Page 242 - The_secret_teachings_of_all_ages_Neat
P. 242
Gemini. The five-footed Assyrian man-bull with the wings of an eagle and the head of a
man is a reminder that the invisible nature of man has the wings of a god, the head of a
man, and the body of a beast. The same concept was expressed through the sphinx--that
armed guardian of the Mysteries who, crouching at the gate of the temple, denied
entrance to the profane. Thus placed between man and his divine possibilities, the sphinx
also represented the secret doctrine itself. Children's fairy stories abound with
descriptions of symbolic monsters, for nearly all such tales are based upon the ancient
mystic folklore.
Click to enlarge
THE URÆUS.
From Kircher's Œdipus Ægyptiacus.
The spinal cord was symbolized by a snake, and the serpent coiled upon the foreheads of the Egyptian
initiates represented the Divine Fire which had crawled serpentlike up the Tree of Life.
Click to enlarge
GOOD AND EVIL CONTENDING FOR THE UNIVERSAL EGG.
From Maurice's Indian Antiquities.
Both Mithras, the Persian Redeemer, and Serapis, the Egyptian God of the Earth, are symbolized by
serpents coiled about their bodies. This remarkable drawing shows the good and evil principles of Persia--
Ahura-Mazda and Ahriman--contending for the Egg of the Earth, which each trying to wrench from the
teeth of the other.
p. 89
Fishes, Insects, Animals, Reptiles and
Birds
(Part Two)
