#the woman’s encyclopedia of myths and secrets

[eirikrjs]

Spoilers for Vengeance (Canon of Vengeance)

Barbara Walker returns...

Actual end-game spoilers below:

This scenario seems like a Strange Journey 2 in the sense that it was ripped from the pages of the Woman's Encyclopedia.

Pointed out by @hmoneytuts

[erose-this-name]

Paganism held a lot more social roles than monotheism ever can.

The priesthoods of each God's cults often acted as like-minded communities for certain Queer/neurodivergent people.

Transfem? Joining the all eunuch priesthood of Cybele was a great excuse to rid yourself of testosterone and wear makeup and woman's clothing.

Gay? No one cares, that's not a sin in most pagan religions, it's not even taboo. But, you'll never beat Apollo's record of tragic ex-boyfriends or be more of a twink than Dionysus. No one can out-gay the gods! Pagan myth has a lot of good roll models actually, did you know that myth-accurate Loki is a gender fluid shape shifter and has gotten pregnant multiple times??? He's not really "evil", either, just a lovable scamp who accidentally and causes Ragnarok in a horrible prank gone wrong

Lesbian / asexual? Become a Vestel virgin, now it's literally illegal for men to have sex with you! (Sadly not as easy to be openly lesbian back then as gay, but Sappho pulled it off)

Butch? Join the cult of Artemis, it has the same perk as previous except you can also go hunting and "act the bear" and shit. (I'd imagine these convents of "virgin" women probably had a lot of secret yuri going on)

Intersex? Um, you are literally the physical embodiment of Hermaphroditus and are sacred and also probably magic.

Schizophrenic? Those aren't 'hallucinations', you've been blessed by Apollo with the ability to see the future and talk to dead people! People will pay you to tell them whatever and they'll just believe it and get closure!

Autistic? Hyperfixate on mythology and/or history, being a walking encyclopedia is actually extremely useful for being a storyteller / oral historian.

Don't like civilization? Join the cult of Pan, god of wildness and nature, all his shrines are out in the middle of the woods somewhere.

Just wanna fuckin' get really drunk and high? The cult of Dionysus throws the best parties, talk to them.

You don't need to justify any of these alternative lifestyles to allo cis hetero neurotypicals if you can just threaten divine retribution if they try to fuck with you. (Granted, the fact you have to give up any other career options still sucks, but it's something. It still helps to normalize it.)

In a lot of cases, this benefited everyone because all these different cults were uniquely able to fulfill different social roles because they didn't have to suppress their diversity.

Nearly all of these kinds of communities and social roles are gone under Abrahamic faiths. Now neurodivergence and transness are fuckin' "demonic possessions". Being gay is sin. I guess if you want an excuse to not have sex you can still be a monk or a nun??

[dailydemonspotlight]

Alciel - Day 88

Race: Vile

Alignment: Dark-Law

August 7th, 2024

Bonum est deus... ahem. I'd like to start off this DDS by saying that, holy shit, the SMT wiki has an excellent page about Alciel, with fully cited sources and conjecture that makes sense, as well as providing two sources to pursue. Thank god... and as for a proper introduction,

Gehenna is typically seen as just another version of hell, but it's not quite that simple- rather, it's a separate part of hell, much like the difference between Hades and Tartarus. While Sheol is where the dead go, Gehenna is the home of punishment- where those whose souls have done truly horrible things shall face eternal torment as penance. It's not far off from its rendition in the Binding of Isaac, ironically enough, as it's torture to even exist there. Where there is hell, though, there must be one to preside over it, whether it be one cast below into hell or one who was sent there by the angels to watch over and torment the sinners. According to the Midrash ha-neʿelam, however, there is one being that presides over Gehenna to keep the sinners in and the righteous souls out, and that being is none other than today's Demon of the Day, Alciel.

Alciel, also spelled primarily as Arsiel according to @eirikrjs's writeup on the sources for the demon, is a demon that appears as the gatekeeper to Gehenna. While an admittedly minor character, only really attested to in some very obscure sources, Alciel can likely be confirmed as a genuine character in Jewish folklore. This is only further given credence by the meaning of Alciel, being "Dark Sun," at least in traditional Hebrew. Curiously, though, the original compendium entries about Alciel speak about his original name being "Aciel," which was 'Borrowed from a Babylonian god.' So, uh, what's up with that?

