, it builds itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and
other spices, into which, when the time is fulfilled, it enters and
dies. But as the flesh decays a certain kind of worm is produced, which,
being nourished by the juices of the dead bird, brings forth feathers.
Then, when it has acquired strength, it takes up that nest in which are
the bones of its parent, and bearing these it passes from the land of
Arabia into Egypt, to the city called Heliopolis. And, in open day,
flying in the sight of all men, it places them on the altar of the sun,
and having done this, hastens back to its former abode. The priests then
inspect the registers of the dates, and find that it has returned
exactly as the five hundredth year was completed."
Although admitting that he had
not seen the phœnix bird (there being only one alive at a time),
Herodotus amplifies a bit the description given by Clement: "They tell a
story of what this bird does which does not seem to me to be credible:
that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all
plastered with myrrh, to the temple of the sun, and there buries the
body. In order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as
big as he finds that he can carry; then he hollows out the ball, and
puts his parent inside; after which he covers over the opening with
fresh myrrh, and the ball is then of exactly the same weight as at
first; so he brings it to Egypt, plastered over as I have said, and
deposits it in the temple of the sun. Such is the story they tell of the
doings of this bird."
Both Herodotus and Pliny noted
the general resemblance in shape between the phœnix and the eagle, a
point which the reader should carefully consider, for it is reasonably
certain that the modern Masonic eagle was originally a phœnix. The body
of the phœnix is described as having been covered with glossy purple
feathers, while its long tail feathers were alternately blue and red.
Its head was light in color and about its neck was a circlet of golden
plumage. At the back of its head the phœnix had a peculiar tuft of
feathers, a fact quite evident, although it has been overlooked by
most writers and symbolists.
The phœnix was regarded as
sacred to the sun, and the length of its life (500 to 1000 years) was
taken as a standard for measuring the motion of the heavenly bodies and
also the cycles of time used in the Mysteries to designate the periods
of existence. The diet of the bird was unknown. Some writers declare
that it subsisted upon the atmosphere; others that it ate at rare
intervals but never in the presence of man. Modern Masons should realize
the special Masonic significance of the phœnix, for the bird is
described as using sprigs of acacia in the manufacture of its
nest.
The phœnix (which is the
mythological Persian roc) is also the name of a Southern
constellation, and therefore it has both an astronomical and an
astrological significance. In all probability, the phœnix was the swan
of the Greeks, the eagle of the Romans, and the peacock of the Far East.
To the ancient mystics the phœnix was a most appropriate symbol of the
immortality of the human soul, for just as the phœnix was reborn out of
its own dead self seven times seven, so again and again the spiritual
nature of man rises triumphant from his dead physical body.
Mediæval Hermetists regarded
the phœnix as a symbol of the accomplishment of alchemical
transmutation, a process equivalent to human regeneration. The name
phœnix was also given to one of the secret alchemical formula.
The familiar pelican of the Rose Croix degree, feeding its young from
its own breast, is in reality a phœnix, a fact which can be confirmed by
an examination of the head of the bird. The ungainly lower part of the
pelican's beak is entirely missing, the head of the phœnix being far
more like that of an eagle than of a pelican. In the Mysteries it was
customary to refer to initiates as phœnixes or men who had
been born again, for just as physical birth gives man consciousness
in the physical world, so the neophyte, after nine degrees in the womb
of the Mysteries, was born into a consciousness of the Spiritual world.
This is the mystery of initiation to which Christ referred when he said,
"Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John
iii. 3). The phœnix is a fitting symbol of this spiritual
truth.
European mysticism was not dead
at the time the United States of America was founded. The hand of the
Mysteries controlled in the establishment of the new government, for the
signature of the Mysteries may still be seen on the Great Seal of the
United States of America. Careful analysis of the seal discloses a mass
of occult and Masonic symbols, chief among them the so-called American
eagle--a bird which Benjamin Franklin declared unworthy to be chosen as
the emblem of a great, powerful, and progressive people. Here again only
the student of symbolism can see through the subterfuge and realize that
the American eagle upon the Great Seal is but a conventionalized phœnix,
a fact plainly discernible from an examination of the original seal. In
his sketch of The History of the Seal of the United States,
Gaillard Hunt unwittingly brings forward much material to substantiate
the belief that the original seal carried the Phœnix bird on its obverse
surface and the Great Pyramid of Gizeh upon its reverse surface. In a
colored sketch submitted as a design for the Great Seal by William
Barton in 1782, an actual phœnix appears sitting upon a nest of flames.
