Full text of "Life symbols as related to sex symbolism : a brief study into the origin and significance of certain symbols which have been found in all civilisations, such as the cross, the circle, the serpent, the triangle, the tree of life, the swastika, and other solar emblems, showing the unity and symplicity of thought underlying their use as religious symbols"

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tffrom Assyria.

Life Symbols as Related
to Sex Symbolism

I'holn. Minari

Adam and Kvi; Drivkn nvr of Pauaijisi;. — Masaccio
(Brancacci C'liapel, Santa Maria di-l ('aniline, Florence)

Life Symbols as Related to
Sex Symbolism

A brief study into the origin and significance of certain

symbols which have been found in all civilisations, such

as the cross, the circle, the serpent, the triangle,

the tree of life, the swastika, and other solar

emblems, showing the unity and simplicity

of thought underlying their use as

religious symbols

Elizabeth E. Goldsmith

Author of " Sacred Symbols in Art,"
" Toby: the Story of a Dog "

With mote than 100 Illustrations

G.P.Putnam's Sons

^J^-vvYork ^ London

^I]c '^mckerbockEC PresB
1924

Elizabeth E. Goldsmith

Made in the United States of America

To
THE FIRE WORSHIPPER

PREFACE

WHENEVER I find myself becoming depressed over
world conditions I turn to symbolism for re-assur-
ance. These old, old symbols of the profound
mystery of life which, as Bergson puts it, is "continually mak-
ing and unmaking" have an extraordinary effect. You follow
them back and back — only to discover that you have made a
step forward into a more extensive reality. Having gone
thus far, it is possible that your conclusions may offend the
orthodox and dismay the visionary, nevertheless I ven-
ture to affirm that whoever makes the excursion boldly yet
reverently will return with vision clarified, faith heartened
and belief in the Eternal Verities joyously renewed. He
will have perspective ; feel the brevity yet measurelessness of
time, the immensity of the ages, the tremendous force of Life.
He will see, too, that hovv^ever many times mankind has failed,
the bent of man's nature is toward the higher, and if there is a
long road behind strewn with his defeats, there is still a longer
road ahead and the future is ever young.

In preparing this book I am under greater obligations than
I can express to the friends who have loyally sustained and
encouraged me ; my grateful acknowledgments are also due to
George Haven Putnam for his charming courtesy and interest,
to Louise Wallace Hackney for sharing with me some of her
notes on China and the Chinese, to Ralph Adams Cram for
permission to use at my own discretion portions of a private
letter and to Harold Bayley for having written The Lost
Language of Symbolism — a book that is a constant joy.

E. E. G.
Sorrento, Italy,
September, 1924.

vii

"Love in which some have seen the great mystery of life,
may possibly deliver us life's secret. It shows us each genera-
tion leaning over the generation that shall follow. It allows
us a glimpse of the fact that the living being is above all a
thorough-fare and that the essence of life is in the movement
by which life is transmitted."

Creative Evolution — Bergson.

"The traditio, the handing down of the intellectual acquisi-
tions of the human race from one generation to another, the
constant selection of thoughts and discoveries and feelings and
events so precious that they must be made into books, and then
of books so precious that they must be copied and re-copied and
not allowed to die — the traditio itself is a wonderful and august
process, full, no doubt, of abysmal gaps and faults, like all
things human, but full also of that strange, half-baffled and yet
not wholly baffled splendour which makes all the characteristic
works of man. I think the grammaticus, while not sacrificing
* his judgment, should accept it and rejoice in it — rejoice to be
the intellectual child of his great fore-fathers, to catch at their
spirit, to carry on their work, to live and die for the great
unknown purpose which the eternal spirit of man seems to be
working out upon the earth. . . . The Philistine, the vul-
garian, the great sophist, the passer of base coin for true, he
is all about us, and, worse, he has his outposts inside us, perse-
cuting our peace, spoiling our sight, confusing our values,
making a man's self seem greater than the race and the present
thing more important than the eternal. From him and his in-
fluence we find our escape by means of the grammata into that
calm world of theirs, where stridency and clamour are for-
gotten in the ancient stillness, where the strong iron is long
since rusted and the rocks of granite broken into dust, but the
great things of the human spirit still shine like stars pointing
man's way onward to the great triumph or the great tragedy."

Religio Grammatici — Gilbert Murray.

INTRODUCTION

A WOMAN of my acquaintance averred the other
day that she was perfectly sure that hfe to her
young daughter aged sixteen meant a low,
high power, rakish looking, bright yellow runabout, gas
full on, daughter at the wheel, car going eighty miles
an hour. And one must admit that this is a wholly con-
vincing and delightful picture of youth, motion, life, the
present age. It is a little too obvious, too circumscribed,
however, to be a symbol.

Stretching across the horizon of man's beginnings,
their origin lost in remotest antiquity, there are certain
symbols that for thousands of years have bored the
materialist, piqued the curious, enchanted the mystic,
fascinated the student, bothered the Church and de-
lighted the wise. Possibly simple and uncomplicated
in their inception, adopted by every religion, they have
added, taken on and lost until they seem to hold the
magical essence of everything that has gone before
without altering or losing their original meaning which
has been invariably associated with Life.

Few in number, it is their persistence, their vitality,
the way they have been interwoven with everything that
we think, feel, do — that puzzles and amazes. You follow
them back. They lead like a torch through much that

xii Sntrobuction

you would rather not see and can never hope to explain.
You tread gingerly looking askance at taboos, magic,
animism, totemism, fetiches. If on the way you linger
under the shade of Frazer's Golden Bough — especially
when you come to taboos — you may lose some pre-con-
ceived notion that we had gone very far beyond the
savage. You are willing to leave it to Frazer, however,
whether the recent colossal taboo is an advance in civili-
sation or a reversion to savagery. Fetiches, too! You
can't resist feeling that although we may not make
fetiches of stones and shells — which even in primitive
times were worshipped not for themselves but as the
dwelling places of spirits supposed to inhabit them —
yet we do things equally amusing. We encase an idea
in a word or phrase and then believe quite as naively as
the savage that the ideal state or god or goddess resides
within the word.

You begin to wonder a little uneasily, as you make
your way through an incoherent maze of outworn and
discarded religious forms that at one time or another
represented men's thoughts on life, if the instinct for
taboos and fetich worship so long indulged in has not
become ineradicable. It is with a sensation of release
that you finally reach the place where interpretations
vanish — where nothing remains but the old and potent
symbols of life.

Whether even now you are at the beginning of
things, or have merely reached some clear open space
that stands between us and some lost civilisation pos-
sibly higher than our own, none can say. The tradition
of the lapse of mankind from a Golden Age and the
destruction of the world by water is current in all races.
Geologists have assumed that in the tertiary epoch there
was a land connection between the two continents. This

Sntrobuction xiii

may have been the lost island of Atlantis which was said
to have been overwhelmed by the sea about 9600 B.C.
The theory has been advanced that the submersion of
Atlantis may account, too, for the universal legend of the
Great Flood and that the "lost cradle of civilisation was
not in Asia but in Atlantis." The fact that these life
symbols are found on both continents, also the similarity
of superstitions, folk lore and fairy tales among all
ancient peoples would indicate that mankind had a com-
mon cradle — but where ? — We can only speculate. Nor
do we know except as we are haunted by dreams of a
world like a garden — very beautiful, very fair — whether
civilisations in the long processes of time have lost or
gained. As the sublimer portions of the Egyptian
religion are the oldest, Bayley infers that "the remoter
the time the simpler and purer was Humanity." And it
is in some such spirit of belief that one approaches these
ancient symbols. None know how they came into being
nor what further portal of past or future life they
guard. They take one beyond the farthest reach of
thought — so far back that men and women cease to
be individuals. Their idiosyncrasies, their tragi-comic
aspects that give pith and point to meditation are
swallowed up in the resistless flow of the life current.
And men and women are merely the active and passive
principles through which the life current flows — peace-
fully when its appointed channels are kept strong and
fit, and destructively, wastefully, breaking down all
barriers when the channels have become weakened and
unfit.

Our glorious and inglorious past would be of little
moment however unless we could link it up with
oui' glorious and inglorious present. Nor would the

xiv Sntrobuction

study of these symbols of life be anything but sheer
waste of time, or at most the gratification of intellectual
curiosity if, in trying to discover what the ancients were
through their religious customs and beliefs, we were
not seeking the answer to the even more difficult ques-
tion of what we ourselves are.

Reinach, while admitting that he does not like it,
calls religion "a sum of scruples which impede the free
exercise of the faculties." Max Miiller defines it as
"a faculty of mind which enables man to grasp the in-
finite independently of sense or reason."

I am inclined to suggest something less recondite, if
only to see how far it carries us. It seems simpler and
perhaps nearer the truth to say that Religion is Life —
and that all religions have as their fundamental basis
reverence for life.

Worship of this mysterious, impersonal, quickening
power would easily explain man's changing beliefs
which at one time or another have exalted nearly every
phase of life. In his long history man has had many
gods — war-like, merciful, stern, just, compassionate —
evoked in response to some revealing conception of life
which he believes will enable him to interpret and be
at one with the universe. The form his religion takes
depends, with but one exception, upon his arrogance or
humility before the mystery of the Life Force which
without being able to account for he sees in himself and
reproducing itself in countless ways in nature. It may
well have taken the form of nature worship, animism,
in the old days when agriculture itself was a religious
art. At various periods, too, primitive man appears
to have looked upon life mainly from the standpoint of
his own appetite and physical well being as we see still
done by the lower order of intelligence. Nevertheless,

Sntrobuction xv

although gods came and vanished, beliefs changed or
became debased, back in man's consciousness there
seems to have been ever present the haunting desire to
know and be at one with a Supreme Being, the Primum
Mobile, the Lord of All Life.

If, as seems probable, the continuity of life was the
primary animating impulse back of all ancient religions
— Life — not only the way life was come by, but life that
unfolds, develops through the awakening race, the "son
being that which is better"; if this was, in truth, the
dream, the aspiration — the desire for perfectioning until
at last man is fit to walk with the gods and Life Ever-
lasting is attained, then the motive for existence itself
becomes clear.

The moment you bring the race thought to bear the
sjTubolism of the ark, as well as many of the savage
customs which Frazer chronicles as taking place at the
time a girl reaches puberty, instantly become intelligible.
Always keeping carefully in mind, however, that Life
to the ancients was not merely physical life and not
merely spiritual life but the union of spirit and matter.
Even in the oldest religions there is evidence that the
ancients reverenced the physical, not as distinct from the
spiritual but as the form through which the spiritual
manifested itself. That the two forces were looked
upon as inextricably interwoven is also shown in ritual,
sacrament and symbolism where they blend or counter-
act each other precisely as in man himself. It is a curious
fact that those who would purge the church of these
ancient symbols and customs, because founded upon
nature worship or sex, end usually by leading nowhere
except in the direction of abysmal doubt. One is almost
forced to believe, so repeatedly has the effort failed,
that the attempt to brush aside these forms as untrue.

xvi Sntrobuction

pagan, profligate is the real profanation which Life
itself resents.

To experience the true joy of understanding, of
being en rapport with Life in all its fullness — one must
first, however, divest one's self of one's literal mind and
approach these ancient symbols imaginatively — not as
theological points to be argued over or explained away,
but as something unalterably sweet and true — to be felt
as one feels the beauty of nature, to be accepted as a
part of our inheritance from the past.

Man, woman, the serpent, of course, and the Sun,
giver of all life and light — the moon, earth, air, fire,
winds — light and darkness, sun and water — these are
the forces symbolised since primeval days, and these
are the forces in their relations to religions, to each
other and to Life that will be considered in the following
pages.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. — The Elements 1

II. — Creation Myths 7

III. — The Lotus 1^

IV. — The Dual Principles 31

V. — The Chinese Trigrams 39

VI. — The Cross ^1

VII. — Pole or Axis and Circle, Pillars, Stones, Rocks,

Altars ....•••• "^

VIII. — The Tree of Life 91

IX. — Sacred Birds ^^^

X. — The Serpent , 135

XL — The Four Supernatural Creatures of the

Chinese , . • • • • . 149

XII.— The Sun . . . • • • • .167

XIIL— The Swastika 223

XIV.— The Zodiac 241

XV. — Horns and the Crescent Moon . . . 257

XVI.— The Trisula 269

XVII. — Father Gods and Mother Goddesses . . . 277

xvii

XVlll

Contents?

XVIII. — Legend of Ishtar and Tammuz .
XIX. — Legend of Isis and Osiris

XX. — The Sistrum of Isis
XXI. — The Triangle ....
XXIL — Conclusion: Mainly Controversial
Glossary .....
Index

PAGE

295
303
317
321
349
401
445

FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING
PAGE

Adam and Eve Driven out of Paradise (Masaccio). Bran-
cacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence

Frontispiece

Primitive Mother Goddesses .....

Nu KuA Shih ........

Archaic Greek Statuette of a Woman and Babylonian
Goddess. Museo Barracco, Rome

Founders of the "Three Religions"

Thoth Presenting the Symbol of Life to Horus .

Hermes (Mercury). Museo Ludovisi Boncompagni, Rome

Demeter (Ceres). Museo Nazionale delle Terme, Rome

Two Kings Kneeling Beneath the Emblem of the Deity 100

Winged Females Standing Before Sacred Tree. Nimroud 100

10
12

16
36

54
68

Pan and Olympus. Museo Nazionale, Naples

Attis. Louvre, Paris .....

Anubis. Owned by Mrs. Myron C. Taylor .

Griffins as Table Supporters. Vatican, Rome

Serpent Symbols in Egypt

Athene (Minerva). Museo Nazionale, Naples

xix

112
114
122
126
138
142

XX SUusitrations;

FACING
PAGE

Dragon. Musee Chinois, Fontainebleau . . . .154

The Lady with the Unicorn. Musee Cluny, Paris . .158

The God Bes, Identified by some with Set. Louvre, Paris 170

Marduk Killing Tiamat the Chaos Monster . . . 176

Winged Bull with Human Face from Sargon's Palace,

Khorsabad. Louvre, Paris . . . . . .178

DiONYsos. Museo Nazionale, Naples . . . . .184

Ceremony in Honour of Demeter (Ceres). Museo Na-

zionale, Naples . . . . . . . .186

Apollo Belvedere, Vatican, Rome . . . . .196

Sphinx with Woman's Head. Museo Barracco, Rome . 200

Sekhebet .......... 200

Ptah-Seker-Osiris ........ 200

Herakles. Museo Nazionale, Naples ..... 202

The God Apis. Louvre, Paris ...... 204

Lion of the Serapeum. Louvre, Paris .... 204

Sphinx. Louvre, Paris ....... 208

The Vision of Ezekiel (Raphael). Pitti Palace, Florence 214

Ares (Mars) in Repose. Museo Ludovisi Boncompagni,

Rome 246

Giloamesh and the Lion, Sargon's Palace, Khorsabad,

Louvre, Paris ........ 264

Artemis (Diana). Vatican, Rome ..... 262

Dove Shrine. Schliemann, Mycence .... 264

Poseidon (Neptune). Lateran, Rome .... 272

Mlnsitvatiom

XXI

Zeus (Jupiter). Vatican, Rome ....

Artemis (Diana) of Ephesus .....

Head of Cybele. Museo Nazionale delle Terme, Rome

The Youthful Bacchus. Museo Nazionale, Naples .

Atarqatis. Museo delle Terme, Rome

Osiris, Isis and Horus. Louvre, Paris .

Isis. Museo Nazionale, Naples

The Pentacle .....

Psyche. Museo Nazionale, Naples

FACING
PAGE

280

28t
288
292
294
306
318
334
356

PAGE

Crux Ansata ......... 54

Greek Cross ......... 55

Latin Cross ......... 65

Maltese Cross ......... 55

The Swastika . . . . . . . . .55

Four Taus Placed Back to Back ..... 57

Cross Enclosed in Circle ....... 67

Greek Cross Representing Winds from Cardinal Points:

Dakota Indians 58

St. Andrew's Cross ........ 59

Cross Enclosed in Square ....... 69

Celtic Crosses ......... 60

Monogram of Christ. Labarum of Constantine . .61

Various Forms of Crosses in use Among North American

Indians, from Greek Cross to Swastika ... 62

Lycia . 67

Persian Seal ......... 67

Group of Sacred Pillars on Mycen^an Vase from Haliki 68

Libation Vase of Green Stone ....

Conventionalised Lotus

"The Thirty-six Gates"

Mithra Born from the Rock .....
Carthaginian Pillar Shrine on Stele, Nora, Sardinia
Entrance to Tattu in Amenta

70
71

74
79
81
82

3llu2!tration2( xxv

PAGE

Egyptian Lion Gods "Yesterday and To-day" Supporting

Solar Disk ......... 84

Sacred Tree Terminating in Lotus Buds or Pine Cones 95

Mexican Sacred Tree ....... 98

From a Sassanian Bowl ....... 98

Sicilian Bas-Relief ........ 98

Serpent in Background: Chaldean Cylinder. British

Museum 99

Sacred Tree Showing Divided Pillar .... 100

Capital of the Temple of Athene at Priene . . . 102

Persian Cylinder . . . . . . . . 102

Ph(enician Bowl ........ 103

Bas-Relief of the Baptistery of Civldale . . . 103

From the Church at Marigny . . . . . .103

From the Athens Cathedral ...... 104

Syria ........... 104

Tree Terminating in the Sacred Cone Protected by

Birds and Lions. From the Cathedral of Torcello . 110

Jesse Window, Dorchester Cathedral . . . .115

Assyrian Cylinder 117

Detail of Assyrian Relief, Layakd . . . . .121

Balance Used to Weigh the Heart in the Judgment of

the Dead . . • • • • • • .122

Hawk on Lotus Anthemion 123

xxvi 3Uu2!tration£{

PAGB

The Bird of Fire 124

Early Greek Vase . . . . . . . .125

Eagle Headed Figures Holding Symbolic Cone . . 127

Geese and the Lotus, Swastika and Diagrams. Detail of

Rhodian vase in Metropolitan Museum . . . .130

Bird and Sacred Tree ....... 132

Mayan Assignment of Animals to Parts of the Body . 139

Naga Kings Supporting the Lotus Pedestal . . .141

Japan . . .156

Bull Unicorn and Sacred Tree of Lotus Buds: Assyrian

Relief ......... 164

Chinese Longevity Symbols ...... 161

Three Worlds Supported by Elephants Resting on a

Tortoise 164

Marduk the Chief Babylonian Deity . . . .176

Adad the God of Storms ....... 177

Symbol of Ashur . . . . . . . . .179

Assyrian Standard . . . . . . . .180

Various Forms of Constantine's Monogram or Cross . 200

Cock and Lotus ......... 205

Cocks on Lotus Facing Double Lotus Flower . . . 206

Facsimile of Celebrated White Horse Near Shrivenham,

England ......... 210

Eight-Spoked Wheel of Buddhism ..... 213

Types of the "Roue de la Loi" .,..,. 214

JUufiitrationsi xxvii

PAGE

Mycen^an Vase: Old Salamis ...... 218

Fragment of Stone Slab from the Ancient Maya City of

Mavapan ......... 225

Swastika of Four T's ....... 226

Archaic Greek Vase with Five Swastikas of Four Dif-
ferent Forms: Athens ...... 227

Footprint of Buddha as Carved on the Amarvati Tope . 228

Aztec Figure of the Year Cycle 231

Nandyavarta 232

The Lotus and Swastika with Solar Geese and Solar

Deer 234

Swastika with Arms Bent to Right and Left . . 235

Tetraskelion (Four Armed) 236

Triskelion (Three Armed) ...... 236

Five or Many Armed ....... 236

Ogee Swastika with Circle ...... 236

Sicilian Coin ......... 237

Swastika Design ........ 238

Meander Detail with Solar Geese ..... 239

The Zodiac 244)

Lion-Head Figure of the Mithraic Kronos or Boundless

Time . . 247

Signs of the Zodiac as Given in the Famous "Zodiac of

Dendera" ......... 250

Chart of the Stars in the Region of the North Pole 252
Metropolitan Museum of Art

xxviii SUusJtrationsi

PAGE

Egyptian Lion Supporters of Sun .... 254

Lotuses and the Moon God: Assyrian Seal . . . 260

The Monogram of Buddha ...... 272

Sceptre and Different Forms of the Dorje . . . 274

Egyptian Ur^us Pillar. Cypro-Mycen^ean Comparisons.

Dual Ur^us Staff of Ishtar ..... 276

Equilateral Triangle ....... 323

Solomon's Seal ......... 335

The Pentacle ......... 335

Triangle as Used by American Indians .... 335

The illustrations on the front and back linings are reproduced
from Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man with the kind per-
mission of Albert Churchward and his publishers, Geo. Allen
and Unwin, Ltd.

Life Symbols as Related to Sex Symbolism

THE ELEMENTS

''All knowledge begins and ends with wonder, hut
the first wonder is the child of ignorance, while the sec-
ond wonder is parent of adoration/' — Coleridge.

"That is true symbolism, in which the particular
represents the gerieral, not as a dream and a shade, hut
as a. living, momentary revelation of the inscrutable J"
— Goethe.

THE ELEMENTS

THE reverence of the elements and the belief that
they were a manifestation of divine power
played a large part in Mazdaism, the ancient
religion of the Persians.

The four elements were considered eternal by the
Hindus. Hence the doctrine that nothing will be an-
nihilated but only changed — souls by transmigration,
matter by transmutation.

It was believed by the ancients that the soul also
was composed of the four elements — fire, water, air,
earth — and that when united these took the form of fire
or flame. "The Supreme Spirit was idealised as im-
maculate fire and symbolised as a pure and elemental
flame burning in infinitude. . . . The Egyptians de-
fined spirit as a subtle fire as did the Hindus in whose
conception the mystic element spread until it permeated
the streams, quivered in the trees and, in fact, pervaded
the universe." *

The conception of the elements as fire, water, earth,
air which was commonly accepted by the Greek and
Indian philosophers was not held originally by the
Chinese Taoists who resolved the elements into five: —
water, fire, wood, metal, earth — and believed that these

* Bayley's "Lost Language of Symbolism."

4 life ^pmbols;

conquered one another according to a definite law. Thus
wood conquered earth; earth, water; water, fire; fire,
metal and metal, wood.

"No one can do anything against these phenomena,
for the power which causes the five elements to counter-
act each other is according to the natural dispensation
of heaven and earth. Large quantities prevail over
email quantities, hence water conquers fire. Spiritual-
ity prevails over materiality, the non-substance over
substance, thus fire conquers metal; hardness conquers
softness, hence metal conquers wood ; density is superior
to incoherence therefore wood conquers earth; solidity
conquers insolidity, therefore earth conquers water." ^

The five elements were also associated with the five
planets. Thus Venus represented metal; Jupiter, wood;
Mercury, water; Mars, fire; and Saturn, earth.

The Chinese metaphysicians and occultists carried
out this inter-relation of the elements with each other
and with their planets, designating them as parent,
child, enemy, friend. They believed that all misfor-
tunes came about from some disturbance of the five
elements, some change in their given position. Thus
the Chinese were strongly opposed to any interference
with nature, or to doing anything that might perchance
alter natural conditions.

Later the Chinese Buddhists adopted the Greek and
Indian idea, adding ether, however, to the other
elements of fire, water, earth, air. Doing this, no doubt,
so that the conception might equal in number the older
Taoist form of enumeration.

This Chinese diagram of the elements differs hardly
at all from the European. The earth is represented by

' From the rule preserved by Liu An, second century b.c.j quoted in
"Chinese Thought" by Paul Carus.

^f)t Clements;

a square, water by a circle, fire by a triangle, air by a
crescent and ether bj^ a gem — irmni^ "the jewel in the
lotus" which surmounts the whole. Practically the
same diagram or form was employed by the mediaeval
alchemists of Europe, the only difference
being that they considered the two upper sym-
bols as one and called it air.

The Caitya or Stupa, representing the five
elements, is found in the open square of every
Buddhist monastery in Japan and Tibet, and
all over the interior of Asia wherever the in-
fluence of Chinese civilisation extends. There
is a well founded reason for the prevalence of

CHINESE.

EUROPEAN. STUPA FORM MEMORIAL I-OLE.

Cams, Chinese Thought.

the stupa among the Buddhists. Its purpose is to re-
mind those who are living that the body of the dead has
been reduced to its original elements, has been absorbed
in the All, has returned to the origin and source of all
Life.

In these "elemental" stupas the square becomes a
cube, the circle a globe, the triangle a four-sided pyra-

6 TLiit g)pmlioIs{

mid and the moon crescent and linga-shaped spike or
"gem" are also solid. This symbolism of the five ele-
ments is also depicted surmounting the memorial poles
which the Chinese place on the tombs of the dead on
their All Souls Day.

In considering the various symbols of life, it will be
a matter that may induce wonder and later reflection
that these five "elemental" symbols march steadily
along with man — taking on new meanings, amplifying,
while always retaining their original signification.

The position of the elements in the diagrams is also
worth noting. It will be seen that the circle (water)
stands between the square (earth) and the triangle
(fire). And we shall have occasion to refer more than
once to the peculiarly important relation that water
bears to the earth (matter) and also to fire (spirit).
The importance of water in this connection may be
likened to fluids in the human body. Nor apparently
does this end with the physical. Le fluide is a French
expression for sympathy, "II n'y a du fluide entre
nous" "Vous n'avez pas de fluide pour — '' Nor is
it wholly a figure of speech that the heart melts, that
thought is fluid. We are quite conscious that a hard
face indicates inner sterility. Hardening of the arteries
means death, as a hard heart causes spiritual death.

CREATION MYTHS

"The humid nature being the origin of the universe
produced the first three bodies earth, air, fire/* — -
Plutarch.

''In nearly every myth of importance . . . you have
to discern these three structural parts — the root and the
two branches; the root in physical existence^ sun^ or shy,
or cloud, or sea; then the personal incarnation of that,
becoming a trusted, companionable deity, with whom
you may walk hand in hand, as a child with its brother
or its sister; and lastly, the moral significance of the
image, which is in all the great myths eternally and
beneficently true/' — Ruskin.

''To create a myth . . . to catch a glimpse of a
higher truth behind a palpable reality is the most mani-
fest sign of the greatness of the human soul." — Sabatier.

"Every mythological figure is a philosophical con-
cept."— Roeder.

CREATION MYTHS

WHETHER the idea of the "sea as the Great
Mother of all creation" found its inception
in the fact that physical life was supposed
to have originated in water, or whether it was used sym-
bolically, water typifying Trutlj and Wisdom, the two
factors Spirit and Water enter into ^11 the ancient
stories of creation.

The earliest germ of a creation myth appears to
have been based on the idea that night was parent of
the day and water of the earth. Out of darkness and
death came light and life. Life was also motion. When
the primordial waters became troubled life began to be.

The creation mji;hs of Babylonia and Assyria de-
pict "chaotic darkness brooding over a waste of waters.
Heaven and earth were not as yet. Nought existed
save the primeval ocean Mommu Tiawath (or Tiamat)
from whose fertile depths came every living thing."

Tiamat is the chaos demon — the Great Mother. As
the origin of good she was believed to have created the
gods. She was also the dragon of the sea and therefore
the serpent or the leviathan. She is thus seen to have
had a dual character. In her beneficent form she sur-
vived as the Sumerian goddess Bau who is obviously
identical with the Phoenician Baau "mother of the first
man." Another name for Bau was Ma. Niritu a "form

lo TLitt &j>mtJols«

of the goddess Ma" was depicted as half woman and
half serpent with a babe at her breast.

The Egyptian letter M was called ma and also
meant country, place, universe. The word "ma" con-
tained for the Egyptians the idea of earth.

In the language of the Mayas, according to Le
Plongeon, "ma" likewise meant country, earth.

One of the Babylonian goddesses was called Ama,
Mama or Mami or the "Mother of all things." In
Chaldea "Mama" signified the "Lady of the Gods."

In this primitive conception the Great Mother deity
was believed to be self -created and self-sustaining. The
typical Great Mother was a Virgin goddess with a
fatherless son. Like the Babylonian Tiamat and the
Celtic Danu she was the "mother of the gods from
whom mankind was descended." Her characteristics
varied in different localities. In one she was associated
with the earth, in others with water and in others again
with the sky.

In her baleful aspect she was the enemy of mankind.
It is she who attempts to destroy all life and to prevent
the coming of summer. Her son, on the contrary, is a
beneficent being. He is the Spirit of Life, the one who
brings summer and who is the lover of all mankind.
It is the son with his life giving power who defeats the
goddess Mother in her efforts to hold back growth and
keep the earth bound in her sterile clasp.

There is a great divergence of ideas in the Egj^ptian
creation myths, although in Egj^pt as well as in Baby-
lonia there was the early belief that life in the universe
had a female origin.

"At the beginning naught save darkness and
water. The spirit of night the Great Mother and her

Xeith, Libyan Earth

Mother

(Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Cypriote, Mother Goddess,

Bronze Age 1500-1200 B.C.,

(Metropolitan Museum of Art)

IsiiTAR AS Tiip; Mother
Goddess
(Jastrow, Civilisation of
Babylonia and Assyria)

Leaden Idol of Artemis

Nana of Chaldea with

Swastika Enclosed in a

Triangle

Third City

(Schliemann, llios)

Creation iWptf)s( n

first born the moon child. Life came from death and
Light from dcarkness."

Neith the Libyan Earth Mother was beheved to be
self-sustaining as she was self-produced. She was the
Unknown One, the Hidden One and like other Virgin
goddesses she had a fatherless son.

A creation myth of Heliopolis refers to "one god of
the primordial deep." It was at Heliopolis, too, that
Ra the sun-god was first exalted as the Great Father
who created all things. Ra created everything that
had being, in the waters and upon the dry land. Men
were born from the eye of Ra. Ra the ruler of the gods
was the first king on earth.

As related in a creation myth of the Egyptian sun
worshippers the world was in the beginning a waste
of waters called Nu. Nu gave being to the sun-god
who appeared first as a shining egg floating on the
waters. The spirits of the deep — the fathers and
mothers — were with him there as he was with Nu.
Ra, however, was greater than Nu. He was the divine
father who created Shu, the wind-god and Tefunt, his
consort. Then came Seb, the earth-god and Nut, the
sky-goddess whom Shu, the uplifter raised on high so
that Nut formed the vault which is arched over Seb, the
earth. From the union of Seb and Nut — earth and
sky — came forth Osiris and Isis.

Egypt had also the chaos goose who cackled
loudly to the chaos gander, when she laid the egg of
the sun. Ra became the historic egg and Seb, the earth-
god the gander. Later Amen Ra of Thebes who com-
bined many deities represented the chaos goose and
gander in one.

The god Kneph whom the Egyptians called "intel-
ligence or efficient cause of the universe" was said to

12 TLiit ^pmbols;

have vomited an egg from which was produced another
god named Ptah or Vulcan (the principle of fire or the
sun) and that this egg represented the world.

Kneph was depicted as a man dressed in deep blue —
the colour of the sky — a sceptre in his hand, a belt — the
zodiac — encircling his waist, on his head a cap with
feathers and issuing from his mouth the great egg — the
world.

Khnemu the 'Moulder' one of the oldest gods of the
Egyptian religion also ranked as a 'maker of mankind'
and the primeval egg was associated with Khnemu as
with the other creator gods.

The cosmic egg the 'germ of the universe' occurs in
many mythologies with and without the 'precious
goose.'

''Cet oeuf mysterieucVj, resultat d'idees obscurcies par
les temps et par les egarements de V esprit humain, a
surnage au naufrage de toutes les opinions cosmogo-
niques. II est reste au milieu des plus nuageuses con-
ceptions comme le type consaci'e du monde physique." ^

Bayley in the Lost Language of Symbolism sug-
gests that the fairy tale of the goose that laid the golden
egg may have been derived from this ancient myth of
creation.

P'an Ku, a late but conspicuous figure in the Chin-
ese cosmogony was said to have emerged from the cos-
mic egg. It was P'an Ku who fashioned the universe
out of chaos. He was the offspring of the "original dual
powers of nature the Yin and the Yang." He is repre-
sented as a man of dwarf -like stature dressed in bear-
skin or leaves, or merely with an apron of leaves. He
has two horns on his head, and holds a hammer in his
right hand and a chisel in the left, or again he is depicted

' "Hinloire et Theorie du Symbolisme Religieux," M. I'Abbe Auber.

Nij KuA Shih
(Werner, Myths and Legends of China)

Creation iWptfjs; 13

with the sun in one hand and the moon in the other. In
some pictures he is attended by the four supernatural
creatures the phoenix, the unicorn, the dragon and the
tortoise. His task of creation took 18,000 years.

The Chinese had several other conceptions of the
origin of things that brought in a personal creator.
There was Nii Kua who was said to be the creator of
human beings when the earth first emerged from chaos.
"She or he had the body of a serpent and the head of an
ox," or is sometimes represented with a human head as
in the illustration.

Sometimes the name is separated and Nii and Kua
are brother and sister, the first human pair. "At the
creation they were placed at the foot of the K'un-lun
mountains. Then they prayed, saying, 'If thou, O God,
hast sent us to be man and wife, the smoke of our sacri-
fice will stay in one place; but if not, it will be scattered.'
The smoke remained stationary." ^

On the whole, however, the Chinese mind seems to
have been better content with abstract, philosophical ex-
planations of the cosmos even when too abstruse for the
ordinary mind to understand.

According to Charencey the Chinese admitted five
primordial agencies "1 ° le principe male et actif, le dieu
inconnu. 2° le chaos ou la matiere inerte, representant
le principe femelle; de leur union resultent; 3° le del et
4° la terre. Ces deux dernier s s'agissant Vun sur V au-
tre donnent naissance au 5° principe qui est Vhomme.
Ce principe male est appele Yang et exerce une influ-
ence bienfaisante. Au contraire le Yin ou principe fem-
inin a une action nefaste. C'est lui qui cau^e la mort et
la decadence de tous les etres." ^

'"Myths and Legends of China," E. T. Chalmers Werner.
* "La Symbolisme des Points de I'Horizon," M. H. de Charencey.

14 mtt ^j^mfiolsf

The egg is also found in a Hindu theory of creation
which relates that the Supreme Spirit laid a golden egg
resplendent as the sun and from this was born Brahma
the progenitor of the universe.

The ancients in India first worshipped Mother
Earth. Ida, the Universal Mother was said to have
been formed by Manu, the thinker out of the 'waters
which were impregnated with the heavenly seed.' Ida
thus represented the purified earth cleansed by sanctify-
ing waters. When she arose from the waters cleansed
and purified, the myth relates that Mitra and Varuna
the twin deities wished to claim her for their own. Re-
fusing to acknowledge them as parents, however, she
remained true to Manu the thinker.

Another Hindu creation myth pictures the Great
Originator as infinite, eternal, immaterial, round.
"This universe was formerly soul only in the form of
Purusha." Purusha having passed an unlimited time
in self-contemplation and desiring to manifest himself,
he caused himself to fall asunder in two parts. Hence
came husband and wife, and these, assuming various
animal forms "thus created every living pair whatso-
ever down to the ants."

Purusha was also called the chaos giant. From him
were born the 'Trimurti' — the three gods of the Hindus
— Brahma, Vishnu and Siva — Creator, Preserver and
Destroyer.

Among the Buddhists, Adi-Buddha the most excel-
lent first Buddha the "saint of the wheel of time" was
the beginning deity. "When nothing else was he was."
When all was perfect void the mystic syllable Aum be-
came manifest from which at his own will the Adi-Bud-
dha was produced. This mystic syllable Aum signi-
fied the three precious Tri-ratna, the Buddhist triad —

Creation JHptJjs; 15

Buddha, intelligence, soul, Dharma, matter, the body,
and Sangha, the union of the two.

A Creation myth of the Persians divides creation in
six galians or galian-hars which represent six periods of
time — called by Zoroaster the thousands of God or
Light. In the first period God created the heavens, in
the second the waters, in the third the earth, in the
fourth the trees, in the fifth animals and in the sixth
man.

The Etrurians had a similar tradition. The myth
of creation in the Zend-Avesta has many points in com-
mon with that related in Genesis. There is a first man
and a first woman living in a state of celestial innocence.
Instead of a serpent, however, the tempter approaches
them in the guise of a great lizard, the symbol of Ahri-
manes the power of evil. Then the warfare between
Alirimanes, the genius of evil or darkness and Ormuzd
(or Ahura-Mazda) , the god of life and light, the end of
the world in six thousand years, the coming of the lamb
or mediator between Light and Darkness, the new
world, the life to come, the passage of the soul over the
bridge of the abyss to a place of felicity, or despair, the
celebration of the mysteries of Mithra, the unleavened
bread that is set apart for the initiated — many of these
ideas and rites bear a close resemblance to the Hebrew.

"Breathed upon the face of the waters" occurs in
marjy cosmogonies.

One of the oldest of the Hindu myths relates that in
the beginning there was one God self-existent who
passed through all eternity absorbed in the contempla-
tion of his own reflections. Finally desiring to manifest
himself he created matter or substance. The four ele-
ments of which the world is composed, lay in a state of
mingled confusion till he breathed upon the face of the

1 6 life ^pmibol£{

waters, and they immediately became an immense bub-
ble shaped like an egg. This egg is the vault or globe of
the heavens in which the world is enclosed. This god
"is the source of motion."

In the Hebrew version of the creation as given in the
Book of Genesis "And the spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters" there is the same thought.

Nearly all the creation myths seem to recognise a
First Cause, a Great Mover, a Vital Spirit which dif-
fused through all beings animates the vast body of the
world. Back of chaos is discerned a Primum Mobile,
Unknown and Unknowable — then Chaos, then Oi'der.
This is the creative process. With rare exceptions,
chaos was associated by the ancient myth makers with
the feminine principle, and order, organisation with the
masculine. The idea of Darkness first, then Light
emerging from darkness, or night giving birth to day
never varies, nor do the principles themselves ever les-
sen in importance. Called by many names — fire and
water, spirit and matter, positive and negative, active
and passive, man and woman — they themselves never
change. They pass down through the ages "an in-
separable pair" — the same two principles that, although
the result is an infinitely varied expression of the crea-
tive process, are invariably associated to produce life.

In all the ancient cosmogonies the largest share in
the divine government and control of the universe is
given to the two powers sun (or fire) and water, as
representing the two chief forces of nature upon whose
harmonious adjustment rests the prosperity and welfare
of mankind.

Troward gives an involved but highly illuminating
interpretation of water as related to spirit and matter
or fire and earth in ancient symbolism. He describes

Archaic Greek
Statuette of a Woman

Photo. Alinari

Babylonian Goddess, Babylonian
Art 3000 b.c.

(Museo Barracco, Romej

Creation iHptfjjJ 17

water as the "universal psychic medium in which the nu-
clei of the forms hereafter to become consolidated on
the plane of the concrete and material, take their in-
ception in obedience to the movement of Spirit or
Thought. This is the realm of potential forms and is
the connecting link between Spirit or pure thought
and Matter or concrete form." He adds that the ex-
istence of this intermediary between Spirit and Matter
must never be lost sight of, and that it may be called the
Distributive Medium, in passing through which the hith-
erto undistributed Energy of Spirit receives differen-
tiation of direction and so ultimately produces differen-
tiations of forms and relations on the outermost or visi-
ble plane. "This is the Cosmic Element esoterically
called 'Water.'"*

Woman or the feminine principle is associated with
the earth, matter. The feminine principle is also asso-
ciated with water. Thus water, the intermediary be-
tween spirit and matter, typified "woman the soul, the
psychic side of man — the mother of individual life." °

The circle symbolised water or the feminine princi-
ple in nature, also eternity.

Zigzag lines representing waves or ripples of the
sea are also one of the pre-historic symbols of water.
The Egyptian hieroglyph for water was a wavy or
zigzag line.

Two wavy lines are the zodiacal sign of Aquarius,
the Water Carrier.

* "Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning," T. Troward.
'Ibid.

Ill

THE LOTUS

''The flower that was in the Beginning, the glorious
lily of the great Water/'

''When Buddha was horn a lotus bloomed where he
first touched the ground; he stepped seven steps north-
ward and a lotus marked each footfall/'

"The entire history of European pre-historic orna-
ment, and therefore of European civilization may re-
ceive a new direction from an observation based upon
the sepal of a water lily/' — Goodyear's "Grammar of
the Lotus."

Ill

THE LOTUS

LOTUS AND THE MOON
GOD.

THE use of the lotus as a symbol of creation or the
beginning of life extends back beyond the meas-
urements of time.
A growth of the watery element, without roots in the
earth, nourished by the rays of the sun,
the lotus was the symbol par excel-
lence of the power of nature through
the agency of fire and water. As the
world was conceived to have come into
being by the inter-action of these two
elements, the lotus became the dual
symbol of spirit and matter or the
"spirit moving upon the face of the
waters."

In the Hindu cosmogony the world is likened to a
lotus flower floating in the centre of a
shallow vessel which rests on the back of
an elephant and the elephant on the back
of a tortoise.

"Brahma springs from the lotus which
in its turn rises from the navel of Vishnu."
SHIPPER AND Again Brahma is frequently depicted

di8k!^°^°^^ as floating on the waters supported by a

Assyrian seal. lotUS leaf.

Assyrian seal.

Goodyear, Grammar
the Lotus.

22 life ^pmboIs(

The myth of Horus as the new born sun rising from
a lotus fiower expanding its leaves on the breast of the
primeval deep, conveys the same idea — the union of fire
and water — as does the Hebrew ac-
count of creation in the book of Gene-
sis.

The belief that the lotus is sacred
to the sun is one of the most ancient
traditions of the Egyptian and Hin-
du mythologies and has been the most
LOTUS SUPPORTING tcuaciously held and preserved.

WINGED SOLAR DISK. ^-^ , . . „ . ,

Fromacylindershownin C)ne CXplaUatlOU of thc Solar Slg-

Lajard.c«/*.d.M./;.ra. nificaucc of thc lotus is that "the mo-
ment of its opening corresponds to the dawn."

"Je suis un lotus, issu du champ du soleilj" *

It is used in connection with the sun apparently to
suggest the renewal of the sun rather than as a symbol
of the sun itself.

"It perhaps symbolised less the sun itself than the
solar matrix, that mysterious sanctuary into which the
sun retires every evening there to acquire fresh life.
This miracle which was believed to be renewed each day
was regarded as the origin of whatever exists," ^

The Egyptians thus believing that the world sprang
from the liquid element, made the sun proceed from a
lotus which had emerged one day from the primordial
waters. From a symbol of solar renascence it became
a symbol of human re-birth as well as life in its eternal
aspect.

The lotus not only was a symbol of life, immortality,
resurrection, fecundity, the feminine principle, re-birth,
but it also symbolised nature in her infinite manifes-

* "Livre des Morts," Pierret.

»"The Migration of Symbols," Count Goblet d'Alviella.

®f)e lotus; 23

tations, and more particularly the productive power of
water.

Goodyear points out that, in considering the Egypt-
ian ideas of resurrection and the future life which
played such an important part in their religion, we must
never lose sight of the fact that these ideas were prac-
tically built up upon a worship of the creative and re-
productive powers of nature, which were conceived to be
solar in their origin. "It is the supposed passage of the

PHfENICIAN SEAL.
Lajard, Culte de Mithra.

sun at night through a lower world which makes Osiris
( the sun at night ) the God of the Lower World and of
the dead ; hence he himself is represented as a mummy.
As the God of the Resurrection, his especial and em-
phatic character, he represents the creative energy of
the Sun god. Hence the lotus as an attribute of Osiris
is at once a symbol of the sun, of the resurrection, and
of creative force and power. . . . This three-fold sig-
nificance is to be considered in all cases . . . but it is
the solar significance which explains the others." ^

Its association with the mummy and the doctrine of
the future life explains the use of the lotus in a mortu-
ary or funerary way. It appears on the sepulchral tab-

* Goodyear's "Grammar of the Lotus."

%itt ^pmbols

lets of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and was also
employed in early Christian art to symbolise the resur-
rection and immortality of the
soul.

The lotus — as well as the
scarabffius, serpent and palm
tree — was an early androgynous
symbol of self-creation.

Among the Buddhists the
padma or lotus is the symbol of
self-creation. "The lotus flower,
itself a prodigy, coming into ex-
istence without being nourished
by the earth" became the perfect
symbol of the germinating power
of water when acted upon by
the sun or the active power of the
Creator Adi-Buddha.

When all was void Aum be-
came manifest. In Aum Adi-
Buddha, the first Buddha "who is
present in all things, formless, passion-
less, who possesses the Tri-ratna — was
produced by his own will."

As every Buddha and Bodhisattva is
self-created and self-existent, the lotus
flower as a support typifies his divine
birth. Although the lotus pedestal is
best known through the statues of Bud-
dha, it is common to all Hindu gods.

The lotus flower support to the solar
gods Horus and Vishnu and in the hands
of Hathor and Lakshmi the goddesses
associated with them, indicates, as does much of the

LOTUS AND WORSHIPPER.

Ivory plaque from Nimroud
British Museum.

Perrot and Chipiez.

LOTUS PEDESTAL.

Supporting the
throne of the
Master between
two Naga Kings.

D'Alviella, Migra-
tion of Symbols

Cfje ILotusf 25

Eastern s^Tnbolism — notably that of the serpent — a
shade of thought too subtle to be more than indirectly
expressed.

Among; the Buddhists the lotus was also the em-
blem of Nirvana. Its mysterious growth, rising from
stagnant water and ooze into perfect flower gloriously
white and unsullied, typified the future possibilities of
the soul, just as its expanded flower resting upon the
surface of the placid waters typified the ultimate re-
pose of the soul after all desire has fled.

Brahma appears on a golden lotus. He is also said
to keep watch over the world six months of the year
and sleep the remaining six "in a lotus flower of ex-
traordinary beauty."

It is related by the Buddhists that once upon a time
Amitabha — god of infinite light, a sun-god who pre-
sides over the western paradise — "after giving himself
up to earnest meditation caused a white ray of light to
issue from his right eye which brought forth Padma-
pani (Avalokita) into existence. Amitabha blessed
him and the Bodhisattva gave utterance to the prayer
'Om, mani, padme, hum/ 'Oh! the jewel (of creation)
is in the lotus.' According to Hodgson the correct
translation is 'The mystic triform is in him of the jewel
and the lotus.' " *

The Mantra ''Om, mani, padme, hum" — the 'jewel
is in the lotus' — is used in the Yoga system to express
the union of the Two Parts, the entire system being
founded upon the union of the two forces. Spirit and
Matter.

Upon the creation of the world Adi-Buddha, the first
Buddha was said to have revealed himself on Mount
Sumeru in the form of a flame issuing from a lotus flow-

♦'The Gods of Northern Buddhism," Getty.

26 life ^j>mbol£f

er. In Nepal the Buddha is always represented by this
symbol (union of fire and water). The flame symbol
will also be encountered again and again rising from
the centre of a moon crescent. Some of the Nepalese
writings thus describe the manifestation of the first
Buddha: —

"A lotus flower of precious jewels appeared on the
^ summit of Mount Sumeru which is the

N-^ centre of the universe and above it arose a

tmoon crescent." ^
We first see the flame symbol in the
moon crescent in the diagram of the ele-
ments or in the elemental stupa form. Its
DETAIL OF AN shapc chaugcs slightly and it is known un-

ASSYRIAN SEAL. , . I . • .

Good ear Gram- ^^^ various uamcs Dut its mcaumg remams
marlf the Lotus, unaltcrcd. Whcthcr the flame rests in a
moon crescent or in the lotus it is the symbol of the union
of the dualistic forces that produce life.

The phallic significance of the lotus as related to the
resurrection and the reproductive forces of nature is,
of course, obvious. And this is more distinctly implied
in the symbolism of the "jewel in the lotus." In its
phallic aspect the 'jewel in the lotus' represents the
union of the masculine and feminine principles, the
jewel indicating the masculine and the lotus the femi-
nine, while the bursting seed pods symbolised fecundity.

The lotus is thus given to Isis in her character of
goddess of fecundity.

In the Christian religion the lotus becomes the Lily
of the Virgin.

Goodyear in reminding us of the antiquity of the
lotus says that the papyrus which is commonly asso-
ciated with the lotus — the papyrus for the north and

"Getty's "The Gods of Northern Buddhism."

arfje Hotus;

the lotus for the south —
"sinks out of sight as we
go farther back."

The ancients, who did
nothing in a meaningless
way, creating and develop-
ing form not only to shel-
ter and protect life, but to
express in all ways, as
beautifully as their imagi-
nation and skill would per-
mit, their profound belief
in and worship of Life,
made elaborate use of the
leaves, buds and flowers of
the lotus as decorative mo-
tifs, and this symbol be-
came one of the most im-
portant decorative features
in the architectural designs
of Egypt and India.

Goodyear believed that
the egg and dart motif
which architects still use
was derived from the lotus.

The lotus, the flower
of Buddha, was sometimes
conventionalised into a
wheel design, the petals re-
presenting spokes and
symbolising the doctrine of
perpetual cycles of exist-
ence. The wheel symbol
was also indicated by the

.«»

**5

;^i»

7V^^^

<^ ^

- ■ g

a) «*; t3

a o '^

tzj ^ JS

t3 a 5

* u

life ^pmbolfi;

round top of the seed vessel. An eight leaved lotus
flower represented the 'heart of being.'

ASSYRIAN WINGED DEITIES FACING ROSETTE.

Bas-relief from Khorsabad.

The rosettes so frequently found as an architectural
ornament were probably derived from the lotus, and
thus take on a solar significance.

The Egyptians, according to Breasted, created the
column and originated the colonnade. Sometimes
these columns represented a palm tree with its capital
a crown of foliage, or again "a bundle of papyrus stalks
bearing the architrave upon the cluster of buds at the
top which form the capital." ^

On the majority of these columns, however, the capi-
tal represented a lotus flower with the upper part cut
off, swelling at the base and tapering toward the top,
or again the capital is in the form of a calyx whose sur-
face is decorated with convex lobes to indicate the petals
of a flower.

Always arriving by way of nature, it is interesting
to trace back definitely to the underlying thought of
Life. And nowhere is the idea of growth from the soil
upward, reaching toward heaven, better expressed than

"Breasted's "History of Egypt."

Srije lotus; 29

in these Egyptian columns which, resting jBrmly upon
the ground, terminate above in capitals formed like the
lotus — symbol of creative energy, life, immortality.

The lotus is called the Flower of Light and Flower
of Life, flower de luce and fleur de lys and "as an em-
blem of the Trinity is one of the few survivals still re-
tained in the Christian ecclesiology. Lux lucet in Tene-
hris. This light shining in the darkness was like Christ
the Light of the World symbolised by the Fleur de
Lys." '

' Bayley's "Lost Language of Symbolism."

THE DUAL PRINCIPLES

"There are in life two elements, one transitory and
progressive, the other comparatively if not absolutely
non-progressive and eternal'' — Gilbert Murray.

"Polarity or the inter-action of Active and Passive
is the basis of all evolution/' — Troward.

"The very touch of the eternal in the two sexual
tastes brings them the more in antagonism; for one
stands for a universal vigilance and the other for an al-
most infinite output." — Chesterton.

"Tranquillity according to His essence, activity ac-
cording to His nature; perfect stillness, perfect fecun-
dity, this is the two-fold character of the Absolute" —
Ruysbroeck.

IV
THE DUAL PRINCIPLES

THE Egyptians built their temples to represent
the world as they conceived it to be. "The sun
journeying from east to west cut the universe
into two worlds, the north and the south. Like the uni-
verse the temple was double, and an imaginary line
drawn through the axis of the sanctuary divided it into
two temples." ^

This idea of duality was carried throughout into all
the ceremonies and rituals. Believing the earth to be a
flat, shallow plane, oblong in form, and that Shu lifted
up the sky which, stretched over the earth like a vault,
was supported by four props or huge pillars, they made
their ceilings correspond to the sky, the four corners
of the chamber typified the supports, and the temple
pavement was the equivalent of the inhabited world.
Each part thus was decorated according to its signifi-
cance. Everything touching the ground was covered
with vegetation. The columns represented plants or
trees that grew on the banks of the Nile. The base of
the walls were decorated with long stems of papyrus or
lotus flowers; sometimes cattle were depicted. The
temple ceilings resembled the starry heavens, being
painted dark blue and sprinkled with golden five point-
ed stars.

* "Manual of Egyptian Archeology," G. Maspero.

34 life ^pmbote

"In so far as Egyptian symbolism is concerned it is
well to remember that its religious philosophy was a
highly refined and intellectual system and that it found
expression in pictorial allegories supplied by reptile,
beast and bird without detriment to this philosophic
quality." (Goodyear.)

The Hindus gave the name of the "pair of oppo-
sites" to the dual aspect of nature which manifests it-
self as sun and moon, light and darkness, heat and cold,
fire and water, man and woman, day and night, etc.

From remotest times man, the active principle has
been symbolised by fire, by whatever is pointed, direct — ■
a spear, shaft, column, dart, arrow, sword, the "Rod
of Jesse." And woman, the feminine or passive princi-
ple by water, by everything that is sinuous, concave,
curving, receptive — by the earth — the all creative
Mother Earth — by mounds, high places, mountains —
"as in Germany the famous Horselberg or Venusberg,"
by the moon, ark, crescent, pearl — anything, in short,
that was hollow, oval, cavernous, circular, a receptacle.

The red of fire typified the masculine principle and
the blue of the sea the feminine. The belief in a Sav-
iour God born of a Virgin often named Maria or some
word meaning mare — sea — was common among many
of the ancient races.

The old Chinese religion was based on the idea that
Heaven and Earth — themselves the greatest gods — pro-
duce all things by the inter-action of the opposites —
heat and cold, light and darkness, male and female.
Smce time immemorial the Chinese have divided nature
into two great parts. In this dualistic philosophy Yang
is the masculine principle denoting light, warmth, life.
Yin is the principle of darkness, cold, death. Yang is
the sun, Yin the earth. Yang is the Celestial Breath

Srije JBml ^rincijplcsf 35

and shares supreme sway in nature with the Terrestrial
Breath which is Yin the passive or feminine principle.
Heaven the highest spirit, not only was conceived to be
the cause of natural phenomena but the source of the
order of nature (the Tao — the way).

"Heaven and earth existing all things got their exist-
ence. All (material) things existing, afterwards there
came male and female. From the existence of male
and female came husband and wife. From husband
and wife came father and son. From father and son
came ruler and minister. From ruler and minister
came high and low. When high and low had existence
afterwards came the arrangements of propriety and
righteousness."

Moore in his History of Religions cites the Chi-
nese imperial sacrifice to heaven as being one of the most
grandiose acts of worship ever performed by men. The
same definite symbolism is shown in this worship. The
sacrifice to heaven is at the winter solstice when the
powers of light and warmth begin to prevail against
the cold and dark of winter. The sacrifice to earth oc-
curs at the summer solstice for the opposite reason.
"For in the dualistic physical philosophy of the Chinese
Heaven belongs to the Yang the bright, warm male
principle, and Earth to the Yin the dark, cold female
principle. Thus the altar to Heaven is south of the city
[Peking] while that of the Earth is north; the former
is white and round like Heaven; the latter dark and
square and surrounded by water like the earth. Heaven
has a round, blue jade stone, Earth a square yellow
one."

Among the ancient Chinese jade was the most pre-
cious mineral and was always identified in their philoso-
phy with Heaven. Certain things like jade and gold

36 life ^pmliote

were believed to be imbued with vital energy derived
from the great element yang. Heaven being the de-
pository of vital energy its symbols must likewise be in-
destructible, unchangeable. Hence the saying "Heav-
en is jade, is gold."

Jade and gold were also prominent minerals in
alchemy.

The Great Monad, the ovum mundi of the Chinese
which symbolises the Chinese philosophy of opposites,
is a circle divided by two arcs of opposite centres. In
this mystic union of the two principles the dark repre-
sents yin the material or feminine principle and the
light yang the spiritual or masculine principle.

THE GREAT MONAD. THE TAI-KIH.

A third arc from above is sometimes depicted unit-
ing them. This represents the "Tai-Kih or Great Ulti-
mate Principle which according to ancient philosophy is
the genitor of the so-called Liang-I or Two Regulating
Powers or the Superior Breaths Yang and Yin which
create by their co-operation all that takes place in na-
ture. These two Regulators who, mutually extinguish-
ing and giving way to each other, keep at work a
ceaseless process of revolution which produces all the
phenomena of existence." ^

The circle is sometimes divided by three lines re-
sembling the Chinese Y, the latter a symbol of vast
antiquity used to indicate the Great Unit, the Great
Plan, the Great Uniter. The Chinese Y held the same

*De Groot's "Religious Systems of China."

Founders of the "Three Religions"

Buddha in the centre, Lao-tse on the left (the most honourable place in
China) and Confucius on the light.

Henry Dore, S. J., Researches into Chinese Superstition

significance as the Egyptian Ankh (the crux ansata).
The way this symbol was employed to express the Chi-
nese conception of the universe — which is really based on
parenthood — will be referred to under another heading.

In attempting to understand the anomaly presented
by Chinese thought someone has said that a man in
China was born a Taoist, lived a Confucian and died a
Buddhist. As a matter of fact the theory of immortal-
ity advanced by the Taoists was as little acceptable to
the philosophers and thinkers as the Indian conception
of Nirvana. Between the two ideas, one of negation
or annihilation in the future state and the other of the
ultimate union of the two dualistic forces into one thus
representing completion stood Confucius with his feet
firmly planted on what is, and giving as little thought
as possible to life after death "preferring to teach men
how to live."

Okakura-Kakuzo relates the Sung allegory of the
Three Vinegar Tasters as explaining admirably the
trend of the three doctrines. "Sakyamuni, Confucius
and Lao-tse once stood before a jar of vinegar — the
emblem of life — and each dipped in his finger to taste
the brew. The matter of fact Confucius found it sour,
the Buddha called it bitter and Lao-tse pronounced it
sweet." ^

Yet whether Life was sweet, bitter or sour neither
doctrine attempted to disguise the enormous importance
of the two principles, which united produce life.

The symbolism of the interaction of the yang and
yin as developed in the famous eight trigrams of the
Yi King or Book of Changes forms a fascinating and
thought provoking chapter by itself.

"The Book of Tea."

THE CHINESE TRIGRAMS

"The reason that can he reasoned not eternal reason.

Name that can he named not eternal name.

The unnamahle heginning of heaven and earth.

The namable mother of all things. . . .

These two things spiritual and material, though we call
them hy different names, in their origin are one and
the same. This sameness is a mystery. This mys-
tery the gate of all spirituality.'' — Trans, of Tao-
Teh-King.

'The successive movements of the active and inac-
tive elements make what is called the course of things.
Existence and non-existence give rise to each other."

THE CHINESE TRIGRAMS

THERE is a legend that a 'dragon horse' emerged
from the river Ho bearing on its back an ar-
rangement of marks which gave Fuh-Hi (or
Fu-Shi) the idea of the trigrams. These groupings
or symbols are supposed by some authorities to go back
to B.C. 3322, while others consider that Fuh-Hi lived
between 2853—2738 B.C.

These trigrams are contained in the Yi King or Book
of Changes. Also the earliest Chinese philosophy is
found in notes added to the Yi. This ancient book
has been venerated by Chinese scholars and sages of
every period, who have looked upon it as a "clue to
the mysteries of nature and an unfathomable lake of
metaphysical wisdom." ^

The interpretation of the Yi was raised to a science.
Confucius classified and wrote various appendices to
it and is reported to have said toward the end of his
life that if fifty years more could be given him to devote
to the study of the Y he might hope to escape many
errors.

According to de Groot the Taoists regarded the
Yi King as their Book, par excellence. He emphasises
this as against the generally accepted opinion that the
principal Taoist Bible is the Tao-Teh-King.

^ De Groot's "Religious Systems of China."

42 %ift S)j>mbo(s!

The "I" or "Y" consisted originally of eight tri-
grams and sixty-four hexagrams made up of a com-
bination of broken and unbroken lines arranged in such
a way as not to repeat each other.

These were derived from the two elementary or
primary forms called Liang-I. De Groot quotes from
the Yi in his Religious Systems of China. "Of the
system of divination laid down in the Yi King or Book
of Changes it says 'There is in the system of the meta-
morphoses of nature the Great Ultimate Principle and
this produces the two Regulating Powers. These Pow-
ers produce the four forms which again produce eight
trigrams. These trigrams determine good and evil and
good and evil cause the great business of human life.' "

The two elementary forms or Regulating Powers
are: —

Yang bright, Yin dark ; Yang the principle of heav-
en, Yin the earth which when not acted upon by the
heavens is nothing but a cold, dark, lifeless mass. Yang
is the sun, Yin the moon. Yang is the active, mascu-
line principle, Yin is passive, the feminine principle.
Yang is positive, Yin negative. Yang is strong, un-
bending, Yin is weak, submissive, pliant.

Everything produced by Yang and Yin being the
natural result of the Celestial and Terrestrial Breaths,
the outcome for good or ill is in exact mathematical
proportion to the way these are combined. The strug-
gle between and different admixtures of these two con-
trasting, elementary forces make all the conditions that
prevail.

Yang is symbolised by a whole line indi-
cating strength.

Yin is symbolised by a divided line indi-
cating weakness.

tCfje Cfiinese Erigrams 43

These lines placed over themselves and each other
formed the four Hsiang or Emblematic Symbols.

These same lines placed successively over each other
formed the eight Kwa or Trigrams. There are only
eight possible combinations of such trigrams, to each
of which was assigned a special meaning which formed
the basis of divination.

The two fundamental lines added to each of the
eight trigrams produce sixteen figures of four lines
each. This is carried on to thirty-two figures of five
lines each. A similar addition produces the sixty-four
hexagrams each of which form the subject of an essay

•5^

ABRANGEMENT OF TRIGRAMS ACCORDING TO FUH-HI.

in the text of the Yi. The Hnes increase in an arith-
metical progression whose common difference is 1 and

44 Itife ^pmbolsf

the figures in a geometrical progression whose common
ratio is 2.

The eight trigrams were called: —

"Khien, heaven, sky, celestial sphere.

Tui, watery exhalations, vapours, clouds.

Li J fire, heat, sun, light, lightning.

Chen, thunder.

Sun, wind, wood.

Khan, water, rivers, lakes, seas.

Ken, mountains.

Khwun, earth, terrestrial matter." ^

Khien represented by three undivided strokes is
'Unalloyed Yang.' Khwun represented by three di-
vided strokes is 'Unalloyed Yin'. In the mixed groups
the lower line indicates the place of most importance.

Khien symbolises Heaven which directs the great
beginnings of things, and Khwun the Earth which
gives to them their completion.

Khien and Khwun are the gate of the Yi. Move-
ment and rest are the regular and inherent qualities of
each.

The six minor trigrams or children are water and
fire, thunder and wind, mountains and large bodies of
water.

In China the four "heaven spirits" were cloud, rain,
wind, thunder, and the worship of mountains and rivers
was closely associated with the worship of heaven.
Mountains and rivers were believed to control climatic
conditions — both physical and spiritual climates.
There were four mountains in the four quarters of the
empire as well as the four great rivers and the four

"De Groot's "Religious Systems of Claina."

Srije Cf)ine£(e ^Trigrams; 45

seas which "according to mythical geography bound the
earth."

The trigrams contain the three powers, heaven,
earth and men. These three are one and the same.
When doubled into hexagrams the three powers unite
and are one. "But there are the changes and move-
ments of their (several) ways and therefore there are
separate places for Yin and Yang and reciprocal uses
of the hard and soft." ^

This system of divination was really an attempt —
and an amazingly clever one at that — to explain the

^ Summer ^

ABHANGEMENT OP TRIGRAMS ACCORDING TO WEN WANG.

origin of nature on mathematical principles. Numbers
were conceived of "not as relations predicable of things
but as constituting the essence of things." Numbers

' Legge's trans. Yi King.

46 TLift ^pmbolfii

Avere the rational reality to which appearances as recog-
nised by the senses may be reduced. Troward must
have studied the Yi for he speaks of the "three great
principles into which all forms of manifestation may
be analysed — the Masculine, Positive or Generating
Principle ; the Feminine, Receptive or Formative Prin-
ciple; and the Neuter or Mathematical Principle
which, by determining the proportional relations be-
tween the other two gives rise to the principles of va-
riety and multiplicity." *

In the Yi production and re-production are what is
called change. The whole system, in fact, is based up-
on the "contractions and expandings, recedings and ap-
proachings of the productive and completing powers of
the even and odd numbers."

Yang being represented by an undivided line or

one stroke therefore all odd numbers belong

to Yang.

Yin having a divided line or two strokes

hence all even numbers belong to Yin.

Three was assigned to heaven and two to earth.

Heaven was high, earth low. That which is high
is noble, honourable. Things low are mean.

Yang was nine, and Yin six.

Nine being the triple multiple of the undividable
number which represents Yang or Heaven, means in
Chinese the 'fullness of Yang.'

In Hebrew the number nine was equivalent to
Truth. When multiplied the immutable number nine
reproduces itself. Thus 2 X 9 = 18. 1 + 8 = 9.
3X9 = 27. 2 + 7 = 9 and so on.

The Pythagoreans attached something the same
meaning to numbers using the unit and odd numbers

* "Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning," T. Troward.

Srije Cl)ines!e ^TrigramsJ 47

for good and the even for whatever is fluent, crooked,
indeterminate, evil.

Plato assigns dexter things and odd numbers to the
Olympic gods and the opposite to the dsemons.

Among the Pythagoreans: —

1 — is the niLmber of essence.

2 — signified otherness, involving difference, di-
versity.

3 — mediation, atonement, completeness — beginning,
middle, end.

4 — indicated squareness, justice, earth.

5 — being the combination of odd and even symbol-
ised marriage.

6 — the number of lu£h or chance.

7 — was the number of the entire cosmos, 3 represent-
ing the deity and 4 the world. God and the
world.

8 — solidity.

9 — the treble triad. The cube of three being nine,
nine was regarded by Pythagoras as the extent
to which numbers would go, all others being
embraced and revolving within it. Ten but
recommences a fresh series capable of infinite
expansion.

In the minor trigrams those which contain only one
undivided line belong to Yang. The Yang trigrams
represent one ruler and two subjects thus indicating
superiority. Those which contain two undivided lines
belong to Yin and signify two rulers and one subject
symbolising inferiority, weakness, dissension.

In the preface to his translation of the Yi King
Legge refers a little scornfully to the fact that Chinese
scholars are fond of saying that all the truths of elec-

TLiit ^pmliols;

tricity, heat, light and other branches of European
physics are to be found in the eight trigrams. And if
you reflect upon it, as representing an eternal process

The "Pah-Kwa" or eight trigrams with the Great Monad in the centre are also a
powerful charm against evil and are often seen above the entrance door of houses or
carved on a wooden shield and nailed on the lintel of a door. Henry Dore, S. J.,
Researches into Chinese Superstition,

developed from unity to multiplicity by the inter-rela-
tion of the active and negative forces, this may not be
untrue.

The most superficial study of the trigrams reveals

arfjc Cfjinese ^vi^vami 49

a certain authority, that touch of the universal that cap-
tivates the imagination. And one finds in them the
same undying vitality that pertains to all the ancient
sjTiibols of life.

The system or philosophj^ as developed in the Yi
King is strikingly unlike the majority of religious be-
liefs. There is no sort of a notion conveyed of the ul-
timate marriage of heaven and earth, nor of a day
when the lion and the lamb are going to lie down to-
gether. On the contrary, the Chinese, who are intense-
ly practical as well as mystical, seem to have accepted
the fact that the lion and the lamb are temperamentally
unfitted for any permanent association, and that heav-
en and earth can only unite for the purpose of produc-
tion. Indeed, the entire conception of the trigrams is
based upon the idea that these forces active and passive,
masculine and feminine, heaven and earth not only are
directl}^ antagonistic, but that their being so is a part
of the scheme of things.

The changeableness of human affairs — union gives
way to separation — from separation comes re-union —
this is the theme of the Yi King. "The ever changing
phenomena of nature and human experience."

"Sun goes, moon comes. Moon goes, sun comes.
Cold goes, heat comes. Heat goes, cold comes. That
which goes becomes less, that which comes increases.
Thus the seasons, year, all life completes itself."

"Notes of the same key respond to one another.
Creatures of the same nature seek one another. Water
flows toward the place that is low and damp. Fire rises
up toward what is dry. Clouds follow the dragon and
winds follow the tiger."

It is, perhaps, this very acceptation and develop-
ment of the idea of displacement and change that gives

50 life ^pmbolsf

the Yi King its uncanny fascination. You find your-
self repeating "Sun goes, moon comes. Moon goes, sun
comes . . . Water flows toward the place that is low
and damp. Fire rises up toward what is dry. Clouds
follow the dragon and winds follow the tiger." Under
its spell you, too, begin to feel that displacement, con-
stant displacement is the secret of continued existence
and growth. The weak and the strong alternately give
way to each other, just as in the lineal figures of the
trigrams strong and weak lines push each other out.
And it is this alternation that produces all the changes
and transformations.

The weak rule when the Yang element is lacking —
and civilisations fall. The weak in turn are displaced
by the strong and good rises again. Yet each has its
purpose in the way of fulfilment.

The Chinese believe, however, that a great man can
neither be all heaven nor all earth but must have a
blending of both to be truly great.

"A great man is he who is in harmony in his at-
tributes with heaven and earth, in his brightness with
sun and moon, in his orderly procedure with the four
seasons."

THE CROSS

''The three main forms in which the life force mani-
fests itself are the globe, the star and the cross. . . .
Of the third all trees and plants having upright stems
and leaves or branches growing at right angles, not
forgetting man himself, who, tree-like, with trunk and
branches makes with outstretched arms throughout
long vistas of human history 'the sign of the cross/ **
— Eva Martin.

VI
THE CROSS

IF you go to the Egyptian rooms of any of the large
museums — the Louvre at Paris, the British Mu-
seum in London, the Metropolitan Museum of
New York or that of Cairo — you will find graven on
fragments of temple walls, and on tombs and sarcophagi
that existed 4,000 years before Christ, various forms of
the cross. You will see it portrayed thus X — still used
as the sign of multiplication — and thus + — used to this
day as the plus sign — and again thus T — the "Sacred
Tau." You will then notice constantly repeated a fig-
ure like this ■?■ — the tau cross with a circle or ovoid
above it. This is known as the Crux Ansata, the Egyp-
tian Ankh, the Key of the Nile, the Key of Life or
the Cross of Egypt. Although this form of the cross
is more closely associated with Egypt, the criur ansata
was also reverenced as the "hidden wisdom" by the
Phoenicians, the Chaldeans, the Mexicans and all other
ancient races of whom any records can be found.

Used as a sign by primordial man, found in its dif-
ferent forms as a religious emblem among the most
widely scattered races, and in every stage of civilisation,
reverenced by the Incas, tattoed on their foreheads by
the Patagonians, made a feature of their worship by
the Druids, taken over by the Christians as their high-

Hife ^pmbol2(

est emblem of Life Everlasting, it is significant that the
meaning of life attached to the cross has never been lost.
Its prevalence, its undying vitality, the tenacity with
which it has been preserved and reverenced seems to be
an instinct of race consciousness comparable to the in-
stinct for life in the individual, which physicians tell us
is the strongest instinct we possess. As a symbol of
life it would have been impossible for the Christian re-
ligion not to have adopted it.

The cross has been called the cosmic symbol of the
four quarters of the earth or universe. Some have be-
lieved that it was derived from the two crossed fire
sticks. It has been likened to a bird with outstretched
wings. It has been traced back to two human figures
crossed. Plato saw the divine man stamped upon the
universe in the form of a cross. Except that it means
life, however, everything else about the cross — its origin
and from what source derived is pure conjecture.

The invariable signification of the cruoc ansata —
implied also by the simpler cross — is 'Life to Come.'

TAU CROSS.

CRUX ANSATA.

The crux ansata is the inseparable accompaniment
of the chief triad of Egyptian deities, nor is its use re-
served for superior deities alone. Maat the goddess of
Truth is depicted presenting it to the Sun the source of
all life, typifying that Life and Truth are eternal.

Wl}t Crofiifi!

Deities are frequently pictured holding it to the lips of a
dying man, or sometimes receiving it as a passport to
the soul. Placed on tombs and sarcophagi it signified
the ever living spirit, the immortality of the soul.

GREEK CROSS.

LATIN CROSS.

MALTESE CROSS.

The Tau cross among the ancient Irish symbolised
wisdom.

The tau was considered a divine symbol by the
Mexicans, who called it the Tree of Life, Tree of Nutri-
ment, Tree of our Flesh and who later consecrated it to
the god of rain.

Thor's hammer was said to be the tau cross. The
double hammer of Thor was a symbol of lightning and
rain and thus fertilitj^ Thor's hammer has
also been called the swastika or fylfot cross.
Other authorities, however, consider that
the hammer of Thor more properly belongs
with the Y — that mystic Y of the Chinese.

The tau cross was given to St. Anthony
the Hermit, who besides using it as a crutch, was de-
picted in Greek art with the tau — always blue — on the
left shoulder or on the cope.

The candidates for admission into Mithraism are
said to have received the mark of the tau on their fore-
heads at the time of their initiation.

The tau cross as well as other forms of the cross were
used as instruments of execution.

As a symbol of life in a perverted sense, a phallic

THE SWASTIKA.

56 TLift ^pmbolss

meaning has been attributed to the tau, and the opinion
has been expressed that in the old bibhcal days of
Ezekiel the tau was the mark ordered by the Lord to be
placed "upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and
that cry for all the abominations." (Ezekiel 9:4.)

The monogram of the Egyptian Tau is formed of
three taus h'^-i. This is similar to the Masonic jewel
of the Royal Arch. It is interesting to note here
that much of the symbolism that enters so largely into
Masonic rites goes back through unbroken tradition to
the days of primordial man. Churchward finds that the
gavel used by the Free Masons was a sacred symbol of
the Pygmies. Objects discovered under the obelisk of
Cleopatra's Needle reveal that many of the symbols
used in the ceremonial rites of modern Free Masonry
were employed by building organisations and architects
in Egypt in 1900 B.C. The same symbols were also in
use among the Mayas, according to Le Plongeon, who,
in discussing the origin of Free Masonry, says that, al-
though it has been attributed to Pythagoras and "its
esoteric doctrines and symbols can be plainly traced to
the doctrine of Pythagoras and from there to the re-
ligious mysteries of Egypt" — on the other hand, he
goes on to say, although some consider that it was
founded by the first Christians, others that it originated
in the building of Solomon's Temple and others again
that it goes back to the days of Adam, he himself be-
lieves that Free Masonry existed before Adam. Bayley
notes that the same symbolism was used in Mithraism,
preserved by the Gnostics, made a part of their ritual by
the Rosicrucians and Templars who "when driven out
of Germany reappear in England as Free Masons."

In Egyptian symbolism sometimes four taus are
used placed back to back. "These point like the flaming

^fje Crosis; 57

sword that guarded Eden to all four quarters of the
universe."

The tau cross
is also associ-
ated with the
sacred axe of
the pygmies,
w h e n stones
took the place
of sticks.

The cross
with four equal
arms, sometimes

formed of ser- four taus placed back to back.

pentS, has been B.yley, Lost La.,ua,e of Symtolisn..

called the symbol of the four elements.

When composed of two or four sceptres with a circle
at the point of intersection it indicated "divine poten-
tiality."

The four cardinal points were of great importance
in all primitive symbolism. The year with its four re-
curring seasons and twelve periods of time set off by the
appearance of each new moon; the sunrise and sunset,
the right and left hand of a man as he faced the
east, these all became fixed points of reference. And
one may believe that from the latter picture of him-
self facing the rising sun, man derived the idea of the
four cardinal points.

The simple cross enclosed in a circle as a sign

0of the earth was intended, it may be supposed,
to indicate the four quarters — north, south, east,
west — or extension in length and breadth.
The tradition of the four rivers of Paradise flowing
towards the cardinal points dividing the land cruci-

58 life ^pmfiolfii

formly has been handed down in many mythologies.
In the Sineru of the Buddhist grows the four hmbed
Damba-tree or tree of life, and from its roots gush
forth four sacred streams — north, south, east, west.
From the four sides of the golden Mount Meru or the
"Celestial Earth" of the Hindus, proceed the four
primeval rivers. The "celestial mountain land" of the
Chinese is divided by the four streams of immortality.
Four rivers of milk flowed through Asgard the Elysium
or abode of happiness of the Scandinavians.

The Aztec goddess of rain bore a cross in her hand.
The Greek cross represented the winds from the
four cardinal points.

This cross was also used by the ancient Americans
to represent the winds which bring rains.