Yet again, for the source of this claim, we must refer back to the post by @eirikrjs, this time originating from the rather controversial book, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets. The book in question is, again, seen as a rather controversial work, with dubious sources and a strange focus, but it does have this to say on the topic of Alciel. Again, I have to give all the credit to @eirikrjs and his team for even finding this, so thanks. To quote,

The kingdom of Gehenna was 60 times as large as the world. Each of the "palaces" had 6000 "houses," and each house had 6000 vessels of fire and gall awaiting the sinner. [The] Prince of Gehenna was Arsiel, copied from the Chaldean "Black Sun" Aciel, the negative deity corresponding to the god of light in the celestial realm.

This citation is given to one 'Cavendish, P.E., 146,' but I cannot for the life of me discover who this even is, or what it may originate from. Alas, I'm not fantastic at researching super deep into things, but if anyone can track down what this source was, please let me know. I'm starting to understand those amazon reviews that were roasting the shit out of this book for lacking concrete sources. Still, the given Black Sun of Alciel is a very confusing and interesting rabbit hole to dig into, and as the gatekeeper of Gehenna, I have to give him some props for a good job. A lot of stuff regarding Arsiel is murky to say the least, and I have to give a lot of props and credit to @eirikrjs for his work researching into this topic, especially given the relative obscurity of this demonic force.

For such an important figure in Gehenna, you'd expect him to get a few more mentions, eh? Well, whatever.

Maybe the guy's just camera shy. Could explain why he hides half his head underground all day.

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Idk what about you but everything about Hazbin Hotel screamed The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, a book that was written by a hack feminist named Barbara G Walker to me.

It sounds bad.

[vyragosa]

Have you ever try to read a book called "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" by Barbara G Walker? It got a lot of misconceptions/nosense like Scathach=Skadi, Vivian/Nimue being one of Morgan's identities, Mother Goddess Tamamo, Earth Mother Medusa, Noah's name being a fish, Fortuna being an Irish Fairy, Angra Mainyu=Chernobog, etc

IS THIS WHERE NASU GOT MOST OF HIS IDEAS?

[annbourbon]

2024 Reading List

Okay so I have to finish some books I left last year. And new ones. Here we go!! If you need hel understanding why they are colored, I suggest you to check my System color and Master List.

If I don't finish by the end of one month I'll take them with me to the next month so don't worry about it 😉

Also, if I ever create a post to rant or criticize it, the link is gonna be on the title of the book, so now you know<3

Twisted Lies by Ana Houng *for now it's only me, rambling about it, but maybe I'll try to change it and put my thoughts in order after I finish reading it*

100 Deadly Skills by Clint Emerson

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (yes, again lol)

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Fairytales by Brothers Grimm

The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf

Weird by Olga Khazan

Save the cat! by Blake Snyder

The second sex by Simone de Beauvoir

The rights of woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

The feminine mystique by Betty Friedan

Why does he do that? by Lundy Bancroft

The Bible ~ KJV (it took me sometime to decide which version of the Bible read. Please keep in mind I'm not reading as a believer but as a Literature student who wants to improve my writing skills. Although I do have some religious background and I'm passionate about certain versicles.)

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoi

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoi

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Frankenstein by Mary W. Shelley

The picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Perv by Dakota Gray

Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell

Badass Survival Secrets by James Henry

The seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Nobody's Victim by Carrie Goldberg

Essential Book of Martial Arts... by Guli Cohen & cia.

