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Divine Life, the rays of the Sun of Truth. Suidas declares the Golden Fleece to have been
in reality a book, written upon skin, which contained the formulæ for the production of
gold by means of chemistry. The Mysteries were institutions erected for the
transmutation of base ignorance into precious illumination. The dragon of ignorance was
the terrible creature set to guard the Golden Fleece, and represents the darkness of the old
year which battles with the sun at the time of its equinoctial passage.

Deer were sacred in the Bacchic Mysteries of the Greeks; the Bacchantes were often
clothed in fawnskins. Deer were associated with the worship of the moon goddess and the
Bacchic orgies were usually conducted at night. The grace and speed of this animal
caused it to be accepted as the proper symbol of esthetic abandon. Deer were objects of
veneration with many nations. In Japan, herds of them are still maintained in connection
with the temples.

The wolf is usually associated with the principle of evil, because of the mournful
discordance of its howl and the viciousness of its nature. In Scandinavian mythology the
Fenris Wolf was one of the sons of Loki, the infernal god of the fires. With the temple of
Asgard in flames about them, the gods under the command of Odin fought their last great
battle against the chaotic forces of evil. With frothing jowls the Fenris Wolf devoured
Odin, the Father of the Gods, and thus destroyed the Odinic universe. Here the Fenris
Wolf represents those mindless powers of Nature that overthrew the primitive creation.

The unicorn, or monoceros, was a most curious creation of the ancient initiates. It is
described by Thomas Boreman as "a beast, which though doubted of by many writers, yet
is by others thus described: He has but one horn, and that an exceedingly rich one,
growing out of the middle of his forehead. His head resembles an hart's, his feet an
elephant's, his tail a boar's, and the rest of his body an horse's. The horn is about a foot
and half in length. His voice is like the lowing of an ox. His mane and hair are of a
yellowish colour. His horn is as hard as iron, and as rough as any file, twisted or curled,
like a flaming sword; very straight, sharp, and every where black, excepting the point.
Great virtues are attributed to it, in expelling of poison and curing of several diseases. He
is not a beast of prey. " (See Redgrove's Bygone Beliefs.)

While the unicorn is mentioned several times in Scripture, no proof has yet been
discovered of its existence. There are a number of drinking horns in various museums
presumably fashioned from its spike. It is reasonably certain, however, that these
drinking vessels were really made either from the tusks of some large mammal or the
horn of a rhinoceros. J. P. Lundy believes that the horn of the unicorn symbolizes the
hem of salvation mentioned by St. Luke which, pricking the hearts of men, turns them to
a consideration of salvation through Christ. Mediæval Christian mystics employed the
unicorn as an emblem of Christ, and this creature must therefore signify the spiritual life
in man. The single horn of the unicorn may represent the pineal gland, or third eye, which
is the spiritual cognition center in the brain. The unicorn was adopted by the Mysteries as
a symbol of the illumined spiritual nature of the initiate, the horn with which it defends
itself being the flaming sword of the spiritual doctrine against, which nothing can prevail.