9 World Chronicles

Symbolism of the egg. the egg symbolizes Genesis the perfect microcosm.  a universal symbol for the mystery of original creation. it encloses nascent life to emerge from it. It embodies the idea of rebirth and rejuvenation in the cycle of life, reflected also in its shape, with neither beginning nor end.

Life bursting from the primordial silence. Few simple natural objects have such an self-explanatory yet profound meaning and the body of myth and folklore that surrounds the egg is huge.

In many creation myths ranging from Egypt and India to Asia and Oceana a cosmic egg sometimes fertilized by a serpent but more often laid in the primordial waters by a giant bird gives form to chaos and from it hatches the sun symbolized by the Golden yolk the division of earth and Sky and life and all forms.

Creation symbolism is strengthened by the egg shape to testicles and by the sexual  duality of eggs yolk and white in the region of the Congo the yellow yolk stood for Female warmth while the white stood for male sperm.

Ancient Egypt, an egg was revered as the origin of the world. One version of the creation myth mentions the cosmic egg hatching the ‘bird of light’. aspect within the Ogdoad is the Cosmic Egg, from which all things are born. Life comes from the Cosmic Egg; the sun god Ra was born from the primordial egg in a stage known as the first occasion

In Hindu myth the cosmic tree girls from the Golden egg witch board brahma.

Similarly, the egg is linked with resurrection, the Phoenix dying, and fire rose from its own egg. The God Dionysus was shown carrying egg as a symbol of his rebirth.

Associated in pre-Christian times with the promise and hope of spring, the egg took a readymade place in Christian Easter ceremonies as a symbol of resurrection.

 The eggs white purity embodies the miracle of life contained within its blank shell, One such  connotation found in literature “Madonna and the child,  circa 1450, in which an egg symbolizes the Immaculate Conception of Mary.

In Jewish custom at the Seder meal eaten at Passover the egg is a symbol of promise and traditionally eggs are the first food offered to a Jewish mourner.

In folklore throughout the world the egg is a symbol suggesting luck wealth and health. Magical eggs are Golden or silver and are often guarded by Dragons.

 From eggs are born gods and heroes. In one Greek myth Helen of Troy came from an egg that had fallen from the moon.

Alternatively, she was born from an egg laid by Leda Queen of Sparta after she had coupled with a Swan which was the God Zeus in disguise.

In Dogon mythology (West Africa): "In the beginning, Amma, alone, was in the shape of an egg: the four collar bones were fused, dividing the egg into air, earth, fire, and water, establishing also the four cardinal directions.

This number  8 would be significant as its represents the 4 Ogdoad pairs Kuk and Kauket, Huh and Hauhat, Nun and Naunet, Amun and Amaunet.

Within this cosmic egg was the material and the structure of the universe, and the 266 signs that embraced the essence of all things.

In Later Kemetic mythology is it revealed that in inside the great egg is the the God Ra.

Once upon a time, before there was land, fish, animals, or human life, there was the great expansion of primordial waters that encompassed the Universe.  Nothing existed in these primordial waters since the beginning of time, until a great egg appeared in the water.  This egg contained a living God by the name of Ra.  Once his egg hatched, he burst forth into the Universe and took his place as its great ruler. 

In this scenario we also see the significance of Ra as representing the number 9 which is the number of Completion. As Amma was 1 the beginning, he was 9 the completion and thus a new stage of life is entered. The egg containing all the elements from start to finish for it is the cycle of life.

A pentagram is a five pointed star. Traditionally, the five points of the star represent the four elements (Earth, Water, Fire, and Air) and Spirit.

Pentacle or pentagram. A geometric symbol of harmony health and Mystic powers. A five-pointed star with lines that cross to each point. When used in magical rituals design is usually called the pentacle.

The pentagram seems to have originate it in Mesopotamia approximately 4000 years ago probably as an astronomical plot of the movements of the planet Venus. It became a Sumerian and Egyptian stellar symbol is start to have been the figure used on the seal of King Solomon of Israel.

In Greece the Pythagoreans adopted it as an emblem of health and Mystic harmony the marriage of heaven and earth combining the number 2 terrestrial and feminine, and three heavenly and masculine.

 The resulting #5 symbol lives the microcosm of human body and mind. From this point on the pentagram steadily acquired Mystic meaning.

The pentagon is endless  sharing the symbolism of perfection and power of the circle. Five is a circular number as it produces itself in its last digit when raised to its own power.

 Gnostics and alchemist associated with the five elements, Christians with the 5 wounds of Christ. Medieval sorcerers with Solomon’s reputed powers over nature and the spiritual world.