The Ethics of Spying by Jan Goldman

Fighting Talk: 40 Maxims of War by Colin S. Gray

Stein on Writing by Sol Stein

Grand Strategies: Literature... by Charles Hill

Grand Strategies and Military Alliances

How to kill, spy and other survival skills

How to Stay Alive by Bear Grylls

Japanese Sword Fighting by Masaaki Hatsume

Japanese Ultimate Martial Art by Dorrell Max Craig

Ninja Skills by Anthony Cummins

100 Unorthodox Strategies by Ralph D. Sawyer

Prepper's Underground by Jonny Mayhem

Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall

SAS Handbook by John Wiseman

Secrets of the Ninja

Self Defense Nerve Centers by Bruce Tegner

Spy Book: Encyclopedia by Thomas B. Allen

Criminal Poisoning

A court of thorns and roses

Lord of the vampires by Gena Showalter

45. Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

46. Books on Decentering men

47. The Biology of human Survival by Claude A. Piantadosi

48. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë

I'm too lazy to type the rest rn... there are more of 20 something pages, each with 30 titles per page. Yes. I'm sure I can finish all by the end of this year. But I'm not gonna type it all here.

TBH I've been reading 4 books per day since I was at least 13. I beat my own record by reading 7 books (Narnia Chronicles) in one day once. I was bored. Anyways I never tried it again or at least I was never interested in doing it so. But yes. I can read them all by the end of the year. I'll bring to you the whole list (I'll take pics but let me tell you my handwriting is messy so don't expect too much of it.)

If you by chance finish the books listed here during the year, send me an ask and I'll drop a couple of titles here.

The book titles might be a bit weird but that's because I'm trying to research for my future project. I promise, I'm a writer lol

[babylon-crashing]

owl

(... from Barbara Walker’s The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, pages 754-755)

Romans called the owl strix (pi. striges), the same word that meant “witch.” Greeks said the owl was sacred to Athene, their own version of the ancient Mesopotamian “Eye-Goddess” whose staring owl-eyed images have been found throughout the Middle East, especially around the Mother-city of Mari. The owl was also the totem of Lilith, Blodeuwedd, Anath, and other versions of the Triple Goddess of the moon. According the Christian legend, the owl was one of “three disobedient sisters” who defied God and was transformed into a bird who never looked at the sun. It is easy enough to see in this idea the shape of the Goddess herself, and the church's hostility to her. One of the medieval names for the owl was “night hag;” it was said to be a witch in bird form. The owl is still associated with witches in the symbols of Halloween. The owl is also a bird of wisdom because it used to embody the wisdom of the Goddess. Certain medieval magic charms apparently ought to use the bird's oracular power against its former mistress, woman. If an owl could be slain and its heart pulled out and laid on the left breast of a sleeping woman, the woman would talk in her sleep and reveal all her secrets. This seems to have been a basis of the expression, “heart-to-heart talk,” which meant a woman's secret conversation with her familiar.

[stillglamorus]

[eirikrjs]

I am initiating in mythology and teology studies, and i came across your blog, being an old Megaten fan myself. Something i ve seen around the Megaten community is the Barbara G Walker criticism, and i am very curious on why is she so criticised. Im thinking about buying her encyclopedia and reading it myself, but im lacking the time right now and can't find good topics around the internet.

She literally makes stuff up. This is one of my favorite entries from her work:

Good luck finding any serious scholar claiming this today, or even hinting at it in the last 30 years. The Joseph Campbell citation from Oriental Mythology is also a non-starter.

[nedison]

Easter: Springtime sacrificial festival named for the Saxon Goddess Eostre, or Ostara, a northern form of Astarte. Her sacred month was Eastre-monath, the Moon of Eostre. Saxon poets apparently knew Eostre was the same Goddess as India's Great Mother Kali. Beowulf spoke of "Ganges' waters, whose flood waves ride down into an unknown sea near Eostre's far home." The Easter Bunny was older than Christianity; it was the Moon-hare sacred to the Goddess in both eastern and western nations. Recalling the myths of Hathor-Astarte who laid the Golden Egg of the sun, Germans used to say the hare would lay eggs for good children on Easter Eve. Like all the church's "movable feasts," Easter shows its pagan origin in a dating system based on the old lunar calendar. It is fixed as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox, formerly the "pregnant" phase of Eostre passing into the fertile season. The Christian festival wasn't called Easter until the Goddess's name was given to it in the late Middle Ages.

Excerpt from The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets by Barbara G. Walker

[coe-lilium]

What book on European Mythology in Japan are you talking about? What happened?

It's Barbara Walker's The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, published in 1983 with the aim of -supposedly- recording such myths.

What the book is actually about is Walker's own theories and convictions, many most of them pulled out of her own ass head.

