Secret Teachings, 13
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13 |
The Eleusinian Mysteries and the Serpent |
271-300 |
p. 274 red robes
"it is said that the Keres ate the dead to carry their souls to glory. [quoted from NLEM :] "They wore red robes and cried out dismally as ... They would dig in their sharp claws, |
|
then greedily drink the streaming blood. ..."" {The Keres are female daimones of violent death (Th"Keres").} |
{Cf. how, at Persephone's Grove in the land of the Kimmerioi, "the ghosts of numerous queens and princesses trooped up to lap the blood." (GM @170.o)} |
NLEM = New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Prometheus Pr, 1959.
Th"Keres" http://www.theoi.com/Daimon/Keres.html
{Cf. also the various human-blood-quaffing, human-cadavre-devouring goddesses encountred in Eire : e.g., ("PMAIBD", p. 7) "the Morrígan ... . Repeatedly, she is called bélderg ‘red-mouthed’, as in TBC II l. 3431 (12th century). In the tale Tochmarc Ferbe (ll. 623f.; 12th century), ... reference to the feeding of the Bodb makes clear that the Bodb feeds on the dead, and this again explains why she is red-mouthed : the red is the blood of the corpses which she devours." The aequivalents to the Mor-ri`gan are, in Old Icelandic saga, the Val-kyrjur ("PMAIBD", pp. 9-10); and, depicted in Etruscan tombs, "a winged female demon of death appears ... the demoness Vanth" (ibid., pp. 12-14).}
"PMAIBD" = Egeler, Mathias (2008). "Death, Wings, and Divine Devouring: Possible Mediterranean Affinities of Irish Battlefield Demons and Norse Valkyries". STUDIA CELTICA FENNICA. 5: 5–25.
p. 276 Tauro-bolion
p. 276 |
"The taurobolium formed part of the ritual of the Cybele-Attis cult from at least the second century, from which it may have been borrowed by the Mithraists." |
p. 276, fn. * |
[quoted from G&ThR] "during the later ages of the Western Empire, ... the value then attached to the Taurobolia can be adduced ... mentioned by Lampridius that the priest-emperor Heliogabalus {Ela-gabalus} thought it necessary to submit to its performance ... ." |
G&ThR = C. W. King : The Gnostics and Their Remains. London, 1887.
pp. 279-80 the Tablets of the Law
p. 279 |
"The initiations at Eleusis were always by night, and when the candidates were initiated into the Eleusinian Gnosis, the holy Mysteries were read to them out of a stone book called the Petroma, a word derived from Petra, a stone. |
||
|
Actually, the Petroma was formed of two stones [P:AG, vol. 1, p. 391] "fitly cemented together." |
The two stone tablets of Moses were identical with the Greek stone book of two leaves called the Petroma, the name of which shows that it represented the dual truth ..., typified in Egypt by the twin feather ... . ... |
|
|
When these tablets had been presented, it was said that strange and amazing objects were seen. There was thunder and lightning, and bellowings and awful sounds, and the place shook around them. It was at one time radiant with light, resplendent with fire, and then again covered with thick darkness; sometimes terrible apparitions astonished the spectators. ... |
||
p. 280 |
As the two stone tablets, thunder and lightning, the descent of fire, the cloud and the supernatural appearance are all found in the Old Testament {TNaK}, Exodus {S^mowt} (19), |
||
|
it can be seen that the events at Eleusis were patterned after those enacted on Mount Sinai {or rather (and more to the point), were patterned after those enacted in various Hellenic myths which were quite familiar to the candidates who were in the process of being initiated at Eleusis} : |
{The described sound-effects and lighting-effects must have been arranged so as to accord with events in certain Hellenic myths, which myth-events would be parallel with those described in S^mowt 19, as well as in numerous other mythologies in Europe, in Anatolia, and in the Levant.} |
|
|
And Mount Sinai ... : ... the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." |
{This is a description of a peculiar type of dream. Certain American Indians do commonly experience earthquakes etc. in their dreaming, and consider these dreams to be a confirmation of their tribal mythologies. |
P:AG = Potter : The Archeology of Greece.
