Kali:
>This soma is king; it is food for deva-s; it is eaten by deva-s.
>That deva-s are also metaphors is clear from Ya_ska's Niruktam.
Actually, I can't help but notice the everpresent metaphor of
libation rites as a symbolic gesture of ejaculation. Why? Well
why are gods prayed to? The worship of them is supposed
to bless us with a good life, of course. We wouldn't worship
them otherwise. The libation is a symbol of ejaculation since it
is meant to relate our human ability to give life through
procreation with that of chthonic fertilisation which enables
us to live.
What does that have to do with soma? Everything because
the key concept here is "lifeforce". The gods are in control
of this lifeforce (to give us life or to take it away) just as
mortals have the power to give life in the form of offspring.
So there can very well be, as Peter says, a strong parallel
between soma (the divine ambrosia) and semen/blood (the
human ambrosia). The former the double-axe, the latter the
horns.
So strangely, as I listen to Peter, his seemingly raunchy
associations might be considerable. Yes, soma is the food
for the devas and yet so are libations or other offerings to
the divine for that matter. Worship is a reciprocation, an
exchange, a bargaining. Giving life to gods through offerings,
to those that give us life. So there may be another nuance
of soma as "offerings" to the gods but regardless, whether it
be semen or offerings or ambrosia, we're still talking about
an exchange of this lifeforce. The Chinese know it simply as
/qi/ "breath" and is a good parallel to all of this soma business.
There are also other links one can make between soma
and other IndoEuropean mythological systems. Take a
look at Greek /ambrosia/, the life-giving drink of the gods.
How about the Norse honey-blood mixture? Rather
than "semen", it's "blood". Different liquids, but the same
concept -- the symbol of lifeforce.
We could be talking ephedra, MDMA, mushrooms or the
plain ol' *medHu, the drink of fire taken from the gods'
and given to humankind. Probably that's all immaterial
compared to the general concept that soma is conveying,
that of lifeforce, regardless of what drug, drink, food,
metal or other tangible thing that we may associate "life"
with.
(PS, if soma is the food of gods, of all the possibilities,
"metal" is the lowest of them all... But enough said on Kali's
transparent, hollywood-style marketing campaign.)
= gLeN
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