Labyrinths, Smiths, and Swansuits??

This morning, I spent some time online investigating Minoan religious belief and rituals, and came across The Dance of the Labyrinth (read the whole thing because it’s cool), that mentioned the Icelandic name for Labyrinth, Volundarhus, that means ‘Wayland’s House’, Wayland (Volund), being the lame smith from Germanic/Nordic mythology.

According to the Myth, Wayland was held prisoner in his own house, until he eventually managed to avenge himself, and flew away in his ex-wife’s swan suit. This leads to an interesting parallel to Daedalus the craftsman who flew to freedom, with his son Icarus, after both were imprisoned within the labyrinth (that he himself devised). I first noticed the parallel a month ago after reading Walking as Art.

Recently I also started following a thread at Mythography Forums concerning the Greek smith god Hephaestus, that began to investigate craftsman gods in general, including their association with labyrinths (the honey bee dance stuff I found especially fascinating).

Earlier on, I came across another great article called The Sun at Midnight – Metalworking and the Sacred Smith.

It’s an interesting area of research, which can take off in so many different directions. Recently I wrote a short entry entitled In the Footsteps of Recreation, where I focus upon the lame Chinese emperor Yu, who learned how to control the floods by imitating a ritual (shamanic and limping) dance performed by birds, reminiscent of Theseus’s Crane dance, that imitated the complexities of the labyrinth.

I’m really taken by the idea of assuming bird form (like a Shaman) to overcome the labyrinth, and I’m keeping my eye open for any more similar and related myths.

Right, where was I? ah, yes, Minoan religion and ritual….

Assyrian Panels from the North-West palace of Nimrud

I took these photographs in 2000 at the British Museum. Unfortunately, the photo quality isn’t too good, because I was using a disposable camera without a flash. I’ve tried to enhance then a bit in an image editor. Luckily I took some notes, so I can tell you a bit about them.

This is a panel depicting King Ashurnasirpal, flanked by eagle-headed protective spirits. It comes (as do the rest of these exhibits) from the North-West palace of Nimrud in Assyria, and dates somewhere between 865-860 B.C.

This panel, along with another, stood at the head of a room. The surviving walls of which were otherwize panelled entirely with eagle-headed spirits and sacred trees.

Eagle-headed protective spirit between saced trees. The sacred trees were completed on adjoining panels.

Four-winged protective spirit, holding a mace, guarding one of the doors to the royal throne room.

In this panel, king Ashurnasirpal appears twice, dressed in ritual robes and holding the mace symbolising authority. In front of him there is a sacred tree possibly symbolising life, and he makes a gesture of worship to a god in a winged mask. The god, who may be the sun god Shamash, has a ring in one hand; an ancient Mesopotamian symbol of god-given kingship. Protective spirits are on either side, placed behind the royal throne.

Protective spirit with branch and carrying a deer. Guarded one of the doors to the royal thone room.

Sacred Tree

Palace of Nimrud links

king Ashurnasirpal and the Northwest Palace at Nimrud
Nimrud Palace Reliefs at the British Museum

Lately I’ve been reading….

…Comparative Mythology by Jaan Puhvel. I can’t really say I found it entirely easy reading material, but it makes a fantastic reference book, and I gleaned tons of stuff from it. Rather than comparing myths from around the world, the book focuses on the Indo-European mythological traditions (Vedic/Hindu, Persian, Greek, Roman, Celtic, Norse, etc).

Rites and Symbols of Initiation by Mircea Eliade. Very tiny book, only about a 100 pages or so, but again, it’s a fantastic reference book, dealing (mainly), with ”primitive” initiation rites, a describing some Australian Rites in quite some detail. Some very interesting info on Siberian Shamanic initiation and symbolism surrounding the axis-mundi and bodily dismemberment. The author goes on to say:

Initiatory cutting up of shamans and medicine men would deserve a long comparative investigation; for their resemblance to the myth and ritual of Osiris, on the one hand, and the ritual dismemberment of the Hindu meriah, on the other, are disconcerting and have not yet been explained.