{Mythologies are always based on peculiar, impressive types of dreaming experienced by a shaman (saint) who hath been locally performing miraculous curing of ailments of a patients who had been afflicted; and which shaman (saint) is explaining the miraculous power to cure as derived from the divine entities witnessed in such dreaming. Without miraculous curing there would be no substantial evidence for mythologies, nor for deities, nor for religions -- indeed, even the Christian Churches all (Catholic, Orthodox, Nestorian, and Coptic alike) base their canonization of saints on the healing-miracles performed by those saints (and even among Protestants, Pentacostal and Charismatic Churches tout their miracles of healing) : in exactly the same way that American Indian religions are all based on miraculous curing publicly performed by their shamans.}
p. 281 women's menstruation
[quoted from Way-Yiqre> (Leviticus) 15:19] "And if a woman have an issue ... blood, she shall be put apart ... : and whoever toucheth her shall be unclean ... ." {Because this prohibition is confined the special law intended only for the tribe of Lewiy, it is a definite indication that only the tribe of Lewiy was expected to isolate menstruating women; and that such isolation was required because Lewiy is (or then was) the tribe of big-game-animal hunters.} |
{Worldwide, among tribesfolk who hunt game-animals, it is commonly considered that any contact of a menstruating woman with a man who is to go forth to hunt game-animals, would result in forewarning those game-animals that the huntsman it planning to slaughter those game-animals; in which circumstance the animals would flee in alarm from any approach by hunters, and the hunt would be unsuccessful.} |
p. 283, Fig. "The Basket of Isis".
"This sculpture is from Caligula's Temple to Isis (first century A.D., Rome) has the serpent coiled ... protruding from a basket or chest (Cista) ... . {The round shape of the short column would indicate that it is a conventional altar, not a basket.} ... |
{The most direct signification of this would be as Agatho-daimon : "Agathodaimon ("good daimon") ... whose form was a snake. ... altars were set up in homes to honor the god and good fortune for the home." (BA, p. 91)} |
|
Concentration on the polestar was a very ancient, and secret, exercise aimed at awakening the evolutionary Serpent Power." {Such concentration for such purpose is not attested anywhere. The author is, as usual, surmising wildly.} |
{Kun.d.ala (Skt for 'coil [of power]') is never invoked via the Dhruva the polestar. There is prominent polestar veneration in Chinese religion -- but not in connection with serpent power. Nowhere else is such a connection made, either -- how did the author dream up this?} |
BA = Michael W Ford : The Bible of the Adversary. 10th Anniversary Edition. Succubus Productions Publ, 2997-2017. https://books.google.com/books?id=kpFVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=
{"Chnouphis, writes Champollion, is ... an enormous serpent standing on human legs; this ... veritable Agathodaimon ... is often represented bearded." (SD:A, p. 210)}
{"in the dream-vision of Zosimus, the Greco-Egyptian alchemist ... : “And again I saw an old man of hair so white my eyes were blinded by the whiteness. His name was Agathodaemon. ..."" (Michael Palmer : IO MAGAZINE, 9. North Atlantic Bks, 1983 -- "ADG-ER") "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow" (Apokalupsis of Ioannes 1:14); "and his face was as it were the sun" (Apokalupsis of Ioannes 10:1). These (1:14 and 10:1) may be aequivalent to the "Lord of Spirits" and his "Elect One" in the Book of H.nowk (Enoch).}
SD:A = Helena Petrovna Blavatsky : The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 2 : Anthropogenesis. Aryan Theosophical Pr, Point Loma (CA), 1909. https://books.google.com/books?id=1yFALk5wfjQC&pg=PA210&lpg=PA210&dq=
"ADG-ER" = João Pedro Feliciano : "The Agathos Daimon in Greco-Egyptian Religion". http://www.academia.edu/27115429/The_Agathos_Daimon_in_Greco-Egyptian_religion
Apokalupsis of Ioannes 1:14 https://biblehub.com/revelation/1-14.htm
Apokalupsis of Ioannes 10:1 https://biblehub.com/revelation/10-1.htm
p. 284 adoration of Bauboi at Eleusis and elsewhere
"Clement of Alexandria, Arnobius and Theodoret, among others, mention the adoration of the Yoni at Eleusis." |
{At Eleusis, "Baubo made an indecent gesture (i.e. displayed her private parts)." (EM:"Baubo")} |
EM:"Baubo" https://pantheon.org/articles/b/baubo.html
{"in the Demeter sanctuary at Priene ... a peculiar set of Hellenistic female figurines. The head of each of these figurines sits directly on her legs. ... These figures represent Baubo, sometimes referred to as Iambe. Homeric legends identify her as a daughter of Pan and Echo." ("BGG")} {Female devils depicted as gargoyles on Catholic cathedrals often have extra faces on the body, especially on their teats and on their pubis : these extra faces can be most naturally understood as invitations for other entities to kiss them on those parts of their body.} {Bat-winged she-devils ("KS"), however, do not have extra faces on their their body.}
"BGG" = "Baubo, Great Goddess and Demeter’s Female Fool in the Eleusinian Mysteries". https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/baubo-goddess-0010863
"KS" = Fig. #4abc : copy, at Church of St Andrea Bobola in Milicz of Poland : Korean Suwon she-devil http://energia.sl.pl/sw_andrzej_bobola_uk.htm : side-view http://energia.sl.pl/bobola/she_devil.jpg ; front-view http://energia.sl.pl/bobola/she_devil_front.jpg (This is the typically bat-winged style of deities in Bon religion -- now located in sTod-Bod, but originating in rTa-gzigs = Tajikistan.)
p. 287, Fig. "sun and moon", or star and moon?
