![]() ![]() But one of the oldest double goddess figures was found at Avdeevo in Russia. 6,500 BCE, there was a great flowering of double-headed and twin goddesses. Double goddess found at Avdeevoĭuring the Age of Gemini, starting c. Long before the Greeks imagined Hermes with his caduceus entwined by twin serpents, the goddess cults embodied the duality of life within one image: the Goddess herself. But he’s also the means through which the opposites are balanced, contained and healed. Hermes is the god of alchemy and magic, a transgressor of boundaries and agent of chaos. Thus Mercurius is the chthonic double of the Son of God, who is born to the darkness of Mother Earth.” – Liz Greene, The Astrology of Fate He/she is volatile, androgynous, both base matter and elixir, the carrier of every conceivable opposite, and is portrayed as the dark twin to Christ. “Hermes…enters alchemy as Mercurius, the ambiguous and unpredictable, dark-light spirit that guides the opus yet threatens always to destroy it. He’s the god of crossroads and passageways, bridging the conscious and unconscious worlds. Hermes is a psychopomp and trickster, a guide to souls and bringer of inspiration. Mercury has a dual nature and as Hermes, was the only being who could go down into the underworld and return without paying a price. The figure of the shaman is reflected in Mercury, the ruler of Gemini. That union is found within the human heart and mind – in the shaman standing between the pillars – connecting heaven and earth. Twin pillars represent the opposites of creation and are sometimes shown with a third pillar that stands for the unification of those opposites. The Masonic symbol of the twin pillars of Boaz and Jachin can also be seen on the High Priestess tarot card where the Papess sits at the entrance to the sacred realm. Twin pillars are a feature of later myths too, such as the Pillars of Hercules which stood at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar and guarded the passage into the unknown beyond. Maybe the tribal leader or shaman stood between the pillars to perform the rituals that would carry him/her through the gateway into the world of the ancestors. ![]() ![]() The T-shaped pillars are abstract and stylised but clearly anthropomorphic, with hands resting above a belt: Temple reconstruction in Sanilurfa museumĪside from ancestors or gods, the pillars may represent the dual principle of creation, or perhaps a doorway between worlds. Huge twin pillars stand in the centre of each temple that may have represented ancestors or gods. Something similar could have been going on at Gobekli Tepe, the hunter-gatherer temple in Turkey dated to c. For example, the Nommo are the ancestral spirits of the Dogon people of Mali in West Africa, consisting of four pairs of twins. But many also have a primordial pair of gods and/or goddesses to whom they trace their lineage. This pattern is found in Egyptian, Sumerian, Babylonian, Akkadian, and Greek creation myths. Many feature twin gods and goddesses as brother and sister who stand for the dual principle of the universe: unity becomes duality becomes many – all contained within one wholeness. Duality is fundamental to reality and the creation myths of ancient cultures reflect that truth. The concept of twins in mythology goes back into the Palaeolithic and may be one of the earliest ideas we ever used in our stories. Let’s dive into the pile and see what we can learn about the myths behind the twins… Gemini – Symbols of Duality Gemini is ruled by Mercury and balanced in its search for information by the opposite sign of Sagittarius which provides context and meaning for the big pile of facts accumulated by the winged messenger. The twin pillars are bound together, connecting heaven and earth, suggesting that the link between these worlds is to be found in the human mind. The Gemini symbol is two upright parallel lines joined at the top and bottom, so the duality of the sign also implies a unity. This is the first sign of the zodiac that has a human representation rather than an animal one. The Gemini twins represent duality and communication, which can only happen when there are two. If Aries stands for the subject and Taurus stands for the object, then Gemini is the relationship between these two: the knower and the known giving rise to a third, knowledge itself. As a mutable air sign, Gemini provides the ability to know and understand reality. From the earth of Taurus springs the butterfly mind of Gemini. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |