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The greatest archetypes belong to the human race such as mother
and father and family, rather than from subgroup of that set. While the Bible is a history of the Jewish people and their
wait for the Messiah, it is also one of the foundations of modern western civilization. A large part of what was and
is considered right and wrong and acceptable behavior was drawn from religious teaching taken from the Bible.
Many Jews as well as Gentiles accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah,
thus viewing Christ as the bridge between the Old Testament and the New. Christ's disciples wrote and collected all of their
Teacher's sayings and took these teachings first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. These disciples' letters and writings
were also written down, in turn, by their followers, so that an entire Bible acceptable to Christians was composed and accepted
as sacred scripture.
The Catholic church was the only Christian institution in the western world for centuries. The
church carried the gospel to all the world by means of priests and saints.
All these forces combined to construct an ideology that has been interpreted and reinterpreted
through the centuries and resulted in many off-splinterings of the Constantine church.
These dedicated men came from a diversity
of people. Their viewpoints were affected by their background.
"Lay
aside all your former practices, that is to say, the old man, which is degenerated with deceitful lusts, and be renewed in
the spirit of your mind." Ephesians 4:22-23, Holy Bible From The Ancient Eastern Text, George M.
Lamsa Translates From The Aramaic of the Peshitta, Harper & Row, San Francisco (Originally published by A. J. Holman Company),
1968
Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who
is renewed in knowledge...
The pagan religions never completely died out. One of Synge's
best friends was William Butler Yates, a poet and compiler of fairy stories, so both Synge and Yates were undoubtedly aware, not only of all the
stories and superstitions of the Irish, but also of the darker celebrations from the past that were not as openly observed
as in former times.
Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry
Christianity
was a proselytizing religion, especially in the beginning stages.
Christian missionaries presented
the Gospel to many types of people, some of which were very evil and most very resistant to any change from their
hereditary pagan religions. The missionaries had to exhort their potential converts to make needed changes.
Paul, whose name was Saul before his conversion,
was an educated Jew who grew up under the rule of Rome and was a citizen of Rome by birth.
The leaders in the newly formed Christian
congregations were called older men or elders, but Paul was asking that people to give up their former beliefs and accept
the new self being offered by conversion to Christ's teachings, much like a snake sheds its old skin and emerges anew.
The "old man" might be viewed
as a pun in the apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians. This expression "old man" is still in use today to refer to one's
father and in a particular way referring to a crafty old man who was often up to mischief.
In the play Riders To the Sea, there are several references
to the "old man". A carpenter who makes a coffin for the missing son Bartley is referred to as the "old man" by Maura, Bartley's
mother.
His type could be used as a figure of the old religions as well
as being an older experienced craftsman. Some might regard Maura's reference to him as a sly allusion to a cunning man
who might be up to tricks most of the time.
Odin, originally a Norse god and later exported to Britain and Ireland, was the
chief of the Norse gods and famous as a magician and sometimes a trickster. Whether there was an Odin in reality or not,
the many stories about him drew from humanity's archetypes.
Odin was
the Lord of the Dead. His dead were the Viking warriors who had been slain in battle and the Howling host of the Night Riding
Host. In this case, the dead were considered alive in Valhalla.
The God of the New Testament was the opposite. Jesus quotes the Old Testament and then summarizes by saying:
"and
He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."
Luke 20:38, New American Bible, World Publishing Inc.,
Canada, 1970, p 1127
The difference between the two was one of viewpoint.
Proverbs 6: 12-14 gives a description of a rascal or trickster, an archetype drawn from human kind, who was
always trying to fool people:
"A worthless person, a wicked man,
Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,
Who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet,
Who points with his fingers;
Who with perversity in his heart continually devises evil,
Who spreads strife."
Zondervan NASB Study Bible, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1999n NASB Wide Margin Bible , page 830
In The Legendary Past, Norse Myths, by R.I. Page, there is an account of Odin's warriors romping in Valhalla:
"Every day when they have got up, they put on their war-gear and go out into the arena and fight, each pouncing on
the other. This is their idea of sport. And when dinner-time approaches, they ride home to Valholl and sit down and drink..."
(Page, 20).
There is a passage in the Bible, 2 Samuel 2:14-16, that describes similar conduct of warriors:
"Finally Abner sent to Joab 'Let then young men rise up and let them put on a combat before us...so they rose up...and
they began grabbing hold of one another by the head, each with the sword of each one in the side of the other, so that they
fell down together."
New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
This type of competition to the death was common to
ancient times as seen in these examples as well as the Roman gladiators. As Christianity replaced the old religions, respect
for life and peace were considered of higher value than blood lust.
The theme
of wandering is found in the Bible. Odin often wandered the world in disguise.