Magicians sometimes wore pentacle caps of buying linen to conjure up supernatural help. In casting spells special powers were credited to pentacles drawn on Virgin caps can but they were also protectively inscribed in wood on rocks and on amulets or rings.

In Wicca and various forms of “white magic,” the encircled, upright pentagram is considered a symbol that provides protection of some kind. Pagan and neo-pagan groups use the pentagram in all manner of rituals and ornamentation because it symbolizes infinity, the binding of the five elements, and protection of the self.

With one point upward and two down the pentacle was the sign of white magic the druids foot. Representing the triumph of spirit over matter.

In Christian symbolism, the basic pentagram (without a circle) was originally used to represent the five wounds of Jesus Christ. It was soon supplanted by the symbol of the cross, but the pentagram was still recognizable as a Christian symbol for a few hundred years after Jesus’ resurrection. Some say that the continuous line was also considered symbolic of the Alpha and Omega.

 With one point down and two up It represented the goatsfoot and horns of the devil a characteristic symbolic inversion. inverted pentagram represents the descent of spirit into matter.

 Latin or kabbalistic Hebrew letters often appear on talismanic pentacles drawn within protective circles. The Pensacola was also a Masonic aspirational symbol known as the flaming star.

The pentagram was used in ancient Chinese and Japanese religions to symbolize the five elements of life. In Japanese culture the symbol was also considered magical. Ancient Babylonian culture was also using the pentagram to represent various gods and religious beliefs of their own.

Historical associations of the pentagram include the five senses, the five fingers, the five wounds of Christ, and astrological representation of the five planets: Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Saturn, and Venus.

Marici she who is shining or Ray of Light

Classification: Deva, Bodhisattva

Culture: Buddhist Mahayana beliefs

Associated: light and the Sun

She is among the lists one of the guardian devas, specifically the Sixteen Devas

An Astro goddess in Buddhist Mahayana beliefs an emancipation of Vairocana whose name means coming from the sun.

 She also his female aspect or Sakti . She is further identified as the Bodhisattva  or budda-designate. She may also be the mother of Sakyamuni a form of the Buddha.

Considered by some to be the equal of Surya a Hindu Vedic sun deity worshipped circa 1700 bce and persist unto present times.

 She may be depicted in three headed form in which case her left hand is that of a pig. During this time the pig stood for mother hood, prosperity happiness. The Kemetic Goddesses Nut and Isis had associations to the pig or sow. And several Mesopotamian goddesses shared the connection.

She rides a chariot drawn by 7 boars. The boar was a primordial symbol of strength, fearless aggression, resolute courage Their colors are red yellow or white. her attributes also include the arrow the bow the fly wisk, prayer wheel, staff sword, and Trident.

Anti – One who Travels

Classification: Neter/God

Culture: North African Kemetic/Egyptian

Associated: Travel , Ferrymen

A Guardian deity associated with Egyptian upper kemit seems to have been a associated as Horus was

His main role is one of the protectors of the eastern Sky in which sun rises.

Anti is best known from coffin text circa 2000bce.

His worship is quite ancient, dating from at least the 2nd dynasty, at which point he already had priests dedicated to his cult. Originally, Anti appears to have been the patron of the ancient area around Badari, which was the centre of the cult of Horus.

He is depicted as a falcon or a human with a falcon’s head.

he became considered simply as the god of ferrymen, and was consequently depicted as a falcon standing on a boat, a reference to Horus, who was originally considered as a falcon. As god of ferrymen, he gained the title Nemty, meaning (one who) travels. His later cult centre Antaeopolis was known as Per-Nemty (House of Nemty).

Anti appears in the tale The Contendings of Horus and Seth which describes the settlement of the inheritance of Osiris, seen as a metaphor for the conquest of Lower Egypt by Upper Egypt (whose patron was Seth), at the beginning of the Old Kingdom.

In this tale, one of Seth's attempts to gain power consists of his gathering together the gods, and providing good arguments, convincing all of them (in later traditions, all except Thoth). Set fears magical intervention by Isis, Horus' wife (in early Egyptian mythology), and so holds the gathering on an island,

instructing Anti not to allow anyone resembling Isis to be ferried there. However, Isis disguises herself as an old woman, and unknowingly Anti takes her across after being paid a gold ring, having rejected the first offer of gruel, resulting in the disruption of the council by her use of magic.

Anti is punished for his error, by having his toes cut off, which is more severe than it appears, since as a falcon, he would no longer be able to perch.

He would be appropriated into Greek myth as Antaeus.

