For centuries, the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in central Greece contained the most prestigious oracle in the Graeco-Roman world, a favorite of public officials and individuals alike. The oracle was said to relay prophetic messages and words of counsel from Python, the wise serpent son of the Mother-goddess Delphyne or from the Moon-goddess Artemis through their priestess daughters, the Pythonesses or Pythia. According to myth, the god Apollo murdered Delphyne and claimed the shrine...
Since the dawn of civilization, labyrinths have fascinated humankind. Knossos in Crete, has a distinctive circular maze design with seven rings. Exactly the same design appears mysteriously at different periods in history on stones and artifacts as far apart as India, Norway, Germany, Ireland, England, Arizona, … In English, the term labyrinth is generally synonymous with maze. As a result of the long history of unicursal representation of the mythological Labyrinth, however, many contemporary scholars...
gansemagd maier files
The story of the Goose Girl starkly shows the process that sets out when any one chooses to neglect or simply reject reality. And as a result chooses not to move into action. The Goose Girl, once an exquisite little princess who held tremendous promise, slowly but surely lost her dignity, her horse, her clothing, and last but certainly not least her personal identity. Your identity is not only who you were, nor is it who you may be. It […]...
Sidh-Chailleann
In Celtic Scotland there exist plenty traditions of sacred locations, places and folklore about people crossing into the Otherworld, a number of which are identified with sorcha (pronounced “sahkhaa”). This is an ancient phrase that means both ‘paradise’ and ‘illuminated being.’ Once again there’s a similarity with Egypt. Because the syllable ka is their word for ‘risen soul or awareness.’ Sidh Chailleann is the core of Scottish Otherworld tradition. This mountain marks the geodetic center...
The name of Hermes, whether or not qualified as Trismegistus, henceforth served as guarantee or signature for a host of esoteric books on magic, astrology, medicine, etc., throughout the Middle Ages, and this despite the fact that, with the exception of the Asclepius, the Corpus Hermeticum was unknown. Picatrix At the same time, an inspired imagery unfolded in both Latin and Arabic literature in a succession of “visionary recitals” (as Henry Corbin calls them), constellated...
King Arthur's sword
Trying to understand one of the many hidden histories and layers within Maier files is trying to understand the Grail quest and its influence on many even nowadays. The Arthurian legends are an obvious start. The fabulous stories of King Arthur and the Grail are currently so well known that they extensively researched and remarked upon by many different authors and researchers. However numerous individuals are absolutely ignorant, as we were, that the importance and starting point of these stories […]...
Athena
Legend tells us that one day Ilias, founder of the city of Troy, was asleep and had an extraordinary dream that the gods were communicating with him. When he woke up he found nearby a statue of a woman holding a shield and carrying a spear. It was the sacred statue of Pallas Athena, the Palladium. We know from Plutarch that in antiquity Isis was identified with Athena, the Greek goddess of Wisdom. Athena got...
The number 12 symbolizes masculine solar rationality; 13 is very much connected with the Moon and old Goddess/feminine principle and intuition. The moon is by nature linked with womanhood as the length of the menstrual cycles are synced up with the waxing and waning of the moon, occurring around every 28 days. In the ancient times when people were more aware of nature, many women were synced up with the moon’s cycle, menstruating around the...
Skull cup
In Sanskrit, skull cups are known as kapala, and they are generally formed from the oval section of the upper cranium. They served as libation vessels for large numbers of deities, which were mostly wrathful. However, they are also seen with gods such as Padmasambhava (India), who holds the skull cup, which is described as holding an ocean of nectar that floats in the longevity vase. This Elixir was at the heart of many secret orders and was one of […]...
Hexen kommando
It’s almost Walpurgisnacht, no better moment to have a closer look at our witches or Hexen. Where did this cruel hatred against women and the ancient pre-christian sanctuaries start? When Pope Innocent VIII (1484–92) professed his belief in witchcraft, he condemned it, and dispatched inquisitors to Germany to try its supposed practitioners and punish them unimpeded. Singling out Mainz, Cologne, Trier, Salzburg, and Bremen, the papal bull declared that “some parts of Northern Germany” were...
Sheela na Gig carving
From the earliest historic age, there are references to goddesses who are whimsical, erotic, and ferocious. The first texts of this sort have their provenance in the Near East; the female figures described in these texts are erotic, but they do not appear in the “magical” crouching or dancing positions evinced by their Neolithic predecessors. Anasyrma is literally “the exposing of the genitals.” This is a form of exhibitionism found in religion or artwork, rather...
Ishtar
It was Rodin who stated that “Man never invented anything new, only discovered things.” Although it’s correct to say that certain symbols have been man-made for a particular purpose, it’s just as correct to argue that everything is somehow inspired by the natural world around us, by the forms of nature, plants, animals, the elements. Even a reaction against the fluid forms of nature is usually inspired by a desire to offer an alternative. Occasionally the revelation of a natural […]...
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