The syncretism between Scathach and Skadi is one of such examples but it's far from the only one. "Great Mother Goddess" stupid thing aside, Walker also tried to establish that the Hindu Kali, the Scottish Cailleach and Persefone were actually the same goddess. And so on and so forth.

Long story short, it's poorly researched -when not completely made up- garbage (look it up on GoodReads, there's some fun reviews eviscerating it well worth the few minutes it will take to read them).

It's also, unfortunately, poorly researched garbage that got translated in Japanese in 1988, well before much better and properly researched books.

Here's a twitter thread talking about TM and this book in particular if you're interested in diving in a little deeper: https://twitter.com/KlsdksdL/status/1430259655784243207

[quixotickaya]

Rabbits and Hares

The following text is ALL QUOTED DIRECTLY from Encyclopedia of Witchcraft by Judika Illes:

The animal once most associated with European witchcraft wasn't the cat, which for a long time was rare, but rabbits. Rabbits served as witches familiars and messengers and are the form into which European witches once most frequently transformed.

Most rabbit and hare species graze at twilight. Little brown rabbits camouflage well; they suddenly appear and disappear, as if by magic.  Rabbits' defenses are limited to speed, brains, and fecundity.  Rabbits survive and thrive because they can reproduce faster than they can be killed. No surprise, then, that the rabbit is the fertility animal extraordinaire. They are associated with sex, reproduction, and the moon. Classic tricksters, they represent success, survival and joy despite all odds, which, after all, is the primal stimulus for magic and witchcraft.

The gestation period of a rabbit is 28 days, one lunar month, akin to a woman's menstrual cycle.  The Egyptian word for "rabbit" translates as "the opener" and also indicated “period” both the calendar and menstrual sense.  Sacred rabbits, female and male, had dominion over women's reproductive abilities:  Vestiges of that Pagan belief survive in the bunny that delivers eggs, emblematic of birth, at Easter, the Christian holiday that closely corresponds to the Vernal Equinox, the time of Earth's rebirth. Easter bunnies are most frequently depicted as sweet, juvenile purveyors of candy eggs; the hares they're based upon were understood as wild, raucous, very phallically empowered magical creatures. The consort of the Pagan goddess Ostara, whose name is recalled in "Easter, was a man-sized hare.

Around the world, rabbits are associated with the moon, the celestial body ruling magic, romance, and reproduction. In many areas there's a rabbit in the moon, not a man.

Throughout Central America, the moon was uniformly associated with rabbits.  Classical Mayan imagery depicts a beautiful, youthful woman sitting on a crescent moon, cuddling a rabbit in her arms.  The Yucatan goddess Ix Chel, lunar deity of women, magic, storms, and spinning has a consort who manifests in the form of a man-sized rabbit.

In China, rabbits are associated with witchcraft, sorcery, and alchemy. According to Chinese myth, a rabbit keeps the Moon Lady company in her lonely palace-not just any old rabbit though: the rabbit on the moon is an alchemist rabbit, seen pounding out the secret elixir of immortality with his mortar and pestle.

Rabbits are trickster spirits in Africa and now, via transplantation, in the United States as well, the classic examples being Brer Rabbit and Bugs Bunny.  They represent rabbits' powers of rebirth and regeneration: no matter how much trouble Brer and Bugs get into, even when doom seems certain, they always miraculously slip out of trouble (or resurrect) to survive and thrive.  They are magical creatures, too smart for their own good; their curiosity, quest for knowledge, and inability to mind their own business inevitably leads them into trouble, which they always then manage to remedy and survive. They are somewhat dangerous creatures, too, reminding us that tricksters aren't just cuddly bunnies but typically also possess a sharper edge that can lead others into trouble, as well as extricating them again.

Historically, when English witches transformed into animals, it was most frequently a hare.  Unlike on the European mainland where wolves were the most common form, there's little British tradition of werewolves. Christina Hole, author of Witchcraft in England, suggests that this powerful identification with hares occurred when wolves were eradicated in the British Isles.

The British Isles are filled with tales of hares serving as witches' alter egos:

According to legend, Anne Boleyn haunts her parish church in the form of a hare.