' In the Swastika by Thomas Wil-
son one finds the following legend of
the Dakota Indians interpreting the
cross which symbolises the winds:

"The four winds issue out of the

four caverns in which the souls of

men existed before the incarnation of

T/xxNorNosroM the human body. The top of the cross

CARDINAL POINTS. jg thc coM, dcvastatiug North Wind,

Dakota Indians ^j^^ ^^^^ powerful of all. It is wom

Tenth Annual Report of

the Bureau of Ethnology, on thc bodv ucarcst thc hcad, the seat

Fig. I2SS. •^ ' _

of intelligence and conquering de-
vices. The left arm covers the heart, it is the East Wind
coming from the seat of life and love. The foot is the
melting, burning South Wind indicating as it is worn
the seat of fiery passion. The right arm is the gentle
West Wind blowing from the spirit land, covering the
lungs from which the breath goes out gently, but into
the unknown night. The centre of the cross is the earth

■A: ® <^

arije Crogflf

ST. Andrew's cross.

and man moved by the conflicting influences of Gods
and Winds." ^

St. Andrew's cross or Saltire, the
crux dccussata represented perfection.
The original meaning of dccuses was
the number ten, the Roman sign for
which (X) is made of two Vs (or fives)
put point to point.

The crossed fire sticks of the Chinese have been
likened to St. Andrew's cross.

The cross with a wheel in the centre called Kiakra,
Tschakra or Cakra is regarded as one of the oldest sym-
bols of majesty and power in India. Vishnu the per-
sonification of the sun is given the cross to signify his
eternal and ever vigilant government and his mighty
power of life and light that penetrates heaven and earth
and vanquishes darkness and evil.

"The word cross c?nix resolves itself into ak-ur-os the
Light of the Great Fire. . . . Hammer — anglo-saxon
hamor means fire or gold of the Immutable Sun."
(Bayley.)

Brahma is represented holding a fiery cross.

Fiery Crosses were used in the early days by the
Norsemen to smnmon the nation to a council of war.

The Assyrians represented Anu, god of the sky, by
an equilateral cross. The ideogram of the god was
formed by four cruciform characters radiating from a
centre denoting the sun.

In China a cross inscribed in a square was a symbol
of the earth.

'The Swastika," Thomas Wilson, pp. 934-5.

6o TLiit S>pmbols;

The cross among the Celts and the Germans was
the Celestial Two Headed Mallet which symbolised
fertility.

The Mallet as a religious symbol is also found in

Japan where it is called the "Creative Hammer," and

typifies the Yo and In ( Yang and Yin) or

the masculine and feminine principles of

nature which lead to the creation of all

things. On the striking portion was figured

a circle the symbol of the tama or sacred

pearl the "gem of transcendental wis-

cELTic CROSS, dom, its lambent glow, the emblem of

pure essence."

The Celtic crosses as the name implies are found
principally in Ireland and Scotland. They are gener-
ally of stone and are usually found dis-
tinguishing some spot by the road side. I I

Numerous forms of the cross are //\ f\\
found among the North American In-
dians as will be seen on page 62.

The Maltese Cross was the symbol
of the Knights of Malta.

The Cross pattee differs a little hav-
ing the sides of the limbs slightly curved in. It signified
the open wings of a bird and was adopted as their sign
by the Knights Hospitaller.

The Latin Cross is the one more closely identified
with the Christian religion, although other forms were
also used and with the same signification.

Lowrie in the Monuments of the Early Church,
says "Never has the cross been held in higher estimation
than it was in the first centuries of the Church. ... It
was used as a gesture not only in ecclesiastical functions

aClje CrosJs; 6i

but in private life. Tertullian . . . says *At every ac-
tion which we begin, in coming in and in going out,
when we clothe ourselves, or put on our
shoes, when we bathe, when we seat our-
selves at table, at lamp lighting, on going
to bed, we trace on our foreheads the
sign of the cross."

Lowrie adds "The Christians saw in
these pagan symbols a mystic presage of monogram op

1 rt t • t CHRIST. LA~

the Gospel, but the only one oi which babum of con-
they make any use during the second and
third centuries was the swastica, an ancient oriental
symbol which was conmionly used in the West for
purely decorative purposes."

The old mystical idea of man as the microcosm of
which the universe is the macrocosm is a familiar one.
Nor is it a new idea that the ancients proportioned their
sacred temples from the human figure. The sculpture
of the Greeks and Egyptians reveals the fact that they
studied the body abstractly in its exterior presentment.
The rules for its proportion having been established for
sculpture it is not unreasonable to suppose that these
same rules and measurements were developed and
elaborated upon in architecture. Vitruvius and Albert!
both lay stress upon the fact that all sacred buildings
should be founded on the proportions of the human
body. Troward declares that the "human body forms
the basis of the proportions observed in such ecclesias-
tical architecture as is designed according to canonical
rules of which Westminster Abbey and Milan Cathedral
are good examples."

One has only to take up the dictionary and glance
at the definition of cubit "measure from the elbow to the
tip of the middle finger," or watch a woman measure

TLiit ^pmbolss

o o\

loooo

O OGOOI

o 0/
0,9^

VARIOUS FORMS OF CROSSES IN USE AMONG NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, FROM
GREEK CROSS TO SWASTIKA.

Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. 1880-81, PI. lui.

off a yard from the hand with extended arm to the tip
of the nose, or an eighth of a yard from the tip of the
middle finger to the knuckle, or a man estimating the
size of a room by pacing across it heel to toe to realise
that man has built up his world on himself — made him-
self the measure of all things.

It seems plausible, therefore, that the symbol of the
cross may have been adapted from man himself standing
with outstretched arms, typifying the highest form of
life really known to man — his own.

And thus, with the poetic justice that the ancients
delighted in, criminals were nailed to the cross, the
symbol of themselves, the symbol of life which they had
desecrated and profaned. In Greece where the cross
also meant future life it was used as a sign of mercy.
Criminals who were acquitted had their names marked
by a cross — the sign of life. The Romans indicated
acquittal in the same way.

To this day a man who cannot write signs his name
with a cross.

Interpreted as symbolising man himself, the reason
for placing crosses at cross roads where man passes, and
in market places where men were apt to congregate is
not difficult to understand, nor is the reverence that is
attached to the cross in any degree lessened by the
thought that throughout his strange and shadowed his-
tory, in his painful efforts at self -understanding man
has seen in the cross the reflection of his own divine
potentiality, that divinity which he recognises dimly at
times, overpoweringly at others, as the living part of the
inexpressibly complex nature of man.

His religion is thus indissolubly an integral part of
himself.

Interpreted as man himself the symbolism of the

64 TLiit fepmbolsf

cross with the circle above it becomes clear. Univer-
sally reverenced as an emblem of life and immortality,
the cruj^ ansata or tau cross with an ovoid above it has
been used from pre-historic days to typify the union
of spirit and water, masculine and feminine, the active
and passive principles of life. There is something awe
inspiring, superb in the continuity of life represented
by this one symbol. It goes back to creation itself —
"The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters"
— carries us through the human, and on to spiritual life
and immortality.

"Toward the spiritual perfection of Humanity the
stupendous momentum of the cosmic process has all
along been tending."

The swastika, the most ancient of the many forms of
the cross will be considered elsewhere.

VII

POLE OR AXIS AND CIRCLE, PILLARS,
STONES, ROCKS, ALTARS

"The Universal Pillar which supports all things."

''The Eternal Circle from Goodness through Good-
ness to Goodness."

"Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful
and hast forgotten God that formed thee/' Deut. 32:18.

"Jesus saith, wherever there are two they are not
without God, and wherever there is one alone, I say, I
am with him. Raise the stone and there thou shalt
find Me, cleave the wood and there am I."

"Duality . . . the greatest of mysteries . . . for it is
the vmivei'sal mystery of attraction upon which all re-
search even in physical science eventually abuts," —
Troward.

VII

POLE OR AXIS AND CIRCLE: PILLARS,
STONES, ROCKS, ALTARS: TWIN
BROTHER IDEA, TWIN HORSE-
MEN

THE combination of upright and circle — "I the
'Holy One,' the Pole or Axis of the universe"
and O — eau, water, the Perfect One, the Pearl,
the Divine Receptacle, lends itself to an infinite variety
of sacred forms and ideas.

In this symbolism the Pole or Axis becomes the
stabilising force. It is the Pillar of Heaven, the type of
all sacred pillars. Around it revolves the whole uni-
verse. "There, too, at the end of the axis
are placed those Triune emblems the fleur-
de-lys and the trident while the axis becomes
the spear, lance, dart of so
many classic myths. "^

The axis of the universe
is also symbolised as a fiery column, or
a pillar, staff, spindle, spike, nails,
torso, rod, axle-tree, pivot, pole — 'un-
der the character of Eros the God of
Love or Attraction, the first principle
of animation, the father of God and man.' The regula-
tor and disposer of all things was worshipped under the

* "The Night of the Gods," by John O'Neill.

D'Alviella.
Migration of
Symbols.

life ^pmbols;

name of Priapus. He was said to pervade the Universe
with the motion of his wings bringing pure light and
thence was called the 'Splendid, the Self -illumined, the
Ruling Priapus.'

The word pole is a derivative of a Phoenician word
.•. which means 'he

breaks through' or
'passes into.'

The axis is asso-
ciated with the great
tower of Kronos the
mainstay of the uni-
verse.

The pillar is con-
stantly referred to in
the Bible as a sym-
bol of the Creator.

One of the Egyp-
tian names for the
sacred city of the
sun signified stone
pillar. The tradi-
tions of stone wor-
ship survived in the
Egyptian custom of
erecting obelisks similar to Cleopatra's Needle before
their temples.

Our church spires are a relic of the same primitive
symbolism of creative force and Life Everlasting or
belief in the continuity of life.

Pillars, obelisks, columns, monoliths and shafts have
an undoubted phallic origin and as symbols of creative
energy they were objects of reverential worship among
all ancient races.

GROUP OF SACRED PILLARS ON MTCENiEAN VASE
FROM HALIKI.

Evans, Mycenaan Trees and Pillar Cult.

Photo. Alinari

HtHMEs (Mercury)
(Museo Ludovisi Boncompagni, Rome)

$ole or 9xiss anb Circle, etc. 69

The tower is an outgrowth of the pillar, and the
Round Towers in Ireland, which are supposed to have
been built by Persian refugees probably reflected this
same form of worship.

The Sacred Tat Pole of Egypt, the Measurer of the
Inundation, is sometimes depicted with a scarabseus
and two ur^eus snakes symmetrically posed on either
side. These are all life symbols.

To show their divinity and their association with
hfe, a rayed sun disk is frequently depicted with these
pillars or shafts, sjonbolising the same idea that
was conveyed in Egyptian religious art by the two
uraus serpents curving up either side of a pole or
pillar.

The classic form of the caduceus, a winged rod en-
twined by two serpents, was originally a rod — believed
to be the sacred tau — surmounted by a circle upon
which rests a crescent. It was the emblem of life and
power and Mercury always bears the caduceus when
conducting the souls of the dead.

Serpents twined around a pole were a symbol of
Baal Hamman.

The crosier — which was originally in the form of
a tau cross and only assumed the bent appearance in
the seventeenth century — also the shepherd's crook
come under this class of symbols. Osiris in judging the
dead is represented as holding in his hands "the crook,
the sceptre and the flail, emblems of rule, sovereignty
and dominion."

The three pointed wand conventionalised into the
fleur-de-lis is derived from the same symbolism.

"Pillars supporting a pavihon or tent are found in
the older sculptures of Nimroud. They are probably
of wood, appear to have been painted and were sur-

life ^pmboU

mounted by a pine or fir cone, that religious symbol so
constantly recurring on Assyrian monuments." ^

LIBATION VASE OF GREEN STONE.
Jastrow, Civilisation of Babylonia and Assyria.

The pine or fir cone had the same meaning as the
crua? ansata of the Egyptians. It has also been inter-
preted as a symbol of fire, hence life.

Among the Babylonians Ea the Sumerian god of
water, as the 'world spine' is symbolised as a column
with a ram's head standing on a throne beside which
rests a 'goat fish.'

The column symbolising the solar god Marduk
(Merodach) terminates in a lance head. Nergal's
column bears a lion's head.

' Layard's "Nineveh."

$oIe or 9xis( anb Circle, etc. 71

In the earliest representations of the pillar in Cy-
prus and Chaldea it assumes the form of a staff support-
ing a semicircle.

The Staff of Life depicted in a great variety of
forms is found on ancient gems and coins and sculpture.

'The rod of mine anger . . . the staff in their hand'
is the battle standard given as a symbol to Ashur, Tam-
muz and Osiris, who were tree-gods as well as corn and
vegetation gods.

The Phrygians depicted lions, bulls or winged
sphinxes facing each other, and between them they
placed the phallus, or sacred
pillar, or an urn.

In Palestine besides the
stelai or hdmmdmin which sym-
bolised Baal, they also vener-
ated "a simulacra of A s h- „, „. . . , ,,

The PhcEmcians used the same
toreth, representing this god- form, in this case it appears to
/» 1 f» • /» 1 J ^^ *^^ conventionalised lotus.

deSS of the fruitful and nOUr- B-Alviella. Migration of symbols.

ishing earth under the form of

a tree, or rather a stake begirt with draperies and ban-
delets. These are the asherim which the Hebrews, in
spite of the unbraidings of the prophets of Yahvew,
did not cease to 'construct' and 'plant.' " ^

The identification of the Asherdh or Ashera —
(singular for asherim) — as an attribute of the goddess
Ashtoreth (Astarte) the feminine counterpart of Baal,
is disputed by many scholars who consider that the
Sacred Pole or Asherah of the Hebrews belongs to the
same symbolism of life and reproduction that is ex-
pressed in the Old Testament by Aaron's rod which
"budded and brought forth buds and bloomed blossoms
and yielded almonds." (Num. 17:8.) And also by

'D'Alyiella's "The Migration of Symbols."

72 mtt ^|>mbol2(

the Rod or Stem of Jesse, "And there shall come forth
a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a Branch shall grow
out of his roots." (Isa. 11: 1.)

Representations of the genealogical Tree of Jesse
were very popular in mediaeval paintings, sculpture and
embroideries. And the same account of Christ's descent
taken from the Gospel of St. Matthew is elaborated in
the Jesse windows which are found in some of the old
cathedrals.

The circle has always symbolised eternity — that
which is without beginning or end. It is also, as we
have seen, one of the symbols of water or the feminine
principle.

The circle O meaning water enters into the mystery
of numbers and in the figure 8 becomes the "twin circles
of Love and Knowledge." Christ in "His essential
elements His number is eight." Water from remotest
times was used as a sacrament of regeneration to wash
away sins, its use thus symbolising spiritual re-birth.
The baptismal fonts in Christian Churches were made
octagonal in form to typify the biblical account of crea-
tion, which, having been completed in seven days, thus
eight figured regeneration, the beginning anew. The
symbolism of the octave also enters in here.

Spirit being the mysterious bond between men this
unseen but potent force was indicated by "mystic ties
or links." These were frequently formed out of a com-
bination of the S of spiritus and the figure 8. Some-
times three circles were used as a symbol of perfection.
Again the trefoil is employed, also the cross. "The
principle of the Divine Essence" was typified by the
trefoil or clover leaf.

The spiral was used in the East to denote thunder
from which issues a flash of lightning.

$ole or ^xis! anb Circle, etc. 73

The spiral ornament also appears on Egyptian
scarabs, on spectacle stones in Scotland as well as in
Crete, France, Denmark, Scandinavia. This spectacle
ornament resembled twin wheels or circles and was re-
garded as a symbol of the Deity.

Among the Egyptians the letter O was the hiero-
glyph of the sun and was looked upon as a symbol of
new birth, new life.

The Trinity which was common to all people of an-
tiquity was sometimes symbolised by three concentric
circles.

In the Caves of Ellora three circles arranged in the
form of a triangle two below and one above were indic-
ative of a Caitya or Stupa as well as of the Tri-ratna
or Three Jewels.

Four circles linked in cruciform shape to a larger
central one was used by the mystics as a symbol of
Wisdom who is "the mother of fair love and fear, and
knowledge and holy hope."

The Egyptians symbolised the "Splendour of Day-
light" by five circles. Among the Pythagoreans five
typified light as well as marriage. The modern Free
Masons have Five Virtues or Points of Fellowship. The
Greeks held the number sacred to their solar god Apol-
lo. Five was universally regarded by the ancients as
belonging to the God of Light indicating the number
of his attributes: — Being, sameness, diversity, motion,
rest — or Omnipotence, omnipresence, eternity, omni-
science, unity.

The Druids represented the Northern Heavens by a
circle and the Southern Heavens by a circle, each circle
surrounded by twelve equidistant pillars. These cir-
cles were joined together by a smaller circle which also
had twelve pillars, the pillars of the latter symbolising

74 ^itt S>pmtiols(

the twelve signs of the zodiac. These thirty six divi-
sions were symbolic of the thirty six gates of the "Great
House of Him who is on the Hill."

THE THIRTY SIX GATES.
Churchward, Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man.

The Circle also denotes perfection, the Perfect One,
the Pearl of Price.

In Japan the circle is associated with the lotus and
the man ji (swastika).

There as well as in China the circle is sometimes di-
vided by three lines resembling the Chinese Y, indicat-
ing the Great Unit, the Great Uniter.

The Maoris are said to worship a First Cause under
the name of lo.

The decade 10 is a combination of upright and circle
and was interpreted by Pythagoras as forming, as it
were, a monad with which re-commences a fresh series
capable of infinite expansion.

In Bayley's Lost Language of Symbolism there
is an illustration of a spear or dart typifying "the pri-
mal, energising force of Light or Rod of Jesse," trans-
fixing a wavy line which terminates in a circle. Bayley
interprets this as "being the M of mare, sea or a com-

Phoio. Alinari

Demeter (Ceres)
(Museo Xazionale delle Terme, Rome)

$ole or ^xin anb Circle, etc. 75

bination of I the Holy One and o — eau — a variant of the
symbolism known to miderlie the Maypole and its ring."

Nowhere is the nature of this symbolism more clear-
ly shown than in our modern Maypole and its ring,
which is simply a survival of some ancient springtime
festival in which the pole, the symbol of the reproduc-
tive powers of nature, is laden with garlands of flowers
and all the conventional attributes of life and produc-
tivity, and ceremoniously planted in the warm, receptive
earth, while those who celebrate the return of spring
sing and dance about it.

In this symbolism of pole and circle, the dominant,
forceful upright was looked upon as Creator, and the
circle was the "regulator or bridle of time and motion."
One sees here also the esoteric connection between the
circle and the tides of the sea.

The ancient metaphysicians were not always com-
plimentary to the passive principle. True, as Chester-
ton says, "In all legends men have thought of women
as sublime separately but horrible in the herd."

Nevertheless, in spite of her legendary beginning in
which she is depicted as a malignant force, a monster
like the Scottish Hag — in spite of Eve, the very tempt-
ing first woman of the Hebrews, the mystics of all ages
have delighted in portraying woman as enclosing,
guarding, protecting — as the "house or wall of man
without whose bounding and redeeming influence he
would inevitably be dissipated and lost in the abyss."

The supreme importance of these forces Life itself
proves. And the rise and fall of civilisations and the
happiness and misery of individuals can be largely in-
terpreted by their juxtaposition. The trouble with the
circle, of course, is that it cannot go forward without
returning to itself — without coming back to the begin-

76 life ^pmhol^

ning, and with the pole or dart or arrow, that it loses
itself, goes on and on until spent unless bounded and
restrained by the circle.

To this ancient conception of the active and passive
principles of life as angular and curved, has been at-
tributed many of the intricate and elaborate designs
used from time immemorial in architecture — such as
the egg and dart motif, the bead and reel, and many
others that one still sees pictured on friezes, and carved
on capitals and mouldings. Whether, as Goodyear be-
lieves, the egg and dart is derived from the lotus, or
whether the inception comes from some earlier form,
one may assume without fear of contradiction that it
represented this tenaciously held conception of the
dualistic principles.

This feeling for life was carried into medigeval
church architecture where one tower — the feminine —
was always a little lower. Nor is it altogether fanciful
that it was this thought of Life — used reverently and
with full knowledge of its meaning — that creates the dif-
ference between ancient and modern art.

The statement that all architecture had a phallic
origin is one of those fragmentary truths that mankind
is so fond of uttering — a shallow and surface way of
expressing a tremendous, vital, underlying truth. Look-
ing around upon the work of his hands and brains, if
man finds nothing but imitation and ugliness if he is
honest, he will say "This is myself." When he resorts
to imitation, however, or merely expresses the ugly and
meretricious his best is perverted, he is no longer an hon-
est workman. It is one of the unbreakable laws, ap-
parently, that when an architect or artist does not
express in his art from the very depths of his inner
consciousness this union of spirit and matter he is act-

$ole or 13x12! anb Circle, etc. 77

iially saying nothing to us. His buildings, pictures,
statues are meaningless forms.

And this leads one to modern church architecture.
In the old days towers, columns, church spires symbol-
ised the creative impulse reaching up toward the sky,
toward the spiritual — to the divine union of heaven and
earth, spirit and matter. In building our modern church
without spires — the old phallic emblem — it may be the
shame of knowledge that overtook Adam or Eve, or
possibly a reflex of puritanical training that instead of
sublimating the natural instincts we should deny their
existence, but is it not more truly an unconscious betray-
al of how little we ourselves enter in — does the absence
of the church spire symbolise only too truthfully that the
church has lost its aspiration to lift the whole of man up ?

Whatever we do is so apt to indicate more than we
dream.

Among all ancient races rochs and stones were wor-
shipped as symbols of the Creator.

A theory has been advanced that in simpler times
when man lived closer to nature he was responsive to all
her subtle influences, so that even the spirit of the stone,
which we are now too dulled and atrophied to recognise,
carried a message to him. Hence arose the belief in
the magical and medicinal qualities, in the luck or ill
luck, that have been since time immemorial, attributed
to certain precious stones.

The Egyptians perpetuated the worship of trees
and wells, stones and mounds. A great block of stone
was believed to be inhabited by one of the spirits of the
sun-god.

The early Cretan religion seems to have consisted
largely in the worship of natural objects such as trees

78 life S)j>mbol2i

and stones, or artificial, such as the sacred pillar, cones,
the 'horns of consecration' and the double axe.

In the worship of the Druids the stone pillar or men-
hir was associated with their sacred trees. In the primi-
tive religions of India there was the same custom of
setting up sacred stones underneath holy trees.

Rocks, stones, altars and pillars are constantly re-
ferred to in the Old Testament as symbols of the Crea-
tor. Jacob sets up a pillar where he had talked with
God, "even a pillar of stone." And again he takes the
stone which he had used for a pillow and sets it up for
a pillar and pours oil upon the top of it, "And he called
the name of that place Beth-el." Evans identifies
Beth-el with bastylic or the heaven sent meteoric
stones.

The Israelites at the command of the Lord take
twelve stones from the bed of the river Jordan and
Joshua later sets them up at Gilgal.

When the psalmist says, "The Lord is my rock and
my fortress and my deliverer ; my God, my strength in
whom I will trust ; my buckler and the Jiorn of my salva-
tion and my high tower/' (Ps. 18:2.) he is not origin-
ating these images out of his own mind; he is simply
making use of old symbols of life that had been known
and believed in since time began.

A. J. Evans in his Mycencean Trees and Pillar
Cult says of the cavern shrines of the Diktgean Cave
that "it is clear that the natural columns of this cave
were regarded as the baetylic forms of the divinity just
as the cave itself is here his temple. Some of the shorter
stalagmitic formations of this 'Holy of Hohes' are per-
fect representations of the omphalos type and may sup-
ply the true explanation of the origin of this form of
sacred stone."

^ole or 9x1)0! anb Circle, etc.

MITHRA BORN FROM THE ROCK.

and a lighted torch in the other.

Bas-relief found in the Crypt of St. Cle-
ments at Rome. Cumont, Mysteries of
Mithra.

The ancient Greeks appear to have had the idea that
men were derived from trees and rocks.

"Mithra was said t o
have been born of a rock, to
have wedded a rock and to
have been the parent of a
rock."

Bayley finds justifica-
tion for thinking that the
word rock is associated with
Great Fire. Hence Stone-
henge, seat or stronghold of
JResplendent Fire. Stone

circles were symbolic of the His head is adorned with a Phrygian
-r L ^ ^ c< cap. He has a dagger in one hand

Immutable hun. 66.

"The reference in Jere-
miah 'Saying to a stock
Thou art my father and to a stone — Thou hast brought
me forth' means, no doubt, the sacred stock (ashera)
and the sacred stone (masseba) of the sanctuary which
the Israelites regarded as their father and mother. The
sacred stock seems to have been a tree stripped of its
branches. The sacred stone was usually shaped like a
pillar, cone or obelisk."^

In their worship of the sacred stone or pillar known
as Masseba, pouring oil on the stone was a part of
the ritual.

In the cult of Asherah it might be either a living tree
or an artificially constructed pole or post before which
the Canaanites placed their altars.

Stone pillars and shafts and monuments to mark
graves were originally placed there not only as a sym-
bol of the Creator — of the animating force of life here

*Frazer's "The Golden Bough."

8o Hife ^pmbols;

and hereafter, but also as a place of indwelling for the
ghost of the departed. Stones and trees were thought
to be the depositories of the divine life, and were there-
fore worshipped, not as things, but for the divinity they
were supposed to contain.

In the old Jewish burial ground in Prague — one of
the oldest in existence and long since disused, one sees
a curious exemplification of this ancient reverence for
stones, in the quantities of small stones which still lie
piled up upon the graves and tombstones where they
were placed, according to Jewish custom, as a token of
esteem by relatives and friends of the deceased.

Altars and rocks were modified forms of pillars; the
rock a simplification of the pillar, and the altar a place
of offering. In the early religions of Northern India
the first sacrifice was to Mother Earth which was the
feminine manifestation of creative energy. The altar,
a heaped up mound of earth, was a symbol of the sacred
mother. This altar not only was the earth itself but
the earth as woman. The original altars among the Jews
were also of earth.

In time these altars became slabs for votive offerings
and were placed over the "pillar shrines which were of
a slightly conical shape." The corner posts which were
only added for security gave rise to a table form and
"when the aniconic image had been superseded, to a
Cretan form of altar and certain types of tripod." ^

In the most primitive form of stone and pillar wor-
ship, the offerings were simply placed on the holy stone.
Again a basket or some receptacle will hold the offering.
The symbolism of fruitfulness and plenty is obviously
indicated in a Gra?co-Roman relief where the "shovel
shaped basket of Bacchus laden with grapes and fruit"

* A. J. Evans's "Mycenaean Trees and Pillar Cult."

^ole or Sxis; anb Circle, etc.

is depicted surmounting a divine pillar. The same type
of basket plays an important part in the religious cere-
monies of the Hittites and Babylonians. There, too, it
is sometimes placed on the summit of what "must cer-
tainly be recognised as a beetylic cone." ^

A close relationship appears to have existed be-
tween moon and stone worship. The moon spirit was be-
lieved to inhabit the lunar stone.
Moon worship also links itself with
earth worship and both with water
worship, or in other words, with
the feminine cult, all three being
looked upon as manifestations of
the feminine principle.

The Urim and Thummim
(lights and perfections) were, ac-
cording to Josephus, twelve pre-
cious stones of extraordinary beau-
ty and purity worn on the breast
plates of the Jewish high priests.
These were the sacred symbols
worn 'upon his heart' by the high
priest and by which God gave
oracular responses to His people
for their guidance and safe conduct
in all matters temporal. Josephus
also speaks of two additional stones
worn on the shoulders. These were
supposed to be two sardonyx buttons, which were said
to emit luminous rays when the response was favourable.
Although all definite knowledge of what the symbols
were seems to have been lost in obscurity since the days
of Solomon, some authorities incline to the belief that

CARTHAGINIAN PILLAR
SHRINE ON STELE, NORA,
SARDINIA.

The moon-Spirit was be-
lieved to inhabit the
lunar stone.

Evans, Mycencen Trees and
Pillar Cult.

'Ibid.

JLiit ^pmbolsi

the Urim and Thummim were contrasting symbols re-
presenting light and darkness or yang and yin, and
while probably unlike the Chinese, they typified the
same forces and were used for the same purpose of divi-
nation. On the other hand, modern Egyptologists seem
to find the clue in Egypt where the Egyptian high
priests who were also magistrates wore around the neck
a jewelled image representing Truth on one side and

ENTRANCE TO TATTU IN AMENTA.

Showing the two Tat Pillars, and Ra the God in Spirit, and Osiris who is God
in the Body or Mummy-form.

Churchward, Signs and Symbols of Primordial Man.

Justice or Light on the other. When the accused was
acquitted the judge held out the image for him to kiss.
Osiris as judge of the dead wears around his neck the
precious stones representing "Light and Truth."

The custom of wearing charms is a relic of stone
worship.

The two opposite forces were also represented
two pillars, twin horsemen, the "j^rimeval twins."

^o(e or ^xisi anb Circle, etc. 83

In the Indian Rig-veda there were the twin deities
Mitra and Varuna who were the regulators of the sun,
moon, stars, winds, tides, waters, seasons ; the bestowers
of all heavenly gifts and who measured out the length
of human life. Varuna represents the concavity of the
sky (as does the Greek Ouranus) and carries the noose
associated with death.

In the Vedic mythology Yama the god of the dead
and his sister Yami were the first human pair.

Yama's messengers were the owl and the pigeon.
Yama also had two dogs each with four eyes. These
two brown, four-eyed dogs of Yama who guard the way
to the abode of death bear a strong resemblance to the
four-eyed dog or white dog with yellow ears of the
Parsi who was supposed to drive away Death, as well
as to the three-headed Cerberus that watches at the
gateway that leads to hell.

There were also the Persian Celestial Twins, Yima
and Yimah, who are likened to Mitra and Varuna.

The "Celestial Twins" were sometimes symbolised
by two children, two eyes, two circles as well as by two
pillars which become II the zodiacal sign of Gemini.

The A9wins, the twin horsemen in Indian mythology
resemble the Greek Dioscuri — Castor and Pollux. They
were called Vitrahana because they "ushered in the Sun-
light and destroyed Vritra the Darkness." They are
pictured as beautiful youths, children of Dyaus (heav-
en) and brothers of Ushas (the dawn) and are next in
importance to Indra, Agni and Soma in the Rig-veda.
"In early India the twin horsemen seem to have repre-
sented father and mother and afterwards day and
night." '

The Agwins were the special gods of horsemen

' "The Early History of Northern India," J. S. Hewitt.

life ^pmbolsf

and charioteers and were symbolised by two inter-
lacing Vs.

In Egypt the Dioscuri were symbolised by two lions
who in their solar phases represented Day and Night.

The "Twin Brother Idea" — one of whom envies and
slays the other, or deprives him of his birthright, as in
the story of Jacob and Esau — plays a most important
part in all ancient mythologies. It appears under vari-
ous names such as Cain and Abel, Baldur and Loki,

EGYPTIAN LION GODS "YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY" SUPPORTING SOLAR DISK.

Osiris and Set. It is a theme that is still used in mod-
ern romances. Guy de Maupassant employs it in
"Pierre et Jean." The Twin Brother Idea is merely a
dramatic version of the old struggle between Light and
Darkness, good and evil, growth and destruction or the
positive and negative forces which represent Life.

It was an ancient Babylonian belief that the sun-
god re-enters the inhabited world each morning between
two pillars. Thus it was customary to place two pillars
in the Semitic temples. And long after the meaning
was lost, even in the temples of Jerusalem the two bra-
zen pillars were never missing. The Phoenician sailors
believed that the two rocks of Gibraltar were the two

^ole or axisi anb Circle, etc, 85

pillars of IVIelkarth through which the sun-god passed
on his descent to the lower world of darkness.

The Two Pillars were called in Egypt the North
Pole or Light and the South Pole or Darkness and typi-
fied the Door of Heaven, the Gateway of Life, the Por-
tals of Eternity, the Double Gate of the Horizon.

This symbolism was reversed, as we have seen, by
the ancient Chinese. With them the North indicated
cold, darkness, the feminine principle, and the South
light, warmth, the masculine principle, Heaven.

The psalmist, however, agrees with the Egyptians
and pictures Zion on the North. "Beautiful for situa-
tion, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, on the
sides of the North, the city of the great King." (Ps.
48:2.)

One of the most important features of Solomon's
Temple are the two pillars which guard the entrance.

The building of Solomon's Temple 'without sound
of hammer nor axe nor saw' has been interpreted as a
mystical way of describing the universe which is "creat-
ed silently and by natural development."

The Temple of Solomon has also been likened to
the "New Jerusalem, the City of the Sun, the spirit-
ual city which lay four square and whose length was as
large as its breadth." ^

In the description of the Temple given by the He-
brew chroniclers one notes how lavishly and with what
profusion the Oriental symbols of life, reproduction and
fecundity are employed either as supports or decora-
tion. There were palm trees, lily work, pomegranates,
wheels, axle-trees. There were "nets of checker work,
and wreaths of chain work which were upon the top of
the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for

' Bayley's "Lost Language of Symbolism."

86 life S>pml)ols(

the other chapiter. . . . And round about upon the
one network . . . were pomegranates. . . . And the
chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars were
of lily work." Twelve oxen support a molten sea "and
the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup,
with flowers of lilies. . . . And on the borders that
were between the ledges were lions, oxen and cheru-
bim."

The cherubim in the Temple of Jerusalem and in
Solomon's Palace are identical with the winged bull of
Assyria.

The priests bring in the ark of the covenant. The
ark, a most precious symbol in all ancient religions, is
invariably associated with the feminine principle. They
bring the ark "into the most holy place even under the
wings of the cherubim; for the cherubim spread forth
their wings over the place of the ark and the cherubim
covered the ark and the staves thereof above." (II
Chron. 5:7-8.)

"The sacred symbols apply, not only to man, but al-
so to his environment. The Tabernacle of Moses and
the Temple of Solomon not only represent the Micro-
cosm but also the Macrocosm. And this leads us to
the threshold of a very deep mystery, the effect of the
spiritual condition of the human race upon Nature as a
whole. . . . The Building of the Temple is thus a
three-fold process, commencing with the individual
man, spreading from the individual to the race, and
from the race to the whole environment in which we live.
This is the return to Eden where there is nothing hurt-
ful or destructive." ^

The symbolism of the Two Pillars was so well known
that they must have been used advisedly as symbols of

' "Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning," T. Troward.

^ole or Sxis; anb Circle, etc. 87

high import, as was, indeed, the case with all the other
decorations that were used in the building of this gor-
geous temple.

"And he reared up the pillars before the temple, one
on the right hand and the other on the left; and called
the name of that one on the right hand Jachin ('The
Stablisher') and the name of that on the left Boaz ('In
it is strength')." (II. Chron. 3: 17.)

Troward in identifying the English J with the
Oriental Y interprets Jachin as being an intensified
form of the word Yak or One, thus denoting first the
"principle of unity as the foundation of all things and
then the mathematical element . . . since all numbers
are evolved from the one." This, he affirms, is the ele-
ment of measurement, proportion. The pillar Jachin
is therefore balanced by the pillar Boaz which may be
interpreted as Voice or Spirit, the vital element of Feel-
ing, Volition. "And the only way of entering 'The
Temple' whether of the Cosmos or the individual is by
passing between these two pillars."

Back we are again to the two potent forces which
whether represented by the crucc ansata of the Egyp-
tians, by the broken and unbroken lines of the Chinese
trigrams, by the 'jewel in the lotus' of the Hindus, or by
stones, rocks, columns, poles, pillars — back we come to
the active and passive, positive and negative, masculine
and feminine principles — those two extraordinarily
complex and interesting forces that guard the portals of
Life.

One may add here that much that has been found
confusing and contradictory will be avoided, if we keep
constantly in mind that the ancients were not specialists
and that their religious symbols are almost as manifold
in their meanings as life itself.

88 TLiit ^pmboIsJ

Inman and many other writers of a former genera-
tion and a similar turn of mind, found but one meaning
and that an obscene one in the phallic symbols of fecund-
ity.

Others of more tolerant disposition dismissed them

a little superciliously as representing the "infancy of
man's mentality" when, unable to comprehend the
forces and wonders of the world about him, "he clothed
them with the imagery of his untutored mind."

Later and more chastened investigators, however, in
the light cast upon ancient civilisations by excavations
going on in Egypt, Babylonia, Crete and elsewhere, are
less positive that they are arriving at the "infancy of
man's mentality." Moore in his History of Religions,
commenting upon the high order of civilisations shown
by these remains, emphasises the fact that the cult of
phallicism was a phase rather than a religion.

In other words the symbols of life and fecundity did
not originate in phallic worship, nor, apparently, does
phallic worship end in that remote and mythical past.

It seems nearer true that whenever phallicism came
to be worshipped per se, instead of as a symbolical rep-
resentation of a high and holy mystery, degeneracy had
already set in. Logically enough, therefore, when
civilisations became decadent and Life itself profaned
and debased, the symbols that typified Life were cor-
respondingly debased and profaned. Decadence in-
variably exaggerates the process instead of the mani-
festation, concerns itself with the means of life and
ways of prolonging it, rather than with the renewal of
life — forgetting that it is this stream of continuity that
comes into and flows out of us that is all that makes life
significant. Phallicism represented clearly and unmis-
takably this attitude. And in these periods of phallic

^ole or axis{ anb Circle, etc. 89

worship the life symbols reflected accurately the meas-
ure of men's thoughts. Instead of creative power, they
merely typified the instincts and passions of various
races at various times as strength oozed out of them and
the spirit fled.

Seemingly, one may assume, therefore, without go-
ing far wrong, that in their origin these symbols were
used reverently and with high intent. Thus the intri-
cate maze of ideas and poetic fancies — ideas sacred and
profligate, reverential and obscene, imaginative and
literal that have clustered about these ancient symbols
of life resolve themselves simply enough to Life itself —
to the interplay of those primal, transcendent forces
known since time began as Fire and Water, Light and
Darkness, Man and Woman.

It is tout simplement the world man and world wo-
man, not in relation to their trappings, their individual
caprices, their present day revealings, wants, desires —
but their relation to the earth, air, heavens, sun, moon,
stars, heat and cold, wind and storm, and above all their
relationship to each other that is forever being typified
by the life symbols.

Thus the meaning of pillars, columns, poles and
circles is the same as that commonly ascribed to the tau
cross with circle above it, which is seen so frequently on
ancient tombs and temple walls as an emblem of life
and immortality.

None can gainsay that the union of spirit and matter
forms the paradox of existence, for man is sternly bent
on accomplishing it, and equally bent on disregarding
it. How can we doubt that the ancients knew this? The
ancient man did not need Freud to tell him that he was a
complex. His symbolism proves that his knowledge
of this point in his make up was precise and far reach-

90 ILift ^pmbols;

ing, displaying an understanding of life so comprehen-
sively true and subtle, that it still keeps scholars gasp-
ing. In truth, it is a little staggering to our amour
propre when it first dawns upon us how much the an-
cients really did know about this very interesting thing
called Life.

The real difficulty in adjusting the different mean-
ings attached to any one of these symbols of life, seems
to arise from our inability or unwillingness to grasp the
fact that each symbol typified, not spirit alone to the an-
cient religionists — as the cross is now used by the Chris-
tians— nor matter alone as many have interpreted the
phallic emblems, but the divine union of spirit and mat-
ter, fire and water, positive and negative, masculine and
feminine — in other words, Creation, Life. Different
forms were used to represent the Creative Life Prin-
ciple, but there is the same idea of essential and derived
life, of unity passing into multiplicity, the same creative
idea carried up from the physical to the metaphysical,
from its material aspect to the spiritual until it is one
again with the "universal life which is over all and
through all and in all."

VIII

THE TREE OF LIFE

'' Wisdom is a tree of life to them that lay hold of
herr

"Cet arhre mysteriemv, symbol d'immortalite, tou-
jour s vert, oderiferant, charge de fruits/' — Gaillard.

''The old standing feud between those who heard
the pipes of Pan and those who would deny them into
ridicule and silence." — Bay ley.

PAN-ESQUE

If, walking in the forest gnarled and old.

Some wind-sweet, magic day.
Behind the shelter of a moss-hung tree
The laughing face of Pan peers out at me,

I shall not run away —
But rather, xmth surprise and joy grown bold,
''Oh, tarry here. Wood God!" my prayer will be —

"One little hour, and play
Upon your pipe of reeds those notes that make
The timid nymphs hide listening in the brake.

Though greatly longing, they.
To yield them to your lilting melody!
Play me the message of the whispering trees —

The mystery of the pine.
The sorrow of the oak that sighs and grieves.
Tune my dull ears to hear the singing leaves — "

And Pan, whose heart, like mine.
Loves the deep woods, will pipe me songs
like these!

— Mazie V. Caruthers.

VIII
THE TREE OF LIFE

THE pillar or dolmen is found constantly asso-
ciated with sacred trees. There is the same
religious idea that the thing worshipped,
whether pillar or tree is possessed by divinity. It is per-
fectly easy to see how the two objects would merge into
each other. The pillar being formed of the wood of
the living tree retained the sacred character of the other
— became its reflex, a part of the same expression of
life.

Nor is it difficult to understand why trees were ob-
jects of worship. Nothing in all nature was a more
perfect symbol of the miracle of reproduction and man's
belief in immortality than the tree with its leaves and
blossoms and fruit. It became again the symbol of
'dying to live' which is the framework of all ancient
religions.

The cypress, fir, pine and palm — continually green
— were symbols of the ever living spirit, green symbol-
ising the everlasting.

On the other hand, the trees that shed their leaves
in the autumn only to put forth again into quickening
life in the spring, conveyed the message of re-newal, of
dying only to live again in greater beauty and glory —
a message that man was quick to apply to himself.

94 TLiit ^pmbote

The Sumerians believed that the spiritual — the Zi
was that which manifested life. The test of life was
movement. "All things that moved possessed self-
power."

Bergson elaborately re-affirms the same idea: —

"In reality life is a movement, materiality is the in-
verse movement, and each of these two movements is
simple, the matter which forms a world being an un-
divided flux, also the life that runs through it cutting
out in it living beings all along the track .... In
order to advance with the moving reality you must re-
place yourself within it. Install yourself within
change." ^

Believing this, the ancients saw life in everything
that moved. Rivers were living things, the sun and
moon were vessels in which the divine spirit sailed across
the sky. A beneficent spirit spoke in the life giving
winds on a sultry day. The god of destruction made
himself heard in. the howling storm winds and tornadoes.
Trees groaned and sighed from the buff ettings of these
furious blasts, yet the voice of divinity forever mur-
mured in their rustling leaves.

The life principle in trees was believed to have been
derived from the "Creative tears of the gods." And
the living tree as the receptacle of divine life was doubt-
less placed near pillars in the cult of pillar and stone
worship with the thought primarily in mind of assisting
or bearing witness to the divine life in stock and stone.
Aiding the gods has ever been the desire of man.
He not only apes them but ceremoniously assists them.
In the first stages of all his religious conceptions, how-
ever, he is always true, simple, sincere. Unfortunately
his very nature obliges him to elaborate, to graft on

^Bergson's "Creative Evolution."

arfje arree of TLiit 95

more and more, to lose himself in subtleties and neglect
the substance, to pay greater and greater attention to
form or its visible aspect and
forget the invisible spirit which
makes form a living thing.

The Sacred Tree which,
worshipped in the beginning sacred tree terminating in
for its divine essence formed a ^'^'^^^ ^^°^ °« ^^^^ ^°^^"-

. La,ya.Td, Nineveh.

part of all ancient religious

systems and was universally reverenced and adored as a
symbol of highest import, became later merely an in-
tricate and indispensable artistic form.

Both the Aryan and the Semitic races had a Tree of
Life, a Tree of Knowledge and a Tree of Heaven. The
fruit of the latter related to the "igneous or luminous
bodies of space, the Tree of Life produced a liquid con-
ferring eternal youth and the Tree of Knowledge
had the power of foretelling the future or of divi-
nation." "

The Haoma whose sap gave immortality was the
traditional Tree of Life of the Persians, and was pre-
served in almost the same form as found on the Assy-
rian monuments until the overthrow of the Persian em-
pire by the Arab invasion. This is the Cosmic Tree
which produces ambrosia and dispenses salvation.

Fruits of the vine and the tree yielded by fermenta-
tion a liquid which is still called eau de vie.

There were two trees that stood out above all others
in the Garden of Eden. "And out of the ground made
the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the
sight and good for food; the tree of life, also in the

* D'Alviella's "Migration of Symbols."

96 TLiit ^pmbolsi

midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good
and evil."

After Adam and Eve, tempted by the serpent, par-
take of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they
are driven forth and the Lord places "at the east of the
garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword which
turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of
hfe."

It is the Tree of Life that is so jealously guarded.

The Chinese Tree of Life was one of seven marvel-
lous trees that grew on the slopes of the Kuen-Luen
Mountains — the terrestrial paradise presided over by Si
Wang Mu. This tree, which was 10,000 cubits high and
1,800 feet in circumference, was all of jade and chryso-
prase, and bore fruit but once in three thousand years.
Si Wang Mu the goddess of the Tree of Life, the "Roy-
al Mother of the West" is the queen of immortal beings.
Originally a sun-goddess, the Jesuits associate her with
the Queen of Sheba, and others liken her to Juno — or
the daughter of heaven and earth. The fruit of this
tree over which she presides was supposed to be the
sacred peach which enters so largely into the mystical
fancies of the Taoists, who used the peach tree as a sym-
bol of marriage, longevity and immortality. The Chin-
ese goddess is depicted bestowing the fruit on her vota-
ries, one of whom was the Emperor Wu. Anyone to
whom she gave the fruit became immortal. In Chinese
art Si Wang Mu is symbolised by a peach and the phoe-
nix.

The Buddhists have a legend of an enormous tree
with four boughs from which great rivers are continu-
ally flowing. Each river bears golden pips which it
carries down to the sea. This tree the Buddhists call
the Tree of Wisdom. The legend bears a strong re-

JEfje atree of life 97

semblance, however, to the Hebrew Tree of Life and
the four rivers of paradise.

The Bhagavad-Gita speaks of the Ashwattha, the
eternal sacred tree which grows with the roots above
and the branches below. The Ashwattha tree "is the
Primeval Spirit from which floweth the never ending
stream of conditioned existence."

In Teutonic myths the Polar star around which the
heavens are supposed to revolve was called the 'world
spike' while the earth was said to be sustained by the
'world tree.'

The American Indians had a "World Tree."

In Certain Iroquois Tree Myths and Symbols,
Arthur C. Parker relates the Seneca's myth of a Celes-
tial Tree on whose branches hung flowers and fruit
the year around. Its branches pierced the sky and its
roots extended to the waters of the underworld. The
Big Chief ordering it to be pulled up, a great pit was
seen where its roots had been. Into this pit fell the
Sky Mother on the wings of a waterfall who placed her
on a turtle's back.

In another myth after the "birth of the twins Light
One and Toad-like (or dark) One the Light One notic-
ing that there was no light created the Tree of Light."

The Delawares, who also had a Central World Tree
believed that all things came from a tortoise. "It had
brought forth the world and in the middle of its back
had sprung a tree from whose branches men had
grown."

This resembles the Hindu myth of the Tortoise who
supports the world.

The Five Nations always expressed peace under the
metaphor of a tree. "We now plant a Tree whose tops
will reach the sun and its Branches spread far abroad

98 life ^pmtjolfli

. . . and we shall shelter ourselves under it and live in
Peace." ^

Crosses, used by the ancient Indians and Mexicans
to represent the winds which bring rain, were often
given a tree-like form or that of a stem with two
branches. A bird is frequently depicted standing upon

MEXICAN SACRED TREE.
D'Alviella, Migration of Symbols.

the fork. Sometimes the tree is flanked on either side
by two persons with wreaths of feathers on their heads
facing each other.

A bird standing on the fork of the Sacred Tree or
resting near it is also a feature of the Persian repre-
sentations of the Tree of Immortality.

FROM A SASSAN-

lAN BOWL. SICILIAN BAS-RELIEF.

D'Alviella, Migration of Symbols.

In this symbolism of life as typified by the world
tree, the bird and the serpent are constantly employed.
The spirit is depicted in the form of a bird which de-
scends to give life to tree or stock or stone. In the pillar

• "Certain Iroquois Tree Myths and Symbols," Arthur C. Parker.

®f)e arree of TLitt

SERPENT IN BACKGROUND.

Chaldean cylinder. British
Museum.

Perrot and Chipiez.

cult twin pillars frequently bear the symbolic eagles of
the god to express this wide-spread belief that life is in
the soul.

The serpent in all countries and among all nations
is also associated with the Sacred Tree or Tree of Life.
Sometimes it is coiled about the
tree and again it appears in the
background.

The Chaldeans "saw in the
universe a tree whose summit
was the sky and whose foot or
trunk the earth."

The tree in its earliest form
in Chaldea and also in Cyprus
was a staff supporting a semi-circle.

The Assyrian Tree of Life is one of the oldest as
well as the most famous of all sacred trees, and still
gives definite form to various ornamental designs.
Starting in Assyria where Layard believes it to have
been connected with the worship of Venus (or Ishtar)
it was introduced into Arabia on the one side, and Cen-
tral Asia, Asia Minor and Persia on the other.

It first appears on Chaldean cylinders as a pillar or
'world spine' surmounted by a crescent. Sometimes
this pillar is thrice crossed by branches resembling bulls
horns each tipped by ring symbols. The highest pair
of horns have a larger ring between them which shows
but a part of itself as if it were a crescent. These rings
are frequently replaced by flowers and fruit.

About the beginning of the tenth century B.C. the
tree becomes more complex. It has been convention-
alised into elaborate and graceful forms and is one of
the most conspicuous objects found on the sculpture
and monuments of Khorsabad and Nimroud, From

100

life ^j>mbote

the "mystic flower of the Assyrians" which Goodyear
identifies with the lotus, innumerable branches spring
from an intricate scroll work or interlacing design. The

SACRED TREE SHOWING DIVIDED PILLAR,

Layard, Monuments of Nineveh.

pillar or trunk of the tree is sometimes divided, sugejest-
ing the same idea of duality or union of spirit and mat-
ter that was conveyed by the bird and serpent. The
divided pillar is surmounted by a conventionalised form
of the mystic flower or lotus. Sometimes the branches
terminate in the same form of the lotus, or they will
bear a fruit resembling the pomegranate. Frequently
the fruit is shaped like a fir or pine cone. Again it is
suggestive of a lotus bud. In each case, however, the
fruit of the tree is one of the well known symbols of
life and fecundity.

Sometimes the wild goat or sacred bull with ex-
panded wings is represented kneeling before the mystic
tree. A bird or human figure frequently takes the place
of the bull or goat. On some of the older cylinders the
tree is represented between two animals which may be

Two Kings Kxeelixg Beneath the Emblem of the Deity

Winced Females Standing Before the Sacred Tree
(Ximrnii(l)

dTfje STree of life loi

unicorns, winged bulls, or eagles with the bodies of
men. It is often shown between two Kings facing
each other in an attitude of worship. Sometimes the
kings are flanked by two priests who carry in the one
hand the sacred cone — which among the Babylonians
and Assyrians was a symbol of life, fire, the masculine
principle, and in the other a metal, shovel-shaped basket
which is also when filled with fruit and flowers one of the
attributes of Bacchus. Its use here has puzzled many
students. The suggestion that it contained holy water
and the fact that the "ritual watering of sacred trees
from a natural or artificial source was a regular feature
of this form of worship" lends credence to the idea that
we are once more confronting one of the simplest yet
most profound and persistent associations in ancient
symbolism — the union of fire and water to produce life.

Two priests clad in fish robes as attendants of Ea
or the goddess Ishtar are seen on either side of the Sa-
cred Tree. Again it is represented between two winged
females who are depicted with one hand extended
toward the tree in a gesture of adoration, while in the
other they hold the ring or circle, symbol of eternity,
water, the feminine principle.

To indicate the high significance of the tree as a
religious symbol the winged circle of the deity is fre-
quently shown above it.

Jastrow calls the various animals or winged figures
"guardians of the sacred tree with which the same idea
was associated by the Assyrians and Babylonians as was
with the tree of life in the famous chapter of Genesis as
well as with other trees of life found among other an-
cient races. The cones which the winged figures be-
side the tree hold indicate the fruit of the tree plucked
for the benefit of the worshippers by these guardians

102

life ^pmliol£(

who alone may do so. A trace of this view appears in
the injunction to Adam to eat of all trees except one
which being of the tree of knowledge was not for mor-
tal man to pluck — as little as of the fruit of the 'tree of
life.' " '

The tree of life and wisdom was a theme which "lent
itself both to the refinements of ornamentation and to
the fancies of the symbolical imagination." Yet, al-
though conventionalised into all sorts of fantastic forms
until its tree-like appearance is nearly lost, the symbolic
idea conveyed is precisely the same. Strangely enough,
too, although other features are inserted and the tree it-
self is sometimes replaced by other symbolic objects, the
grouping remains essentially the same.

CAPITAL OF THE TEMPLE OF ATHENE AT
PHIENE.

PERSIAN CYLINDER.

Sometimes an altar or pyre takes the place of the
tree.

In China the tree becomes the Sacred Pearl between
two dragons.

In India the two figures become Nagas or Snake
Kings, their heads entwined with cobras.

The Tree of Life is sometimes represented between
two peacocks. The peacock, besides being an emblem
of immortality was believed to kill serpents.

* "Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria," Jastrow.

aCfje ®ree of TLift

103

In adapting this idea to the temptation and fall of
man, the only change necessary was "to give a different
sex to the two acolytes."

An interesting illustration is shown by Count Gob-
let d'Alviella in his Migration of Symbols. It is a
Phoenician bowl discovered by Cesnola on the Island of
Cyprus. The Tree stands between two figures who are
plucking the lotus blossom with one hand and hold the

PHCENTCIAN BOWL.

cruoj ansata in the other. Thus showing that the tree,
the lotus and the Key of Life are but variations of the
same religious thought — the quest of Life. D'Alviella
points out that the Assyrian priests and gods hold the
pine cone precisely as the gods of Egypt sometimes
handle the crux ansata.

Sometimes the myth varies, and the two monsters,
griffins, unicorns or other fabulous beasts are shown

BAS-RELIEF OF THE BAPTISTERY
OF CIVIDALE.

FROM THE CHURCH AT MARIGNT.

approaching the tree as if to pluck the fruit or flower.
In general, however, the tree is usually portrayed as be-
ing jealously guarded by mythical beasts or birds who
protect it from demons or rivals who are seeking to gain
possession of it.

104

TLiit ^pmbols!

The Christians in making use of this symbolic form
sometimes depicted the two figures as lambs or again
doves or peacocks. The cross of Christianity was be-

Wr^

>^®

FROM ATHENS CATHEDRAL.

lieved at one time to be like a tree. This symbolism is
typified in the Holy Rood or Rod.

Lowrie in the Monuments of the Early Church
says that "of all the various notions which attached
themselves to the Christian cross none were so common
nor so fundamental as that which regarded it as the
tree of life. ... In a fresco inS. Callistus the cross
still dissimulated is represented under the figure of a
green tree with two horizontal branches under which
stand two doves." He also notes that the symbolic sig-
nificance of the early chalice, the classical cantharus
which appears upon the altar in two mosaics of Raven-
na and which is almost invariably associated with the
Eucharist is plainly indicated by the "vine which springs
out of it, the two harts which approach it on either side
panting to quench their thirst with the water of life, and
by the peacocks which symbolise its potency for immor-
tality." He believes that it was rarely if ever used in
administering the wine to the people, that it was a "con-
ventional decorative motive which the Church bor-

Vtf)t ®ree of life 105

rowed from ancient art and to which it attached its own
meaning." The design, which was originally the Sa-
cred Tree of Life of the Assyrians with its animal
guardians, is altered by the Christians, who make the
vase in which the tree grew the chief motive, substitute
the symbolic vine, and instead of panthers or grifRns
place the gentler animals as guardians.

The Sacred Tree of the Mayas was often depicted
with two branches springing out horizontally from the
top of a pillar or trunk in the form of a tau cross.

The Sacred Tree, the one that was the supreme ob-
ject of worship, varied in different localities. Appar-
ently each race and country adopted as its highest relig-
ious emblem the one that was considered the most valu-
able.

In Europe the oak was venerated because of its
strength and vitality. It was associated with the gods
of fertility and lightning including Thor and Jupiter.

The Greeks had a Tree of Heaven. This was the
oak which gave shelter to the Dioscuri — the twin broth-
ers of Light and Darkness.

The leaves of the oak, eight-lobed and flaming in
autumn, suggested re-generation and fire. Then, too,
the acorn in its cup was one of nature's most perfect
and manifest symbols of the lingam and yoni or the
'jewel in the lotus' or the "combination of I the Holy
One and O the generating cup or crater."

The oak was the sacred tree of the Druids, In con-
secrating their holy oak trees they made them cruciform
or shaped like the fylfot cross, either by cutting off or
by inserting branches. They chose oak-woods for their
sacred groves, and no rites were performed without oak
leaves. The cutting of the mistletoe (the druidical

io6 ILiit ^j>mbol2(

name meaning All Heal) from an oak of thirty years
growth was a matter of great ceremony. The Druids
were said by Pliny to worship the mistletoe because they
believed it to have fallen from heaven, and to be a token
that the tree upon which it grew had been chosen by the
god himself. The mistletoe was rarely met with but
when found, provided the tree was an oak, it was gath-
ered with impressive ceremony on the sixth day of the
moon when the moon was believed to have its greatest
vigour. A white robed priest climbed the tree and with
a golden sickle cut the mistletoe which was not per-
mitted to touch the earth but fell into a white cloth held
by votaries below. Then followed the sacrifice of two
white bulls whose horns had never been bound before,
and prayers that God might make his gift prosper with
those upon whom he had bestowed it.

A tree struck by lightning was naturally thought
to be "charged with a double or triple portion of fire."
Fire kindled by lightning was looked upon with super-
stitious awe. God himself spoke in the thunder and
lightning.

The reverence paid to the oak by the ancient peoples
of Europe may be due, therefore, to the "greater fre-
quency with which the oak appears to be struck by light-
ning than any other tree of our European forests." A
peculiarity which recent scientific investigations seem to
have confirmed. For this reason the ancients believed
that the great sky god "loved the oak above all the trees
of the world and often descended into it from the murky
clouds in a flash of lightning, leaving a token of his
presence or his passage in the riven and blackened trunk
and the blazed foliage. Such trees would thenceforth
be encircled by a nimbus of glory as the visible seats of
the thundering sky god. . . . Both Greeks and Ro-

2Lfje arree of life 107

mans identified their great god of the sky and of the
oak with the lightning flash which struck the ground
and they regularly enclosed such a stricken place and
held it sacred." ^

In this connection Frazer hazards the conjecture
that the real reason why the Druids worshipped ahove
all others a mistletoe-bearing oak was the belief that the
mistletoe had dropped on the oak in a flash of lightning
and that the oak thus bore among its branches a "visible
emanation of celestial fire."

Thus, too, the "rich golden yellow which a bough of
mistletoe assumes when it has been cut and kept for
some months" indentifies it with the celestial fire of the
sun. "The bright tint is not confined to the leaves but
spreads to the stalks as well, so that the whole branch
appears to be indeed a Golden Bough." One may sup-
pose, therefore, Frazer ingeniously concludes, that "in
the old Aryan creed the mistletoe descended from the
sun on Midsummer Day in a flash of lightning."

It was a rule strictly adhered to by the ancient Ger-
mans, Celts and Slavs that the Sacred Fire should be
ignited annually by the friction of two pieces of oak-
wood. "In some places the new fire for the village was
made on Midsummer Day by causing a wheel to revolve
round an axle of oak till the oak took fire. This curious
custom may have had its origin from the idea that the
oak tree symbolised the Cove, Pole or Axis of Imma-
culate Fire." ^

"It may be" or "It may have been" — quite unlike
Tennyson's doleful "It might have been" — are the most
enchanting phrases of archaeology. One may believe
that the original man — if there ever was a first man — in

" Frazer's "The Golden Bough.*'

' Bayley's "Lost Language of Symbolism."

io8 Hife ^pmbols;

pondering upon various inscrutable things, that alas!
still remain inscrutable, said to himself: "It may be
that le hon Dieu intends." Or, perhaps, when life was
simpler he went to the Great Source for an explanation.
It may be — some believe this — it may be that the origi-
nal man knew.

His descendants, however, soon fell victim to man-
kind's insatiable love of embroidering with picturesque
phrase and florid explanation some ancient, elemental,
outstanding truth. Later generations take the past
seriously and say: "It may have been that he thought
thus," when the ancient may simply have been amusing
himself by letting his imagination go, as we are letting
ours go when we try to interpret him.

The game of supposing is a very old and delightful
pastime. History and science as well as fairy stories
and myths are built upon it. And we are indebted to it
for many of the most enthralling fancies, especially
those that have been entwined about the oak and the
mistletoe. This was doubtless a very simple form of
worship originally. The same that the ancients ex-
tended to whatever in nature grew without roots in the
earth — whatever remained ever green and living while
other things fell into decay. Thus the mistletoe grow-
ing on the oak and remaining green while the oak was
barren and leafless was another of those mystical em-
blems that gave man such reassurance of the potency
of the divine union of spirit and matter, and renewed
his belief and faith in the glorious continuity of life.

The Senal Indians of California "profess to believe
that the whole world was once a globe of fire whence
that element passed up into the trees and now comes
out when two pieces of wood are rubbed together."

®f)e 2Cree of TLiit 109

Agni the fire-god of India was spoken of as "born
in wood, as the embryo of plants or to strive after them."

The Sien trees of the Chinese are those that confer
life, strength, health, immortality, such as the jejube,
plum, pear, peach — any trees, in short, that produce
fruit or aromatic or edible matter.

From time immemorial it has been the custom in
China to plant trees on graves in order to impart
strength to the soul of the deceased and thereby preserve
his body from corruption. The cypress and pine, be-
cause they were evergreen, were thought to be fuller of
vitality and were therefore preferred for this purpose
above all other trees.

The ^r and pine tree were also worshipped for their
straightness, their uprightness. The fir tree was a sym-
bol of elevation and was related to the God of Israel.

It has been suggested that the pyramidal form of
certain trees was one of the factors that contributed to
their worship.

The ''pyramidal Yache" was the sacred tree of the
Mexicans.

A flame-like tree is likened to the Fire of Life or
rod or stem of Jesse.

The poplar tree once sacred to Hercules was an ob-
vious symbol of the Holy Rood, pole, spike, spire or rod.

The laurel was sacred to Apollo.

The All Father was identified with the mighty ash.
This tree was also an object of reverence because of its
clusters of red berries.

Ezekiel compares the Assyrian to a "Cedar in Le-
banon with fair branches."

The pine tree was sacred to Attis, Dionysos and
other spring time gods. The sanctity of the pine tree
is thought by some scholars to have originated possibly

mtt ^pmljols!

from its resemblance to a spiral of flame, and that the
cone from its inflammable nature as well as its shape
was originally a symbol of fire. Here the analogy and
the later use of the pine cone as a phalhc emblem be-
comes perfectly clear for fire was invariably regarded
as one of the most powerful attri-
butes of the direct, pointed, creative
masculine principle.

The sabred cone was used to
typify an existence united yet dis-
tinct. As has been said before in
another connection it had the same
meaning among the Semites as the
C7'ux ansata of the Egyptians, and
was also looked upon as a talisman of
high import exclusive of its phallic
meaning.

It is found on sepulchral urns and
tombs of the Etruscans or sometimes on top of a
pillar.

"In Graco-Roman paganism the fruit of the pine
discharged prophylactic, sepulchral and phallic func-
tions." ^

The pine cone enlarged and conventionalised is still
seen on gateways in Italy as a talisman of fecundity,
abundance, good luck.

The traditional sanctity of doorways and portals or
gateways — anything that gives entrance to something
beyond, or something secluded, hidden — has come down
from the most ancient times and portals and gateways
with their two pillars are frequently depicted in connec-
tion with the sacred tree.

After the 'aniconic idol' had been superseded by

^"The Migration of Symbols," D'Alviella.

Tree terminating in the
Sacred Cone protect-
ed by birds and lions.

From the Cathedral of
Torcello. D'Alviella.

SCfje STree of life m

representations of the gods in human form, the original
meaning seems to have been lost. The Sacred Cone on
burial urns was supposed to be the attribute of some
hero, whereas it was simply one of the symbolic expres-
sions used to "represent life in its dual aspect — the dual
type of the Creator, of the God himself."

The banyan tree in India symbolises "eternal life,
productive powers, perfect happiness, supreme knowl-
edge." These are the gifts of the tree which represents
the universe.

The Buddhists depict the Sacred Tree between two
elephants facing each other. This is the sacred Bo
Tree or Bodhi Tree under whose shade Sakya-Muni sat
for seven years before he received enlightenment and be-
came the Buddha. The elephants are an allusion to
the legend that when Sakya-Muni left the Tushita hea-
vens to be born again on earth as Gautama Buddha, he
descended in the form of a white elephant.

One notes that the Sacred Tree among the Bud-
dhists also dwindles into the mystic flower of the lotus
flanked by the same two elephants. Again the connec-
tion between the two is obvious, the fleur de lis or lotus,
the sacred plant is called the Tree of Life of Mazdaism.

In the symbolism of the Buddhist Triad or Tri-rat-
na Buddha (intelligence, soul) is given the trisula
placed upon a pillar surrounded by flames. Dharma —
(matter, the body) — a wheel, and Sangha who repre-
sents the union of Buddha and Dharma, or soul and
body — is given a tree.

Each Buddha had a special Bo-Tree or Bodhi-Tree,
the Tree of Wisdom or Enlightenment under which
he is supposed to have been born, to do penance, preach
and die.

Although some have pictured it as the Banyan Tree

112 life ^pmbols;

— dear to the hearts of the Hindus — whose branches
lean down only to take root again when touching the
ground, the fig tree — ficus religiosa — is the one under
which Gautama Buddha is usually represented as re-
ceiving hodhi or knowledge.

The Sacred Fig Tree — jicus religiosa — was held in
especial veneration as an emblem of life — combining
both masculine and feminine attributes. Its tri-lobed
leaf, suggesting the masculine triad, became the sym-
bolical covering in sculptured representations of nude
figures, while the fruit — the eating of which was sup-
posed to aid fecundity — was identified in shape with the
yoni. In all the countries bordering on the southern
shores of the Mediterranean the fig tree was an object
of worship. And although the cypress, plane and pine
as well as the fig tree were held sacred in Crete, the
traditional sanctity of the fig tree, Evans finds, was well
marked in the later cult of Greece as well, being, be-
cause of its fruitfulness and the belief in its prophylac-
tic power against lightning, an object of special sacred-
ness in the primitive ^gean cult. Besides being a sa-
cred tree of the Mycensean world it was also worshipped
in Rome. He notes that "near the original seat of Ficus
Ruminalis was the cave of Pan connected with the old
Arcadian cult, and that the fabled suckling of twins
beneath the tree by the she wolf reproduces a legend of
typically Arcadian form." ^

In the primal principle this recognised duality was
believed to have been androgynous or bi-sexual. Thus
the palm tree as well as the lotus, the serpent and the
scarabeeus were believed to be self -created and were all
androgynous symbols.

The Palm Tree was especially reverenced because it

■"Mycenaean Trees and Pillar Cult," A. F. Evans.

Photo. A linari

Pax and Olympus
(Museo Xazionale, Xaples)

©fje arree of life 113

was the only tree known to the ancients that never
changed its leaves. It was believed, therefore, to be
self-renewed. Hence the miracle of reproduction repre-
sented by the symbolical Tree of Life found its highest
expression in Chaldea, Assyria and Babylonia in con-
ventional representations of the date palm.

It is "quite conceivable that the inflorescence of the
date palm may have performed a symbolical function
.... as a pre-eminent emblem of fertilising force."

Thus the palm that the Christians used as a symbol
of martyrdom, although I believe it has a deeper mean-
ing— the triumph of life over death — was an ancient
sjTnbol par excellence of creative force, the universal
matrix, the generating power of nature, the flame of
fire. Baal Tamar a Phoenician deity is called 'Lord of
the Palm.' A palm tree encircled by a serpent is de-
picted on Phoenician coins.

The Sacred Tree in Japan is the Sa-ka-ki tree.
In the various ceremonies in the temples branches of
the Sa-ka-ki tree to which are attached a mirror, a
sword and a jewel are among the offerings. These
ceremonies are followed by two dances one by men and
the other by a dozen girls twelve or thirteen years old
who carry in their hands branches of the Sa-ka-ki tree.

The "divine Lady of Eden or Edin" was called in
Northern Babylonia the "goddess of the Tree of liife."

The Sacred Tree embodying as it did a conception
of the renewal of life, frequently typified the feminine
principle in nature under the name of Astarte, Ishtar,
Mylitta and other nature goddesses. A cypress is some-
times depicted on the coins of Heliopohs in place of the
conical stone which commonly symbolised Astarte. The
name of Cypress was given to Venus of Lebanon. "Up-
on an altar of the Palmyrene is depicted on one side

114 Hife ^pmbols;

a solar god, and on the other a cypress with a child
carrying a ram on its shoulder showing in its foliage.
The pine in which Cybele imprisons the body of Atys
till springtime belongs to the same class of images.
The tree becomes the symbol of the matrix." ^

In the legend of Osiris the body of Osiris is con-
cealed in "the branches of a bush of Tamarisk which in
a short time had shot up into a tall and beautiful tree"
which grew around the sea-drifted chest in which his
body was hidden.

The Phrygian Atys ( or Attis ) was said to have met
his death by self -mutilation under a sacred tree. Adonis
sprang from a tree. Diamid hid in a tree when pursued
by Finn. Tammuz died with the dying vegetation.

The Tree of Life of the Egyptians was a 'high
sycamore tree upon which the gods sit.' The sycamore
with its thick foliage which gave grateful shade was
thought to be the resting or the abiding place of the
beneficent tree spirit who gave sustenance to the parts
of the dead. Hence the deep veneration accorded to the
sycamore particularly in the vicinity of Memphis. The
sycamore was always associated with a goddess. In the
south it was called the "living body of Hathor."

The Ivy which the Greeks consecrated to Bacchus
was called by the Egyptians 'Osiris's Tree.'

Nowhere is the reverence for trees more clearly
shown than in the Old Testament. The Old Testa-
ment is filled with references that indicate how deeply
imbedded was this ancient association of divinity with
trees. Divine revelations take place under trees. Some-
times it is a palm tree, sometimes a cypress and again an
oak, terebinth or tamarisk. Deborah the prophetess
of the Children of Israel sat under a palm tree. The

• D'Alviella's "The Migration of Symbols."

Attis
(Louvre, Paris)

Photo. Alinari

arije Zxtt of life

115

angel of the Lord who sent Gideon to deliver the Israel-
ites "sat under an oak which was in Ophrah." Jehovah
declared himself to Moses "in a flame of fire out of a
bush .... and behold the bush burned with fire and
the bush was not consumed." (Ex. 3:2.) The pome-
granate, fir, apple, cedar, palm, vines, grapes and ber-
ries which are al-
luded to in a figur-
ative sense in the
Songs of Solomon
are all ancient sym-
bols of life.

The Tree of Life
becomes the genea-
logical tree, the fam-
ily tree, the tree of
Jesse. The latter,
representing the
genealogy of Christ
as related in the gos-
pel of St. Matthew
was a favourite sub-
ject for ecclesiastical paintings and embroideries in
the Middle Ages as we have already seen. In these
representations the roots of the tree encircle the body
of Jesse who is reclining upon the ground. On the
branches which stretch out from either side of the tree
are the different personages who composed the links
in the chain of descent, while at the very top stand-
ing in an aureole of glory are Christ and the Virgin
Mother. Candlesticks formed like a tree with
branches were called Jesses. The Jesse windows in
mediaeval churches show the same subject treated in
stained glass.

JESSE WINDOW, DOBCHESTER CATHEDRAL.

ii6 life ^pmbolsf

Bay ley points out that the word leaf is identical with
love and life and further adds that it is a scientific fact
that a tree lives by its leaves.

Troward places together the Bible, the Great Pyra-
mid and the Pack of Cards, the three showing a unity
of principle and each throwing light upon the other.
"The three stand out pre-eminent all bearing witness to
the same one truth." ^^

Besides the enormous diversity of combination, and
the mathematical fascination of cards, it is an odd fact
that the four designs are all symbols of life. The spade
is derived from the leaf, the heart is the source of life, the
diamond or lozenge is a symbol of the yoni or the fem-
inine principle and the club (trefle in French) is the
trefoil, one of the most ancient symbols of the Trinity
or the three-fold aspect of life.

Early serpent worship was associated with groves,
and tree worship undoubtedly had a dark side and de-
generated into a form of phallicism just as darkness al-
ternates with light. From earliest times, however, the
Tree of Life has been one of the most cherished sym-
bols of man's estate, and Ruskin believed, and I am glad
to believe with him, that in itself tree worship was al-
ways healthy and becomes instead of symbolic, real.
"Flowers and trees are beloved with a half -worshipping
delight which is always noble and healthful." ^^

In this connection the thought occurs, if some re-
former— a purist of a prohibitory turn of mind — were
to blot out from the Bible all reference to trees, stones,
altars, rocks, hills, pillars, pomegranates, vines, grapes,
wine, sun, moon, stars, rivers, seas — because at some
periods these manifestations of the power of Yahveh

" Troward's "Edinburgh Lectures on Mental Science."
" Raskin's "Queen of the Air."

STfje Wvtt of TLiU

117

were worshipped or made symbolic use of to express ex-
cess of life in its lowest form — degeneracy — how much
of the Bible, one wonders, would there be left!

Having done this, having stripped it of all poetry
and imagery, the next step logically, of course, would
be to demolish Nature itself. And that is a bit difficult
even for a reformer of an aridly righteous and unim-
aginative mind.

ASSYKIAN CTLiNDEB.

SACRED BIRDS

"The bird in which the breath and spirit is more full
than in any other creature and the earth power least,"
— Ruskin.

''There are no myths . . . by which the moral state
and fineness of intelligence of different races can be so
deeply tried and measured as by those of the serpent and
the bird" — Ruskin.

'^ . . . The Bird that halting in her flight
Awhile on boughs too light.
Feels them give way beneath her yet sings.
Knowing that she has wings." — Victor Hugo.

119

IX
SACRED BIRDS

THE bird symbolises the spirit of the air, the spirit
of hfe.
The wing of a bird symboHsed the wind.
A circle or globe with bird's wings issuing from it
on either side, was an Egyptian and Assyrian symbol
of the deity.

■Z=3F^—)ziz^

'W''''<i^

.^^

;X I

)

DETAIL OF ASSYRIAN RELIEF, LAYARD.

In one of the early Egyptian triads of gods Nut
is heaven, Seb the earth and Shu the air or space which

122

life g)pmlioIfi{

separates them. The hieroglyph of Shu is an ostrich
feather "the most imponderable object for its bulk that
could be selected," hence the symbol of space.

Maat the Egyptian goddess of truth carried a
feather.

ANUBIS, TME .WOOkL-HtAOEO GOO Of THE OCAO, ADJUSTS THE 2O1XS ON WHCH THE HEART OF TVE DECEASED (iVHO O OH
THE BfTTCME LETT) IS BEING WEIGHED AGAINST RIQKT AND TJfUTH, STMBOUZEO BY THE FEATHER. TMOTM, THE l»li-HtA0tO
COO OF LEARNING. STANDS READY WITM A SCRIBE'S PALETTE AMD BRUSH TO w«Tt DOWN TMf VERDICT OF THE BALANCE.

FROM A COLORED VONeTTt IN THE PAPYRUS OF ANI, WHCH IS NOW IN THE ORmSIl MUSEUM. OYH XVlll(»BO</r 1300 B.CJ

BALANCE USED TO WEIGH THE HEAfTT IN THE JUDGMENT OF THE DEAD

It was thought that after a man died he was brought
before Osiris the judge of the dead and "his conscience,
symbolised by the heart, was weighed in the balance be-
fore him." In the Egyptian representations of the Last
Judgment the heart of the deceased is weighed before
an assemblage of the gods over against a feather the
symbol of truth, to test the truth of his plea. The light-
ness of the feather, the ease with which it ascends sym-
bolised the eternal quality of truth which, when
"crushed to earth rises again." We still say "Heart as
light as a feather" to indicate freedom from care, happi-
ness, a good conscience.

The panache is a part of this same symbolism, as
well as the three feathers of the Druids — "three rods
of light" — light meaning power, divinity. Light of the

AXUBIS

(Owned by Airs. Myron C. Taylor, New York City;

feacreb JBirbiel 123

World, and which later were adopted by King Edward
and other Princes of Wales as a badge.

The bird power was humanised by the Greeks in
their flying angels of victory. It is also associated with
the Hebrew cherubim which guard the Tree of Life.