In
Biblical times, wandering without a permanent home was a punishment. The nation of Israel had to wander in
the wilderness forty years after they left Egypt because of their rebellion against Moses.
At
a different time, a similar pronouncement was made during the Roman siege of Jerusalem.
George M. Lamsa's translation, at Jeremiah 20:3-4 says:
"The Lord has not called your name Pashur, but a stranger
and a beggar.
For thus says the Lord, behold: I will make you a
sojourner, you and your friends..."
Holy Bible From Ancient Eastern
Text (777).
The wanderer or stranger seeking hospitality is also an archetype,
from Odysseus and his journey to Odin wandering the world in his various disguises and even to Jesus, the Son of Man, who
had no place to call home.
In Matthew 8:20, NIV, it says:
"Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
Odin was a god of myriad names. Each name explained one or more of his powers.
Names had magical powers in some societies. In others, they contained the soul or destiny of the person. Often infants
were not named until it was thought they would live beyond their first year.
In the Bible, Judges 13:17-18, the angel of God refuses to give his name saying it is mysterious and
wonderful, showing that it was considered more than just a way to be called.
Simon Magus is described in the Bible book of Acts
8:9-24. He was rebuked for trying to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit after his conversion. He is described in this
way:
"This
man is the divine power known as the Great Power. They followed him because he had amazed him for a long time with his magic."
Zondervan NIV Study
Bible
Simon Magus
According to Odin mythology, writing and numbers were
imbued with magical powers. Numbering was important in the Bible. There were twelve tribes of Israel, twelve
apostles, with Matthias making thirteen.
Numbering could also bring bad consequences as when David
angered God by conducting a census in direct violation of divine law. In the modern world, it is not considered a sin
against God to take a census of the population, but more likely, in Biblical times, the issue was about worshipping pagan
gods associated with numbering such as Hermes and the Roman equivalent Mercury.
2 Samuel 24:1, David Angers God by Numbering the People.
The Magic Square of Mercury
In the Bible, there were forty years of wandering, forty days of fasting, and
forty days until Jesus' ascension to heaven. Each Hebrew
letter had a numerical assignment.
Hebrew Letters as Numbers
Commentary on Matthew 1:17, The
New American Bible, World Catholic Press, 1987, Canada,
p 1010:
"Matthew is concerned with fourteen generations, probably
because fourteen is the numerical value of the Hebrew letters forming the name of David. In the second section of the genealogy
(6b-11) three kings of Judah, Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah, have been omitted (see 1 Chron. 3, 11-12), so that there are fourteen
generations in that section. Yet, the third (12-16) apparently has only thirteen.
Since Matthew here emphasizes that each section has
fourteen, it is unlikely that the thirteen of the last was due to his oversight.
Some scholars suggest that Jesus who is called
the Messiah (16b) doubles the final member of the chain: Jesus, born within the family of David, opens up the
new age as Messiah, so that in fact there are fourteen generations in the third section. This is perhaps too subtle,
and the hypothesis of a slip not on the part of Matthew but of a later scribe seems likely... "
New American Bible
Biblical Numerology
Master Numbers
The theme of the hidden meaning of numbers and arcane sayings appear in the Bible
book of Daniel. A reference from Hislop's Two Babylons starts
with a quote from the book of Daniel, often referred to as "The Writing On The Wall".
"'Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin', which is as much as covertly to say, 'The numberer
is numbered'. As the cup was peculiarly the symbol of Cush, hence the pouring out of the drink-offering to him
as the god of the cup; and as he was the great Diviner, hence the divinations as to the future year, which Jerome connects
with the divinity referred to by Isaiah.
Now Hermes, in Egypt
as the 'numberer', was identified with the moon that numbers the months. He was called 'Lord of the moon' (Bunson); and as
the 'dispenser of time' (Wilkinson), he held a 'palm branch, emblematic of a year' (Ibid.). Thus, then, if Gad was the 'sun-divinity',
Meni was very naturally regarded as 'The Lord Moon'." The Numberer
being numbered seems to say that someone was getting their comeuppance and not only were they were getting a deserved punishment
but that they were being punished by the very attribute for which they were known.
http://www.biblebelievers.com/babylon/sect31.htm
The ancient world was harsh in its punishments. The Numberer would
be numbered, ending his rule. In the myth of Odin, great physical and mental torments were suffered to achieve the knowledge
that he sought, even as the Arthurian knights such as Perceval had to witness suffering in pursuit of the Grail.
Odin's words uttered on the windswept tree, "myself
to myself" sound similar to the Biblical text: "The Lord said unto my Lord" at Psalm 110:1 and quoted in the New Testament
at Matthew 22:44: "The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool".
The Authorized King James Version
Although always subject to interpretation, it seems
to suggest an interior dialogue.
