Cort:
>[...]The sacrifice of the bull represented emasculation of a male
>sex symbol, which in turn is resurrected in phallic form(Pillar,
>Lingam etc.).
This would be particularly ironic if we interpret the Pillar,
a "Center of the World" object as we find with Yggdrasil or
Mount Olympus, as a highly abstractified form of the archetypal
female Mother Goddess from whose womb was born the entire cosmos.
From what I see, the whole horns thing actually relates to the
crescent moon, and together with the double axe (the sun), the
combined icon is, again, an abstractification of what used to be
the standing Mother Goddess with upraised arms (her body and
face being the double axe and her arms, the horns). However, it
does appear as though that the whole concept was "masculinized"
at some point and the icon became more of a sacrificer-sacrificed
image (the bull being the sacrificed and the double-axe
representing the one who sacrifices) disconnected from Mother
Goddess roots.
>An example of this would be the story of Shiva (with bull
>associations) having his phallus severed, only to have it
>re-emerge as the lingam. Another would be the dismemberment of
>Osiris and the particular difficulty locating his genitals, which
>were hidden in a pillar.
But then, maybe it's just about having sex with the Pillar
(aka Goddess). I mean, you have the Egyptian concept of a female
sky hovering over an eager male earth... kinky. Is it about
emasculinization? Perhaps it's more about "union", that is,
the union of two sexes. From this concept of a union would follow
the conceptualization of androgynous or hermophrodite personnages.
Actually, that reminds me of the Virgin Mary who apparently
managed to impregnate herself (Oh, sure! Blame God, why don't
you!). Sounds like she was a hermaphrodite to me.
So I guess what I'm saying is that the bull horns might not be so
much the "power of man" but rather the moon and that which is
ritualistically sacrificed. I'm reminded on this note of Horus
and his blinded eye. Wasn't that blind eye, that which was
"sacrificed" let's say, the moon?
Just thought I'd provide a buffet for thought :)
- gLeN
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