I believe Joseph Campbell touched upon this subject in Primitive Mythology, and I have been interested in Siberian Shamanism for a few years now (and it’s cosmic tree symbolism), but haven’t had a chance (or the reading materials) to pursue it. I personally wouldn’t mind spending some time researching the parallels between the mythological victim and the death and rebirth of the shaman, myself, hehe.

I also found the symbolism of the passage of death and rebirth connected with womb and the belly of a monster fascinating.

At the moment I’m reading The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels, and Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces. A couple of months ago, i also read Inner Reaches of Outer Space, with is pretty similar to Myths to Live by, but contains a really fascinating comparison of the symbolism of Yogic Kundalini and a Navajo Pollen painting of a sacred tree.

I almost bought the Gnostic Gospels a few years ago in a second bookshop, but didn’t, for some reason. I know a little bit about the Gnostic scriptures, and have a couple of different translations back home, but without some kind of guide they are largely incomprehensible. The only other book, I’ve ever read concerning Gnosticism is Jesus and the Lost Goddess, which, despite being a bit whacky in places, was quite useful.

Murder of the innocents

Like Astyages, Herod the Great attempted to kill the Messiah king whom the Hebrew scriptures foretold would one day rule the people of Israel. Unlike Astyages, Herod was ignorant concerning the new born king’s identity and ordered the wholesale slaughter of all the boys up to two years of age in and around the vicinity of Bethlehem, from where, according to the prophet  Micah (5:2–5), the Messiah would come.

The reign of the demon-king Kamsa is similarly threatened after he learns that the eighth child (Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu) born to Devaki, will destroy him. Kamsa imprisons both Devaki and her husband, slaughtering all the children born to them, all except Balarama, Krishna’s brother who is transfered to another womb, and Krishna himself, who is smuggled to safety and hidden among the cow herders of Brindaban.

Also Kronos was warned by Ouranos and Gaia that he would be dethroned by one of his own children, and so he ate them. When Rhea, his wife, gave birth to her youngest child Zeus, she hid him in a cave, where he was attended to by the Nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, and suckled by a the she-goat Amalthea (indicating the Triple-goddess). Rhea substituted Zeus with a stone dressed in baby clothes, which Kronos unwittingly gobbled up instead. when Zeus reached manhood, Kronos was given a potion causing him to vomit up, first the stone, and then the rest of his children, who finally, after a ten year battle, defeated their tyrannical father.

Unraveling the mysteries of ancient symbolism

I’ve seriously neglected my mythology research over the past couple of years, and really need to discipline myself to spend more time studying. At least once a day. I want to start living and breathing mythological symbolism again. It probably sounds nuts but I miss the excitement unraveling the mysteries of ancient symbolism, lol.

For a while now, I’ve wanted to spend time studying alchemy, and the wiki article seems to be the best place to start. All I really know about the subject comes from Creative Mythology by Joseph Campbell. I’m interested in the Philosopher’s Stone in particular, and read it as a comparable symbol to the Lunar cup of re-birth and the Holy Grail, a symbol that figures prominently in my own research as the eternal principle magically born within the temporal realm.

Recently I’ve read Comparative Mythology by Jaan Puhvel, and have put on hold a number of titles at the local library, including The crane bag and other disputed subjects by Robert Graves, which should prove to be (if the White Goddess and Greek Myths are anything to go by) an interesting read

Another area of study involves the mythology of the divine pair in solar and lunar aspects. I want to read up a bit more on Lludd and Lleuelys (the Welsh versions of the Irish Naudu and Lugh), Odin and Tyr, and Nodens. Also connected are a pair of legendary Roman Hero’s called Gaius Mucius Scaevola and Horatius Cocles, and I intend doing a write up based on both Livy’s and Dionysius of Halicarnassus’ parallel accounts.

Hopefully, I get back on track with this stuff, and perhaps I’ll even begin re-writing Mythological Victim for the Web and, who knows, possibly a book.