This itself demonstrates a tendency towards the use of this emblematic
bird.
PHŒNIX OR EAGLE, WHICH?
On the left is the bird's head
from the first Great Seal of the United States (1782) and on the right
the Great Seal of 1902. When the first great Seal was actually cut, the
bird represented upon it was very different from the eagle which now
appears; the neck was much longer and the tuft of feathers, at the upper
back part of the head was quite noticeable; the beak bore little
resemblance to that of the eagle; and the entire bird was much thinner
and its wings shorter. It requires very little imagination to trace in
this first so-called eagle the mythological Phœnix of antiquity. What is
more, there is every reason why a phœnix bird should be used to
represent a new country rising out of an old, while as Benjamin Franklin
caustically noted, the eagle was not a bird of good moral
character!
AN EGYPTIAN PHŒNIX.
From Wilkinson's Manners and
Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.
The Egyptians occasionally
represented the Phœnix as having the body of a man and the wings of a
bird. This biform, creature had a tuft of feathers upon its head and its
arms were upraised in an attitude of prayer. As the phœnix was the
symbol of regeneration, the tuft of feathers on the back of its head
might well symbolize the activity of the Pineal gland, or third eye, the
occult function of which was apparently well understood by the ancient
priestcraft.
THE OBVERSE AND REVERSE OF THE
GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
From Hunt's History of the
Seal of the United States.
The significance of the
mystical number 13, which frequently appears upon the Great Seal of the
United States, is not limited to the number of the original colonies.
The sacred emblem of the ancient initiates, here composed of 13 stars,,
also appears above the head of the "eagle." The motto, E Pluribus
Unum, contains 13 letters, as does also the inscription, Annuit
Cœptis. The "eagle" clutches in its right talon a branch bearing 13
leaves and 13 berries and in its left a sheaf of 13 arrows. The face of
the pyramid, exclusive of the panel containing the date, consists of 72
stones arranged in 13 rows.
If any one doubts the presence
of Masonic and occult influences at the time the Great Seal was
designed, he should give due consideration to the comments of Professor
Charles Eliot Norton of Harvard, who wrote concerning the unfinished
pyramid and the All-Seeing Eye which adorned the reverse of the seal, as
follows: "The device adopted by Congress is practically incapable of
effective treatment; it can hardly (however artistically treated by the
designer) look otherwise than as a dull emblem of a Masonic fraternity."
(The History of the Seal of the United States.)
The eagles of Napoleon and
Cæsar and the zodiacal eagle of Scorpio are really phœnixes, for the
latter bird--not the eagle--is the symbol of spiritual victory and
achievement. Masonry will be in a position to solve many of the secrets
of its esoteric doctrine when it realizes that both its single- and
double-headed eagles are phœnixes, and that to all initiates and
philosophers the phœnix is the symbol of the transmutation and
regeneration of the creative energy--commonly called the accomplishment
of the Great Work. The double-headed phœnix is the prototype of an
androgynous man, for according to the secret teachings there will come a
time when the human body will have two spinal cords, by means of which
vibratory equilibrium will be maintained in the body.
Not only were many of the
founders of the United States Government Masons, but they received aid
from a secret and august body existing in Europe, which helped them to
establish this country for a peculiar and particular purpose known only
to the initiated few. The Great Seal is the signature of this exalted
body--unseen and for the most part unknown--and the unfinished pyramid
upon its reverse side is a trestleboard setting forth symbolically the
task to the accomplishment of which the United States Government was
dedicated from the day of its inception.
ANIMALS
The lion is the king of the
animal family and, like the head of each kingdom, is sacred to the sun,
whose rays are symbolized by the lion's shaggy mane. The allegories
perpetuated by the Mysteries (such as the one to the effect that the
lion opens the secret book) signify that the solar power opens the seed
pods, releasing the spiritual life within. There was also a curious
belief among the ancients that the lion sleeps with his eyes open, and
for this reason the animal was chosen as a symbol of vigilance. The
figure of a lion placed on either side of doors and gateways is an
emblem of divine guardianship. King Solomon was often symbolized as a
lion. For ages the feline family has been regarded with peculiar
veneration. In several of the Mysteries--most notably the Egyptian--the
priests wore the skins of lions, tigers, panthers, pumas, or leopards.
Hercules and Samson (both solar symbols) slew the lion of the
constellation of Leo and robed themselves in his skin, thus signifying
that they represented the sun itself when at the summit of the celestial
arch.
