Bacchus and Oneness

FROM: THE ANCIENT MYSTERIES AND SECRET SOCIETIES. Manly P. Hall, Secret Teachings of All Ages, XXXII.

The Bacchic Rite centers around the allegory of the youthful Bacchus (Dionysus or Zagreus) being torn into pieces by the Titans. These giants accomplished the destruction of Bacchus by causing him to become fascinated by his own image in a mirror.

Bacchus (Dionysos) represents the rational soul of the inferior world. He is the chief of the Titans, the artificers of the mundane spheres. The Bacchic state signifies the unity of the rational soul in a state of self-knowledge, and the Titanic state the diversity of the rational soul, which, being scattered throughout creation, loses the consciousness of its original one-ness. The mirror into which Bacchus gazes and which is the cause of his fall is the great sea of illusion, the lower world fashioned by the Titans. Bacchus (the mundane rational soul), seeing his image before him, accepts the image as a likeness of himself and ensouls the likeness; that is, the rational idea ensouls its reflection, the irrational universe. By ensouling the irrational image it implants in it the urge to become like its source, the rational image. Therefore the ancients said that man does not know the gods by logic or reason, but rather by realizing the presence of the gods within himself.

After Bacchus gazed into the mirror and followed his own reflection into matter, the rational soul of the world was broken up and distributed by the Titans throughout the mundane sphere of which it is the essential nature, but the heart, or source, of it they could not scatter. The Titans took the dismembered body of Bacchus and boiled it in water, symbol of immersion in the material universe which represents the incorporation of the Bacchic principle in form. The pieces afterwards were roasted to signify the subsequent ascension of the spiritual nature out of form.

When Jupiter, the father of Bacchus and the Demiurgus of the universe, saw that the Titans were hopelessly involving the rational or divine idea by scattering its members through the constituent parts of the lower world, he slew the Titans in order that the divine idea would not be totally lost. From the ashes of the Titans he formed mankind whose purpose of existence was to preserve and eventually release the Bacchic idea, or rational soul, from the Titanic fabrication. Jupiter, being the Demiurgus and fabricator of the material universe, is the third person of the Creative Triad, consequently the Lord of Death, for death exists only in the lower sphere of being over which he presides. Disintegration takes place so that reintegration may follow upon a higher level of form or intelligence. The thunderbolts of Jupiter are emblematic of his disintegrative power; they reveal the purpose of death, which is to rescue the rational soul from the devouring power of the irrational nature.

Man is a composite creature, his lower nature consisting of the fragments of the Titans, and his higher nature the sacred, immortal flesh (life) of Bacchus. Therefore man is capable of either a Titanic (irrational) or a Bacchic (rational) existence. The Titans of Hesoid, who were twelve in number, are probably analogous to the celestial zodiac, and from whose body the universe is formed. When the terrestrial forms were created from the various parts of his body the sense of wholeness was lost and the sense of separateness established. The heart of Bacchus, which was saved by Pallas, or Minerva, was lifted out of the four elements symbolized by his dismembered body and placed in the ether. The heart of Bacchus is the immortal center of the rational soul.

In the corresponding Egyptian myth of Osiris, representing the rational principle, he was slain by the evil one Typhon, (insolence and pride) and Isis, his consort (wisdom) recovered the pieces of his body.

Mythology, Spirituality | 15.12.2005 1:11 | 2 Comments

Christmas, The Masculine Principle, and the Birth of the Sun

FROM: THE SUN, A UNIVERSAL DEITY The Birthday of the Sun by Manly P. Hall in Secret Teachings of All Ages, The Philosophical Research Society, 1988, L.

The pagans set aside the 25th of December as the birthday of the Solar Man. They rejoiced, feasted, gathered in processions, and made offerings in the temples. The darkness of winter was over and the glorious son of light was returning to the Northern Hemisphere. With his last effort the old Sun God had torn down the house of the Philistines (the Spirits of Darkness) and had cleared the way for the new sun who was born that day from the depths of the earth amidst the symbolic beasts of the lower world.