The soul, which was commonly believed to be exhaled
from the mouths of the dying in the last breath was
frequently pictured as a bird. It was a part of the
funeral rites of a Roman Emperor to burn his waxen
image on a pyre. As the flames were seen ascending
an eagle was let loose from the burning pyre to carry
the soul to heaven.

In Egypt the soul is often portrayed as a human-
headed bird hovering about the mummy. Or again it
will be depicted perched in a tree near by regarding
curiously its own funeral.

The sun-god Ra is pictured as a falcon winging his
swift course across the sky.

The hawk is connected with
all solar gods and was partic-
ularly venerated in Egypt.
Horus is the falcon god. The
hawk of Horus typified the AST^i^^J^^^V ^ \
spirit of the sun. ' M n ^ \ J

Layard quotes from a frag- ^^"^

ment of the Zoroastrian oracles °^^^ ^'^ ^°"^' anthemion.

«/-( 1 Greek pottery fragment.
preserved by EusebmS, God Goodyear.Crammar of the Lotus.

is he that has the head of a

hawk. He is the first, indestructible, eternal, unbegot-
ten, indivisible, dissimilar; the dispenser of all good,
incorruptible; the best of the good, the wisest of
the wise; he is the father of equity and justice; self-
taught, physical and perfect and wise and the only in-
ventor of the sacred philosophy."

124 Itife ^|>mbolflJ

Sometimes the head of the hawk is given to the body
of a lion, the latter is also associated with the might and
power of the sun.

The hawk or falcon, vulture and phoenix in Egypt,
and the eagle in India and Babylonia are birds of the
sun, fire, wind, storms, immortality.

Among the Egyptians where decomposition set in so
rapidly, the vulture was regarded as an emblem of puri-
fication, of compassion, as a worker of all good. The
vulture also symbolised maternity. Nekhebet the vul-
ture goddess is identified by the Greeks with Eileithyia
the goddess of birth. She is generally represented as a
vulture hovering above the king. Mut another Egyp-
tian goddess whose name signified mother, 'queen of the
gods,' 'lady of the sky,' was supposed to represent na-
ture the mother of all things and like Nut, Neith and
Isis and other great mother goddesses was symbolised
by the vulture. Hathor, who was the female power in
nature, wears a head-dress in the shape of a vulture and
above it a disk and horns. Hathor is called 'lady of
the sycamores' and 'mistress of the gods.'

The phoenix a fabulous bird of
the sun, one of the four super-
natural creatures of the Chinese, has
symbolised life and immortality
from remotest antiquity. Accord-
ing to the legend this "bird of won-
der" combines both feminine and
THE BIRD OF FIRE. masculiuc attributes. "It lives five
B&y\ty Lost Language of huudrcd vcars Or a little more.

Symbolism. -J '

when it will become young again
and leave its old age."

When its time to put off old age arrives, it makes for
itself in some secret place somewhere in Arabia a nest

S>acreb JBirbsf

125

of rarest spices. These, becoming ignited by the heat of
the sun and the fanning of the bird's own wings, burst
into flames consuming the phoenix, which arises from its
oA\Ti ashes, buoyantly young, to pursue "the same never
ending life and re-birth."

In the Egyptian religion the phoenix is the embodi-
ment of Ra the sun-god. The Egyptians believed that this
mj^stic bird came out of Arabia every
five hundred years and burned itself
on the hi^li altar in the Temple of the
Sun of Heliopolis, rising again from
its own ashes young and beautiful.

Among the Romans, where crema-
tion was practiced, the symbolic use
of the phoenix signified resurrection
and immortality. This emblem of life
was taken over by the Christians as a
symbol of immortality and was also
used by the alchemists.

The eagle among the Greeks was
the symbol of supreme spiritual en-
ergy. It is a solar bird like the hawk
and shares with the latter the power
of being able to out-stare the sun.

The eagle is the symbol of royalty,

power, authority, victory. Zeus is at- Goodyear.^Grammaro/<A.

tended by an eagle. On ancient Greek

medals and coins the eagle of Zeus is often portrayed

carrying the thunderbolt.

The Babylonian shepherd Etana (or legendary
King) is borne aloft by an eagle to the Celestial Moun-
tains where grows the plant of life.

The Etana eagle figured as a symbol of royalty in
Rome.

EAELY GREEK VASE.

126 life ^pmbolsi

The eagle is associated with Ashur, the solar god
of the Assyrians, and occupies a prominent place in
the mythologies of Sumeria and Assyria as a symbol
of fertility, of storm and lightning, the bringer of chil-
dren and the deity who carries souls to Hades.

The eagle was looked upon as the inveterate enemy
of serpents. The contest between the sky or sun and
the clouds was symbolised as a fight between serpents
and eagles.

In its cruel aspect the eagle is identified with the Zu
bird, a storm demon, a worker of disaster, a prolific
source of evil. The Zu bird symbolised also a phase of
the sun, also fertility and slays serpents.

Garuda the solar vehicle of the Indian god Vishnu,
half eagle, half giant — was also a destroyer of serpents
and, like the Babylonian Etana eagle when it was born
it "issued from its tgg like a flame of fire, its eyes flashed
the lightning and its voice was the thunder."

In a hymn which Mackenzie quotes in the Myths
of India the Garuda is lauded as the "bird of life, the
presiding spirit of the animate and inanimate universe,
destroyer of all, creator of all. It burns all as the sun
in his anger burneth all creatures." The same hymn
identifies the sacred bird with Agni, the god of fire, with
Brahma, the creator, with Indra, god of fertility and
thunder and with Yama, god of the dead who carries off
souls to Hades. The Garuda is also called the "steed-
necked incarnation of Vishnu."

The double-headed eagle — a form of the Garuda
bird — was worshipped by the Hittites as a symbol of
omniscience. It was the emblem of the King of Heaven
and as such was given to kings and emperors who were
his Divine representatives on earth. The Hittite Bird
of the Sun is also identified by some with the magic

■jrj'jYjjjTJfiTJ:>Yj-jrjjjjJjyyyjyji^jxJ^j-J'j^

Photo. Alinari

Griffins as Table Supporters
(Vatican, Rome)

^acreb Ptrbs;

127

Roc, mortal enemy of serpents, the bird that bore Sind-
bad aloft.

"The cherubim guarding the Tree of Life are mod-
elled on the Double-Headed Eagle."

The double-headed eagle of the Hittites figured
until recent days on the royal arms of Austro-Hungary
and Russia.

In Layard's Nineveh he notes that eagle-headed
or vulture-headed human figures were constantly repre-
sented in colossal proportions on walls or guarding the
portals of chambers. Often they were depicted con-
tending with other mythic animals such as a human-
headed lion or bull. In these contests the eagle-headed
figure was always victorious, which he believes may
denote the superiority of the intellect over mere
physical strength.

Assyrian eagle-headed genii are depicted advancing
towards the Sacred Tree holding the symbolic cone.

In Christian art St. John the
Divine is given the eagle, or some-
times he is depicted as an eagle,
when as one of the four evan-
gelists they are represented by
the four creatures of Ezekiel — a eagle headed figures

1 • 1 HOLDING SYMBOLIC CONE.

man, an ox, a lion, an eaffle.

° Lajard. Culte de Mithra.

The lion with the wings of an
eagle typified strength and power — the union of spirit
and matter.

Doves played a prominent part in the worship of
Astarte the great goddess of nature of the Phoenicians.
The dove was a symbol of Bacchus, the First Begotten
of Love!

Doves were also an attribute of Ishtar.

Doves bring ambrosia to Zeus.

128 TLiit ^pmbote

Doves and snakes were associated with the mother
goddess of Crete, typifying her connection with air
and earth.

It was beheved that Semiramis, the mythical founder
of Nineveh, took flight to heaven in the form of a dove.

Doves were sacrificed to Adonis.

The dove, swallow, sparrow, wry-neck and swan
were sacred to Aphrodite.

Doves and pigeons were sacred birds in Egypt.

In Vedic literature Yama is the god of the dead and
his messengers are the owl and the pigeon.

A dove with an olive branch was used as a symbol
of Athene or re-newed life.

In the Hebrew story of the Great Flood Noah sends
forth first a raven and then a dove. But the dove found
no rest for the sole of her foot, and returned to the ark.
In seven days Noah sent her forth again. "And the dove
came into him in the evening; and lo, in her mouth
was an olive leaf pluckt off." Noah "stayed yet other
seven days ; and sent forth the dove ; which returned not
again to him any more."

In the Babylonian flood myth Pre-napish-tim the
Babylonian Noah sends forth a dove on the seventh day.
The dove finding no resting place returns. Next he
sends a swallow which likewise returns. "Then Pre-
napish-tim sent forth a raven and the raven flew away."

Sacred doves are usually associated with the
sepulchral cult. Evans gives an illustration of one of
the "dove shrines" of Myceneea. These shrines were also
connected with sacred trees and pillars.

In Christian art the dove is the symbol of the Holy
Ghost. It is used pre-eminently as the emblem of the
soul and in this sense is seen issuing from the lips of
dying martyrs. The dove as the Holy Spirit hovers

S>acreb Pirbsi 129

about the Virgin. It is also given to certain saints who
were believed to be divinely inspired.

The 'primeval goose' that laid the golden egg of
the world comes down through the ages as an object of
endearing worship. It is safe to say that no woman
ever really resented being called a "silly goose."

While the ancients looked uj^on blood as the pri-
mary vehicle of life, believed that the blood of a god
flowed in the sacred waters, that inspiration and re-
newed life came from drinking blood — hence the Eucha-
rist— they also saw that life was in the breath, that air
was life, without air man could not breathe. Thus they
reverenced the atmospheric gods — the gods of the mov-
ing winds. Hera is the "Queen of the Air." Anu is
the sky and atmosphere god of the Babylonians. Zeus
and Jupiter are gods of the winds and storms as well
as of "heaven, earth, fire, water, day and night." As
the gods grew more highly complex — and thus indicat-
ing the growing tendency towards monotheism — the
solar gods eventually took over all the powers that had
formerly been given to other gods. But whether cen-
tralised or scattered the forces that lie back of all vege-
tation and growth — sun, storm, wind, earth, water, fire,
air — were none the less worshipped as divine manifesta-
tions of life.

From earliest days, perhaps because of its sibilant
hiss, the goose became associated with the sound of the
rushing wind.

The Hindus depict Brahma the Creator, the Breath
of Life riding on a goose. The goose or 'breath bird'
was sacred to Juno the Queen of Heaven (the Greek
Hera). In Egypt the goose was the attribute of Seb
the earth god who in the creation myth was the 'chaos
gander.'

130

TLitt ^pmbolfiS

The goose was associated with the sun in Egypt,
India, Greece and Britain. Thus as a solar bird it was
given to Osiris, Horus, Isis. It was also sacred to
Apollo, Dionysos, Hermes, the Roman Mars and Eros.
Eros the god of love is depicted riding on a goose. The

GEESE AND THE LOTUS, SWASTIKA AND DIAGRAMS.

Detail of Rhodian vase in Metropolitan Museum.

Goodyear, Grammar of the Lotus.

'beautiful goose' is sacrificed to Venus in Cyprus where
it was an emblem of love. It was sacred to Priapus in
Italy. Among the Hindus it was the symbol of elo-
quence. The Greeks gave the goose to Peitho the
"goddess of winning speech." In Germany and France
the goose was believed to be endowed with the power of
forecasting events as well as being a good weather
prophet.

"The goose represented love and watchfidness, the
'watchfulness of a good housewife.' " It was called the
"blessed fowl." The mystics likened themselves to "un-
slumbering geese." A goose with flames issuing from
its mouth typified the Holy Spirit and symbolised the
way of life or regeneration.

The oath taken by Socrates and his disciples was
"by the goose."

The goose or Bird of Heaven was held sacred in
China where it was regarded as peculiarly a bird of
yang or the principle of light and masculinity.

^acreb j&ithsi 131

The word for goose has a common origin in Latin,
Greek, Sanscrit and German.

The Crane in China and Japan is a sacred bird said
to hve to a fabulous age. It symboHses longevity and
happiness; "longevity" coinciding with our idea of im-
mortality. It is often represented standing on the back
of a tortoise. The crane also transported to heaven
those who had attained immortality.

The Stork was one of the symbols of hsiao, "filial
piety," which occupies such a high place in Chinese
ethics. Confucius whose ideals lay in the past, or in
modelling conduct upon the best that had gone before,
defined filial piety as "carrying on the aims of our fore-
fathers." Hence the "nursery lore of the stork bring-
ing babies — doing as our fathers have done."

"There is a tradition of the Great Wisdom whose
emblem is the serpent surrounding a pair of storks." ^

The Mandarin Duck is a Chinese symbol of con-
nubial affection and fidelity.

Crows in pairs were the symbol of conjugal fidelity
in Egypt where the same quality has been given them
that attaches itself to the pigeon in other countries —
that if either dies the other never consoles itself — ^never
re-mates.

Birds not only symbolised the soul, sun, wind,
storms, fecundity, growth, immortality but they were
'fates.' Certain birds had the gift of presage. The
screech owl was a bird of ill omen. The hooting of an
owl even now brings a sense of coming disaster. In-
stinctively we still experience the inherited shudder.

In Japan the crow is looked upon as a bird of ill
omen. If the crow cries when anyone is ill, death is
near. The same idea of misfortune attaches itself in

* Bayley's 'Ivost Language of Symbolism."

132

TLiit ^pmbolsi

Duran, Historia de las Indias de Nueva Espafla.

g)acreb pirbs; 133

Italy and France. In the fable of "Lcs Dcilx Pigeons"
La Fontaine makes the pigeon who is urging the other
not to leave him say : —

"Qui vous pressed Un corbeau
Tout o Vheure annon^aif malheur a quelque oiseau."

In the stories of wanderings, which are a part of
every myth and saga, the spirits that aid or accompany
the heroic figure or dragon slayer are birds or wild
beasts. The bird Mimi delivers over the secret to Sieg-
fried. "A little bird whispered it in my ear," is still a
common saying, relic of an ancient belief.

St. Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds has come
do'vvn the centuries as a touching evidence of the purity
of his soul.

THE SERPENT

"It is fate itself, swift as disaster, deliberate as
retribution, incomprehensible as destiny/^

"Swift, powerful, graceful, without feet or paws,
yet it can glide, coil, stand erect, leap, dart and like-
wise swim" — Waring.

"The serpent in which the breath or spirit is less than
in any other creature and the earth power greatest.
. . . It is the strength of the base element that is so
dreadful in the serpent. It is the very omnipotence of
the earth. It moves like a wave but without wind, a
current but with no fall . . . all with the same calm
will and equal way . . . one soundless, causeless march
of sequent rings and spectral processions of spotted
dust, with dissolution in its fangs, dislocation in its
coils. Startle it, the winding stream will become a
twisted arrow, the wave of poisoned life will lash
through the grass like a cast lance." — Ruskin.

135

THE SERPENT

THE Serpent is a notoriously complicated symbol.
Its meaning is subtle and contradictory. It
has figured as a life symbol from remotest
times, sometimes in a positive and again in a negative
sense. No symbol has a more confused variety of
meanings — good, evil, life reproduction, wisdom, power,
eternity — everything also that is base, dark, evil, low.
It is one of the universal attributes of the creative prin-
ciple and is found in every portion of the globe as a sym-
bol of life. It is common to both elements earth and
water, is closely associated with groves and tree wor-
ship, and from earliest times has been inseparably con-
nected with sun worship.

The earth in early days was thought to be sur-
romided by a celestial river whose circumambient course
was likened to a serpent biting its tail.

The serpent with tail in its mouth forming a circle
was an Egyptian symbol of eternity and immortality.

The fact that the serpent was believed to be an-
drogj^nous — self-creating — added to its reverence. Its
annual sloughing of its skin made it a symbol of re-
newal, of being born anew.

It was the emblem of destruction and death. "As
the worm of corruption it is the mightiest of all adver-
saries of the gods."

137

138 TLiit ^pmbols;

Typifying darkness in this connection, it is the
especial enemy of the gods of light and creative power.
Apollo the god of day kills the python of darkness as
soon as he is born. Ra, the sun-god of Egypt spends
his nights in mortal combat with Apep the great ser-
pent of mist, darkness, discord, destruction. In India
Indra, the martial god of heaven kills the serpent Vri-
tra, and liberates the waters which the serpent had kept
imprisoned in mountains or clouds. Among the sun
worshippers the serpent was believed to be the incarna-
tion of evil and darkness.

The serpent was also used as a symbol of solar rays,
lightning, clouds and rivers.

The undulating movement of the serpent was
thought to typify the motion of the waves of the sea.
This and its association with earth as well as water made
it a symbol par excellence of the feminine principle.
All the more so because, although used to denote
evil, disaster, darkness, it was also employed with equal
potency to signify life, understanding, wisdom, power,
re-generation, re-production, eternity.

In the very early days in India there is found traces
of an ancient religion which consisted of the worship
of Mother Earth and the Great Snake Father.

In the Indian flood myth Manu is warned by the
fish-god of the coming destruction, and counselled to
build a large ark in which Manu and the seven Rishis
are saved. The tradition of a Great Flood is found
among all ancient peoples. The flood myth is thought
by some to be a variant of the Indra myth which shows
how Indra destroyed the snake worshippers. This in
turn may have found its origin in Babylonia, where Ea
the fish-god and water snake ordered the building of
the ark and the destruction of the wicked snake wor-

&. i'ljyt't

-■ -'-'^ l^gTP"-

iW)

■li jB^

'/•-fc;^;i'i''

Serpent Symbols in Egypt

Fig. 6, "Kneph or Phanes, the most powerful deity, lion-headed, serpent bodied,
winged and bearing on head the usual emblems of wisdom and fecundity, con-
templating the sacred staff of his divine office and resting upon the sacred Nile jar."

In place of head fig. 7 is given the serpents of divine wisdom and "holds wisdom
in each hand as a sign of power."

Waring, Ceramic Art in Remote Ages

^Tfie S>erpent

139

shipping race. In the Egyptian flood myth it is Ra who
becomes angry with the rebeUious acts of men and con-
sults with Nu, the god of primeval waters who orders
the wholesale destruction of mankind. The Mexican
deluge is caused by the 'water sun' which suddenly
discharged the moisture it had been drawing from the
earth in the form of vapour. That fire and water unite
to destroy a race inimical to both, is evident in all the

^DfAlM)

ALVTAN ASSIGNMENT OF ANIMALS TO PARTS OF THE BODY.

Cams, Chinese Thought.

flood legends. These may have been snake worshippers
or races far gone in the iniquities symbolised by the ser-
pent.

140 TLitt S>pmbote

The Maoris have a legend that in the beginning
heaven and earth were united. The union was later
destroyed by a serpent. This resembles the serpent in
the Garden of Eden.

The Indian Nagas are said to be "snakelike beings
resembling clouds." They are said also to occupy
eighth rank in the system of the world. Other enumer-
ations put them next to the Devas. The Naga world
was beneath the ocean. There were heavenly Nagas,
divine Nagas, earthly Nagas and Nagas who guarded
the treasures of the deep. The Indian serpent-shaped
Naga is identified with the Chinese dragon because
both are gods of rivers, seas and the givers of rain.
The Nagas were "Lords of the earth more than
anyone else and send, when having been insulted,
drought, bad crops, diseases and pestilence among
mankind."

The Nagas are represented m three ways in the
Indian Buddhist art, first as human beings having on
the head a urseus-like snake which curves out of the
neck, often with several heads. Second, they are de-
picted in their snake-like form, and third they are shown
with the trunk of a man, the lower part of the body and
the head being that of a serpent.

In one of the legends of Gautama, when the Buddha
sat under the tree where he received enlightenment, his
brilliant light shone into the Naga's palace under the
sea, just as the light had spread from his three predeces-
sors who had sat in the same spot. The Naga rejoicing
in the new Buddha, arose from the water and surround-
ing the Buddha with "seven coils covered him with his
seven heads." For seven days and seven nights the
Buddha sat motionless protected from storm and temp-
est by the royal snake. Thus, the legend concludes,

3rtje Serpent

141

NAGA KINGS SUP-
PORTING THE
LOTUS PEDESTAL.

D'Alviella, Migra-
tion of Symbols.

"These fearful serpents by the influence of Buddha's
Law became blessers of mankind."

The Nagas or serpent-gods were believed to be su-
perior to men. Gautama Buddha was said to have put
the Sacred Book under the protection of the Nagas "un-
til sucHi time as man should have acquired
sufficient wisdom to understand it."

The Naga kings Nanda and Upan-
anda are depicted as entirely human with
five serpents over their heads. They
were said to have created the lotus, and
are frequently shown in a kneeling atti-
tude at the base of Buddha's pedestal
supporting the lotus.

The Naga god has practically disap-
peared from India except in the south
where it is still reverenced.

The Nagas were worshipped in China from earliest
times. It is related that two heaven-sent serpents pre-
sided over the first washing of Confucius. The snake
symbol is much less common in China, however, where
its place is taken by the dragon.

From pre-historic times the serpent has been an ob-
ject of worship in Japan, and Naga shrines may still
be found there. Benten, one of the seven gods of good
luck, is usually represented riding on a snake or a
dragon.

The mighty and powerful Nagas were only help-
less before their deadly enemies the Garudas, the fabu-
lous, golden winged birds of the sun, of whom they
stood in constant terror.

The snake inspired awe, fear and worship among all
primitive races. Many of these customs and traditional
observances still survive among the American Indians.

142 life ^j>mtJolsi

The Egyptian goddess Neheb-kan was represented
as a serpent. The beneficent mother goddess Nazit of
Buto was also a serpent and the goddesses Isis and
Nephthys had serpent forms. The serpent was a sym-
bol of fertility and as a mother was a protector. All the
great nature goddesses of fertility are given the serpent.

The serpent is found in greatest profusion on Egyp-
tian tombs and temple walls. The kings and gods of
Egypt wear the urseus serpent crest in their crowns.
Ra the Egyptian sun-god who had the sun's disk for
an emblem was frequently represented with the head
of a hawk crowned by the disk of the sun upon which
rests the curving uraeus snake.

Ruskin speaks of this, "The serpent crest on the
king's crown, or of the gods on the pillars of Egypt is
a mystery, but the serpent itself gliding past the pillar's
foot, is it less a mystery?"

In hymns to Amen-Ra — who is a later form of Ra
and took over many of the attributes of Ra and other
gods as well — ^Amen-Ra is called "Lord of rays, creator
of light ... he that placest the urseus upon the head
of its lord. . . . Lord of the urseus crown; exalted of
plumes, beautiful of tiara, exalted of the white crown;
the serpent 'mehen' and the two ursei are the orna-
ments of his face . . . the two ursei fly by his forehead.
. . . The flame makes his enemies fall, his eye over-
throws the rebels, it thrusts its copper lance into the
sky and makes the serpent Nak [Apep] vomit what
it has swallowed."

"He that placest the urceus upon the head of its
lord" seems to deliver the secret. As the solar gods
were always engaged during the night in fighting the
serpent of darkness, mist, storm, evil, it may be that the
urajus serpents worn on the crowns of the sun-gods

Photo. Alinari

Athene (Minerva)
(Museo Nazionale, Naples)

3rf)e Serpent 143

and the Pharaohs of Egypt were placed there to con-
vey the same symhoHc idea that is typified by the hon's
skin which Herakles wears, in other words, they were
worn as trophies of victory.

Serpents were worshipped as defenders of house-
holds, and images of them hung up for luck or protec-
tion as horse shoes were hung up as lucky omens in
the peaceful, mid-victorian days before the horse was
superseded by the automobile.

Snake charms, snake rings and snake bracelets were
worn as fertility and protective charms.

The serpent in Rome was connected with the wor-
ship of Lares the household gods of the Romans, and
among both Greeks and Romans it was regarded
as a guardian spirit of places. A serpent kept in a
cage in the temple of Athene at Athens was called the
"guardian spirit of the temple." A snake is one
of the symbols of Athene the goddess of wisdom.
The Romans regarded the serpent as an object of
divination.

Vishnu the preserver of the Hindu Trimurti sleeps
on the World Serpent's body.

It was believed that Mercury the herald of the gods,
with the caduceus — a rod with wings entwined by two
serpents — in his hand "could give sleep to whomsoever
he chose."

iEsculapius god of medicine and son of Apollo
carries a staff encircled by a serpent, symbolising heal-
ing, the re-newing power of life.

Hippocrates is also given the same symbol.

Hygeia the goddess of health is depicted bearing a
serpent in her hand.

There is an interesting communication that throws

144 T^iit S>j>mlJols;

a great deal of light on serpent symbolism, in the
American Journal of Archeology for Jan-Mar., 1922,
from Prof. A. L. Frothingham of Princeton Univer-
sity, regarding a former contention of his, which identi-
fied the so-called Medusa in the temple at Corfu as
Artemis. An inscription found after the publication of
his theory proves that the temple was, in fact, a temple
of Artemis and his theory of the identification of Me-
dusa with both the goddess and the sun has been ac-
cepted by Dr. Dorpfeld. Prof. Frothingham goes on
to say: —

"There are two phases in the creation and develop-
ment of the Gorgon Medusa. Originally she is pre-
Olympian. She is a child of Mother Earth and belongs
to the primitive stage of proto-Hellenic religion, the
matriarchal stage when the mother goddess was supreme
and when the great snake, the emblem of life, was also
the emblem of the great productive forces of mother
earth. Medusa was the embodiment of this material,
productive force. The second stage in the Gorgon
evolution coincided with the substitution of the male
for the female deity as leader of the Pantheon, when
in the duality of productive forces the father sun heat
took the upper hand of the other element in the pro-
duction of life, the mother-earth-moisture element. In
this second phase the darting snakes of the solar heat
around the Gorgon's nimbus were symbolic of one side
of the Gorgon's function, in the same way as the great
snakes at her girdle were symbolic of the earth moisture
forces of the great mother. . . . The two children of
Medusa represent the two elements of heat and mois-
ture. Chrysaor is Apollo in his character as sun god.
In historical times the epithet of Apollo as a solar god
was Chrysaor and his darting arrows are described as

3rf)e Serpent 145

snakes. Pegasus, the horse is of course the well known
symbol of Poseidon, the god of waters, and therefore in
primitive JNIedusa symbolism represented the other ele-
ment moisture. At Corfu, therefore. Medusa is the
great producing force of the universe through a com-
bination of heat and moisture. She is the presiding
genius over the creative evolution out of which world
order is produced."

The Serpent coiled about the Egg of the World
symbolises the same idea of production by generative
heat.

The cross entwined by a serpent was the emblem of
spiritual re-birth.

Frazer finds the serpent associated with life-giving
plants, and that there is a close connection between the
fertility of the soil and the marriage of woman to
the serpent; also that there seems to have been a
Greek notion that women may conceive by a Serpent
God.^

According to the legends Jupiter Ammon, appear-
ing to Olympias as a serpent, became the father of
Alexander the Great. Similar legends were told of
Jupiter Capitolinus as the father of Scipio Africanus.

Jastrow considers that "In the Biblical narrative
the sexual instinct and the beginning of culture as sym-
bolised by the tree of knowledge are closely associated.
According to rabbinical traditions the serpent is the
symbol of the sexual passion." ^

Conceived of in this way the whole analogy of ser-
pent symbolism becomes stupendously clear and enters
into the very essence of our being.

Another authority says "The serpent among the

* " Adonis, Attis and Osiris."

^Jastrow's "Religion of Babylonia and Assyria."

146 ILife S>pmtioli^

Eastern nations had the subtle significance of rep-
resenting an emotion, the animating spirit of procrea-
tion, the sexual instinct, the Divine Passion. While
this instinct as a factor in the work of the Creator was
the source of all good, when it represented the sexual
nature in its sensual and lustful aspect the serpent be-
came the symbol of sin." ^

As the manifestation of the Life Principle in obedi-
ence to law it becomes the symbol of wisdom, power,
goodness. In the negative or evil sense it becomes the
deadly reptile with no higher aspirations than material-
ism and sensuality. It was the serpent in this latter
aspect that brought about the expulsion of Adam and
Eve from the Garden of Eden, or Garden of the Soul.

With this interpretation in mind it is not difficult
to understand how the snake came to be thought of by
the literal minded and the ignorant, for whom the origi-
nal meaning had been lost, not as a symbol of the means
of creation but as the Creator himself — the Great Snake
Father. Or again by others as an object whose pres-
ence gave potency to the life impulse. Even the sinister
chapter that relates to serpent worship no longer
puzzles, although it is a bad chapter in the history of
humanity. It is the dark side made manifest. An
amazing phase that defeats itself.

Troward sums it up very clearly: — "The serpent
a favourite emblem in all ancient esoteric literature and
symbolism, is sometimes used in a positive and some-
times in a negative sense. In either case it means life
— ^not the Originating Life Principle but the ultimate
outcome of the Life Principle in its most external form
of manifestation. Recognized in full realization that it
comes from God, it is the completion of the Divine

'"Sex Symbolism," Clifford Howard.

^fje Serpent 147

work by outward manifestation. In this sense it be-
comes the serpent which Moses hfted up in the wilder-
ness. Without the recognition of it as the ultimate
mode of the Divine Spirit, it becomes the deadly reptile
not lifted up but crawling flat upon the ground; it is
that ignorant conception of things which cannot see the
spiritual element in them and therefore attributes all
their energy of action and re-action to themselves, not
perceiving that they are the creations of a higher power.
Ignorant of the Divine Law of Creation the Serpent
symbolizes thus that conception of Life which sees noth-
ing beyond secondary causation." ^

Nothing beyond Sex, in other words. Thus the
Freudian theories of "Sex urge," the CEpidus complex,
as well as other abnormal complexes that have seized
upon modernism, especially the modern novel, are com-
parable to the phallicism of an earlier age. The only
difference is that the modern uses words to symbolise
precisely the same thought on life that was expressed
in the degenerate stages of phallicism.

And whenever, as we have seen, phallicism is wor-
shipped per se either by 'graven images' or by the
written word, it is clear to the observing that the rela-
tion of the sexes is about to describe another circle.

D. W. Lawrence who is a sex expert — not with the
definition in mind that "an expert knows nothing else,"
for I find him extremely well versed in symbolism —
seems to foreshadow the male revolt against the sexual
supremacy of the modern woman in the closing chapter
of Aaron's Rod.

One character asks the old, old question that the ages
have asked tirelessly, "But can't there be a balancing of
wills?"

* "Bible Mystery and Bible Meaning," T. Troward.

148 TLift g>|>ml)ols(

The other says "My dear boy, the balance lies in
that, that when one goes up the other goes down. One
acts, the other takes. It is the only way in love. And
the woman is nowadays the active party. Oh, yes, not
a shadow of doubt about it. They take the initiative
and the man plays up. That's how it is. The man
just plays up. Nice manly proceeding, what?"

Lawrence goes on about the "power urge" which
will have to issue forth again in man. He would not
be modern, of course, if he did not put it that way. To
keep to the old terms, however, this sounds like the re-
crudescence of the masculine. And when the masculine
principle, as typified by heaven, light, fire, strength, the
spiritual comes uppermost, hybridism goes out and the
brazen serpent is once more lifted high.

THE FOUR SUPERNATURAL CREATURES
OF THE CHINESE

THE DRAGON^ UNICORN, PHOENIX, TORTOISE

In unravelling the meaning of the lotus, dragon,
tama, nimbus, or wheel of the law they become living
records of the thoughts and beliefs of ancient peoples."
— Claude Rex Allen.

''The simplest truths in philosophy are hidden in the
Hindu allegory that the world rests on an elephant and
the elephant on a tortoise." — Lloyd P. Smith.

''The dragon is the spirit of change, therefore, of
life itself . . . taking new forms according to its sur-
roundings yet never seen in a final shape. It is the
great mystery itself. Hidden in the caverns of inac-
cessible mountains or coiled in the unfathomed depth
of the sea he awaits the time when he slowly arouses
himself into activity. He enfolds himself in the storm
clouds, he washes his mane in the darkness of the seeth-
ing whirlpools. His claws are in the fork of the light-
ning . . . His voice is heard in the hurricane . . . The
dragon reveals himself only to vanish. He is a glorious
symbolic image of that elasticity which shakes off the
inert mass of exhausted matter." — Okakuro-Kakuzo.

"Cloud follows the dragon. Wind follows the tiger."

149

THE FOUR SUPERNATURAL CREATURES
OF THE CHINESE

THE DRAGON, UNICORN, PHOENIX, TORTOISE

IT has been suggested that the dragon may have been
the traditional form of some huge saurian or pre-
historic monster, or perhaps a conventionalised
form of the alligator found in the river Yangtse. What-
ever its origin, from the remotest times the dragon has
figured in the folk tales and mythologies of nearly every
ancient race as the personification of the malign forces
of evil and chaos. "The combination of every bad
feature in nature — the sum of every creature's worst."

In Babylonia Tiamat, the chaos dragon or Great
Mother is the serpent or leviathan of the sea. In
Egypt it is associated with the great serpent or night
demon Apep with whom Ra the sun-god battles. In
China he is a sun and moon swallowing monster during
an eclipse. In India the dragon is the serpent Vritra
who keeps the waters imprisoned in the clouds. Hydra
the water serpent slain by Hercules belongs to the same
class of images. There were dragons, too, of the wells.
In all these representations the dragon is merely the
idealised serpent.

In Egypt the dragon is also associated with the
crocodile.

151

152 mtt ^pmtiols;

The dragon symbolised water, clouds, rain, floods,
sin, evil.

It is the sea monster of the Hebrews. "In that day
the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall
punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan
that crooked serpent ; and he shall slay the dragon that
is in the sea." (Isa. 27:1.) St. John describes the
dragon "A great red dragon having seven heads and
ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads. And his
tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did
cast them to the earth." (Rev. 12 :3-4.) And again he
sees an angel who came down from heaven and "laid
hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the Devil
and Satan and bound him a thousand years." (Rev.
20:2.)

The scriptural phrase 'the jaws of hell' was rendered
literally in early Christian art by depicting a dragon
with jaws open from which are seen issuing flames. St.
Michael is the victorious angel over the "great dragon
that deceived the world," and in devotional pictures he
is frequently represented in full armour, carrying a
sword, standing with one foot on the half -human, half-
dragon form of Lucifer. St. George was another dra-
gon slayer as were nearly all the heroes of myth and
saga.

The Chinese, however, — and also the Japanese who
borrowed most of their religious ideas from China —
give a much wider meaning to the dragon. Water
which is associated with the dragon is a source of great-
est good as well as evil, and in China the dragon be-
comes the most potent symbol of the blessing, the rain-
giving, the wonder working gods of water.

It is almost impossible for the Western mind to
grasp the mystical subtleties that are embodied in their

jFour Supernatural Creatures; of tfje Cf)ines(e 153

dragon symbolism nor the profound hold it has. The
dragon and all that it implies enters into the very warp
and woof of Chinese thought and imagery.

It is the sjTnbol of power, royalty, sovereignty. It
is the symbol of floods, clouds, rain. It is one of the
four supernatural creatures who preside over the fate
of China. But above all else — that thought so dear to
the Chinese mind — to the Chinese who believe that their
civilisation is eternal — "the dragon is the spirit of
change."

Lao-tse defines the Tao, "I do not know its name and
so call it the Path. With reluctance I call it the Infin-
ite, Infinity is the Fleeting, the Fleeting is the Van-
ishing, the Vanishing is the Reverting."

Commenting upon this in The Book of Tea Oka-
kuro-Kakuzo says, "The Tao is in the Passage rather
than in the Path. It is the spirit of Cosmic Change —
the eternal growth which returns upon itself to produce
new forms. It recoils upon itself like the dragon, the
beloved symbol of the Taoists. It folds and unfolds as
do the clouds. The Tao might be spoken of as the
Great Transition. Subjectively it is the Mood of the
Universe. Its Absolute is the Relative."

In the Yi King; the Book of Changes, the dragon is
the symbol of Chen (or Kan) one of the yang trigrams
meaning thunder.

There is a legend that a 'dragon horse' emerged
from the river Ho bearing on its back an arrangement
of marks which gave Fuh-Hi the idea of the trigrams.
The 'dragon horse' with wings at its sides that could
walk on the water without sinking symbolised the vital
spirit of heaven and earth.

According to the Yi King the symbol chen, corres-
ponding to the third of the four primary developments

154

TLiit ^pmbote

of the creative influence, is synonymous with lung the
dragon and in conformity with this dictum the powers
and functions of nature which are governed by the
forces thus indicated, such as east, spring, etc.. are
ranked under the symbol of the azure dragon. This
also designates the Eastern quadrant of the Urano-
sphere, as the White Tiger is given to the Western
Quadrant.

The four cardinal points and the four seasons were
thus represented :

East,

Spring,

Blue,

Dragon.

South,

Summer,

Red,

Bird.

West,

Autumn,

White,

Tiger.

North,

Winter,

Black,

Tortoise,

De Groot places the azure dragon as highest in
rank among all the dragons in China because blue is
the colour of the East. This idea may have been de-
rived from India where Indra the rain and sky god
is the patron of the East and Indra-colour is blue or
blue-black, the colour of rain clouds.

According to other authorities, however, the yellow
dragon is the most honoured.

The blue dragon symbolises the vital spirit of water.

The yellow dragon is the essence of divine, mani-
festing power.

"The dragon can be bigger than big, smaller than
small, higher than high, lower than low."

The dragon wields the power of transformation and
invisibility. He conceals himself or becomes brilliant.

When the dragon breathes his breath changes to a
cloud upon which he rides to heaven. He mounts to
the sky at the time of the spring equinox. When he
flies too high and cannot return the "thirsty earth must

DUAGOX

(Musee Cliinois, Fontainebleau)

Jfour g>upernatural Creatures! of tfje Cfjinejse 155

wait for liis blessings and sorrow prevails." At the
time of the autumnal equinox he plunges down into the
depths. He sleeps in the pools in winter and arouses
himself in the spring. He is the god of thunder and
appears in the rice fields as rain, or as dark clouds in
the sky.

The symbol of imperial sovereignty is an ascend-
ing dragon which belches forth a ball. The ball in this
case is the thunder and not the sun pursued by the
dragon. Sometimes the object depicted between two
dragons is shaped like a spiral, the spiral denoting the
rolling of thunder from which issues a flash of light-
ning.

The dragon devours the moon during an eclipse,
and the ball between the two dragons has been identi-
fied as the moon which the dragons are attempting to
swallow. The conjunction of moon and water is ob-
viously a magical one and was a symbolism used for
the purpose of drawing down the fertilising rains.

More frequently, according to Chinese belief, the
ball is a 'precious pearl,' a form of the tama or sacred
gem which typified the spirit or divine essence of the
gods and also denoted the force which controls the ebb
and flow of tides. The pearl was believed to be the
"concrete essence of the moon distilled through the
secret workings of the secondary principle of nature
within the mussel of the shell which produces it. Hence
it acts as a charm against fij^e, the active or primary
principle." ^

The intense desire of the dragons to regain posses-
sion of this jewel, which has been wrested away from
them by the covetousness of man, is a favourite sub-
ject in myth and legend and is constantly being de-

* Mayer's "Chinese Reader's Manual."

156 TLiit ^pmt)oIs(

picted in Oriental art, where the dragons are shown
either guarding or battling for it.

In The Dragon in China and Japan M. W.
de Visser describes a great ball of glass covered with
gold which is said to hang from the centre of the roof
of the great hall of the Buddhist Temple ra(h)-yu-
sze, "Temple of the Rain of Law." Eight dragons
are carved on the surrounding "hanging pillars"
eagerly stretching out their claws towards the ball in the
centre — the "pearl of perfection." This is again ex-
plained as the "divine pearl." He divides the dragon
into five sorts: 1. Serpent dragons, 2. Lizard dragons,
3. Fish dragons, 4. Elephant dragons, 5. Toad dragons.
The usual number in China, however, used in the
ethical or abstract sense are four. These are the dra-
gons of the four seas. They are
four brothers named Yao who
govern the North, South, East,
West seas. They are called : —
1. The Celestial dragon
who upholds the heavens,
guarding and supporting the
JAPAN. mansions of the gods so that

Naga Kings with two dragons xk j ±. i?„i]

on shoulders upholding the ^'^^V ^" ""^ ^'^^^•

lotus pedestal of the god. 2. The Spiritual or Divine

D'AlvieWa, Migration of Symbols. ■, ■• i r?! i • j

dragon who benefits mankmd
by causing the wind to blow and the rain to fall.

3. The Earth dragon who marks out the courses
of rivers and streams.

4. The Dragon of Hidden Treasure who watches
over the wealth concealed from mortals.

The connection of the dragons with pearls is here
obvious. The masters of the sea would jealously guard
its treasures.

jFour Supernatural Creatures! of tfje €i)int^t 157

As far back as 2700 B.C. Yao the dragon was
one of the six symbolic figures painted on the upper
garment of the emperor.

Imperial coffins used to be painted with a sun, a
moon, a bird, a tortoise, a dragon and a tiger.

Coffins of grandees displayed the blue dragon, sym-
bol of the Eastern quarter on the left side, and a white
tiger representing the West on the right. The sun and
moon are on the top. The burial garments for women
had dragons embroidered on them surrounded by
clouds, bats, phoenixes, stags, tortoises and cranes —
emblems of fertilising rains, longevity, bliss, immor-
tality, prosperitj^ happiness.

De Visser quotes from the philosopher Kwan who
writing on the nature of dragons says, "Those who,
hidden in the dark can live or die are shi (a plant the
stalks of which are used in divination), tortoises and
dragons. The tortoise is born in the water; she is
caused to disclose (what she knows) in the fire and
then becomes the first of all creatures, the regulator of
calamity and felicity. A dragon in the water covers
himself with five colours, therefore he is a god (shen).
If he desires to become small he assumes a shape re-
sembling that of the silk worm and if he desires to be-
come big he lies hidden in the world. If he desires to
ascend he strives towards the clouds, and if he desires
to descend he enters a deep well. He whose trans-
formations are not limited by days and whose ascend-
ings and descendings are not limited by time is called
a god (shen).''

Japan has three kinds of dragons coming from
India, China and Japan. These may all be classed,
however, as thunder, storm arousing, rain bestowing
gods.

158 ILife ^j>mt)ol2(

The dragon in Japan is the symbol of the Mikado,
whose garments are the robes of the dragon, whose face
is called the dragon face and who is seated on a dragon
throne.

The dragon is depicted with flame-like wings or
appendages curving out from shoulders and hips. Its
feet are given either three, four or five claws. The
Japanese dragon has three claws. The imperial dragon
of China is always given five. This may be in allusion
to the fact that Japan has but three kinds, whereas
China has five, or it may symbolise the Chinese myth
that the dragon in water covers himself with five
colours.

"The people paint the dragon's shape with a horse's
head, and a snake's tail. He is given five fingers, three
joints and 'nine resemblances' — the horns of a stag,
head of a camel, eyes of a demon, neck of a snake, belly
of a clam, scales of a carp, claws of an eagle, soles of a
tiger, ears of a cow. Upon his head is a big lump —
ch'ih-muh. If a dragon has no diih-muh he cannot
ascend to the skies." ^

The symbolism of the dragon and the tiger pre-
ceded the yang and yin. The dragon typified spring,
heaven, the sky and the tiger autumn, the earth. They
are often depicted together symbolising power.

The dragon, being the fullest of yang is chief
among the four supernatural, divinely constituted
beasts called Ling. These are the unicorn, the phoe-
nix, the tortoise and the dragon. "They are called the
Ling"

Ling has been translated by Couvrez as "animaux
qui donnent des presages." Dr. de Visser believes that
it has a stronger meaning and translates it as spiritual

""The Dragon in China and Japan," M. W. de Visser.

The Lady with the Unicorn
(One of six tapestries in the Musee Cluny, Paris)

jFour Supernatural Creatures; of tfje Cljinesie 159

beings, adding that the "effective operation of the Tsing
or vital spirit of these four creatures is, indeed, enor-
mously strong and therefore they may be justly called
'the four spiritual animals, par excellence.' "

Their appearance was considered to be an omen
but this was due to their symbolic spiritual powers.
The dragon being full of yang symbolises those of
mankind who are fullest of light and its appearance
is the presage of their coming. The Emperor, the great-
est of all men, being the fullest of the heaven power
yang, was symbolised by the dragon.

The dragon diffused light, "A black dragon vomits
light and makes Darkness (yin) turn into Light
{yang)r

Of the others of the four supernatural creatures
the unicorn, called K'i-lin in Chinese and Ki-rin in
Japanese (K'i male and lin or rin female) like the
phoenix was believed to combine both the masculine
and the feminine principles. The unicorn appears in
the earliest examples of Chinese art, where it closely
resembles the dragon-horse. It is depicted in ancient
Egyptian hieroglyphics. It is spoken of in the psalms,
"But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an uni-
corn," (Ps. 92:10.) as well as being mentioned in other
books of the Old Testament.

The horse has invariably symbolised wisdom, in-
telligence, the intellectual side. The white horse typi-
fied innocent and pure intellect or reason. The white
horse when given one horn becomes the unicorn which
has figured in all countries from pre-historic days as a
symbol of purity, strength of body and virtue of mind.
It was regarded as the "noblest form of animal crea-
tion, the emblem of perfect good." Among the
Chinese it was considered to be the incarnate essence

i6o

life ^pmbols;

of the five primordial elements, and was believed to live
one thousand years. It ranks first among the four
sacred animals which preside over the destinies of

BULL UNICORN AND SACRED THEE OF LOTUS BUDS.

Assyrian relief.

Layard, first series 46.

China and only makes its appearance when some great
event is about to occur.

The unicorn, adopted by the Christian religion as
a symbol of female chastity in allusion to the fable that
it "could never be captured except by a virgin stainless
in mind and life," was given only to the Virgin Mary
and St. Justina. In the art of the Renaissance the uni-
corn figures frequently with the lion.

Feng (phoenix) a fabulous bird of a mystic nature,
second among the supernatural creatures is associated
with the sacred Ho-o or Ho-ho — which was represented
in the earliest art in China as a huge eagle bearing off
large animals in its claws. The ho-o had the same
characteristics and functions as the sacred garuda of
the Hindus, the Persion rukh and the Greek gryphon.
Later it is depicted as a compound of the peacock and
the pheasant. The female was called hwang or luan

Jf our Supernatural Creatures; of tfje Cfjinesie i6i

and this name combined with feng the male becomes
feng-lncang or feng-luan the name by which this
wondrous bird is usually designated. The phoenix like
the k'i-lin or unicorn is supposed to unite in itself both

l£Jn^3

>^i^

CHINESE LONGEVITY SYMBOLS.

Carus, Chinese Thought.

masculine and feminine principles. "In poetry many
covert allusions to sexual pairings are intimated by
references to the inseparable fellowship of the feng and
hwang." ^

' Mayer's "Chinese Readers Manual."

i62 life ^pmbote

The plumage of the phoenix was of five colours
typifying the five cardinal virtues. Its appearance
was the forecast of wise and beneficent rulers. This
supernatural bird was looked upon as the essence of
fire, and Chinese mystics believed that it symbolised
the entire world. "Its head is heaven, its eyes the
sun, its back the crescent moon, its wings the wind,
its feet the earth, its tail the trees and plants." ^

The phoenix as a royal emblem was given to the
Empress, as the dragon was given to the Emperor.

Kwei — astrologically this is the divine tortoise which
was thought to be embodied in Ursa Major. Another
account says that the first dragon sprang from the
great Yuan — a form of tortoise and dragon which ac-
companies the god of waters — and from this came the
divine tortoise. It was the divine tortoise who pre-
sented to the sage Lii a scroll of writing on its back com-
posed of the numbers 1 to 9. Lii made this the
basis of his philosophy or "nine divisions of the Great
Plan."

The tortoise was a symbol of longevity, the faculty
of transformation and was believed to conceive by
thought alone. It was believed also, that the tortoise
could create by its breath a cloud, a fog or an enchanted
palace.

As has been said before 'longevity' among the
Chinese means life everlasting, immortality, as well as
long life on earth. The five blessings which are so
constantly symbolised are, longevity, riches, peaceful-
ness, serenity, the love and attainment of virtue. The
five eternal ideals are humaneness, propriety, insight,
uprightness and faithfulness.

* "Japanese Art Motives," Maude Rex Allen.

Jf our Supernatural Creatures! of tfje Cfjinesie 163

"The characters which stand for the five blessings
and also the five eternal ideals are the most popular
symbols all over China. . . . Among them the char-
acters 'longevity' and 'blessing' are most used of all.
. . . Blessing is called fu in Chinese which is an
exact homophone of fu meaning 'bat' and so the five
blessings tew fu are frequently represented by five bats.
The word 'longevity' is commonly transcribed by sheu
'long hfe.' " ^

The life of the tortoise was supposed to be one
thousand years, although it is sometimes represented
in art with a long bushy tail which it is said to attain
in its ten thousandth year.

The Chinese had two chief modes of divination, one
was by the stalks of the yarrow and the other by the
tortoise shell. The latter was regarded as the nobler
method. It consisted in applying a thick black pig-
ment to one side of the tortoise shell and fire to the
other side until cracks appeared in the coating, which
the diviner interpreted according to the rules of his
art. Thus the tortoise was believed to hold the secrets
of life and death.

The tortoise is also a symbol of fecundity and it
was thus used by the Egyptians. The Greeks give the
tortoise to Venus as well as the dove, dolphin, ram,
hare and swan. In Greek art Venus is sometimes
represented standing on a tortoise.

As one studies into its symbolism one finds that
the tortoise had no mean function to perform in the
estimation of the ancients, for besides everything else —
the power of divination, of transformation, of fecund-
ity, of longevity, it was said to carry the world on its
back. The belief that it does this is almost universal.

•"Chinese Thought," Paul Carus.

164

TLitt ^pmbols;

Sometimes it upholds the treasure mountain of the mys-
tic jewel the 'tama/ In Japan it upholds the moun-
tain abode of the gods. In the Hindu legend the tor-
toise sustains an elephant upon whose back rests the
world. The Delaware Indians believed that the Cen-

Three worlds supported by elephants resting on a tortoise the whole encircled

by a serpent with tail in its mouth.

Waring, Ceramic Art in Remote Ages.

tral World Tree grew out of the middle of the back
of a tortoise. Among the Senecas the sky mother fell
into a great pit on the wings of a waterfall who placed
her on a turtle's back. In an ancient Arab myth a
whale performs the 'all sustaining office' of the tor-
toise. Earthquakes were caused by the awakening of
the earth tortoise, the tortoise yawned and all nature
was convulsed.

The use of the tortoise as a support in various repre-
sentations in bronze, or sculptured in stone is no doubt
derived from this widespread legend. The symbolism
of the four supernatural creatures has been fascinat-
ingly expressed in ancient Chinese art.

jFour Supernatural Creatures; of tfie Cfjinesie 165

In the Bhagavad-Gita a man who is confirmed in
spiritual knowledge is likened to the tortoise who "can
draw in all his senses and restrain them from their
wonted purposes."

XII

THE SUN

"Set (Darkness) and Horus (Light) are the first
two elemental powers/' — Churchward.

''Whoso venerates the Sun that is immortal, hril-
liant, swift-horsed . . . he venerates Ormazd, he ven-
erates the Archangels, he venerates his own soul/' —
From the Nyaishes or Zoroastrian Litanies of the Sun.

''If, for us also, as for the Greek, the sunrise means
daily restoration to the sense of passionate gladness
and of perfect life — if it means the thrilling of new
strength through every nerve, — the shedding over us
of a better peace than the peace of night, in the power
of the da.wn, — and the purging of evil vision and fear
by the baptism of its dew; — if the sun itself is an in-
fluence, to us also of spiritual good — and becomes thus
in reality, not in imagination, to us also a spiritual
power, — we may then soon over-pass the narrow limit
of conception which kept that power impersonal, and
rise with the Greek to the thought of an angel who
rejoiced as a strong man to run his course, whose voice
calling to life and to labor rang round the earth, and
whose going forth was to the ends of heaven/' — ^Ruskin.

"In the commencement was Brahman without be-
ginning or end, unborn, luminous, free from decay,
immutable, eternal, unfathomable, not to be fully
known/' — Mahabharata.

"To the Brahmans the sun is the most glorious and
active emblem of God/' — Goodyear.

167

XII

THE SUN

MOST of the ancient religious rites, while ac-
cumulating in the long processes of time
all sorts of rubbish which now seems
puerile and childish — all sorts of dogmas, priestly ter-
rors, magical rituals and practices — appear, one can
scarcely doubt, to have been based upon that profound-
est of all instincts reverence for the most holy, the great
and insolvable mystery of life.

In this quest of life it was inevitable that almost
from primeval days the sun should be exalted above all
the other gods of nature as the Supreme Creator, the
source of all Life, Light, Power.

The Egyptian religion has been called a solar
drama. Their gods, typifying the forces of nature,
presented a dramatic and moving picture of the uni-
verse. The cult of one god superseded another, the
attributes and symbols were frequently transferred,
one god might be confused with another, but the fun-
damentals of the Egyptian religion — based upon the
enduring and unchangeable powers of nature remained
always the same.

Back of the ancient worship of the various gods of
nature there seems to have been even at a very early
time, especially in Egypt, a belief in the existence of

169

170 TLiit fepmliolfli

one God — self-existent, almighty, eternal — one great
God who created all the other gods of sky, storms, sun,
moon, earth, stars. These were worshipped, not as the
divine, self-created power — but as glorious manifesta-
tions of that mysterious First Cause, the Primum Mo-
bile.

It is probable that the sun worshippers placed this
power in the sun, figured that it resided in the sun, as
later cults have said God is in the heavens. As no
attempt apparently was made to sjanbolise this mys-
terious Life Force or to realise it in visible, objective
form, the sun, as the highest manifestation of this Un-
known Power of creative energy and life, came to
typify that power and was addressed as that power.

"The material symbol of God was the sun, who was
personified under the form of Ra, or later Amen-Ra;
and although Osiris who was probably an indigenous
god, is far older than Ra in Egypt, Ra was declared
to have been the father of Osiris, and Osiris was his
only son. Osiris was of divine origin, and he reigned
wisely and well on earth, but at length he was slain
and mutilated by Set, the personification of the powers
of darkness. But he rose from the dead, and became
the god of the underworld and of the beings who were
therein. Because he suffered, died and rose from the
dead, he became the type of the resurrection to the
Egyptians who based all their hopes of everlasting life
upon the belief that Osiris was immortal and eternal."
(Budge.)

The solar gods changed in Egypt as elsewhere, one
god displacing another, but the force symbolised re-
mained ever the same.

Tum, the primeval sun-god of the Egyptians, is
lost sight of and Horus and Set typify the elemental

Photo. Alinari

The God Bes, Serapeum
(Louvre, Paris)

Clje ^un 171

powers of light and darkness. Horus, the falcon-god
was also originally the sky — the "sun is the eye of
Horus."

Horus prepares the way for Ra the great sun-god —
the "Horus of the Two Horizons."

Later Horus reappears as the morning sun — the
son of Osiris and Isis.

"Ra at the beginning rose from the primeval deep
in the form of the sun-egg or lotus flower.

He that openeth and he that closeth the door;

He who said 'I am but one.'

Ra who was produced by himself ;

\\Tiose various names make up the group of gods;

He who is Yesterday (Osiris) and the Morrow (Ra) ."^

Men were born from the eye of Ra. Ra the ruler of
the gods was the first king on earth.

The Egyptian hieroglyph of the sun-god Ra was
a point within a circle. The life of Indian and
Egj^ptian gods was in the egg. The 'dot within the
circle,' a symbol that goes back to remotest times, may
have typified the seed within the egg. This is the
'Orphic egg,' symbol of the universe whose yolk in the
middle of a liquid surrounded by an encompassing
vault, represented the globe of the sun floating in ether
and surrounded by the vault of heaven.

A point within a circle is still used as the astronom-
ical sign of the sun, as a circle divided by a cross is the
astronomical sign of the earth. In Egypt the circle
also symbolised the course of the sun about the uni-
verse.

Worship of the sun-god Ra became first prominent

* "Egyptian Myth and Legend," Mackenzie.

172 mtt ^pmbols;

at Heliopolis where it received its fullest development.
The priests of Heliopolis were the first religious think-
ers of Egypt of whom any records are extant. Their
theology gained wider and wider acceptance, until with
the Fifth Dynasty (2700 b.c.) the solar religion of
Heliopolis became the religion of the state.

Ra was exalted as the Great Father who created
gods and men. Hymns proclaimed him as self-begot-
ten, king of the gods, lord of heaven and lord of
earth, creator of those who dwell in the heights and of
those who dwell in the depths. "Thou art the ONE
god who came into being in the beginning of time. . . .
Worshipped be thou whom the goddess Maat [god-
dess of truth] embraceth at morn and at eve. . . . Thou
stridest across the sky with heart expanded with joy.
. . . Hail thou Disk, lord of beams of light, thou
risest and thou makest all mankind to live. Grant thou
that I may behold thee at dawn each day."

The sun was frequently represented as a falcon,
and from this idea of the sun as a hawk or falcon taking
his lofty flight across the sky, may have originated the
Egyptian symbol of the deity, a sun disk with the out-
spread wings of a hawk. This solar emblem of life,
omnipotence, power was also widely venerated in Asia
Minor. Horus the falcon-god is symbolised by the
solar disk. The emblem of Ra was a sun disk. In
papyri and on bas-reliefs he is depicted with the head
of a hawk, wearing the disk over which curves the
urffius serpent. Ra is also identified with the ass, cat,
bull, ram and crocodile.

Amen-Ra, a later form of Ra, who was extensively
worshipped at Thebes, is given the ram's head, the ram
symbolising the masculine principle or solar creative
energy.

^Tfje ^un 173

Under Amen-hetep IV (Ikhnaton or Khu-en-
Aten), the 'Heretic King' who preceded Tut-ankh-
amen, Amen-Ra was temporarily dethroned. The sun-
god was clearly distinguished from the material sun.
To the old name Ra was added Aton or Aten, 'Heat
which is the sun' — the solar disk, which was looked
upon as the source of all things. The king was thus
deifying the vital heat which is found accompanying
life. The god was everywhere active by his rays and
his sjTiibol was a disk in the heavens darting down
towards the earth diverging rays which terminated in
hands, each holding the symbol of life. "In so far
as it rejected all other gods the Aten religion was
monotheistic." Upon the death of the king, Amen-
Ra was restored and the old gods found favour again.

"The sun was the great Proteus, the universal
metamorphist."

The three steps of the sun indicated "His Going
Down, His Period of Darkness and His Rising Again."

The heat and glow of the noonday sun represented
Ra. The sun going down typified the death of Osiris.
In the morning sun Osiris lives again as the incarnate
Horus.

Dawn, noon, sunset, represented "three in one of
the sacred substance of the sun as three divine persons
existed perpetually in the substance of Uncreated
Light."

In this thrilling drama, the sense of contest, sus-
pense, struggle between the power of light and the
power of darkness is never lost. What the sun does
during the long hours of the night is a mystery, appeal-
ing to all the emotions of curiosity, fear, hope, appre-
hension, mystification. When the orb of day re-appears

174 3tif^ ^j>mlJols{

in the morning after a night of mortal combat with his
old enemy Set — now in the guise of Apep or Nak, the
huge serpent of mist and darkness — there is rejoicing,
the tension goes, the play ends well. Good has tri-
umphed over evil. The meaning of life is fulfilled. Yet
the drama begins again with each night. There is al-
ways the constant, never ending struggle, if light is
to win over darkness. The legend of Isis and Osiris
becomes more personal. The human forces enter in —
the eternal feminine and the eternal masculine. Osiris,
who is dismembered by Set, is avenged by his son
Horus and his mutilated remains found and restored
by Isis. It is as fascinatingly complex yet simple as
life itself. From the days of Plutarch down every
generation has sought to explain to its own satisfaction
the solar myth of Osiris and Isis.

To one who would understand the race thought
and its marvellous persistence, nothing is more deeply
satisfying than to trace back these old religious beliefs
and myths to their perfect simplicity — ^to the 'first
narrow thought' and then, as Ruskin puts it, to see, as
the intelligence and passion of the race develops, how
leaf by leaf their beloved and sacred legends expand,
until "the real meaning of any myth is that which it
has at the noblest age of the nation among which it is
current."

It is questionable whether the present day city
dweller is able to realise or comprehend the loving in-
timacy of the ancients with nature, and the number of
sacred ideas that owe their inspiration to the revolution
of the universe, to the orderly movement of the heavenly
bodies, and to man's supreme reverence for the Un-
known Power that lies behind that all containing
motion. Even among the most primitive and savage

2rt)e ^un 175

races there is found the desire to understand the forces
and wonders of the universe, the causes of phenomena,
— the winds, the seas, the tides, the transmission of Hfe
from one generation to another, the fecundity of nature,
growth — the secret of that omnipotent, creative power
that causes a plant to spring from a tiny seed. All this
man, savage and scientist, has brooded over, seeking the
solution since time began.

So close and so normal is man's association with
nature, it represents such a large part of his religious
life, constantly reminding him of eternal processes,
of the wondrous works that are beyond the power of
the human mind, however avid for the knowledge, to
grasp, that, apparently throughout the ages, whenever
he forsakes nature and shuts himself up in the artificial
life of cities, he loses God. As cities and commerce
grow, his religion develops into an ethical sense which
ultimately loses force as it loses its direct, yet mythical
and awe inspiring association with the hidden powers
of nature.

The same great drama that is represented by the
Egyptian religion, the drama of Life and Death, Light
and Darkness and the magical, miraculous return to
Light, Life, Immortality is played out by all the other
great religions.

Sun worship was of great antiquity in Babylonia.
The Babylonians had many gods, but the most im-
portant place, as we have seen, was given to the gods
of fire and water as representing the two chief forces of
nature that control and preserve the health, prosperity
and happiness of mankind.

Anu, one of the earliest Babylonian gods, is origin-
ally a sun-god and Enlil is a storm-god like the He-

176

TLitt ^pmt)ol£{

brew Yahveh and is described as a mighty ox or bull
The bull is associated with the gods of humidity.

To this ancient duality is added Ea, god of water,
whose symbol is a goat-fish. In this triad Anu be-
comes god of heaven and
Enlil god of earth. Ea, the
god of water is pictured as
always beneficent, constantly
on the side of humanity, the
embodiment and source of
wisdom.

These transfer their pow-
ers to Marduk (Merodach)
a solar god who in his com-
plexity resembles the Egyp-
tian god Osiris.

Marduk is called the son
of Ea. He is pictured as the
victor over Tiamat the
primeval chaos monster.
Marduk died to give origin
to human life. He com-
manded that his head should
be cut off and that the first pair should be formed by
mixing his blood with the earth. "He was lord of
many existences . . . the mysterious one, he who is
unknown to mankind. It was impossible for the hu-
man mind a greater than itself to know."

It is Marduk who directs and controls the forces
of the chief triad. To him are given the attributes and
supremacy that was formerly attached to all the other
great gods, to Sin, the moon-god, to Ninib, Shamash
and Nergal the three great sun-gods, to Ea and Nebo,
gods of the deep; he also absorbs the powers of Adad,

MAKDUK THE CHIEF BABYLONIAN

DEITY

From Jastrow.

Marduk Killing Tiamat the Chaos Monster. He Holds the Doitble

Trident or Thunderbolt in Each Hand

(Jastrow, BUdermappe zur Religion Babyloniens und Assyriens)

Cfje ^un

177

the storm-god; he is the wind-god who brings the air of
life; he is the god of thunder and the sky.

Marduk "starting out at Babylon by the absorption
of the character of Ea, combining in his person the two
powers water and sun which comprise so large a share
in the divine government and the control of the uni-
verse, he ends by taking over all the duties of Enlil of
Nippur. . . . He becomes, like Enlil Lord of many
lands. It is he who seizes the tablets of fate from the
Zu bird — the personification of
some solar deity — and henceforth
holds the destiny of mankind in his
hands. . . . Addressed in terms
that emphasise the fact that he is
the one and only god we find all
the tendencies toward true mono-
theism centering on Marduk the
solar deity of Babylon." ^

The lion was given to Marduk
also the goat.

Nergal typified the destructive
power of the sun and heads the
pantheon of the lower world where
dwell the dead.

Shamash the other great solar
deity of the Babj^lonians is con-
stantly associated with Adad or
Rammon — the Rimmon of the Bible — a storm-god, a
hammer-god, god of wind and thunder, a rain bringer,
a corn-god, a god of battle resembling Jupiter, Indra,
Thor and other gods of storm and sky. Adad is repre-
sented with the symbol of the thunderbolt or forked
lightning which he holds in his hand.

"Jastrow's "Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria."

ADAD THE GOD OF STORMS.

From Jastrow's Civilisation of
Babylonia and Assyria.

178 TLitt &j>mbol£{

Shamash is given no other powers save those bene-
ficent ones which reside in or emanate from the sun. He
is Lord of the Hving, a mighty judge who loves right-
eousness and abhors darkness and sin. His hght shines
over all. Without him all mankind would die. He
illumines the world, his rays penetrate into every corner
revealing all things. "He dominates by his majesty
and power. He sees all things. Nothing can be hidden
from Shamash."

In the Babylonian flood legend it is the sun-god
Shamash who decides the time when the heavens shall
rain down destruction.

The symbol of Shamash was the solar disk from
which flow streams of water. The union is again sig-
nificant, showing the pertinacity of this ancient concep-
tion of the powers which produce life. These rays were
apparently 'fertilising tears' like the rays of the Egyp-
tian sun-god Ra.

Ashur is the sun-god of the Assyrians. All the
other gods are of Babylonian origin, but Ashur is the
god of his people and reflects their aspirations and ex-
periences. He is the national hero, but he also reflects
the origin of the greatness of Assyria, as well as ex-
emplifying in himself its power and might.

Ashur also absorbs the attributes of the other and
older gods. He bears a close resemblance to Marduk,
has traits in common with Tammuz, the god of vegeta-
tion, takes of the functions of Ninib, Nergal and Sha-
mash, as well as those of the older triad of gods Anu,
Bel Enlil and Ea. He is a god of fertility, a corn-god,
a water-god, and thus the rippling water rays appear on
his solar disk. He becomes the dominating figure, over-
shadowing all others. "He is the Great God, God of
Gods, the embodiment of the genius of Assyria."

I'hol'i. Alinari

Winged Bull with Humax Face from Sargox's Palace, Khorsabad

(Louvre, Paris)

©be ^un 179

Having absorbed so much, Ashur becomes, like
Osiris and Marduk an exceedingly complex and mysti-
cal deity. "Like the Indian Brahma he may have been
in his highest form an impersonation or symbol of the
'self-power' or Svorld soul' of developed naturalism, the
creator, preserver and destroyer in one, a god of water,
earth, air and sky, of sun, moon and stars, fire and
lightning, a god of the grove whose essence was in the
fig and fir cone as it was in all animals." ^

The Assyrian winged bulls and lions typified the
power of the sun.

Ashur was not the goat but the bull of heaven. He
was also given the lion and the eagle. As the bull he
was the ruling animal of heaven.

The symbol par excellence of Ashur is a sun disk
with wa\'y lines extending to the circumference of the
disk. He is also sym-
bohsed by a winged
disk with horns en-
closing four circles
radiating around a
middle circle, with
rippling rays stream-
ing down from either
side of the disk; Also

by a circle or wheel with wings, and inside the circle a
warrior drawing his bow to discharge an arrow. And
again by the same circle, the warrior having his bow in
the left hand, however, and the right hand upHfted as
if to bless his worshippers. It has been conjectured
that the Assyrians drew the circle to denote eternity,
the wings omnipotence and the human figure supreme
wisdom. Jastrow considers that the warrior was added

• "Myths and Legends of Babylonia and Assyria," Mackenzie.

i8o

life g)pml3ote

to the old solar symbol of the winged globe, and that its
presence evinces a de-spiritualisation which "reflects the
martial spirit of the Assyrian empire."

Other authorities contend, however, that the sun

symbol on the sunboat
of Ra enclosed a
similar figure which
was seemingly con-
ceived to represent the
soul of the sun — "the
life of the god was in
the 'sun egg.' "

The arrow is asso-
ciated with the sun,
moon and gods of the
atmosphere. It is a
symbol of fertility,
rain, lightning, as well
as war, famine, dis-
ease, death.

Apollo gave
Hercules a solar ar-
row.

It seems credible,
therefore, that the
archer was as truly
solar as his rays, and
that the warrior in
the sun-disk repre-
sents Ashur as god of
his people.

An Assyrian standard shows the disk mounted on
a bull's head with horns. The warrior's head, part of his
bow and the point of his arrow protrude from the upper

ASSYRIAN STANDARD.

^Tfte ^m i8i

part of the circle. The ripphng water rays, which are
V shaped, stream out from either side, and two bulls
are depicted in the divisions thus formed. Two heads,
that of a lion and a man, each with gaping mouths are
also shown symbolising possibly the scorching, destruc-
tive power of the sun.

In the Saba\an system, which is one of the most
ancient religions of which there is any record, preced-
ing even that of the Egyptians, the heavenly bodies
were worshipped as visible evidences of the power and
majesty of the supreme deity of which the sun was the
highest divine manifestation. Emblems of the sun,
moon, etc., were often depicted with seven disks which
may represent the seven great heavenly bodies — 'that
mysterious number so prevalent in the Sab^ean system.'

In Assyrian representations, the King is seen in
adoration only before one emblem of the sun-god — the
figure with wings and tail of a bird enclosed in a circle.
The king is generally shown standing or kneeling be-
fore this figure, one hand uplifted in sign of worship.
The Sacred Tree is before him, but only, it may be
supposed, to give further emphasis to the Life thought.
This symbol — the winged circle — is never represented
over a person of inferior rank and in its warlike aspect,
as protector and guardian of the king in battle, the
warrior within the circle is represented shooting an
arrow with head shaped like a trident against the ene-
mies of Assyria.

The Assyrians exaggerated the muscular, and
gloried in the combative, masculine aspect of the sun.
Their gods were always bearded.

Layard finds that the Persians adopted their re-
ligious symbols from the Assyrians, and that the form

1 82 life S>pmbol£f

of the supreme deity — the winged figure within the
circle — and the types of wisdom and power are pre-
cisely the same on the monuments of both people.

Ormuzd or Ormazd (Aliura-Mazda) all- wise, all
good, the power of light is the Persian solar god. Ahri-
manes, symbolised by a great lizard or serpent is the
power of evil, darkness, sin. Mithra is the god of sun-
light and bears the same relationship to Ahura-Mazda,
the Supreme solar deity that Christ bears to God the
Father. He is the messenger, the light of the world,
the Mediator between Light and Darkness, the god of
re-generation, the power of God made manifest.
Ahura-Mazda, like Ra and Shamash is remote, awe-
inspiring — a force that needs to be interpreted by a
divine intermediary.

Mithra corresponds in his symbols and attributes to
the Babylonian Marduk.

The highest deity among the Japanese is not heaven
as in the religion of the Chinese but the sun. The sym-
bol of the sun-god in Ise is a metallic mirror which the
sun-goddess gave with a jewel and sword to Ninigi her
grandson when he was about to descend to earth. In
other temples also a mirror is the most common repre-
sentation of the god.

The Egyptians, too, had the Ank or Sacred Mirror
wherein every great deity contemplates perpetually his
own image, representing the ideal and the material
semblance of the ideal.

According to Aquinas the "universe exists in a tv^o-
fold manner first ideally in the mind of God, and sec-
ondly materially, externally to liim, so that in Creation
the Almighty contemplates his own mind as in a
mirror."

arte &un 183

The Baals of the Canaanites were personifications
of the sun. The Phoenician sun-god Melkarth was the
Baal of Tyre. Baal signified the lord, the owner.

In the changing centuries, and as populations and
political power shifted from one centre to another,
younger gods displaced the older gods as leaders in
the pantheon. In this change, the older god became
the father, and the younger god his son.

In Egypt Osiris, less abstract with more human
qualities than Ra, although an older god was called
the son of Ra, and was raised to first place in the pan-
theon of gods. In this transformation there was
evidenced a long step towards monotheism, in that
Osiris a solar god should gradually absorb the functions
and attributes of the other gods, while Isis, who is the
moon, absorbs those of Neith the earth goddess and
Xut the sky and water goddess.

"Ra is the soul of Osiris and Osiris the soul of Ra."

Horus, one of the oldest sun-gods, reappears as the
youthful, ever gloriously young morning sun. Although
older, he is now called the son of Osiris who has become
the god and judge of the dead.

In the Babylonian religion, Anu is the beloved
father of Enlil. In the Ninib cult, Ninib is the son of
Enlil and these become the two gods of sun and storm.
"In this union of the two, Enlil is represented as the
power behind the throne who hands over his attributes
— symbolised by storm weapons — to his beloved son
who proceeds to conquer the monster, i.e. chaos." *
Marduk was called the son of Ea. In the Nebo cult
Xebo becomes the son of Marduk.

It was an accepted and common form of the ritual

* Jastrow's "Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria."

1 84 Hiit ^pmbols;

for the two gods — father and son — ^to be invoked
together.

In featuring this drama of the universe — which
surely gives magnificent play to the imagination if one
is to interpret it at all, the younger gods of vegetation,
gods of fertility, storm, fire, gradually assume solar
attributes and become the twice-born gods. They are
the spring sun-gods and fire-gods. The Phrygian Attis,
the youthful Tammuz of the Babylonians, the Greek
Adonis and the Egyptian Osiris represented the yearly
decay and the renewal of life — more especially the life
of all nature and vegetation, which they personified as
gods who died annually and then rose again from the
dead. Dionysos is also a twice-born god of regeneration.
In a painting at Pompeii Dionysos is depicted as a
solar deity with his symbolic animal the panther. Again
as a solar god he is pictured seated on a sun globe
strewn with stars.

Mithra is also identified with the Greek god Diony-
sos and all the other twice-born gods of regeneration,
and each is said to be born on December 25th, for it is
then that the sun is born, the winter solstice is past and
the "great luminary begins his revivifying journey
northward."

In this mighty pageant the sun was represented as
the Creator, the twelve months his attendants, the
twelfth month his betrayer through whom he meets his
doom. He descends into the abode of death only to rise
again in the full glory of light and power for the eternal
salvation of man.

'Dying to live' was, as we have seen, the keystone of
all ancient religions and each year as spring returned
all nature revived this faith in the immortality of life.

The Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries of the Greeks,

-r-r-

I..

fiifi^

UlONYSOS

(Museo Nazionale, Naples)

Photo. Alinari

STfje ^un 185

the Saturnalia of the Romans, the mysteries of the
Babylonians, of Cybele and Attis as well as many
others were originally vernal festivals in celebration of
the resurrected life and generative powers of nature.

"In the mysteries of INIithra caverns and grottoes
were consecrated to the world, the universe and the
nymphs. One of the rites consisted in imitating the
motion of the stars in the heavens. The initiates took
the name of constellations and assumed the figures of
animals. One was a lion, another a raven, a third a
ram, etc. Hence came the use of masks in the first
representations of the drama." ^

This "Dance of the Stars" was the origin of the
various forms of round dancing which is found among
all races, just as the statelier dances go back to the
circular worship of walking around trees and shrines.

The Egj'^ptians had a festival in which men and
women, representing the seasons, the months of the year
and the different parts of the day walked in procession
after the god of life.

In the mysteries of Ceres (Demeter) the procession
was headed by a figure who was called the Creator, a
torch bearer following him represented the Sun, the
one nearest the altar was the Moon, and the herald of
the procession was Mercury.

Some of the rites observed in these vernal festivals
have still survived in our own Easter, in which the egg
symbolising from time immemorial the hidden mystery
of life, plays such an important part still.

In their spring time festivals it was the custom
among the early Franks and Germans to make offer-
ings of eggs and buns. The same custom prevailed
among the Egyptians who impressed the cross, the em-

^ Volney's Ruins.

1 86 3Li(e ^pmbolsJ

blem of life upon the buns, as we do now upon our hot
cross buns. Eggs and buns also figured in the Chal-
dean rites connected with the worship of Ishtar, the god-
dess who descended to and arose from the nether world.

It has been conjectured that these crossed cakes
may have been a mystical allusion to the four rivers of
Paradise flowing towards the cardinal points.

In Egypt the sacred bulls were fed upon a cake
composed of flour, milk or oil and honey, upon which
a cross was impressed. On high festivals priests and
worshippers partook of these cakes.

The sacrament of eating bread and drinking wine
was a part of the Eleusinian mysteries in celebration
of the re-newed life of the sun. Here the bread was
supposed to represent Ceres, the goddess of corn and
harvest, and the wine Bacchus, god of the vintage and
the cultivation of the fruits of the earth. Partaking of
the body and blood of the gods of productivity in this
symbolical way was a religious rite among all ancient
peoples. And the idea of sanctifying one's self by as-
similating a divine being may be traced back to this
custom of a remoter period when the forces of nature
typified Life.