Isobel Gowdie, perhaps Scotland's most famous witch (for reasons unknown, she volunteered her witchcraft confession), claimed that she traveled in the form of a hare.

On the Isle of Man, gorse was set on fire on May Day to flush out the witches, believed to take the form of hares on that day.

In Ireland, rabbits found amid cores on May Day were once summarily killed because they were believed to be shape-shifting witches with wicked designs on cattle, milk, and butter.

Even people with little knowledge or interest in magic spells are familiar with the concept of the lucky rabbit's foot, typically carried as a gambling charm. "Lucky for whom?" asks the old joke. "It wasn't lucky for the rabbit!" Indeed. This "charm’s” origins derive from magical witch hunting techniques similar to those advocating slaughtering rabbits on May Day.

The custom of carrying a rabbit's foot charm is now associated with gambling luck but that wasn't the original intent. The magical rabbit foot isn't some ancient spell but is of relatively recent origin. Although popularly associated with African-American conjure traditions, the charm has British roots. Similar charms were used in nineteenth-century England to protect against witchcraft.

Not just any old rabbit's foot would do.  Slightly different versions of this spell exist, some more difficult than others, but to turn the trick, it originally had to be the left foot of rabbit killed in cemetery at midnight, sometimes on a Friday or a Friday the 13th; on a dark moon Friday or any dark moon. Some American versions specify that it must be an African-American cemetery, which may indicate something about the spell-casters beliefs about witchcraft. Other versions stipulate that the rabbit must be killed with a silver bullet. (Silver is the moon's metal.)

There are various ways of understanding this spell.

The rabbit may be understood as a transformed witch, who is now destroyed, and her power stolen for the killer's personal use.

It may be understood as similar to traditions like nailing bats or owls to barn doors to scare away witches; an announcement that what can be done to the crucified witch can be done to others.

It's possible that the spell-caster's goal was to obtain a rabbit familiar or even spiritual possession of the witch in rabbit form.  The rabbit may also be understood as a revenant or powerful ghost; caught outside its grave, it's now finally really dead and unable to rise and walk again.

[300iqprower]

I just find out the one who responsible for Scathach=Skadi, Kama=Mara, Medb having the fairy bloods, Tamamo being connection to a Mother Goddess and finally (Lb6 spoiler) Morgan and Vivian are the same person (Lb6 spoiler) isn't Nasu or Sakurai but a woman named Barbara G Walker, go read one of her books "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" and you'll understand

Pretty sure some of this is creative liberties (namely the LB6 stuff) and the Tamamo thing has an actual basis in IRL Shinto-Buddhist syncretism (this thread has details on it) but yeah I know about the wackjob source they used for Scathach. That lady is a crackpot and it's very telling that Nasu "I was able to write accurately about mythologies who were virtually untranslated in Japan at the time" StayNight gave so much less of a shit about checking sources when it came to both of the cultures directly opposed to his precious Britain with info that was much more widely available by then.

Medb is considered an actual source for Queen Mab so the connection genuinely exists there but FGO definitely tripled down on what was a loose tangent IRL.

I didnt know that's where Kama=Mara comes from though, I honestly assumed it was just an aspect I wasn't aware of.

[rantreader]

I went through my house and collected most of the books that I have not read. There are more, but I wrote a list of the 100 books that I want to read relatively soon. If I start the challenge today, it can progress throughout this year and go into next year. By the end of 2023, I want to have read all these books.

Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

A History of the English Language by Albert C. Baugh & Thomas Cable

The Power of One by Byrce Courtenay

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

Criminology – A complete Introduction by Peter Joyce and Wendy Laverick

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

Tarzan of the Apes and the Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twainn

When Fashion Really Works by Marnie Fogg

Go the Distance – A Twisted Tale by Jen Calonita

The Museum of Things Left Behind by Seni Glaister

Trinity by Leon Uris

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Makers of Rome by Plutarch

A Game of Thrones by George R.R Martin

Difficult Women by Helen Lewis

The Wreckage by Michael Robotham

The Twelve Caesars by Suetonius

Traitors by Frank Walker

A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey

Traitor to the Blood by Barb & J.C. Hendee

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Great Expectation by Charles Dickens

