Re: [tied] Re: On certain celestial phenomena

>From: "Glen Gordon"

>Reply-To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

>To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

>Subject: Re: [tied] Re: On certain celestial phenomena

>Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 01:21:33 +0000

>

>

>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.

Indeed-Perhaps the tree itself represents the cosmos. The phallic pillar/lingam can also take the form of a tree, now that you mention it-Consider the cult of Cybele, the pine tree/resurrected growing from Attis' severed genitalia. And Shiva did get his member severed in a pine forest.  Sheds a new light on the pinecone tipped thyrsus that Dionysus carries around, hmm?

>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.

I don't think there need be a radical transformation of the symbol-The goddess's consorts do tend to die tragic deaths, after all. I think in the myth of Dumuzi and Inanna we may have an example of how the goddess can play an active role in this otherwise rather phallic passion play.

>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?

I can see the bull's horns as the crescent moon, perhaps. I also think they neatly represent masculinity, though. The axe as the sun/goddess I am not so sure about. Where else in myth do we see the crescent moon? Hmm.

>Just thought I'd provide a buffet for thought :)

Much appreciated. Remarkably enough, most of my friends don't really want to discuss severed phalli over lunch :)

-Cort Williams

>

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