It was but a step up to transform the symbol into
the Christian sacrament of the Eucharist, which is
merely the old idea sublimated, carried on like the oc-
tave. In the continuance of all these symbolical repre-
sentations, one finds the physical idea interwoven with
the nature idea into a myth which holds something
"eternally and beneficently true" — a truth, which lost
or disregarded for a time, is forever being discovered
afresh and carried on into the new life of the spiritual
ideal.

Fire plays a large part in the ritual and ceremonies

fe- =

Srije ^un 187

of the sun worshippers. The belief that the sun died in
winter only to be born again in the spring, led to the
feeling that man, the recipient of all his blessings could
and should aid the god who was the principle of life
and light, in his struggle with the opposing principle
of death.

Thus the religions of all these ancient civilisations
became magical dramas in which were shown not only
the natural processes which were to be seen on every
side reflected in growth and decay, production and dis-
integration, marriage, death, re-production and re-birth
— but also the artificial means which were used to as-
sist the gods of light and life, vegetation and fertility.

Fire as a manifestation of heat and warmth on earth
was worshipped as a secondary principle of solar crea-
tive force. The Egyptians saw in the glowing fire the
"Creator spirit Ptah." Ptah was called 'the black-
smith' as was Vulcan (the Greek Hepheestus) who was
the god of fire and forged the thunderbolts for Jupiter.

Although there are no traces of fire worship on the
earliest monuments, there are abundant proofs of its
prevalence at a later period in Assyria and Babylonia
as well as in Persia. None of the fire-gods of Babylonia
were so important, however, as Agni (ignis) the great
god of India, "the moving flame" who was both destruc-
tive and beneficent. Nusku like Agni was the "mes-
senger of the gods" and when Marduk was exalted to
first place in the pantheon, it is Nusku who carries his
messages to Ea. In this capacity Nusku may have
symbolised the rays of the sun.

Perpetual fires were kept burning in honour of the
sun-god who was light, power, life. As his forces began
to wane at midsummer, great bonfires were lit to
strengthen him.

i88 TLiit S)pmt)ols;

These fire festivals that prevailed all over Europe
down to the beginning of the nineteenth century, and
that are still observed in some places, have the same
general characteristics, differing slightly in different
localities and at the different seasons, and as usual ac-
quiring and taking on much that was undreamed of in
the earlier conception.

Probably the purest and simplest form of sun ador-
ation was manifested by the ancients in the altars placed
on top of pyramids, built in triangular form (symbolic
of fire) , where fire was kept constantly burning in hom-
age to the sun, the source of all light and warmth. This
is a custom that is still carried out in the Catholic
Church in the light that is never permitted to die out.

From this first form of worship there came the
practical idea — ever dear to man's heart, with its over-
mastering appeal to the eternal busy-ness of him, to his
mei^tal as well as physical agility — which suggested
utilising fire to aid the god, to show him that man under-
stood that he, the mighty sun was struggling against
fearful odds; to cheer him, put heart into him by the
genial glow of the secondary creative force which had
been magically delivered to man through the agency of
the fire sticks. This was done absolutely selflessly at
first, we may be sure. He was still single minded, until
there came about quite fortuitously, the understanding
that in giving assistance to the god he was incidentally
helping himself, and that fire was a means of purifica-
tion as well as worship, and fire festivals an occasion for
merry making as well as prayer.

If this were not true, we would not have the simple
beauty of the original idea. It must be that the first
thought in every religion is that of disinterested wor-
ship— a pouring out of self without thought of return.

3rf)e ^un 189

The secondary aspect, after this emotion has spent it-
self is the practical viewpoint of those less idealistically
inspired, who without adoring, respect religion on the
basis of what religion can do for them. So we get the
eternal paradox which seems to puzzle antiquarians and
archeologists — the outgoing and incoming aspect of all
these ancient symbolic customs, which are as much a
part of life as breathing — and both are true.

Fire festivals occurred most commonly in the spring
or at jNIidsummer, although in some parts they were
held at the end of autumn or during the course of the
winter, particularly on Hallowe'en, Christmas Day and
the eve of the Twelfth Day.

The spring fire festivals usually fell on the first
Sunday in Lent, on Easter Eve and on May Day. In
one of the French provinces the first Sunday in Lent is
known as "Sunday of the Fire brands," and in Switzer-
land as "Spark Sunday." The Easter fire festival is
still celebrated all over Northern and Central Germany,
the fire being kindled in the various localities year
after year on the same mountain. The eve of May Day
is the notorious Walpurgis Night when witches are
abroad everywhere, and kindling bonfires on this night
was called "driving away the witches."

In the Central Highlands of Scotland the Beltane
fires — a Druidical festival — were lighted with much
ceremony the first of May. "Like the other public
worship of the Druids the Beltane feast seems to have
been performed on hills and eminences. They thought
it degrading to him whose temple is the universe to sup-
pose that he would dwell in any house made with hands."
Their religious ceremonies and sacrifices were therefore
held in the open air. The idea of a scape goat or human
sacrifice is shown in the Beltane feast where whoever

I90 Hiit ^pmbolsi

gets a particular piece of the Beltane cake was called
"the Beltane carline a term of great reproach." In
some places whoever draws the black bit "is the devoted
person who is to be sacrificed to Baal."

Of all the fire festivals, however, that of Midsum-
mer Eve, the 23rd of June (later called the Eve of St.
John) or Midsummer Day the 24th of June ranked
above all the others in importance.

It was a matter of knowledge to the ancient sun wor-
shippers— who kept such a watchful eye on nature —
and never failed to give them a certain feeling of solici-
tude that "the summer solstice or Midsummer Day is
the great turning point in the sun's career, when after
climbing higher and higher day by day in the sky the
luminary stops and thenceforth retraces his steps down
the heavenly road." The Midsummer fires were to
help rekindle the dwindling light of the sun. Huge bon-
fires were built, and men and boys in procession carried
lighted torches around the fields. It was customary to
have the festival on a mountain, and in some places a
great wheel made of straw was set fire to and sent roll-
ing down the hill. The wheel rolling down from a high
eminence typified the sun which now "having reached
the high point in the ecliptic" was on the descending
way. Frequently cartwheels were smeared with pitch
then lighted and sent rolling down the hills. Sometimes
an oaken stake was driven in the ground and a wheel
fixed on it making the stake an axle. The villagers
worked by turns to keep the wheel revolving rapidly
until it was ignited by friction. Bayley's belief that this
curious custom may have had its origin from the idea
that the "oak tree symbolised the core, pole, or axis of
Immaculate fire" is worth noting again. The regular
method of producing these sacred fires was by the fric-

Cfje &un 191

tion of two pieces of wood wliich were generally oak.
Among the Celts, Germans and Slavs it was strictly
commanded that the fire sticks should be of oak. In
other words, there is here a blending of Tree worship
and Sun worship, each symbolising life.

In many places the young people were in the habit
of throwing blazing disks in the air. These were made
of "thin, round pieces of wood a few inches in diameter
with notched edges to imitate the rays of the sun or
stars."

This is simply the crude beginning of the modern fire
works with which the southern Italians celebrate Christ-
mas, Easter and all the festas of the saints, and other
nations use to celebrate patriotic events. The wheel of
St. Catherine, the Catherine wheels of our fire works
and the fiery disks of the ancients all have a common
origin — all are seemingly derived from the solar wheel.

In some places the custom was adopted of putting a
straw man in a hole and burning him. This was called
the "burying of Death."

It was believed that the more bonfires there were the
more fruitful would be the year. And the midsummer
bonfire on the Eve of St, John was the most joyous
night of the whole year. The people danced around the
fires and young people hand in hand would leap over or
through the fire.

In Norway and all over Bohemia the fires are still
lighted on Midsummer T^ve. In Brittany also the cus-
tom still obtains. Bayley quotes from Le Braz "that
in every village hamlet and farm in Brittany on the
night of the 23rd of June there still occurs the annual
burning of the consecrated log." When the flames die
down the assemblage kneels by the fire, "an old man
prays aloud. Then they all rise and march thrice round

192 TLih ^i^mtjols;

the fire; at the third turn they stop and everyone picks
up a pebble and throws it on the burning pile. After
that they disperse." ^

The Midsummer fire was sometimes called the "fire
of heaven."

The Yule log was the counterpart of the Midsum-
mer fire but, owing to the season, the ceremony was
held indoors. This made it more of a private or family
festival, contrasting in marked fashion with the riotous
publicity of the Midsummer celebration. On Christ-
mas Eve the "Yule-clog or Christmas-block" was
lighted by a fragment of its predecessor which had been
kept from the last Christmas for this purpose.

Besides these fire festivals which occurred at fixed
dates, in many places the peasants were wont to resort
to a ritual of fire in seasons of distress or epidemics
among man or beast, or in times of drought. These
were called Need-fires and were supposed to bring heal-
ing and welfare.

In the division of opinion as to the origin of these
sacred fires, those who support the solar theory fall back
upon sun charms and imitative magic, while others in-
sist that the fire festivals were solely for purificatory
purposes designed to destroy everything harmful —
witches, evil intentions, vermin, disease — all that is foul
and corrupt. As a matter of fact, the two theories are
not irreconcilable once we admit that man is spirit plus
matter, a sun worshipper first, who finds that fire wor-
ship and bonfires and ashes have a potent influence in
driving away noxious things — that fire is a practical
help as well as a means of evincing his glad impulse to
be of service to the mighty Sun. And so he mingles the
practical and the diverting with the ideal, and the fire

• "The Golden Bough," Frazer.

arfje S>un 193

festivals become joyous ceremonials into which creep
all sorts of little human customs and superstitions.
These grow and grow until the main purpose is almost
lost sight of and forgotten.

In the days when agriculture itself was a religious
rite, the days before the satanic quality about machinery
had impersonalised work and stifled all mirth — man in-
tensified his work, identified it with the gods of storm
and sunshine, prayed, feared, sang, danced with growth,
fertility, fecundity, Life more abundant ever in mind.

There is a bit of this left in Sorrento. There are still
the wine pressers in Sorrento and Capri — laughing
youths who tread the grapes in the vat with their bare
feet, singing the while the Italian folk songs, or
"Giovanezm' — the ringing, joyous marching song of
the Fascisti that all Italy is singing, humming, playing.

Fire was also a symbol of re-newal, purification,
youth. In order that the reigning power, like the sun,
might be ever young and glorious there came about the
annual burning of kings or their effigies — or in many
cases men were elected or chosen by casting lots to im-
personate the king for the time being, and become the
sacrifice. This, too, became a pageant. The beggar
who was king for a day or two days or whatever period
of time may have been decided upon, was given all the
trappings and power of royalty. To make the sacrifice
more impressive, he was frequently chosen for his beauty
and physical perfection. All knees bent to him as if
he were truly king. He has his moment — then passes
on. Dramas are still fa^shioned out of this ancient mo-
tif. Anthony Hope's Prisoner of Zenda is merely an
enchantingly told revival or development of this old
theme of "King for a Day."

194 ?ti^^ ^pmbolfli

Most of the world's fairy stories that come down to
us from remotest times, and that are found to be prac-
tically the same among widely scattered races are vari-
ants of old solar myths. Anatole France gives a
delightful exposition of this in the latter part of "Le
Livre do Mon Ami" Bayley finds that "Little distinc-
tion can be drawn between classic myth and popular
fairy tale . . . and what is often supposed to be mere
fairy tale proves in many instances to be unsuspected
theology."

It has been said that every mythological figure con-
tained a philosophical concept. And it is extraordinary
how many things become clear and full of poetic beauty
when interpreted as solar myths passed over to us from
preceding civilisations.

Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella — especially
the Indian version of the latter as given by Ernest
Thompson Seton under the Indian name of Little
Burnt All Over — show marked solar influence. Blue-
beard slaying his seven wives is the sun slaying the
dawn, Prince Charming on the other hand is the Sun
as lover waking the Sleeping Princess and the whole
world to love and light. Bayley interprets the Song
of Solomon most ingeniously as a "mythical and drama-
tic love duet between the sun and moon" — the moon
typifying Wisdom, and maintains that the idea that
Solomon was an inveterate sensualist originated from
the "literalisation and misconception of the time
honoured and poetic fancy that the Sun was the great
fecundator and All Lover whose eye shone impartially
upon the just and the unjust."

The Round Table of King Arthur typifies the Sun,
the glorious King of Life; and the twelve knights
are the twelve months or twelve signs of the zodiac.

(Cfie g)un 195

Dido is the mythical bride of the sun. Siegfried, St.
George, King Arthur, Horus — all the heroic dragon
slayers enact the old story, play the old immortal part.

Whether or not one accepts sun worship as an
explanation of much that would otherwise seem non-
sensical and meaningless, it must be conceded that it
gives a consecutiveness, a common origin to thought
that is tremendously vitalising and illuminating.

Even now any story that elaborates upon this
ancient idea of the sun as hero, protector, the Great
Lover, the slayer of dragons, the redeemer, who
destroys sin and chaos, who suffers for the sins of
others, one who struggles with death and darkness only
to emerge triumphant in the splendour of re-newed
life and power — a story on any one of these themes
goes along with Life — partakes of the eternal aspect.
The hero may be a Parsifal or a swashbuckler like the
imiportal D'Artagnan, it doesn't matter, the eternally
dramatic quality of heroic strife is there.

And so, too, with Cinderella, the little fire tender,
the spirit of truth and service abused by the hateful sis-
ters Pride and Selfishness and finally taken as his bride
by the Prince of Light ! It is simply charming the way
young and old adore the fairy story of Cinderella. It
is a notorious literary fact that you have only to give
fresh costumes and new surroundings to the Cinderella
idea and you have a successful story or play to your
credit.

The rays of the sun were called by the old imagists
the hair of the sun-god. The strength of the sun-god
departs when he is shorn of his hair in winter. The
Egyptians depicted the sun at the winter solstice as
having but a single hair or ray. The Assyrians also

196 TLift ^pmbols;

had the same idea. The tuft of hair of the Moham-
medans is derived from this ancient conception. The
priest's tonsure represents the disk of the sun. The
Arabs shaved their heads in a circle in imitation of the
sun. Devotees of the sun would also voluntarily shave
their heads to show their willingness to partake of the
same sacrifice and undergo the same diminution of
strength. The hair was sacred to the sun-god. Cutting
the hair was a sacrificial offering. The priests of Egypt
and India had shaven heads. Sakya-Muni when he re-
tired from the world before becoming the Buddha cut
off his hair. The hair as a source of strength in the
biblical story of Samson and Delilah is clearly derived
from this old fanciful conception of the rays of the sun.
The story itself has been interpreted as a solar myth.

"Nothing can be more suggestive of Samson's solar
character than the loss of his strength. . . . Apollo is
called by Homer 'he of unshorn hair' which translated
into Hebrew would mean Nazir. Samson's hair is put
up in seven braids in the style of the sun-god who in
one of the Mithraic monuments is represented with
seven rays, characterising the mysterious power of the
seven planetary gods. . . . The name of the traitress
Delilah is symbolical and means the 'weakening or de-
bihtating one.' Finally Samson is blinded (the sun
loses his light) and when he dies he stands between the
two pillars of sunset, at Gaza, the most western city in
Danite geography." '

Sim worship led to all sorts of fanciful and poetic —
even grotesque conceptions. The course of the sun
through the heavens and the way he goes back again at
night to his daily starting point appealed profoundly

^"The Story of Samson," Paul Carus.

/'/ n/.i. 1 Unari

Apollo Belvedere
(.Vatican, Rome)

^f)e S>un 197

to the imagination of the Egyptians, as to all other
ancient races.

Sometimes they pictured him as a calf born each
day of Hathor, the cow-goddess of the sky. Sometimes
he traversed the heavens on the back of the sky cow in
a boat such as was used by kings on the Nile. At eve-
ning he exchanged this boat for another returning to
the East at night through the dark North quarter.

Again the sun is represented by a wild ass which
was ever chased by the night serpent Hain as it ran
around the mountains supporting the sky. Sometimes
the sun is a great cat which fought with the night ser-
pent Apep below the sacred tree at Heliopolis. Apep
was represented in the form of a serpent with his back
stuck full of knives.

The Cat because its eyes varied in form like
the sun with the period of day, represented to
the Egyptians the splendour of light. Thus the cat
is frequently depicted cutting off the head of the ser-
pent of darkness in the presence of the Sacred Three —
Ra, Osiris and Horus, or the three phases of the sun.

The Egyptian Bast was a feline goddess and her
car was drawn by cats. All feline goddesses repre-
sented the variable power of the sun.

Set — identical with Typhon — the red-haired god of
pre-historic times, became the Egyptian Satan and was
symbolised under various names as a black pig, a black
serpent or red mythical monster.

The sun-god was sometimes represented seated at
the helm of a ship, the ship resting upon a crocodile.
The crocodile symbolised the human passions — these
were not intrinsically bad when brought under subjec-
tion by the soul. "Thus the crocodile which attacked
the departed before new birth is rendered divine in the

198 TLiit ^j>mfaol2J

regenerate form and held in high reverence by the
Egyptians because it spoke of a time when man should
regain the mastery of his passions and when the last
barrier between himself and his glorious soul should be
removed forever." ®

The Egyptian Cartouche or oval in which the name
of a royal person was enclosed was originally a circle
symbolising the circular course of the sun about the
universe. Inscribing the king's name inside a circle de-
noted his association as a being of majesty and dominion
with the sun-god, that his power followed the course of
the sun, and that he and those of his name like the sun
would endure forever.

In Egypt teachers of the sun cult sold charms and
received rewards so that the chosen worshippers might
enter the Sun boat of Ra.

To reach the Island of the Blessed a river must be
crossed, and the ferryman would only take those who
were "righteous before heaven and earth and the
island."

As sun worship extended, the ferryman became the
boatman of Ra the sun-god, and the Island of the
Blessed was transferred to the skies. The sacred texts,
whether in the form of appeals or commands were
chiefly concerned in persuading the boatman to ferry
the king across the river, to induce the gates of the sky
to open and the sun-god to take the king in his barge
and set him upon the throne of Osiris.

It was also believed that the king mounts to heaven
by the ladder which Ra and Horus provide for him.
Among the ancient Egyptians it was believed that the
sky was so close that one could climb to heaven on a
ladder.

•"The House of The Hidden Places," W. Marsham Adams.

arje ^un 199

Sakya-muni was said to have descended from the
Tiishita heaven by a ladder brought to him by Indra.
This ladder is often portrayed with the footprints of
Buddha on the top and bottom rung.

In the mysteries of Mithra a ladder of seven steps
composed of seven different kinds of metal representing
the seven spheres of the planets by means of which souls
ascended and descended, symbolised the passage of the
soul. Small bronze ladders were placed in tombs. They
were also used as amulets. The superstition that walk-
ing under a ladder brings bad luck may be a relic of
this ancient superstition, typifying the sinister side, the
refusal to climb, one who dodges, ignores the true way
to salvation.

This is the same ladder, doubtless, of Jacob's vision
showing that ideas travel if they do not multiply. Stairs
were also a symbol of ascending to heaven. Osiris was
called 'God of the Stairs.'

The Pythagoreans put it more exquisitely. They
believed that the glittering motes dancing in a sunbeam
were souls descending on the wings of light, and that in
the same way the sun re-absorbed the souls of the
dead.

Worship of the rising sun began with the dawn —
"at the moment when its first rays struck the demons
who invaded the earth in the darkness. ... In temples
thrice a day — at dawn, at midday and at dusk — a prayer
was addressed to the heavenly source of light, the wor-
shipper turning toward the East in the morning,
towards the South at mid-day and towards the West in
the evening." ®

The Moslems still do this, and it is even now a part

•"Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans," Franz
Cumont.

200 life ^pmbolsi

of the liturgy for clergymen and priests to turn to the
East when reciting the creed.

It was also and still is customary, I believe, to bury
the dead so that upon the day of resurrection when
graves yawn and the dead rise up they may look first
to the East — to the rising sun of Light, Life, Majesty,
Power.

The observance of Sunday, the day of the sun —
as a day of rest and worship is also a survival of ancient
solar worship.

Crowns worn by kings and emperors symbolised the
sun's rays.

The sixty-five symbols on Buddha's sacred foot are
nearly all solar emblems.

Amber because of its golden transparency was a
symbol of the sun and is still worn as an amulet against
evil and disease.

"The god of the world is in the light above the firma-
ment and His emblems are upon earth; it is unto those
that worship is paid daily." ^°

The symbols of the sun — the lotus, the winged disk,
solar birds, solar animals, the scarabgeus, the solar wheel
have but the one purpose, that of reflecting the varying
aspects of Creative Force, the multitudinous and be-
wildering ways in which it manifests itself — this surg-
ing, permeating, quickening, illuminating spirit of Life.

The Sphinx is a form of Horus. "Hence Horus is
represented as the sphinx, whose face turned eastward
is the radiant sun and whose body in the form of a lion
is emblematic of his divine strength." ^^

The Sphinx with the head of a woman and the body

""Maxims of Ani," now in Museum at Cairo.
" Goodyear's "Grammar of the Lotus."

Phulo. Alinari

Sphinx with Woman's Head
(Museo Barracco, Rome)

Sekhebet

Ptah-Skkioh-Osihis

3rf)e feun 20I

of a lion may have been used to symbolise the invincible
power represented by the union of the masculine and
feminine principles.

The lion typified the scorching, unrelenting midsum-
mer heat of the sun. As the sun-god was believed to
have the power of modifying solar heat, he is often
represented, as in the Samson myth and the myths of
all other solar heroes, as the slayer of the lion. Herakles
of the Greeks wears the lion's skin.

The Kara-shishi, the Heavenly Dog, the Dog of
Foo — Foo meaning Buddha is a form of lion found
at the entrance to Shinto and Buddhist shrines. "They
are given hideous grinning faces, curly manes and
bushy, flame-like tails." They are placed in pairs
before temples, palaces and tombs, the one male and
the other female. The male has the mouth open, the
female has the mouth closed. Usually one is green,
the other blue. They are the protectors, the symbols
of divine guardian-ship. Sometimes they are repre-
sented playing with the sacred ball or 'tama.' Depicted
thus the Dog of Foo or lion becomes the defender of
the sacred symbol.

Lions in pairs as guardians have played an immortal
part in history. They have guarded the Sacred Tree,
stood at door ways and before the temples of all ancient
races, faced each other on the gates of cities, and with
power still unabated, perform the same office of watch-
fulness at the entrance to large public buildings, or
on monuments where courage is to be extolled even
in the present day.

In the heraldic grouping of animals in Mycenaa
occen and goats were confined to trees or tree pillars,
whereas lions were associated with altar bases or struc-
tural columns, just as in the religious art of Egypt

202 life ^pmbols!

one finds them "exclusively acting as supporters of the
sun symbol on the horizon."

Layard found winged human headed lions and bulls,
"magnificent figures guarding the portals of Assyrian
temples" and believed that power was probably typi-
fied indiscriminately by the body of a lion or bull.

The lion seated showing whole figure was the em-
blem of courage; showing head and shoulders only it
typified force; head only with eyes open, the lion
symbolised vigilance.

The lion figures prominently in mediaeval church
architecture, at the doors of churches as the guardian
of the sanctuary, and as a support to pulpits as in the
duomos of Siena, Pisa, Ravello, Lucca and elsewhere
in Italy. Its use thus being merely a time honoured
extension of the historic idea. It was also given to
certain saints. The symbol of St. Mark is a lion usu-
ally winged. St. Jerome also has the Hon in allusion
to a well known legend.

Among the ancients one cult or section identified
the spirit of life or heaven with a bull and another with
a goat. In Assyria the sacred bull and the wild goat
are pictured together kneeling before the Tree of Life.

"The bull has always held a prominent place in the
religious systems of Asia. The sacred bull of the As-
syrians, the Apis of the Egyptians and the bull Nandi
of the Hindus are evidently identical types. The
Golden Calf of the Israelites will not be forgotten, and
for the use of the bull as a sacred ornament by the Jews
the brazen sea in the temple of Solomon may be
cited." ''

The bull in ancient religions symbolised the power
residing in the sun. It also was a symbol of the humid

" Layard's "Nineveh."

Photo. Alinari

Hkrakles (Hercules)
(Museo Xazionale, Naples)

3rf)e S>un 203

side of nature and was thus given to Osiris who besides
being a sun-god represented also the river Nile and
everything that was moist, beneficent and generative
in nature.

The Bull god Apis of the Egyptians was believed
to be an incarnation of Osiris, and an offspring of the
sun-god Ptah of Memphis. As a symbol of creative
force and reproductive powers this bull god Apis plays
an enormous part in the early religious worship of the
Egj^ptians. He was searched for, examined with meti-
culous care and recognised as the divine exponent by
certain signs — these were a triangular mark on the
forehead, a small lump shaped like a scaraba^us ( symbol
of self -creation) under the tongue, and a mark in the
form of an eagle (symbol of omnipotence) on the
back.

In this reverence shown for the sacred bull there is
found again that curious mixture of the ideal and the
practical. Apis is also the ox into which the soul of
Osiris enters "because that animal had been of service
in the cultivation of the ground."

Osiris is identified with Dionysos, whom the Greeks
not only regarded as a tree-god and god of wine but
as the god of the whole humid nature. Thus the ox or
bull was looked upon as an incarnation of the generative
power of Dionysos by the Greeks, and the sacrifice and
eating of the ox was a part of the cult of Dionysos.
The sacrifice of the bull was also one of the leading
features in the Mithraic rites.

The goat typified the masculine principle, the re-
productive powers of the sun, "generative heat or the
vital urge. Demi-urge is a gnostic term for the Deity
meaning the Ever Existent Fire, the Solar en-urgy."
(Bayley.)

204 Itife g>j>mbo(s;

The sacred Sumerian goat bore on its forehead the
same triangular symbol as the Apis bull of Egypt.

The Goat is given to the Babylonian sun-god Mar-
duk. It was the custom among the Babylonians, after
having prayed to Marduk to take away from them all
sin and disease, to release a goat and drive it into the
desert. This resembles the Jewish scapegoat.

Tammuz as sentinel of the night heaven has the goat.

The goat in India was associated with Agni and
Varuna. A goat was slain at funeral ceremonies to
let the gods know that a soul was on its way to beg
permission to enter heaven.

Thor, god of thunder and fertility had a chariot
drawn by goats.

The Greeks gave Pan — the god of shepherds, hunts-
men and all inhabitants of the country. Pan, who dwelt
chiefly in Arcadia — the horns, ears, and limbs of a goat.

The Asp was identified with the solar gods and rep-
resented the hissing, seething heat of the sun. It was
an Egyptian symbol of dominion. Among the Greeks
it denoted protecting or benevolent power.

The creative tears of Ra, the sun-god descended as
shining rays upon the earth. Osiris and I sis also wept
creative tears. Khepera, too, the father of the gods
and creator of all things, identified with the rising sun
and thus resurrection, was said to have gathered his
members together and wept over them and "men and
women sprang into existence from the tear that fell
from my eye."

The god Khepera has a beetle for his head. This
is the scarabccus which was also called Khepera by the
Egyptians, and was a pre-eminently sacred symbol
typifying the rising sun and eternal life.

The Scarabceus or Sacred Beetle symbolised divine,

The God Apis, Serapeum (Saitic Period)
(Louvre, Paris)

Photo. Alitiari

Photo. Alinari

Lion of the Sehapeum or Tomb of Apis
(Louvre, Paris)

aCfje g)un 205

self-created power. The early Egyptians believed that
it had no female but deposited its generative seed in
round pellets of earth which it rolled about by thrusting
it backward as it moved, by means of the hind legs "and
this in imitation of the sun, which while it moves from
West to East turns the heaven in the opposite way."
From this mysterious ball the beetle comes forth full
of life after twenty-eight days of incubation by the
moon. It was believed that the beetle was born anew
from the egg which it alone had created, and thus it
symbolised for the Egyptians self -existent being. It
was so highly reverenced that the wings on the winged
globe or sun disk — the sacred symbol of the deity —
have been thought by some to represent the scarabasus
instead of the falcon.

The Chinese regarded the sun as the concrete es-
sence of the masculine principle and the source of all
brightness.

Like the falcon, eagle and goose the cock is associ-
ated with the sun. The cock was sacred to Mithra, Zas
and to nearly all the other solar gods
of antiquity. The cock is the herald ^^

and announcer of Apollo. The Chi- ,^^Y \
nese symbolised the sun by a cock /k V^%<'-'^'^
within a circle, and in their symbolic U ^ j^3^i--

writings the cock is still the emblem

of the sun, being frequently depicted ^^^ ^^° lotus.

,,, . . p ,, I'lji From Goodyear's Gram-

aS Clappmg WmgS 01 gold while the mar of the Lotus.

sun rises behind him."

The cock, the acknowledged emblem of the sun, who
still loudly proclaims the rise of the God of Day, with
the same assiduous watchfulness now as in the olden
times, was also looked upon by the Chinese as an ex-

206

JLitt ^pmbote

orcising agency. De Groot quotes a Chinese writer as
saying "The cock is the emblem of the accumulated
Yang (the sun) and the South. Etherial things which
partake of the yang element have the property of

COCKS ON LOTUS PACING DOUBLE LOTUS FLOWER.

Greek vase in Louvre.
From Goodyear's Grammar of the Lotus.

flaming up, hence when the yang arises above the hor-
izon the cock crows because things of the same nature
influence each other." As the spirits of darkness are
identified with yin the passive or negative principle,
the cock was used at funerals, because being imbued
with yang matter, it would neutralise or dissipate the
power of evil spirits. It was a cardinal belief also that,
the spirits of darkness are put to flight each morning
by the crowing of the cock.

The fish is also associated with the sun. It is one of
the oldest and most widespread symbols of fertility. It
also denoted knowledge, wisdom, intellect, water. In
tlie first incarnation Vishnu returned as a fish. The fish
thus becomes identified with a saviour. The fish as one
of the symbols of Buddha indicated freedom — one who
moves freely in all directions as a fish moves in the
waters. Ea the Babylonian god of waters is typified
by a goat-fish.

©fje ^un 207

In early mythology the dolphin "strongest and
swiftest of fish, called by Gregory of Ny-ssa 'the most
royal of swimmers' " was supposed to bear the soul of
the deceased across the sea to the Island of the Blessed.
Thus the symbolical use of the fish on ancient tombs.

Among the Latins and Greeks the dolphin was
venerated as the saviour of the shipwrecked. Thus
Christ is frequently symbolised by the early Christians
as a dolphin.

In the catacombs Christ is represented by two fishes.
Two fishes are the zodiacal sign of Pisces. The Trinity
was sometimes symbolised by three fishes typifying
regeneration.

The fish because of its extraordinary fecundity was
given to Venus, also to the Egyptian Isis and the Japa-
nese Kwannon. The Christians gave it to the Virgin
Mary. In the mystical Vesica Piscis, however, there is
no reference except in name to the fish. The oval that
surrounds the Virgin represents the almond, mandorla
— symbol of virginity and self -production.

In Egypt, according to Plutarch, the fish is a phallic
emblem.

It has been conjectured that the connection of the
fish with the sun came from the ancient conception of
creation which divided the waters above and below the
firmament — the ocean and waters below the earth, and
the waters of the clouds causing rain and floods above.
The god of the sun passes through these as a fish, or
in his sun barge.

The association of the fish, symbol of fecundity,
water, the feminine principle, with the sun which typi-
fies power, light, fire, the masculine principle, makes one
suspect, however, that we are merely encountering
another of the ancient devices for symbolising the union

2o8 life ^pmbolsi

of sun and moon, fire and water, masculine and femi-
nine. If this is the explanation of what otherwise would
seem far fetched to the verge of absurdity, we are once
more confronted simply enough, by that immortal com-
bination which the ancients regarded as the inseparable
accompaniment of Life.

In India "Surya is the sun seen in the sky who trav-
erses the way prepared for him by Varuna in a car
drawn by swift steeds, or flies across the sky like a great
red bird, or he is the eye of Mitra and Varuna or
Agni." ''

In the Hindu pantheon Surya, the sun is shown
drawn by seven horses with Aruna as charioteer.
Another representation portrays the chariot of the great
Aum drawn by seven green horses — green typify-
ing renewal, eternal Life — preceded by Aruna the
Dawn.

In Indian symbolism the horse is associated with the
sun.

The chariot and horses of fire which bore aloft the
prophet Elijah were presumably, the horses and chariot
of the sun. Indra figures as 'driving a car of light
and lustre.'

The horse symbolised knowledge, understanding,
intellect, wisdom. The wooden horse introduced in the
siege of Troy may have typified the conquering power
of intelligence. Four horses denoted equity, justice.
The ancients depicted the sun as a charioteer driving a
team of four horses across the heavens. The chariot
of Phoebus Apollo the Roman god of light and the
presiding deity over poetry, music and eloquence is
drawn by horses.

" Moore's "History of Religions."

Sphixx (XIIIth Dvxasty)

(Louvre, Paris)

Photo. Alinari

8Djje S>un 209

Pegasus the winged horse becomes the favourite of
the muses.

Among the Greeks Neptune, god of the waters and
the force and flow of life was typified by the horse which
was to them "as a crested sea wave animated and
bridled." Neptune (or Poseidon) is generally repre-
sented sitting in a shell-shaped chariot drawn by sea
horses or dolphins, and holding his trident in his hand.

The Arabs likened the word Wisdom to a horse's
bridle.

The White Horse, as we have seen under the head-
ing of the unicorn, symbolised innocent, unblemished
intellect and reason.

Buddha left his house to become an ascetic on a
white horse. A white horse saves Buddha from the
evil designs of the Rakshasa the cannibal demons. The
white horse plays a notable part in Chinese Buddhism
and is attached to all important Shinto shrines.

The Hindu Vishnu is supposed to come in one more
manifestation for the salvation of the world appearing
for the final time with drawn sword riding on a white
horse.

The second coming of Christ on a white horse has
also been prophesied.

The connection of the white horse with a saviour
may explain the rather stale joke of looking for a white
horse after meeting a woman with red hair, going back
to the pre-historic Set, the red-haired god of destruction
and the white horse as symbol of the sun, light, the
Saviour.

St. John's vision of the Four Horsemen is never
read without a feeling of fascinated terror.

"And I saw and behold a white horse; and he that
sat on him had a bow ; and a crown was given unto him ;

210 TLiit ^pmbols!

and he went forth conquering and to conquer. . . .
"And there went out another horse that was red; and
power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace

FACSIMILE OF CELEBRATED WHITE HOESE NEAR SHRIVENHAM, ENGLAND.

This same symbolic horse appeared on a British gold coin about 150 B.C.

Bayley, Lost Language of Symbolism.

from the earth, and that they should kill one another;
and there was given unto him a great sword.

"And when he had opened the third seal. ... I be-
held and lo a black horse ; and he that sat on him had a
pair of balances in his hand. . . .

"And when he had opened the fourth seal. ... I
looked and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat
on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And
power was given unto them over the fourth part of the
earth, to kill with sword and with hunger and with death
the beasts of the earth." (Rev. 6:2-8.)

Goethe makes powerful use of this figure of Deatli
in the Erl-King.

The enormous sale of Ibanez's Four Horsemen of
the Apocalypse published the year of the Armistice
which puzzled both critics and publishers, may possibly
be explained on the hypothesis that its title appealed
to some imperious, inherited instinct, touched some
quivering, sensitive cord of association which for ages
past had seen the Conqueror appear on a white horse,
War on a red, Famine riding a black horse and Death
seated on a pale horse. The one chapter on the Russian

GTfje S>un 211

and the Four Horsemen lifted the book from the com-
mon-place and gave it its entrance into the enlarged
field of universal human consciousness.

There could be no curvetting, prancing joy in the
religion of life of the Hebrews. "A horse is a vain
thing for safety."

The Jews worshipped the ass. To the Hebrew the
horse typified the might and the oppression of the
Egyptian and the Canaanite, while the ass by its adapt-
ability to the needs of locomotion in a mountainous
country, represented the attainment of peace and rest
for the promised seed. The horse was identified with
the worship of the sun, but the ass became the sacred
animal of the children of Yahveh and the subject of
special enactments of the Mosaic law.

Kings, judges and prophets rode on white asses.

The angel of the Lord endowed Balaam's ass with
the gift of speech.

The ass was sacred to Dionysos "who is represented
in many antique pictures and bas-reliefs as coming to
mankind surrounded by his merry followers riding on
a donkey."

Christ makes his entry into Jerusalem riding on an
ass.

In mediaeval times in southern France the ass or
crier had a special mass in his honour, in which the con-
gregation in place of saying amen brayed the re-
sponses.

I confess to a real affection for those patient little
beasts of burden that I see so much of here in Italy —
an affection so real that I know but one word for it —
the donkey and I are simpatica. The donkey knows
quite as well as his master that it is ^'tres difficile de

212 %iit ^pmbote

contenter tout le monde et son pere." His bray says so
much that I feel but cannot say. I have an inner con-
viction, truth to tell, that in an earlier civilisation he
may have been my symbolic animal — or I the donkey.
Thus I take distinct pleasure in recording here the fact,
that in the Christian Church in Southern France back
in mediaeval days the donkey was held in such high
esteem that he had a special mass celebrated in his
honour.

The Wheel with its spokes of which 'none is the last'
is one of the most ancient, and easily the most important
symbol of the mystic power of the sun.

Anything that could be used to symbolise motion
or endless creation seems to have entered into the very
fibre of thought of the ancients.

The solar wheel is traced back to the sun disk crossed
by the four cardinal points, and the development, rami-
fications and associations of this one symbol, which be-
gan with the circle and cross, are as mystical as they
are enthralling.

"The wheel in India was connected with the title of
Chakravartin from Chakra a wheel — the title meaning
a supreme ruler or a universal monarch who ruled the
four quarters of the world and on his coronation he
had to drive his chariot or wheel to the four cardinal
points to signify his conquest of them." ^^

It is related that "Buddha at his birth took
seven steps towards each of the four cardinal points
thus indicating the conquering of the circle or uni-
verse."

The wheel is associated with the lotus flower, the
symbol of the solar matrix, the mysterious sanctuary.

""The Swastika," Thomas Wilson.

^f)E &un 213

The full bloom lotus with its centre surrounded by
eight petals becomes the eight-spoked wheel of Bud-
dhism. The eight spokes — or multiples of eight sym-
bolise the eight-fold path of self con-
quest. The eight glorious emblems of
Buddha are the lotus, fish, knot,
conch-shell, umbrella, jar or sacred
bowl, canopy and wheel.

Cah'a, or wheel in the days of the
Veda typified the occult power of the
sun. It represented unending, perfect completion.
With the Buddliists it is the Excellent Wheel of Good
Law "which turns twelve times or three revolutions for
each of the four noble truths."

Buddha is the wheel king — the 'king whose wheel
rolls over the whole world.'

The turning of the wheel symbolised the doctrine
of perpetual cycles of existence.

Karma was called 'the wheel of fate that revolves
relentlessly and unceasingly.'

The sun with rays becomes the 'thousand spoked
wheel of victory.'

The Mahabharata tells of the Garuda bird's at-
tempting to steal the Soma (ambrosia) of the gods.
First the Garuda quenches the fire which protects
the Soma. Then he sees a revolving wheel, "a wheel
of steel, keen edged and as sharp as a razor re-
volving incessantly" which protects the Soma. The
Eagle-giant passes through the spokes of the wheel
only to encounter two great snakes of the 'lustre
of blazing fire.' These the Garuda bird slays and
snatches the Soma, which the gods later recover.

One of the symbols of Vishnu, who in later times
superseded Varuna, the greatest of the gods of the Rig-

214

life S>pmboIs;

veda, is the discus or fiery wheel which "revolves and
returns to the thrower like lightning."

Among the Assyrians the solar wheel was a symbol
of life and the god within the wheel not only was a god
of war but of fertility. The life or spirit of the god
was in the solar wheel. The spirit of Ashur, the great

TYPES OP THE " ROUE DE LA LOI."

Gaillard, Croix et Swastika en Chine'.

sun-god was thought to animate the wheel that brought
the changing seasons.

Shamash the solar god of the Babylonians is shown
seated on his throne with a sun wheel in front of him.
The spokes of the wheel are shaped like stars with the
three-fold rippling water rays.

The Vision of Ezekiel, so frequently quoted, testi-
fies to the importance and prevalence of the wheel sym-
bol. In the first chapter he describes the four living
creatures that had the face of a man, the face of a lion,
the face of an ox and the face of an eagle. "Their ap-
pearance was like burning coals of fire . . . and the
fire was bright and out of the fire went forth lightning.
And the living creatures ran and returned as the ap-
pearance of a flash of lightning . . . behold one wheel
upon the earth by the living creatures with his four
faces.

Photo. Alinari

The Vision of Ezekiel — Raphael
(Pitti Palace, Florence)

3Cj)e ^un 215

"The appearance of the wheels and their work was
hke unto the colour of a beryl; and they four had one
likeness ; and their appearance and their work was as it
were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. . . . 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, . . . for the spirit of
the living creature was in the wheels."

And again in chapter ten in his vision of the cheru-
bim, the Lord commands the man clothed with linen to
"take fire from between the wheels."

"And when I looked behold the four wheels by the
cherubim . . . one wheel by one cherub and another
wheel by another cherub ... as for their appearances
they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in
the midst of a wheel. . . . And their whole body, and
their backs, and their hands and their wings, and the
wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels
that they four had.

"As for the wheels, it was cried unto them in my
hearing, O wheel," (Ez. 10: 9-13.)

These are the four beasts of Revelation that were
"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 like 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 thej^
rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy. Lord
God Almighty which was, and is, and is to come."
(Rev. 4:7-8.)

These four living creatures become in the Christian
religion the four conventional symbols of the four evan-
gelists. St. Matthew is given the angel or man, St.

2i6 life ^pmbols;

Mark the lion — usually with wings, St. Luke the ox,
and St. John the eagle.

One can only speculate as to the origin of these four
mysterious creatures. Their meaning is lost in obscur-
ity. That there was a meaning of high import attached
to them seems obvious, however.

Layard found that a man, a lion, an ox and an eagle
were constantly portrayed on the sculptured walls of
Nineveh.

Mackenzie points out that in an earlier stage, be-
fore the gods of Babylonia and Assyria were given
human form, Nannar (Sin, the moon-god), Ninib
(Saturn the old sun) and Enlil were symbolised by
the bull, while Nergal a tribal sun god was given the
lion. The eagle was represented by the Zu bird which
symbolised storm, fertility and a phase of the sun.

In the moon cult the god Sin is depicted as an old
man with flowing beard.

The Hebrews have been accused of being "a people
who never invented anything, yet produced the great-
est sacred literature in the world." So, too, the Hebrew
prophets were greatly given to utilising "for their poetic
imagery the characteristic beliefs of the peoples to whom
they made direct reference." A method which resulted
in a picturesque and turgid way of making a direct,
telling and unanswerable appeal.

It is highly probable, therefore, that when he de-
scribed the four living creatures and the wheel, Ezekiel
was simply making use of Assyrian symbolism which
he had seen again and again when the Jews were in
captivity.

If this be the case, then there is no mystery. And
we are merely encountering an ancient symbolic repre-
sentation of the old forces of life — the old factors, fire

9rf)e ^un 217

and water, sun and moon, combined with the silently
moving, orderly revolution of the universe, typified by
the solar wheel.

The nimbus, aureole or glory which is used in Chris-
tian art to distinguish holy personages is derived from
the solar disk which was given to emperors and kings
in ancient art to express their divine origin and their
association with the life and power of the sun.

The cruciform nimbus found its first inception in
the wheel cross.

The rosette so extensively used in decorative art
and architecture is a solar emblem derived from the
lotus.

The umbrella or parasol, an emblem of royalty and
power, universally adopted by Eastern nations, and car-
ried over the heads of emperors and princes in times of
peace and sometimes in war, is derived from the solar
wheel. The umbrella is placed over the head of Buddha
to signify power.

Knossos on the island of Crete was the seat of the
great sun worship of the pre-historic Greek civilisation,
and the legend of the Minotaur is supposed to be the
mythical marriage of the sun and moon. Excavations
in recent years have unearthed the palace of King Mi-
nos called the Labyrinth or 'Palace of the Axe' — from
the old word labrys which signified axe or double axe.
The two-edged or Double Axe is found throughout the
palace, outlined on the walls as a religious symbol of
the sun or the "power of Light."

Among the Egyptians also the axe was a symbol
of the sun and was called the 'Clever One,' the 'Cleaver
of the Way.' The battle axe as a symbol had the same
meaning as the hammer, sword or cross.

2i8 TLiit ^pmtjols!

The sacred double axe as a religious symbol of the
sun is, however, pre-eminently associated with the
island of Crete.

MTCEN^AN VASE.

Old Salamis.
Evans, Mycenaan Trees and Pillar Cult.

Evans finds the double axe set in the ground be-
tween pairs of bulls, the bulls having a double axe also
between their horns, and adds that "the appearance of
the divine double axe between two bulls and the con-
nexion of the God of the Double Axe with the animal is
shown again and again and takes us back to Crete and
to the parallel associations of Zeus-Minos and the
Minotaur." '^

Curiously enough the woodsman when he marks a
track through the forest with his axe still speaks of it
as 'blazing a trail.' A decade or so ago a popular novel
of the Michigan forests by Stewart Edward White was
called The Blazed Trail.

It was the Chaldeans, those wise and learned men of
the East — astronomers, astrologists, diviners — who de-

" "Mycenaean Trees and Pillar Cult," A. J. Evans.

^Tfje ^un 219

veloped the primitive worship j^aid to the sun, the moon
and certain stars, into a lofty system of theology in
which the Sun Lord of Life held supreme sway. Sun
worship was now pantheism become scientific, which
saw the gods as cosmic energies. It was the "logical re-
sult of paganism steeped in erudition." Even in this
new religion, however, which was to spread later to
Greece and Rome, the Babylonian theology never quite
broke with the primitive reverence which all the Semitic
tribes bestowed upon the mysterious forces that sur-
rounded man, and they continued to combine in their
worship the old festivals of nature with the ideas derived
from astrology.

Cumont quotes from Jastrow, "An astral theory
of the universe is not an outcome of popular thought,
but the result of a long process of speculative reason-
ing carried on in restricted learned circles."

When therefore the "Greeks conquered Mesopo-
tamia under Alexander they found above a deep sub-
stratum of mythology a learned theology founded on
patient astronomical observations." ^^

Although the "whole spirit of the Hellenic religion,
profoundly human, ideally aesthetic . . . was opposed
to the deification of celestial bodies," the belief that the
heavenly bodies were divine appealed profoundly to the
Greek philosophers, notably Plato and Aristotle. It
influenced the stoics who in turn did much to reconcile
it with popular beliefs. The Romans, who were said to
know all religions while preferring none, ended by
transferring their pagan worship to the skies. The
Roman emperors lent it their interested support. They
based their claim to divine rights upon the sun. It was
believed that the monarch's soul descended from heaven

"• "Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans," F. Cumont.

220 %itt ^prntiote

by grace of the sun who bestowed upon it its own sover-
eign power. Among the numerous symbols of the sun,
that of Sol Invictus, a circle with rays, was used by the
Roman emperors and later adopted by Louis XIV (Le
Roi Soldi) of France.

Even after our era the cult of Mithraism or sun
worship vied with Christianity in popular favour. In
274 A.D. Aurelian created the new cult of the "Invinci-
ble Sun." A century later Diocletian officially recog-
nised Mithra as the protector of the restored empire.
The Christian emperors Constantine and Constantius
were not wholly blind to the advantages of a form of
worship that bestowed upon them so 'illustrious a de-
scent.' Constantine, indeed, was strongly suspected of
leanings toward Mithraism.

+ tTX 9-

VARIOUS FORMS OF CONSTANTINE's MONOGRAM OR CROSS.

The famous labarum of Constantine's according to
Bayley "was a symbol used long ages before Christian-
ity and probably stood for X the Great Fire and P
pater or Patah." Other writers have looked upon it in
its older form as an adaptation of the solar wheel. It can
hardly be denied that the various forms of Constan-
tine's monogram or cross would indicate either catholic-
ity of belief or religious philandering — or, perhaps one
might better say, a profound respect for the great sym-
bols of Life.

STfje ^un 221

In the fourth century Juhan the Apostate, the last
pagan to occupy the throne of the Caesars attempted to
revive sim worship, but the growing power of the Chris-
tian rehgion had become too strong to be set aside. "The
Invincible Sun, conquered at last passed on its sceptre
to the new religion of Life."

It was not until sometime between 354 and 360 a.d.
that the Church adopted the 25th of December, the
birthday of Mithra and other twice-born gods, as the
date of the Nativity of Christ, the new Sun of Right-
eousness in whom mankind saw again embodied the old,
tenaciously held, mystical idea of 'Dying to Live.'

XIII

THE SWASTIKA

The Wheel is the emblem of creative motion because
"Manifesting Force is rotary, being, in fact, the 'Wheel
of the spirit of Life' involving the whole system of the
universe"

"A constantly moving something circling about a
pure central point." — Goethe.

"Repetition, being a law of the cosmos and mani-
festing itself in the movements of the stars and of
atoms, in biology, ties of mankind — will continually oc-
cur because the Law of Series is at work." — Paul Kam-
merer.

"The Sun which is as a bridegroom coming out of
his chamber and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a
race."—Fs. 19: 4.

223

XIII

THE SWASTIKA

ARISTOTLE said "Life is movement." The
Stvastika with its 'bent arms poised for flight'
has been saying the same since time began.
Reveahng also a further truth, to those with eyes to
see, that all harmonious movement must necessarily
spring from a central source.
Less awe-inspiring than
some of the other life sym-
bols, the Swastika has been
looked upon from earliest
times down to the present
day as a charm or amulet
that brings good luck, long
life, fortune. It is a happy, fragment of stone slab from the

- , ANCIENT MAYA CITY OF MAYAPAN.

re-assurmg, friendly symbol, ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ (Tetraskdion).
suggesting not movement wuson. The swastika.

alone, but movement that is

orderly progression, movement that is planned, guided
by an eternal law.

Swastika is a Sanskrit word composed of su, good
and astij being, with the suffix ka, and is the equivalent
of *It is well,' or 'That it may be so,' or 'So be it,' im-
plying, under no matter what circumstances, complete
resignation — or perhaps acceptance is a better word

225

226 life ^pmbols;

for a sign that was used to denote life, movement, pleas-
ure, happiness, good luck.

The swastika was reverenced in India more than
three thousand years before the Christian era, and is

still used by the Hindu wo-
men as a charm against evil.
_ ^^^1 y^^. ^^\ Among the Chinese it car-
^■iTl ^^.^T^^N^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ perfection.

SWASTIKA OF FOUB T S.
Gaillard, Croix et Swastika en Chine.

It stood for a great num-
ber, infinity, many bless-
ings. It was the key to
excellence. Enclosed in a
circle it was the word for
the sun. It was known in Japan under the name of
Mang-ziou (the sign of 10,000 years). It is stamped
on archaic vases and pottery found in India, Persia,
China, Italy, Greece, Cyprus; it is found on ancient
bronze ornaments in England, France, Etruria; it ap-
pears on bronze objects found in the Swiss lake dwell-
ings and on ceintures of bronze, also on weapons and
various articles of dress and ornament in Germany and
Scandinavia; it is graven on sculptured stones and
Celtic crosses in Ireland and Scotland, and is found in
pre-historic burial grounds in Scandinavia, Mexico,
Peru, Yucatan, Paraguay and the United States. It
was used before the Aryans commenced their migra-
tions, and has been called the oldest Aryan symbol.
Apparently it was never adopted by the Phoenicians,
Babylonians, Assyrians, or Egyptians, yet it has been
found in Egypt, the inference being that it was brought
there by the Greeks. Wherever it appears, like the
wheel it was considered to be an image of the sun and
was thus honoured. The heraldry of the Middle Ages
blazoned it on shields. In modern heraldry it is given

i:f)e ^ttiasittka

227

the name gammadion or crucV gammata from its resem-
blance to a four-fold repetition of the Greek gamma.

It was a symbol of high religious import among both
Brahmins and Buddhists. It has been called the mono-
gram of Vishnu and Siva.

It was the cross of the Manicheans and was their
sole symbol. The only form of the cross of which the
Christians made any use during the second and third
centuries was the swastika.

ARCHAIC GREEK VASE WITH FIVE SWASTIKAS OF FOUR DIFFERENT FORMS.

Athens.
Wilson, The Swastika.

In Great Britain it was called fylfot from the An-
glo-Saxon fower-fot — four footed or many footed.

The symbol of Thor the Scandinavian god of thun-
der was a solar wheel, and his weapon the hammer.
Thor's hammer has a confusing record. Some author-
ities call it the fylfot cross, others the crucc ansata and
others again liken it to the Chinese Y. This, perhaps,
because the swastika itself has been connected with the
cross, the circle and the Y.

228

%iit ^pmtjols;

The swastika has been given as an emblem to sun-
gods, sky-gods, rain-gods ; it is the sun chariot of Agni ;
it is found in the footprints of Buddha; it is the especial

FOOTPRINT OF BUDDHA AS CARVED ON THE AMARAVATI TOPE.

From Schliemann's Ilios.

symbol of the esoteric doctrine of Buddha; Buddha is
sometimes depicted in the 'swastika posture' — with legs
crossed and arms cross-wise over chest; in Japan it is
the symbol of Buddha's heart and is frequently dis-
played on his breast. It has been given a phallic mean-
ing by some, while others believe that it typified the
generative or feminine principle, justifying their belief
by its appearance on statues of various nature god-
desses— Ceres, Astarte, Hera and notably upon a lead-
en statuette of Artemis Nana of Chaldea found at

STfje S>toasJtifea 229

Troy, where the swastika is shown on a triangular
shaped shield. Wilson in his book on The Swastika
cites the fact that the aboriginal women of Brazil wore
a triangular shield or plaque made of terra-cotta sus-
pended from the waist in front of the body by cords,
and that one of these, which is in the U. S. Museum at
Washington, is decorated with two swastikas, which he
Ihinks "may have been a charm signif jring good fortune
in bearing children," and that as children were be-
lieved to be God's greatest blessing, its symbolism may
well have been extended, may also have represented
the desire of man to raise up 'heirs of his body' and pre-
serve the continuity of Life. He finds that the male
aborigines used a somewhat similar covering and
comments upon their resemblance to the ''Ceinture de
Cliastete, specimens of which are shown privately in
the Musee de Cluny at Paris and are said to have been
invented by Fran^oise de Carara of Padua, Italy," and
applied to all the women of his seraglio.

The same authority says "Of the many forms of the
cross the swastika is the most ancient. Despite the
theories and the speculations of students its origin is
unknown. It began before history and is properly
classed as pre-historic." ^

It is not unreasonable to believe, however, that its
origin may have been — doubtless was, simple enough.
"Starting with the sun's disk as a circle and wishing
to represent its motion sometimes they gave it wings,
again they depicted it as a wheel, while motion
in one direction was indicated by taking away part
of the rim of the wheel leaving only sufficient to show
its course. Thus came the swastika of the Hindus
and the fylfot of the Northern races, one of the most

*"The Swastika," Thomas Wilson.

230 Hife S>pmbol2{

universally diffused of all the mystic emblems of sun
worship." ^

Some attribute its origin to the Hittites, while
others contend that it was used in the Bronze Age
which was prior to the Hittites or the Aryans.

It has always been a matter of keen conjecture
how the swastika came into North America, reviving
stories of the lost island of Atlantis, the lost tribes of
Israel and the migration of Buddhism from Asia.
Nothing is known, however, except that the swastika
is there at the beginning of history, and that it was
also a favourite symbol in Mexico, Peru, Yucatan and
Paraguay.

Brinton in The Taki, the Swastika arid the Cross
in America, says "When the symbol of the sun and the
four directions was inscribed within the circle of the
visible horizon we obtain the figure representing the mo-
tions of the sun with reference to the earth as in. . . .
the wheel cross, as distinguished from the ring cross."

Taking the Aztec figure of the year cycle — which
is reproduced here from the Atlas of Duran's "His-
toria de las Indies et Nueva Espana" — Brinton traces
the development and primary signification of those
world-wide symbols, the square, the cross, the wheel,
the circle, the swastika — the illustration of the Aztec
figure shows the beginning of the latter in the elements
of the broken circle — and he finds it easy to see how
from this figure was derived the "Nuhuatl doctrine
of the . . . Four Motions of the Sun with its ac-
cessories of the Four Ages of the World," and adds
that "the Tree of Life so constantly occurring in May-
an and Mexican art is but another outgrowth of the
same symbolic expression for the same ideas."

' "Origin of Triads and Trinities," John Newton.

5Cf)e g>tDa2itifea

231

The Druids were said to have shaped their trees
in the form of the swastika or fylfot cross.

.occcDcntc

AZTEC FIGTJRE OF THE TEAR CYCLE.

In the opinion of Count Goblet d'Alviella no sym-
bol has given rise to so many interpretations "not even
the trisula of the Buddhists."

The figure of a swastika enclosed in a square with
radiating lines for the corners has been called the seal
or mark of a deified saint of the Jains of India, also a
"sacred temple or edifice, a species of labyrinth, a gar-
den of diamonds, a chain, a golden waist or shoulder
belt, and a conique with spires turning to the right."

NANDYAVARTA

232 TLift ^pmljolsi

Goodyear considers the swastika the equivalent of

the lotus, of the solar diagram, of the solar rosette, of

^ the centre of the rosette, of concen-

V 1 ^ ti'ic rings, of the spiral scroll, of the

geometric boss, of the triangle and

of the anthemion.

Gaillard speaks of the "X de fer

^^> Chinois" — also called St. Andrew's

cross — which becomes a sceptre in

A third sign of the foot- the hauds of thuudcr gods, the em-
print of Buddha. , , p t j> i •

blem 01 royal power lor kmgs, em-
blem of the two pillars or dual principles, and when
crossed or re-duplicated becomes a sign of good omen —
a variation of the swastika or the conquering sun or the
"roi de la roue/' ^

The swastika is persistently connected with the sa-
cred fire sticks. Agni was the god of the fire stick
(the swastika) and it was he who was the author of
divine heat which was the 'efficient cause of life both
in heaven and earth.'

''The Samidhs or kindling sticks are said to repre-
sent Spring. They are to be used in lighting the sac-
rificial fire and are ordered to be applied to light the
three enclosing sticks (paradlii) which are placed in
the form of a triangle around the firewood. These en-
closing sticks are said to be the three former Agni
(fire gods) who were struck down by the thunderbolt
of Indra. These gods are (1) the Lord of the Earth,
(2) the Lord of the Universe, and (3) the Lord of
Living Things, or, the old triad of Mother Earth, the
Phallic god the Father and the vital power animating
both." These enclosing sticks or fire gods are "kin-
dled by the two samidhs which are the swastika or fire

* "Croix el Swantika en Chine," Louis Gaillard.

sticks which when rubbed together produce the flame.
They are said to represent the heavenly and earthly
fire. With the first the priest kindles the middle en-
closing stick at the base of the triangle which represents
the vital and creative power which animates both the
mother earth and the universal father and binds them
together. He then kindles with it the fire material
which the triangle encloses. He thus kindles the three
former gods and the sacred central fire, the emblem
of the divine power in the latent heat, the creative force
of which was greater than that of the old gods. With
the second samidli, or the earthly fire which he puts on
the burning fire wood he kindles the Spring and the
whole productive year. The functions of the Samidhs
. . . clearly represent the vivifying power of heat which
kindles into life the old generating gods of the popular
triad, and these when they receive the requisite impulse
from the animating heat kindle the earth into life in
the Spring. . . . Thus the Samidhs are the 'produc-
tive pair' which typify the union of heaven and earth
under heavenly influences." ^

If one becomes bewildered by the number of mean-
ings attached to this one symbol, on the other hand
there is this to be said, too, that no symbol brings home
more forcibly a fact that the modern is apt to overlook,
and that is how much was formerly expressed by a few
symbolic lines.

As we have said before, the ancients were not spe-
cialists. Their best loved symbols were as inclusive as
life itself.

This marvellous symbol of motion, good fortune,
long life seems to have touched everything and every-
where, vivif jang whatever it touched. It is the skele-

* Hewitt's "Early History of Northern India."

234

%iit ^pmbolsi

ton symbol of the solar wheel or whirligig, its bent
arms or rays indicating motion, universal movement;

THE LOTUS AND SWASTIKA WITH SOLAR GEESE AND SOLAR DEER.
Goodyear, Grammar of the Lotus. PI. 38, p. 251.

it is connected with the labyrinth; it typified the four
cardinal points, the pre-Christian cross, the revolution

STfje S>tDas!tifea 235

of the wheel of life; it was the representation of zig-
zag lightning and the double hatchet or axe; it could
signify "rain, storms, lightning, sun, light, seasons;"
and it could also be the fire sticks, fire wheel, sun
chariot and a symbol of fecundity.

How derived, and whatever else it may have typi-
fied, the swastika stands out pre-eminently as the sym-
bolical representation of solar energy.

Goodyear finds its solar significance proved by
Hindu coins of the Jains and that it "appears with
solar deer, solar antelope, the symbolic fish, the solar
ibex, the solar sphinx, the solar ram and the solar
horse. Its almost constant
association is with the solar
bird." ^

The Greeks associated
the swastika with the cult of
Apollo.

Max Muller believed that the swastika with hands
pointing to the right was originally a symbol of the
sun, perhaps the vernal sun, and he called the other
with arms bent to the left the suavastika or the au-
tumnal sun.

The Hindus are said to have given the 'right hand-
ed' swastika to the god Ganesh representing the mas-
culine principle or light, life, glory, the sun — and the
'left handed' to the goddess Kali or the feminine prin-
ciple typifying the subterranean course of the sun or
darkness, death, destruction.

It is more generally conceded, however, that no
distinction was intended to be expressed by the
way in which the arms were bent whether to the right
or left.

' Goodyears' "Grammar of the Lotus."

53ea

236 life ^pmbolsi

The swastika and the triskelion seem to have origi-
nated from a single symbolic idea.

"Different forms of the swastika, i.e. those to the
right, left, square, ogee, curved, spiral and meander.

TETRASKEUON (fOUR-ARMED.) TRISKELION (tHREE ARMED.)

FIVE OR MANY ARMED. OGEE SWASTIKA WITH CIRCLE.

Wilson, The Swastika.

triskelion and tetraskelion have been found on the same
object showing their inter-relationship." ^

The triskelion, a variation of these whirling sym-
bols of the sun, is found on ancient Greek shields and
Roman coins, its rays sometimes taking the form of
legs, thus indicating conclusively the idea of motion,
energy, victory. The triskelion proceeds apparently
from the same symbolic idea of the swastika, its branch-
es usually curved radiating from a centre on a solar
face. The well known trinity of legs with bent knees
has been used from the most ancient times as the arms
of Sicily and the Isle of Man. The triskelion is found
also in Ireland and in North America. It has many
variants. Sometimes two, three or four arms or rays
proceed from a central hub or dot conveying the idea
of circular motion.

•"The Swastika," Thomas Wilson.

Vlf)t ^txyaitika 237

Perrot and Chij)iez speak of the triskelis or trique-
tra as a name derived from three serpent's heads which
"usually figure in the field much
after the fashion of those support-
ing the famous tripod at Delphi
consecrated by the Greeks to Apollo
after the battle of Platcca."

The number of heads was not
constant, but the three rayed design
seems to have been the more ac- Sicilian coin.
cepted form and gradually super- wanng, ceramic ah in Re.
seded the others.

It has been suggested that the swastika on Buddha's
breast is the equivalent of the ur^eus snakes of the Egj^p-
tians "two in nimiber and known as the winged sun."

Brinton associates the three legs diverging from
a centre with the ancient triquetrum or triskeles which
is seen on the oldest coins of Sicily and Lycia, Asia
Minor, and also on Slavic and Teutonic vases "disin-
terred from mounds of the bronze age or earlier in
Central and Northern Europe." The triquetrum is
a figure with three straight or curved lines springing
from a central point and surrounded by a circle. In
the figure with curved lines he finds the "precise form of
the Chinese Tai-Ki a symbolic figure which plays a
prominent part in the mystical writing, the divination
and the decorative art of China." The Tai-Ki is prop-
erly translated the Great Uniter. (Ta great, Ki to join
together, to make one, to unite.) "As the Chinese be-
lieve in the mystic power of numbers and as that which
reduces all multiplicity to unity naturally controls or is
at the summit of all things, therefore the Ta-Ki ex-
presses the completest and highest creative force." ^

' "The Taki, the Cross and the Swastika in America," D. G. Brinton.

238

life ^pmbolsJ

Yang and yin, heaven and earth, masculine and
feminine, are thought to be 'brought into fructifying
union by Ta-Ki/ And thus to the symbolic represen-
tation of the 'pair of opposites' — a circle divided by
two arcs with opposite centres and called the Chinese
monad — is added a third arc from above, the Ta-Ki
which unites the two.

The triquetrum with three straight lines springing
from a central point and surrounded by a circle is the
same as the Chinese Y without the circle, a symbol of
untold antiquity that conveyed precisely the same
meaning of unity or productive union.

The triquetrum the 'three comma shaped figure' is
the same as the Japanese mitsu-tomoe and has been
associated with the ancient spiral which denoted
thunder. The Chinese triquetrums differ somewhat
from the Japanese yet the whirling motion is evident
in them all.

Besides everything else the swastika was always
ornamental, and from it have been developed some of

lliolli

Mioili#l

the most exquisite running and interlacing designs.
You find it on old bits of pottery, or on rugs or fabrics,
where it is cunningly woven into labyrinthine forms

^i}t ^basittka

239

that are without beginning or end. In Italy these
were called 'Solomon's Knots' and were supposed to
typify divine inscrutability.

MEANDER DETAIL WITH SOLAR GEESE.
Greek " geometric " vase in the Louvre.

"It was Kipling who suggested that Bok should
name his Merion home 'Swastika.' Bok asked the
author what he knew about the mystic sign:

'There is a huge book (I've forgotten the name but
the Smithsonian will know)' he wrote back, 'about the
Swastika (pronounced Swas-ti-ka to rhyme with 'car's
ticker'), in literature, art, religion, dogma, etc., I be-
lieve there are two sorts of Swastikas . . . one is bad,
the other good, but which is which I know not for sure.
The Hindu trader opens his yearly account books with
a Swastika as an 'auspicious beginning' and all the
races of the earth have used it. It's an inexhaustible
subject and some man in the Smithsonian ought to be
full of it. Anyhow the sign on the door or the hearth
should protect you against fire and water and
thieves.' " «

' "The Americanization of Edward Bok."

XIV

THE ZODIAC

''Those (literal ones) who make Bacchus wine and
Vulcan flame are like men who would make cable, sail
arid anchor of a ship the pilot, or take yarn and web
for the weaver. One who hath bought the books of
Plato we say has bought Plato/' — Plutarch.

"The celestial 'circle of necessity/ '*

241

XIV
THE ZODIAC

A BABYLONIAN creation myth relates that
Marduk, who brought order out of chaos, 'set
all the great gods in their several stations' and
created their images in the stars of the zodiac. The
early astronomers of Babylonia believed that the "sun
travelled from West to East along a broad path,
swinging from side to side of it in the course of a year.
This path is the zodiac — the celestial 'circle of
necessity.' "

One can only touch upon these zodiacal symbols
which are so closely inter-allied with the hours, days,
weeks, months, seasons; with the gods and goddesses
of light, power, fecundity, productivity, sterility, decay,
death and resurrection; with the heavenly bodies and
with the earth; with man's toil, and with the symbolic
animals that typify the generative aspects of the sun.
The attempt to connect man and his destinies with the
planets as guiding forces represented a gigantesque
religious conception based upon the idea of a divine
cosmic law which not only influences, but unites and
dominates everything that lives and moves and breathes,
everything that grows or enters into decay, sometimes
for good, sometimes for ill.

"At Babylon a number was a very different thing

243

244

life ^pmbolfli

from a figure. Just as in ancient times and, above all,
in Egypt, the name had a magic power, and ceremonial
words formed an irresistible incantation, so here the
nmnber possesses an active force, the number is a sym-
bol, and its properties are sacred attributes."^

The revolving year with its recurring seasons,
marked into twelve periods of time or months by the new
moon, the twelve hours between sunrise and sunset, —
the Chinese as well as the Babylonians divided the day
of twenty-four hours into double hours believing that
it bore a definite relationship to the twelve signs of the
zodiac and the twelve mansions of the elliptic — the four

^ Cumont's "Astrology and Religion."

8Cf)^ Hobiac 245

cardinal points, the four seasons, the seven days of the
week made the numbers 4, 7 and 12 for thousands of
years sacred numbers of highest significance.

The Four Ages were originally the four seasons.
The sun-god was associated with the Spring — the Ital-
ian primavera is a most lovely and expressive word for
the season that brings to view once more the associa-
tion of the mighty sun with the re-awakening of nature.
The moon belonged to the summer, Venus presided over
the autumn months and Mars was the god of winter.
The Greeks, however, gave to their Aphrodite (Venus) ,
goddess of love and beauty the month of April — aperilis
— the opening, the germinating month.

The sun, moon and five planets became the 'sacred
seven.' The five planets like sun and moon "traversed
the constellations of the zodiac," and in Babylonia were
identified with the great deities. "Jupiter whose golden
light burns most steadily in the sky" was assigned to
Marduk, Venus was one of the forms of the goddess
Ishtar, Saturn fell to Ninib, Mercury to Nebo and
Mars to Nergal, the god of war.

The seven days of the week belong to the "sacred
seven." Sunday is the day of Mithra the sun-god.
Monday (Ital. lunedi, Fr. lundi) belongs to Diana the
moon goddess. Tuesday (Ital. martedi, Fr. mardi) is
the day of Mars. Wednesday (Ital. mercoledi, Fr.
merer edi) belongs to Mercury. Thursday (Ital. gio-
vedi, Fr. jeudi) to Jupiter (Jove), the Teutonic Thor.
Friday (Ital. venerdi, Fr. vendredi) to Venus. Friday
also corresponds to the German Freitag the day of
Fria or Freya the Teutonic goddess of love. Saturday
(Ital. sabato, Fr. samedi) is the day of Saturn.

These planets were the tutelary deities, not alone of
the days but of the hours, years, centuries and even the

246 life S>|>mtJol£(

thousand of years. To each planet was ascribed a plant,
a stone and a metal. These derived peculiar and mirac-
ulous powers under this benign and celestial protection.

The Babylonians gave the following colours to the
sun, moon and five planets : — The Sun, gold ; the Moon,
silver; Jupiter, orange; Venus, yellow; Saturn, black;
Mars, red ; and Mercury, blue.

Later on in Greece the planets become the stars of
Hermes, Aphrodite, Ares, Zeus and Kronos.

In the earliest days in Babylonia the moon was
masculine and to the ancient astronomers Sin, the moon-
god was a more powerful divinity than Shamash, the
sun, and before the duration of the year was known,
time was reckoned by the phases of the moon. The
people of India also used the lunar year for ages before
the solar year became the official measure of time.

"The magic idea of a power superior to man was
connected from the very beginning with the notation
of time."^

Thus the centuries, years and seasons — as related
to the four winds and four cardinal points, — the twelve
months presided over by the twelve signs of the zodiac,
the seven days of the week, day and night, the twelve
hours were all "personified and deified as being the
authors of all the changes in the universe."

The hours were goddesses and the months gods.
Infinity of time was exalted as the Supreme Cause.

Sacred calendars regulated religious ceremonies and
civil life according to the course of the moon. These
calendars were of high religious import in star worship,
their most important function being to record the days
and hours or periods of time which would be auspicious
or inauspicious.

* "Astrology and Religion," Cumont.

Photo. Alinari

Ares (Mars) in Repose (after Lysippus)
(Museo Ludovisi Boncompagni, Rome)

arfje Hobiac

247

Among the Mithraites Time was represented as a
huge monster with the head of a Hon to show that he

LION-HEADED FIGURE OF THE MITHRAIC KR0N03 OR BOUNDLESS TIME.

The body is entwined six times by a serpent, and four wings having the
symbols of the four seasons spring from the back. A thunderbolt is en-
graved on the breast. In the left hand is a key and in the right a key and
sceptre or long rod the emblem of authority. At the foot of the statue
are the hammer and tongs of Vulcan, the cock, the sacred cone and the
wand of Mercury typifying that the power of all the gods is embodied in
the Mithraic Suturn.

Cumont, Mysteries of Mithra.

devours all things. Again Time is shown helping Truth
out of a cave.

Numbers were held sacred, but unlike Time and
all its divisions were never deified.

248 Hife ^j>mljols;

The Chaldeans placed the planets in the following
order, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars and the Sun, Venus,
Mercury and the Moon. The Sun occupies the fourth
place, having three above it, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars
and three below, Venus, Mercury and the Moon. In
other words, the sun has the central position among the
seven circles of the universe.

This system no longer presented itself as a "learned
theory taught by mathematicians but as a sacred doc-
trine revealed to the adepts of exotic cults which have
all assumed the form of mysteries. . . . The mysteries
of Mithra imported into Europe this composite the-
ology, offspring of the intercourse between Magi and
Chaldeans; and the signs of the zodiac, the symbols of
the planets, the emblems of the elements appear time
after time on the bas-reliefs, mosaics and paintings of
their subterranean temples."^

Nor did this symbolism die out with the advent of
Christianity but instead, was incorporated — uncon-
sciously, perhaps, as a graphic representation of the
eternal flux of life.

The worship given to the sun, moon and five planets
was also extended to all the constellations of the firma-
ment, and especially reverenced were the twelve signs
of the zodiac to which were attributed a powerful in-
fluence over the life and destiny of all mankind. Each
of the zodiacal signs was divided into three decans and
"a god imagined for each of these thirty-six compart-
ments." The Druids also recognised these thirty-six
divisions which they called the thirty-six gates of the
Great House of Heaven.

Among the Babylonians Sin, Shamash and Ishtar
were the three great rulers of the zodiac. The Sun,

■"Astrology and Religion," Cumont.

Wht Hobiac 249

Moon and Venus were distinguished from the other
planets and Venus as the powerful Ishtar was called the
'rival of the sun and moon.'

A Latin couplet gives the names of the zodiac: —
"Sunt Arks, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo,
Libraquc, Scorpius, Arcitenus, Caper, Amphora,
Pisces/'

The symbols of the zodiac begin with the opening
of spring.

1 Aries (the ram or lamb) Mar. 20 — April 19.

2 Taurus (the bull) April 20— May 19.

3 Gemini (the twins) May 20 — June 19.

4 Cancer (the crab) June 20 — July 19.

5 Leo (the lion) July 20— Aug. 19.

6 Virgo (the virgin) Aug. 20 — Sept. 19.

7 Libra (the balance) Sept. 20— Oct. 19.

8 Scorpio (the scorpion) Oct. 20 — Nov. 19.

9 Arcitenus (Sagittarius the

Archer) Nov. 20— Dec. 19.

10 Caper (Capricorn the goat) .Dec. 20 — Jan. 19.

11 Amphora (Aquarius the vase

or waterman) Jan. 20 — Feb. 19.

12 Pisces (the fishes) Feb. 20 — Mar. 19.

The sky was deified in its whole and in its parts.
The two portions, light and dark, were worshipped
under the form of the Dioscuri. These twins shared in
turn life and death and were identified with the two
hemispheres. Gemini, or Castor and Pollux are repre-
sented in the Chinese and Hindu zodiacs as a man and a
woman.

To the Greek imagination the "Ram was the famous
ram of the Golden Fleece ... or it misfht be the ram

^j-)'

250

life ^pmtiolsi

11. Aquarius. 12. Pisces.

SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC A3 GIVEN IN THE FAMOUS " ZODIAC OF OENDEBA.'

Now in the Bibliot&que Nationale, Paris.
Budge, Cods of the Egyptians. Vol. II, p. 315.

(ZTfje Zobiac 251

which guided the thirsty company of Bacchus to the
wells of the oasis of Ammon."

Cancer the crab is called the scarab in the Egyptian
zodiac.

The dolphin takes the place of Caper or Capri-
corn in the Chinese zodiac. It will be recalled that the
Babylonian water god Ea was symbolised by a goat-
fish. Both the goat and the fish are symbols of
fecundity.

Volney gives an interesting interpretation of the
ancient's ingenious method of generalising and trans-
ferring their ideas to everything that seemed in any way
analogous. Thus the Egyptians, having noticed that
the return of the inundation was constantly signalled
by the appearance of a very beautiful star towards the
source of the Nile, compared it with the fidelity and
the watchfulness of a dog and called it 'Sirius, the dog,
the barker.' In the same manner they called "stars of
the crab, those which showed themselves when the sun
having reached the bounds of the tropics, returned
backwards and side wise like the crab or cancer; stars
of the wild goat those when the sun having arrived at
its highest altitude . . . imitated that animal who de-
lights in climbing the highest rocks ; stars of the balance
those when the days and nights being of the same length,
seemed to observe an equilibrium like that instrument;
stars of the scorpion those which were perceptible when
certain regular winds brought a burning vapour like
the poison of the scorpion. . . . Thus in time those
same animals which the imagination had raised to
heaven descended again to earth . . . decked in the
livery and invested with the attributes of stars." ^

What was first looked upon as a talisman or har-

*Volney's "Ruins."