At Bubastis in Egypt was the
temple of the famous goddess Bast, the cat deity of the Ptolemies. The
Egyptians paid homage to the cat, especially when its fur was of three
shades or its eyes of different colors. To the priests the cat was
symbolic of the magnetic forces of Nature, and they surrounded
themselves with these animals for the sake of the astral fire which
emanated from their bodies. The cat was also a symbol of eternity, for
when it sleeps it curls up into a ball with its head and tail touching.
Among the Greeks and Latins the cat was sacred to the goddess Diana. The
Buddhists of India invested the cat with special significance, but for a
different reason. The cat was the only animal absent at the death of the
great Buddha, because it had stopped on the way to chase a mouse. That
the symbol of the lower astral forces should not be present at the
liberation of the Buddha is significant.
Regarding the cat, Herodotus
says: "Whenever a fire breaks out, cats are agitated with a kind of
divine motion, which they that keep them observe, neglecting the fire:
The cats, however, in spite of their care, break from them, leaping even
over the heads of their keepers to throw themselves into the fire. The
Egyptians then make great mourning for their death. If a cat dies a
natural death in a house, all they of that house shave their eyebrows:
If a dog, they shave the head and all the body. They used to embalm
their dead cats, and carry them to Bubastis to be interred in a sacred
house. (Montfaucon's Antiquities.)
The most important of all
symbolic animals was the Apis, or Egyptian bull of Memphis, which was
regarded as the sacred vehicle for the transmigration of the soul of the
god Osiris. It was declared that the Apis was conceived by a bolt of
lightning, and the ceremony attendant upon its selection and
consecration was one of the most impressive in Egyptian ritualism. The
Apis had to be marked in a certain manner. Herodotus states that the
bull must be black with a square white spot on his forehead, the form of
an eagle (probably a vulture) on his back, a beetle upon (under) his
tongue, and the hair of his tail lying two ways. Other writers declare
that the sacred bull was marked with twenty-nine sacred symbols, his
body was spotted, and upon his right side was a white mark in the form
of a crescent. After its sanctification the Apis was kept in a stable
adjacent to the temple and led in processionals through the streets of
the city upon certain solemn occasions. It was a popular belief among
the Egyptians that any child upon whom the bull breathed would become
illustrious. After reaching a certain age (twenty-five years) the Apis
was taken either to the river Nile or to a sacred fountain (authorities
differ on this point) and drowned, amidst the lamentations of the
populace. The mourning and wailing for his death continued until the new
Apis was found, when it was declared that Osiris had reincarnated,
whereupon rejoicing took the place of grief.
The worship of the bull was not
confined to Egypt, but was prevalent in many nations of the ancient
world. In India, Nandi--the sacred white bull of Siva--is still the
object of much veneration; and both the Persians and the Jews accepted
the bull as an important religious symbol. The Assyrians, Phœnicians,
Chaldeans, and even the Greeks reverenced this animal, and Jupiter
turned himself into a white bull to abduct Europa. The bull was a
powerful phallic emblem signifying the paternal creative power of the
Demiurgus. At his death he was frequently mummified and buried with the
pomp and dignity of a god in a specially prepared sarcophagus.
Excavations in the Serapeum at Memphis have uncovered the tombs of more
than sixty of these sacred animals.
As the sign rising over the
horizon at the vernal equinox constitutes the starry body for the annual
incarnation of the sun, the bull not only was the celestial symbol of
the Solar Man but, because the vernal equinox took place in the
constellation of Taurus, was called the breaker or opener
of the year. For this reason in astronomical symbolism the bull is often
shown breaking the annular egg with his horns. The Apis further
signifies that the God-Mind is incarnated in the body of a beast and
therefore that the physical beast form is the sacred vehicle of
divinity. Man's lower personality is the Apis in which Osiris
incarnates. The result of the combination is the creation of Sor-Apis
(Serapis)-the material soul as ruler of the irrational material body and
involved therein. After a certain period (which is determined by the
square of five, or twenty-five years), the body of the Apis is destroyed
and the soul liberated by the water which drowns the material life. This
was indicative of the washing away of the material nature by the
baptismal waters of divine light and truth. The drowning of the Apis is
the symbol of death; the resurrection of Osiris in the new bull is the
symbol of eternal renovation. The white bull was also symbolically
sacred as the appointed emblem of the initiates, signifying the
spiritualized material bodies of both man and Nature.