Jesus on the cross, Odin
on the tree, both were in physical and mental agony designed to break body and spirit. They cry
out.
It is most poignantly echoed in Jesus' final words
at Matthew 27:46, "Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthani? that is "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Zondervan)
or, as it is translated in Lamsa's translation, "My God, my God, for this I was spared!"
This comparison of Christ and Odin is commented on
in The Legendary Past, Norse Myths, by R.I. Page:
"Moreover, as it is related here, the tale shows similarities
to the Christian myth: Christ hanging on the cross-beam, achieving the fullness of his Godhead by his willing self-sacrifice.
Were there two myths here, perhaps ultimately related? Or did one invade the mythology of the other?" (Page, 15).
In regard to this interpretation of Jesus' last cry,
a point that comes to mind is that Jesus was spared being killed by Herod as an infant.
Herod had a multitude of children. While his sons were not slaughtered
for his crime of mass murder of the Jewish infants, his corruption did end in his death being ordered.
Herod's death for his own evil
was just, since the Bible at Ezekiel 18:20 states:
"The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the
guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child.
The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the
wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them." NIV
see also 2 Chronicles 25:4
Ezekiel 18:20, "The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child."
Herod, in an effort to kill the newborn Christ, orders the slaughter of all the boys.
At this time, King Harod had nine wives.
In Bible times, sometimes a
sacrifice was accomplished by means of humiliation. An account is given in Second Samuel 10:4, New International Version:
"So Hanun seized David's men, shaved off half of each man's beard, cut off their garments
in the middle at the buttocks, and sent them away."
"So Hanun seized David's envoys..." 2 Samuel 10:4
The idea of splitting into two parts was also found
in stories of some of the pagans' gods. For instance, the goddess Hel, whose face was half in life and half in darkness, received
a portion of the dead into her abode. Some sources say it was one half of the dead. To "go to Hel" meant to die.
The pagan goddess Hel
A long dead woman, known as the Yde girl found in the Netherlands in 1897, was
sacrificed about 2,000 years ago. Her body was found preserved in a peat bog. Half of the hair on her head was shaved off.
This may have signified that she was being "sent to Hel", or possibly this shaving of her head was related to one of the myths
of the bipartite pagan gods and goddesses.
The Ydes Girl
Dying on a tree was considered a curse in the
Old Testament. It was a death reserved for the worst of criminals, a humiliation:
The Apostle Paul quotes from the Old Testament in Galatians
3: 13 "Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who
hangs on a tree.'"
The
New American Bible
Odin's ordeal was physical and psychological. The
physical loss was one eye, while Jesus payed with his life
.
The Bible explains that the motive for killing Jesus was
jealousy, giving rise to hatred, from the Scribes and Pharisees. They functioned both as the legal and
ecclesiastical rulers of the people. Jesus did not conform to their authority and openly confronted their hypocrisy.
When he was questioned by Pontius Pilate, Jesus told him,
"My kingdom is not of this world...You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this very thing I came to
the world, that I may bear witness concerning the truth."
St. John 18: 36-37,
Lamsa
It seems that Odin is portrayed as the exact opposite,
a liar and a trickster.
An interesting footnote is found in
Luke 6:19 Life Application Study Bible, New Living Translation:
"Once word of Jesus' healing power spread, crowds gathered
just to touch him. For many, he had become a magician or a symbol of good fortune. Instead of desiring God's pardon
and love, they only wanted physical healing or a chance to see spectacular events. Some people still see God as a cosmic
magician and consider prayer a way to get God to do his tricks."
Life Application Study Bible, New Living Translation,
Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois, 1996
The Norse wizards and volvas were said to be able to
find lost objects. To lose an ax head in those times would be an expensive loss.
Interestingly, the Bible tells of prophets and holy men locating
lost articles for people.
In 1Kings 6:5 there is an account of finding a borrowed ax.
"5 But as one was felling a beam, the axe head fell
into the water; and
he cried out and said, “Alas, my master! For it was borrowed.” 6 Then
the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And when he showed him the
place, he cut off a stick, and threw it in there, and made the iron float. 7 And he said, “Take it up for yourself.”
So he put out his hand and took it."
Bringing Up The Borrowed Ax
The Biblical Witch of Endor brings up the ghost of the dead prophet Samuel in order to question him.
Odin can make the dead speak to question them.
Odin was not the only literary character(s) to endure the
loss of an eye.
The Bible mentions this type of mutilation in 1Samuel 11:1-5 in
The Messenger, The Bible In Contemporary
Language, by Eugene H. Peterson:
"Nahash, king of the Ammonites, was brutalizing the
tribes of Gad and Reuben, gouging out their right eyes and intimidating anyone who would come to Israel’s
help. There were very few Israelites living on the east side of the Jordan River who had not had their
right eyes gouged out... Nahash said, 'I'll make a treaty with you on one condition: that every right eye among you be gouged
out! I'll humiliate every last man and woman in Israel before
I'm done!'