252 life &j>mf)ols(

binger was later, when the original meaning was lost,
adored as a fetich.

These sacred animals became symbols of power.
The ram which figures as Aries in the zodiac, symbohs-

THC 5KV was CONSiOEREO 7ME ABODE OF T)C GODS AND CERTAIN MYTHICAL CREATURES, WHO WCRB
6lveN DEFmiTE PtACES IN T>U HEAVEMS, A3 HERE INDICATED BT STARS AND CIRCLES ON THE FIGURES.

FROM A WALL-PAINTING IN THE TOMB OF Sm I, INTME VALLEY OF.T«E KINGS. OVN, XtX^tbOUft ISOO B<9

CHART OF THE 5TAR5 IN THE REGION OF THE NQRTH POLE
(Metropolitan Museum of Art.)

ing the renewal of solar energy, creative heat, became
the celestial ram, the deliverer, or again the lamb who
sacrificed himself for the sake of the world, the one who
releases the heavens from the evil and malevolent spirits,
who saves the world from cold and desolation, who con-
quers the serpent of sin and darkness or Satan.

The hull like the sun was the great fecundator of
nature who in the spring revives vegetation and brings
back abundance. The celestial ram is the one who opens
the way to renewed life, who breaks down the icy clutch
of winter, and Taurus and the Sun plow the blue mea-
dows of the heavens, signifying the eternal productive
pair. The bull Apis of the Egyptians, the golden calf

arfje Hobiac 253

of the Jews, the Assyrian winged bull, the bull of the
Apocalypse with wings, the bull sacrificed in the
mysteries of Mithra symbolise not so much the sun itself
as the companion force which unites with the sun to pro-
duce life. In ancient religions the bull typified the
power residing in the sun. In the flood myth of the
JNFexicans the deluge was caused by the 'water sun' which
suddenly discharged the moisture it had been drawing
up from the earth in the form of vapour through long
ages.

In the "Reclierches sur le Culte de Venus" Lajard
finds that the two principal attributes of Venus both
in the Orient and the Occident are the lion and the bull.
The lion sjonbolised the sun, heat, light, the active, gen-
erative power. The bull was the symbol of the humid
power, the passive power. When the two animals are
given together to Venus they typified the hermaphro-
ditism of the goddess.

The symbolism of the ox, the bull and the cow was
carefully differentiated. The cow was sacred to the
Great Mother. The Egyptians gave it to Hathor and
to Isis as a symbol of productivity. The cow was also
worshipped by the Hindus and it is still revered in
India. The ox tj^pified strength, renunciation, patient,
unremitting toil. Thus this sign of the zodiac, the bull
of heaven, found its counterpart on earth in the ox who
represented in the early days the spirit of agriculture,
the slow, plodding labour of upturning the earth, plant-
ing the seed, releasing the powers of nature.

The zodiacal sign of Leo represented the midsum-
mer splendour and raging heat of the sun. This sun,
called 'master of double strength' by the Egyptians
was represented by the hieroglyph of two lions, or some-
times two lions are seated back to back supporting the

254

TLxit ^pmbols;

globe of the sun. Plutarch affirmed that the Egyptians
honoured the lion and put lions' heads at the entrance

to temples because
the Nile rises when
the sun enters the
zodiacal sign of Leo.
The scorpion was
associated with
drought, disease, dis-
aster, death. It was
a malignant enemy,
a hurtful force, the very opposite to growth. "Their tor-
ment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh
a man." It was believed to 'pour out his venom
upon earth' causing the destruction of all things,
and in the zodiac the scorpion is placed in opposition
to Taurus symbolising the period of the year when
winter approaches and all nature loses its produc-
tivity.

The signs of the zodiac gave immense play as well
as a fixed limitation to the imagination. Innumerable
stories are set going only to be arrested, kept in form
by the sacred number twelve.

Many Assyriologists consider that the twelve tablets
of the Izdubar (or Gilgamesh) epic were founded on
the sun's passage through the twelve signs of the zodiac.
The hero begins his career in Aries as a king. The
ram, typifying creative energy and force thus becomes
associated with kings who are called 'bell wethers or
leaders — the rams of their people.' The Gilgamesh
epic is the great mythological poem of Babylonia.
"Like all solar deities — like the sun itself — the birth
and origin of Gilgamesh is wrapped in mystery. He is,

GiLGAMEsn .VXD THE Liox. Sargon's Palace,
Khorsabad

(Louvre, Paris)

©fje Hobiac 255

indeed, one of the 'fatal children' like Sargon, Perseus
or Arthur." ^

The Round Table of King Arthur and his Twelve
Knights typify the Sun the mighty King of Life, the
round table is his disk, the twelve knights are the twelve
months or twelve signs of the zodiac. Twelve is a number
of tremendous importance. There are the twelve
labours of Herakles who is called a solar hero — one
who "never gained victories for himself"; the twelve
prophets, twelve tribes of the children of Israel, twelve
disciples, a jury is still composed of twelve persons.

The Odyssey is said to "reflect the myth of the sun's
migrations. It is a myth changed into a saga."

• "Myths of Babylonia and Assyria," Mackenzie.

HORNS AND THE CRESCENT MOON

"Tanuanpat or Summer, tJie moon god, the impulse
which gives life to the three heavens, earth, air and shy
is called the 'rippling one who flies through the wide
heavens wetting his horns.' " — Hewitt,

*' Representations of the su/n by a disc or radiating
face, the moon by a crescent, water by fishes or wavy
lines, air by birds do not belong to any definite region
or race but are common to all humanity/' — D'Alviella.

257

HORNS AND THE CRESCENT MOON

THE moon cult preceded sun worship. As we
have seen the earliest germ of a creation myth
represented night as parent of the day and
water of the earth.

"At the beginning naught save darkness and water.
The spirit of night the Great Mother and her first born
the moon child."

"Out of darkness and death came light and life.
Life was also motion. When the primordial waters
became troubled life began to be."

One finds a close connection between moon worship,
earth worship and water worship — all three represent-
ing the feminine or passive principle in nature. The
moon was supposed to exercise a generative influence
on nature, and the light of the moon on growing crops
was believed to be more beneficial than the scorching
rays of the sun. It was also thought to be the source
of all moisture and that everything from the sap of
plants to the blood of all beings and animals was vital-
ised by the water of life which the moon controlled.

So pronounced has been this age-long connection
between the moon and water that even now it is not
uncommon to hear the weather-wise speak of a wet
moon or a dry moon, basing his dictum upon the position

259

26o Tiiit ^pmfote

of the crescent moon in the skies. When a new moon
ushers in rain, it is also a common saying that rain will
continue until the moon changes into the next quarter.
Strangely enough although the moon is thought to
have represented originally the "feminine power which
gave life to mother earth and her offspring" and the
moon itself is a symbol of the Celestial Mother, — and
the crescent moon of virginity — the moon
god was masculine.

In Egypt, Assyria and throughout
most of the ancient world the moon god
LOTUSES AND was callcd the 'father of the gods' and the
THE MOON <fpigjjj Qf man.' The god of the moon

Assyrian Seal, was believed to coutrol nature by his fer-
mar%7he ^iMus. tilisiug powcr causing trees and grass and
crops to grow. By his mild and beneficent
light he also robbed the serpent of darkness of much of
his power and helped to dispel the terrors of the night.
Sin the moon-god of the Assyrians is the god of
wisdom. The moon cult was associated with astrology
and it is Sin who reads the signs of the heavens.

Tanuanpat the moon-god of ancient India was called
self -created, "the heavenly fire, offspring of himself."
Narasamsa (beloved of men) was also another name
of the moon-god and both seem to have been used to
typify the moon-god as smnmer, or the visible symbol
of life-giving and productive energy which manifests
itself in the warmth and glow of summer. The moon
as summer becomes the uniting bond between spring
the time of inception and autumn the time of garner-
mg. The harvest moon is the moon which ripens.

According to Plutarch the Egyptians called the
moon the mother of the world and believed her to have
both the male and the female nature, "because she is

Jlorns; anb tfie Cresicent Moon 261

first filled and impregnated by the sun and then herself
sends forth generative principles into the air, and from
thence scatters them down upon the earth."

In Babylonia as well as in Egypt opinions differed
as to the origin of life. The worshippers of Ea be-
lieved that the essence of life was to be found in the
liquid element. Blood was the vehicle of life and the
worship of rivers and wells was connected with a wide
spread belief that the blood of a god flowed in the sa-
cred waters. Rivers were thus looked upon by the
Babylonians as the "source of the life blood and the seat
of the soul." In India it was common to speak of sap
as the 'blood of trees.'

The idea prevailed that no remission of sins was
possible without shedding of blood. It was also a
cardinal belief from remotest times that inspiration —
a fresh access of life was derived from drinking blood
or fermented liquors made from the 'blood of grapes'
or the sap of plants.

The custom of drinking was originally a highly
ceremonious function of a deeply religious character.
In the East water was vitalised by the sacred juice of
the Soma plant which filled with religious fervour and
ecstasy the hearts of those who drank of the precious
liquid. Thus "He that . . . drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me and I in him" perpetuates, gives living
assurance to an ancient belief founded on nature wor-
ship or the worship of life. Nor need one doubt that
the devout believer in Jesus Christ assimilates the char-
acteristics of Christ — which were all spiritual — when
he partakes of the symbolic bread and wine. Nor is
it any reproach that the Church has merely given new
meaning, lifted to the higher needs of the soul a form of
religious worship as old as man himself.

262 Hilt ^pmbols!

In the vibration of religious thought which gave
supremacy first to the moon and then to the sun, Mac-
kenzie thinks it possible that the belief obtained "even
among the water worshippers of Eridu that the sun
and moon which rose from the primordial deep had
their origin in the everlasting fire in Ea's domain at
the bottom of the sea. In the Indian god Varuna's
ocean home an 'Asura fire' (demon fire) burned con-
stantly; it was bound and confined but could not be
extinguished. Fed by water, this fire it was believed
would burst forth in the last day and consume the
universe. A similar belief can be traced in Teutonic
mythology." *

Here again one finds the intimate, mystical, yet
highly practical association between fire and water, and
always the unquenchable desire to discover the origina-
tion of life. Is it to be found in the 'everlasting fire
at the bottom of Ea's domain' which at the last day
bursts forth and consumes the universe?

Speaking generally one could almost say even now
that the world divides itself between the sun wor-
shippers and the water worshippers — those who sit by
the tranquil stream of life and those who exult in the
heat and fury of it. And always the few Great Adepts
who, standing above passion and desire, see that sun
without water and water without sun are destructive
forces. One scorches from intensity until it dries up
the springs of action. The other drenches with the
sentimental, the meaningless until force and energy
evaporate.

The moon was called the ' Awakener and Assembler
of the stars.'

^ "Myths of Babylonia and Assyria," Mackenzie.

photo. Alimiri

Artemis (Dianaj
(Vatican, Rome)

5|orns! anb tfie Cresicent JHoon 263

The moon attended by stars is still perpetuated in
the arms of Turkey and Egypt. The former has the
crescent with one star and the latter the crescent and
three stars.

"All over Europe rays of the sun and the crescent
moon seem to have typified horns. Pan had pyramidal
horns tapering from earth to heaven, Moses was repre-
sented with horns or two shafts of light springing from
his forehead. Thus horns were a symbol of light.
The branching antlers of the buck were likened to the
rising of the sun." ^

The moon god Sin was depicted as an old man with
flowing beard. Upon his head was a cap with the horns
of the moon.

A cap with upturned horns symbolised divine
power.

The winged figures of Assyria are depicted wearing
the horned cap.

Horns typified the 'call of the spirit.'

Horns as a symbol of divinity and power go back to
the moon cult.

In Egypt Khensu, who was associated with Amen-
Ra and IMut in the Theban triad, was the god of the
moon and was portrayed with the head of a hawk sur-
mounted by the lunar disk and crescent. The Egyp-
tian goddess Hathor the "ubiquitous, universal mother"
is given the head of a vulture surmounted by a disk and
horns.

Thoth, the scribe of the gods and the measurer of
time is also in one aspect the god of the moon and is
given the head of an ibis and above it rests the crescent.

The crescent moon was also given to Isis, Ishtar,
Diana and the Virgin Mary.

' Bayley's "Lost Language of Symbolism."

264 ii^^ ^pmbols(

"All people have understood the horns to be a sym-
bol of power. The Israelites were, of course, quite
familiar with horns upon the heads of the gods of
Egypt, and fresh from the land of bondage they would
readily believe that their great law giver had become
divine, that he had miraculously received the mark of
divinity and of kingly power. The behef that Moses
actually descended with solid horns upon his head was
devoutly held and has continued to be believed down to
the Middle Ages." ^

The crescent was given the name of the horned
moon. Later the symbolism was developed realistic-
ally and the horns of animals were used. The horns
of the bull or cow typified honour, power. Those of
the ram or goat signified fecundity, fertility.

In the early Minoan worship the "horns of conse-
cration" occupy a prominent position along with the
other religious symbols such as trees, stones, pillars,
cones and the double axe.

On a painted sarcophagus from Hagia Triada now
in the Metropolitan Museum of New York and which
is estimated to date from the Late Minoan II or the
beginning of the Late Minoan III period, or about
1400 B.C., there are scenes depicted representing fu-
nerary rites. On one side, among other figures, a woman
is shown pouring a libation into a large vase which
stands between two posts or pillars surmounted by
double axes and sacred birds. On the other side is an
altar upon which are placed the "horns of consecra-
tion" and a pillar which is also surmounted by the sa-
cred double axe and the sacred bird — the customary
Cretan symbols of life.

A. J. Evans considers that the Mycenaean "horns

' "Horns of Honour," F. T. Elworthy.

Dove Shrixe ix Gold with Four Horxs ox Top axd the Columns

IX THE Three Opexixgs Sprixgixg from the

"Horxs of Coxsecratiox"

(Schlieraann, Mycence)

J^orns! anb tfje Cresicent jlloon 265

of consecration" suggest the horns of the altar of the
Hebrew ritual, and that this may relate to the sacri-
ficial oxen whose horns were set upon the altar as a
part of the ritual of primitive worship, "but it is more
likely to have been derived from Egypt and to rep-
resent the lunar cult — the horns of the crescent
moon."

He finds that the "horns of consecration" are of a
portable nature, they are superimposed on the summit
of the 'dove shrines' of Mycensea, surmount archways,
are found at the foot of sacred trees as well as on the
roof of shrines and are equally associated with sacred
pillars. He adds that "this distinctive piece of Myce-
naean ritual furniture" occupies the same position in re-
lation to the double axe that it does to the tree and pillar
form of divinity indicating that the double axe also
represented the indwelling place of a divinity. He also
makes the interesting suggestion that the double axe
was more than a symbol of the sun — that it represented
the "conjunction of the divine pair — a solar and lunar
deity."^

The illustrations on pages 84 and 254 of lion sup-
porters of the Egyptian solar disk shows the conven-
tionalised sacred horns of the crescent moon.

The emblem came to be regarded as in itself power-
ful and was used as a badge of victory, of royal dignity.
The crest and the panache of heraldry and the plume of
modern days were used originally to convey the same
idea of strength, power, triumph that the ancients ex-
pressed by horns on the head.

"Soon as Aurora drives away the night
And edges eastern clouds with rosy light,
* "Mycenaean Trees and Pillar Cult," A. J. Evans.

266 %iit ^pmbols;

The healthy huntsman with the cheerful horn
Summons the dogs, and greets the dappled morn."

The horn of Diana was an emblem of the chase as
well as typifying the moon-goddess.

Horns in all ages were a symbol of luck. They
were looked upon as protective amulets and were placed
on tombs and over doorways of houses to ward off the
evil influences of the unseen.

Horns over doorways may still be seen in the vicin-
ity of Sorrento showing that this ancient belief in the
efficacy of horns obtains in certain parts of Italy even
to this day.

The Italians, also, to protect themselves against a
person suspected of bringing the iettatura — bad luck,
misfortune, one who was possessed of the mcd occhio,
the evil eye, employed the mano cornuta — the middle
fingers closed and the fore and little fingers thrust out
like horns. Nor was the use of the mano cornuta
wholly confined to Italy. The same gesture was also
resorted to as a protection against evil forces in England
and the north countries.

The Italian of today will admit half laughingly to
the gesture, although professing not to believe in it.
It is a matter of instinct now, done secretly with the
hand at the side, in order not to mortify the person
under suspicion.

Some of us still avoid walking under ladders. Some
of us are inexplicably comforted for a moment when,
glancing up at the sky, we see the crescent moon, the
new little moon, over the right shoulder for good luck,
and are, in spite of all reason, a bit cast down when we
have the bad fortune to see it for the first time over the
left.

JlornjJ anb tfje Cresicent iWoon 267

The cornucopia or Horn of Plenty, a horn in which
are displayed flowers and various fruits, symbolised
peace and prosperity, and was associated in Greek art
with the great nature goddesses and the gods of vege-
tation and the vintage.

The cornucopia is the equivalent of the calabash
or gourd which the Chinese placed on a tripod as a sym-
bol of blessing and fertility. The calabash typified the
creative power of nature. Druggists kept medicines
in gourd shaped bottles. For the same reason the
Elixir of Life was stored in a calabash.

According to Frazer the South Slavonian peasant
crowns the horns of his cows with wreaths of flowers
on St. George's day — the 23rd of April — in order to
guard the cattle against witchcraft.

XVI

THE TRISULA

"The plasticity of the Trisula is only equalled by
its power of absorption. It borrows from the vegetable
kingdom as well as from man and the moon and the sun
or flames/' — D'Alviella.

''Throughout the symbology of Egypt life was the
centre, the circumference, the totality of good. Life
was the sceptre in the hand of Amon; life was the 'rich-
est gift of Osiris.' 'Be not ungrateful to thy Creator'
says the sage Ptah-Hotep, in what is perhaps the oldest
document in eccistencc, 'for he has given thee lifef —
W. Marsham Adams.

"Tranquillity according to His essence, activity ax;-
cording to His nature; perfect stillness, perfect fe-
cundity, this is the two- fold character of the Absolute/'
— Ruysbroeck.

369

XVI

THE TRISULA

THE trisula (tri-three, sula--point,) and the
thunderbolt are forms of the trident.
Like the swastika the ramifications of the
trisula are almost endless. It has "alternately been
considered to be an equivalent of the thunderbolt, a
form of the Sacred Tree, a contraction of the scarab, a
combination of the solar globe and crescent, connected
with horns — symbolical of divine power — and the Ash-
erah stake entwined with bandelets." ^

There is a strong resemblance between the trisula
and the conventionalised fleur de lis. Sceptres in the
West were frequently surmounted by the fleur de lis
or flower of light, an ancient emblem of the Trinity or
three in one.

The trisula has been called the caduceus of India.

The original form of the caduceus — a rod or the
sacred tau surmounted by a circle or disk upon which
rests a crescent — is significant. The classic form a
winged rod encircled by two serpents is thought by some
to have been used by the Greeks to symbolise the com-
bination of the two forces, or hermaphroditism.

In some places the trisula seems to represent the
"Siviat emblem of the ling am between two serpents."

"'The Migration of Symbols," D'Alviella.

271

272

TLiit ^pmbolss

The linga is the flame in the lotus or the form in
which Adi-Buddha manifested himself at the beginning
of the world. The flame symbol is also seen issuing
from the centre of a moon crescent indicating the union
of fire and water or the active and passive principles.
"Vajrasattva in some of the Nepalese writings is
identified with the first Buddha who manifested him-
self on Mt. Sumeru in the following manner. A lotus
flower of precious jewels appeared on the
summit of Mt. Smneru which is the centre
of the universe and above it arose a moon
crescent upon which supremely exalted
was seated V ajrasattva. It is not probable
that the image of the god is here meant but
the symbol which designated him, a linga-
shaped flame. If the moon crescent which
arose above the lotus flower is represented
with the flame symbol in the centre instead
of the image, it forms a trident." "

The trisula placed upon a pillar sur-
mounted b}^ flames is the monogram of
It is also the emblem of the Tri-ratna or

THE MONOGRAM
OF BUDDHA.

Buddha.
Three Jewels.

The Assyrian gods are represented holding the tris-
ula or trident with zigzag shaped points to typify
lightning.

The Sacred Trident is an ancient symbol of the
heavenly triad. Thus the trident of Poseidon (Nep-
tune) may have symbolised the third place the sea holds
after heaven and air, but it is also here a "sceptre en-
dowed with marvellous power."

In Egypt the trident or trisula is associated with the
winged globe.

^"The Gods of Northern Buddhism," Getty.

Photo. Alinari

PosEiDox (Neptune)
(Lateran, Rome)

As the vajra — "diamond or that which is inde-
structible"— usually translated thunderbolt, the trisula
becomes the 'sceptre of diamonds' of Indra the storm
god.

The trisula is one of the principal symbols of Siva,
who is generally represented with a sceptre in his hand
surmounted by a trisula. In the temples of Siva the
trisula was placed, not above the entrance, but on the
sikhara. or spire where it is still to be found to this
day.

In Buddhism the trisula is given a prominent place
along with the stupa, the Sacred Tree of Life, the
swastika and the 'Excellent Wheel of Good Law.'

The symbol was given a high place in the worship
of Vishnu, and signified male and female, or Rama or
Sita. It was combined of the two colors white and red,
the outer and lower parts white and the central line
red.

The thunderbolts given to Zeus with forked light-
ning projecting from either side bear a strong re-
semblance to the trisula.

The vajra or thunderbolt has sometimes been
likened to the discus, the weapon of Vishnu. As both
the vajra and the discus, like the celestial two-headed
mallet or the double hammer, of Thor were weapons
of the gods, symbolising lightning, rain and thus life
and fertility they are probably only variant symbols
of divine power.

"The discus of Vishnu goes by the name of chakra
and although not represented as a wheel it is doubtless
the same symbol. . . . Viswakarma like the Greek
Hephffistos the architect or artificer of the gods was
said to have formed the discus of Vishnu, the trisula
of Siva and the vajra or thunderbolt of Indra, making

274

ILiit ^j>mbol2i

them from parings of Surya the sun which he put in
a lathe and turned. Here we get the solar origin." ^

Buddha is believed to have wrested the vajra from
Indra changing the symbol by closing the points of
the dart.

The vajra is a sceptre as well as a weapon in the
hands of the thunder gods. It is a symbol of royal
power for kings and an emblem of the two pillars or
dual principles.

SCEPTRE AND DIFFERENT FORMS OF THE DORJE.

The Lamas of Thibet have a small sceptre about
six inches long with a trident at each end. It is made
of brass and called the dorje. Occasionally the ends
are composed of two or four tridents arranged like a
"whorl."

The gods of Mesopotamia carried a double trident.

The Surya (sun or sun disk) surmounted by a tri-
dent is called surya-mani or sun jewel. Issuing from
the lotus it represents Adi-Buddha at the creation of
the world.

» «'The Trisula Symbol," William Simpson.

arfje arrisiula 275

D'Alviella considers that this emblem — the trident
on the wheel — is its most rational form and that it
represents a flash of lightning, is the image of a three
tongued flame and when coupled with the disk is a
symbol of fire or solar radiation.

Simpson, on the other hand, does not believe that
it was originally connected with the wheel. He classi-
fies it as an universal symbol and one of the most im-
portant of the ancient world — a symbol so ancient and
so widespread that its first origin has been lost. "That
the trisula is a development of solar and lunar forms
as symbols of creative power, would explain its uni-
versal application." This, he believes is the most ten-
able explanation of its sacred character — that it grew
out of a combination of solar and lunar symbols. "These
two symbols representing the dual creative or re-crea-
tive power of the universe — the power which continues
all life both animal and vegetable — their conjunction be-
came a fit emblem of the divine energy which preserves
and rules. It expressed the power w^hich produced the
cosmos out of chaos." *

According to Plutarch the trisula typified the idea
of Being — the Eternal and Ever Living as opposed
to the constant change, the alternate death and resur-
rection of nature.

Thus it was a symbol of life not only in its inception
but in its continuance — it not only symbolised the
mystery of life but was the emblem of Life Everlast-
ing. With this interpretation of the trisula in its scep-
tre form the sceptre ceases to be a meaningless adjunct
of royalty and becomes instead a high and potent sym-
bol of creation, power, life.

In its sceptre form the trisula has been associated

*"The Trisula Symbol," William Simpson.

276 ILiit ^pmtiolss

with the pillar with a globular break in the middle and
two urseus serpents curving up on either side. This

symbol is seen frequently in
the hands of the Babylonian
f\\ ^17 yC\' D Ishtar. These pillars with the
y^KJt \/i UU ^ vi '' break were sometimes double
1. EGYPTIAN uR^us PILLAR. Qoues, but thc meamuff is al-

2 and 3. cypro-mycen^an o

COMPARISONS. 4. DUAL UR^ ways the same and typified

us staff OF ISHTAR. . - , 1. <<T i1 * 1

Evans, Mycencean Trees and Pillar the dual Cult. lu the primal

'^""" principle this duality was

considered androgynous or bi-sexual." The divided
column or sceptre thus expressed the ancient Semitic
conception of a bi-sexual god-head.

"The Babylonian religion shared the trait so com-
mon in all Semitic cults of the combination of the male
and female principles in the personification of the pow-
ers that controlled the fate of man." (Jastrow.)

In its trisula form it is supposed to have been de-
rived from the juxtaposition of the solar emblem or
flame within the crescent and thus also is the equivalent
of the "old androgynous notion . . . which was simply
a personification of creative power."

The Assyrians frequently represented the disk of
Shamash the sun-god within the crescent, "Sin the
moon-god of the Assyrians was depicted standing in
the centre of the crescent. The old legend of the 'man
in the moon' placed there as a punishment for gather-
ing sticks on Sunday gains new significance. The
golden hand of the sun resting in a crescent becomes a
form closely approximating the trisula." ^

The trisula was used as an amulet or charm, and
like the lotus, fleur de lis and swastika was also used
as a decorative motif.

•Simpson's "The Trisula Symbol."

XVII

FATHER GODS AND MOTHER GODDESSES

"The gods might die annually. The goddesses
alone were immortal"

"The unnamahle beginning of heaven and earth j
the namable mother of all things/^

"There must be in every centre of humanity one
human being upon a larger plan, one who does not 'give
her best' but gives her all." — Chesterton.

"God made man and man returned the compli-
ment."— Voltaire.

277

XVII
FATHER GODS AND MOTHER GODDESSES

CLOSELY interwoven with the dual conception
of sun and moon, fire and water, light and
darkness, which were personified by various
gods, is found "another and more philosophical dual-
ity representing the male and female principles."

^^Hierever the sun cult prevailed there were also
goddesses who represented the Great Mother Earth.

"The earth bringing forth its infinite vegetation
was regarded as the female principle rendered fruitful
by the beneficent rays of the sun. 'Dust thou art and
unto dust thou shalt return' illustrates the extension of
this analogy to human life which in ancient myths is
likewise represented as springing into existence from
mother earth." ^

The Mediterranean races, the neolithic tribes of
Sumeria, Arabia and Europe whose early religion had
not yet taken the form of temple worship but was a
part of their daily life, made worship of the mother
goddess the predominant part of their religion.

Worship of the Great Earth Mother was one of the
most prominent features of the Babylonian religion.
The Egyptians reverenced and exalted motherhood
both in religious and social life. Among all the Semit-

*Jastrow's "Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria."

279

28o %iit ^pmbols;

ic races the Great Goddess — Virgin and Mother, seems
to have been looked upon as the dispensing agency of
Hfe, prolific and wasteful or destructive by turns — a
force accurately reflecting nature "under her two-fold
aspect of cruel and beneficent." Wherever the Semites
settled this conception of the Great Mother as the
symbol of the Earth is found to exist and to enter
largely into all the sacred rites and rituals of their
religion.

The Aryans and the Germanic tribes were fattier
worshippers. Indeed, among all the wandering tribes,
wherever life was rugged and hard, wherever the
prowess of the male had to be relied upon to obtain the
food supply, the masculine gods of force and strength
were exalted, and the foremost deity of the pantheon
was the Great Father, the Baal, the 'lord of heaven.'
He was Rammon, 'the Rimmon of the Bible.' a hammer
god imported by the Semites from the hills. He was
Indra, Thor, Jupiter, Tarku and other gods of the
sky. He was a god of rain, thunder, fertility and war
who finally takes on solar attributes. Yet, when in
the shift of political power the god fell or was dis-
placed, 'The Great Mother lived on, being the goddess
of the land.'

And when on the other hand the worshippers of
Father gods appeared as conquerors, having invaded
the kingdoms of Mother worshipping races and set up
their gods to be worshipped, they found themselves
powerless to dispossess the Mother goddesses. "The
Aryan Hellenes were able to plant their Zeus and
Poseidon on the high hill of Athens but could not over-
throw the supremacy of Athena."

In Egypt the land of ancient mother deities the
primeval deities appear to have been grouped in four

Photo. AUnari

Zeus (Jupiter)
(Vatican, Rome)

Jfatljer (gobs; anb Jflotfjer (gobbesisiefl; 281

pairs symbolising the reciprocal principles of nature.
This seems to have been the case also in Babylonia The
female in the first pair was more strongly individual-
ised than the male.

The typical Great Mother was a virgin goddess
self -created and self-sustaining. She represented the
feminine principle and her fatherless son the masculine
principle. Her associations varied in different local-
ities. In one it was the earth, in another the sky and
again water. She was worshipped as the World
Mother, the 'giver of all good things,' the 'Preserver'
and also the 'Destroyer.' It was a cardinal belief
among the ancients that the Great Mother of the Uni-
verse was undecaying, eternal.

While recognising the male, the mother worshippers
reverenced the Great Mother as First Cause, and
women held a high social status wherever the goddess
was worshipped. Whenever also xne political power of
her worshippers became extensive the attributes of the
Great Mother grew correspondingly. She became the
Great Lady. Her power was felt and worshipped in
all the relations of life. "Not a few of the Pharaohs
reigned as husbands or sons of royal ladies." Among
the Hittites also succession to the throne was regulated
by female descent.

The most universal and sacred symbol — the sym-
bol par excellence of the feminine principle is the Arh.

The arh represented the Holy of holies, the conse-
crated receptacle of life and was one of the most im-
portant symbols in the religious rites and ceremonies
of the ancients. The ark of the Egyptians held the
symbols of the creative forces of life, the phallus, typi-
fying the sun, the masculine principle, the active crea-
tor; the egg, symbol of the preserver, the passive or

282 life S>pmtJolsi

feminine principle; and the serpent, symbolising the
destroyer or the reproducer. This ark, the sanctified
repository of the divine symbols of life was the most
sacred of all images connected with the worship of
Osiris.

"The evidence which connects ships and Mother
worshippers most closely together is the great reverence
paid to the sacred ark — the Din or Christa, the recepta-
cle of the law which was no less sacred to the Zoroas-
trians than to the Jew. This sacred ark . . . was
originally among the Sumerians of the Euphrates
valley the ship of the gods in which they were carried
in procession." ^

The Cista is the mystic chest in which were kept the
various symbolic images of life used in the mysteries of
Dionysos and Demeter.

The word ark is Egyptian, meaning a covered chest
or box.

The arks of the Old Testament are Noah's ark in
which the righteous were saved, the ark in which Moses
was hidden and the Ark of the Covenant.

The finding of Moses has been likened to the finding
of S argon. The bulrushes are identified with the papy-
rus, used probably by the mother of Moses because the
plant being sacred to Isis would protect the child from
crocodiles. Isis was said to have concealed her son
Horus among the papyrus plants so that he might not
be found and destroyed by Set. In the legend Isis
when searching for the scattered portions of her hus-
band's body "makes use of a boat made of the reed
papyrus in order the more easily to pass through the
lower and fenny parts of the country. For which rea-
son say they, the crocodile never touches any persons

' Hewitt's "Early History of Northern India."

jFatljer i^obsf anb ifWotjjer (Sobbesisies; 283

who sail in this sort of a vessel, as either fearing the
anger of the goddess, or else respecting it on account
of its once having carried her." (Plutarch.)

The Egyptians still believe that the papyrus plant
is a protection against crocodiles.

"The ArJx'. of the Covenant was a chest (not a boat)
made of shittim wood overlaid with gold, on the lid
of which was placed the golden 'mercy seat' over which
two cherubim extended their wings." In it were placed
and preserved the two tables of stone on which was en-
graved the Covenant between God and His people.
It contained also by divine command an omer of man-
na, Aaron's rod which sprang into life and budded, and
the books of the Law.

This Jewish ark of the covenant bears a close re-
semblance to the sacred ark of the Egyptians and as a
feature in the religious life and worship of the Israel-
ites its importance and the reverence it inspired can
hardly be overstated.

Among all ancient races the ark was a symbol of
salvation, its preservation implied safety, sanctifying
the nation who honoured it as the abiding place of divine
wisdom and power.

The Great Mother, goddess of nature and fertility
was worshipped under many names. In Egypt Mut
was the Universal Mother who represented 'Nature
the mother of all things.' Neith was the Libyan Great
Mother and was goddess of the earth. Nut was god-
dess of the sky. Hathor represented the feminine
principle in nature and was called 'Hathor of Thebes,'
'lady of the Sycamore' 'mistress of the gods.' These
goddesses are depicted holding the crucc ansata in one
hand and the sceptre in the other. Hathor, as goddess

284 T^iit ^pmholsi

of maternity, is given the head of a vulture surmounted
by the moon crescent or horns, and the solar disk.
Again she is represented as a cow. Bast another
Egyptian goddess was given the head of a cat, Nazit
was a serpent goddess, Hekt a frog. (The frog
was an Egyptian symbol of fertility and abundance).

In time all these sacred animals were associated with
the great Egyptian goddess Isis who absorbed the at-
tributes of the other goddesses who were looked upon
as her manifestations.

Ishtar was the great nature goddess of the Baby-
lonians. At Comana in Pontus the Great Mother was
known as the goddess Ma a name which may have been
as old as the Sumerian Mama (the creatrix) or
Mamitum (goddess of destiny) . Anaitis was the Great
Mother of Armenia. Ate of Cilicia, Artemis (Diana)
of Ephesus, Astarte of the Phoenicians with her great
sanctuary at Byblus and who is a form of Ishtar and
identical with the biblical Ashtoreth are all nature
goddesses. The worship of Aphrodite among the
Greeks is said to have originated in Cyprus where traces
of the Astarte cult are found. Atargatis was the Syr-
ian Astarte of Hierapolis. The Phrygian Cybele, the
Mother of the Gods, was the great Asiatic goddess of
fertility.

In Crete the chief divinity was a great nature god-
dess generally known as Ariadne. She was a serpent
goddess and is usually depicted holding snakes at arms
length or with serpents coiled about her. In Asia
Minor the Great Mother goddess is associated with a
lioness. Among the gods and goddesses worshipped
in the Babylonian temples Layard identifies Rhea and
Hera as part of a triad whose statues were of beaten
gold. Rhea seated on a chair of gold had two lions

Artemis (Diana) of f>HEsus
(Lateran, Rome)

Photo. Alinari

jFatfjer (^obsi anb JHotfier (^obbesisies; 285

at her side, and near her were large silver serpents.
Hera stands erect holding a serpent by the head in
her right hand and a sceptre studded with precious
stones in her left. "In the rock tablets of Pterium she
is represented standing erect on a lion and crowned
with a tower or mural coronet which we learn from
Lucian was peculiar to the Semitic figure of the god-
dess. To the Shemites she was known as Astarte,
Ashtoreth, Myhtta and Alitta." ^

Mylitta is the Assyrian Venus.

Venus in Cyprus was known as 'my lady of Trees
and Doves.' The Scandanavian Freya like the Egyp-
tian goddess Bast was associated with the cat, her car
was drawn by cats. "All feline goddesses represented
the variable power of the sun."

Cybele the mother goddess of Phrygia is best known
as the mother of Attis who is associated with Osiris,
Mithra, Dionysos, Adonis, Tammuz and other twice
born gods of vegetation, while Cybele is simply another
form of Aphrodite, Ishtar and Isis.

The two distinct kinds of Supreme deities, the
Great Father and the Great Mother and her son, was
an early conception developed and adhered to tena-
ciously by peoples of widely divergent origin and totally
different habits of life. In Egypt finally, under a
highly centralised government, these opposing worships
were merged and ultimately brought about a fusion of
religious beliefs which in turn developed into a highly
complex and very fascinating mythology. The Great
Father then became the husband of the Great Mother,
or the son-god was worshipped as the 'husband of his
mother.' Isis was mother, wife and sister to Osiris,
Ishtar mother and wife to Tammuz, Aphrodite is

'Layard's "Nineveh."

286 life ^v^Mi

mother and wife of Adonis. The Great Mother god-
dess played all parts. She was mother, daughter and
wife of a god, sister, wife and servant — friend and
adviser, 'cruel and beneficent,' 'mighty queen of all
gods.'

This complex relationship spread from Egypt to
other countries.

Although some legends call Attis the son of Cybele,
others represent him as a fair young herdsman or
shepherd whom the goddess loved, and condemned to
a life of celibacy. Attis was a tree spirit as well as a
god of vegetation and after his death he was said to
have been changed into a pine tree.

The great seat of worship of Aphrodite and Adonis
was Paphos. "The sanctuary of Aphrodite at Old
Paphos (the modern Kuklia) was one of the most
celebrated shrines in the ancient world."

The image of Aphrodite was a white cone or pyra-
mid.

"A cone was also the emblem of Astarte at
Byblus, of the native goddess whom the Greeks called
Artemis at Perga in Pamphylia, and of the sun-god
Heliogabalus at Emasa in Syria. Conical stones which
apparently served as idols have been found at Golgi in
Cyprus and in the Phoenician Temples at Malta; and
cones of sandstone came to light at the shrine of the
'Mistress of the Turquoise' among the barren hills and
frowning precipices of Sinai." ^

Some of the 'specialised Mother goddesses' whose
attributes corresponded to the thought and moral as
well as political development of the states they repre-
sented, were brought into Egypt — the land where
mother deities had been reverenced from most ancient

*Frazer's "The Golden Bough."

jFatfter (Sobs; anb ifWotf)cr (DobbesfsJesi 287

times — during the Empire period by the Rameses
Kings.

Of these imported goddesses Astarte the goddess
of love was the most popular. Astarte is the 'goddess
of evil repute' whom the Bible refers to as Ashtoreth.
Kadesh another form of Astarte was called 'mistress
of all the gods' and represented the "hcentious phase
of Ashtoreth." The Egyptians depicted her as a moon
goddess standing naked on the back of a lioness. She
holds lotus flowers and what appears to be a mirror in
one hand and in the other two serpents. Astarte is
sometimes given the head of a lioness.

The Oriental cults were gradually adopted by
Rome. Cybele and Attis, who had become a solar god
as well as a god of vegetation, were transported from
Phrygia, Isis and Scrapis from Alexandria and Mithra
from Persia.

The worship of Cybele the Great Mother goddess
of the Phrygians was adopted by the Romans in 204
B.C. when the small black stone in which the great god-
dess of fertility was embodied was brought to Rome, as
their long struggle with Hannibal was approaching its
end. The prophecy revealed in the Sybilline books
that the presence of the goddess would drive out the
invader was fulfilled the following year. Harvests,
too, were abundant. "A further step was taken by Em-
peror Claudius when he incorporated the Phrygian wor-
ship of the sacred tree and with it probably the orgiastic
rites of Attis in the established religion of Rome." ^

The great spring festival of Cybele and her youth-
ful son or lover was now celebrated at Rome.

The Great Mother goddess who personified all the
reproductive powers of nature was thus worshipped

Trazer's "The Golden Bough."

288 life ^pmbolss

under various names but the myth and ritual were prac-
tically the same. Associated with the goddess was a
lover, or perhaps a succession of 'lovers divine yet mor-
tal' with whom she mated year after year, "thereby en-
suring the fruitfulness of the ground and the increase
of man and beast."

The worship of Cybele, the Asiatic goddess of fer-
tility and her lover or son, was very popular under the
Roman Empire, surviving the establishment of Chris-
tianity by Constantine. "In the days of Augustine
her effeminate priests still paraded the streets and
squares of Carthage with whitened faces, scented hair
and mincing gait, while like the mendicant friars of the
Middle Ages they begged alms from the passers by.
. . . The religion of the Great Mother, with its curi-
ous blending of crude savagery with spiritual aspira-
tions ... by saturating the European peoples with
alien ideals of life gradually undermined the whole
fabric of ancient civilisation." ^

It seems nearer true, however, to say that it was
not the worship of the Great Mother but the prostitu-
tion of this worship that contributed largely to the fall
of ancient civilisations.

It is significant that worship of the Great Mother
goddesses was more prominent among highly civilised
races who had established themselves in luxurious sur-
roundings in large communities and cities, while the
Father gods were worshipped in the solitude of the
mountains or the lonely deserts by wandering nomads.
As civilisations became more advanced the worship of
the father gods receded until the masculine principle
was nearly lost sight of as an object of worship. Again
and again the male has had to be rescued from extinc-

• Frazer's "The Golden Bough."

Photo. AUnayi

Head of Cybele
(Museo Xazionale delle Terme, Rome)

jFatljEr (§oH anb JWotfjer (^obbesisies; 289

tion — rescued from himself. It is the male apparently
who forgets the purpose of life and prostrates himself
to the goddess, who is no longer the Great Mother but
the goddess of love. Slie has become Venus, Aphrodite,
Astarte — the Ashtoreth of the Bible the 'mistress of
all the gods' and ceremonies associated with the worship
of the great goddesses of nature and love are as elabo-
rate as they are indecent. In this periodic evolution
of nations, when the shift goes to cities, Mother Earth
is no longer reverenced, children are denied and religion
itself dies out. The cult of the feminine principle
flourishes, however, and love is exalted. Life is refined,
beautiful, made a matter of exquisite sensation, but
productivity is no longer the ultimate meaning of love,
and grossest licentiousness prevails.

Seemingly it is the force of inertia that brings
about the sway of the feminine principle per se — and
as such dissociated from the principle of growth.

Always pre-eminent, a force to be reckoned with,
the history of ancient civilisations shows this constant
oscillation between the Supreme Mother goddess cult
and the Father cult — the swing from the brute to effem-
inacy. In this age-long struggle to adjust the problem
of sex, one is struck by the marvellous insight of the
ancients. Was it gained empirically — by experience,
or was it revealed ?

"The earlier generations saw God face to face; we
through their eyes." (Emerson.)

The oldest records show that the malign influence
of these forces when used against each other, or when
either was allowed to have supreme power seems to
have been clearly understood, and that it was the con-
stant effort of the ancients, in all soundly conceived and
healthy civilisations, to harness these two absolutely

290 life Spmbolsi

antagonistic principles and make them travel together.
Their whole symbolism reflects this.

The recognised principle of balance, the modern
idea of fifty-fifty may well have been the underlying
reason for their androgynous gods.

In India also, there was the same swing. There
was the Universal Mother Ida. Then Idah the rains,
the plural of Ida, which apparently means the two Idas
who as "male and female were the ancestors of Nahusha
the great serpent father of the royal families of the
snake race." In time the feminine principle was over-
shadowed by the masculine and the male god Pushan
reigned supreme. Various systems of religious belief
followed. The Aryans gave exclusive worship to Agni
god of fire, the masculine principle. Ushas the virgin
goddess of the dawn was the only feminine divinity un-
til Krishna exalted the feminine principle which again
came into power, as civilisation in India grew more re-
fined and as a consequence less virile. The Idah, repre-
senting the masculine and feminine principles were still
worshipped, however, as Ardhanari the combined figure
of Siva and Parvati.

In both China and Japan the masculine principle
is regarded as of first importance since no woman, un-
less she gains masculinity through repeated incarna-
tions, can be received in Sukhavati the Western Para-
dise presided over by Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite
Light.

Ho-Hsien-Ku, who was the only woman among the
eight immortals of the Taoist faith to gain immor-
tahty, achieved the masculine principle as well as the
feminine.

The Buddhist or Taoist conception of immortality
is the ultimate union of the two dualistic forces into

Jfatfjer ^oH anb JWotfjer <©otibes(siEfi( 291

one — thus representing completion instead of negation
or annihilation.

The fundamental principle of the Yoga system
is the union of the individual with the universal spirit.
The whole system being built upon the union of Spirit-
ual and Material — the "Oneness of the Two Parts."

In spite of their philosophy which recognised that
displacement, continual displacement rather than ul-
timate balance and union is the law of the universe, and
that Life is not a mould but a living, changing thing,
the Chinese yielded to the hunger for union in their god-
dess Kwanyin — identical with the Japanese Kwannon
— who was worshipped as both masculine and femin-
ine. She was the feminine form of the god of mercy
Avalokitesvara and was worshipped not as the consort
but as the feminine manifestation of the god. Al-
though worshipped as masculine by the priests and the
educated classes, the feminine form was more generally
favoured both in Japan and China. She was wor-
shipped by some as sex-less and by others as bi-sexual.
To the common people Kwanyin was the goddess of
infinite mercy and compassion — the goddess of many
arms. "She of a thousand arms." Kwanyin is de-
picted in Buddhist art sometimes seated upon a lotus
and again with many arms. To those who look beneath
the surface, it is not the grotesque image but the
thought behind the image that brings assuagement,
"She of a thousand arms!"

Traces of this androgynous notion of the deity are
found in Egypt, India and Greece as well as scattered
over many other parts of the ancient world. The an-
drogynous form was simply a way of personifying
creative power, which in the primal principle was be-
lieved to be androgynous or bi-sexual. Hermaphrodite

292 life ^pmbols;

represented the union of Hermes and Aphrodite. The
Syrian goddess Atargatis is beheved by some to have
been bi-sexual, Dionysos was given a two-fold nature.

Each male deity had a female sakti or energy sym-
bolising the reciprocal principles of nature who, if
painted takes his colour but of a paler shade. The
symbols representing the union of the two elements
took various forms in the East. As we have seen
one of the most wide spread symbols was the flame
rising from the lotus or the crescent moon. A flame
was also depicted issuing from the Kalasa — the vase
which was supposed to contain the Waters of I^ife.
This is precisely the same symbolism — the union of fire
and water. In China it is sometimes typified by a
willow in the Kalasa and in Japan by the vajra or thun-
derbolt; in Tibet the As'oka branch was placed in the
sacred vase. The Asoka was called the Tree of Con-
solation and Buddha was born between the Asoka and
the Bod-hi tree. The feminine Kwanyin is frequently
depicted holding the Kalasa or with it at her side. A
willow branch with which she sprinkles the waters of
Life is either in the vase or she holds it in her hand.
The masculine form of Kwanyin often has the lotus
bud in the Kalasa.

Both in China and Japan the most important sym-
bol typifying this mystic union is the great monad or
circle divided by a wavy line.

There is no doubt that in the earlier periods these
symbols of the reciprocal powers of nature or Life, that
in a later and more profligate age became gross, were
in their inception frank, simple, true.

On the other hand, it is possible that the 'bearded
Aphrodite' which has shocked posterity, may have been
a despairing effort against decadence, a desire to bring

*.■

^ ll

Photo. Alinari

The Youthful Bacchus
(Museo Xazionale, Naples)

Jfatfjer <©obsi anb iHotfjer (gobbesis^esi 293

home in a visible, objective way to those too brutahsed
or indifferent to grasp it, the subtler meaning conveyed
by the sceptre, the twin pillars, the ankli cross, the 'jewel
in the lotus' and all the other religious emblems of life.

There are those who believe that the present age is
verging toward, if it has not arrived at one of those
periodic intervals when sex is worshipped and Life for-
gotten. The tools of expression have changed. Where
the decadent Romans amused themselves with phallic
images, the modern writes phallic novels.

But does the modern phallicist amuse? He shows
sex obsession, but is it worship? Someway the interest
seems too academic, too studied to be real. One can't
help suspecting that the motive back of this pre-occu-
pation with sex is not so much worship as it is a scien-
tific curiosity that wishes to tabulate sex, explain it,
label it, broadcast it.

Given the proper perspective sex is a supremely
interesting thing. It is one of the most elemental facts
of life, however, that to be alluring at all it needs the
quality of the elusive, the vanishing, the escaping, the
mysterious — and the modern with his tiny microscope,
who would know all, say all has forgotten this.

Sex resists to the death the microscopic investiga-
tor. To those who would profanely penetrate its
mysteries, it transforms itself like the dragon into some-
thing hideous. It defies the literal ones, those who
would approach it scientifically, as much as religion
does.

Life, which is all paradox, insists upon the equi-
voque, the double entendre.

Even in the illustration of the great nature goddess
Atargatis, the Syrian Astarte of Hierapolis, whose

294 Tiift ^pmbolsf

statue goes back thousands upon thousands of years,
one finds expressed to perfection precisely what the
modern lacks.

You look at it! The goddess may be encircled by
the serpent of life, productivity. She is a nature god-
dess and all nature goddesses had the serpent. Or
again it may be the serpent of sexual passion, sensu-
ality. It must be admitted that the expression suggests
the latter. The statue erect, shameless, brazen seems
to mock at modern lasciviousness — and alas! the repu-
tation of the goddess is all against her — but who
knows? Who can say positively what the complicated
serpent says and unsays as he winds and glides through
life?

Nature, you may say what you will, is never bald.
There may come rents and fissures, but she covers
them, if only with gaudy weeds as soon as she decently
can.

The realist, in his eagerness to strip life bare to
the bone, strips off also the serpent of life and all that
the serpent implies. His morbid curiosity leaves us
cold. And here, perhaps, instead of being dangerous
the modern phallicist is after all an instrument of
grace, the very one who is going to save our civilisation
for us. Back of every myth lurks unsuspected the-
ology. Concealed in the modern phallicist is the un-
suspected and unsuspecting moralist.

The truth is, he is making phallicism a bore.

Photo. Alinart

Atargatis
(Museo delle Terme, Romej

XVIII

LEGEND OF ISHTAR AND TAMMUZ

"Over and over again as Being and Becoming, as
Eternity and Time, as Transcendence and Immanence,
Reality and Appearance, the One and the Many — these
two dominant ideas, demands, imperious instincts of
man's self will re-appear, the warp and woof of his
completed universe" Evelyn Underbill.

''God according to the Person is Eternal Works but
according to the Essence and Its perpetual stillness He
is Eternal Rest/' — Ruysbroeck.

295

XVIII
LEGEND OF ISHTAR AND TAMMUZ

FROM the remotest periods of history Ishtar the
great nature goddess of the Babylonians,
stands out pre-eminent, supreme. Whatever
god headed the pantheon the Babylonians never failed
to include the 'powerful and potent Ishtar,' who, when
associated with Shamash or Marduk partakes of their
attributes, precisely as when with the solar god of the
Assyrians, Ashur — who is war-like, a god of battle,
Ishtar is also goddess of war. Under the astrological
system of the Chaldeans Ishtar is associated with the
planet Venus and thus becomes 'Queen of Heaven.'

"Appearing under manifold designations she is the
goddess associated with mother earth, the great mother
goddess who gave birth to everything that has life ani-
mate and inanimate. The conception of such a power
clearly rests on the analogy suggested by the process
of procreation which may be briefly defined as the com-
mingling of the male and female principles. . . . Ishtar
is the goddess of human instinct or passion which ac-
companies human love. She is the mother of man-
kind— but also she who awakens passion." ^

Thus Ishtar was worshipped as the great mother

^ "Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria," Jastrow.

297

298 Hife ^pmbofe

goddess of fertility, as the goddess of war and the god-
dess who awakens love.

She was accused by Gilgamesh of abandoning her
lovers — was said to desert them like "Ija Belle Dame
sans Mcrci" but nature is as pitiless as it is sometimes
kind. It is Ishtar who destroys the youthful Tammuz
who dies with the dying vegetation. It is Ishtar, too,
who descends into the nether regions of death and decay
searching for her lover Tammuz.

The myth has lent itself to various interpretations
that are full of charm and poetic imagery. In its orig-
inal form it is simply another variant of the solar epic,
Tammuz personifying the sun as well as vegetation,
and Ishtar mother earth. Their representation as
lovers or as husband and wife was the customary way
of expressing the idea of life, and these two, Ishtar and
Tammuz, stand out for all time as closely related figures
symbolising vegetation, or the combination of the two
forces whose conjunction brings about life and whose
separation death.

The first act of Tammuz is to slay the demons of
frost and cold. The festival of Tammuz was celebrated
just before the summer solstice. His death was an-
nually mourned. Dirges were chanted over an effigy
of the dead god which "was washed with pure water,
anointed with oil and clad in a red robe, while the fumes
of incense rose into the air as if to stir his dormant
senses by their pungent fragrance and wake him from
the sleep of death."^

In the early days when agriculture was intimately
associated with religion, the whole process became a
dramatic pageant which was entered into emotionally,
with joy and reverence as well as with fear and awe.

''Frazer's "The Golden Bough,"

legenb of SsiJjtar anb ^Tammu^ 299

There were weeping ceremonies as well as rejoicings.
The gods of vegetation were 'weeping deities who shed
fertilising tears.' When the seed was cast into the
ground 'to die,' it was done ceremoniously the sowers
enacting the role of mourners.

The angel of the Hebrew God brought Eze-
kiel to the "door of the gate of the Lord's house
which was toward the north; and behold, there sat
women weeping for Tammuz." He is shown fur-
ther and "greater abominations." Ezekiel is brought
into the inner court of the Lord's house and
behold, men "with their backs toward the temple of the
Lord and their faces toward the east; and they wor-
shipped the sun toward the east." (Ez. 8: 14-16.)

Tammuz was called Adon, the Semitic word for
'lord' by the Semitic peoples of Babylonia and Assyria.
The myth passed over to the Phoenicians and then was
adopted by the Greeks who are thought to have derived
their name Adonis from the title given to Tammuz by
the Babylonians. Jastrow finds that the story of Adonis
and Aphrodite may easily be traced back to Tammuz
and Ishtar and that the weeping for the lost sun-god
and the rejoicing when nature awakens to new life are
again embodied in the story of the crucifixion and the
resurrection of Christ. "The Son of God is slain to
re-appear as the risen Lord just as in the Phrygian
story of Attis and Cybele and in the Egyptian tale
of Osiris and I sis we have another form of the same
myth symbolising the change of seasons." ^

In one of the more dramatic forms of the myth
Tammuz is beloved by two goddesses Ishtar, the Queen
of Heaven and Erishkigal, the queen of the Nether
world. As the summer season wanes and the dearly

' Jastrow's "Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria."

300 %itt S>j>mbol2i

loved Tammuz, god of vegetation and solar radiation
dies, Ishtar descends to the nether regions of death and
decay searching for him. The gradual passing of sum-
mer into winter is symbolised by the ornaments and
articles of clothing that Ishtar is obliged to give to those
who guard the seven gates that lead to the presence of
the grim and wrathful goddess Erishkigal. At the first
gate she is forced to yield up her crown, at the second
her earrings, at the third her necklace of precious stones,
at the fourth the ornaments from her breast, at the fifth
her waist girdle studded with gems, at the sixth gate
the bracelets are wrenched from her arms and ankles,
and at the seventh her robes are stripped from her
body, and Ishtar is brought naked before the Queen
of Hades. By this time nature is bare, vegetation has
disappeared, the god of winter is in full possession of
the earth. Ishtar is still proud, and arrogantly demands
the release of Tammuz. Whereupon Erishkigal, her
sister and rival orders the plague demon to strike her
with disease in all her body. The effect is disastrous
upon earth. Ishtar is kept a prisoner by her jealous
sister and all life and fertility cease on earth. The gods
mourn. Shamash the great sun-god laments. Finally
Ea creates a mysterious being Asushu-namir — clearly
a counterpart of Tammuz the solar god of spring —
and sends him to the nether abode of Erishkigal to re-
claim Ishtar, who is first sprinkled with the water of
Life. As she passes out through the seven gates each
jewel and ornament and article of clothing is returned
to her, and Ishtar comes forth with the spring from
the nether world of disease and death, in all her old
time beauty and splendour.

In the Greek version Adonis the beloved of Aphro-
dite is hidden as an infant by the goddess in a chest

Hesenb of Ssifitar anb STammu^ 301

which falls into the possession of Proserpine, queen of
the nether world, who refuses to give him back to
Aphrodite. Zeus finally settles the dispute between
the two goddesses of love and death by permitting him
to spend six months with each. Other versions say
that Adonis was killed in hunting by a wild boar, or
by the jealous Ares who assumed the likeness of a boar
in order to slay his rival, and that Proserpine restored
him to life on the condition that he spend six months
of the year with her. This decree that Adonis shall
spend part of the year under ground and a part above
ground is simply a variant of the annual disappear-
ance and re-appearance of Tammuz.

As time goes on Tammuz becomes a shadowy, elusive
figure, beloved for his youth and beauty but no longer
dominant, and is gradually superseded by Ishtar in
the official ritual of the temple.

The powerful goddess of nature lives on. Seven
centuries after the religion of Assyria and Babylonia
had passed out leaving hardly a trace, and when faith
in the Greek and Roman gods had also lessened, the
Romans brought Cybele, the mother goddess of
Phrygia to Rome and built a temple in her honour.
"It was Ishtar of Babylonia transformed to meet
changed conditions. The same great feminine principle
of nature in its various manifestations of mother earth,
the source of all fertility, at once 'the loving mother of
mankind and of the gods.' "

XIX

LEGEND OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

''Tout ce que les Grecs out dit de Jupiter et de
Junon est place en Egypte sous la respousabilite d'lsis
et Osiris. . . . Osiris est auteur de toute civilisation
dans son pays; Isis invente Vagriculture. Osiris est
considere . . . comme le soleil dont les vicissitudes
periodiques et annuelles sont exprimecs par les phases
de son histoire legendaire; Isis est done la lune dont les
rapports avec lui sont si f rap pants et si connus. Uun
est la chaleur, Vautre est Vhumidite. . . . Tous deux
ont leur functions a part mais concomitant es dans la
creation et la conservation des etres. Cette creation
est designe par Voeuf auquel les deux epoux avaient
eu une egale part, qu Isis fendit de ses comes de vache
et duquel sortit Vunivers." — Auber,

Isis veiled: "I am all that has been, all that is, and
all that will be and no mortal has drawn aside my veil."

303

XIX

LEGEND OF ISIS AND OSIRIS

WHILE the other gods of Egypt were wor-
shipped each in his own locahty Osiris and
Isis were adored in all.

It has been said that one may speak of the religious
ideas of the Egyptians, but not of an Egyptian reli-
gion. Highly complex and divergent as were these
ideas, they seem gradually to have centred, and found
their fullest and most enduring expression in the
mystical cult of Isis and Osiris.

Osiris and Isis became the mightiest of the Egyptian
gods and were also joint creators of the world.

Osiris represented the river Nile — everything that
was moist and generative in nature. He was a god of
life like the Greek god Dionysos. He was a solar god,
a moon-god, the god of agriculture; he was the earth
spirit, the "Apis bull of Memphis, the ram of Mendes,
the reigning Pharaoh," fused with Ra the sun-god he
died each day as an old man, appearing in heaven at
night as the constellation Orion which was his ghost.

Osiris is "he that bringeth three to the mountains."

From the death and resurrection of Osiris the
Egyptians drew all their hope of eternal life. Of the
dead they said "Thou hast not gone dying thou hast
gone living to Osiris." Every one who shared the fate
of Osiris might also return to life. "As Osiris lives,

305

3o6 TLiit S>pmlia(s!

so shall he also live; as Osiris died not, so shall he
also not die; as Osiris perished not so shall he also not
perish."

We are told that the Egyptians held a festival
of Isis at the time when the Nile began to rise. They
believed that the goddess was then mourning for the
lost Osiris, and that the tears which dropped from her
eyes swelled the impetuous tide of the river.

The symbols of Osiris are the eye and the sceptre
typifying providence and power. He has the head of
a hawk or a man and holds the crucV ansata the symbol
of life in his hand. As god of the dead he wears
the atef crown with plumes and holds in his hands the
crook, sceptre and flail, symbols of rule, sovereignty
and dominion. Osiris is usually represented, however,
as a mummy holding in his hands the crook, the sceptre,
the flail and the crux ansata.

In a series of bas-reliefs the dead god is first de-
picted lying swathed as a mummy ; in each scene he has
raised himself higher and higher until in the final rep-
resentation he has left the bier and is seen erect with
the devoted Isis a little behind him, while a male figure
holds up before his eyes the cruoj ansata the symbol of
life. The resurrection of the god is even more graphic-
ally portrayed in another representation where the dead
god is shown with stalks of corn springing from his
body which a priest is watering from a pitcher that
he holds in his hand. Here Osiris is the corn god who
produced corn from himself. 'He gave his own body,
to feed the people : he died that they might live.' The
inscription reads 'This is the form of him whom one
may not name, Osiris of the mysteries, who springs
from the returning waters.'

Osiris has been called the son of Isis. Originally

Osiris, Isis and Horus
(Louvre, Paris)

Pholo. Alinari

Itegenb of Mia anb 0&ivisi 307

Isis was a Virgin Mother and Horus her fatherless son.
She is a nature goddess, the Great Mother, the daughter
of Nut the sky. Isis and Osiris are twin brother and
sister. Her marriage with Osiris and his adoption of
Horus is a later adaptation. Set the principle of evil
is also her brother as well as the brother of Osiris. Set
marries Nephthys his sister and sister of Osiris and
Isis.

Isis absorbs the attributes and functions of the other
goddesses, of Nut the sky and water goddess, of Neith
the earth-goddess who typified growth. She is the moon
goddess, she is all things. She is given the lotus and
the horns of the crescent moon and sometimes the solar
disk encircled by the urseus snake. All the sacred
animals are associated with Isis.

In the age of Osiris and Isis "laws stern and inex-
orable as nature disciplined the people and promoted
their welfare,"

Isis as a mythical figure differs essentially from the
powerful Ishtar, the capricious goddess who abandons
her lovers, makes war on earth, descends into Hell and
queens it in the skies. She differs, too, from Venus the
queen of beauty who scatters love, beloved by all. Nor
was she ever associated with Astarte in any of her
degenerate manifestations or representations under dif-
ferent names. Isis has been likened to Ceres, but except
as a goddess of nature there the relationship ends. Isis
stands above, apart. It has been said that but for her
presence in Egypt the world would never have known
a madonna. Her cult obtained a great hold upon the
Romans, and its influence upon the later religion of
Christianity was profound. "Spiritualised by ages of
religious evolution" the goddess becomes the refined
and exquisite type for all the ages of the "true

3o8 TLiit ^|)mbol£(

wife, the tender mother, the beneficent queen of nature,
encircled by the nimbus of moral purity, of immemorial
and mysterious sanctity."

"In that welter of religions which accompanied the
decline of national life in antiquity her worship was one
of the most popular at Rome and throughout the em-
pire. ... In a period of decadence when the fabric of
empire itself, once deemed eternal, began to show omi-
nous rents and fissures the serene figure of I sis with her
spiritual calm, her gracious promise of immortalitj'-
appeared to many like a star in a stormy sky . . . and
roused in their breasts a rapture of devotion not unlike
that paid in the Middle Ages to the Virgin Mary. . . .
Her stately ritual with its shaven and tonsured priests,
its matins and vespers, its tinkling music, its baptism
and aspersions of holy water, its solemn procession,
its jewelled images of the Mother of God presented
many points of similarity to the pomps and ceremonies
of Catholicism." ^

We are indebted to Plutarch for the only connected
account of the story of Isis and Osiris. The legend
which follows is given as he relates it only in abbreviated
form.

At the time of the murder of Osiris by his brother
Set (whom the Greeks called Typhon), Osiris had be-
come king of Egypt and by his wise rule had brought
Egypt to an idyllic state. His people had so greatly
benefitted by his discipline and care for their welfare,
by his instructions in the arts of husbandry and his laws
to regulate conduct and induce reverence and worship
of the gods, that his brother Set (or the principle of
evil) saw that his power over the minds of men was

»Frazer's "The Golden Bough."

legenb of Mia anb ©siiris; 309

gone, that these happy, trustful people could no longer
be reached by evil unless Osiris himself could be en-
trapped and overthrown.

Thereupon Set with seventy-two others concocted
a plot to rid the world of Osiris. Having stealth-
ily taken the measurements of Osiris's body. Set
caused a most beautiful chest to be constructed of the
same size, and which was set off with all manner of
ornaments to attract and please the eye. This chest
was brought into his banquetting room, and at a great
feast given to Osiris where all the conspirators were
assembled, after the chest had been much admired. Set
promised jestingly to give it to the one whom it should
fit. Amid much merriment various ones tried it but
found it too short or too long. At length Osiris was
persuaded to lay himself down in it, whereupon the
conspirators instantly clapped down the lid, fastened
it with nails, sealed it with melted lead and carrying it
to the river side they sent it out to sea "by way of
the Tanaitic mouth of the Nile, which, for this reason
is still held in the utmost abomination by the Egyptians
and never named by them but with proper marks of
detestation." Accounting the sea abominable the
Egyptians prohibited the use of salt (or Typhon's
foam) at table. They would also make the picture of
a fish to denote hatred.

The death of Osiris was "thus executed upon the
17th day of the month Athor, when the sun was in
Scorpio in the 28th year of Osiris's reign ; though there
are others who tell us that he was no more than twenty-
eight years old at this time."

The rest of the legend relates to the search made
by the disconsolate Isis for her husband's body.

Isis wanders everywhere all over the country mourn-

310 Hife ^pmbols;

ing and seeking for Osiris. Seven scorpions accompany
her in her flight through the papyrus swamps of
the Delta. A child is stung to death by one of the
scorpions. Her heart, touched by the mother's grief,
Isis "laid her hands on the child and uttered her power-
ful spells ; so the poison was driven out of the child and
he lived."

After a wearisome time Isis receives definite news
of the chest. She learns that it had been carried by
the waves of the sea to Byblus on the coast of Syria
and "there gently lodged in the branches of a bush of
Tamarisk, which in a short time had shot up into a
large and beautiful tree, growing round the chest and
enclosing it on every side so that it was not to be seen ;
and further, that the king of the country, amazed at
its unusual size, had cut the tree down, and made that
part of the trunk wherein the chest was concealed a
pillar to support the roof of his house. These things,
say they, being made known to Isis in an extraordinary
manner by the report of demons."

Isis goes immediately to Byblus, where in humble
attire she sits down by a fountain and refuses to speak
to any one except the queen's women who chanced to
be there. "These she saluted and caressed . . . plait-
ing their hair for them and transmitting into them part
of that wonderfully grateful odour which issued from
her own body."

Hearing of her from her hand maidens and at-
tracted by the divine perfume which still clung about
them, the queen sent for Isis and made her nurse to one
of her sons.

At last disclosing herself, the goddess requests that
the pillar be given to her which was accordingly done
"and then easily cutting it open, after she had taken

Hegcnb of Ssiis^ anb ©sKris; 3"

out what she wanted, she wrapped up the remainder
of the trunk in fine linen and pourint^ perfumed oil
upon it, delivered it into the hands of the kin^ and
queen . . . then she threw herself upon the chest, mak-
ing at the same time such a loud and terrible lamenta-
tion over it as frightened the younger of the king's sons
who heard her out of his life."

I sis sets sail with the chest for Egypt.

"No sooner was she arrived in a desert place where
she imagined herself to be alone, but she presently
opened the chest and laying her face upon her dead
husband's embraced his corpse and wept bitterly."

Isis leaves the chest in a lonely, unfrequented spot
and goes to her son Horus who was being nurtured by
Leto in the marshes about Buto. Here Set, who was
hunting by the light of the moon accidentally finds it.
Breaking open the chest he cuts the body of Osiris into
fourteen pieces and scatters these over the length and
breadth of the land.

Once more Isis sets out searching sorrowfully every-
where for the scattered fragments of her husband's
body, and using a boat made of the reed papyrus "in
order the more easily to pass through the lower and
fenny parts of the country." The legend relates that
Isis found all the pieces of Osiris's body — save one.

Isis buried each part of Osiris wherever she found
it, erecting a temple over each to the memory of her
husband, which accounts for the number of tombs of
Osiris in Egypt. Others say, however, that Isis fash-
ioned images of Osiris which she buried in different
cities and localities instead of the real body, doing this,
not only that the homage paid to his memory might be
more extended, but also that she might hope thereby to
elude the malignant Set who finding so many sepulchres

312 %ift ^pmtiol2(

would be confused and distracted from any further
attempt to find the true one.

After being thus entrapped, murdered and dis-
membered by Set and partially restored by Isis, Osiris
becomes King of the Nether World where he judges
men according to their deeds. "Whatsoever a man
soweth that shall he also reap."

Horus is now the reigning king. Desiring to take
vengeance upon Set for the injuries done to Osiris and
Isis, Horus engages Set in battle. The battle lasts
for days. In the end Horus is victorious, right and
justice triumph over evil, and having made Set prisoner,
Horus gives him over into the custody of his mother
Isis.

Isis, instead of putting Set to death, loosens his
chains, and lets him go.

"And the majesty of Horus was enraged against
his mother Isis like a panther of the south, and she fled
before him. On that day a terrible struggle took place,
and Horus cut off the head of Isis; and Thoth trans-
formed this head by his incantations and put it on her
again in the form of a head of a cow."

This briefly is the famous legend which has had so
many mystical interpretations and led to so many philo-
sophical deductions.

According to Plutarch "Isis is the power in matter
which becomes everything and receives everything, as
light and darkness, fire and water, day and night, life
and death, beginning and end, so given all colours,
many hues. Osiris is without shade, untempered, un-
mixed, the first principle or light." ^

He considers that "Osiris and Isis typify all that is
orderly and good. Typhon (Set) typifies excess, in-

' Plutarch's "Isis and Osiris," trans, by Goodwin.

Hegenb of Ssiifli anb ®&ivi9i 313

temperance, disorder. In the legend Typhon is sub-
dued but not destroyed, for the 'principle opposite to
moist must not be entirely destroyed.' Although Osiris
is 'lord of all the best instincts' it is impossible to do
away utterly with evil — but the better is stronger.
Typhon is that part of the soul that is unreasonable,
passionate, uncontrolled; in the material world that
which is perishable, diseased, violent — such as bad crops,
drought, earthquakes, floods. Typhon invariably stands
in the way of right development and the course of
things. Osiris represents the true doctrine which Ty-
phon scattered and Isis gathered again inviting her
followers to join with her in the search. Osiris is the
god of knowledge and Typhon the god of ignorance.
Osiris is the soul, intellect, reason, Typhon is every-
thing that is brutish in man or nature.

"Typhon's sjTnbols are the ass, the stupidest of all
domestic animals, and the crocodile and hippopotamus,
the most brutal of wild beasts. In a statue at Hermop-
olis Typhon is represented as a hippopotamus upon
which has alighted a hawk — which signifies power and
rule — contending with a snake. Typhon often comes
into possession of this power through violence and does
not cease troubling himself and others.

"Now Isis is the female in nature and receives all
generation and is therefore called by Plato the nurse
and all receiver, but by the common people the many
sided, the goddess with the thousand names — because
under the influence of reason she receives all forms.
And she has an inborn affection for the first principle
of all things — which is the same as good — and she longs
for it and pursues it. On the other hand, she flees the
evil principle and thrusts it away, although she is space
and matter for both. However, she always inclines to

314 lite ^pmboIsJ

the better and freely offers herself to it for the Tecep-
tion of its effluxes, and for the reproduction of its like-
nesses in which she rejoices. For generation is an image
of true being presented in matter and that which is
born is always an imitation of that which exists.

"Therefore they do not improperly recount in the
myth that the soul of Osiris is imperishable, but that
Typhon often tears asunder and hides his body, while
Isis wanders about until she has found it and fitted to-
gether the parts. "^

The myth emphasises in Isis the receptive, the like-
ness to Mother Earth which receives good seed and bad,
is incapable of discrimination, of eliminating, of dis-
carding— and although preferring the good, must de-
pend upon the intelligence and responsibility of the
sower to obtain it.

The vitality of the story — its continued fascination
for us probably lies in the fact that it is so soundly and
universally conceived that it covers every phase of life.
It is far more than the old contest between good and evil,
light and darkness. It is primarily the story of man
and woman. Isis, the leading figure is the eternal fem-
inine who lacks the creative impulse yet completes crea-
tion,— who is negation, growth, multiplicity, inertia,
form. If man makes Life for her, she in return makes
him — but only so much as he is capable of being. She
re-acts — ^one must never forget that, nor that matter
is tool in the hands of the master builder.

The history of all womankind centres in her. To

'The above translation of Plutarch's Isis and Osiris is taken from
a volume of miscellaneous pamphlets bound together under the title of
The Triangle and belonging to the Isaac Myer Collection presented to
the Public Library of New York,

legenb of Mia anh ©sd'nsi 315

understand Isis is to understand all women. She has
all the virtues and all the faults. She is blind, far-
seeing, wise, foolish. She tries to overcome the ravages
and desolation occasioned by evil — and when evil is
captured and put in her charge she pities and lets it
go. The goddess mourns over the death of Osiris,
makes untold sacrifices, searches for him everywhere,
demeans herself, becomes a servant to mortals in order
to recover his body. Having accomplished this, she
leaves it to go to her son Horus. In her absence the
spirit of evil again takes possession of Osiris and this
time dismembers his body and scatters it to the four
^vinds of heaven.

Having permitted the havoc to be wrought by her
own negligence, Isis starts forth again, and with incred-
ible toil and patience and faithfulness she at last suc-
ceeds in finding all the parts of Osiris — save one.

The myth relates that of the fourteen parts that Set
the destroyer had scattered, Isis found everything but
the creative, energising force. Concealing the loss,
covering up the lack, Isis made substitutes and set up
imitations which she asked the world to worship. In
spite of all she could do, however, she could only imi-
tate, she could not supply the creative force, and thus
having lost the life giving power, Osiris inevitably
ceased to be the god of the living and sank into the
nether realm of darkness where he became god of the
dead and his son Horus, the solar god of the morning
light reigned in his stead.

THE SISTRUM OF ISIS

''The intellect so skillful in dealing with the inert is
awkward the moment it touches the living/^ — Bergson.

''The advance of knowledge is an infinite progression
towards a goal that forever recedes/' — Frazer.

"Wisdom is more moving than any motion; she
passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her
pureness . . . she is the brightness of the everlasting
light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God/' —
Wisdom of Solomon 7:24, 26,

317

Photo. Alinari

Isis
(Museo Xazionale, Xaples)

THE SISTRUM OF ISIS

ISIS the immortal, the goddess of Life, the Eternal
Feminine has many symbols, but only one weapon,
one instrument to play upon when she wants to
change conditions, to startle us into consciousness, to
make us see the meaning of our habitual acceptances,
and that's the sistrum — an instrument that now as ever
is a particularly valuable feminine adjunct.

"The sistrum shows that whatever exists ought to
be shaken and never cease from movement, but should
be aroused and agitated as if it were asleep and its life
quenched. For they say that by the sistrum they drove
Typhon away; by this they set forth that destruction
binds and halts, but by means of movement generation
frees nature." (Plutarch.)

"Whose voice then shook the earth; but now he hath
promised, saying yet once more I shake not the earth
only, but also heaven.

"And this word yet once more signifieth the remov-
ing of things that are shaken as of things that are made,
that those things which cannot be shaken may remain."
(Hebrews 12:26-7.)

319

XXI

THE TRIANGLE

There are ''three fundamental principles of the uni-
verse, the Unity, the Duality and the Trinity. . . .
The three great principles into which all forms of mani-
festation may be analysed — the Masculine, Positive or
generating principle; the Feminine, Receptive or form-
ative principle; and the Neuter or Mathematical
principle, which by determining the proportional rela-
tions of the other two, gives rise to the principles of
variety and multiplicity." — Troward.

"The Trinity was first shown in man, for Adam was
first formed from the earth, then the woman from
Adam. Afterwards was man created from both and
so there is therein a Trinity." — Durandus.

''Ethical idealism by which is here meant a high sense
of duty and a noble view of life is possible only, so it
would seem, under txvo conditions, either through a
strong conviction that there is a compensation else-
where for the wrongs, injustice and suffering in this
world, or through an equally strong conviction that the
unknown goal toward which mankind is striving can be
reached only by the moral growth and ultimate perfec-
tion of the human race, whatever the future may have
in store." — Jastrow.

"That a quest there is and an end is the single secret
spoken." — Underbill.