When the vernal equinox no
longer occurred in the sign of Taurus, the Sun God incarnated in the
constellation of Aries and the ram then became the vehicle of the solar
power. Thus the sun rising in the sign of the Celestial Lamb triumphs
over the symbolic serpent of darkness. The lamb is a familiar emblem of
purity because of its gentleness and the whiteness of its wool. In many
of the pagan Mysteries it signified the Universal Savior, and in
Christianity it is the favorite symbol of Christ. Early church paintings
show a lamb standing upon a little hill, and from its feet pour four
streams of living water signifying the four Gospels. The blood of the
lamb is the solar life pouring into the world through the sign of
Aries.
The goat is both a phallic
symbol and also an emblem of courage or aspiration because of its
surefootedness and ability to scale the loftiest peaks. To the
alchemists the goat's head was the symbol of sulphur. The practice among
the ancient Jews of choosing a scapegoat upon which to heap the sins of
mankind is merely an allegorical depiction of the Sun Man who is
the scapegoat of the world and upon whom are cast the sins of the twelve
houses (tribes) of the celestial universe. Truth is the Divine Lamb
worshiped throughout pagandom and slain for the sins of the world, and
since the dawn of time the Savior Gods of all religions have been
personifications of this Truth. The Golden Fleece sought by Jason and
his Argonauts is the Celestial Lamb--the spiritual and intellectual sun.
The secret doctrine is also typified by the Golden Fleece--the wool of
the Divine Life, the rays of the Sun of Truth. Suidas declares the
Golden Fleece to have been in reality a book, written upon skin, which
contained the formulæ for the production of gold by means of chemistry.
The Mysteries were institutions erected for the transmutation of base
ignorance into precious illumination. The dragon of ignorance was the
terrible creature set to guard the Golden Fleece, and represents the
darkness of the old year which battles with the sun at the time of its
equinoctial passage.
Deer were sacred in the Bacchic
Mysteries of the Greeks; the Bacchantes were often clothed in fawnskins.
Deer were associated with the worship of the moon goddess and the
Bacchic orgies were usually conducted at night. The grace and speed of
this animal caused it to be accepted as the proper symbol of esthetic
abandon. Deer were objects of veneration with many nations. In Japan,
herds of them are still maintained in connection with the
temples.
The wolf is usually associated
with the principle of evil, because of the mournful discordance of its
howl and the viciousness of its nature. In Scandinavian mythology the
Fenris Wolf was one of the sons of Loki, the infernal god of the fires.
With the temple of Asgard in flames about them, the gods under the
command of Odin fought their last great battle against the chaotic
forces of evil. With frothing jowls the Fenris Wolf devoured Odin, the
Father of the Gods, and thus destroyed the Odinic universe. Here the
Fenris Wolf represents those mindless powers of Nature that overthrew
the primitive creation.
The unicorn, or monoceros, was
a most curious creation of the ancient initiates. It is described by
Thomas Boreman as "a beast, which though doubted of by many writers, yet
is by others thus described: He has but one horn, and that an
exceedingly rich one, growing out of the middle of his forehead. His
head resembles an hart's, his feet an elephant's, his tail a boar's, and
the rest of his body an horse's. The horn is about a foot and half in
length. His voice is like the lowing of an ox. His mane and hair are of
a yellowish colour. His horn is as hard as iron, and as rough as any
file, twisted or curled, like a flaming sword; very straight, sharp, and
every where black, excepting the point. Great virtues are attributed to
it, in expelling of poison and curing of several diseases. He is not a
beast of prey. " (See Redgrove's Bygone Beliefs.)
While the unicorn is mentioned
several times in Scripture, no proof has yet been discovered of its
existence. There are a number of drinking horns in various museums
presumably fashioned from its spike. It is reasonably certain, however,
that these drinking vessels were really made either from the tusks of
some large mammal or the horn of a rhinoceros. J. P. Lundy believes that
the horn of the unicorn symbolizes the hem of salvation mentioned by St.
Luke which, pricking the hearts of men, turns them to a consideration of
salvation through Christ. Mediæval Christian mystics employed the
unicorn as an emblem of Christ, and this creature must therefore signify
the spiritual life in man. The single horn of the unicorn may represent
the pineal gland, or third eye, which is the spiritual cognition center
in the brain. The unicorn was adopted by the Mysteries as a symbol of
the illumined spiritual nature of the initiate, the horn with which it
defends itself being the flaming sword of the spiritual doctrine
against, which nothing can prevail.