Athtart  Atargatis (Semetic) – the first Mermaid

Geography/Culture: Babylonia: city of Der. Syria

Also Dagitu, the feminine form of the word for fish. Appropriated into Greek culture as Derceto

Period of Worship : 2,000 bce to 1,000 Common era

Associated: the moon feminine powers, and water

Description: Great fish Goddess of water and its fishes; She Who swallows and gives birth to the sun; City-Protectress.

Male Associate: Son, Oannes solar fish God.

To Whom Sacred: whale.

She is said to be the Mother of Semiramis, Queen-Goddess of great beauty, intelligence, mighty works, love and sensuality.

Derceto is the goddess of fertility, her anthropomorphic form is that of a mermaid, highlighting her relationship to the seas and fertility.

She was sacred to the whales of the Oceans and it is said that their songs are to serenade the Goddess.

According to the myth Atargatis fell in love to a mortal shepherd called Hadad and they had a daughter called Semiramis. Semiramis later on became queen of Assyria. She was most well -known for creating the famous hanging gardens of Babylonia.

Atargatis accidentally caused the death of Hadad. She could not live with her guilt and drowned herself into a lake near Ascalon. Waters however could not hide her beauty and she was transformed into a mermaid. A woman with a tail of a fish.

Atargatis was worshiped in a temple dedicated to her in the ancient city of Ascalon in Israel

Yaro – the bringer of the day

Classification: God

Culture Kaffa of Ethiopia.

The kingdom of Kaffa existed from 1390 to 1897 and was centered in what is now Ethiopia.

Yaro is a sky god to whom the Kafa people venerated. He is said to have created the all of mankind with a thought and the utterance of one word, exuding the power of the spoken word.

He brings mankind the days and the seasons.

He is celebrated in annual festival that coincided roughly with the Summer and winter solstice.

Rituals for this deity are celebrated on  either hill tops or river banks in rural areas.

Offerings to this Yaro were typically roasted meats, wine, and sweet cakes.

Yaro is said to be a kind benevolent gods, but when he becomes angry he can create terrible rains and storms.

His sacred day is the

Deng, Bringer of Fertility and Rain

Classification: God

Culture/Religion: Dinka and Nuer of the Sudan and South Sudan

Associated: Storms and Fertility

Deng, also known as Denka, is a sky, rain, and fertility god in Dinka mythology for the Dinka people of Sudan and South Sudan. He is the son of the goddess Abuk.

She is the only well-known female deity of the Dinka. She is also the patron goddess of women as well as gardens. Her emblem or symbols are, a small snake, the moon and sheep.

Among his followers, Deng is regarded as the intermediary between humans and the supreme being. Closely linked with the supreme god Nhialic, he was regarded as the son of god and sometimes as the son of the goddess Abuk. In some areas of Dinka country, Deng and Nhialic are "regarded as one and the same".

He was an important sky god, to some clans an ancestor and creator god of the Dinka people, and he manifested himself in the fertilizing water that fell from the heavens.

The Dinka believe that in the beginning the sky was very low, so low that man had to be extremely careful when hoeing or pounding grain so as not to hit the sky. One day the greedy woman Abuk pounded more grain than she was allotted, using an especially long pestle. Deng was so angered by this that he cursed mankind, saying people would have to work harder for the fruits of the earth and in the end would also have to die.

Lightning is Deng’s club, and rain and birth are manifestations of his presence. If one is struck by lightning, one is not to be mourned because it is believed that Deng has taken that person directly to himself.

Among the Nuer, Deng is considered to be "a foreign deity" and "a bringer of disease".

Gandharvas

Classification: Divine or Heavenly beings/Demi Gods

Associated: Music, messengers,

Literary References: Mahabharata

In Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, a Gandharva is a distinct heavenly being. It is also a term for skilled singers in Indian classical music.

They are male nature spirits and husbands of the Apsaras. Some are part animal, usually a bird or horse. They have superb musical skills. They guard the Soma and play beautiful music for the gods in their palaces. Gandharvas are frequently depicted as singers in the court of the gods.

Gandharvas in the historic sense acted as messengers between the gods and humans. In Hindu law, a Gandharva marriage is one contracted by mutual consent and without formal rituals.

The Gandharvas of ours are a class of Hindu demigods who are said to inhabit the heavens of the war God Indra along with the Apsaras. as natural spirits are associated with the fertility of the earth.

The Gandharvas Guard, the soma the sacred drink. Soma, in ancient India, an unidentified plant the juice of which was a fundamental offering of the Vedic sacrifices. ... The personified deity Soma was the “master of plants,” the healer of disease, and the bestower of riches.