321

XXI

THE TRIANGLE

The Triangle, the geometrical emblem of three
things, one above two, the two lower uniting to produce
the higher, or the union of the positive and negative
forces to produce the third is the most
complex and mystical as it is the most
uncompromising of all the life symbols.
None other holds within itself so much
of the hidden meaning of that myster-
ious thing called Life. It is in very truth the symbol
of the inexorable Law of Life. And it is no exagger-
ation to say that much of man's checkered career has
been spent in struggling with the triangle — if not
actually, then metaphysically.

Beginning with chaos, then unity or the self -created,
there comes duality. And man's thoughts are no sooner
ensnared by that — for he is so made that he loves his
opposite — than a third force presents itself, and this
force is the result — or life. '^ — Pere, mere et fits (es-
sence, substance et vie)."

From earliest times primitive man appears to have
grasped the idea of the three-fold nature of the universe
— the divine, the human, the natural world and that he
himself was the image or mirror of the macrocosm, com-
posed of three things — body, mind, soul or spirit. There

323

324 Tiitt ^j>mbols(

seems hardly to have been a time since history began
when the idea of a unit of three in one was not a part
of man's consciousness. In addition to the obvious
duahsm of nature he saw everywhere a third and higher
aspect evolved by the union of these two opposite forces,
and the triangle was used by primordial man at first
presumably as a race symbol, signifying the family —
father, mother, child, "The Egyptian Temples were
dedicated to three gods. The first the male principle,
the second the female, and the third the offspring of
the other two, but these three are blended into one."

From the trinity of the family and the multitude
of triads in nature arose, it is assumed, the conception
of a trinity of gods. It is significant that the most
ancient religions contain such trinities or family groups.

Set, Horus and Shu were the primary Egyptian
Trinity symbolised by a triangle enclosed in a circle.
In the earlier mythology Horus was the Water Season.
Set his brother was the Drought, the Destroyer. Be-
tween these two was eternal conflict. Shu the Recon-
ciler and Mediator was the god of winds and equinoctial
storms. Shu was the god who first lifted up the heavens
from the earth in the form of a triangle, and he is
depicted standing on seven steps within a triangle.

The symbol of Set god of the South was the equi-
lateral triangle. Horus god of the North had the tri-
angle reversed. The two powers were symbolised thus :
This was called the Double Pyramid or Hand
of the Egyptians and signified the union of fire
and water.

When Horus became the Supreme Deity the tri-
angles were merged into the five pointed star. This be-
came the symbol of the Celestial world or the House
of Horus.

Wht triangle 325

Two interlacing triangles represented the "Double
Horizon of Horus."

In one of the innumerable Egyptian triads Nut is
heaven, Seb the earth and Shu the air and space which
separates them. The most popular triad, however, and
the one that more nearly epitomised Egyptian thought
was Osiris, Isis and their son Horus. Osiris first cause,
Isis receptive and Horus the result, or "Osiris, father or
spirit, Isis, the material or matrix and Horus the sen-
sible world." Osiris represented soul, intellect, reason.
Horus, born of the union of reason and matter, was the
"sensible image of the mental world."

The majority of these triads personified the powers
of nature under various groupings such as, Heaven,
earth, water. Fire, water, air. The sun, moon, Venus.
The fire, light, ether of the Zoroastrians, and fire, light,
spirit or air of the Hebrews.

In the Babylonian religion, to the gods of storm and
sun, or fire and water was added a third representing
the earth, fertility, productivity, or heaven, earth, water.
Anu originally the sun becomes the god of heaven, Enlil
starting as a storm-god becomes god of the earth and
is sometimes called Bel or Bel-Enlil 'Lord of many
lands.' To these are added Ea god of water. In time
these transfer their powers to other triads but the forces
symbolised, remain unchanged. Under whatever names
the triad typifies heaven, sun, or fire, the power of mois-
ture showing itself in storms and rains, and the power of
fertility, fecundity personified by the earth.

Later "influenced by theological speculations which
betray the astrological tendency" the Babylonians wor-
shipped another triad which represented the three great
divisions of the universe. This triad gave first place
to Sin, the moon-god followed by Shamash and the god-

326 %\tt ^pmbolss

dess Ishtar as the planet Venus. ''These deities again
summing up the chief manifestations of divine power
in the universe. Sin as leader of the hosts of the mighty
heavens, Shamash the beneficent power of the sun and
Ishtar in her original attribute as goddess of the earth,
mother of life and source of fertility."

Hewitt finds that in India worship began first to
Mother Earth, then to the Father and Mother of all
things then came triads in the following order ( 1 ) The
father, the life-giving bi-sexual power, and the mother
earth. (2) The father, the moon-goddess, the mother
earth. (3) The self -producing fire, the moon goddess,
and the mother earth.

When Indra worship came into being the system
was altered, material agents were no longer recognised
and the god of the water of life, the god who makes
rain became the father of all things. Worship of Indra
succumbed to Vishnu, who was substituted for Varuna
as third person of the triad, while Siva re-appeared as
phallic god at its head. In this triad Pushkara the
moon "meaning the divine lotus or the mother of
the earth resting on the sanctifying waters" is the
ruling god. It is thus seen that the popular 'trimurti'
typified the "varying aspects of the mystery of
creation."

The triad or 'trimurti' of the Brahmins are Brahma,
the Creator, Vishnu, the Preserver and Siva, the De-
stroyer or Apathy.

The Tri-ratna, the 'three precious Tri-ratna' or the
Buddhist triad are Buddha, intelligence, soul, the gener-
ative power, Dharma, matter, the body, the productive
power, and Sangha the union of the two. From this
union, or as the result of this union Sangha becomes the
author of creation.

arfje triangle 327

The mystic syllable Aum also signified the Tri-
ratna or Three Jewels.

The triangle was a symbol of the tri-ratna and
"according to the secret doctrines of certain sects rep-
resented the 'yoni' from which the world was manifest,"
or the source of all things.

As we have seen, at the beginning of the world Adi-
Buddha was said to have manifested himself in the form
of a flame rising from a lotus. Sometimes the stalk of
the lotus is depicted rising from a triangle.

The Buddha discoursing on the symbol of three dots
arranged in the form of a triangle, one dot above two,
used the triangle as a symbol of the embodied form of
the Tathdgdta or he who will have no more re-births.
The Tathagata is also used to designate the Tri-Kaya
or the three-fold embodiment, or living in three worlds
at one time.

In the mystic doctrine of the Mandala of Two Parts
of the Yoga system, the fundamental principle of
which is the union of the individual with the universal
spirit, the Mandala is the mystic circle that has for its
centre an eight leaved lotus flower representing the
heart of beings, the 'solar matrix,' the mysterious sanc-
tuary to which the sun retires each night to be re-born.
The eight petals typify the four Dhyani-Bodhisattvas
who have created the four worlds, and their four spiri-
tual fathers or Buddhas. Above the lotus symbol is a
triangle resting on its base and which here typifies Adi-
Dharma or matter.

The six elements which when united produce the
"six-fold bodily and mental happiness" are the five ma-
terial elements of which man and the visible world are
believed to be composed, earth, water, fire, air, ether —
and the sixth element manas (mind), a particle of the

328 Hife ^pmbolsi

essence of Adi-Buddha. This represents the diamond
element or complete Enlightenment and is symbolised
by the triangle (or tri-kona) the point below. The
matrix or embryo element, the Material world which is
"likened to the womb in which all of the child is con-
ceived"— body as well as mind — contains the universe
which it cares for and nourishes. The matrix element
is composed of reason or form and the five elements and
is symbolised by the triangle with the point above. The
two elements — the spiritual and the material — are "one
for 'Wisdom cannot exist without Reason nor Reason
without Wisdom'."

The triangle among the Hindus represented also
the generative power of the earth.

Although the Chinese divided nature into two great
parts yang the masculine principle and yin the femi-
nine principle, it was by the co-operation of these two
principles that Life or the third or neuter principle was
evolved.

The Taoist's triad was heaven, yang and yin. It
was their belief that the union of the three alone em-
bodied creative force. This was also called the 'union
of the Three Powers.'

The Chinese trigrams contain three powers, heaven,
earth, men. These three are one and the same. When
doubled into the hexagrams the three powers unite and
are one.

In the Zoroastrian triad Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd)
is the Sun, or power of good, life, light, heaven. Ahri-
manes is the power of darkness, evil, death, the earth or
matter, and Mithra is the sunlight, the power of Truth,
the Mediator between heaven and earth.

The triune conception represented a very early
phase of Greek religion.

^fje (Criangle 329

In the tree and pillar cult are found trinities of
trees and pillars. These trinities were supposed to be
the abode of a single divinity visualising the idea that
"groups of two or three pillars could be the embodiment
of a single divinity, a conception which lent itself to the
idea of a triune god. The dove shrines of Mycensea also
supply a similar parallel. These shrines have three
openings in each of which is an aniconical column which
have at their base showing their divine character the
'horns of consecration'." ^

The three sons of Saturn were Jupiter, the king of
heaven and the soul of the world, Pluto, god of the
nether regions and Neptune, god of the waters.

The Orphic trinity was Metis, Eros and Ericapeus or
Will, Love and Life-giver or Phanes the Creative force
which includes the three powers Light, Life, Energy.

According to Plutarch, Hesiod makes the first cause
of all things Chaos — earth, hell, love. Isis is the earth,
Typhon (Set) is hell and Osiris is love. Thus Osiris
or love is First Cause, Isis is the faculty of reception
and Horus is the result.

Plutarch divides the divine nature into three parts,
the intelligible part, matter, and that which is made up
of both "which the Greeks call Cosmos — ^trimness or
order — and which we call the world."

Plato believed in the self -activity of an intelligent
first cause, and that the world was made up of two forces
one beneficent, and the other the opposite, with a third
nature between resting upon the preceding forces. He
called the first the intelligible part or the father, the
second, matter, the mother, nurse, receptacle of genera-
tion, and the third is that which springs from both, the
offspring or production.

* "Mycenaean Trees and Pillar Cult," A. J. Evans.

330 TLilt S>j>mtiols;

Triplicity has been called the very soul of astrology,
magic, divination.

Agni, the fire god of India was worshipped as "dis-
playing thine eternal triple form — as fire on earth, as
lightning in the air, as the sun in the heaven."

To the Egyptian sun worshippers dawn, noon and
sunset represent the three-fold aspect of the sun typi-
fied by Horus in the morning, Ra at noon and Osiris at
night.

The goddess Hecate was called Luna in heaven,
Hecate in hell and Trivia at crossroads. Diana was
also worshipped as Trivia and statues of her were
usually placed wherever three roads met. Diana was
in turn identified with Hecate and the moon and was
thus called Triformis.

Some sects of the Buddhists not only believed in the
three-fold embodiment but also that a Buddha may live
in three separate spheres at one and the same time.

The number three is mysterious, mystic, magical.
"Even its use is three-fold, one definite showing intrin-
sic value, the other symbolic, esoteric and the third in-
definite signifying many."

Three is the primitive plural. Many times and
thrice are equivalents in the Greek.

Aristotle looked upon the "triad as the number of
the complete whole, inasmuch as it contains a begin-
ning, a middle and an end. Nature herself has provided
us with this number for use in the holy service of the
gods."

The importance of the triad conception and the
hold it had and still has, for that matter, on the imagi-
nation, not only is shown in the ancient triad of gods
or the tri-une god — carried on into the Christian re-
ligion as Father, Son and Holy Ghost — but by the

3Cfje 2Cr (angle 331

way thought instinctively groups itself in threes. Sun,
moon, stars; birth, life, death; heaven, earth, water;
the three fates, three furies, three graces. Various
fabulous monsters that had three heads — Chima3ra
had the head of a lion, a dragon and a goat and continu-
ally vomitted flames, Cerberus was the three headed dog
of Pluto who guarded the entrance into hell, Hydra
was said originally to have had three heads. There are
the three dimensions, the three parts in every sequence
of thought, Hegel's three aspects of truth — thesis, anti-
thesis and synthesis. We demand three cheers. We
speak of the 'world, the flesh, the devil' as opposed to
the 'good, the true, the beautiful.' Goethe puts it "From
the useful, through the true, to the beautiful." The
former, however, expresses better the 'three in one' idea
which is the very cadence, the haunting, mystical qual-
ity, the superb truth contained in these various group-
ings.

The mystics symbolise "the Trinity as Light, Life
and Love: —

''Light J the perfect symbol of pure undifferentiated
Being.

''Life, the Son, the hidden Steersman of the Uni-
verse, the Logos, Fire or Cosmic soul of things. This
Life is the flawless expression or character of the
Father, the personal and adorable Object of the mystic's
adventure.

"Love, the principle of attraction. If we consider
the Father as the supreme Subject and the Son as the
Object of His thought, the personal Spirit of Love is
the relation between the two and constitutes the very
character of the two.

"The love wherewith we love is the Holy Spirit." ^

* "Mysticism," Evelyn Underbill.

332 life S>|>mbols(

The triangle among the Japanese is a flame symbol
typifying fire or the third element. From the days of
the stupa the triangle has represented fire.

Three triangles or rays typifying the three-fold
light of the world are found among the Mexicans,
Egyptians and many other ancient races. Among the
Chaldeans Eusoph the Light of Life was given the
symbol of the equilateral triangle.

The triangle was the symbol of the great Aum
'dwelling in the infinite.' It was the emblem of heaven
in three divisions.

The triangle was the primary form of the pyramid,
which was typically the pyramid of heaven. The pyra-
mids with their triangular sides were universally recog-
nised "not alone as tombs for the dead, but as monu-
ments to the Great Sun the Giver of Life and Light."
Many had an altar on the apex in which the fire was
never permitted to die out. The Chaldeans built pal-
aces as well as temples in the form of a pyramid.
Temples and monuments in pyramidal form are found
correctly orientated in India, China, America, Java and
the Polynesian Islands.

"The great pyramid of Cheops was built on lines
ascertained by astronomical observations. It faces the
four cardinal points and the tunnel which pierces its
northern slope is in reality a telescope forever turned to
the point of the heavens touched by the polar star in
its lowest declination. A crystal lens has been dis-
covered on the site of Nineveh and a few Egyptian
priests are believed to have known and used the tele-
scope." ^

In an ancient papyrus Isis is referred to as the ruler
of the pyramid.

* "Symbolism and Science," Lloyd P. Smith.

arfje ^Triangle 333

"The form of the pyramid enters into the hieroglyph
of the star Sothis or Sirius. For the Grand Orient or
position of the star when its rising forms the immediate
harbinger of da^vn was, as is well known, the great
starting point for the age-long cycles of Egyptian reck-
oning. And whereas the figure employed to denote the
pyramid embraces both edifice and platform on which
it is built, the hieroglyph of Sothis represented the ma-
sonic portion alone. . . . , viz, the structure, represent-
ing to the Egyptian mind Eternal Light apart from its
earthly support." *

A recent book on The Mysterious Science of the
Pharaohs by the Abbe Moreux, director of the Obser-
vatory of Bourges, discusses the pyramid of Cheops "as
a manifestation of the marvellously exact mathematical
and geographical knowledge of the ancient Egyptians,"
adding that "we glorify acquisitions as our own which
were known at least 6,000 years ago. The savants of
antiquity had measured the earth! They had deter-
mined our distance from the sun! They had traced an
ideal meridian! All that presupposes an advanced
science and a very able technique."

The Egyptians called the nature of the universe the
fairest of triangles.

The triangle was the delight of the Greek philoso-
phers. Pythagoras adopted it as the most perfect geo-
metrical figure inasmuch as it was the first form
complete in itself.

Plato used the triangle as a symbol of marriage. In
this triangle he makes the perpendicular equal 3, the
base 4 and the hypothenuse 5. The perpendicular rep-
resents the male, the base the female and the hypothe-

* "The House of the Hidden Places," W. M. Adams.

334 5-We ^pmbote

nuse their offspring. This is Osiris, the first principle,
Isis, the matrix and Horus the completed world, for
"three is the first odd number and is perfect, four is a
square that has an even number — two — for its side,
and five is in some respects like each parent for it is
the sum of three and two." In this diagram of marriage
Plato calls the son 'that which is better.'

Plutarch calls the "area within the triangle the
'Plain of Truth' in which the Reason, the forms and the
pattern of all things that have been and shall be are
stored up."

St. Augustine expressed his obligation to Plato for
enabling him to understand the doctrine of the Trinity.

The Druidic Harps were made in the form of a
triangle. "Their strings were three and their turning-
keys had each three arms."

The famous abracadabra, a cabalistic word which
was believed to have curative powers and when worn
as an amulet was supposed to ward off evil was depicted
in the form of a triangle reversed. It is one of the mys-
tery words which played such an important part in the
secret rites of the early mystics. Its root is abraxas the
Greek letters of which as numerals amounted to 365.
It was thus adopted by the Egyptian Gnostic Basilides
to signify the Supreme Deity as ruler of the 365 heavens
of his system. Another authority speaks of it as "one
of the numerous mystery words coined to express
mathematically the unspeakable name of the Supreme
Spirit . . . and accepted as the mystic equivalent of
Mithras."

The well known Hexagram or Solomon's Seal with
which he was said to have worked miracles warded
off danger and curbed rebellious spirits was made of
two equilateral triangles interlaced forming a six

eu-

a^^ ccue^^.

^i^a^.:foteA.q,ca£/e/a.t.AdX>OGII

Bayley, Lost Languag; of Symbolism

3rf)e ©riangle 335

pointed star. Sometimes the lower triangle is dark and
the upper one light, signifying the union of the spiritual
and the material or spirit and matter.

SOLOMON 8 SEAL. THE PENTACLE.

The Pentacle or five pointed star, an ingenious
elaboration of the triangle, was used by the Pytha-
goreans and others as a mystical emblem of perfection
or of the miiverse. "Among the followers of Pythagoras
the triple triangle typified Light and was an emblem of
health."

The American Indian used the triangle re-
versed, duplicating it thus as a symbol of growth,
expressing by a sign the same idea that Berg-
son advanced a few thousand years later, that
the tendency of Life "is to develop in the
form of a sheaf, creating by its very growth
divergent directions among which its impetus
is divided. . . . If . . . the unity of life is to
be found solely in the impetus that pushes it
along the road of time, the harmony is not
in front but behind ... it is given at the
start as an impulsion, not placed at the end
as an attraction." ^

The conflict between unity and multiplicity is not
new. It is clear that if you wish to represent unity then
multiplicity you have only to tip the triangle upside
do^\Ti. This was a tendency, however, that even the
most primitive religions seem to have reckoned with and

' Bergson's "Creative Evolution."

336 ILife ^pmtjolss

tried strenuously to prevent. The history of the tri-
angle is the history of man. And Life never looked
fair nor perfect to the ancients except as they visioned
it through the equilateral triangle accurately placed
on its base and uniting towards the heavens above. All
the great religions of life were founded on the family
group idea of divergence then unity on a higher level.
This was also a part of race development carried on like
the octave on an ever ascending scale.

The triangle, whatever else it may have expressed,
was, from the remotest periods of which we have any
knowledge the pre-eminent symbol of the Trinity in
Unity. Other symbols typified a section, a part of life.
The equilateral triangle symbolised the completed
whole of life. Simple, complex — clear, mysterious, it
contained all the moral law and the prophets.

It is presumable that man was conscious almost from
the very first that there was a part of himself higher
than the body or the mind, and that he looked upon the
divine in himself as a spark from the Divine Fire, the
Light of Lights, the Unknown and Unknowable Source
of All Life. In all his religions one finds this reaching
out toward something higher. Man seems to have rea-
lised intuitively that in resj)onding to the divine in him-
self he was fulfilling the Divine Will or Primal Cause,
and to have feared instinctively the disintegrating in-
fluence of multiplicity unless enclosed by a surmount-
ing, overtopping singleness of purpose.

His religions are strewn with totems and magic,
fetiches, taboos and sacrifices which represent man's
heroic efforts to harness nature and himself, to subdue
the lower to the higher.

Eternal conflict and the desire to propitiate or sub-
due are a part of man's inheritance.

®1)E triangle 337

The Hindu religion perhaps more nearly realises
the triumph of renunciation.

While recognising the three qualities they, too, em-
phasise the need of subduing the lower to the higher.
They call the three qualities sattva, light or truth, rajas,
passion or desire, and tamos, darkness or indifference.
"These are the powers born of nature; they bind . . .
the eternal lord of the body within the body."

Thus the history of man reflects his age long strug-
gle with the triangle. Again and again he has revolted
against the eternal over lordship of the soul, rebelled
against the triangle, tried the parallel — the feminine
principle adores the parallel — only to discover that Na-
ture will not tolerate anything so dull as two straight
lines ; he has tried to repeat himself, to rest, to lie down,
only to find that Nature objects to resting, or sameness,
or standing still. He has attempted to abandon it to
escape from the "Plain of Truth"; he has gone off on
tangents of experimentation with only one side of his
nature; he has taken up cults of phallicism, stoicism,
epicureanism, asceticism and a thousand others with
the avowed purpose of realising life ; he has sprawled on
the bottom with the serpent of materialism and sensu-
ality; invented the French triangle; tipped it in every
possible way that he could think of, dragged it about
with him like a chain and ball

He couldn't live with it, and he couldn't live with-
out it, for it was himself, his family, his universe, his
gods, his all. And one may not unfairly ascribe the
swift rush of decadence that has occurred again and
again in history to these times of rebellion against the
demands of the whole nature, to the fact that man had
lost his sense of proportion, lost his conception of him-
self as 'three in one.'

338 Hilt S>pml3ol2;

Now comes the most interesting and illuminating
as it was the most daring of all religions. The highest,
the most poignantly beautiful conception — the Chris-
tian religion — may be called the absolute revolt of the
soul. Heretofore, in all his religions of life, man had
reckoned with his three-fold nature.

It was reserved for the Christians to give an unex-
ampled twist to the symbol. Like all other religions it
was a new presentation of an ancient idea — something
built out of the old, a part of the ever flowing stream of
life. The Church Fathers discarded, codified, retained
many of the old solar myths under a new form, retained
the Eucharist, created a magnificent, "comprehensive
system where under the shadow of a great epic ... a
place was found for as many religious instincts and as
many religious traditions as possible."

The Church naturally and inevitably took over all
the old symbols of life that have figured in every re-
ligion. The cross became the symbol of Life Everlast-
ing and the triangle was as usual the highest symbol of
all — the symbol of the Trinity now realised in one God
— Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

The history of Christianity may be regarded as a
prolonged and hectic combat with the triangle.

Mankind, ever amenable to suggestion, soul sick of
everything that other religions were offering, ready to
try anything that was the exact reverse to a degenerate
and corrupt paganism — the early Christian typifies the
inspiration of the impossible. While accepting the
symbol, he resolutely rejected the base, cut away the
foundations of his own being, and, poised on the peak
of the triangle endeavoured to live in the soul alone.

Nothing more sublime nor more pathetic was ever
attempted.

©fje SCriangle 339

He believed that the world was coming to an end,
that the second coming of Christ was near, that the here-
after was all.'' He welcomed torture. Death was a
sweet pmiishment that proved his faith. When he
couldn't die for his belief, he mortified the flesh, wore
hair shirts, inflicted flagellations upon his quivering
body. He renounced the world, took to the desert — and
wherever he went, whatever he did the triangle came
to disturb him. No amount of blinding himself as to
ultimate values, no denials, no affirmations of what con-
stituted the highest expression of life could change its
proportion, nor lessen its power as an irresistible force
that soon or late must be reckoned with — soon or late
would demand its toll.

He himself had been formed by the union of two.
The three in one of which the triangle was the potent
emblem was himself, his universe, his God. Yet as real-
ised in himself he despised it. He gave up family. He
became a monk — transcendental, mystic. He would
live on a point above everything earthly without visible
means of support. And to his credit, be it said, the early
Christian has given us the highest proof of sincerity
and the most exquisitely beautiful religion the world
has yet known.

The trouble was, of course, the triangle.

* It has been shown how essential and integral a part of the Jewish
belief in the Messiah was this expectation of the final completion of his
mission in the dissolution of the world, and the restoration of a para-
disiacal state in which the descendants of Abraham were to receive their
destined inheritance. . . . This appears to have been the last Jewish
illusion from which the minds of the Apostles themselves were disen-
chanted. And there can be no doubt that many of the early Christians
almost hourly expected the final dissolution of the world, and that this
opinion awed many timid believers into professions of Christianity and
kept them in trembling subjection to its authority." — Milman's "History
of Christianity."

340 life ^j>mbol£(

Men married still — common men — not men with re-
ligion as their avowed purpose in life — loved and mar-
ried, for there is no doubt that, in spite of its manifold
faults, there is something very lovable about the femi-
nine principle. In this new religion the "notion of
woman as the ally and satellite of Satan" which harked
back to the Hebrew version of the Fall of Man was in-
tensified by the "institution of sacerdotal celibacy." The
fact that woman was now regarded openly as an in-
fluence to be fought against and resisted put her in the
irresistible and j)leasurable category of the forbidden.
Not that she wished to be there. On the contrary, tak-
ing her colour as usual from the prevailing mode of
thought, she wished ardently to be a nun.

She was a nun — and a thoroughly good nun at that.
And if man had stayed a good monk, no doubt the prob-
lems of our modern civilisation would have been spared
us — for there would have been no civilisation — the
Christian materialistic one, I mean. There would have
been no fundamentalists or modernists. We would
have been dead long ago. We would have died out in
purity and sanctity — the soul triumphant over the body.

But it was not to be. It wasn't in man to be a monk
too long. Life is too strong to permit so simple a solu-
tion. Because he had placed himself a bit too high,
though, in the beginning, one can understand why, in
yielding to the inexorable need of his nature, he did so
with a feeling that he was falling and that sex was a
shameful thing. Consciously or unconsciously this atti-
tude has pervaded the Christian religion ever since. In
truth, the Christian had many things, many discrepan-
cies, many wide gaps between his professions and what
he really was to trouble him. Demons and wild beasts
iii the jungle were nothing to the tortures that were in-

flicted by his own alert and chastening soul. Nor was
that all. lie was sore beset, not only by the triangle of
himself — his three-fold nature — but by the triangle as
an emblem of the Trinity.

Believing the Christian religion to be a direct ema-
nation from God, the position of the symbol became a
torment to the theologians. To reverse it meant multi-
plicity instead of ultimate union with the Most High.
To keep it as it was suggested the old days of pantheism,
the divine in everything merging in the One above All.

Controversy raged in the Middle Ages over the in-
terpretation of the Trinity by the equilateral triangle.
The Trinity became a metaphysical subtlety — a source
of acute contention to the keen intellects of the thir-
teenth century who "cared little to comprehend any-
thing but the incomprehensible."

The attempt to change the whole nature of man in
order to make it fit into an idealised, dogmatic, denying
religion — or conception of Life — became like a strait
jacket to the normal minded, thin ecstasy and emotion-
alism to the dreamer and an uneasy ghost to the logician,
who is rarely concerned with the essence of things — and
religion is the essence of life. It was at this period
when discussion of the Trinity ran highest — especially
in France that the Church stepped in. It poured oil
upon the troubled waters. It diverted, disarmed,
soothed. The Church saw with alarm that instead of a
religion it had a debating society on its hands, that its
whole system which was to have been above body and
mind was now lodged firmly in the mind, and was be-
coming as a consequence coldly, arrogantly intellectual
— a lop-sided development into the soaring and unfet-
tered masculine, which might lead anywhere under the
shining sun — anywhere except to unity. There was

342 ILiit ^pmbolsJ

but one brake that could be applied successfully to this
intellectual runaway called the masculine principle.

The Church applied it, deftly, artfully, delightfully.
It exalted the feminine. The Church became the
Mother Church. And the divine Mother of Christ the
second Eve, the Mother of all the world, the Virgin of
Virgins. In devotional pictures she was crowned as
the Queen of Heaven and was given the sceptre. At-
tended by adoring angels she was the Queen of Angels.
Weeping or holding the crown of thorns, she is our
Lady of Sorrow (Mater Dolorosa). She is the Ma-
donna, the Blessed Virgin, the Santa Maria Virgine.
She was called Stella Maris 'Star of the Sea.' She was
the woman of the Apocalypse "clothed with the sun,
having the moon under her feet, and on her head a
crown of twelve stars" and was portrayed in art with
the glory of the sun about her and the crescent moon
under her feet. She was the Virgin of all the old nature
myths with a fatherless son, and was given all the old
symbols — the fleur de lis, the palm, cypress, olive, rose,
pomegranate, dove, apple, globe. The serpent was de-
picted under her feet in allusion to the prophecy 'she
shall bruise thy head,' and seven doves typifying
the gifts of the spirit, when she is depicted as the
Mother of Wisdom (Mater S apientice) . In the
days of chivalry the Virgin was given the title of Our
Lady — Notre Dame, La Madonna. She became the
Virgin of Mercy — Our Lady of Succour and appeared
as intercessor. Her most popular representation in art,
however, was as Mater Amahilis or the Virgin and Child
where she is depicted simply as the Mother. Raphael's
pictures of her in this character have never been sur-
passed.

The Church succeeded beyond its hopes. Worship

©fje ^triangle 343

of the Virgin became a passion, sweeping intellect aside,
before, with it, engulfing it.

Henry Adams devotes a characteristically amusing
chapter to this in Mont Saint Michel and Chartres.
He says "Not only was the Son absorbed in the Mother
but the Father followed, and the Holy Ghost fared no
better. The poets regarded the Virgin as the Templum
Trinitatis. . . . The Trinity was absorbed in her. . . .
This is a delicate subject in the Church and you must
feel it with delicacy without brutally insisting on its
necessary contradiction."

This graceful assumption could not last, however.
Still maintaining the idea of a direct and definite revela-
tion that broke with tradition, as she gradually incor-
porated into her religion the accumulated wisdom of all
the ages back of her, enemies within and without accused
the Church of subterfuge. The Catholic Church knew,
if her critics did not, that she could do no other and re-
main a religion of life. The Church realised but too
well that it could have no real and vital religion and
no adherents or followers if it broke with Life — and
Life was sex, life was three-fold, life was body, mind,
soul — father, mother, child.

The triangle spoke irrefutably of this one eternal
truth. While adopting the symbol the tenets and dogma
of the Church denied by implication its meaning. And
it may have been because of this — because of this funda-
mental difference that no amount of argument or soph-
istry could reconcile, that bigotry took the place of
faith and self-assertiveness of meekness. In spite of
all that she believed, all that she stood for the Church's
record became one of hypocrisies, compromises, perse-
cutions, intolerance, worldliness. Exalting the Virgin
was undoubtedly the most mystically satisfying of all

344 TLiit ^pmbols!

the things that had been adapted from past religions by
this most deeply mystical and esoteric religion. In ex-
alting the feminine principle the Church was simply
responding to the inexorable need of the human heart,
although in doing this she was contradicting the idea
upon which Christianity was founded. In this new re-
ligion of the soul alone, there could be no soft dalliances,
no pleasures that were not deadly sins. The flesh not
only was to be subdued, but harshly, ruthlessly sacri-
ficed to the spirit. It was a swing of the pendulum, per-
haps, against the dissolute practices of a decadent
paganism. Another of man's undying efforts to realise
his best. The Christian religion was built up upon the
belief that once the soul was satisfied there would be,
could be no heart hunger nor physical hunger. Christi-
anity was founded upon the idea that life was of no ac-
count— something to be extinguished gloriously in order
to win Eternal Life.

'Dying to live' was again the keystone, but living
was not renewed annually with the awakening of na-
ture in the Spring, but removed from this world entirely
to a remote region of the fancy — a 'new heaven and a
new earth' where there 'shall be no more death neither
sorrow nor crying . . . for the former things are passed
away.' It was in the Holy City of the Apocalypse, its
streets paved with pure gold, its walls garnished with
precious stones and each gate a pearl. There in the
midst of the street of it, on either side of the river — a
'pure river of water of life' — thei'e stood "the tree of life
which bore twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit
every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the
healing of nations." (Rev. 22: 2.)

To adjust a religion to life that had originated in a
magnificent though futile disdain of life required com-

3Cf)e ^Triangle 345

promise. But no matter how delicately administered
nor how deftly inserted, the soul, which had been tri-
umphantly in the ascendant so long, sniffed the
danger to itself in the Church's attitude and re-
sented it.

Revolt flamed up again in Luther only to find the
last condition worse than the first. Still doing battle
gallantly, implacably against our own evil nature we
dropped away from the Wise Mother Church which was
prone to forgive, prone to deal too kindly with those
who failed to sacrifice the flesh to the spirit. We of the
protesting religions once more sternly abjured the femi-
nine principle. We refused to regard the Virgin as an
object of worship. We discarded myths, symbolism,
saints, poetry. The old Covenanters tried to abolish the
festivals of Christmas and Easter as heathen celebra-
tions carried over from paganism — as, in fact, they were
— but here nature was too strong. Nature and habit to-
gether can outwit even a Scotch Presbyterian. Christ-
mas and Easter refused to be banished from the pro-
testant religions. Or, what is more likely we refused
to let them go. Most of us retained the Trinity and all
of us the belief that Christ was born of a Virgin. We
had, in truth, borrowed most of our religion from the
Catholics, as the Catholics had borrowed before us, in-
corporating from the past those things that can never be
safely discarded — except, in our zeal to purify and be
'holier than thou,' we had taken a religion founded on
love, and again made it an expression of all that was
unlovely. And all the time we were trying desperately
to be good.

And thus, after vain struggles and acrimonious con-
tentions with the Mother Church, whereby we gained
nothing in saintliness of living and the Church grew no

346 JLiit ^j>mtjols(

worse, perfectly outraged by our own insubordination
we landed as inevitably as you please into the dismal
and depressing triangle of Galvanism — Original Sin,
Depravity and Atonement.

And there we remained, grim, determined — resolved
on uprightness for ourselves and others — alas, very
much for others! A hard and sterile formalism seized
upon the tenderest and most elevated of all religions.
We became puritans. We kept the Sabbath. We
burned witches — until we couldn't stand our own re-
pressions any longer. We broke up into innumerable
sects, each professing to be Christian, and each antago-
nistic to the other. We had — not a re-birth into joyous
living — ^not yet. We were now quite past being saved
or mollified or even distracted by the feminine princi-
ple which, left to itself was making ready to enact
a new role. Siva the god of religious apathy and de-
struction had become our master, multiplicity our ab-
sorption, wars — industrial wars, political wars, sex wars,
wars of aggression, wars for greed and power our
occupation.

This culminated in 1914, as if in response to some
imknown and undreamed of Law, in the greatest war
of all history.

The war ended leaving us suddenly, brutally con-
fronted by the fact that we have added enormously to
the means of life — the accessories, the non-essentials —
have acquired an incredible amount of knowledge as to
scientific ways of destroying life, but of Life itself,
whence it comes and whither it goes we know no more
than the first man of all.

Since the Armistice that left us so far from peace,
we have been drifting, appalled by our own complexity,
reduced to confessing that so far, as Santayana puts it,

®f)e arriangle 347

mankind has found "no way of uttering the ideal mean-
ing of life."

The ancient Greeks, perhaps, came the nearest. No
race has equalled them in joyousness of living, nor left
such imperishable records of beauty in drama, art, litera-
ture. No race more fully lived. The Greeks developed
the whole man. They had such a healthy conception
of life, such balance, that everything that they did was
done intelligently and beautifully. They believed that
all was good — soul, mind, body. In time, however, as
their power as a nation weakened, their poetic concep-
tion of life became dulled and gross, they lost their sense
of balance, of just proportion, and yielding to man's be-
setting sin, they concentrated upon a part instead of
the whole, ended by exalting the human body as the
highest and most beautiful of all things — and the Greek
civilisation passed out with so many others.

The triangle looks back upon a long, long path. It
still holds its inscrutable message of Perfection, of the
Unrealised. This immutable symbol in its stark, aus-
tere, almost terrifying simplicity suggests an interpre-
tation of life that had it been realised in the physical or
family sense alone, must have carried us to the skies.

In witnessing the failure of the soul when it disdains
the body — its failure alone to preserve a pure religion
of life unsupported by mind and body, one asks, if the
old feud between soul and body could be made up — is
that it? Had the Greeks paid greater homage to the
soul — it is so eocigeant, the soul — might they not still be
the leading race? Has not the soul been a little selfish
these past two thousand years — one hesitates to say it
— but has it not? Must the soul put itself into every-
thing that the mind conceives and the body performs —

348 %iit S>pmbols;

lose itself to find itself — the soul above, but permeating
and making divinely beautiful the whole man — is that
the message of the triangle?

It is so important ! No wonder the ancients debated
the position of the triangle. If we hold strictly to the
analogy of the trinity, to the unit of three in one, we
must conclude that the religion of life holds further pos-
sibilities never yet fully realised — possibilities of orderly
sequence, orderly progression, going forward with your
whole self.

XXII
CONCLUSION: MAINLY CONTROVERSIAL

"Man is a mis-shapen monster with his feet set for-
ward and his face set back. He can make the future
luxuriant and gigantic so long as he is thinking about
the past . . . to-morrow is the gorgon; a man must
only see it mirrored in the shining shield of yesterday.
If he sees it directly he is turned to stone." — Chesterton.

349

XXII
CONCLUSION: MAINLY CONTROVERSIAL

LA FONTAINE, who borrowed from ^sop,
from history and mythology, from all the arts
and professions as well as the popular customs
of the day, composed his fables, one half suspects, for
the delight he experienced in tacking on to them a few
observations — moral or otherwise — of his own.

As this book is another borrower from the eternal
sources of myth, fable and symbolism, I trust that I
may be forgiven for following so illustrious an example.
Although, I hasten to add, these are hardly conclusions
— it is most unsafe to draw conclusions about life — and
there is but one moral. The rest is speculative, scarcely
more than suggestion, in no sense assertion — the specu-
lations that come unbidden to the mind that seeks with-
out prejudice, bias or partisanship for truth.

Nothing has greater or more enduring interest than
to be meeting and overtaking ourselves on the long,
brightly checkered path that history makes. It is on the
whole an enchanting path — made so by ourselves. It is
ours — our record.

When I return from one of these excursions, my
mind still full of these ancient, lovely myths and beliefs
— ^physical, mystical, spiritual — each supplementing,

351

352 life S>pmbote

supporting, strengthening the other, — I look at man
with fresh understanding. I find him a dear — at core
quite imtouched. I feel like saying joyously as one
says to a much loved friend who has been away for ages
but has now come back, "Well, here you are! And you
don't look a day older than you did before you went
away." You see, in the present civilisation we have
missed him, he has been away a long time.

Always doing something grandiose, superlative,
spectacular — this man! In one age he is obsessed with
pyramid building, in another he creates aeroplanes and
automobiles and moving pictures. His toys change
but he himself remains the same. He is forever busy
hitching something together to see how it will work,
even "hitching his wagon to a star" if he happens to
be Emerson.

Here he is! Impelled by the same forces — the
same creature of insensate passions, having the same
desires, wants, emotions, the same needs, same longings,
same conflict of wills

Curiosity enormous

The same unquenchable love of theorising and pro-
phesying and explaining

Pursuing throughout the ages the same path from
unity through duality to multiplicity

The same losing the way in multiplicity until forced
to go back to unity again.

As we survey man's picturesque efforts to change
nature and change himself, to understand nature and
understand himself, the real wonder is, not that we
have lost our way so often, but that in the maze —
mostly self-created — we ever find it at all.

In all this maze of ideas, however, two things stand
out and they are curiously explicit. One is that we

Conclusiion 353

never get away from the swing between the two forces,
Spirit and Matter or Form.

The other which is equally emphatic, inescapably
so, and will be referred to at some length later on, is the
survival of om- primal instincts.

Whenever religions past or present lose them-
selves in subtleties neglecting the substance, or again
when they pay greater attention to form or its visible
aspect and neglect the invisible spirit they fall into
decay.

To keep these forces in equilibrium has teen the
problem of the ages — the problem of ancient religions.

All symbolism deals with these two principles which
merge into the Creative Life Principle. Methods and
manifestations change and pass out, the Eternal things
remain.

Death has various ways of terminating man's exist-
ence on earth. He may meet it now flying or in an
automobile accident, where in Roman days it overtook
him in the hippodrome or in chariot racing. Yet —
Death itself as a force remains unchanged.

Life, Death.

Spirit, Matter.

Light, Darkness.

Heat, Cold.

Fire, \¥ater.

Order, Disorder.

Osiris, Set.

Man, Woman.

These are the unchangeable forces — the "pair of
opposites," that were forever being sjinbolised in

354 ^i^t ^pmbolsf

the effort to adjust the equilibrium of harmonious
life.

Beyond death man sees life renewed by the same
power of progression that brings light again as dark-
ness passes. His desire to prolong either phase, to make
day into night, or night into day — to worship either
principle exclusively, or to negative both principles
and worship their manifestations, may account for his
many failures. In spite of failure, however, his ideal-
ism persists. That's the beauty of him. No matter
how often deceived, nor how many times he deceives
himself, a(ii fond "man is the born enemy of lies."

The one thing that we cannot afford to lose sight
of — cannot let little things crowd out, is the tremendous
importance of man and woman since time began.

The potency still of the old religious symbols of the
dual principles show how momentously they have im-
pressed themselves upon religion and civilisation. If
the father god is worshipped exclusively you have a
certain sort of a civilisation. When the pendulum
swings and the Mother goddess is exalted you have
another kind which eventually and inevitably, it would
seem, passes out.

In all religions, as in Life itself, there are the two
forces, one non-progressive, inert, becoming static —
those who would sit by the tranquil stream of life dream-
ing that all is known, all has been said — and those who
like fire rush on sweeping over and consuming the re-
sults of ages of effort, unless checked by the wholesome
power of water — or the negative force that binds and
restrains. Thus man fails when he drops out of the
unhurried movement of life, when he no longer re-acts
to change; he also fails disastrously, creating wide-
spread havoc when he rushes headlong, bent only on

Conclusiion 355

change and loses the resilient power of coming back.
It is this coming back that is so great. And it is here
that the feminine or passive principle is of such enor-
mous value. It corrects the excesses of the masculine
not by any power of reasoning but simply by the law of
its own being.

Whenever the vibration between the two forces
Spirit and Matter or Positive and Negative ceases to
be normal and creative, there comes conflict, antagon-
ism, dissolution.

The old religions all show this — show poise first,
then overbalancing of forces, a weakening of the spirit
until the material preponderates; matter or form with-
out the quickening power of the spirit becomes inert,
lifeless, unresponsive, corrupt — and religion and
civilisation go out together.

Throughout his entire history one finds the tendency
to develop one side — never the whole nature of man —
to sacrifice and subdue, never to strengthen, which
force is to be subdued depending upon which force is
in the ascendancy.

The Christian religion, as we have seen, began in
a supreme disdain of form. It was the soul's revolt
against the corrupt practices of a decadent paganism.
And it seems scarcely an exaggeration to say that in
Christianity the soul took the bits in its teeth and ran
away with religion. It opposed itself relentlessly to
nature worship, and quite as relentlessly to the feminine
principle, which happened at that time to be the princi-
ple that men were worshipping. The soul had again
been forgotten, and it exacted penance to the last ounce
of flesh. It contrived a religion of expiation for past
orgies. Making no attempt to reconcile the dual prin-
ciples it scorned the body, nature, earth. Instead of

356 TLift ^pmbols;

illuminating the dark corners of existence the soul was
now chiefly concerned in absorbing all life and light for
itself.

I confess that the soul troubles me. I think the
soul can trouble any one. Having had some experience
with eocigeant souls I believe that there is nothing so
unstable as the human soul. I am inclined to think
that the soul can be recalcitrant, proud, obstinate, a
self-willed shirk. The body automatically rebels, where-
as the soul willfully neglects its job. It loves to soar
in higher space, to imagine, dream, escape restraint.
It is even more insubordinate than the mind, for mind
and body are both clay whenever the soul is content to
use them to express its purpose.

If you happen to have one of these dodging, soaring,
escaping souls, that loves to dwell in the blue ether and
doesn't care a bit whether you are symmetrical or not,
you will understand what I mean. And I cannot help
fancying that you will agree that the abandon to the
soul of all religious functions has not improved our
minds, our bodies, nor our looks.

The soul cares nothing for the body, however. It
is no penance to the soul to mortify the flesh. It adores
it. I am perfectly convinced that the early saints took
ecstatic and cruel delight in mortifying the poor, quiver-
ing, agonising body. It was done as a re-action against
a corrupt paganism that had exalted the body above
the soul — but was it religion?

Not being at all sure that it was ever intended that
the soul should refuse to live at peace with the body,
or that it should leave the body before the last flight
comes, I ask the question tentatively. Can the soul
create, and has it been able to create a workable religion
alone? Has not the soul been a rebel in the Christian

]

Wm'\ a

,/;<'4

W0-

; :--V'->->^^

Photo. Alinari

Psyche
(Museo Nazionale, Naples;

Conclusion 357

religion enjoying itself hugely at the expense of every-
thing else, sanity included?

If this seems a little harsh, I may add that I am
only inimical to the soul that is draped in pretension.
There is proof on every hand that there is nothing so
easy as to lose yourself in spiritual ecstasy. One can
be a spiritual voluptuary as well as a physical volup-
tuary. And what is far more menacing, spiritual ecstasy
has an ominous way of degenerating into the physical.
Having a somewhat difficult soul that would soar off
on the slightest provocation, the point I would make
is this. Whenever the soul attempts to escape from
the body, when it loses the protection, the sanity, the
form given it by the body does it not, as a rule, fall vic-
tim to its mortal enemy the mind — fall prey to a sort of
arid, unemotional intellectualism that eventually de-
stroys it? If the soul is the animating force of the body
can it afford to neglect the body? Does not the soul
also need the body as well as the body the soul ?

When the soul rises up undaunted after disaster we
hail it joyfully. It represents to us the eternal triumph
of life. It may be true as the Catholics say that certain
natures are called upon to be high examples of faith
and renunciation for all the world to see, but I am
always a little afraid when the soul seems to be having
too good a time. There is nothing so conducive to one's
own inner cheerfulness and every one else's misery as
being an acknowledged martyr.

Chesterton describes the death of St. Francis of
Assisi on the bare, cold earth, and adds, that in spite of
physical suffering he was probably the happiest man in
the whole world.

There is not a doubt of it. He had carried the mat-
ter consistently through.

358 nut ^pmbolss

If I may be permitted to say so, and without
the slightest wish to offend those who look upon
the soul as an infallible guide, I think that in
the Christian religion, except at brief intervals of
recurring sanity, the soul has been having the time
of its life.

I was expressing myself in some such way to a
Jesuit priest not long ago.

He looked at me keenly, then said thoughtfully
"So you think that in the Christian religion the soul
went off on a spiritual lark."

As I had been working for months and months with
archeologists who make tentative suggestions, rather
than positive assertions, I replied cautiously, making
use of the time honoured archeological phrase "It may
be so."

The point is, however, that much as you may regret
it, nothing stays. These revolts against paganism and
materialism were necessary, and the body must be put
down if the soul was to pursue its high and respected
way alone — but was that the intention ? Did Life really
mean that the soul should ignore the body and go off
on spiritual quests alone?

We are enormously amenable to suggestion. Al-
though in medieevalism the Christian religion — ^having
gradually adopted all the old nature ideas that have
been interwoven and are a part of every ancient religion
— flowered into transcendent beauty, yet after a period
the suggestion of penance returned. We had been
taught to fear beauty — to fear being naturally, health-
ily happy. We continued in our cowardly, shrunken,
fearing hearts to look upon pleasure as a sin and Nature
as an enticing j ade unless you worked for her, when she
became a remorseless hag. We accepted the feminine

Conclusiion 359

principle grudgingly yet we had to bow to form, and
never were more beautiful forms created than in the
JMiddle Ages during the time when the two forces were
harmoniously united by the far seeing wisdom of the
Mother Church.

Nevertheless one must be dull, indeed, who does not
detect an undercurrent of protest even when yielding,
as if the soul once having tasted the joys of heaven was
impatient with everything that had to do with earth.
Having once been a runaway, it continued to be a run-
away, ready on the slightest provocation to spurn mat-
ter. Yet without matter it could create nothing
beautiful.

A letter from Ralph Adams Cram expresses admir-
ably the necessity for form. While looking upon
Christianity "that is to say explicitly and definitively
Catholic Christianity as a divine revelation," he goes on
to deplore the passion for the "big thing." "This ap-
proaches too closely to that imperialism which is the
nemesis of our modern civilisation. Devotion to the
'big thing' means the forgetting of limitations. Your
limitations are exactly the greatest gift of God to man.
Without them we should be amoeba or jelly-fish or in-
determinate gases. We must work within our limita-
tions, that is what life is for. Chess is a good example.
It would not be a game at all but for its magnificently
narrow, and therefore broadening limitations. We have
got to see everything in the large, regard life as a whole,
but we have got to work within those limitations which
are imposed upon us. Forgetfulness of this fact is the
nemesis of Unitarianism, New Thought, Christian
Science, Pragmatism, all the vague and illusory re-
ligious and philosophical delusions of modernism. The
greatness of great art is that it works within the hide-

36o life ^pmboljf

bound limitations of its media. So in the case of life,
of which art is type and an exponent."

Except for that lovely flowering time in medieval-
ism never has the contest between spirit and form been
more virulent than in the Christian religion. And it is
the petering out of the soul when permitted to splash
on its own, that is the most startling of all of Life's
paradoxes. If we had not been trained for centuries
to look upon the soul as sacrosanct we would all see
this.

Those who have made a study of the occult declare
that it is quite possible under certain conditions for
the soul of an Adept to leave the body, but admit that
it is an extremely dangerous thing to do, for if any-
thing happens to the deserted bod}^ during its absence
the soul must wander without a home.

This may explain much that would otherwise be in-
explicable. While materialism has been permitted to
flourish, crowding out the dreaming, wandering, run-
away soul, the soul, wearied by too much freedom, de-
generates into revolting charlatanry in its fatigued
efforts to present itself in some new and startling form.
Its dominance over various nondescript religious cults
is really a plea for the materialistic pleasures of life.
The soul is now beseeching the kind graces of matter
— asking matter to take it in. Yet even now it does it
arrogantly, condescendingly, as if it knew all the tricks,
as if material things belonged to it, were its to bestow.
These cults have nothing to say about martjTdom or
sacrifice or crucifixion for the right. Their promise is
the material blessings of health and prosperity.

The Egyptian is the oldest conception of a real life
hereafter of which we have any record. They said
of the dead "they depart not as those who are dead

Conclusion 361

but they depart as those who are living." And they
were the first who made happiness in the future life
dependent on character.

Decadence set in in that oldest of known civilisations,
in precisely the same way, broadly speaking. The High
Priests in the Nineteenth Dynasty, corrupted by power
and money were anything but religious. One hundred
and fifty years later the dethronement of the Pharaohs
was brought about by the priests. The kings no longer
prayed for character and the blameless life but for the
material things which they desired. Breasted in his
History of Egypt quotes a prayer of Rameses IV to
Osiris which might be uttered in any one of the religious
cults of the present day.

"And thou shalt give to me health, life long exist-
ence and a prolonged reign; endurance to my every
member, sight to my eyes, hearing to my ears, pleasure
to my heart daily. And thou shalt give to me to eat
until I am satisfied, and thou shalt give to me to drink
until I am drunk. And thou shalt establish my issue
as kings forever and ever. And thou shalt grant me
contentment every day, and thou shalt hear my voice
in every saying when I shall tell them to thee, and thou
shalt give them to me with a loving heart. And thou
shalt give to me high and plenteous Niles in order to
supply thy divine offerings and to supply the divine
offerings of all the gods and goddesses of South and
North, in order to preserve alive the divine bulls, in
order to preserve alive the people of all thy
lands, their cattle and their groves which thy hand has
made. For thou art he who has made them all and
thou canst not forsake them to carry out other designs
with them; for that is not right."

We are a little less naively dogmatic — not quite so

362 %itt ^pmtiolsJ

dictatorial to the God to whom we say our prayers. It
is a democratic age — but we pray for practically the
same things, most of us. Nor has the war even scotched
the desire for material blessings above everything
else.

Religion in its highest form is simply an avowal
of faith in the supernal glory of Life — a ritual for ex-
pressing the beauty and splendour of Life. Through-
out history the soul in its eagerness for flight forgets
that this is a three-cornered affair — this life — forgets
the mind, forgets the body, forgets that if religion is
life, spirit must enter into every phase of life, make
strong and upright the body and give animation to the
mind. It forgets that to inform form, fill it with life
and energy is the purpose. And its very forgetfulness
is death to the soul.

Life is not a mood nor is religion static. Each new
revelation is built on the old form but renewed as the
race is renewed.

The moment a religion has become definitive, be-
lieves that it has said all — from that moment it says
nothing. It has ceased to grow. And also, whenever it
typifies but one side of life, it is thin (spirit), or too
heavy (materialism).

In this most thrilling contest between spirit and
matter, one finds that neither paganism nor Christian-
ity offers man the slightest support when he permits
either force to overbalance the other. His religion is
not a support, it is — most unfortunately at times —
man's very self. If it is woozy, vaporous, weakly sen-
timental, has lost the beauty, the essential quality of
form, the man is also a sentimentalist. If it is a
frigid intellectualism without imagination — thus then
we have become.

Conclusiian 363

It seems clear enough that whether man worships
nature or worships mammon, whether he is a profess-
ing but insincere and perverted pagan or a professing
but insincere and perverted Christian his collapse
and demoralisation are equally sure.

It is also unmistakably clear that whenever the
decadence of a nation's ideals takes place something has
gone wrong with the spirit.

Along with the eternal conflict between spirit and
matter are certain primal instincts that cut their way
sharply across the tangled and intricate web of life.
The survival of these, our absolute and unfailing loyal-
ty to them and the way they can be played up to now
as in the past is almost beyond belief.

The way everything we think, feel, do, have been
and are dovetails, making a patterned whole — it is that
that ensnares thought and imagination.

It is amazingly significant, too, how true we run to
form — to that form assigned to us before history began.

With these inherited instincts either to govern man
or to be governed by him, one can see that in all his vari-
ous religions he has been trying, not only to express his
worship for an Unseen Force, but also to express and
cope with himself so that he could live at peace with him-
self. Although his religion may be dressed up in
different forms there is always the man underneath,
evincing in greater or lesser degree the same tendency
to resort to magic, propitiation, sacrifice, the instinct to
worship something higher, the instinctive reaching out
toward perfection, the same passionate devotion to
theories and discoveries, the same deathless desire to
know the secrets of life, the instinct to turn to shib-

364 life S>pmbolsi

boleths as a panacea for human woes — and standing
out above everything else is trust! Our worst heart-
aches come from betrayals of trust. Trust is such a
deeply imbedded instinct that it seems to me this in itself
negatives Frazer's assertion that most religions were
founded on fear. Fear was a weapon in the hands of
unscrupulous priests, and by fear they debased life, de-
based religion. And it is true that nations ruled by
fear never rise above savages. It seems a little warped,
however, to make the savage mind the touchstone, or to
attribute to it the creation of symbolic customs. As
far back as we can go we find wise men as well as savages
the same as now. We don't any of us really know, do
we? But we love to surmise about past, present and
future. This is another inherited instinct. We love to
surmise and sometimes — both doubtless quite wrong —
one surmise is as good as another. A woman does not
need to be an anthropologist in order to surmise. She
does it naturally.

My surmise — I say this humbly but hopefully — as to
the ancient mind and the ancient religions is that then as
now the mind betrayed the same bent, the same seeking,
the same trust, the same ardent desire to know God.
The normal man begins his life trusting in Life, with a
love for it, belief in it and belief in his fellow man. Ana-
tole France expresses this charmingly. Soliloquising
over having arrived 'au milieu du chemis de la vie/ he
speaks of tomorrow. "Demain! II fut un temps ou ce
mot contenait pour moi la plus belle des magies. En le
pronon^ant je voyais des figures inconnues et char-
mantes me faire signer du doight et murmurer, 'Viensl'
J^aimais tant la vie alors! J'avais en elle la belle con-
fiance d'un amour eujoo . . . Je ne V accuse pas. Elle
ne m'a pas fait les blessures qu' elle a faites a tant

Conclusiion 365

d'autres. Elle tiia mcme quelque fois caresse, par
hazard, la grande indifferente! . . . Malgre tout, j'ai,
perdue Vesperance . . . je n*ai plus confiance en mon
ancienne amie la vie. Mais, je Vaime encore"

We must conclude that fear is a product of human
experience. If experience forces us to part with our
behefs, we do so unwillingly, sadly, with a sense of be-
ing cheated. Faith and belief in Life is so strong in
us that failing to realise it here on earth we transfer
it to the skies.

We will trust and we will worship.

The instinct to worship is also a part of our inherit-
ance, not only to worship an Unknown God but to de-
mand a visible image that shall embody our ideas of
what is great and noble and fine. Before this image we
prostrate ourselves as much as in the days of old. Now,
however, instead of an idol of wood or stone we have
substituted human beings. Denied the 'graven image'
to worship we endow some man of heroic proportion
with all the god-like qualities. He becomes our sym-
bol of greatness.

"Now as always the great mass of men look for the
master-man who can form in definite shape the aspira-
tions and the instincts that in them are formless and
amorphous; that can lead where they are more than
willing to follow, but themselves cannot mark the way.
... It is perhaps not so much that men now reject
all leadership as it is that they blindly accept the in-
ferior type, the specious demagogue, the unscrupulous
master of effrontery. Men follow to-day as they al-
ways have and always will, the difference lies in the
quality of those that are followed." ^

In other words we are born hero-worshippers, sheep

^ "The Nemesis of Mediocrity," Ralph Adams Cram.

366 ILife ^pmbote

who must have a leader who, if not vouchsafed to us
from on high we create for ourselves. We must wor-
ship something near as well as remote.

Bay ley comments upon the recondite knowledge of
the ancients. And one must admit that whether de-
rived from the long lessons which tradition enforces,
or from a flash of divine inspiration carried on by tra-
dition, the ancients showed in many ways a deeper
understanding of life than the moderns. Here, at
least, they seemed to have understood human nature
when they provided images of the gods for man to wor-
ship.

The truth is, although you yourself may remain
loyal to your human god and spend time and strength
in keeping him propped up on the pedestal that your
faith and adoration has supplied, when he deliberately
steps down and out, what are you going to do? You
may still vociferate your belief, go out of your way to
assure the world that your hero still occupies the high
pedestal of greatness — if you are a true hero wor-
shipper you will not admit even to yourself that he
ever side stepped or slipped down from his niche, but
the public's eyes are sharp. Elevating and worship-
ping human gods is a hazardous and heartrending busi-
ness.

One has only to reflect upon how torn we were in the
United States in very recent times by our adoration
of two ex-presidents. Men who were the exact anti-
theses of each other, who typified opposing forces, re-
sponded to different needs and cravings. Each brought
disappointment and heart burnings. Each suffered,
too, from misunderstandings and abuse. Each brought
that human unpredicable quality that keeps worshippers
who say "He is that!" on tenterhooks.

Conclusiiort 367

If he only would be "that" — your human god —
but alas! more times than not he isn't, and at last even
you are forced to say wistfully, apologetically "Ah,
well! After all he's only human." But that isn't why
you worshipped him. You wanted the superhuman.

Having experienced the shattering of faith follow-
ing the Great War, having seen this ineradicable human
tendency exemplified in the worship extended to vari-
ous pohtical leaders who have none of them stood up —
except Mussolini who still stands and who is the one
great leader in the world to-day — having seen and ex-
perienced disillusion where we looked for greatness,
I am thoroughly convinced that the ancients aimed to
make life placid and gently amusing, and above all
to permit us to keep our faith when they encouraged
us to worship images of greatness. One can scarcely
doubt that they knew quite well what they were about,
that they had discounted everything that seems to us
new. They knew — one may be sure of it — that wor-
shipping a 'graven image' was a mild and innocuous
diversion compared to worshipping a human image.

I am not at all sure that we did well to permit the
Jewish mind to guide us about the 'graven image' —
not a bit sure that the graven image is an abomination,
but I like his scapegoat. Any one who has been the
family scapegoat will look back longingly to the an-
cient Jewish way of rendering harmless a peculiarly
deep-rooted instinct in the human race.

In Judaism there was the "one great annual piacu-
lum the Day of Atonement and the first sin offering
in which the temple and altar are expiated. The
second and characteristic feature of the ceremony fol-
lows. The high priest lays his hands on the head of a

368 life fepmbolsf

goat and confesses over it all the sins and iniquities of
the children of Israel and all their transgressions; the
sins of the people in the year past having thus been laid
upon its head, the scapegoat bearing all their iniquities
is led away into an uninhabited region and there let
go. In later times, at least, to make sure that the goat
with his burden of sin did not wander back to the
abodes of men, he was pushed over a precipice. . . .
Such methods of ridding the community of evils by
loading them upon man or beast and driving the beast
out or putting him to death are found among many
peoples." ^

In reading this description of an abandoned custom,
one must agree that the ancient Jew not only showed an
understanding of human nature, but that deeper know-
ledge of life which involves making human nature safe
to live with.

In other races sometimes the burden bearer was
one of themselves who was chosen by lot for a year as
in the Beltane fires.

This, too, is one of the ineradicable instincts. We
are more casual. We do it with less form. We don't
let a high priest choose the victim. We select him our-
selves. Thus scapegoats like brothers have multiplied.
We load our sins upon the handiest person — one whom
we conceive to be weaker than ourselves, more yielding
and unselfish, therefore a convenient burden bearer, and
then to be sure that the poor scapegoat — usually a friend
or relative — does not wander back into the abodes of
men carrying our load of sin exposed on his quivering
back, we push him over a precipice and congratulate
ourselves that at last we are without sin.

The ancient custom of dealing with man's desire

* Moore's "History of Religions."

ConclusJion 369

to evade consequences was considerate both for him
and ultimately for the goat, inasmuch as it made one
goat do for a multitude, thereby lessening the number
of scapegoats that are now sent heedlessly dashing over
precipices.

As I said before, one who has been the family scape-
goat does not need to be told that without a scapegoat
upon whom to cast the burden of sin we are lost, humil-
iated, discomfited — unable to hold up our heads. The
scapegoat found, on we go gaily. Human nature de-
mands that some one offer himself as a sacrifice for the
sins of others.

Nor does one need to be told that in politics, too,
this instinct still prevails in even more than its old time
liveliness and vigour. Hardly any one who is now in
politics can hope to escape being a scapegoat. Instead
of the blind leading the blind, it is scapegoats driving
scapegoats. At the brink of the precipice even the
driving ones balk and the merry chase goes on back
somehow into power. The only requirement is a vola-
tile nature, the ability to leap from crag to crag — and
that, of course, a political scapegoat unblindfolded has.

There is still sacrifice, but it is useless, unfocussed,
without direction.

We have the scapegoat, he is everywhere, but he
escapes consequences.

One finds in the modern man as in the old the same
unquenchable desire to discover the secrets of nature —
a sort of highly developed curiosity that turns us to
religion in one age and science in another.

I have commented in Woman and Man's Inven-
tions upon man's passionate invention of theories. He
was born 750,000,000 years ago — I believe that is as

370 mtt ^pmtolsf

far back at present as we are able to go — loving theo-
ries. When not trying to be something that nature
never intended him to be, he is busying himself in in-
venting some plausible reason or excuse for his being
at all. His theories are almost as wasteful of human
energy as his inventions of modern armament.

Knowing their unaccommodating nature, that they
refuse to grow or expand, for very love of them man
accommodates himself to theory. He would slice off
arms and legs — even his own — if by so doing he could
contrive to fit into a theory. He worships them — one
at a time.

It is probably true, after many disconcerting, not
to say upsetting experiences with Life that scientists
feel more at home, so to speak, with bones and fossils
and quite dead things. Bones and fossils are serious
things and conversely being serious might mean being
a fossil. Now, you may take a lot of credit to your-
self for knowing about fossils but you will never like
to be called a fossil even though you be one.

Thus we are made, preferring life to fossils.
The old religions sought to know from nature the
secret of life. Science seeks the secret from the dead.
The ancient studied nature seeking the supernatural.
Science measures skulls.

At the moment science is working in a peculiarly
complicated and contradictory way. Not satisfied with
its inevitable advent according to natural processes, it
seeks to produce death on a gigantic scale. Neverthe-
less, while constantly engaged in inventing new and
more devastating methods for destroying life, it is
equally busy in discovering ways for prolonging life.
"Can Old Age be Deferred?" is the scientific quest
of the hour.

Conclusion 371

Here, too, the monkey proves invaluable. Once our
Father, now he is our Saviour. Having enthroned the
monkey as man's progenitor, science now falls upon the
monkey gland as man's restorer.

One might refer the monkey glanders to the saying
"Those that love truth die young whatever their age" —
but one must not deprive science of its little pleasures.

One finds, too, as you look into this curious nature
of ours that the desire for perfection is a fire that dies
down but never goes out. In spite of what cavillers
and dreary pessimists are saying, I venture to affirm
that never has it burned with such ardour, such inten-
sity— one might say with such consuming ferocity as
now.

There is the same instinct, the same desire for per-
fectioning, but, the race no longer the objective, we have
become deeply concerned with the welfare of the world,
perfectioning and reforming en bloc.

In the very early days of Christianity "a kind of
sublime selfishness excluded all subordinate considera-
tions."

With everyone busy saving his own immortal soul
you can see that it might become a selfish world. With
everyone busy saving his neighbour's immortal soul, it
becomes a world of bedlamite unrest — a world that
sways with hasty exits.

True, we began by being vaguely altruistic. Hav-
ing decided that it was our duty to save humanity we
went about it loftily, majestically — preferring causes
and issues to individuals. Thus it came about that
to the conscious possessor of a seerlike quality of
mind modern life offers a continuous flow of vicis-
situde. He has the old undying instinct to preach and

372 Hilt ^pmbols!

prophesy and perfection others. Democracy invites
reformation. It also permits it. Anyone can be a
reformer. All may prophesy freely and inconclu-
sively. Prophecy and reformation have become the
pre-occupations of democracy. Having abandoned
family admonishments the modern seer feels that he
must mount a soap box or die. Alas, everyone mounts
the soap box, preaching has become an affair of the
mob. Nor is talking all. The same spirit of mob
prophecy, mob ethics has invaded literature. The same
spirit of too much.

In order to give new vent to our instinct, and also
to give it a certain lawful abandon which had the sanc-
tion of our 'holier-than-thou' instinct — another persist-
ent one, by the way — we were obliged to invent an-
other catchword.

Nothing so well shows the growth of ideas, nor
the spell of a phrase, nor incidentally, the way we can
be mentally baited and intrigued by words.

We had given much time and a great deal of money
toward benefitting humanity. Philanthropy had be-
come our hobby. Nevertheless, humanity kept oozing
away from us into the vague and illusory. Humanity
somehow refused to play up.

It was necessary to visualise again, to have a defi-
nite symbol, a form upon which we could lavish our per-
fectioning instinct.

We called it the Brotherhood of Man.

Although draped pretentiously, even deceitfully,
any one with brothers and sisters needs only a moment's
reflection to perceive that here is a phrase of something
more than soft linguistic possibilities — that behind the
seeming beauty of the words there lurks the dynamic,
not to say explosive.

Conclusion 373

Once brotherhood is assured an intimacy follows
that far exceeds the wildest dreams of democracy. The
moment you look upon your neighbour as a brother
perfectioning becomes an urgent family affair.

It is interesting to follow the peculiar gyrations —
up in the air usually — of this instinct when denied its
legitimate direction.

To regard your neighbour with the true brotherly,
corrective eye is, I repeat, more than democratic. If he
resists, baffled only for a moment, the altruistic urge re-
turns with cumulative frenzy when you reflect that this
is the Age of the Brotherhood of Man.

In a land where all are given equal opportunity to
follow the pleasantest pursuits known to man, we are
left in no manner of doubt that the most agreeable pur-
suit yet devised, the one of all others that gives zest
and flavour to life is the pursuit of each other.

"What must I do to be saved?" is no longer heard.
The cry is, and it is a full-throated one, like hounds at
bay, "How may I pluck my brother as a brand from
the burning?"

We are very much concerned, very much in earnest
about this brother of ours. The quiet, easy street of
personal salvation — not the blatant, pushing Main
Street of the present day — but the old delightful
shaded street bordered by sweeping lawns, dignified
homes, the pleasant village life, not too intimate and
not too formal — prayers before breakfast, grace at
meals. Church of a Sunday — all this is abandoned.
Forgetting that where all would reform there are none
left to be reformed, we have become such insistent pluck-
ers of each other from more or less perilous but pleasant
descents, that we are forced to make a mad rush to the
intricacies of city life to lose each other. Here, not to

374 life ^pmbols;

be balked, we form societies and movements and leagues
and employ secret agents for rescuing each other. We
enact a federal amendment with the sole aim of con-
trolling and reforming the 'other fellow.'

"To come to cypress groves exceedingly tall and
fair and to green meadows where we may compose our-
selves and converse" is no longer the objective. Fear
possesses us. All feel pursued. It becomes a part
of crowd psychology to prefer strangers. We have
not a famine but a plethora of prophets and perfec-
tionists. Where all are would-be haranguers the instinct
is to get away from those we know in the hope of find-
ing someone whom we ourselves may safely harangue.
We trample on each other ruthlessly, heedless of the
maledictions of the injured in our haste to stay the man
who is fleeing and escape from the one behind. We
dare not pause. On we go, wave upon wave, rushing
pell-mell, headed nowhere, seeking and repelling each
other.

Symonds speaking of the Renaissance says: "The
strange caprices of the later Renaissance too often be-
trayed a double mind disloyal alike to paganism and
Christianity in their effort to combine divergent forces."
Four centuries later instead of the "double mind of
the Renaissance" we are perilously near, except at spas-
modic intervals, to having no minds at all. This is so
true that governments are adopting the idea of thinking
for us on even the most trivial, not to say intimate and
private subjects. We are too wholly absorbed in the
thrilling complexities of baffling and controlling each
other to consider anything else — to consider what this
means.

One notes the paradox, too. The more we concern
ourselves with each other the less we love each other.

Conclufl(ion 375

Interest intensifies and love diminishes. As the pace
quickens there comes over us a curious combination of.
the sullenly inimical and the apathetically hostile and
indifferent. We cling to nothing but our ideas. We
are beginning to hate the object of our chase. The
truth is, we are getting tired. Perfectioning our brother
is a serious matter. We would like to slacken speed,
to pause, to rest. We dare not do so. Greater than
our desire for rest is our fear and loathing of the man
— our brother also — who is sweeping on to dispense his
wisdom to us from behind.

Our dissatisfaction with life grows. Many of us
have retired to our study, not for the sake of peace, of
a tranquil withdrawal from the busy hum of modern
life. Not at all. We make the study a vantage point
from which we continue the combat. We pelt our
brother with books. We pour out our vitriolic and our
sentimental views in books. The Younger Generation
have adopted books as a means to shock as well as at-
tack.

The colleges foster this. Each year they turn out
droves of young things perfectly trained in the technic
of writing — having every equipment except possibly
that of having something to say. Their writings must
necessarily be autobiographical — autobiographical be-
fore life has begun, or prophetic — dealing solely with
the future. One bars out from this the few who really
have imagination.

Prophecy without roots in the common experience
— which ultimately interprets itself in terms of the
universal or the accumulated wisdom of the race — de-
generates into radicalism.

And here again comes in the "Brotherhood of Man."
Much that seems almost whimsically disheartening in

376 TLiit ^pmbols!

the present day attitude toward life may be accounted
for by the fact that the moment you regard all men as
brothers differentiations cease. You no longer have
proportion. Humour passes out.

Universal dead-level-dom is a desperately serious
affair. Its adherents take it most seriously.

One sees at once the complications that may ensue
from a too close following of any idea. Trained by
the age he lives in, it is only natural that the modern
should come to feel himself self -begotten, self-created.
On the other hand, fathers having also become brothers
forget that they have sons. One can understand why
the Younger Generation alternately abuse and plead
Avith the Older Generation to move on. Science, too,
has much to answer for in this topsy-tur\y condition,
by devising ways to kill off the young and preserve the
old. Aided by science and the dentists, the old seem
only too willing to forget that the world revolves by
an orderly system of displacement. Without this con-
stant displacement there comes what we are seeing now,
congestion, lack of proportion, a furious clash of egos.

It helps one to understand, too, why the modern,
discarding the past, having gone from nothing sees
nothing ahead but himself and his o^vn personal re-
actions to life. A book that came out a year or so ago,
Ludwig Lewisohn's Uj) Stream is a striking example,
of this modern tendency.

When Chesterton undertakes to tell us What is
Wrong with the World he does it wittily, enjoyingly.
He convinces us that we have strayed away from the
Eternal Verities. He does not remove the Eternal
Verities.

Lewisohn's prophetic vision sees nothing beyond
chaos, nothing beyond the present moment, nothing be-

Conclusiion 377

yond self. After you have commended his exquisite
h'terary style you are impressed by the intense personal
egotism, and the strange binding narrowness of out-
look. It isn't even bleak, for bleakness implies wide
though barren spaces. He is not witty. He is not
grateful. He is not tolerant. He does not instruct.
He does not amuse.

It may be that this book does not accurately repre-
sent the modern, but is rather the result of an inbred
racial instinct. We cannot ignore the fact, however,
and it is very well worth noting, that it is this spirit
that is beginning to dominate, not only in literature but
is giving us through every available channel its own
arid and peculiarly uninspiring interpretation of life.

There is such a thing as brotherly hate. The spirit
that is beginning to dominate is the perfectioning in-
stinct that, standing aloof disdains to affiliate with any
but those whose minds run along with its own.

According to some of the more expert diagnos-
ticians and psychologists the same radical tendencies
that are so apjDarent in the social organism may be ob-
served in the human organism. In other words, bol-
shevism has struck in.

You have to spend only a little time in contemplat-
ing the working parts of your own machinery — which
you have believed up to now that you dominate — to
ask yourself if you do dominate. Is not your throne
trembling, too? You begin to be conscious that here,
too, the head is despised. The labouring classes are up
in arms striking for higher pay and shorter hours and
all clamouring for self-expression. You understand
why the human race is becoming stunted. The way
modern doctors and specialists treat disease invites the
belief that lungs, heart, liver, kidneys — all the various

378 TLxit ^pmbolsJ

organs of your body are bent on growing little legs
of their own so that they, too, may go off on a wild,
howling, independent prance of uproarious, social
equality freedom. The heart rebels at pumping blood
through the lungs. It would like to live for its own
heart throbs. The lungs have a wild longing to breathe
something besides air. They remind you constantly
and pettishly that they are sick of work. Each organ
magnifies itself into a separate unit jealously resentful
of the ignominy of working with or for any other part.
Forced by the inscrutable law of being to jog along to-
gether in the narrow confines of the body they wreak
their spite on each other. The true spirit of perfection-
ing, of Calvinistic reformation has entered in. The
tonsils attack the knees. The teeth menace the whole
body. The former master of his own domain is grow-
ing tired, too. Mind, the king is weakening. The
parts are greater than the whole. Aided by the counsels
of mental healers who have sprung up mushroom-wise
to assist in the restoration of the old dominance of the
mind, we are trying to think ourselves into states of con-
sciousness comparable to that idyllic state when the or-
ganism was composed of silent, willing, obedient mem-
bers. The very effort defeats itself. We are doing
consciously the things that can only be well done un-
consciously.

There is an amusing side to all this. When our
breath wheezes and our heart jumps and neuritis sets
into our arms and sciatica into our legs and we have
indigestion most vilely — we used to say that we had
lost our health. Now, we are assured by Freud — and
rather gravely, too, — one finds no suggestion of irony
— that what ails us is suppressed desires. Whatever
it is that afflicts us, this modern attitude towards the

Conclus;ion 379

parts of the human body furnishes a not inapt
illustration of our attitude as individuals toward
society.

Such is the marvellous potency of a phrase, however,
and its soothing, soporific effect upon the mind, that the
advocates of the theory of Brotherhood and Interna-
tionalism carried over from pre-war days will tell you
even now with a seraphic smile that we are all brothers.
After listening to them talk, however, you find that they
are demanding your sympathy for the criminal, nor do
they hesitate to pour out splenetic fault-findings with
the victims of the criminal who surely are brothers, too.

Thus do we spend ourselves in our eager love of
perfectioning — thus do we still make fetiches as in the
days of old — slaves to our ideas.

Even in modernism there are the same persistent
instincts but turned in, not out. There is the same quest
— productivity, but production of the unimporant,
production that creates artificial desires. The striving
for unity displays itself in the effort to build up a huge
industrial machine. There is sacrifice, too, but it is the
sacrifice of all joy or interest in work. Massed produc-
tion necessarily robs the workman of the joy of crea-
tion, of viewing the finished product as something that
he has carried through from the beginning to its com-
pletion. Naturally no amount of wages can compen-
sate for having driven the creative spirit out of labour,
for making machines of men. Yet one must believe
that this was done without intention, in blindest ignor-
ance of what would be the result. Man was simply in
the grip of one of his ideas. His soul having gone off
on one of its long flights, he sees nothing in life but
amusement and material gain. In his industrial mad-

38o TLift ^pmbols;

ness, man uses up womanhood as remorselessly as he
makes machines of men.