The author identifieth an 8-rayed asterisk over a crescent above a tree as "The Sun and the Moon Tree". {N.B. : A star over a crescent above a spire is the conventional symbol of >islam, displayed at a masjid/mosque.} |
{This identification is partially erroneous : in Sumerian art, 8-rayed asterisk always repraesenteth a star. The Sumerian symbol for the sun is a 4-rayed asterisk having 4 wavy rays (repraesenting heat-waves) extending outward betwixt the 4 straight rays.} |
p. 287 "The Kavi {read "kava"} drink was made ... from the Piper Mythisticum {sic! the correct spelling is \methysticum\ : its etymon is not "muthos" (myth), but "methu" ('mead', cognate with English \mead\)}, and a root of this intoxicating tree {actually a shrub} was buried with the dead at Rarotonga to enable the Spirit-Traveller to make a fit spirit offering to Tiki and obtain entrance into his dwelling."
\methu\ 'mead' http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Dme%2Fqu
p. 288 Magian-religion druj deities
"The ancient Iranians were worshippers of the genetrix, as the Devi |
|
Drukhs |
{Zend-Awesta \druj\ = Pauran.ik \druhya\} |
... reminds Zoroaster." |
p. 289 For the Antilles (West Indies) islands, there is described "the native priest as coming to the sick man, and then putting himself in communication with "Spirits" by snuffing cohoba powder that ... induced the ... condition in which he saw with opened vision, foresaw and divined, because in this state of trance he was talking with the Cemis {Zemi}, i.e., the dead." (Pinkerton, vol. 1, cap. 62) {N.B. \Zemi\ can mean 'idol' as well as 'god' (and also 'soul of the dead'); much as the usual meaning of Maori \tiki\ is 'amulet'.}
p. 289 a blessed eucharist to enable oneself to know the distinction between Good and Evil {This important knowledge necessary for resisting evil is, however, muchly maligned by Iesous Khristos, who saith, (Eu-angelion kata Matthaios 5:39) "Resist not evil!" Christians, therefore, in accordance with this malignant commandment by their False Prophet Iesous Khristos, so far from resisting Evil, do all within their power deliberately to promote Evil to the uttermost! In this context, Iesous Khristos furthermore averreth, "I have come not to bring peace, but a sword!" Christians are all, without exception, most ferocious war-mongers, mass-murdering the humble innocent throughout the world.}
""in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Elohim, knowing Good and Evil. And ... she took of the tree thereof and did eat, ... their eyes were opened." [B-Re>s^iyt 3:7] |
|
The tree was to make them wise. The wise are Seers. |
|
The Persian Magi {Magoi} were the wise men. Seers, clairvoyants, fortune tellers, prophet, are called wise. {Likewise, "To the priesthood of the Egyptian temple called the House of Life, Greek texts ascribe the ability to foretell the future" (ShATh, p. 269)." |
{The Magoi were the practitioners of these forms of wisdom in antient Persian/Iran; as for antient Bharata/India, the A-jivika were prae-eminently such practitoners : "The Ajivika mendicant often acted as ... reader of omens" (ShATh, p. 267).} |
The Wizard is the wise man, and the Elohim, as spiritual beings, say, [B-Re>s^iyt 3:5] "Behold the man is become as one of us."" |
Eu-angelion kata Matthaios 5:39 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_5:39
ShATh = Thomas McEvilley : The Shape of Ancient Thought : Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies. Allworth Pr, NY, 2002.