The Soma drink conveyed divine powers to the Gods and draws comparisons the ambrosia of the Greek Gods.

In Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, A Gandharvas united with and Apsara and produced the first two humans Yami and Yama.

Gandharvas can fly through the air, and are known for their skill as musicians. They are connected with trees and flowers, and are described as dwelling in the scents of bark, sap, and blossoms. They are among the beings of the wilderness that might disturb a monk meditating alone.

What is beauty?

Beauty is defined the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit.

Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, one of the major branches of philosophy

One difficulty for understanding beauty is due to the fact that it has both objective and subjective aspects: it is seen as a property of things but also as depending on the emotional response of observers.

Because of its subjective side, beauty is said to be "in the eye of the beholder". It has been argued that the ability on the side of the subject needed to perceive and judge beauty, sometimes referred to as the "sense of taste", can be trained and that the verdicts of experts coincide in the long run. This would suggest that the standards of validity of judgments of beauty are intersubjective, i.e. dependent on a group of judges, rather than fully subjective or fully objective.

Conceptions of beauty aim to capture what is essential to all beautiful things. Classical conceptions define beauty in terms of the relation between the beautiful object as a whole and its parts: the parts should stand in the right proportion to each other and thus compose an integrated harmonious whole.

 Hedonist conceptions include the relation to pleasure in the definition of beauty by holding that there is a necessary connection between pleasure and beauty.  that for an object to be beautiful is for it to cause disinterested pleasure. Other conceptions include defining beautiful objects in terms of their value, of a loving attitude towards them or of their function.

A quality or feature that is most effective, gratifying, or telling.

A quality or combination of qualities that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is often associated with properties such as harmony of form or color, proportion, authenticity, and originality.

We have dedicated much worship the concepts of beauty.

Hathor

One of the most ancient goddesses of Egypt, Hathor stands for beauty, love sexuality, and dance. As a goddess of love and beauty, she is the archetype of the goddess of beauty.

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess associated with love, passion and procreation, symbolizes the classical representation of beauty.

Lakshi She who leads ones goals if the Hindu goddess of wealth fortune, love beauty, joy and prosperity

Oshun the Yoruba Orshia represented love, beauty wealth and prosperity.

The Euro- pean beauty standard is the notion that the more closely associated a person is with European features, the more attractive he or she is considered; these standards deem attributes that are most closely related to whiteness, such as lighter skin, straight hair, thinner lips and slimmer, less pronounced hips and rear ends.

It is said than an Asian or Chinese “epitome of beauty” should have fair skin, a slim face, large eyes and a “tall,” narrow nose. —

The phrase “black is beautiful” referred to a broad embrace of black culture and identity.

In its philosophy, “Black is beautiful” focused also on emotional and psychological well-being. The movement affirmed natural hairstyles like the “Afro” and the variety of skin colors, hair textures, and physical characteristics found in the African American community.

The idea and concepts of beauty transcend the physical expressions of geometry and precise and delve into ideas of self-image, tribalism, and racist constructs. It is influenced by media representation, social taboos, and colonial aspirations.

Mihos he who is true beside her

Classification: Neter/god

Region/Culture: North African, Kemetic, Later Egyptian

Associated: war, protection, and weather, as well as that of knives, lotuses, and devouring captives

The son of the goddess Bastet and the god Ptah.  He is depicted in leonine form he was venerated at the cult center Leontopolis in Lower Kemet which included enclosures for live lions.

whose name means "he who is true beside her"

A sanctuary in his honor war built at Bubastis by Osorkon III 

He was depicted as a lion or a lion-headed man. When shown as a lion-headed man, Mihos would wear a short kilt and any one of a number of headdresses. He would often be shown holding a knife and with a bouquet of lotuses near him.

He helped Re in the daily battle against Apep. Mihos was a god of war and a patron of sacred places. A late Greek text described him as a god of storms and darkness.

As a protector and guardian of Egypt he was given titles such as the "Lord of the Massacre", the "Lord of Slaughter" and the "Wielder of the Knife".

The role of Mihos also included upholding the 'Spirit of Ma'at' upholding the principles of truth, morality and justice. In this role he was given the titles of "Helper of the Wise Ones" in reference to the gods Ma'at, Thoth, Seshat and Imhotep and the "Avenger of Wrongs" in reference to ensuring justice according to the laws of Egypt.

Like his mother Bastet (see picture below), the symbol of Mihos was the the flint knife or dagger used in ancient Egypt that was called a Khop. Depictions of Mihos also included him wielding these knives.