No religious cult of the most savage tribes could
have demanded a greater sacrifice, or a greater number
of victims. This is a sacrifice not to a God but to the
"big idea" — the sacrifice of manhood and woman-
hood, of the joy of life for the material things of life.

The primal, energising force called man hasn't a
notion of this. Having lost his reverence for life, he
has lost his sense of direction and the power to think
except in the groove defined by his one idea. In his
business life as in his religious and social life it is the
spirit that has weakened, that becomes remiss or va-
grant, that wanders away or sinks into sluggishness and
inertia, preferring listlessness and stupefaction to life.
This goes on in this three in one creature called man
until mind usurps the place formerly dominated by
the soul. And mind uninformed by the spirit gives us
a crude, hard capitalism on the one side and a crude,
striving, getting proletariat on the other. Gentleness,
grace, beauty, repose ooze out of existence and in their
place we have the antics and the grimaces of the arch
exponent of materialism — the Jew. Remaining in the
ghetto so long as society is strong, upright, inspired,
harmonious — only to come forth again with vigour un-
abated, climbing into power as society weakens and the
materialistic spirit prevails, espousing every idea that
subverts or breaks with the traditions of the past, push-
ing his way in where beauty is and by his presence he
crowds out beauty — and then vilifies the ruin of all
loveliness that his entrance makes — he is more than
materialistic — he is the vulture that picks the bones of
every dying civilisation. He is pathetic, too, for he had
hoped to pick it alive.

Conclusiion 381

He always appears when choas threatens. That is
his role, the part he plays in this world drama. More
than all else, perhaps, it is the impotent and arid striv-
ing of the mind, that throughout history has been so
strikingly exemplified by the Jew — that brilliantly in-
tellectual race that is the same yesterday, to-day and
to-morrow, that knows not the blending and growing
processes of nature, that demands entrance, speaks of
the melting pot, loves the phrase, then stands outside
the melting pot, throws stones at it, and jeers and
curses all that it has produced. A sad, dissatisfied
race, that like the mind alone uninformed by the spirit,
throws do^vn and destroys wherever it goes.

And along with modernism as with religion there is
the pathetic picture of the wandering, homeless soul
trjHing to break through and create some form for itself
in socialism, or various welfare cults organised for so-
ciety's good. Step by step with modernism go these
ineffectual and sublimely sentimental organisations that
the errant soul creates.

And step by step, encroaching somewhat, gaining
ominously in strength comes feminism, and this brings
us to Sex.

If, as I suspect, religion is life, then it comes back
to the interplay of the two forces that create life —
and here we have the problem of sex — the old problem
of Man and Woman — the forces that create religions,
civilisations, life.

The ancients, who faced nature and themselves un-
abashed, seemed thoroughly aware of this and of the
enormous importance, the dangerous importance of
sex. Their religious symbolism was built upon it. If
we look at life cosmically instead of in detached frag-
ments we find that the Divine principle of life diff eren-

382 %iit ^i^mbote

tiates more and more the higher the evolution. The
ancients never lost sight of this. As we have seen on
the foregoing pages everything sinuous, curving was
a symbol of woman. Whatever was pointed, direct
was a symbol of man. Their entire history has been
one of conflict, of union and disunion, the marriage of
forces that refuse to stay married — that keep up a
state of continual oscillation, unless they follow the law
that nature has mercifully provided and lose themselves
in the race.

Without this thought of a future in which duality
merges into unity, without the culmination which re-
sults in the child, religions vibrate between recognising
sex as all, or denying it in toto as a shameful thing.
And by religion here, of course, one means our concep-
tion, our ritual, our manual of life.

The problem is not new. Each civilisation has been
confronted with it. Whenever these forces cease to
co-operate, they attempt to supplant or duplicate each
other, become inimical or too fond — until the question
arises — and it is a very serious one — are we to do with-
out curves or are we to be all curves with nothing
straight or direct about us — or can we really be a curve
and a straight line at one and the same time?

In this connection one must bear in mind that
throughout the ancient religions it is the masculine and
feminine principles and not man and woman as indi-
viduals that are symbolised. There are all sorts of men
and women — all sorts of days, dull, grey, dark, gloomy
days, but the principles day and night, light and dark-
ness, active and passive, masculine and feminine never
alter.

The Egyptians saw eternal conflict between Light
and Darkness. They made it dramatic, poetic, inspir-

Conclusijon 383

ing. The sun rose victorious after a night spent in
battling with darkness. Light prevailed. Good had
conquered evil. The issue was a square one. It was a
splendid, heartening contest.

The conflict between man and woman is wholly
tragic, for love, attraction, repulsion, disillusionment,
disappointment enter in. Both are good and both are
evil. Neither can conquer the other without disaster.
In these sporadic attempts to break down the eternal
order of things, there is battle but the issue is not clear.
The forces are not so much opposites as they are oppos-
ing— something of the Kilkenny cat variety. The soul,
too, is again away from it all on one of its protracted
journeys.

I can hardly hope to be agreed with, nevertheless, in
spite of the painful efforts of those well meaning but
deeply harassed early Christians to convince themselves
and others that woman was an ally of Satan — backed up
by symbolism I am ready to maintain that man as the
active agent — although he has a marvellously ingenious
mind for making excuses for himself, can never honestly
squirm out of his responsibility for decadence in the
past, modernism in the present — and shall it be deca-
dence or a re-birth into a higher and finer civilisation in
the future ? His will be all the credit in either case.

There was a time when I dreamed that woman was
the spiritual leader. Before and even during the war I
used to hold her to blame as man is so fond of doing. I
no longer do so. It seems more nearly true that she
takes her entire cue from man. It may be that she out
Herod's Herod, but that is her nature. In this respect
she resembles the Jew. She carries everything to an
extreme. She is diffuse, expansive, negative. She is
water, earth, sky.

384 mtt ^pmbolsi

In the legend of Isis and Osiris, it is worth recalUng
that it was Osiris, not Isis whom Set the spirit of evil
persuades to lay himself down in the box which Set
has prepared for him. Nor does Isis go up and down
the earth searching for Osiris until after he has been
overcome by evil.

The significance of this applies equally well to con-
ditions of the present day. As I have suggested, it is
more than probable that man is the one who first leaves
the "Eternal circle from Goodness through Goodness to
Goodness" — the circle which encloses and bomids him
and which is woman, and equally probable that woman
would always remain quiescent and passive if man him-
self kept within proper bounds.

Throughout the ages when man works with nature
— with the earth, woman is important. There is some
indissoluble, mystical connection here. Whenever he
leaves nature and creates an artificial life woman be-
comes negligible. He either makes a toy of her, or tries
to fit her into the artificial conditions with which he has
surrounded himself. In either case life, the race, is the
sacrifice.

He is an interesting study — this man. Activity is
his essence. He tires of the circle, tires even of woman.
Yet having broken through he reflects upon her eternal
usefulness. Here, one cannot be quite sure. It may be
a stab of conscience or a gracious act of condescension,
or possibly he feels the need of a companion in iniquity
and invites woman to abandon the circle, too — or, per-
haps he refrains from all gesture knowing that the bar-
riers broken she will inevitably follow.

In any case, obediently out she comes, leaves the
circle, and tries to make herself into a straight line. She
becomes an office assistant, a factory hand. She enters

Conclusiion 385

man's business life to become a thing apart — the most
atrocious punishment a woman can have. Or she goes
alone and embarks on a career. In all these activities
she is outside a centre — but there is probably a mean-
ing for this. Frequently she combines marriage and a
career — attempts to be a curve and a straight line.

The change in the relationship of these forces comes
about gradually, insidiously. The effect is cumulative,
startling.

The active force called man rather flatters himself
that he is giving woman greater freedom. And so he is.
He would give her anything if she would let him alone,
except to work for him on the lines he has chosen to
exploit in the pursuit of his "big idea" — and to amuse
him when he needs relaxation.

Plutarch describes Isis as the "power in matter
which becomes everything and receives everything as
light and darkness, fire and water, day and night, life
and death, beginning and end . . . therefore called by
Plato the nurse and all receiver, but by the common
people the many sided, the goddess with ten thousand
names — because under the influence of reason she re-
ceives all forms. And she has an inborn affection for
the first principle of all things — which is the same as
good — and she longs for it and pursues it. On the other
hand she flees the evil principle and thrusts it away,
although she is space and matter for both. However,
she always inclines to the better and freely offers her-
self to it . . . for the reproduction of its likenesses in
which she rejoices."

If in spite of her new freedom, and much vaunted
power to vote — to be the equal of man, she is a bit cyni-
cal, a bit heavy hearted — no longer worshipping man or
anything else, for that matter; if one finds her a 'bit

386 TLiit ^pmbolsi

dullish' or too terrifyingly brilliant, it is due to disillu-
sion, perhaps. She is torn by her desire to follow him,
her desire to guard, protect, care for — and her resent-
ment over his indifference, his casualness, his absorp-
tion with occupations that once were hers — doing every-
thing that she once did, too much, too well — and para-
doxically not so well.

Although her power is in many ways almost unlimit-
ed, although it is again making its ominously historic
mark, she really does not like a feminised world — a
feminised world is an effeminate world, a corrupt world.
Nor does she like to be loved as man loves her now. She
is wearied with sex.

When man chooses evil he denies himself. He is
untrue to himself.

Woman is without choice, she is the acted upon —
with strange, inexplicable periods of violence, of terrific
resentments. When she finally emerges from the eso-
teric and manifests herself in the open it is as devastating
to civilisation and the orderly scheme of things as a flood
or an earthquake. She is nature first, last and all the
time.

There is no doubt that woman has broken through
the circle. The truth is, they are both outside the
eternal circle as much as Adam and Eve ever were.

By the most strenuous and emphatic exertions of the
male they have both managed to get outside their 'hide
bound limitations.' The advocates of the New Freedom
have written tomes on the subject. Much eloquence
has been expended upon the joys that waited upon this
perfect freedom and equality for both sexes. Yet even
they could hardly describe their convulsive flops and
gaspings as convulsions of ecstatic joy. Society was
built up on the ideal of noblesse oblige. In the New

Conclus^ion 387

Freedom it is the trampling of a stampeding herd that
is the ideal. Even the most hardened war profiteer who
breaks his way, like the famous bull, into society, finds it
much like the strata he had hoped to leave behind.
Without form there are no social stratas.

All sorts of things can happen when you abandon
form. The advocates of freedom and perfect social
equality object to many if not most of nature's laws.
They find nature tiresome not to say irksome. Take
the feet for instance. It is quite wrong that the feet
should support the body, thus putting the head neces-
sarily on a higher altitude. (We have referred before
to the ignominy attached to having any head. ) Having
decided that the position of the body politic must be
altered for a change, feet are now waving frantically in
the air — mostly masculine, it must be admitted, largely
encouraged by the feminine principle. As for the
head — the masculine head — ^you can't see it. It is buried
like the ostrich. There is a far fetched reasonableness
about this, too. It is the head unguided by the spirit
that has got us into this mess. The feet, however, are
wildly evident aimlessly kicking the air. Every move-
ment is a protest. You can't believe that they are en-
joying themselves, that they wouldn't prefer resting
upon the solid earth. However, the head is being pun-
ished and there is something in that. It is difficult to
say whether the Jew or woman is the more responsible
for the absurd situation. To the modernist — either the
capitalist who asks only to be left alone, or the reformer
who believes that topsy-turvey-dom creates a New
Heaven and a New Earth — the picture is not a happy
one.

One cannot deny that the feminine principle has
been doing everything possible to bring this condition

388 TLiU g)j>mbol2;

about. It has been intent on power. Once outside the
circle the two forces left form and co-operation behind.
They have lost creative desire, sex is all and the struggle
for sex supremacy is a bitter one.

Once more, in spite of the early Christian effort to
put down and trample upon the feminine principle,
"The gods die but the goddess is undecaying." The
feminine principle dominates modern society in a so-
called Christian civilisation as ruthlessly, as sans gene
as in the dying days of a corrupt paganism.

The Jew and the feminine principle are apparently
working together. Yet it is the feminine principle that
ultimately defeats the Jew. He is intent on subvert-
ing, on changing, on getting everything in his own
hands. She is slowly, consistently, implacably bent
on breaking down. He is bent on destroying truth,
honour, patriotism — everything that stands in the way
of a purely materialistic conception of life. She is bent
on destroying materialism, destroying a civilisation that
no longer represents beauty, love, livingness. Life.

It is dangerous in a man made world to teach woman
to think. In a divinely ordered world she does not
need to think.

In the grip of multiplicity, of a multitude of ideas
and enterprises that ramified to the uttermost parts of
the earth, enterprises of such magnitude, requiring such
intense pre-occupation that religion had almost ceased
to be even a Sunday affair, nothing but a smash could
stop this soaring, vaulting masculine principle.

It is not too fantastic to regard the Great War
as a crash head on between these antagonistic forces —
we called them in the beginning autocracy and democ-
racy— the final and awful conflict between the active
and passive principles, the culmination of a long and

Conclusiion 389

bitter sex warfare, each having reached the nth degree
of perversion, each representing the chmax of wilful,
unloving selfishness. And again it is the race that
suffers. It is the young that make the magnificent
sacrifice.

Although democracy won the war, the analogy holds
good in the chaos that follows the triumph of the fem-
inine or negative principle. There is nothing more
extraordinary in the legend of Isis and Osiris than
when with evil conquered and given to her to guard,
Isis lets it go. Nothing more clearly indicates the
feminisation of the force opposed to the Germans than
its hesitations, its indecisions, its willingness to let evil
escape its just punishment, its lack of vision, its ab-
solute inability* to deal with the situation.

It has been said that the great masters in any
field whether of art or finance or government make
use of precisely three forces — investigation, elimina-
tion, concentration. Democracy investigates, rarely
eliminates, never concentrates. It is expansive, diffuse,
feminine.

If there is chaos again, one cannot blame woman
too much. She is used to being held responsible for
things she has never done. Absolutely pliant to a cer-
tain point, history shows that there comes a time when
she balks. And whenever she does this, that particular
apple cart of a civilisation is upset.

These forces repay our interest in them. It may
be that the Chinese philosophy has the true conception
when it calls them the two Regulating Powers wliich
balance, counteract and discipline each other. The
Two Regulating Powers Yang and Yin create by their
co-operation all that takes place in nature. "These
two Regulators who, mutually extinguishing and giv-

390 TLiit ^pmtolsi

ing way to each other, keep at work a ceaseless process
of revolution which produces all the phenomena of
existence. . . . The struggle between and different
admixtures of these two contrasting, elementary forces
make all the conditions that prevail."

Once upon a time, this was also in the Christian era,
I believe, the masculine intellect proved conclusively
that women have no souls.

This may or may not be so. There is no doubt,
however, about the feminine mind — that it moves cir-
cuitously. It swoops around logic in one glorious
circle and arrives unerringly at the starting point. The
feminine principle describes a circle — but if that circle
invariably leads back to truth ? —

The war showed the magnificence of man. If re-
turning youth sulks, it is only because it believes that it
has failed to release beauty and honour and unselfish-
ness, because science is still trying to interfere with
orderly progression, because darkness and chaos still
control. On the other hand, there is little doubt that
chaos is the result of the feminine principle's hatred of
substitutes and semblances and imitations — the thou-
sand and one useless things that man has created on his
own initiative. The corsetless girls, the short, tight
skirts are a drive back to nature which shows itself in
the final analysis through sex. All this that the pious
or censorous regard as depravity is the surging rebel-
lion of the young pushed to the last extreme by modern
futilities and artificialities. The war, betraying the
impotence of the older generation, has given them the
right, they think, to give the final kick to a craven,
irresolute, pusillanimous, rotten state of affairs. They
are not responsible for the wretched upheaval. They
detest the falsity, the insincerities, the opportunism, the

Conclusiion 391

hatreds that brought it about. It is the natural revul-
sion.

Life — this alluring, tingling, bracing thing called
life is again back to the older, the finer struggle, the
primeval struggle between Light and Darkness. As
much as the Egyptians of old we are anxious spectators
looking on at the solar drama. There is no doubt of
our longing to see day triumph over night. We are
sun worshippers all, we adore the masculine principle.
Even the feminine principle, that strange, smouldering,
unfathomable compound of brooding tenderness, un-
reasoning jealousies, cloud burst tendencies — that en-
compassing, enfolding, loving, gently nurturing fem-
inine principle that is earth, water, sky — is never satis-
fied until the sun is restored to power.

At the moment all eyes are on Mussolini. He
stands out, not so much as a man but as a world force,
the recrudescence of the masculine principle at its best.
He represents purpose, concentration, unity. He is
direct, awe inspiring, convincing. He says to the feet,
that were waving even more frantically in the air in
Italy than elsewhere, "To the ground!"

To the ground the feet go joyfully — and very much
relieved, if the truth were known, to feel the solid earth
under them. It was all the fault of the idiotic reform-
ers anyway. Mussolini says "Talking is imbecile."
How well we know the futility of words. Have
we had anji:hing else for five weary years? Even
though man becomes secretive again — if only he will be
strong!

He tells Italy that the one thing that carries a race
forward in the struggle for existence is " Lavorare e
Ohhedire." The very sound of the old half-forgotten
words evokes boundless enthusiasm. The feet are in-

392 ILife ^pmtiols;

deed travelling on sure ground. The response is in-
stantaneous. The Italians are working and obeying
as never before. He offers his followers, what? Sac-
rifice— sacrifice of self and they accept the terms joy-
ously. And all the world watches and rejoices.
There is no doubt about it. The masculine principle
is tremendously popular. Even the feminine principle
bows in admiration before the masculine principle when
it shows itself. Is it not the Sun, Heaven, Light,
Good?

In Italy one begins to see the mystery and glory of
light emerging from darkness. The eternal process
from chaos to order repeating itself from the first myths
to the chaotic present — which must in turn give way to
order. Mussolini as a leader is appealing to the beau-
tiful, the soul inspiring thing that is in the nature of
man — his love of order, of obedience, of work, of sacri-
fice for the carrying out of an ideal.

He appeals to youth. He comimands obedience.^

Even as I write of the symbols of these marvellous
creative forces that have played such a part in religion
— those Two Regulating Powers that "create by their
co-operation everything that takes place in nature," of
the cross, creative energy; the circle, perfection; the

' The sinister murder of Matteotti has occurred since writing the above.
In New York at the time and struck by the attitude of the newspapers
there toward Mussolini, all seeming consciously or unconsciously to reflect
the attitude of Moscow, I sent one to a friend in Italy. He replied
July 10, 1924. "The N. Y. newspaper you sent me with articles on the
Italian situation makes statements of which there are absolutely no proof
whatever. It would be literally quite as justifiable to say that the Com-
munists slew Matteotti in order to put the blame on Mussolini and
Fascismo and so divert public opionion from the imminent trial of the
Communistic people accused of the murders at Empoli. There is no proof
an yet available either for the one or the other and it is an iniquity to
declare either presumption to be true. Everything else is merest surmise."

Conclusiion 393

serpent the means of combining creative energy and
perfection; the triangle, the result, the ultimate realisa-
tion of multiplicity in unity, of three in one — and all
the other life symbols, the poetic and imaginative inter-
pretations of this mysterious Life Force by those
wise and understanding ancients — and of the trouble
the soul makes, and the mind makes, until finally the
exasperated feminine principle makes trouble all

around even as I write — as if there were not enough

to bother us, word comes that the mind is trying to stir
up things again.

You would hardly believe it possible, but that is the
extraordinary thing about life that it is the same battle
again and again between the two forces, masculine and
feminine, then comes the recalcitrant soul, the usurping
mind, the body spurned or made use of — always made
to pay the price — then sex — an orgy of it — and then
the avenging Great Mother — the great nature goddess.

And then Life — living that is true again.

While I am writing of these things word comes
that the clash between the fundamentalists and
modernists in the Episcopal Church is approaching
a crisis. Not long ago the rector of one of the
most fashionable churches in New York City doffed
his priestly vestments, donned the gown of a doctor of
theology, entered the pulpit and denied the doctrine of
the Virgin Birth, questioned the Holy Resurrection
and defied his bishop to try him for heresy. On the
same Sunday another rector in another Episcopal
Church in New York who had been called to account
by the bishop for introducing classical dancing in his
church was preaching a sermon on the "Necessity of
Paganism" in religion.

Guthrie's symbolic dancing is not so much a question

394 ^if^ ^pmbolsi

of taste, but of whether you can force yourself and
others arbitrarily back into the necessary state of mind
to make such exhibitions real. Julian the Apostate
tried it, but even then the austerities of the early Christ-
ian had made an indelible impress upon the hearts and
souls of men — or, perhaps more truthfully, pure joy
had gone out of the sophisticated pagan before Christ-
ianity came in. The mistake, if mistake it be, in going
back to the pagan festivities is in believing that in a
decadent, soul-less age we can recapture the early
pagan child-like joyousness, the spirit of innocent aban-
don and faith that made them such a lovely expression
of life.

This same entertaining clergyman — and very en-
tertaining he is — also experimented, I believe, or per-
mitted the experiment to be tried — of superinducing
emotion by an arrangement of different coloured lights
streaming in on his Church audience. I don't recall the
combination, but under a blue light say — you were sup-
posed to respond by feeling religious — if anyone knows
what that means. Apparently, in his eagerness to
share with others his own abounding joy in life, poetry,
art, he momentarily lost sight of the fact that the old
colourists who produced the marvels of stained glass
were not working to superinduce emotion in others, but
to express emotion — express themselves. A subtle but
powerful difference that distinguishes the one who
creates because he must express his own soul, his own
consciousness of life, beauty, art — from the charlatan
who would play upon the soul of others.

The heart of a child which made these old nature
festivities lovely cannot be dealt out to us by some bene-
ficent being who would like to make everyone happy.
To recapture it in a world that man has made unspeak-

Conclusiion 395

ably stereotyped and ugly requires more than coloured
lights or effectively staged dances.

When the great question religion is forever pro-
pounding is Life — how to live well — the soul winces
over the pifHingness of these modern devices — of these
far-fetched doubts.

The modernist who believes that the Bible should
be interpreted in the light of modern science may in-
terpret it — but he will never change it.

I sometimes think that religion is to the mind what a
bull dog is to a collie. The bull dog seems small and
the collie large. The collie can never resist the attack
even though he comes home limping — as he always
does.

The modernist attitude is simply the old story of
the difficulties the mind finds and makes when con-
fronted by feeling.

"Le coeur a des raisons que la raison ne connait
pas."

One wonders which is happier in this mystical world
of mystery, the one who beats his intellectual brains out
trying to explain literally the eternal processes of na-
ture, life, religion — or the one who accepts Life as the
divine mystery that always eludes the intellect. The
one who opposes nature or the one who sees nature as
the "living garment of God. . . ."

Steeped in early symbolism, with your head full of
the beauty of nature, feeling yourself a part of the
"eternal stream of life and power and action which is-
sues from the original source of all life," you feel like
saying "How very unimportant this all is — what does
it matter really, poor dear old mind! How you do
bother yourself — and others — about things that do not
concern you, that you were never intended to under-

396 TLiit ^j>ml)ol2{

stand. How little the mind knows, how inane, how
stupid it is when it approaches Life!"

The mind which decries the simple lovely things
that satisfy imagination and heart, that after making
religion a profession — denies — does a futile, a hope-
lessly irrelevant and unconvincing thing. No one can
quite tell how or why, but only the mind suffers de-
feat. And whatever twists and contortions and eluci-
dations and interpretations priests and theologians have
given to religion, whenever these have opposed them-
selves to nature, life, feeling, they drive religion out of
the church doors, it is true, and have nothing but an
empty meaningless formalism on their hands. But the
amusing thing is, that while the theologian develops a
decided limp and the priest's voice has a hollow sound,
Life and nature and feeling have a way of appearing
around the corner as if quite unaware that the mind
had reduced them to a doctrine.

The truth is, you may not believe in the Virgin
Birth or the Resurrection — and you may pin your faith
on the ape as father — and you may be right, but the
fatal thing is, you no longer interest. A religion with-
out imagination is very dull. Life itself offers the
strongest protest.

These ancient symbols and customs, these gracious
beliefs founded on who knows what inner truth or
revelation — the Virgin Birth, the Eucharist, the Resur-
rection, the Blessed Sacraments — the whole ritual that
stretches back so far, opens such wide horizons of
thought, gives us such an assurance of continuity —
these are the noli me tangere of religions. He hazards
his own soul who opposes or who attempts to abolish
them.

If a Catholic can believe that he literally partakes

ConcIusJion 397

of the body and blood of Christ, don't flout it. His is
a superb conviction of one of nature's eternal truths.

Belief in the Virgin Birth is a part of the whole
iny±h of existence, going back to the beginning of all
things. Having survived every assault of the mind
will it not continue to survive?

The Virgin Birth is, perhaps, only the symbol of
Oneness that the heart demands. Man creates diver-
sity, plunges into multiplicity, gets bewildered, lost —
and back he comes to unity again. Literally the Vir-
gin Birth may or may not have been — mystically, who
can doubt?

WHien you see how important a part the Virgin
Birth has played in every myth and every religion who
could have the heart to cast it out? Personally I love
it, symbolising as it does a conception that is born of
love and not of passion.

And so, too, with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We know intellectually that there were many other
twice-born gods that were born on December 25th,
and that Easter was a pagan festival in celebration of
the awakening of nature to re-newed life in the spring.
Freely admitting this, yet we know, too, in some inner,
soul-satisfying way that it was inevitably true that
Christ should become a part also of the whole system
of awakening life; that He would have been out of it,
an abstraction if He, too, had not been given to us on
the day that had been celebrated with such joy since
time immemorial — if the birth into our consciousness
of His divine purpose and mission had not been cele-
brated on December 25th. The Church when it adopted
this knew in some mystical way that the more deeply
He was associated with the marvellous processes of
nature the more reality Christ would have for us.

398 TLitt S^vmholsi

For some Christ may never have existed. To others
He was but a man and not divine. Yet the Life of
Christ is eternally true.

Perhaps all of life is myth and fable and Death
the only reality — but those who love life think other-
wise. The great adventure is life, and death but the
thrill of awakening to a new and illimitable Life.

The undying strength of the Catholic Church rests
upon two things, the Voice of Authority and these
jealously guarded traditions of the race. In spite of
its glaring faults, its sins and omissions, its foundations
are solidly built on the eternal truths of life. "Catholic
dogma is merely the witness, under a special symbolism
of the enduring facts of human nature and the uni-
verse; it is merely the voice which tells us that man is
not the creature of the drawing room and the stock ex-
change, but a lonely, awful soul confronted by the
Source of all Souls."

When we can no longer find the truth in the myths,
rituals and symbols so preciously held and guarded,
for all generations to puzzle over until finally they come
to them as a little child, we are indeed turned to stone
and must be broken up to pave the road for others, who
pass through the portals of Life, making the quest more
gladly and joyously than we who would live in the
mind alone.

These, that I have gathered for you here beseech
your interest, your tender love and faith. Perhaps
they are only myths, only symbols of a forgotten past
— but how beautiful, how heartening they are — and
how truly they proclaim the long, long contest between
light and darkness, good and evil, order and disorder
and that light follows darkness as day follows night.

Conclusion 399

Here they are, a nosegay for you — all these imper-
ishable records and imaginings that the mind unin-
formed by the spirit seeks to destroy.

Are they not lovely — worthy of our love?

And don't they make you feel that at the very
heart of us man and woman are the nicest things that
ever happened — the most important and beautiful
things that ever happened — except the child?

And still Life goes on — pulsating, vitalising life —
the same life that revealed itself to the eager, specula-
tive eyes of the ancient seers in trees, flowers, animals,
sun, moon, stars and most of all in man himself — the
same great, unfathomed mystery.

Perhaps that is the true function of the life symbols,
the reason why they endure though civilisations crumble,
to take us back to the glorious days of wonder, to pull
us out of apathy and despair — to make us once more
tremendously, vitally, wholly alive.

GLOSSARY OF SOME OF THE MORE PROMI-
NENT SYMBOLS AND SYMBOLIC FIGURES
FOUND IN EARLY ART

401

GLOSSARY OF SOME OF THE MORE PROMI-
NENT SYMBOLS AND SYMBOLIC FIGURES
FOUND IN EARLY ART

Acacia. A mystical symbol remarkable for its reproductive
powers and used by the Egyptians in their capitals and
thence borrowed by the Greeks.

Active and Passive, Spirit and Matter. "Between these two
poles all things perpetually alternate. What lives is slipping
towards death; what is dead is creeping towards life." *

Adonis. The mother of Adonis was fabled to have been changed
into a tree which at the end of nine months burst and Adonis
was born. The story of his being found as an infant by
Aphrodite and concealed in a chest which the goddess gave
to Persephone who refused to give him up until Zeus,
appealed to by Aphrodite commanded that Adonis spend
six months with each, is simply a variant of the Babylonian
myth of Ishtar and Tammuz. Adonis grows up into a
beautiful youth, is the beloved of Aphrodite who shares
with him the pleasures of the chase. One legend relates
that Ares (Mars) jealous of Aphrodite's love for him trans-
formed himself into a wild boar and killed him. Others
represent Adonis as being carried off by Dionysos. Another
tells of Aphrodite rushing to the spot where her lover was
wounded and sprinkling his blood with nectar from which
flowers sprang up. In one myth Aphrodite changes him
into a flower. Scarlet anemones were said to have sprung
from the blood of Adonis. One of the loveliest myths is
that the red rose owes its hue to the death of Adonis. Aphro-
dite hastening to her wounded lover trod on a bush of white
roses. The thorns tore her tender flesh and stained the
roses forever red. Worship of Adonis is thought to have
originated in Phoenicia spreading from there to Assyria,
Egypt, Greece and Italy. In the Asiatic cults Aphrodite is
the fructifying principle in nature and Adonis the twice-
born god who dies in winter and is revived in the spring.
The festivals of Adonis were celebrated in Athens, Alexan-
dria, Byblus and many other places.
'"An Introduction to the Study of Chinese Painting," Arthur Waley.

403

404 (glosisiarp

Aegis. The shield of Zeus or Athene with the Gorgon's head
in the centre. Later it came to mean the breast plate worn
by emperors and others.

Agni, (ignis). The god of the moving flame at times beneficent
and again destructive.

Almond. A symbol of virginity and self-production, also fruit-
fulness. The mystical Vesica Piscis surrounding the Virgin
Mary in some representations in art is derived from the
mandorla, almond — and is used to convey the same sym-
bolic idea. Candied almonds with a white coating and
distributed in boxes to each guest is a part of the ritual of
Italian weddings. The almond is also identified with the
yoni of phallicism. "In Phrygian cosmogony an almond
figured as the father of all things perhaps because its delicate
lilac blossom is one of the first heralds of spring." (Frazer.)

Ambrosia Vase. In Chinese art this was originally a dish held
in the hand of a god to catch the dew of heaven. In the
hands of Kwan-yin it is long-necked and used to sprinkle the
water of life on worshippers. Sometimes the vase rests on
a stand beside the goddess who holds in her hand the willow
branch.

Amentet. It was during the journey of the deceased through
Amentet, the Hidden Place that he came in contact with the
gods and "invoked the powers of the amulets with which
thej' were so closely connected."

Ammon or Amen the Hidden One. A sun-god of Thebes whose
worship extended until as Amen-Ra he became the national
deity of Egypt. He is represented as a man wearing the
lofty double plumes and holds the sceptre, the cnix ansata
and sometimes the Khepesh or war knife; sometimes he has
the head of a hawk with the solar disk and urseus, and before
him the crux ansata or ankh which has been given arms and
legs and is offering him lotus flowers; or again he has the
head of a ram, crocodile or lion with the disk, plumes and
uraei. He has even been represented in the form of the
solar goose. He was usually depicted, however, with a
ram's head, symbol of creative energy, and was known as
the ram-headed god of the sun.

Amorini. A name given to the small Cupids or little love-gods
that are frequently found in the decorative art of all ages.

Amphora. A two-handled Greek vase, usually of large size and
intended to hold liquids. Some were mounted on a foot,
others not. The prize to the victors in the Panathenaic
games was an amphora.

Amulet. A word derived from the East and applied to various
objects or "charms" which, when worn, were supposed to
ward off illnesses and evil influences and bring good luck to
the wearer.

Anchor. Symbol of hope. In Jai)an an emblem of good luck.

Animal SymboUsm in Chinese Art. In the art of no other people
does the animal occupy so important a place. China has
symbolised by animals all the cosmological beliefs that for
countless ages have influenced her intellectual, moral and
social life. Her art is "symbolical narration." This primi-
tive symbolism based largely upon the zodiacal juxtaposition
of certain animals is used again and again to express certain
ideas. The twelve animals of the Duodenary Cycle were
the dragon, hare, tiger, ox, rat, pig, dog, cock, monkey,
goat, horse, serpent. "This zodiac corresponds to the
'Twelve Earthly Branches' which together with the 'Ten
Heavenly Stems' form a series of sixty combinations used
for naming the year, month, day and hour. . , . Every
Chinese knows well under which animal he was born. It is
essential that he should do so, for no important step through-
out life is undertaken unless under the auspices of his par-
ticular animal."^ ... As seems to be inevitable with the
Chinese the symbolism as it is finally developed resolves
itself back tout simplement to the yang and yin. Yang is the
luminous principle, yin is that which is cold, obscure, dark.
Yin is represented by the north and midnight, yang is south
and noon day. The morning corresponds to spring, the
evening to autumn. The animals belong either to yin or
yang. The yin animals are of cold nature, patient, slow,
often burrowing into the earth. The yang are hot-blooded
loving warmth and light. The dragon and tiger represented
the two constellations, Scorpio and Orion, The bird and
tortoise, emblems respectively of yang summer and yin
winter, only appear after them. The symbolism of the
Dragon and Tiger is very old preceding that of yang and yin.
Again one represents spring, the other autumn. The dragon
symbolises heaven, the sky, spring, fertility, the tiger, chief
of all land animals the earth. The two express the happiness
attained when heaven and earth are in accord. Representa-
tions of the Cock and Dog also typify the union of the two
forces. The cock who announces the rising sun is the sym-
bol of the east and yang. The dog who watches over the
night symbolises yin. These and many other combinations
of these fabulous animals are constantly recurring in Chinese
art as typifying happiness, prosperity, longevity. Many are
in the form of a rebus or homophone.

Anubis or Anpu. The jackal or dog-headed god Anubis is the
Egyptian Hermes. He is called the Opener of the Ways.
He is the messenger, custodian and servant of the gods, and
the conductor of souls to the promised land. Anubis was
said to be the son of Osiris and performs the service of watch-
' "Symbolism in Chinese Art," W. Percival Yegg.

4o6 (glosisiarp

ing over Isis and Osiris. In the temples he is represented as
the guard and protector of the other gods. The place in
front of the temple was sacred to Anubis. Again the horizon
was called Anubis and depicted in the form of a dog because
the dog sees both by day and night. The early Greek writers
all testify to the worship of the dog in Egypt and the myth
of the dog as companion and assistant to the gods which is
found among the Persians and Hindus probably goes back
to the worship of Anubis in Egypt. Traces of it are also
found in Greece where the "mythical Rhadamanthys of
Crete commanded that men should not swear by the gods
but by a goose, a dog and a ram." It was said that Socrates
swore by the dog as well as the goose. The jackal, a species
of wild dog was reputed to hunt up the lion's prey for him.
Thus Anubis originally the jackal type is later represented
with the dog as emblem. The confusion in term may be
attributed to the growth or domestication of an idea. Jackal
in Egypt denoted judge and it was probably the jackal god
who ministered to Osiris and acted as guide to the nether
world.

Anvil. Symbol of the "Primal Furnace," the Force which helped
to hammer out the Universe.

Aphrodite, (Venus) . The goddess of love and beauty and said by
some to have sprung from the foam of the sea. A personi-
fication of the generative powers of nature she was called
the mother of all living beings. Wife of Hephaestus she
does not scruple to have amours with Ares, Poseidon, Diony-
sos and Hermes among the gods, and inspired by Zeus she
also conceived an invincible passion for Anchises a mortal.
Her love for Adonis has been interpreted as the myth of the
changing seasons. She was reputed to be the mother of
Priapus by Dionysos and of Hermaphroditus by Hermes.
Aphrodite has a magic girdle which cannot fail to inspire
love for those who wear it. The sparrow, swan, swallow,
dove, dolphin, hare, tortoise and ram were sacred to her.
She was given also the apple, poppy, myrtle and rose. She
is associated with the planet Venus and the month of April
and the numbers three, four and seven are sacred to her.
Sacrifices offered to her were mostly garlands of flowers and
incense. The worship of Aphrodite was derived from the
East where she is identified with Astarte and the biblical
Ashtoreth. As the victorious goddess she has the helmet,
shield and sword and sometimes an arrow. She is some-
times draped but in the later period she is nude.

Apis bull. Worshipped by the Egyptians as an incarnation of
Osiris. At Memphis it was looked upon as a form of Ptah
or the "second life of Ptah," also as the son of Osiris. The
bull of Memphis has been called the greatest of gods. The

(glosisiarp 407

signs by which the newly born bull was recognised as the
god Apis have been variously described. As the bull was
looked upon by some as sacred to the moon and by others
as sacred to the sun or Osiris in whom the sun was wor-
shipped, this may account for the divergent views as to its
markings. According to Herodotus the bull was black with
a square mark of white on the forehead, the figure of an
eagle on the back and a lump like a beetle under the tongue.
Pliny described it as having a conspicuous spot of white on
the right side shaped like a crescent. Other authorities
speak of the mark on the forehead as triangular. It seems
reasonable to suppose that, as the triangle was a symbol of
divinity, whereas the square denoted the earth, the Egyp-
tians would search for an animal bearing the div'ine rather
than the earthly symbol, "As the birth of Apis filled all
Egypt with joy and festivities, so his death threw the whole
country into mourning." The bull came to be regarded as
a symbol of the astronomical and physical systems of the
priests. Under this development there were twenty-nine
marks on its body which were known to the priests. The
cult of Apis is a very old one and the connection of the bull
with Osiris a very obvious one. "Osiris as a water god
poured the Nile over the land"; the bull god as the personi-
fication of virility and might provided the strength which
enabled the Egyptians to plough it up.

Apollo. A Greek god who was identified with Helios or the sun
and also with the Egyptian Horus. He is the god of light
who at his birth destroys Python, the serpent of darkness.
He typified also mental light and presided over knowledge,
music, poetry and eloquence. Apollo was the national
divinity of the Greeks "reflecting the brightest side of the
Greek mind." He is the protector of flocks and herds, the
god of the bow and arrows, who punishes and destroys the
wicked and wards off evil, he is the god of prophecy and his
most famous oracles were at Delos, Delphi, Branchidae,
Claros and Patara. The finest temple to Apollo was at
Delphi. In art he is represented as the "perfect ideal of youth-
ful manliness." As god of music he holds the lyre and is
depicted draped or with long, flowing locks. Again he holds
the bow and arrow. His symbols are the wolf, raven, swan,
lyre and laurel, etc. The number seven was sacred to him.

Archer. The Assyrian deity Ashur is represented as an archer
shooting a three-headed arrow at the enemies of Assyria.
Sagittarius is the archer of the zodiac.

Ares, (Mars). Whereas Athene represented wisdom and fore-
sight in the conduct of war. Ares is the god of force who
typifies the horrors, tumult, confusion of war. He was one
of the lovers of Aphrodite and when she transferred her

4o8 (Slosisiarp

affections to Adonis, Ares waylaid him in the form of a wild
boar and killed him. The wolf, cock and woodpecker are
sacred to Ares.

Ariadne. A daughter of Minos, King of Crete. Falling in love
with Theseus who had been sent from Athens to Crete to be
devoured by the Minotaur, she gave him the string by
which he found his way out of the labyrinth. Her legends
vary. In one she marries and goes away with Theseus who
deserts her, whereupon she takes her own life. In another
she is killed by Artemis. In others Dionysos enamoured of
her beauty raised her to the rank of the immortals and gave
her a crown of seven stars. Ariadne was called a serpent
goddess and is frequently represented in art and on ancient
coins and gems usually with serpents. Theseus and the
labyrinth are interpreted as solar.

Ark. One of the oldest symbols of the feminine principle.

Arrow. A symbol of lightning, rain and fertility as well as war,
famine, disease, death. It is associated with the sun, moon
and atmospheric gods.

Artemis, (Diana). One of the great divinities of the Greeks
known under many aspects. Called by some a daughter of
Zeus by Leto and sister ol Apollo, others call her the daugh-
ter of Demeter. An Egyptian account makes her the daugh-
ter of Dionysos and Isis. As sister of Apollo who was iden-
tified with the sun or Helios she becomes a moon goddess
and like Apollo is armed with a bow, quiver and arrows and
has the power to send plagues and death to men and animals.
Like Apollo, too, she is unmarried. She is the 'chaste
Diana', the maiden unconquered by love. She is the pro-
tector of the young, of flocks and herds and the chase.
"She is the huntress among the immortals." As the Arca-
dian Artemis she is goddess of the nymphs. Hephaestus
makes her bow and arrows, and Pan pro\^ides her with dogs.
Four stags with golden antlers draw her chariot. As a
nymph, fish were sacred to her and Artemis and Apollo both
have the laurel. Among the symbolic animals of the Greek
Artemis were dogs, stags and the boar. In Greek art when
depicted as huntress she has the bow and arrows or spear,
dogs and stags. As the moon goddess she wears a long
robe and has the moon crescent above her head. Some-
times she carries a torch. The Tauri, a people of European
Sarmatia, sacrificed all strangers to Artemis. The worship
of the goddess was orgiastic and it is believed that this was
originally an Asiatic moon goddess whom the Greeks con-
fused with their own Artemis. Aricia was the seat of her
worship in Italy where she was known as Diana and also
called Trivia when worshipped at cross- ways where her
statues were usually placed. The Ephesian Artemis is an

Asiatic goddess of nature whom the Greeks found in Ionia
and to whom they gave the name of Artemis, As goddess
of fertility she is many breasted, wears a mural crown with
disk as emblem of the full moon, her legs are swathed like
a mummy, the lower part of her body ending in a point like
a pyramid upside down and covered with mystical figures
of bees, flowers, bulls and stags. The pine cone was sacred
to Artemis, [see pine cone,] also the cypress or fir tree. The
symbol of the Ephesian Artemis was a bee.

Asp. A small, venomous, hooded serpent of Egypt and Libya
and an Egyptian symbol of dominion.

Ass. In Egypt a form of the sun-god. According to Plutarch
the ass, because of its reddish colour, was also given to Set
and was looked upon with loathing by the Egyptians.

Athene, (Minerva). One of the great divinities of the Greeks
and said to have sprung in full armour from the head of Zeus.
She is a goddess in whom "power and wisdom are har-
moniously blended" and typified the ethical rather than
some physical aspect of nature, thus differing from the great
mother goddesses of earth and sky. She is a virgin goddess
removed from the passions of love and hate. She is the
goddess of wisdom, war and all the liberal arts. She could
hurl the thunderbolt, prolong the life of men and bestow the
gift of prophecy. As goddess of war and protector of heroes
she is usually represented in armour with the aegis and a
golden staff. In ancient art she is frequently given a helmet
ornamented with ram's heads, griffins, sphinxes and horses,
or again with the aegis and sometimes a shield which has in
its centre the head of Medusa. The owl, serpent, cock,
lance and olive branch are her symbols. The olive in allu-
sion to the fact that she was said to have created the olive
tree in her contest with Poseidon for the possession of Attica.
She was the Roman Minerva and was also called Pallas and
Tritonia.

Axe. A solar symbol of great antiquity. Its use in Egypt for
religious or magical purposes "goes back to the neolithic and
perhaps palaeolithic age." The earliest form was the double
axe. The axe w^as a sacred emblem in Egypt, Scandinavia,
Germany, Mexico and Central America. In Egypt the
Double Axe typified double power. The sacred Double
Axe as a religious symbol of the sun is particularly associated
with the island of Crete. Churchward attributes the origin
of the Masonic gavel and double-headed gavel to this source.

Ba. The Egyptians represented the ha or soul by a bird, some-
times with a human head. There was also the luminous one
or Khou which hid itself in the darkest corner of the vault.

Baboon. The cynocephalus or dog-headed ape plays an im-
portant part in Egyptian mythology. In the judgment

410 (glosJsarp

scene the baboon sits upon the standard of the scales and
warns Thoth when the pointer reaches the middle of the
beam. It's habit of chattering the moment the sun ap-
peared gave it the name of 'Hailer of the Dawn.' The
baboon with uplifted paws symbolised wisdom saluting the
rising sun. A companion of the moon-god Thoth it is also
associated with the sun.

Bacchus. Called by the Greeks Lord of the Palm Tree. [See
Dionysos.]

Ball or Tama. A symbol among the Buddhists of the sacred
emanations of the gods. It is sometimes surmounted by
flames and is called the 'flaming jewel' or 'flaming pearl.'
It is the third eye of Buddha, the symbol of transcendent
wisdom.

Bamboo. The symbol of gracefulness, constancy, yielding but
enduring strength, of high breeding, fastidious taste as
opposed to vulgarity. The bamboo is constantly depicted
in Chinese and Japanese art with birds and animals, as well
as alone or with the plum and pine tree.

Basilisk. A fabulous creature with the body and wings of a
dragon, head of a serpent and tail ending in a serpent's head.
The glance of its eye would kill. It could only be destroyed
by holding a mirror up so that it must see itself, when it
would burst asunder with horror of its own appearance.
We have here the same thought of the Taoists about evil
being made to recognise itself. In sacred art the basilisk
was used to symbolise the spirit of evil.

Bast. The goddess is usually depicted in the form of a woman
with the head of a cat. Occasionally she is given the head
of a lioness surmounted by a snake, in her right hand she
has the sistrum and in her left an aegis with the head of a
lioness or cat in the centre. Bast is a personification of the
power of the sun in its milder aspect. Like Sekhebet she is
also a goddess of fire. When given the cat's head she is also
identified with the moon. The changing of the cat's eye is
likened to the moon. The cat like the lioness and vulture
was an Egyptian symbol of maternity.

Bat. Frequently depicted in Chinese art as a symbol of happi-
ness. Five bats no matter how grouped represented the
'five happinesses,' peace, riches, love of virtue, long life and
a happy death.

Battle Axe, A symbol similar to the sword, hammer or cross.
It frequently had two edges and in this form was the weapon
of the Amazons. [See Axe.)

Bau. A Sumerian goddess whose symbol was a falcon on a pole.

Bee. Vishnu when depicted in the form of Krishna was given
a blue bee hovering over his head as a symbol of the ether.
Carved on ancient tombs the bee symbolised immortality.

The bee was a prominent feature of the Mithra cult. On
an altar dedicated to the Persian sun-god was found a gilded
bull's head and three hundred golden bees. Napoleon I
adopted the bee as an emblem of sovereignty. The sanctity
of the bee may be derived from the ancient custom of smear-
ing the bodies of the dead with honey to prevent decomposi-
tion.

Beetle or Scarabaeus. A symbol of self-existent being and
worshipped by the Egyptians as a pre-eminently sacred
emblem of the rising sun and eternal life.

Bell. An ancient Eastern symbol used by the priests to sum-
mon the Supreme Spirit. Bells were believed to have the
power of subduing storms and driving away plagues and
demons. Hence the bell is one of the symbols of St. An-
thony. The bull Nandi the nahan of Siva was always
depicted with a bell hanging by a cord or chain around the
neck. The ancients often decorated the handle with a
flaring three-fold top either three circles, the trefoil or the
fleur-de-lis. Sometimes the handle was the vajra or thunder-
bolt. The Buddhists attached a similar meaning to the
rajra and the bell to that of the linga and yoni of the Hindus.
The vajra represented Buddha, the creative principle, the
linga, and the bell Dharma, matter, the feminine principle,
the yoni. The bell was an old symbol of virginity. The bell
was looked upon by the early Christians not only as the
"call of Christ but as a sign of Christ Himself." The cus-
tom of tolling a bell to announce a death, the number of
strokes representing the age of the deceased persisted for
ages, Durandus in the Symbolism of Churches says, "More-
over the bells ought to be rung when anyone is dying that
the people hearing this may pray for him. For a woman
indeed they ring twice, because she first caused the bitterness
of death; for she first alienated mankind from God, where-
fore the second day had no benediction. But for a man
they ring three times, because the Trinity was first shown
in man." Durandus was born about the year 1220 a.d.
when the feminine principle was still somewhat in disrepute.

Bennu. A sort of heron exalted by the Egyptians as a symbol
of re-generation typifying the rising of the sun and the
return of Osiris. It was said to have sprung from the heart
of Osiris. It is also identified with the phoenix.

Bes. One of the oldest Egyptian gods and called by Church-
ward a primary form of Horus I. Other authorities identify
Bes with Set or Typhon. Budge says, "The figure of this
god suggests that his home was a place where the dwarf and
pigmy were held in high esteem. . . . The knowledge of
the god and perhaps figures of him were brought from this
region which the Egyptians called the 'Land of the Spirits.' "

412 (glosisiarj)

According to another legend Bes was a foreigner introduced
into Egypt from the land of Punt (the spice land of Arabia) .
In some aspects he resembles Bacchus and presides over
gaiety, music, dancing. As a war god he carries a sword.
Representations of him are hideous and grotesque. He is
depicted as a squat, crooked dwarf sometimes wearing an
animal's skin with the tail hanging down behind. His
tongue is frequently extended and often he has a crown of
feathers. His sacred animal was the sow. There is a small
temple to Bes at Denderah. On one of the royal chariots
found in the tomb of Tut-ankli-amen the straps of the har-
ness saddle of the breast harness pass through the mouth
of the god Bes.

Bird. Birds symbolised the spirit of the air, the spirit of life.
Among the Egyptians the bird symbolised the soul of man.
In Christian art the bird was also used to typify the soul.

Bird upon a pedestal or pillar. Placed there to give life to the
pillar signifying the union of spirit and matter.

Bird's Wings with Globe. A circle or globe with the extended
wings of a bird on either side was the Egyptian symbol of
the deity. It was also used in the same way by the Babylon-
ians and Assyrians.

Black. In China and Japan black was associated with the north,
yin and water. Black horses were the principal sacrifice to
the rain god in Japan.

Blue. The Egyptians also Swedenborg made blue the symbol
of Truth. Blue is the symbol of the feminine principle,
signifying also heaven, fidelity, constancy. In Christian
art Christ and the Divine Mother wear the blue mantle
typifying heavenly love and heavenly truth. St. John the
Evangelist was given the blue tunic and the red mantle.

Bo-tree or bodhi-tree. Each Buddha is believed to have a special
tree under which he is born, does penance, preaches and dies.
The fig tree is supposed to be the one under which Gautama
Buddha attained knowledge, others represent it as the
banyan tree,

Buddha. He is said to have been born eleven times as a deer
and to have preached his first sermon in a deer park. Thus
a gilded wheel between two gazelles or deer found in Bud-
dhist temples symbolises the preaching of Buddha. Other
symbols are the circle, swastika, lotus, lirna — the precious
gem usually a moon stone or flaming pearl worn on the fore-
head between the eyes. [See Urna.] Statues of Buddha
represent him in many postures, standing, seated with legs
crossed, or recumbent.

Buddha's Eight Familiar Symbols. Also called the "eight lucky
emblems." The conch, umbrella, canopy, knot, fish, lotus,
jar and wheel of the law.

(glosisiarp 413

Buddhist Symbols. Rope, axe, goad or spear, scroll of texts,
begging bowl, sacrificial cup, fan, bow and arrow, wheel,
incense burner, rosary, lotus, fly brush, hare and moon, cock
and the sun, the vase for shrine use, musical instruments and
calabash or medicine bottle.

Builder's Square. Used symbolically in the Egyptian Ritual
also represented in temples and the Great Pyramid as seats
for Osiris and Maat, the goddess of Truth. In the judgment
hall Osiris is seated on the Square. This is also a Masonic
emblem.

Bull. In ancient religions the bull symbolised the power residing
in the sun. It also typified the humid power of nature and
was thus given to Osiris. Sacred bulls were worshipped
above all other animals because they had "helped the dis-
coverers of corn in sowing the seed and procuring the uni-
versal benefits of agriculture." Mithra is depicted in Per-
sian bas-reliefs as a youth with a conical cap "slaying the
sacred bull whose sacrifice was supposed to be the origin of
terrestrial life."

Bull-roarer. One of the most ancient and wide spread religious
symbols in the world resembling the rhombus which figured
in the ancient mysteries of Greece. It consists of a slab of
wood tied to a piece of string which upon being whirled
rapidly round gives forth an unearthly, roaring sound. It
was used, it is presumed, as a sacred instrument to evoke
the Supreme Spirit who manifested himself in the blasts of
the mighty wind. It is still used by the Australians and
New Zealanders and is also employed in their religious cere-
monies by the natives of Africa, Ceylon and the Malay
Peninsula.

Caducous. The staff of Hermes (Mercury) with which he con-
ducts the souls of the dead is a rod encircled by two serpents
surmounted by wings. In its original form the caduceus
was a staff — perhaps the sacred tau — terminating in a circle
upon which rests a crescent. The name is also given to the
staff covered with velvet and topped by the fleur-de-lis
which was carried in grand ceremonials by the herald or
king of arms. It is applied also to a herald's wand, a rod of
olive wood covered with garlands. The caduceus of Hermes
is described in Homeric hymns by Apollo: "Thereafter will
I give thee a lovely wand of wreath and riches, a golden wand
with three leaves which shall keep thee ever unharmed."

Canopic Jars. A name given to the vases used by the Egyptians
for the viscera which were removed from the body in the
process of mummification and treated separately. The
jars, four in number were placed near the sarcophagus and
were under the special protection of the four gods of the
dead, the sons of Horus Hapi, Amset, Duamutef and Kebeh-

414 <glos(s(ar|>

senuf who were represented respectively with the head of a
baboon, man, jackal and hawk. After the xviii dynasty
it was customary to put the symbolic heads of these gods on
the covers of the jars.

Canopy. A symbol of sovereignty and carried over the heads of
Eastern rulers and emperors on state occasions. When
placed over the head of Buddha its shelter typified the
sacred tree under which he received enlightenment.

Cantharus. A two-handled Greek vase or cup sacred to Dionysos
who is frequently represented holding it in his hand.

Cap with Up-turned Horns. A symbol among the Babylonians
of divine power. A cap or turban on a seat or altar may
have been used to typify the 'world mountain,' the symbol
of the chief Babylonian triad Anu, Enlil and Ea.

Cartouche. A name usually given to the oval in which the name
of a royal person is inscribed. These ovals bearing hiero-
glyphic instructions were also placed in the tombs of Egyp-
tian kings. In its oldest form the cartouche was circular,
the circle symbolising the course of the sun around the uni-
verse. The king's name written inside indicated therefore
that he was the representative on earth of the sun-god, that
his rule extended over the course of the sun and his name
like the sun would endure forever. The cartouche was
developed later in the form of scrolls ornamented with foliage
or garlands of flowers. In the Gothic period the cartouche
was shaped like a bannerolle with the ends rolled up. Those
of the Renaissance are considered the most beautiful.

Castor and Pollux. [See Dioscuri.]

Cat. Worshipped in Egypt as a form of the sun-god. When a
cat died it was taken to the embalmers, its body treated with
drugs and spices and then put to rest in a case carefully pre-
pared for it. Whoever wittingly or unwittingly killed a cat
was sentenced to die. According to Plutarch because of its
nocturnal habits and the contraction of the pupils of its eyes
with the waning of the moon the cat also denoted the moon.

Ceres. [See Demeter.j

Chains. "That excellent and Divine fable of the Golden Chain,
namely, that Men were not able to draw Jupiter down to
earth ; but contrariwise Jupiter was able to draw them up to
Heaven." [Bacon.]

Cherub. The head of an angel emerging from two wings and
used as an ornament in sculpture and painting.

Cherubim. A term derived from the Assyrian and now used to
signify angels or those of the second degree of the nine-fold
celestial hierarchy who have the gift of knowledge as the
first (the seraphim) have the gift of love. The cherubim in
the temple of Jerusalem and Solomon's Palace have been
identified with the winged bull of Assyria; from these also

<6los(siarp 415

came the winged figures that modern art received at the
hands of the Greeks. The bird power, associated with the
deity by the Egyptians and Assyrians, was humanised by
the Greeks in their flying angels of victory.

Chimera. A fabulous, fire-breathing monster with three heads,
that of a dragon, a goat and a lion. Homer described it as
having the head of a lion, body of a goat and tail of a dragon.
It was Bellerophon who, mounted on his v/inged horse
Pegasus succeeded in destroying it. The chimera is fre-
quently represented on ancient Greek coins and various
combinations of fantastic animals called chimerae were used
in the Middle Ages as caryatids or supports in pieces of fur-
niture. The term chimerical applied to anything without
semblance of truth or reality is derived from the chimera.

Cinquecento. An abbreviation for mille cinquecento and applied
to the art of Italy in the 16th century.

Cista. The mystic cist or chest in which were kept the articles
that pertained to the worship of Demeter and Dionysos and
belonging to the same class of images as the ark of the
Egyptians and the Jews.

Clover Leaf, (St. Patrick's Shamrock). An emblem of the Deity
more ancient than Christianity. As the gods were wor-
shipped in triads and the three-fold aspect of life recognised
in all its significance the trefoil became a natural emblem of
high importance and a widely accepted symbol of the Trinity.

Conch-shell. A symbol of the voice of Buddha or the preaching
of Buddha. It is one of the eight familiar symbols of
Buddha and also typifies the yoni or feminine principle.

Cock. A solar symbol, and in ancient days placed on the sum-
mit of churches as an emblem of watchfulness. Frequently
the "bird of vigilance" on the top of a church spire becomes
a weathercock, a vane or pirouette in the form of a cock which
turned with the wind.

Cornucopia. In classical art the cornucopia is associated with
the gods who preside over the natural world. It is shaped
like a horn and filled with fruit and flowers, sometimes the
pine cone appears in the centre. It is a symbol of peace,
prosperity, plenty.

Cow. Sacred in Egypt to Hathor, Nut, Isis and Nephthys, as
well as other nature goddesses and typifying fertility.

Crane. A Chinese symbol of longevity, hence of life. A stork
or crane standing on the back of a tortoise forming a candle-
stick typifies light and life, expressing the Chinese saying
"May your days be as long as the tortoise and stork."
Cranes and herons when depicted standing in the water
symbolised the dawn.

Criophorus. A Greek word which means literally "one who
carries a ram." It was a name bestowed upon Hermes by

4i6 (Slosisiarp

the people of Tanagra because he had saved them from a
plague by carrying a ram (thrice?) around the walls of the
town, Hermes is frequently represented thus in Greek art.

Crosier. A staff with a crook carried by bishops and abbots as
a sign of office. Originally in form like the sacred tau
it was not until the seventeenth century that it was given
the bent appearance which it has since retained.

Cross. One of the oldest and most wide spread symbols of
creative power and life to come.

Cupid. [See Eros.]

Cypress. The ancients worshipped the divine Creator in the
form of a pyramid cone, or obelisk. Thus the cypress
reaching toward heaven like a pointed flame became a living
and arresting symbolic figure. It was an androgynous sym-
bol. Always green it was a symbol of life and was associated
with the sun and moon, with Venus and all the other nature
goddesses, and with Zeus, Apollo, Hermes and various other
gods. There was the cypress of the sun and the cypress of
the moon. Two pyramidal cypresses surmounted the one
by the sun, the other by the crescent moon are found on
Asiatic monuments. It was also a mortuary emblem of
high significance.

"Dark Warriors." These are the serpent and the tortoise who
together form the Chinese symbol of the North.

Demeter, (Ceres). The Greek goddess of the earth, daughter of
Kjonos and Rhea and mother of Persephone and Dionysos
by Zeus. Aided by Zeus, Pluto carries off Persephone to
the lower world. The rape of Persephone and the anger of
the goddess mother which results in a famine on earth when
nothing is permitted to grow is simply another embodiment
of the old nature myth of the winter season when the pro-
ductive powers of nature or the earth rest or lie concealed.
Zeus yielding to her entreaties permits Persephone to spend
half the year with her mother and Persephone in whose
charge the seed is committed to the earth typified the
"fructified flower that returns in the spring" dwelling in the
light a portion of the year. Worship of Demeter has been
connected with belief in a future life and the Eleusinian
mysteries celebrated in her honour were said to have had an
ennobling effect. Demeter not only was goddess of the
fertility of the earth but of fertility in general and thus was
the goddess of marriage. She was worshipped in Attica,
Crete, Delos, Sicily and the west coast of Asia. She is the
goddess of agriculture, of corn and harvests. Pigs, symbols
of fertility were sacrificed to her, also cows, bulls, honey
cakes and fruits. In art the goddess is represented draped
and with a v^eil. She frequently wears a garland of ears of
corn, in her hand she holds a sceptre, an ear of corn or a

poppy and sometimes a torch and the mystic basket. Her
expression is one of great dignity.

Diana. [See Artemis.]

Dionysos, (Bacchus). The god of the vintage and the cultiva-
tion of the earth was called both by the Greeks and the
Romans "Bacchus, the noisy or riotous god." This was
originally however merely a surname for Dionysos. The
legends of this god are innumerable, his adventures endless.
He was said to be a son of Zeus by Semele, he was also called
the son of Zeus and Lethe, Zeus and Persephone, Zeus and
Demeter as well as many others. The father never varies
nor do any of the legends minimise the wrath of the jealous
Hera. Zeus was said to have placed him in his thigh and
given him to the nymphs of Mount Nysa who brought him up.
He was also associated with the Muses and Hermes is
somehow mixed up with the early life of the god who is fre-
quently represented as a child carried by Hermes. Dionysos
is said to have discovered the cultivation of the vine and wan-
ders over various countries of the earth teaching its uses. One
legend tells of his coming to a lake and one of two asses
whom he met on the shore carried him safely across. The
god placed both animals among the stars and henceforth the
ass was sacred to Dionysos. His influence is both benign
and evil. He is god of the "productive, overflowing and
intoxicating power of nature which carries man away from
his usual quiet and sober mode of living." As god of wine
he is inspired as well as inspiring and thus has the power of
prophecy. He is also a god of healing and as protector of the
vine, he becomes protector of trees and thus comes into close
relationship with Demeter. Like Apollo he was thought to
possess eternal youth. In the earlier period the Graces or
Charites were his companions. In later times he was wor-
shipped as androgynous. Afterwards, as his worship
changed he was accompanied by bacchantes, wild and
dishevelled women, satyrs and centaurs inspired with
divine fury and carrying in their hands thyrsus staffs,
cymbals, swords and serpents. Dionysos is a twice-born
god of vegetation, a promoter of civilisation and lover of
peace. He is also god of the drama and protector of
theatres. He is depicted in art as an infant with Hermes
or being played with by satyrs. As the youthful or Theban
Bacchus his body is masculine with firm outlines but with
a certain softness and roundness which suggests the
feminine. His expression is dreamy and lanquid, the head
is crowned by a diadem or wreath of vine leaves or ivy.
He is frequently depicted leaning on his comrades, or riding
on an ass, lion, tiger or panther. Occasionally, on coins only,
he is given the horns of a ram or bull. His attributes are

4i8 (Slosisiarp

the thyrsus, cantharus or drinking cup and sometimes the
basket. The vine, asphodel, laurel, ivy, panther, ass, ser-
pent, tiger and lynx were sacred to him. The ox and ram
were sacrificed to him. Dionysos was said to have "loathed
the sight of an owl."

The Dioscuri, (Castor and Pollux). The twin horsemen are given
white horses. They are also symbolised by twin circles.

Dolphin. Was looked upon by the Greeks as the saviour of the
shipwrecked. It is sacred to Poseidon (Neptune) and was
supposed to bear the souls of the deceased to the Island of
the Blessed. It was a favourite of Apollo. In the heraldry
of France the bearing of the dolphin was reserved for the
Dauphin or heir to the throne.

Dorje. A small sceptre used by the lamas of Tibet composed of
two or four tridents combined, the outer prongs touching
the central one giving the whole something the appearance
of a crown.

Dove. The dove with an olive branch was a symbol of Athene
or renewed life. The dove is also an attribute of Ishtar and
Venus and the symbol of the Holy Ghost. Among the
Christians it is pre-eminently the emblem of the soul.

Dragon. Although figuring in nearly every ancient religion as
the personification of evil, the dragon among the Chinese
and Japanese is a most potent symbol of the blessing, the
rain giving power of the gods of water. It is a symbol of
power, royalty, sovereignty. The dragon is chief among
the four supernatural creatures that play such an important
part in Chinese imagery and art. In Japan the dragon is
the symbol of the Mikado. In China dragon painting
reached its zenith in the thirteenth century.

Eagle. Among the Greeks the eagle was the symbol of supreme
spiritual energy.

Eight. The figure 8 typified regeneration. It is one of the sym-
bols of the Egyptian god Thoth who "pours the waters of
purification on the heads of the initiated." Swedenborg
makes eight correspond to purification.

Ennead. In later times nine gods took the place of the triad in
Egypt. The ennead consisted of five gods and four god-
desses or four pairs of deities and one supreme god.

Eros, (Cupid). The god of love. Hesiod, the earliest author
that mentions him describes him as the cosmogonic Eros.
" First . . . there was Chaos, then came Ge, Tartarus and
Eros, the fairest among the gods, who rules over the minds
and councils of gods and men. . . . Eros was one of the
fundamental causes in the formation of the world, inasmuch
as he was the uniting power of love which brought order and
harmony among the conflicting elements of which Chaos
consisted." In accordance with this conception he was

called a son of Kronos or a god who came into existence
without parentage. It is only among the later poets that
he is represented as a wanton boy, sometimes as the son of
Aphrodite, sometimes the son of Hermes and Artemis, or
again he is given a mother but not a father. In this later
aspect he typified the love of the senses which begets dis-
harmony rather than unity. He makes sport of gods and
men. He twists the thunderbolts of Zeus, tames lions and
takes away his arms from Herakles. He was given a bow
and arrows which he carried in a golden quiver, some golden
and others blunt and heavy as lead. He has golden wings
and is frequently represented blindfolded. He is often
depicted with Aphrodite also with Hermes and statues of
Hermes and Eros usually stood in the Greek gymnasia.
Thespise in Boeotia was the chief place of the worship of
Eros and where in ancient days he was represented by a
rude stone. He was also worshipped in Samos, Sparta and
Athens. He was a favourite subject with the Greek sculp-
tors. Praxiteles, who represented him as a full grown youth
of great beauty being especially famed for his statues of the
god of love. Later the fashion grew to depict him as a
winged infant or wanton child. He is thus shown in the
illustration of Ares in Repose. Wild beasts are sometimes
shown tamed by the god. His attributes are the ram, hare,
cock and rose.

Eye. A symbol of Horus and Osiris typifying divine omniscience.
The same meaning is also attached to it in India. According
to St. Matthew the single eye symbolises light. "The light
of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single thy
whole body shall be full of light." (Matt. 6: 22.)

Fan. An ancient Chinese emblem of power and dominion.

Feather. An attribute of Maat the Egyptian goddess of Truth.

Fig Tree. A sacred tree believed to combine both masculine and
feminine attributes and held in especial veneration as an em-
blem of life. Its tri-lobed leaf suggesting the masculine
triad became the symbolic covering in representations of
nude figures.

Fire. Pyramids, obelisks and triangles with the point up sym-
bolise fire.

Fish. Used universally as a symbol of fecundity and life, and
one of the eight emblems of Buddha. Among the Chinese
the fish typified happiness. Two fish were a symbol of
marriage. The early Christians used three fish intertwined
to symbolise the Trinity.

Foot-prints of Buddha. There are usually seven emblems on the
soles of the feet, the swastika, wheel, conch-shell, fish, vajra,
crown, vase. The idea was taken over from Vishnu, an
earlier god.

420

(glosJsJarp

Frog. A symbol among the Egyptians of the watery elements or
primordial slime which was considered as the basis of created
matter in the Egyptian cosmogony. Each of the four
primeval gods, Heh, Kek, Nau and Amen were represented
with the head of a frog while their feminine counterpart or
energy had serpents for heads. The cult of the frog is one
of the oldest cults in Egypt.

Ganesha. An Indian god who is invoked by the Hindus as an
overcomer of obstacles. He is represented by an elephant
or a man with the head of an elephant. Images of Ganesha
are found at cross roads and architects place figures of the
god at the foundation of buildings.

Gazelle. An animal sacred to Mul-lil, the Akkadian god of
storms who was originally the lord (mul) of the dust (lil),
that is the husband of the earth, the phallic father or great
snake. The oryx, goat, (wild goat or ibex) and the antelope
are all the equivalents of the gazelle and are all typhonic,
symbols of Set. Horus tramples under foot the gazelle.
Horus holding a gazelle typifies his victory over Set. Lunar
crescents are associated with gazelles. The association of
deer, the ibex or wild goat, oryx, gazelle or antelope with the
lotus is symbolic of the sun or moon or both. Deer are given
to Diana. The Hindu moon god Chandra rides in a car
drawn by antelopes. An antelope is given to Siva who is
represented by a moon crescent.

Girdle Tie in Red Carnelian. An Egyptian amulet typifying
the blood of Isis and which had the power to wash away
the sins of its possessor.

Goose. A solar bird associated with the sun-gods of Egypt,
India, Greece and Britain. It was given to Isis and Hera,
also to Apollo, Dionysos, Hermes and Eros. It was the
emblem of love. In China it was called the Bird of Heaven
and looked upon as distinctively a bird of yang or the prin-
ciple of light and masculinity.

Gorgons, The. There were three gorgons with "curls of hissing
snakes" instead of hair and whoever gazed upon them was
turned to stone. All were immortal except Medusa, whom
Perseus encouraged by Athene succeeds in killing and her
head was worn henceforth upon the aegis of Athene. Me-
dusa was frequently represented in Greek art. The head
seen full face with serpents coiled about it, the face one of
horror with parted lips was much used for decorative pur-
poses. Small images of the head of Medusa were also used
as charms.

Green Stones. The Egyptians put green stone amulets in their
tombs to symbolise youth and immortality. Horus, the
young morning sun who typified eternal youth was called
'Prince of the Emerald Stone.'

(glos^fiiarp 421

Griffin, Grififon, Gryphon. Fabulous creatures half-lion, half-
eagle symbolising eternal vigilance and wardenship. They
were the protectors of the treasured gold of the North from
the thieving, one-eyed Ariniaspians and are also mentioned
as guarding the gold of India.

Grove. Often a mis-translation for the wooden image of Ash-
toreth or Astarte the chief goddess of Baalism.

Hathor. The Egyptian goddess of the feminine principle in
nature. As goddess of maternity she is given the head of a
vulture surmounted by the moon crescent or horns and the
solar disk. Again she is represented as the World Cow
typifying fertility. "The heads of Hathor were lucky
charms. Hathor represented fate, and he who wore her
head earned her favour and a happy destiny for himself."
She is a cosmic goddess, the mother of light and sometimes
represented as a sphinx.

Hawk or Falcon. A solar bird particularly venerated in Egypt
and given to all the sun-gods. Horus is the falcon god.
The hawk of Horus typified the spirit of the sun. Having
the swiftest flight of any bird the hawk was the emblem of
divine intelligence and wisdom.

Hekt or Heqet. The Egyptian frog goddess and identified with
Hathor. She was the protector of mothers and new born
infants and the frog typified re-newed birth.

Hephaestus, (Vulcan). In early Greek art the god of fire is
depicted as a dwarfish figure in allusion to his lameness. In
the finest period of Greek art he is represented as a full-
bearded man of powerful frame. He wears an oval cap and
the chiton leaving the right arm and shoulder bare. His
symbol is the hammer and sometimes he is given the
tongs.

Hera, (Juno). The "only really married goddess among the
Olympians" and one of the few divinities who are purely
Greek. Unlike the other great nature goddesses Hera was
not the "Queen of gods and men" but the wife of the Su-
preme god Zeus and equally reverenced by the other gods.
Zeus listens to her counsels and she feels free to censure him
when occasion offers. Nevertheless, she is his inferior in
power and obliged to obey him. She is represented as ob-
stinate, jealous, quarrelsome and quite ready to resort to
cunning and intrigue to compass her ends. Hera personifies
the atmosphere, she is "Queen of the Air," the great goddess
of nature and is identified with the Roman Juno. Her most
celebrated temple was at Mt. Emboea. A colossal sitting
statue of Hera of gold and ivory made for her sanctuary was
the work of Polycletus. She was often depicted wearing a
crown adorned with the Charites and Horae and holding in
one hand a pomegranate and in the other a sceptre sur-

422 (glosisiarp

mounted by a cuckoo. She was frequently represented
veiled. In the earliest form of her worship the goddess was
represented by a pillar or possibly the "aniconic image"
that was associated with most of the great nature god-
desses. The peacock and cuckoo were sacred to her,
Herakles. The most celebrated hero of antiquity and a son of
Zeus by Alcmene of Thebes, wife of Amphitryon. His birth
arouses the jealous wrath of Hera who sends two snakes
to devour him before he was eight months old. The infant
Herakles seizes them and crushes them in both his hands.
His first great victory was his fight with the lion of Cythse-
ron. Henceforth Herakles wore the lion's skin as his ordin-
ary garment with its head for a helmet. Some accounts
give him the lion's skin as an attribute of his victory over the
Nemean lion. The subservience of Herakles to Eurystheus
was brought about by the strategy of Hera. Zeus having
decreed that the one who came into the world last must
obey the other has to stand by his word. He makes Hera
promise, however, that if Herakles performs twelve great
works in the service of Eurystheus he shall become immor-
tal. The latter imposes upon him many and bitter tasks.
The Twelve Labours of Herakles are: (1) The fight with the
lion of Nemea which Herakles strangled with his own hands,
(2) To destroy the Lernean hydra, a monster with nine
heads, the middle one immortal, (3) To bring alive and
unhurt to Eurystheus, the stag of Ceryneia in Arcadia fa-
mous for its incredible swiftness, its golden horns and brazen
feet and sacred to Artemis. (4) To bring alive to Eurys-
theus the wild boar which ravaged the Erymanthian neigh-
bourhood. On this adventure he destroyed the centaurs.
(5) The fifth labour was to clean the Augean stables where
3000 oxen had been kept for many years. (6) To kill the
Stymphalian birds which infested a lake in Arcadia and fed
on human flesh. (7) To bring alive into Peloponnesus the
Cretan wild bull. (8) To capture the mares of the Thracian
Diomedes that tore and devoured human flesh. (9) To
obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons. (10) To
destroy the monster Geryones and bring his oxen alive to
Argos. It was upon this expedition that Herakles erected
the two pillars (Calpe and Abyla) on the two sides of the
straits of Gibraltar which were thereafter called the Pillars
of Herakles. On this journey, too, Herakles, enraged by
the heat of the sun shot at Helios who, admiring his boldness,
presented him with a golden boat in which he sailed across
the ocean to Erytheia, (11) The eleventh labour was to
obtain the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides.
It was upon this adventure that Herakles killed the vulture
that was consuming the liver of Prometheus and thus saved

the Titan, who in return advised him not to go to the garden
of the Hesperides but to send Atlas and in the meantime to
bear the weight of heaven for Atlas on his own shoulders.
Atlas having brought the apples refused to take upon him-
self again the burden of heaven and declared his intention of
carrying the apples to Eurystheus. In this case Herakles
employed strategy to obtain the apples and accomplish his
mission. (12) The last and most dangerous of his labours
was to bring upon earth from the lower world the three-
headed dog Cerberus. Having successfully performed these
twelve feats of heroism, his life is still one of vicissitude. In
the end having been unwittingly poisoned by his wife, leaving
him with an incurable distemper Herakles climbs Mount
ffita and imploring the protection of Zeus he raises a pile of
wood which he mounts and orders to be set on fire. None
of his followers would obey him. Finally a shepherd passing
by complies and while the pyre is burning a cloud comes
down from heaven and amid peals of thunder Zeus bears the
hero to Olympus where he becomes one of the immortals.
After the apotheosis of Herakles, sacrifices were offered to
him as a hero. Later on he was worshipped throughout
Greece as a divinity. Herakles, Pan and Dionysos were
called the youngest gods. The worship of Herakles spread
to Rome and Italy and from there into Gaul, Spain and
Germany. The Roman Hercules was looked upon as the
giver of health. Representations of Herakles in art cover
every phase of his life. Whether depicted as youth, hero or
immortal he is always the type of unconquerable strength,
energy and resourcefulness. His labours are undertaken
for the good of others, never for himself. He is also called
a solar god and his twelve labours represent the twelve signs
of the zodiac. He is usually depicted wearing the lion's
skin or with it over one arm. The animals sacrificed to him
were the bull, ram, lamb and boar.
Hermes, (Mercury). He is the god of prudence, commerce,
eloquence, skill, of cunning and strategy; he is a thieving
god, one who would steal or commit fraud or perjury without
a qualm, accomplishing his ends with invincible dexterity
and gracefulness. He was the herald and messenger of the
gods. In his ministry to Zeus not only was he a herald but
also the charioteer and cup bearer. He was said to have
been the inventor of the alphabet, numbers, astronomy,
gymnastics, the art of warfare and the cultivation of the
olive tree. It was Hermes who invented the lyre which he
bestowed upon Apollo receiving in exchange the caduceus.
As dreams are sent by Zeus, Hermes conducts them to man
and thus he has the power of giving or taking away sleep.
He was god of the roads and the protector of travellers.