{The wisdom of the serpent in advocating the comesting of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowlege of Good and Evil is paralleled in sigilla from Mohenjo-Daro, "in which the protoyogin is heraldically flanked by upright serpents. Before the Indus {Sindhu river-valley, and centuries prior to that, the Sarasvati river-valley} seals the motif is found only in certain icons of the Ningizzida {Nin-gis`-zi-da} cult {in Sumer}, in which the god is represented between upright serpents." (ShATh, p. 273)}
p. 289 supernal knowledge is obtained through eating the fruit of the fig-tree
"In India the Tree of Knowledge was the Pippala, or sacred fig tree. This fig tree is a meeting place for men {mortals} and immortals." {However, though, \pippali\ 'longpepper' is the Skt word definitely cognate with Latin \piper\ 'pepper'. The 'knowledge-shrub' must have, originally, been the longpepper, which is (as are all species of peppercorns) a berry (all kinds of dry peppercorns being dried berries).} |
{Pippala-ada (now meaning 'figfruit-eating', but praesumably formerly meaning 'longpeppercorn-eating') was (PE, s.v. "Guruparampara 7)") a disciple of Deva-adars`a, who was taught by Ka-bandha, who was taught by Su-mantu, who was original praeceptor of the Atharvan Veda. Pippala-ada instructeth in (Pras`na Upanis.ad -- PE, s.v. "Pippalada", p. 589b) Atman-jn~ana ('soul-knowledge').} |
{As for the guardian-deity of the shrub itself, that is Pippala himself (PE, s.v. "Pippala I."), who is (Bhavis.ya Puran.a -- PE, s.v. "Pippala I.") "The youngest of the three sons born to the daitya named Mitra of his wife Revati."} {Mitra had, by Revati, Utsarga, Aris.t.a and Pippala. (SBhP, p. 142)}
SBhP = Pürnendu Narayana Sinha : A Study of the Bhagavata Purana : Or, Esoteric Hinduism. Benares : Freeman & Co., 1901. https://books.google.com/books?id=GIBBAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA142&lpg=PA142&dq=
p. 291 ritual enactment of divine sibling (brother-sistre) adulterous incest
[quoted from Frazer 1951, p. 165] ""at Eleusis in September |
|
the union of the sky-god Zeus with the corn-goddess Demeter |
{Demeter "bore Core {Kor[w]e} and the lusty Iacchus {Iakkhos} to Zeus, her brother, out of wedlock." (GM @24.a)} |
appears to have been represented the union of the hierophant with the priestess of Demeter ... . ... The torches having been extinguished, the pair descended into a murky place, while the throng of worshippers awaited in anxious suspense the result of the mystic congress, on which they believed their own salvation to depend." |
Frazer 1951 = James Frazer : The Golden Bough. Macmillan Co..
pp. 291-2 description of the Temple of Demeter at Eleusis
p. 291 |
[quoted from Forlong] "Beside the holy well stood (as the lingam or phallus now still stands by wells or yonis in India) the Agelastos Petra, ... called the "sad rock" (Triste Saxum), from the legend that here Demeter sat ..., till roused by Baubo the naughty nurse, ... to amuse ... her when sorrowing for her lost daughter, Persephone {who had been abducted by Haides (GM @24.c)}. This she did with indecent jokes and acts, and the sad mother laughed ... . (Clement of Alexandria, Cohort, 17) The "sacred way" led from the east, first to the temple of Triptolemus (now the church of St. Zacharias) and ... to the great temple of Demeter ... . ... The services were held in the dark adytum of the rock-cut shrine. a pillared hall ..., with rock-cut seats in tiers 20 feet deep, capable of holding 3,000 persons. ... |
p. 292 |
Over the entrance to the shrine were the enigmatitical words "Konx Ompax," which were reiterated over the initiated." |
Forlong = J. G. R. Forlong : Rivers of Life; Or, Faiths of Man.
p. 292 "many ..., but few are ..."
[Phaidon 38] "initiated shall dwell with the gods. |
|
For there are many bearers of the ... thyrsus, but few who are inspired. |
{"For many are called, but few are chosen." (Eu-angelion kata Matthaios 22:14)} |
Eu-angelion kata Matthaios 22:14 https://biblehub.com/matthew/22-14.htm
p. 295 "Casalis, in his book, The Basutos of Tasmania ... ." {This title is partially incorrect. The book by Casalis is correctly titled :- The Basutos : Or, Twenty-Three Years in South Africa. G.K. apparently took this wrong word "Tasmania" from his garbled memory of the country-name \Transvaal\ (which is another province in South Africa).} https://library.si.edu/digital-library/book/basutosortwentyt00casa
p. 296 raving "hysteria", or divine inspiration?
"The Africans tell of women being "possessed," seized with hysteria, and made insane ... . That is, ... in which the medium raved ... ." |
{This divine power which G.K. is so blithely labeling "hysteria" is similar to, if not identical with, inspiration of devotees with that which is described by practitioners as the power of the Holy Ghost, in Pentacostal, and in Charismatic, churches.} |
p. 297 dreaming?