Concerning this season of celebration, an anonymous Master of Arts of Balliol College, Oxford, in his scholarly treatise, Mankind: Their Origin and Destiny, says “It was on the same day that the birth of the Invincible Sun (Natalis solis invicti), was celebrated at Rome, as can be seen in the Roman calenders, published in the reign of Constantine and of Julian (Hymn to the Sun, p. 155). This epithet is the same as the Persians gave to this same god, whom they worshipped by the name of Mithra, whom they caused to be born in a grotto (Justin. Dial. Cum Tryph. P. 305), just as he is represented as being born in a stable, under the name of Christ, by the Christians.”

Many deities have been associated with the sun. The Greeks believed that Apollo, Bacchus, Dionysos, Sabazius, Hercules, Jason, Ulysses, Zeus, Uranus, and Vulcan partook of either the visible, or invisible attributes of the sun. The Norwegians regarded Balder the Beautiful as a solar deity, and Odin is often connected with the celestial orb, especially because of his one eye. Among the Egyptians, Osiris, Anubis, Hermes, and even the mysterious Ammon himself had points of resemblance with the solar disc. Isis was the mother of the sun, and even Typhon, the Destroyer, was supposed to be a form of solar energy. The Egyptian sun myth finally centered around the person of a mysterious deity called Serapis. The two central American deities, Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl, while often associated with the winds, were also undoubtedly solar gods.

In Masonry the sun has many symbols. One expression of the solar energy is Solomon, whose name SOL-OM-ON is the name for the Supreme Light in three different languages…

The philosophers of Greece and Egypt divided the life of the sun during the year into four parts; therefore they symbolized the Solar Man by four different figures. When He was born in the winter solstice, the Sun God was symbolized as a dependent infant who in some mysterious manner had managed to escape the Powers of Darkness seeking to destroy Him while He was still in the cradle of winter. The sun, being weak at this season of the year, had no golden rays (or locks of hair), but the survival of the light through the darkness of winter was symbolized by one tiny hair which alone adorned the head of the celestial child. (As the birth of the sun took place in Capricorn, he is often represented by being suckled by a goat.)

At the Vernal equinox, the sun had grown to be a beautiful youth, His golden hair hung in ringlets on his shoulders and his light, as Schiller said, extended to all parts of infinity. At the time of the summer solstice, the sun becomes a strong man, heavily bearded, who, in the prime of maturity, symbolized the fact that Nature at this period of the year is strongest and most fecund. At the autumnal equinox, the sun was pictured as an aged man, shuffling along with bended back and and whitened locks into the the oblivion of winter darkness. Thus, twelve months were assigned to the sun as the length of its life. During this period it circled the twelve signs of the zodiac in a magnificent triumphal march. When fall came, it entered, like Samson, into the house of Delilah (Virgo) where its rays were cut off and it lost its strength. In Masonry, the cruel winter months are symbolized by three murderers who sought to destroy the God of Light and Truth.

The coming of the sun was hailed with joy; the time of its departure was set aside for sorrow and unhappiness. This glorious, radiant orb of day, the true light which lighteth every man who cometh into the world, the Supreme Benefactor, who raised all things from the dead, who fed the hungry multitudes, who stilled the tempest, who after dying rose again and restored all things to life this Supreme Spirit of humanitarianism and philanthropy is known to Christendom as Christ, the Redeemer of the worlds, the Only Begotten of the Father, the Word made Flesh, and the Hope of Glory.

Mythology | 14.12.2005 2:06 | No Comments

The Birth of the Sun and Santa

I’m down with the sun deity thing. It is Christian, and cross-cultural. I like this and other ideas relating to the sacredness of nature and its symbolism.

Example: Prayer to the Sun (Ralph Blum, Book of Runes.)

You, who are the source of all Power, whose rays illuminate the Earth, illuminate also my heart, so that it too can do Your work.

That rings true for me in the physical and metaphysical sense, and touches me in a personal, spiritual way.

Before Christianity, the Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a week or so long celebration and mayhem. I relate to this mayhem part of it, so I did some research.

Before Christianity took root as a dominant religion, the Romans celebrated this wacky time of year- the solstice- when the sun stands still for three days in its lowest point in the skies- in the form of a week-long celebration known as Saturnalia. It was dedicated to Saturn, the god of seeds and sowing, and gift-giving prevailed as part of the festivities.

Article

And adding to my perspective I looked to some astrological sources as well:

Saturn, from http://www.fridaypress.com/UsersGuide.htm

Relationship to system of order, discipline, effort, social structure, limitations, fate, karma, aging.

Saturn from http://www.chartplanet.com/html/astrology_tutorial.html

Though this planet has gotten a bad rap by some astrologers, it really isn’t a negative influence. Rather, look to Saturn to see where your purpose and direction is in life. Though its influence is rather serious, and may reveal the inhibitions or obstacles you need to overcome, it really shows the effort one needs to make in order to establish the self and to reach one’s goals.

So this is why Santa knows when you are sleeping, awake, bad or good, it’s reap what you sow- it’s karma, discipline…

Saturn is also represented as the Old Man with the Scythe (the symbol of Capricorn, the sign in the zodiacal belt the suns comes to at the solstice in its year-long journey through the twelve signs. ) Manly P. hall, Secret teachings of All ges, L.) Again, physical (sun in Capricorn) and metaphysical (birth of the sun). A gift of another year, represented by the evergreen.

Fascinating!

War comes to an end, schools and courts are closed, people partake in gift-giving, masters and slaves eat at the same table- mayhem.

Mythology | 12.12.2005 14:23 | 2 Comments

Goddess Stories

Not wanting to reduce myself to a mere astrological chart, I still wonder at how much I am in accord with my zodiacal ruler, Venus. Goddess of Love and Beauty, true enough, lifelong obsessions.

I think of the story of Sedna, and I reflect on the influence of goddess energy in my life and as I see it reflected in the world at large. Starting close and expanding outward, I trace the story of the sacred feminine from the Roman Venus, to her Greek counterpart Aphrodite, who also embodies the splendor of sexual rapture… ah, the divine humanity!

I walk my path and I see signs of her stirring, indeed, I’ve heard her roar in the abyss of my being. A world filled with war, hatred, and imbalance, at its core longs for her to return from exile.

Goddess of Ten Thousand Names, the One that is All

Omar held his hands at his chest palms touching and bowed to her.

Goddess, I’ll be your Shiva and dance in your honor.

Ages past
She was given Shiva’s trident
And the chakra from Vishnu
Mother Goddess, unified forces

Durga, the invincible
against the demons of famine, poverty, sufferings, evil habits
Destroyer of sins, injustice, irreligion, cruelty, and laziness.
Slayer of the demon Mahish
Whose demonic forces were self-destructive, but powerful.
Divine forces productive, slow, efficient.

http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses/durga.htm

Isis, The One Who is All
Mother of Life, Crone of Death
Goddess of Medecine and Wisdom
Lady of Ten Thousand Names
Keeper of harmony among all things
Nature herself
Virgin of the World, aquatic Virgin in the Heavens
Epitome of the Great Unknown

Isis
Reclaimer of Intellectual Light slain by insolence and pride
Spinster guide of the small sailboats
Handler of the thread of life
Lunar humidity nourishing all bodies of water
with your cymbal, rattle, serpents and olive branch
Burning corruption on the stormy sea
revitalizing, becoming universal medicine
renewal of all bodies in nature
bearer of grapes and grain

Blessings, Goddess, blessings for your return…

Source of symbolic outline: Hall, Manly P. Secret Teachings of All Ages. The Philosophical Research Society. 1988.

Mythology | 24.11.2005 4:16 | No Comments

More About Sedna

Conversing all through the night last night, my best girlfriends and I have all felt the discovery of Sedna. The three of us all unique but all extreme in our current experiences of the female and relationships.

http://www.rainewalker.com/sedna.htm

http://faculty.virginia.edu/phantom/oc.html

Sedna is currently counted as the tenth heavenly body orbiting around our sun, discovered in 2oo3. Astrologically, the seventh, eight, ninth, and now tenth planets are said to embody the vibes of the times they were discovered, also named in tradition of the classical pantheon of gods and goddess(es). That is, until Sedna, named for the Inuit goddess of the deep seas.

Amazing Article: Skeleton Women and Fisher Kings

Love, Mythology | 11.09.2005 14:40 | No Comments