Heddy & Me by Susan Varga

No Silver Spoon by Katie Flynn

The Dance of Death and Other Stories by Algernon Blackwood

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Carrie by Stephen King

My Royal Story – Marie Antoinette by Kathryn Lasky

Theories of Race and Ethnic Relations by John Rex and David Mason

The Little Book of Psychology by DK

The World’s Greatest Idea by John Farndon

Don Quixote by Cevantes

The Survival Handbook by DK

Yes Yes Yes – Australia’s Journey to Marriage Equality by Alex Greenwich and Shirleene Robinson

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Wonder Woman Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

The Fire of Joy by Clive James

Monsoon by Di Morrissey

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Conquerers’ Road by Osmar White

The Art Book by DK

How to Garden by DK

How Science Works by DK

German for Everyone by DK

The History of the World by Alex Woolf

Cathy by Cathy Freeman

Song of Survival by Helen Colijn

Pet Semetary by Stephen King

The Crime Book by DK

The Bone Collection by Kathy Reichs

Basic Mandarin Chinese by Kubler & Wang

A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Woolstonecraft

Joyland by Stephen King

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

Gulliver’s Travels by Johanthan Swift

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Japanese Myths and Tales by Epic Tales

Eleni by Nicholas Cage

Psychology of Human Behaviour for Nurses by Dennis

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

More Rules for Life by Kitty Flanagan

Watership Down by Richard Adams

The Little Book of Politics by DK

Jews Don’t Count by David Baddiel

The Road by Cormack McCarthy

A Royal Duty by Paul Burrell

Jurassic Park by Michael Chrichton

Dracula by Bram Stoker

English Grammar Usage by McGraw Hill Education

Night at the Circus by Angela Carter

The Confidence Booster Workbook by Martin Perry

Ancient Egyptian Myths by Catherine Chambers

The Girl in the Picture by Denise Chong

Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life by Miles Kelly

The Prince in the Heather by Eric Linklater

Simple Astronomy by DK

How to Kiss a Crocodile by Max Walker

The Fitness Instructor’s Handbook by Mark Coulson

Mool-nya-moonya Dreaming by Julie Tuckey

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Pennies for Hitler by Jackie French

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Shortest History of England by James Hawe

Mental by Dr Steve Ellen and Catherine Deveny

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Work by Louisa May Alcott

Deranged Marriage by Sushi Das

Stranger the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Emma by Jane Austen

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott

The Book of Dust by Phillip Pullman

321 Seriously Smart Things You Need to Know by Mathilda Masters

Wish me luck.

[angelanatel]

Peixe (entrada em “The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets” de Barbara Walker, pp. 313 e 314:

“Um símbolo mundial da Grande Mãe era o sinal pontiagudo do yoni, conhecido como vesica piscis, Vaso do Peixe. Foi associado ao "Cheiro de Peixe" que os hindus tornaram um título da própria Deusa yônica, porque diziam que os genitais das mulheres cheiravam a peixe.1 A Grande Mãe chinesa Kwan-yin ("Yoni of yonis") frequentemente aparecia como uma Deusa peixe.2 Como a Deusa engolidora do pênis de Shiva, Kali se tornou Minaksi a "de olhos de peixe", assim como no Egito, Isis a de olhos de peixe engolidora do pênis de Osiris se tornou Abtu, o Grande Peixe do Abismo.3

Peixe e ventre eram sinônimos em grego; delphos significava ambos.4

O oráculo délfico original pertenceu primeiro à Deusa abissal dos peixes sob seu nome pré-helênico de Themis, muitas vezes encarnado em um grande peixe, baleia ou golfinho (delphinos). Os ciclos em que ela devorava e ressuscitava o Pai-Filho entraram em todos os sistemas de simbolismo, desde a lenda judaica de Jonas até o clássico "Menino no Golfinho". Apuleius disse que a Deusa que fazia o papel do Golfinho era Afrodite Salacia, com ventre de peixe "5. Seu filho era Palaemon, o jovem sol reencarnado, feito novo depois de afundar no mesmo ventre abissal que o Deus Heracles moribundo. 6

Dizia-se que a Deusa dos peixes Afrodite Salacia, trazia "salacidade" através da refeição de peixe orgiástica em seu dia sagrado, sexta-feira. A igreja católica herdou o costume “pagão” de comer peixe na sexta-feira e fingiu que era um jejum sagrado; mas o disfarce era sutil. A sexta-feira era dies veneris em latim, o Dia de Vênus, ou de fazer amor: O Dia da Freya na Europa Teutônica. A noção de que o peixe é um alimento "afrodisíaco" ainda está difundida, mesmo hoje.