"A snake called Ganin-Gub by Hottentots is also said to have genitals ... connection with women while they are sleeping." |
{Likely, this way of referring to a type of Khoi-san experience is intended to imply a strange type of dream, wherein a god assumeth the guise of a serpent in order to engage in sexual relations with the mortal woman.} |
p. 298 manad {& manthra}
"The medicine man as the Manitu is the charmer of disease. In Irish, Manadh is magic, incantation. Mantra is Vedic for magic incantation." {"in the Veda ... we have mantra, magic formula or incantation; in Zend, manthra is an incantation against disease, and hence we have the Erse manadh, incantation ..., and mo`niti in Lithuanian." (M&S, p. 3207)} |
{The original etymon of Zend \mathra\ may be Strong's 4306 \mat.ar\ 'rain' : (WSh:"QuM") "The
quality of mercy is not strain'd. |
M&S = Tito Vignoli : Myth and Science : An Essay. 4th edn. INTERNAT SCIENTIFIC SERIES, Vol. XXXVIII. London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Tru:bner & Co., 1898. https://books.google.com/books?id=7CY-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA307&lpg=PA307&dq=
WSh:"QuM" = William Shakespeare : "The Quality Of Mercy". The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene I. https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/merchant-venice-act-iv-scene-i-quality-mercy-not-strained
p. 298 personification of levin as a deity
"And he said unto them, I beheld Satan {S`at.an} as lightning fallen from heaven." (Eu-angelion kata Loukas 10:18) |
{This fallen-to-Earth levin would contrast with the sheet-levin (playing among, and remaining in, the clouds) form of the Son-of-Man (Eu-angelion kata Loukas 17:24).} |
Eu-angelion kata Loukas 17:24 https://biblehub.com/luke/17-24.htm
{Steropes ('levin') is one of the 3 Kuklopes (Hesiodos : Theogonia 140).}
Hesiodos : Theogonia. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0020,001:140&lang=original
p. 298 girls are inspected by a antient snake at Lanuvium
"The Serpent that determines the chastity of priestesses, as in the Temple of Lanuvium, sixteen miles south of Rome {WRONG! Lanuvium is 20 miles southeast of Roma (W"Lanuvium").} ... . ... In short, they were not pregnant, and therefore not disqualified to serve ...; this fact being revealed by the mystical Serpent." (Ae:VH ix) |
{"AElian ... describes the ... ritual in which blindfolded girls proceed into a cave to encounter a ... snake which will pass judgement on their virginity. ... This ritual, described in detail also by Propertius (4.8.3-14), actually took place at Lanuvium ..., in a cave adjacent to the temple of Juno Sospita {'saviouress'}." (M&ASR, p. 92)} |
W"Lanuvium" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanuvium {It is a different city, namely Lanivium, that is 16 miles south of Roma.}
Ae:VH = AElianus : Varia Historia.
M&ASR = Steven D. Smith : Man and Animal in Severan Rome : The Literary Imagination of Claudius Aelianus. Cambridge Univ Pr, 2014. https://books.google.com/books?id=388HBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=
{Because (OCD, s.v. "Juno", p. 569a) "at Lanuvium, ... she [Juno] was worshipped as Sospita or Sispes and shown armed {alike unto Athene} and wearing a goatskin cloak {alike unto the aigis worn by Athene}, therefore this goddess must be identified with Athene (and not with Hera). The archaic form of Minerva's name, to wit, \Menesowa\, would indicate that she (Minerva) is to be identified with Mnemo-sune (and not with Athene) : (OCD, s.v. "Minerva") "most scholars connect her [Minerva's] name with the root of memini", which is definitely cognate with Hellenic \mnemo\.}
OCD = Hammond & Scullard : The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford, at the Clarendon Pr, 1970.
pp. 299-300 festival in honor of the cat-goddess [named \BLS-t\, cognate with, in English, "having a BLASt"]
p. 299 |
"Herodotus says that some 700,000 people used to assemble at Bubastis in Egypt to celebrate the annual festival of the Great Mother Bast {\BLS-t\} ... . He says that when the Nile barges passed ... |
|
p. 300 |
some of the women danced on board, others |
|
|
stood up and exposed their persons to those who were watching from the banks." {This could hardly have been an old native custom, for it would not seem to have been mentioned in any older, hieroglyphic or hieratic texts, which are very full on details of religious festivals.} |
{This practice (of women's exposing their nakedness) may have been imitated (via an erroneous etymology) from the Hellenic myth of Bauboi's having exposed her nakedness -- enough Hellenic merchants were in trading in the Nile river-delta to make such a borrowing feasible.} |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gene Kieffer : The Secret Teachings : Unveiling the Luminous Sun Within. Bethel Publ, Greenwich (CT), 2000.