The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image
Jules Cashford, Anne Baring
Language: English
Pages: 800
ISBN: 0140192921
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
"An indispensable source work for anyone interested in this very important development of religious ideas."—Marija Gimbutas. Ranges from the Paleolithic Age to the present-day Gaia Hypothesis.
The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus, Book 5)
Nefertiti's Heart (The Artifact Hunters, Book 1)
Celtic Mythology: The Nature and Influence of Celtic Myth from Druidism to Arthurian Legend
of high priest or priestess. A late fourth-century-AD epitaph, inscribed on a sepulchral monument, was written by a priestess of Cybele. Expressing gratitude to her husband for initiating her into the rites of the goddess, she says: Under your eyes I have been initiated into all the mysteries; you, my pious partner in life, honour in me the priestess of the Goddess of Mount Dindymus and of Attis, while you ordained me with the bull’s blood; you teach the threefold mystery to me, priestess of
appertaining to mysteries, bring forward this point as being to their thinking the chief piece of evidence. The rite of initiation at Eleusis, which is perhaps the most celebrated of all, and the rite of Samothrace, among the Cicones, whence came Orpheus, its inventor, are all imparted as mysteries; whereas in Crete, at Knossos, from ancient days it was the custom that these rites should be imparted openly to all, and things that among other peoples were communicated in dead secrecy, among the
about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without’ (1 Kgs. 6:29). The description given in 1 Kings 7:29 says that there were lions, oxen and cherubim, which suggests that the cherubim did not have the shape or faces of lions or oxen.10 Whatever form they took, the same motif of cherubim alternating with palm trees was carved on the door to the innermost sanctuary and the outer door of the Temple. The veil that protected the Holy of Holies was also woven
become like it – ought logically to have the result of developing and exalting the inner man. In actual fact, however, the ideal has been turned by superficial and formalistically-minded believers into an external object of worship, and it is precisely this veneration for the object that prevents it from reaching down into the depths of the soul and transforming it into a wholeness in keeping with the ideal. Accordingly, the divine mediator stands outside as an image, while man remains
the sin of Eve, whose destiny it was to be ruled by her husband, to experience sex only for the purpose of procreation, and to serve her lord in the same way and on the same contractual basis as the medieval vassal served his overlord. The troubadours began to free sexuality and eroticism from guilt. They offered to men a new image of themselves, as gentle, courtly and cultivated instead of dedicated only to conquest and prowess in war. Their songs were a glorification of life, a celebration of