Os celtas pensavam que comer peixe poderia colocar uma nova vida no útero da mãe. Seu herói Tuan foi comido em forma de peixe pela rainha da Irlanda, que assim o reconcebeu e lhe deu “um novo nascimento".7 Em outro mito, os peixes foram associados aos coágulos de "sangue sábio" que emanavam da Árvore-Mãe com sua fonte sagrada, na Terra das Fadas.8

Eles eram chamados de "nozes vermelhas de sangue da Deusa Boann, comidas pelo conhecimento do salmão “que nadavam em sua fonte sagrada.” Poetas e contadores de histórias, falando de qualquer assunto difícil de tratar, muitas vezes dizem, "A menos que eu tivesse comido o salmão do conhecimento eu não poderia descrevê-lo".9

O símbolo do peixe da Deusa yônica era tão reverenciado em todo o império romano que as autoridades cristãs insistiram em assumi-lo, com uma revisão extensiva dos mitos para negar seus anteriores significados feminino-genitais. Alguns afirmaram que o peixe representava Cristo porque o ichthys grego, "peixe", era um acrônimo para "Jesus Cristo, Filho de Deus,Salvador". Mas o sinal de peixe cristão era o mesmo que o do yoni da Deusa ou Porta de Pérola: duas luas crescentes formando uma vesica piscis. Algumas vezes a Cristo criança foi retratado dentro da vesica, que era sobreposta na barriga de Maria e obviamente representava seu ventre, assim como no antigo simbolismo da Deusa.

Um hino medieval chamado Jesus "o Peixinho que a Virgem pescou na Fonte"10 Maria foi equiparada à virgem Afrodite-Mari, ou Marina, que trouxe todos os peixes para o mar. No local cipriota do maior templo de Afrodite, Maria ainda é adorada como Panaghia Aphroditessa "11 Em termos bíblicos, "Jesus filho de Maria" significava o mesmo que Yeshua filho de Marah, ou Joshua filho de Nun (Êxodo 33:11), que também significa filho da Peixe-mãe. Os muitos nomes mesopotâmicos de Maria como Mari, Marriti, Nar-Marratu, Mara, eram escritos como o mem hebraico com um ideograma que significa tanto "mar" quanto "mãe "12 A próxima letra do alfabeto sagrado hebraico era Nun, "peixe".

Outro nome bíblico para a Deusa era Mehitabel, nenhum outro do que a egípcia Peixe-mãe Mehit com um disfarce hebraico".

Notas:

1. Camphel, C.M., 13. 2. Goldberg. 98. 3. Campbell, Or.M., 149. 4. Briflault 3, 150. 5. Neumann, A. P, 6. 6. Graves, G. M. 2, 102. 7. Spence, 94. 8. Briffault 2, 631. 9. Joyce 1, 439; Squire, 55.

10. Harding., 58. 11. Ashe, 192. 12. Hooke, M.E.M., 24. 13. Budge, D.N., 151.

Traduzido por Angela Natel.

Imagens:

A Virgem e a Criança sentada dentro da vesica que é colocada dentro de uma segunda vesica. Eles são cuidados por três magos. Século 12.

De Umbria, “The Immaculate Conception”, De 1510. National Museum Stockholm.

Interior da igreja de Saint-Christophe em Chissey-sur-Loue (39). Estátua de Notre-Dame-des-Avents. - Chissey sur Loue, igreja de Saint-Christophe datada do século XIII, estátua da Virgem de Avents com a criança esculpida em sua barriga

Achado de loja de caridade. Esta pintura sobre a imaculada concepção não deixa muito à imaginação, deixa? Acho que nunca vi a arte cristã ser tão flagrantemente yônica. (da oficina de Pintoricchio ca. 1454 -1513)