In the Book of
Lambspring, a rare Hermetic tract, appears an engraving showing a
deer and a unicorn standing together in a wood. The picture is
accompanied by the following text: "The Sages say truly that two animals
are in this forest: One glorious, beautiful, and swift, a great and
strong deer; the other an unicorn. * * * If we apply the parable of our
art, we shall call the forest the body. * * * The unicorn will be
the spirit at all times. The deer desires no other name but that
of the soul; * * *. He that knows how to tame and master them by
art, to couple them together, and to lead them in and our of the form,
may justly be called a Master."
The Egyptian devil, Typhon, was
often symbolized by the Set monster whose identity is obscure. It
has a queer snoutlike nose and pointed ears, and may have been a
conventional hyena. The Set monster lived in the sand storms and
wandered about the world promulgating evil. The Egyptians related the
howling of the desert winds with the moaning cry of the hyena. Thus when
in the depths of the night the hyena sent forth its doleful wail it
sounded like the last despairing cry of a lost soul in the clutches of
Typhon. Among the duties of this evil creature was that of protecting
the Egyptian dead against: grave robbers.
Among other symbols of Typhon
was the hippopotamus, sacred to the god Mars because Mars was enthroned
in the sign of Scorpio, the house of Typhon. The ass was also sacred to
this Egyptian demon. Jesus riding into Jerusalem upon the back of an ass
has the same significance as Hermes standing upon the prostrate form of
Typhon. The early Christians were accused of worshiping the head of an
ass. A most curious animal symbol is the hog or sow, sacred to Diana,
and frequently employed in the Mysteries as an emblem of the occult art.
The wild boar which gored Atys shows the use of this animal in the
Mysteries.
According to the Mysteries, the
monkey represents the condition of man before the rational soul entered
into his constitution. Therefore it typifies the irrational man. By some
the monkey is looked upon as a species not ensouled by the spiritual
hierarchies; by others as a fallen state wherein man has been deprived
of his divine nature through degeneracy. The ancients, though
evolutionists, did not trace man's ascent through the monkey; the monkey
they considered as having separated itself from the main stem of
progress. The monkey was occasionally employed as a symbol of learning.
Cynocephalus, the dog-headed ape, was the Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol
of writing, and was closely associated with Thoth. Cynocephalus is
symbolic of the moon and Thoth of the planet Mercury. Because of the
ancient belief that the moon followed Mercury about the heavens the
dog-ape was described as the faithful companion of Thoth.
The dog, because of its
faithfulness, denotes the relationship which should exist between
disciple and master or between the initiate and his God. The shepherd
dog was a type of the priestcraft. The dog's ability to sense and follow
unseen persons for miles symbolized the transcendental power by which
the philosopher follows the thread of truth through the labyrinth of
earthly error. The dog is also the symbol of Mercury. The Dog Star,
Sirius or Sothis, was sacred to the Egyptians because it presaged the
annual inundations of the Nile.
As a beast of burden the horse
was the symbol of the body of man forced to sustain the weight of his
spiritual constitution. Conversely, it also typified the spiritual
nature of man forced to maintain the burden of the material personality.
Chiron, the centaur, mentor of Achilles, represents the primitive
creation which was the progenitor and instructor of mankind, as
described by Berossus. The winged horse and the magic carpet both
symbolize the secret doctrine and the spiritualized body of man. The
wooden horse of Troy, secreting an army for the capture of the city,
represents man's body concealing within it those infinite potentialities
which will later come forth and conquer his environment. Again, like
Noah's Ark, it represents the spiritual nature of man as containing a
host of latent potentialities which subsequently become active. The
siege of Troy is a symbolic account of the abduction of the human soul
(Helena) by the personality (Paris) and its final redemption, through
persevering struggle, by the secret doctrine--the Greek army under the
command of Agamemnon.
ÆNEAS AND THE
HARPIES.
From Virgil's Æneid.
(Dryden's translation.)
Among the mythological
creatures of the Mysteries were the harpies--projections into material
substance of beings existing in the invisible world of Nature. They were
described the Greeks as being composite, with the heads of maidens and
the bodies of birds. The wings of the harpies were composed of metal and
their flight was, accompanied by a terrible clanging noise. During his
wanderings, Æneas, the Trojan hero, landed on the island of the harpies,
where he and his followers vainly battled with these monsters. One of
the harpies perched upon a cliff and there prophesied to Æneid that his
attack upon them would bring dire calamity to the Trojans.
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