424 (glosisarp

He was the giver of wealth and good luck and thus was the
god of gamblers. As the protector of animals he was es-
pecially worshipped by shepherds. In the Arcadian re-
ligion Hermes was the fertilising god of the earth. One of
his most important functions was that of conducting the
souls of the dead from the upper to the lower regions. As
conductor of the dead he always carries the caduceus with
the two emblematic serpents, symbols of life. In the earlier
works of art Hermes was depicted with a ram over his should-
er. He was then called Hermes Criophorus. [See Crio-
phorus.j In this aspect he becomes the prototype of Christ
as the Shepherd. His usual attributes are the petasos — a
low wide-rimmed hat sometimes adorned with little wings —
winged sandals to denote the swiftness with which he could
girdle the universe, the magic staff later developed into the
caduceus, and sometimes as god of wealth he holds a purse
in his hand. The palm, tortoise, cock, ram, goat, various
kinds of fish and the number four were sacred to him. In-
cense, cakes and honey, lambs, young goats and pigs were
sacrificial offerings.

Herms or Hermae. Statues of Hermes, the god of ways, were
placed at street corners, cross roads and boundaries. Those
placed at three road junctions were called Trivia. The name
Hermae is given to a peculiar kind of statue consisting of a
carefully modelled head or bust set upon a quadrangular
pillar tapering toward the base. Sometimes there is a single
head or again a double head is set on the pillar. This form
of statue is of great antiquity and was highly honoured. To
deface the Hermae was looked upon as a serious crime. The
Romans used the Hermae in the decoration of gardens or as
pillars set at intervals in balustrades or walls. Later,
terminal figures of bearded gods or even philosophers were
also called Hermae.

Honeysuckle, (Anthemion). An ornament in architecture de-
rived from the young petals of the lotus before they have
expanded.

Horns. From time immemorial a symbol of divine power, their
use going back to the moon cult. Horns were used as pro-
tective amulets against evil forces. Among the mystics
the horn typified the call of the spirit.

Horse. "And he took away the horses that the Kings of Judah
had given to the sun , . . and burned the chariots of the
sun with fire," (II. Kings, 23: 11.) The horse is sacred to
the sun. It symbolised the intellect. Bayley suggests
that the one-eyed Arimaspians who rode on horses in their
attempt to steal the gold guarded by the watchful griffins
implied that they were men of intellect only, lacking the eye
of Love. Four horses denoted equity, justice. In ancient

(glosisiarp 425

art the sun was depicted as a charioteer driving a team of
four horses across the heavens.

Horus. Prince of Eternity. "I am yesterday, today and to-
morrow." Horus is the morning sun, the type of eternal
youth. He is given the hawk, sometimes represented as a
falcon or hawk. He wears a double diadem as ruler over the
North and South. Originally one of the oldest gods of
Egypt, he returns as the son of Osiris and Isis.

Ibis. "A bird of deep black colour with legs like a crane, its
beak strongly hooked and its size about that of a land rail."
It was associated with the moon and Thoth and was deeply
venerated in Egypt. Plutarch asserts that the fact that the
ibis was wont to stand with straddled legs forming a triangle
added greatly to its sacredness. It typified aspiration and
perseverance, was a symbol of morning and was reverenced
by the Egyptians as a destroyer of serpents.

Incense. Priests burned incense in Egypt to smoke out demons
and drive out evil spirits. It was believed also to aid the
soul in its last flight. Inspiration was derived from it. The
gods were invoked and propitiated by it. In the flood
legend the Babylonian Noah burned incense. It is used
wherever there is Buddhism as in the Catholic religion of
today.

Incense Burners. When made in the form of lions indicate the
association of the lion with fire and sun worship. The lion
is thus the god and producer of smoke.

Indra. The Hindu god who makes rain. Indra is called the
god of 10,000 eyes, or Lord and Watcher of the Stars. His
symbol is the vajra or thunderbolt.

Isis. The wife of Osiris and mother of Horus has many forms.
She symbolises birth, growth, vigour, development; she is a
moon goddess, an earth goddess, the "lady of words of pow-
er," the greatest goddess of Egypt. She is generally de-
picted in the form of a woman with the vulture head-dress
and in her hand the papyrus sceptre. Above her head is
usually the sun disk between a pair of horns, sometimes she
wears the double crown of South and North with the feather
of Maat attached to the back or, with the horns and disk she
will have two plumes. She has the urseus on her forehead
and sometimes the ram's horns are given her instead of the
horns of Hathor.

Ivy. Denoted eternal life hence placed upon the brow of
Bacchus.

Jade. In China it symbolises "all that is supremely excellent,"
the highest form of human virtue, the " most perfect devel-
opment of the masculine principle in nature."

Janus. A god who rivalled Jupiter himself among the Romans.
Janus releases the dawn, he was also the god of the beginning

426 <6Io52!arj>

and end of undertakings. He is represented in art as two-
faced and is given the key as a symbol of his power to open
and close. In time of war his temple in Rome was open,
and closed in times of peace.

'Jewel in the Lotus,' The. At the beginning of the world Adi-
Buddha manifested himself as a flame rising from a lotus
flower. Sometimes the stalk of the lotus springs from a
triangle lying on the seed vessel of an eight leaved lotus,
but it is more generally depicted rising from the water. The
'jewel in the lotus' symbolises the union of the two forces
fire and water or masculine and feminine.

Jug. One of the eight familiar symbols of Buddha. It gives
forth no sound when full, typifying a man full of knowledge.

Juno. [See Hera.]

Jupiter. [See Zeus.]

Ka. This is man's double, a replica of the body but formed of a
substance less dense — "an etherealised projection of the in-
dividual." The Egyptians pictured the Ka as the vital
force which came into the world with the body, passed
through life in its company and went with it into the next
world. Everything in Egypt was supposed to have a double.

Kalasa. The Vase which holds the Water of Life. A symbol
of the Chinese goddess Kwan-yin.

Keys. Symbol of Janus who flings wide open the portals of the
sky and releases the Dawn. Also given to Mithra, the Persian
Sun-god, and to St. Peter, prince of the apostles and founder
of the Church of Rome.

Khensu. The "wanderer," a moon god and said to be the son of
Amen-Ra and Mut and the third of the great Theban triad.
He was called a form of Thoth. He is the messenger of the
gods, and is usually represented with the head of a hawk or
man, has the lunar disk in a crescent, or the sun disk and
urseus, and in his hands the usual symbols of life and power.
Some times he is given two hawk's heads, four wings and
stands upon two crocodiles symbolising the sun-rise and the
new moon, and the crocodiles are the two great powers of
darkness over which he has conquered.

Khnemu. One of the oldest gods in the Egyptian religion. He
was a river god originally known as Qebh and figures as a
ram-headed god. He appropriates the attributes of Ra,
Osiris, Shu and Seb and is sometimes shown as a man with
four ram's heads symbolising fire, air, water, earth. He
was called the 'Moulder,' the maker of mankind and when
depicted with the four heads he is the type of the "great
primeval creative force." He is usually represented as a
ram-headed man wearing the White Crown, to which are
often attached the disk, plumes and uraei, and holding the
sceptre and symbol of life.

(glosfsiarp 427

Elnot. Without beginning or end the mystic sign of Vishnu,
typifying the continuity of life and adopted by the Buddhists
as one of the eight glorious emblems of Buddha.

Ladder. A favourite symbol of the ascent to the gods. The
ladder of Jacob was probably derived from the Egyptian
belief that you could mount to heaven on a ladder. Small
ladders as amulets were placed in the tombs of Egyptian
kings.

Lightning. Symbolised in all nations by a weapon. Thunder and
storm gods were given the axe, hammer, pitchfork, trident,
the vajra or thunderbolt. Sometimes a trident with zigzag
branches was used to typify forked lightning.

Lion. Invariably associated with the sun, the lion symbolises
the heat of the sun. As the power to modify solar heat is
attributed to the sun-god, so he is represented as in the
Samson myth as slayer of the lion.

Lioness. In Egypt the lioness, like the vulture and cat, sym-
bolised maternity and was given to the primitive mother
goddesses who gave birth to all that exists.

Lituus. A twisted wand something like a bishop's crosier and
used by augurs for purposes of divination. When depicted
in art it usually takes the form of a spiral.

Lizard. A giant lizard was a symbol of Ahrimanes, the Persian
god of evil. A lizard is occasionally depicted upon the breast
of Athene. It was thought to conceive through the ear and
bring forth through the mouth and was worshipped in Mex-
ico and by the Slav nations as late as the sixteenth century.

Lotus. "I am the pure lotus which springeth up from the divine
splendour that belongeth to the nostrils of Ra." From
earliest times a symbol of creation, life, immortality, resur-
rection, fecundity, the feminine principle, re-birth, self-
creation. As every Buddha and Bodhisattva was believed
to be self -existent he was given the lotus flower support to
denote his divine birth. Among the Buddhists the lotus is
also the symbol of Nirvana,

Love. Compared to a fire giving warmth; intelligence to a
light-giving flame.

Maat. The Egyptian goddess of Truth whose symbol is a
feather. Maat is the inseparable companion of Thoth.

Mars. [See Ares.]

Medusa. [See Gorgons].

Meh-urt or Meh-urit. A cow goddess Identified with Hathor,
Isis and also as a form of Nut, and sometimes depicted as
the great cow of the sky. She was the personification of
the primeval, feminine creative principle and usually appears
as a cow-headed woman with a lotus-entwined sceptre,
thus typifying the "great world lotus flower out of which
rose the sun for the first time at the Creation."

428 (glos^siarp

Menat, or Whip Amulet. Symbolic of strength and supposed to
drive away care. The menat is the handle of the whip which
was used to keep off evil spirits and as an amulet was fre-
quently surmounted by the head of a goddess. It is also a
symbol of pleasure and happiness.

Mercury. [See Hermes.]

Minerva. [See Athene.]

Mirror. One of the symbols of truth. The mirror of self-
realisation, the shield which evil dare not face. Concave
bronze mirrors are conspicuous among the Taoist symbols,
the belief being that "when evil recognises itself it de-
stroys itself." Mirrors were also thought to ward off evil
spirits.

Moon. In the moon cult which preceded sun worship the moon
was masculine. The Assyrian moon-god was the god of
wisdom. In Egypt the moon was identified with Thoth.
In the sun cult the moon was associated with the feminine
principle. The crescent moon symbolised virginity. Among
the Chinese the moon represented the concrete essence of
the feminine principle in nature and thus directed every-
thing that belonged to the yin principle such as darkness,
earth, water, etc. "The Vital essence of the Moon governs
Water; and hence when the Moon is at its brightest the tides
are high." Chinese and Indian legends agree in making the
hare, frog and toad inhabitants of the moon. Eight trees
also were said to flourish in the moon. One, the cassia tree
Wii Kang, the Man in the Moon was condemned to hew
down. The trunk of the tree closed after each blow of the
axe. The leaves of the cassia conferred immortality upon
those who ate of them.

Moon and Hare. The moon with a hare in it pounding the drug
of immortality is frequently represented in Chinese art and
is one of the twelve symbols of power. The association of
the hare with the moon is very old and has been attributed
to the mysterious effect of the moon upon the hare which the
primitives could not fail to notice. On clear moonlight
nights the hare were wont to gather together in bands and
indulge in weird play, silent and bizarre, as if under the in-
fluence of some subtle and transforming elixir of life.

Mouse. Sacred to Apollo. "Cinderella's coach was drawn by
mice which turned magically into white horses, i. e., the
golden footed steeds of the Morning." (Bayley.)

Mut. The feminine counterpart of Amen-Ra, the great "world
Mother." She is represented as a woman wearing the united
crowns of North and South and holding in one hand the
ankh cross and in the other the papyrus sceptre. Sometimes
she has large wings and at her feet is the feather symbol of
Maat. Again from each shoulder there projects the head of

(gloflfsiarp 429

a vulture. Sometimes she has the head of a man or a woman
or a vulture or lioness. When given the phallus and the
head of a man it denoted the belief that the goddess was
androgynous, or self-produced.

Nazit. A winged serpent goddess in the Delta. The Greeks
called her Buto and identified her with their Leto.

Neith, Net or Neit. One of the oldest Egyptian goddesses repre-
sented in the form of a woman wearing the crown of the
North, with a sceptre in one hand and the crux ansata in the
other, or a bow and two arrows, her characteristic symbols.
She was to goddesses what Ra was to gods. The Egyptians
declared she was eternal and self -produced. In other words
she was the personification of the eternal feminine principle
of life, and is made to say, "I am what has been, what is, and
what shall be." She was called the "mighty mother who
gave birth to Ra."

Nekhebet. An Egyptian goddess of the South, while Uatchet
was goddess of the North. In pre-dynastic times sovereign-
ty of the South and North was represented by the Vulture
and Serpent signs. Nekhebet was a vulture goddess and
Uatchet a serpent goddess.

Nephthys. Sister of Isis and wife of Set typified death, corrup-
tion, diminution, sterility. Although goddess of death she
symbolised the coming into existence of the life which springs
from death. She is represented as a woman with a pair of
horns and the disk.

Neptune. [See Poseidon.]

Nine. In Hebrew the equivalent of Truth because when multi-
plied it reproduces itself.

Nu. One of the earlier Egyptian gods who personified the wa-
tery mass out of which had sprung the germs of life. He is
sometimes represented as a man holding a sceptre, again he
is given the head of a frog surmounted by a beetle or the
head of a serpent.

Nut. The Egyptian sky goddess. She is the feminine counter-
part of Nu and looked upon as the primeval mother and
later was identified with Neith, Mut and Hathor who are
given her attributes. She is represented as a woman some-
times with the head of the urseus surmounted by the solar
disk, or again with the head of a cat. Sometimes she is the
great cow goddess. As the wife of Seb she is for all practical
purposes the same goddess bearing the same titles, and is
the type of the great mother. The sycamore tree was her
peculiar emblem. "Since the mythological tree of Nut
stood at Heliopolis and was a sycamore it may well have
served as the archetype of the sycamore tree under which
tradition asserts that the Virgin Mary sat and rested during
her flight to Egypt." (Budge.)

430 (^los^siarp

Obelisk. An ancient symbol of the masculine principle. A
pair of obelisks and colossal statues in front of the temples
of Egypt with backs to the pylon and facing the city (led
up to frequently by long avenues of sphinxes or rams) , were
to protect the god against evil influences. The obelisk has
been called the symbol of Amon-Generator, a ray of light or
the finger of the god. Obelisks placed in pairs before
Theban temples expressed among other ideas "concepts of
generative power and fertility which had belonged to the
raised stone from which they partly emanated." (Maspero.)

Orpheus. He is said by some to be a son of Apollo and has been
called the inventor of letters and everything that pertains
to civilisation. Receiving a lyre from Apollo he charmed
the beasts and birds by the magic of his music. Rivers
ceased to flow in order to hear him and mountains moved
nearer to listen to his song. His love for Eurydice is founded
on the old nature myth of death and restoration to life.
Upon the death of Eurydice, Orpheus descends to the nether
regions searching for her and gains the consent of Pluto that
she shall be restored to life and free to accompany him back
to earth, if he will refrain from looking at her until after they
are beyond the precincts of hell. When in sight of the upper
region of light Orpheus turned to gaze upon her and Eurydice
melted from his sight. Mourning for his lost love he with-
drew into himself. The Thracian women angered by his
coldness tore him limb from limb and threw his head in the
Hebrus. Orpheus was called the first poet of the Heroic
Age. The Orphics were a mystic order founded upon the
doctrines and teachings of Orpheus. In early Christian art
Christ was depicted as Orpheus surrounded by beasts and
birds whom He charmed by His music.

Osiris. A water-god, man-god, solar-god — the god of the sun of
yesterday — the great god and judge of the dead — "from
first to last Osiris was to the Egyptians the god-man who
suffered, and died, and rose again, and reigned eternally in
heaven." Osiris is usually depicted in mummy form wearing
the White Crown and a menat hanging from the back of his
neck and holding the crook, sceptre and flail. Sometimes
he wears the Atef, the white crown with plumes, sometimes
he appears in the form of the tet (tat) pillar.

Osiris, his Amulets. The amulets used in producing the recon-
stitution of the body of Osiris, torn asunder by Set, were:
the four figures of the children of Horus, two bulls, a figure
of Horus, four lapis-lazuli tat pillars, two carnelian tat
pillars, a figure of Thoth, and two lapis-lazuli iizats.

Owl. Sacred to Athene, goddess of wisdom. Owl-headed vases
with breasts and the vulva represented by a large circle, the
circle sometimes ornamented by an incised cross, were un-

(glosiSJarp 431

earthed by Schliemann. These sacred vases were asso-
ciated with the archaic Greek worship of Athene. Some
were found with wings showing their sacred character.

Ox. Symbol of patient renunciation and toil. Eating of an ox
was a part of the cult of Dionysos.

Palm. The Greek word for date palm and the phoenix is the same.
Thus the tree was fabled to die and then spring up anew
like the phoenix. It is one of the most ancient symbols of
creative force and the date palm was the symbolic Tree of
Life in Chaldea, Assyria and Babylonia. Among the
Egyptians the palm tree typified the year because it produces
a branch every month. The palm was sacred to Astarte
and was also given to Apollo in Delos and Delphi. Among
the Christians the palm is a symbol of martyrdom.

Pan. The great god of shepherds, flocks, pastures and forests.
He was called a son of Hermes and grandson or great grand-
son of Kronos (Saturn). He lived in grottoes, wandering
about the mountains and valleys and slumbering during the
mid-day heat of summer. He was also a hunter and led the
dances of the nymphs. As god of the pastoral life he was
fond of music and invented the syrinx or shepherd's flute.
He exulted in noise and riot and was looked upon as a com-
panion of Cybele and Dionysos. He is represented in art
as a short bearded man with the horns, ears and legs of a
goat. His attributes are a pipe, crook and the fir tree.
Rams, lambs, milk and honey were sacrificed to him. His
principal place of worship was Arcadia, thence it spread to
other parts of Greece. In Rome he was identified with
Faunus and Lupercus. In Egypt the god Pan and a goat
were worshipped at Hermopolis, Lycopolis and Mendes.
Pan and the goat were both called Mendes and worshipped
as gods of fecundity. This is the famous Ram of Mendes
whose cult was established in the second dynasty. The ram
was distinguished by certain symbolic markings and, like the
Apis bull, was searched for diligently and when found led to
the city followed by a procession of notables and priests.
The cult lasted till the decay of the city.

Panther or Leopard. Because of the eye-like spots on its skin it
symbolised the Great Watcher. The Egyptians frequently
depicted Osiris as a crouching leopard with above him the
open eye symbol. Images of Osiris had suspended near
them the spotted skin of the leopard. The panther is also
the symbolic animal of the Greek Dionysos. It may have
been given to the god of wine and vegetation because of an
old superstition that the panther was able to allure men,
beasts and cattle by the fragrance of its breath.

Peach Tree. Among the Chinese an emblem of marriage and
symbol of longevity.

432 (glosisfarp

Peacock. Sacred to Hera (Juno). In early Christian art a
symbol of the resurrection.

Phoenix. This fabulous bird is second among the supernatural
creatures of the Chinese and like the unicorn was supposed
to unite both the masculine and feminine principles. It
was looked upon as the essence of fire, is the bird of the sun
that burns itself and rises from its own ashes immortally
young. It has symbolised life and immortality from re-
motest times and was taken over by the Christians to ex-
press the same symbolic idea. The phoenix was a common
device in heraldry for those who would convey the impres-
sion of survival. Queen Elizabeth had the phoenix stamped
upon her medals and coins, frequently with the motto
Sola phoenix omnis mundi. "The only phoenix in the
world."

Pillar. One of the oldest symbols of creative energy. Two
Pillars symbolised the "pair of opposites," or the "twin
horsemen" which in early India "seem to have represented
father and mother and afterwards day and night." In
Egypt two pillars typified the Gateway of Life. The
Egyptians symbolised their first Trinity by Three Pillars
denoting Wisdom, Strength, Beauty. Three pillars were
used by the Mayas, Incas, Hindus and Druids as a symbol
of their triune gods. Among the Mayas the vault of
heaven was sustained by Four Pillars one on each cardinal
point. The Egyptians also had four pillars supporting
the sky, each pillar under the care of a god. The pillars
were termed the "Four sceptres of the gods."

Pine Cone. A symbol of life among all the Semitic races. The
"sacred cone" typified an existence united yet distinct and
conveyed precisely the same meaning as the crux ansata of
the Egyptians. It is also a symbol of Venus and Artemis.
D'Alviella traces the cone sacre to the human silhouette
comparing this also to the crux ansata which shaped the
figures of the early nature goddesses such as Diana of the
Ephesians. The combination of the sacred cone and the
crux ansata penetrated to India where the disk was replaced
by an inverted triangle above the tau. The symbol in this
form is seen on the foot prints of Buddha.

Pine Tree. Among the Chinese and Japanese a symbol of life
and immortality. The god of longevity is usually depicted
standing at the foot of a pine while a crane perches on a
branch above. Sometimes the bamboo is grouped with the
pine and the plum tree. These are all longevity symbols
and when grouped together typify good fortune, happiness.
The white stag is associated with the god of longevity.
Sometimes a stag and stork are shown with the pine each
plucking a branch from the tree.

iglofi^siarp 433

Pomegranate. Used by all Semitic nations as a symbol of life
and fecundity.

Poseidon, (Neptune). The god of the waters and the force
and flow of life. Among the Greeks the horse which was
likened to a crested sea wave, animated and bridled was
sacred to Poseidon. This may refer to the myth of the
contest between Athene and Poseidon for supremacy.
Preference was to be given by the assembled gods to the one
who gave the most useful present to man. Poseidon struck
the earth with his trident and a horse sprang forth. Athene
produced the olive and was acclaimed the victor. In art
Poseidon is generally represented standing on a dolphin or
seated in a chariot formed like a shell and drawn by dolphins
or sea horses and holding a trident in his hand.

Priapus. The personification of attraction. Knight identifies
the Greek Bacchus with the First Begotten Love of Orpheus
and Hesiod. "In the Orphic Fragments this Deity or First-
Begotten Love is said to have been produced together with
Ether by Time (Kronos) or Eternity, and Necessity operat-
ing upon inert matter. He is described as eternally beget-
ting, the Father of Night, called in later times the lucid or
splendid because he first appeared as splendour; of a double
nature as possessing the general power of creation and gen-
eration, both active and passive, both male and female.
Light is his necessary and primary attribute, co-eternal with
himself, and with him brought forth from inert matter by
Necessity. Hence the purity and sanctity always attributed
to light by the Greeks. . . . He is said to pervade the world
with the motion of his wings bringing pure light; and thence
to be called the splendid, the ruling Priapus, and self-
illumined. . . . The self-created mind of the Eternal Father
is said to have spread the heavy bond of love through all
things in order that they might endure forever." ^ Geese
are sacred to Priapus. He is represented as carrying fruit
and either a cornucopia or sickle in his hand. The Italians
confounded him with various personifications of the fructify-
ing powers of nature and in Greek legends Priapus is asso-
ciated with beings who are sensual and licentious. He was
the god of gardens and the first fruits of gardens, fields and
vineyards were sacrificed to him.

Psyche, (breath or soul). Psyche is called the "mythical em-
bodiment of the human soul." The myth shows the help-
lessness, the unreliability, the tragic suffering of the soul as
it passes through the world of experience. Quite without
consciousness of anything but beauty and sweetness in life.
Psyche excites the jealous wrath of Aphrodite by the elusive,
intangible, exquisite quality of her beauty. The myth
* "Worship of Priapus," R. P. Knight.

434 (glosisiarp

resembles the story of Cinderella, Psyche is beset by the
same forces — the jealous goddess or cruel stepmother, the
twin sisters of pride and envy and Eros the god of love who,
sent by Aphrodite to enchant her with some monster takes
her unto himself and thus becomes the Prince Charming of
the fairy tale. Eros visits her at night and exacts but one
pledge — that she shall never attempt to see him. Psyche,
played upon by her envious sisters forgets her promise and
"investigates" love, and love, wounded by her distrust,
flees from her and comes no more. The rest of the myth
shows the soul paying the price for its wavering doubts.
Psyche wanders from place to place searching for her lover.
Finally she comes to the palace of Aphrodite who recognising
and still hating her makes her a slave. Eros finding her
there secretly comforts and aids her by his invisible presence.
Her humility and patience win at last even the goddess of
beauty, and Psyche becomes one of the immortals united
forever with Eros. Psyche and Eros are frequently repre-
sented together in art. Psyche is often given the wings of
a butterfly.

Ptah. The Egyptian Vulcan, the god of fire, Ptah was also
regarded as a form of the sun-god and was identified with
one of the great primeval gods and called the "father of
beginnings and creator of the egg of the sun and moon."
As creator Ptah was the embodiment of mind from which all
things emerge. "Ptah was the architect and builder of the
material world." While Klmemu was fashioning men and
animals Ptah was constructing the heavens and the earth.
He was represented shaping the egg of the world on a potter's
wheel which he worked with his foot. He is usually depicted
as a bearded man with a bald head holding the sceptre of
power, the crux ansata and the tat, symbol of stability.

Ptah-Seker. A personification among the Egyptians of the
"union of primeval creative power with a form of the inert
powers of darkness or, in other words Ptah-Seker is a form
of Osiris, that is to say, of the night sun or dead sun-god."
(Budge.)

Ra. The great sun-god of the Egyptians. He is generally
depicted with the head of a hawk or again as a hawk. He
has the usual emblems of life and power, the solar disk and
uraeus, the crux ansata and sceptre. He is also identified
with the ass, cat, bull, ram and crocodile.

Ram of Mendes. [See Pan.]

Rhea. "The name as well as the nature of this ancient divinity
is one of the most difficult points in ancient mythology."
It is assumed, however, that like Demeter, Rhea is goddess
of the earth. Kjonos was said to have devoured all his
children by Rhea except Zeus whom she concealed giving

Kronos a stone wrapped up as an infant whom the god
swallowed. Crete was probably the earliest seat of the
worship of Rhea. She was identified with Cybele in Phrygia,
was worshipped by the Thracians, under different names she
was the great goddess of the Eastern world and was known
as the Great Mother, the mother of all the gods. Her priests
were the Corybantes who dressed in full armour, with cym-
bals, horns and drums performed their orgiastic dances on
the mountains or in the depths of the forests of Phrygia.
Many of the attributes of Rhea were given to her daughter
Demeter. The lion was the symbolic animal of the earth
goddess because of all the animals known it was the strongest
and most important. In works of art she was rarely de-
picted standing. She is usually represented seated on a
throne, wearing a mural crown from which hangs down a
veil. Lions crouch on either side of her throne or some-
times she is shown in a chariot drawn by lions. In Greece
the oak tree was sacred to Rhea.

Rosaries. Used in ancient days to reckon time. The circle,
a line without termination, symbolised perpetual continuity
hence circlets of beads. The rosary was used in the religions
of the east as an aid in repeating mystical sentences. Dif-
ferent materials were employed by the Buddhists, ivory,
jade and crystal beads, also those made from the wood of
plum or cherry trees. Originally the beads numbered 108
"corresponding with the number of sins of the flesh."

Sail. The sail springing into movement under the influence of
the wind was an Egyptian symbol of the spirit — spiritus
meaning breath or wind.

Salt. Owing to its incorruptible nature salt was a symbol of
immortality. Homer called it divine. Wisdom is personi-
fied holding a salt cellar. "The bestowal of Sal SapientioB,
the Salt of Wisdom, is still a formality in the Latin Church."
The victims for sacrifice among the ancient Romans were
led to death with salt upon their heads. It was considered
the worst possible omen should they shake it off. Hence the
superstition about spilling salt. Da Vinci uses this same
symbolism in the overturned salt cellar by the side of Judas
in his "Last Supper."

Sangrael. The Cup of the Holy Grail which according to tradi-
tion was used at the Last Supper.

Scarab. An Egyptian amulet that protected against annihila-
tion.

Scarabaeus. [See Beetle.]

Sceptre. Derived from the divided pillar and typifying the
union of the two forces that create life, and thus from the
most ancient days, a symbol of highest power given only to
rulers and the gods and goddesses of life. The Buddhists

436 <g(o2(s;arj>

sometimes have a lotus carved on the handle, or it is a short,
slightly curving wand of jade or exquisitely carved wood.

Scorpions. Symbol of Selk, the Egyptian goddess of writing
and also reverenced 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.

Seb. The Egyptian earth god, the son of Shu and Tefnut,
brother and husband of Nut and the father of Osiris and
Isis, Set and Nephthys. He is represented in human form
wearing the crown of the North to which is added the Atef
crown or a goose. Seb was believed to have made his way
through the air in the form of a goose. It was Seb and Nut
who produced the great egg of the world out of which sprang
the sun-god in the form of a phoenix.

Sebek. An Egj^jtian god depicted as a crocodile-headed man.

Sekhebet, Sekhmet or Sekhet. An Egyptian goddess repre-
senting the power of the sun. She is the second person of
the Memphis triad and worshipped as the consort of Ptah.
She is depicted with the head of a lioness or a cat, with the
solar disk and urseus. She is also called a vulture goddess.
Later Sekhet and Bast were identified with Hathor and
called goddesses of the West and East. Each had the head
of a lioness but Sekhet wears a red garment and Bast is
given a green. Sekhet typified the scorching heat of the
sun.

Serapeum. The famous tomb of the Apis bulls at Sakkara.
Above stood the great temple of the Serapeum.

Serapis. The Egyptians believed that the soul of Apis united
itself with Osiris after death and thus became the dual god
Asar-Hapi or Osiris-Apis. The Greeks attributed to Asar-
Hapi the same qualities of their god Hades and gave it the
name of Serapis. Serapis was accepted both by the Greeks
and the Egyptians as their principal object of worship and
after 250 B.C. it seems to have been looked upon as the male
counterpart of Isis. Bronze figures of Apis have a triangular
piece of silver in the forehead, a disk and the urseus serpent
between the horns, and on the sides of the body the outlined
figures of vultures with outstretched wings.

Serpent. The Great Serpent is depicted by the Egyptians and
Mayas as blue with yellow scales. Used as a symbol to
figure the heavens or the principle of motion the serpent was
depicted of an azure colour, studded with stars and devouring
his tail, that is, re-entering into himself by continuous wind-
ings like the revolutions of the spheres. Three kinds of
serpents are represented in the Egyptian monuments: the
cobra di capello (the urseus of the ancient Egyptians and the
"basilisk" of the Greeks), which was the symbol of royal

(glosisiarp 437

and divine authority and appears on the heads of gods and
kings, the asp or cerastes, and the great coluber, the serpent
Apep, the symbol of Set or Typhon.

Set or Typhon. In the primitive Egyptian rehgions Set was not
the god of evil but the personification of natural darkness.
He was said to be the son of Nut (the sky) and Seb (the
earth) and brother of Osiris and Isis. He married his sister
Nephthys. In an earlier form he is opposed to Horus the
elder. In the second form the combat is between Ra and
Set and Set assumes the form of a huge serpent. The third
form is Osiris and Set and the fourth is the battle between
Horus, son of Osiris and Set. Besides the serpent Apep
Set was given the crocodile, pig, turtle, ass and hippopota-
mus, and animals with reddish brown skins or even red-
haired men were supposed to be under his influence and
were held in especial aversion. Antelopes and black pigs
were sacrificed to him.

Seven Buddhist Jewels, The The golden wheel or disk. Lovely
female consorts. Horses. Elephants. Divine guardians of
the treasury. Ministers in command of armies. The
wonder working pearl. These are the seven gems of a
Chakravarti or universal monarch. Seven precious jewels
also belonged to Brahmanism and are referred to in the
Rig-veda.

Seven Precious Things. In China and Japan gold, silver, rubies,
emeralds, crystal, amber (or coral or the diamond) and agate.

Seven Wise Ones, The These came forth from the eye of Ra
and taking the form of seven hawks flew upwards and to-
gether with Asten, a form of Thoth, presided over learning.
Ptah as master architect carried out the designs of Thoth
and his Seven Wise Ones.

Shu and Tefnut. The twin lion-gods of Egypt "who made their
own bodies." Shu is represented in human form wearing
on his head one, two or four feathers. As god of space he
is sometimes depicted holding up the sky with both hands.
The goddess Tefnut often appears with the head of a lioness
or in the form of a lioness. The four pillars which held up
the sky at the four cardinal points were called the "pillars
of Shu."

Sin. The Assyrian moon-god was called the "mighty Steer
whose horns are strong, whose limbs are perfect."

Solomon's Seal. Two equilateral triangles forming a six pointed
star. This figure also embodied the ancient androgynous
notion of the deity, the pyramid with apex upward typifying
the masculine, and with apex downward the feminine prin-
ciple. Here the analogy is perfect for two triangles thus
arranged also symbolised fire which mounts upwards and
water which flows down. In Rome it was a part of the

438 (glosisiarp

marriage ceremony for the bride to touch fire and water, the
two forces of creation and productivity.
Sphinx. Among the Egyptians a symbol of royal dignity, of the
power of the Pharaohs. Believing that the gates of morning
and evening were guarded by lion-gods they sometimes gave
heads of men and women to these lion guardians which then
typified the union of strength and intellect. It was the
Greeks who gave the name of "sphinxes" to these figures.
The oldest is the famous sphinx at Gizeh. Its age is un-
known, but it existed in the time of Khephren who built
the Second Pyramid (c. 4000 B.C.) and was probably very
old even then. It is supposed to be a symbol of the sun-god
Ra-Temu-Khepera-Herukhuti, and the guardian and pro-
tector of the tombs about it. In building it the Egyptians
were providing a "colossal abode for the spirit of the sun-god
which they expected to dwell therein and protect their dead ;
it faced the rising sun of which it was a mighty symbol."
The lion statue with a human head was called the andro-
sphinx, with a ram's head the crio-sphinx. With the Greeks
the sphinx was only represented in feminine form with wings
and typified the pestilential heat of summer.

Stag. Owing to its antipathy to the serpent which it invariably
attacks and destroys the stag typified the victory of the
spirit. A white Stag was an attribute of the Chinese and
Japanese gods of longevity.

Stele. A term used to denote ancient monoliths or monuments
placed vertically upon which were inscribed historic events
or tributes to the memory of the dead. Steloe upon which
are sculptured the likeness of a departed hero or king form
some of the most interesting examples of early Greek and
Roman art. In Egypt the stelae were originally identical with
the "false doors" of the mastabasand represented the entrance
into the nether world. They indicated also the place to which
the friends were to turn when they brought their offerings.

Stones. The Egyptians called precious stones "hard stones of
truth." Swedenborg made precious stones the symbol of
spiritual truths. "All knowledge and all truth are absolute
and infinite waiting not to be created but to be found."
Primitive temples consisted of circles of stones in the centre
of which was kindled the sacred fire. This circular area
was sometimes enclosed in a square one. A square stone
was a primitive symbol of Venus among Arabians and
Greeks. It has been assumed that the twelve stones carried
by the Children of Israel from the river Jordon to "a spot
called Gilgal" were placed in the form of a circle.

Stupa, *(/?7. "precious tower"). A diagram symbolising the ele-
ments used in the East by the Buddhists and by the mediae-
val alchemists of Europe.

(SlOSiJBlarp 439

Sumeni or Mt. Meru. The highest peak of the Himalayas and
supposed to be the centre of the universe. This is the sacred
mountain where dwelt the Hindu Triad Brahma, Vishnu
and Siva. Mounts or Holy Hills were usually three in num-
ber. Mt. Meru had three peaks of gold, silver and
iron.

Sun. To the Chinese it represented the concrete essence of the
masculine principle in nature and was the source of all
brightness, from it emanate the five colours. The sun was
worshipped by the ancients as the material symbol of God,
or the abode of the Supreme Spirit.

Sun disk with outspread wings of a hawk. The Egyptian sym-
bol of the Deity, and constantly depicted in Egyptian art.

Sun with a three-legged raven in it. Frequently depicted in
Chinese art and one of the twelve symbols of power. Ac-
cording to Chinese tradition a three-legged raven lives in
the sun and the raven or crow is often painted with the sun
as back ground. It is a favourite bird in Japan. In Egypt
the raven is a symbol of destruction.

Surya-mani. A sun disk surmounted by a trident is called
surya-mani or sun jewel. Issuing from the lotus it repre-
sents Adi-Buddha at the creation of the world.

Swastika or Fylfot Cross. One of the most widespread of all the
mystic emblems of the sun and supposed among the many
meanings attributed to it to typify solar energy, motion.

Tai-Kih or Ta-Ki. The Great Ultimate Principle of the Chinese
is symbolised by a third line from above added to the Chinese
monad of opposites. "The yin or feminine principle was
generated by the 'Rest' of the Ta-Ki or Great All. The
other, the yang or masculine principle was generated by
the 'Motion' of the Great All."

Tat, Tet or Zad. An Egyptian amulet that has been variously
interpreted as symbolising the pole that measured the Nile,
as the tree trunk which enclosed the body of Osiris, or as
the back bone of Osiris, and the setting up of the tat was
an important religious feature in connection with the worship
of the god. The tat pole has been called an Egyptian type
of the "pole or pillar that sustained the universe." The tat
like the Buckle amulet of Isis had to be dipped in water in
which ankham flowers had lain and was hung around the
mummy's neck for its protection. The word denotes sta-
bility, firmness, preservation.

Ta-urt, (The Greek Theuris). The consort of Set and goddess
of childbirth. Ta-urt is depicted with the head of a hippo-
potamus and is sometimes shown leaning on the girdle tie
symbolising the blood of Isis. The cult of Ta-urt was
probably co-eval with Egyptian civilisation. As the femin-
ine counterpart of Set she was the mother of the sun-god.

440 #lo2!s(arp

She also figures with the god Bes in a royal birth scene in a
relief in the famous temple of Hatshepset, and later appears
with Horus holding a crocodile which Horus is about to
spear. Although at an early period looked upon with aver-
sion as a creature of malignant power, Ta-urt was venerated
in the later religions as a beneficent goddess.

Tefnut. The female counterpart of Shu. [See Shu and Tefnut.]

Thet or Buckle amulet of Isis. This represents a girdle made of
carnelian, red jasper or red glass and is also called the
"carnelian girdle tie of Isis." It brought to the deceased
the protection of Isis giving him access, moreover, to every
place in the world of shades.

Thor's Hammer. This symbol has been likened to the Fylfot
Cross, the crux ansata and the Chinese Y. In Scandinavian
mythology the tau cross was known as Thor's hammer.
Like the thunderbolt in the hands of the Assyrian storm
gods it was a weapon of divine power.

Thoth, Thot, Thaut or Tehuti. The Egyptian god of learning,
the scribe, the "pathfinder and awakener of sleeping minds."
He is a moon-god and his symbol the ibis. He is frequently
depicted with the head of an ibis. The baboon was also
sacred to Thoth.

Thrones. Three thrones surmounted by royal caps symbolised
the great Babylonian triad Anu, Enlil and Ea. Thrones
who support the seat of the Most High belong to the nine-
fold celestial hierarchy of the early Christians. These were
symbolised as fiery wheels surrounded by wings and the
wings filled with eyes.

Thyrsus. A staff entwined with ivy or vine branches or some-
times with a knot of ribbon and surmounted by a pine cone
the symbol of life. Bacchus and his followers carry the
thyrsus. It was also used in their religious ceremonies by
the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks and Jews.

Tiger. A mount for the gods, immortals and exorcists. An
animal symbolising for the Chinese superhuman powers.
The Taoist god of wealth rides on a tiger who watches over
the magic money chest. The tiger was honoured by gam-
blers who burned incense before images of it holding money
in its forepaws. It is frequently depicted with the dragon
as a symbol of power. When the tiger and bamboo are
depicted together it symbolises the bamboo jungle which
protects the tiger from the elephant.

Torii. The temple gateway in Japan consisting of two upright
and two horizontal beams of bronze, copper or stone, sym-
bolising peace and rest or the Gateway of Life. It is said
in Japan that the sun-goddess frequently descends to earth
in the form of the "heavenly phoenix" making the torii her
perch.

(Slosisiarp 441

Tortoise. One of the four supernatural creatures of the Chinese
and a favourite symbol of longevity and supposed to live a
thousand years. Sometimes it is represented in art with a
long bushy tail which it is said to have acquired at the age
of ten thousand years. The tortoise was used in divination
and w^as believed to hold the secrets of life and death. It
is also a symbol of fecundity. In Greek art Aphrodite is
sometimes depicted standing on a tortoise.

Triangle. The equilateral triangle is one of the oldest symbols
of the Trinity or the tri-une conception; it is also the emblem
of fire. In Egypt the form that signified the feminine prin-
ciple or maternity was the hieroglyph of the moon, and is
often depicted with the sacred baboon. Sometimes the
triangle surmounts a pillar with the baboon before it in an
attitude of worship.

Three double triangles surrounded by concentric circles. An
Egyptian hieroglyphic for the Khui land or Land of the
Spirits.

Triangle enclosed by a circle. "The area within this triangle is
the common hearth of them all and is named the 'Plain of
Truth' in which the Reason, the forms and the patterns of
all things that have been, and that shall be, are stored up not
to be disturbed; and as Eternity dwells around them, from
thence time like a stream from a fountain flows down upon
the worlds." (Plutarch's On the Cessation of Oracles.)

Trilobe or Trefoil. A form much used in mullions and arcades
of the Gothic architecture and derived from the cloverleaf
or the outer rim of three circles, one above two, both of
which were ancient symbols of the Trinity.

*Trimurti." The Hindu triad, Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the
Preserver and Siva the Destroyer or Apathy.

Triquetra. A mystical three-pointed ornament derived from
three elongated circles without beginning or end and forming
a symbolical motif in architectural decoration.

Tri-ratna. The "three precious jewels," Buddha, Dharma and
Sangha whose symbols are the trisula, the syllable a.u.m.
and the triangle.

Trisula. A three-forked flame resembling a trident. A buddhistic
emblem and called "the invocation of the 'highest.' "

Uatchet. [See Nekhebet.]

Umbrella or Parasol. An emblem of royalty universally adopted
by Eastern nations and carried over the head of a king in
times of peace and sometimes in war. Like the halo it is
derived from the solar wheel and is placed over the head of
Buddha as a symbol of power.

Unicorn. In all countries from pre-historic days the unicorn
has been the symbol of purity, strength of body and virtue
of mind — "the emblem of perfect good." It is one of the

442 (gIo£(2(arp

four supernatural divinely constituted beasts of Che Chinese
and was supposed to combine both the masculine and
feminine principles. It appears in the earliest examples in
Chinese art where it closely resembles the dragon-horse. It
seems to be a popular Chinese idea that the unicorn is the
size of a goat with a horn in the centre of its forehead. The
unicorn is sometimes depicted with a parrot on its back, the
unicorn typifying dumb justice and the parrot the vociferous
advocate of truth. The early Christians adopted the uni-
corn as a symbol of chastity and it was thus given to St.
Justina. Chemists also used the unicorn as a trademark to
indicate the purity of their goods. In the Renaissance,
when the imagination broke away from the rigid control of
the Church, it seems to have been a matter of instinct with
the artists to make use of all the typical figures that belonged
to the rich florescence of the mythic past. Thus we see the
lion and the unicorn in the famous tapestries in the Musee
Cluny, where the unicorn is the symbol of incorruptibility or
the nobility of the robe, and the lion is the symbol of force
or the nobility of the sword.

Unicorn's Horn. The belief that the unicorn typified purity
and virtue led to the further belief that the horn of the
animal had the power of revealing treasons and was an
antidote against poisons. In the Middle Ages the smallest
piece of anything that purported to be this rare horn com-
manded a price ten times more than its weight in gold. The
unicorn's horn now in the Musee Cluny, Paris (in reality
a narwhal's tusk) was presented to Charlemagne by the
Sultan Haroun-al-Raschid in 807, deposited by the emperor
in the imperial treasury at Aix-la-Chapelle, and afterwards
placed by his grandson Charles the Bald in the treasury of
the abbey church of St. Denis where it was jealously guarded
for 950 years as a potent means of protecting the French
kings against poisoning. It bears the scars of various
notches.

Uraeus Serpent. The urseus was an Egyptian symbol of royalty
and power and worn on the king's crown was supposed to
spit venom on the king's enemies.

Urna. The shining spot in Buddha's forehead, the sign of
spiritual consciousness, symbol of the "eye divine" and later
developed as the third eye of Siva.

Uzat. The mystic eye. An Egyptian amulet which, when worn
by a cord around the neck, was a protection against malice,
envy, evil. The Uzat or Eye of Horus was also a charm
against the evil eye, which was as greatly feared in Egypt as
in Italy. [See Eye.}

Vajra or Thunderbolt. The Chaldeans figured the thunderbolt
by a trident. In Nimroud it is held in the left hand of a

god who holds an axe In the right. As the axe symbolised
the sun, and the trident is given to the gods of storm and
water, we have here again the powerful union of fire and
water. The Vajra appears in Mesopotamia as a double
trident. Marduk holds the double trident in each hand in
fighting with the monster Tiamat. A trident with zigzag
branches representing lightning is frequently shown in the
hands of Assyrian gods.

Venus. [See Aphrodite. 1

Vishnu. His Three Strides are his position at dawn, at noon
and in the evening. The garuda bird half-giant, half-eagle
was his vehicle and his symbol, the discus, is identified with
the Wheel of the Law.

Vulcan. [See Hephaestus.]

Vultiu-e. An Egyptian symbol of purification, also of maternity
owing to its devotion to its young. Mut, Neith, Nekhebet
and various other mother goddesses were given the vulture.

Wheel. One of the oldest symbols of the occult power of the
sun. It is given to all the sun-gods as a symbol of universal
dominion. Among the Hindus and Buddhists the turning
of the wheel represented re-birth. The spokes in the Bud-
dhist wheels were generally multiples of four. The connec-
tion between the wheel and thunderbolt is a very curious
one. The Buddhist praying wheels turn in the direction in
which the sun moves and, while the wheel is turned in the
right hand, the dorje or thunderbolt is held in the left.
The discus of Vishnu is identified with the wheel of the law.
The rays of the wheel uniting in a common centre sym-
bolised divine unity.

Willow Branch. With it Kwan-yin the Chinese goddess of
mercy sprinkles about her the divine nectar of life. The
willow branch is sometimes depicted in a vase.

Wood. Swedenborg makes wood a symbol of "celestial goodness
in its lowest corporeal plane."

Zen. The absolute is immanent in every man's heart. There
is no use seeking Buddha outside your own nature — no
Buddha but your own thoughts. Zen means "for a I man
to behold his own fundamental nature." Buddha is
thought.

Zeus, (Jupiter). In Greek art Zeus is always represented as a
bearded man of noble and majestic mien. His attributes
are the eagle, the sceptre and the thunderbolt. The thun-
derbolt in his hand typifies that he is the origin, beginning,
middle and end of all things. He is heaven, earth, fire,
water, day and night. His eyes are the sun and moon. He
is space and eternity, the essence and life of all beings. He
is sometimes represented in sitting posture in allusion to his
immutable essence, the upper part of his body uncovered,

444 (glosfsJarp

typifying the upper regions of the universe, and covered from
the waist down because in terrestrial things he is more secret
and concealed. He holds the sceptre in the left hand be-
cause the heart is on the left side and the heart is the seat
of understanding.

INDEX

Aaron's rod, 71

Active and passive principles, 16, 31,
34, 48, 64, 76, 87, 89, 90, 382

Symbols of, in ark of Egyptians,
281, 282
Agwins, 83
Adam. 56, 102

Adam and Eve, 77, 96, 146, 386
Adi-Buddha, 14, 24, 25

As beginning deity, 14
Adonis, 114, 128

As twice-born god, 184

Likened to Ishtar and Tammuz,
299

Greek legend of, 300-301

Myth of, see Glossary
iEsculapius, 143
Agni, 109, 126, 187, 208

As god of the fire stick, 232

God of fire and masculine principle,
290

Worshipped as, 330
Ahrimanes, 15

Lizard, symbol of, 15, 182
Ahura-Mazda, 15, 182
Altar, 78, 80, 188, 332

Modified form of pillar, 80

As mound of earth, symbol of earth
mother, 80

As slab for votive offerings, 80

Takes place of sacred tree, 102

Of the Palmyrene, 113
Amber, 200
Amen-Ra, 11, 170, 173

Hymn to, 142

Symbols of, 172

See Glossary
Amitabha, 25

Androgynous symbols, 24, 112
Ank or Sacred Mirror, 182
Ankh, Egyptian symbol of life, 37, 53
Animal symbolism in Chinese art,

see Glossary
Anu, 129, 175, 176, 178

Symbol of, 59
Anubis, 122, see Glossary

Apep, 138,

Night demon, 151

As Set, 174

With back full of knives, 197
Aphrodite —

Identified with Astarte, 284

Seat of worship, 286

Cone, symbol of, 286

Great Mother as, 289

Union with Hermes, 292

Bearded, 292

Myth of, see Glossary
Apis bull, 202, 203, 204, 252, see

Glossary
Apollo, 130, 144

Goose sacred to, 130

With python, 138

Cock as announcer of, 205

Chariot of, 208

Myth of, see Glossary
Aquarius, zodiacal sign of, 17, 149
Architecture, phallic origin of, 76
Ares, see Glossary
Ariadne, 284, see Glossary
Aries, see Zodiac
Ark, 86, 281

Of ^Egyptians, 281, 282
Arks of Old Testament, 282-283
Arrow, 34, 76

Solar arrow symbol of, 180
Artemis —

Of Ephesus, 284

Cone emblem of, 286

Myth of, see Glossary
Asherah, 71, 271

Cult of, 79
Ashtoreth, 71, 284, 287, 289
Ashur, 126, 178-181

As god of fertility, symbolised by,
178

As "world soul," 179

As bull of heaven, 179

As lion and eagle, 179

As warrior, 179, 180

As archer, 180

As god within solar wheel, 214

445

446

Snbex

Asp, 204
Ass —

Christ rode on, 211

Sacred to Dionysos, 211

Mass in honour of, 211-212

Worshipped by Jews, 211
Astarte, 71, 113, 127, 284

Associated with Ashtoreth, 71,
287, 289

Cone emblem of, 286

"Goddess of evil repute," 287
Atargatis, 284, 292, 293, 294
Athene —

Dove with olive branch, sacred to,
128

Serpents given to, 143

Owl, see Glossary

Myth of, see Glossary
Attis (Atys), 114, 185, 286

Imprisoned in pine tree, 114

Death of, 114

As twice-born god, 184

Associated with, 285

As tree spirit, 286

As solar god, 287
Aum, 14, 24

Meaning of, 14

Drawn by seven green horses,
208

Symbol of, 332

Sacred double axe, 78, 217, 218,

264
As solar emblem, 217-218
Symbol of, 265
Axis, 33, 67

Associated with tower of Kronos,

Baal, 71, 183

Tamar, 113
Bacchus, 80, 114, 127. 186

Shovel-shaped basket of 80, 101

Myth of, see Glossary
Basket and Sacred Cone, symbol of,

101
Bast —

As feline goddess, 197, 284, 285
Beltane feast, 189, 190

see Glossary
Bell, see Glossary
Bes, see Glossary
Birds, Sacred. 119-133

As "fates," 131

On fork of Sacred Tree, 98

Guarding tree, 98

Spirit, in form of, 98

Bennu, see Glossary

Crane, 131

Crow, 131

Crows in pairs, 131

Dove. 104, 127, 128, 129
Symbolism of, 121

Eagle, 126

Double-headed. 126, 127

Symbol of St. John. 127

Falcon or hawk, 23, 124

Garuda, 126, 141. 160. 213

Goose, chaos, 11
Of fairy tale, 12

Sacred to. 130

Associated with sun. 131

Ibis, see Glossary

Mandarin duck. 131

Owl. see Glossary

Peacock, 102, 104

Phoenix, 13, 124, 125

Symbolism of in China. 160-162
Associated with ho-o. garuda,

etc., 160
Chinese name, 161

Raven. 128

Magic roe. 127

Screech owl, 131

Stork, 131

Vulture. 124

Zu bird, identified with eagle, 126
Brahma. 14, 21. 25, 126

Riding on goose, 129
Buddha. 15. 19, 24. 26. Ill

And white horse. 209

Wheel of. 212, 213

Emblems of. 200, 213

Foot print of, 228
In "swastika posture." 228
Buddha, Gautama, 111, 140, 141

/See Glossary
Bulls.

Assyrian. 86. 100

Kneeling before Sacred Tree, 100.
101, 202

Winged, symbol of, 179

Symbolism of, 252-253

Caduceus, 69, 143, 271, see Glossary

Caitya or stupa, 5, 6

Calabash. 267

Cartouche. 198

Castor and Pollux, see Dioscuri

Cat —

Worshipped in Egypt as splendour
of light, 197

Associated with moon, see Glos-
sary
Cerberus, 83. 351
Ceres. 185, 228
Chaos, 13, 16

Demon, 9

Gander, 11

Goose, 11

Giant, 14
Cherubim, 86, 96, 123, 127

3fnbex

447

Chinese Trigrams, 41-50, 87

Symbolism of, 42-48
Christ-
Crucifixion of. 299

Life of. 397

Nativity of, 221, 397

Resurrection of, 299, 393, 397

Rode on ass, 211

Second coming on white horse,
209
Church spires, 68, 77
Circle, 5, 36, 65, 67, 69

As symbol of water, 5, 72

Symbol of feminine principle, 17,
72

Of eternity, 17, 72

Divided by two arcs, 36

By three lines, 36, 74

Eternal, 65

As entering into mystery of num-
bers, 72

Twin circles in figure 8, 72

Three circles, 72

Three forming triangle, 73

Four circles, 73

Five circles, 73

As used by Druids, 73

Denoting perfection, 74

Upright and circle, 74, 75, 76

The decade 10, 74

As regulator, 75

"Dot within the circle," 171

Symbolising course of sun, 171
Cock, Chinese symbol of sun, 205,

206
Colonnade, 28
Column, 28, 29, 33, 68, 70

Marduk symbolised by, 70

Symbol of Ea as "world spine,"
70

Given to Nergal, 70

Natural, 78

Meaning of, 89
Cone, pine or fir, see Sacred Cone
Confucius, 37, 41
Cornucopia, 265
Cow —

Sacred to Great Mother, 253

Symbol of productivity, 253
Creation Myths, 7-17
"Creative Tears," 94, 204
Creatures, Four Supernatural of

Chinese, 151-167
Crescent moon, 5, 6, see Moon
Crocodile —

Symbol of, 197
Crosier, 69
Cross, 51, 53-64

Meaning of life, 54

As cosmic symbol, 54

As crossed fire sticks 54, 59

As bird with outstretched wings,
54

Symbol of four elements, 57

Of four cardinal points, 57

Of winds, 58

With wheel in centre, 59

Fiery, 59

Inscribed in square, 59

As two-headed Mallet, 60

Celtic, 60

Maltese, 60

Latin, 60

"Sacred Tau," 53, 55, 64, 69

Phallic meaning attributed to, 56

Three Taus, 56

Four Taus, 57

As Symbol of man, 63, 64

With circle above it {Crux ansata) ,
64
Crown, 200
Crux ansata, 37, 53, 54, 64

As symbol of "Life to Come," 54

Same as pole and circle, 89
Cube, 6
Cybele, 114, 285

Worshipped in Rome as Great
Mother, 287, 288
Cypress, see Tree of Life

Name given to Venus, 113

See Glossary

Dancing, origin of, 185
Demeter, see Glossary
Dharma, 15

Wheel symbol of. 111
Diana, see Artemis
Dionysos, 109

As twice-born god, 184

Symbolic animal, 184

Cult of, 203

Ox sacrificed to, 203

Myth of, see Glossary
Dioscuri, 84, 105
Dogs —

With four eyes, 83

Sirius, 251

Worship of, see Anubis
Dolphin, 207, 209. 251
Doorways and portals, 110
Dorje, 274
Dragon, 151-159

As symbol of chaos, 9, 10

Of feminine principle as Great
Mother, 9, 10

As symbol of evil, 151, 152

Chinese conception as source of
good, 152

Symbol of power, 153

Of change, 149, 153

One of yang trigrams, 153

Blue dragon, 154

448

Mhtx

Dragon — Continued

Yellow dragon, 154

As god of thunder, 155

As devourer of moon, 155

With ball, 155

Ball as "precious pearl," 155

With three, four or five claws, 158
Dragon and Tiger, 158
Drinking Ceremonies —

Of blood, 129, 261

Of fermented liquors, 261
Druids, 73, 74, 78, 106, 107, 189,
231, 248

Three feathers of, 122

Oak sacred to, 105

Cutting of mistletoe, 106

Trees in form of fylfot cross, 231
Dual Principles, 33-37
Duality, 33, 65

Conveyed by bird and serpent,
100

By divided pillar, 100

Ea, Assyrian god of water, 70, 101,
177, 178

Symbolised by, 17% 251

Worshippers of, 261
Eagle, see Birds
Earth, 3, 4, 5, 6

Symbolised by square, 5

As Mother, 14, 138, 144, 232, 233,
279, 326

Symbolised by cross in circle, 57

Chinese symbol of, 59
Eau de vie, 95
Eden, Garden of, 95, 146
Egg- ,

Cosmic, 11, 12

Brahma born of, 14

As vault of heaven, 16
Egg and dart, 27, 76
Elements, 3-6

Diagram of, 5

As eternal, 3

Soul composed of, 3

Taoist conception of, 3
Elephant, 21, 111, 164
Enlil, 175, 176, 177, 178
Eros, 67

Riding on goose, 130

Myth of, see Glossary
Eucharist, 129, 186, 261, 396
Eve, 75, see Adam

Fairy Stories —

As solar myths, 194

Cinderella, 194, 195

Little Red Riding Hood, 19

Prince Charming, 194

Sleeping Princess, 194
Falcon, see Sacred Birds

Father Gods and Mother Goddesses,
279-294

The Great Snake Father, 138,
146

As phallic god, 232

As universal father, 233

Father gods as Baal, Rammon,
Indra, Thor, Jupiter, etc., 280

As primeval deities, 281

Supreme deities Great Father and
Great Mother merged in Egypt,
285

Swing between two cults, 289

See Great Mother
Feather, symbol of, 122
Feminine principle, 17, 36, 87

Symbols of, 34

Associated with earth, water, 17
Fire, 3, 4, 5, 6, 49, 50

Symbolised by triangle, 5

By pyramid, 5, 6, 188, 332

Kindled by lightning, 106

Kindling sacred fire, 107

Pearl as charm against, 155

As secondary principle, 187

Worship, 187

Festivals, 187-192

As symbol of renewal, youth, 193
Fire sticks, two crossed, 54, 59, 188
Fire and water, union of, 16, 21, 22,
34, 89, 101, 262, 292

Symbolised by basket and sacred
cone, 101
Fish-
Symbol of sun, 206

Of Buddha, 206

Of Ea, 206

As phallic emblem, 207

Given to Venus, Isis, Kwan-non
and Virgin Mary, 207

Christ symbolised by two, 207

Trinity by three, 207
"Five blessings" in China, 162-

163
Fleur de lis, 29, 69, 271, 276
Flood legends, 128, 138, 139, 178
Four Ages, 230, 245
Four cardinal points, 57, 154
Four primeval rivers, 58
Four rivers of paradise, 57, 97

Symbolised by crossed cakes, 186
Four Supernatural Creatures of the
Chinese (Unicorn, phoenix, drag-
on, tortoise), 149-165
Francis, St., of Assisi, 133, 357
Free Masonry, 56
Freya, 285
Fylfot, see Swastika

Gander, chaos, 11
Gilgamesh, 254, 298

Sntrex

449

Globe 6, 51
Goat —

In heraldic grouping, 201

With sacred tree, 100, 202

Symbol of sun, 203

Symbol of Marduk, Tammuz, Agni,

Varuna, Thor, Pan, 204
In Zodiac, 251
Goose, 11, 12, see Sacred Birds
Gorgon, 144, see Glossary
"Graven image," 365, 366, 367
Great Monad —

Chinese symbol of opposites, 36
Great Mother —
As Sea, 9

As choas demon, 9
As serpent or leviathon, 9
Self-created, 10
Known as "ma,""mama,""mami,"

9, 10, 284
As Virgin goddess, 10, 279
Mother of gods, 10
Mother goddesses associated with

sun cult, 279
Two principles of sun and moon,

fire and water personified by

Great Father and Great Mother,

279
Worship of Great Earth Mother,

279, 280
Typical Great Mother, 10, 281
As Virgin goddess with fatherless

son, 10, 11, 281
Associated with earth, water, sky,

281, 383
Ark as symbol, 86, 281-283
Worshipped under many names,

283-289
Symbolised by circle, 17, 72, 74-76,

384, 386, 390
Associated with vulture, 284
With lioness, 284
Worship of in cities, 288
As Astarte, Ashtoreth, Venus, 289
Griffins, 103, 105

Hathor, 24, 114. 263

As Lady of the Sycamore, 124,
283

Symbols of, 263, 283

See Glossary
Hawk, see Birds

Hephsestus, 187, 273, see Glossary
Hera, 129, 284, 285

Myth of, see Glossary
Herakles, 143, 201

As solar hero, 255

Myth of, see Glossary
Hermes —

Caduceus given to, 69, 143

Goose sacred to, 130

Wednesday day of, 245

Blue colour of, 246

Myth of, see Glossary
Herms or Hermte, see Glossary
Hippocrates, 143
Hittites, 81, 126, 281
Holy Rood, 104, 109
Ho-o, 160
Horn, 78

Of salvation, 78

Bull's, 97, 264
" Horn's of consecration," 78, 264
Horns and the Crescent Moon,
257-267

See Moon

Of Pan, 263, 264

Of Moses, 263

As typifying light, 263

As symbol of divinity, 263

Cap with upturned horns, 263

Given to moon gods and Egyptian
Hathor, 263

Of animals, 264, 265

As derived from lunar cult, 265

As symbol of luck, 266

Of Diana, 266
Horse, 143

As symbol of sun, 208

Horses and chariot of Elijah, 208

Four horses symbolise, 208

Seven horses, 208

White, 159, 209

White horse of Shrivenham, 210

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,
209-211

Pegasus the winged horse, 145,
209

See Glossary
Horseshoe, 143
Horus —

Myth of, as new born sun, 22

Typifying Light, 167, 171

"Horus of Two Horizons," 171

As son of Osiris and Isis, 171

As morning sun, 173

As falcon god, 123, 172

See Legend of Isis and Osiris, also
Glossary
Hygeia, 143

Ida, 14

As Universal Mother, 290

Idah, the, 290
Incense, see Glossary
Indra, 83, 126, 199, 208, 326

Destroying the snake worshippers,
138

As storm god, 177

Thunderbolt weapon of, 273

Wrested from by Buddha, 274

450

Snbex

Ishtar, 101, 113, 127, 326

Ruler of zodiac, 248

Great Nature goddess, 284

Legend of Ishtar and Tammuz,
295-301

All powerful and potent, 297

Goddess of human instinct, 297

Abandons lovers, 298

Great Jiarth Mother, 298

Myth of Adonis and Aphrodite
traced back to, 299
Isis, 11, 124

Goose sacred to, 130

Lotus given to, 26

As serpent goddess, 142

As Great Mother, 284

Legend of Isis and Osiris, 305-315

As the Eternal Feminine, 314-315,
385, see Glossary
Ivy, 114

Jade, 35, 36

"Jewel in the lotus," 5, 25, 26, 87, 293

John, St., the Divine, 127, 216

Julian the Apostate, 221

Juno, see Ceres

Jupiter, 105, 176, 187

Khensu, 263, see Glossary
Khepera, 204
Khnemu, 12, see Glossary
Kneph, 11-12
Knossos, 217
Kronos, 68, 246, 247
Kwan-non, see Kwan-yin
Kwan-yin, 291
Symbols of, 292

Labarum of Constantine, 61, 220
Ladder, 198, 199
Lao-tse, 37, 153
Leaf, 116
Lightning —

Voice of God, 106

Celestial fire, 106-107
Lion, 124, 127, 128

Egyptian lion gods " Yesterday and
Today," 84

As symbol of St. Mark, 127,
216

With wings of an eagle, 127

As symbol of Marduk, 177

Of Ashur, 179

Assyrian winged lions, 179

Symbol of solar heat, 201

As Dog of Foo, 201

In pairs, 201

As supporters of sun, 202

With human head, 202

As sign of Leo, 253

At entrance to temples, 254
Lizard, 15, 182
Lotus, 19, 21-29

As dual symbol of spirit and matter,
21

As solar matrix, 22

Symbolism of, 22-23

As pedestal to gods, 25

As emblem of Nirvana, 25

Jewel in the, see Jewel

Phallic significance of, 26

Use as decorative motif, 27

Capitals, 28

Rosette derived from, 28, 217

Associated with circle, 74

See Glossary

Maat, 54

Feather, symbol of, 122, see
Glossary
Mallet, two headed, 60, 273
Man as microcosm, 61
Mono cornuta, 266

Man and Woman, 16, 34, 64, 75, 76,
87, 88, 89, 147-148, 289, 290-
294, 314-315, 340, 342, 354-
355, 381-390, 398
Manu, 14, 138
Marduk, 70, 176, 182, 187

As son of Ea, 176

As victor over Tiamat, 176

As One and Only God, 177
Mars, see Ares
Masculine principle —

Symbols of, 34

Elevation of, 148

Goat as symbol of, 203

More important than feminine in
China and Japan, 290
Masks, origin of, 185
Maypole, symbolism of, 75
Medusa, 144, 145, see Glossary
Mercury, see Hermes
Minerva, see Athene
Minos, King, 217
Minotaur, 217, 218
Mirror, 182, see Glossary
Mistletoe, 105-107
Mitra and Varuna, 14, 208
Mithra, 15, 182

Born of rock, 79

Associated with twice-born gods,
184

Mysteries of, 185, 199, 248, 253

Cock sacred to, 205

Cult of, 220

Birthday of, 221

Sunday sacred to, 245
Mithraism,Tau as mark of admission,
55

3nbex

451

Moon —

Moon and stone worship, 81, 82
Moon spirit in Innar stone, 81
Moon worship linked with earth

worship and water worship, 81,

259
Between two dragons, 155
As Wisdom, 194
As masculine, 246
Cult of, 259
As summer, 260
As awakener of stars, 262
Crescent, 5, 26, as symbol of vir-
ginity, 260
Ravs of sun and crescent moon,

263
Crescent given to Diana, Isis,

Ishtar and Virgin Mary, 263
Crescent called horned moon, 264
See Horns and Trisula, also

Glossary
Mount Sumeru, 25, 26
Mut, 124, 283, see Glossary
Mysteries —

As vernal festivals, 184, 185,

186
Offerings of eggs and buns, 185
Survival in our Easter, 185
Eleusinian, 186
Mylitta, 113, 285

Nature goddesses, see Great

Mother
Nature subjects alluded to in Old

Testament as symbolic of life,

115, 116, 117
Nazit, as serpent goddess, 142, 284,

see Glossary
Nebo, 176

Neith, 11, 124, 283, see Glossary
Nekhebet, 124, see Glossary
Nephthys, 142, 307, see Glossary
Neptune, see Poseidon
Nergal, 176, 177, 178
Ninib, 176, 178
Nirvana, 25, 37
Nu, 11, 139, see Glossary
Nu Kua, 13
Numbers, 45, 46, 245
Symbolism of, 47
Sacred but never deified, 247
Nusku, 187
Nut, 11, 121, 124, 283, see Glossary

Obelisks, 68, see Glossary

Ormuzd, see Ahura- Mazda

Orpheus, see Glossary

Osiris, 11, 23, 69, 114
As judge of dead, 122
As son of Ra, 170
Mutilated by Set, 170, 174

Father of Horus, 171

Death of, typified by sun going
down, 173

Solar myth of Osiris and Isis, 174

As twice-born god, 184

As Apis bull, 203

Legend of, 305-315

See Glossary
Owl, 83, 131, see Glossary
Ox, 129,203

Oxen twelve, 86

Heraldic grouping, 201

Sacrificed to Dionysos, 203

Given to St. Luke, 216

Symbol of, 253

Spirit of agriculture, 253

Pah-Kwa, 48

"Pair of opposites," 34

As two pillars, twin horsemen, the
"primeval twins," 82

Twin deities Mitra and Varuna,
83

Yama and Yami, 83

The Agwins, 83

" Celestial twins," Yima and Yimah,
83

Dioscuri, 83, 84

"Twin Brother idea," 84

As unchangeable forces, 353-355

See Yang and Yin.
Pan, 91, 112, 204, 263

Myth of, see Glossary
Panache, 122
Pan Ku, 12-13
Panther, 105, see Glossary
Parasol, 217
Peacock, see Birds
Pearl, 67, 102

As symbol of woman, 34

As charm against fire, 155

Connection of pearl with dragons,
155, 156

Symbolism of pearl or "tama,"
155
Pegasus, 145, 209
Pentacle, 335
Phallicism, cult of, 88, 89, 147

Phallic symbols, 68, 69

Modern phallicist, 293-294
Pigeon, 83, 128
Pillar, 33, 65, 67, 73

Universal, 65

Symbol of Creator, 68

As Staff of Life, 71

As symbol of Ashur, Tammuz,
Osiris, 71

Associated with sacred trees, 78,
93, 99

Two, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87

Meaning of, 89

452

?ntiex

Pillar — Continued

Cult of, 99

Divided, 100, 276

See Glossary
Pine Cone, see Sacred Cone and

Glossary
Pine tree, see Tree of Life and Glos-
sary
Playing cards, symbolism of, 116
Pole or Axis, 67-68

Symbols of, 67

Sacred Tat pole of Egyptians, 69

Sacred pole or Asherah, 71

Asherah as attribute of Ashtoreth,
71

Aaron's rod, 71

Rod or Stem of Jesse, 72, 74, 109,
115

Pole and circle, 75

Symbolism of, 89
Pomegranate, 86, 100, 115, 116
Poseidon, 145, 209, 272, see Glossary
Prayer of Rameses IV, 361
Priapus, 68

Goose sacred to, 130

Myth of, see Glossary
Psyche, see Glossary
Ptah, 12, 187, 203, see Glossary
Purusha, 14
Pyramids, 6, 188, see Triangle

Ra, 11, 139, 142, 151

As Great Father, 11, 152

Eye of, 11, 171

As falcon, 123, 172

Fighting Apep, 138

As father of Osiris, 170

As sun egg, 171

Hieroglyph of, 171

Worship of, 171-172

As noon day sun, 173

Symbols of, 172 ^^

"Creative Tears" of, 204
Ram, celestial, see Zodiac
Ram of Mendes, see Pan
Raven, 130

Rhea, 284, Myth of, see Glossary
Rock, 65

As symbol of Creator, 77

The Lord is my, 78

Mithra born of a, 79

Associated with Great Fire, 79
Rod or Stem of Jesse. See Pole
Round Table of King Arthur, 194,
255

Sacred Cone, 70, 78, 100, 101, 103,
179
As phallic emblem, 110
On gateways, 110
On burial urns. 111, see Glossary

Sakya-muni, 37, 111

Cutting of hair, 196

Descent from heaven by ladder,
199
Sangha, 15

Tree symbol of. 111
Saturn, 4, 329

Scapegoat, Jewish, 204, 367-369
Scarabseus, 69, 112, 204, 205
Sceptre, 272, 273-276

Four sceptres, 57
Scorpions, see Glossary
Seb, 11, 121, 129, see Glossary
Sekhebet, see Glossary
Semiramis, 128
Serapeum, see Glossary
Serapis, see Glossary
Serpent, 135-148

Associated with tree worship, 98,
99,100,116

Symbolism of 137-138

Sloughing of skin, 137

As androgynous, 137

As Great Snake Father, 138, 146

Naga snake gods, 102, 140, 141

Serpent goddesses, 142

Nak (Apep), 142

As defenders of households, 143

As oharms, 143

Symbol of Athene, 143

Coiled about egg of world, 145

Entwined about cross, 145

Marriage of woman to, 145

Symbol of sexual passion, 145,
146

Interpreted by Troward, 146-147

Serpent of Moses, 147

Brazen serpent, 148

See Glossary
Set (Darkness), 167, 170

As Apep, 174, 197

As red-haired god, 197

White horse and, 209

See Glossary
Sex, 147, 293, 343. 381
"Sex urge," 147
Shamash, 176, 177, 326

As mighty judge, 178

Symbol of, 178

With sun wheel, 214

As ruler of Zodiac, 248
Shepherd's Crook, 69
Ships —

Connection with Mother wor-
shippers, 282
Shu, 11, 121

Symbol of, 122, see Glossary
Sin 'the moon god, 176, 326

More powerful than Shamash, 246

Ruler of Zodiac, 248

God of wisdom, 260

3fntiex

453

Sin the moon god — Continued

Associated with astrology, 260

Depicted as, 2(53

In centre of moon crescent, 276

Man in the moon, 276
Sec Glossary
Sistrum of Isis, 319
Siva, U, 326
Si Wang Mu, 96
Square, 5, 6
Solomon —

Songs of, as solar myth, 194
Solomon's Seal, 334, see Glossary
Solomon's Temple, 56, 85, 86, 202
Sphinx, 200, 201, see Glossary
Spiral, 72, 73, 155
Stones, 77

Spirit of, 77

Luck or ill luck of precious stones,
77

As pillar or menhir, 78

Twelve stones at Gilgal, 78
Stone circles symbols of sun, 79

Shaped like pillar, cone or obelisk,
79

Pouring oil on, 79

As monuments, 79

Moon and stone worship, 81

See Glossary
Stonehenge, 79
Stupa, 5, 6, 26, 73, 273, 332
Sun, 169-221

As Supreme Creator, 169

Material symbol of God, 170

Solar gods of Egvpt, 169-175

Of Babylonia, 175-178

Of Assyria, 178-181

Of Persia, 181-182

Of Japan, 182

Sun gods as "father and son," 183,
184

As dragon slayer, 195

Solar myths, 194-196

Rays of sun as hair of sun god, 195-
196

Hair as source of strength, 196

Samson and Delilah as solar myth,
196

Pictured by Egyptians as, 197

Animals associated with, 200-212

As " Master of Double Strength,"
253
Sun disk with rays, 69
Sun disk with outstretched wings of

hawk, symbol of deity, 172
Surya, 208, 274
Surya-mani (sun jewel), 274
Swastika, 55, 64, 225-239

As charm, 225

Word derived from, 225

Where found, 226

Called fylfot in Great Britain, 227
Identified with cross, circle and

Chinese Y, 227
Given to various gods, 228
Phallic emblem, 228
Typifying feminine principle, 228
Prehistoric, 229

Symbol of Buddha's heart, 228
Symbol of sun's motion or solar

energy, 229-230, 234, 235
Various forms of, 236-238
As decorative motif, 238, 239
Kipling's definition of, 239

Tai-Kih, 36, 230, 237, 238, see

Glossary
Tama, 60, 155
Tammuz, 114, 178, 184, 285

Legend of, 295-301
Tat, see Glossary
Ta-urt, see Glossary
Temples, Egyptian, 33
Thor, 105, 177

Hammer of, 55, 227

Double hammer of, 273

See Glossary
Thoth, 263, see Glossary
"Three Vinegar Tasters," 37
Tiamat, 9, 151, 176

As Chaos dragon, 9, 151

As Great Mother, 9, 151
Tiger, 49, 50, 157

White, 154

Dragon and, 158

See Glossary
Tortoise, 13, 21, 97, 149, 157, 158

Symbolism of, in China, 162-164

As symbol of fecundity, 163

Venus standing on, 163

Hindu legend of, 97, 164

Indian legends of, 97, 164

As support, 164

In Bhagavad-Gita, 165

See Glossary
Tower, 68, 77
Tree of Jesse, 72, 115
Tree of Life, 91-117, 123

Trees as depositories of divine life,
80

Wisdom as a, 91

Cypress, fir, pine, palm as life
symbols, 93

Haoma, 95

Chinese, 96

Buddhist, 96

Ashwattha, 97

World Tree of American Indians,
97, 98

Bird on fork of, 98

Bird and serpent symbolism in
connection with, 97, 98, 100

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