The messengers came to Saul's place at Gibeah and told the people what was going on. As the people broke out
in loud wails, Saul showed up...'What happened? Why is everyone crying?'"
Maybe there is some connection to this theme
and the old child's sing-song, "Cry baby, cry. Stick a finger in your eye."
Ecclesiastes 12:3 laments
the loss of eyesight and teeth as the body ages.
The New World
Translation of the Holy Scriptures has an interesting footnote on page 729, "The grinding women' The
Hebrew participle here is in the feminine gender, plural number, because the women did the grinding at home and also because
the teeth are feminine in gender in Hebrew. "The ladies seeing' Feminine, because the eyes are feminine in gender in Hebrew.'"
The title of the play Riders to The Sea coupled
with the fact that the sons are riding horses is reminiscent of the following passage:
"...the Lord spoke to me in a vision during the
night. In a valley among myrtle trees, I saw someone on a red horse, with riders on red, brown and white horses behind him.
An angel was there to explain things to me, and I asked, "Sir, who are these riders?
'I'll tell you,' the angel answered.
Right away, the man standing among the myrtle trees
said, 'These are the ones that the Lord has sent to find out what's happening on earth."
Zechariah 1:8-10, The Promise, Contemporary English Version,
p 1079
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Because of the
many Norse references in the play Riders to the Sea, The Hulda Lady, who was beautiful on the front, but ugly underneath,
reminds us that underneath the surface of things, some ugly realities might be lurking.
Some
versions of the tale of the Hulda Lady say that she was like a hollow tree with a tail, when seen from behind.
There
is a Biblical reference to a person being compared to a dry tree. Isaiah 56: 3-5, The
Catholic Bible, New American Bible, page 938, says:
"'See,
I am a dry tree.' For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who observe my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast
to my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters;"
The
footnote for this passage reads, "Eunuchs had originally been excluded from the community of the Lord; cf Dt 23, 2;Wis 3,
14. Dry tree, unable to produce the fruit of offspring."
A different Biblical reference is found
in Hosea 10:7, Revised Standard Version:
"Samaria's King shall perish,
Like a chip on the face of the waters."
This is another idea which seems similar to
the divining and death ceremonies practiced by the Norse.
You can mark or carve Rune shapes on wooden chips or disks...
Ezekiel 8:17
"...For behold,
they are putting the twig to the nose."
The New Inductive Study Bible, Updated New American Standard Bible,
Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR, 1995
In
the Bible, Jesus' entry into Jerusalem
was heralded by the people waving palm branches. This interesting footnote on John 12:13 deals with the idea of twig bundles:
"Palm
branches: used to denote great conquerors; cf 1 Mc 13, 51; 2 Mc 10, 7. They may be related to the lulab, the twig bundles
used at the feast of Tabernacles."
The New American Bible, (1155).
Lulab
"It is probable Christ was born at the feast of Tabernacles. 1. ... A child, so soon as he knows how to wave the bundle, is
bound to carry a bundle."
Even though Synge does not mention the Bible
directly, he implies a conflict between the old religion and the new one, Christianity, personified by the "young priest"
in the play Riders to The Sea.
Catholicism was the only Christian
religion until Henry VIII of England. The Church was determined to convert them, but the pagans went
to almost any length to hang on to their old ways.
The fact that death and loss, and the
end of the literal pagan harvest festival coincided with Samhain, puts one in mind of other cultures and parallel themes.
The following, from the Internet
site below, connects the hearth idea, also found in Mayan astronomy, and the three hearth stones, the body of a loved
one washing up on the beach as in the fable of Diana and Orion, the stars in the play as in Tarot and
their connection both to navigation and astronomy/astrology, and the universal idea of death and rebirth.
In the Bible, God rewards Job for his
faithfulness, but first explains a few things to him, using illustrations that would be familiar to him.
"The story of the Greek mythology was
not even known in the days of Job. The honest truth is this: The Pleiades is a small cluster of stars that make themselves
more visible in the springtime. When the Pleiades become more visible, it is obvious to the ones who know the stars and know
the bright cluster of stars that spring time is coming soon. Orion is a constellation that announces the coming of winter.
'You've also got to learn that when winter does come, spring is going to come back again.
Job, you take it now, whether it's the chill of winter or the warmth of summer. You learn to take it.' That is what
God is teaching to Job".
http://www.baptist-city.com/sermons/pleiades.htm
The resignation that Job shows is
exemplified in the character of Maurya. She has the same kind of acceptance that Job had before his prosperity
was restored.
Watching the
sky for signs is not a new thing.
The shepherds
were keeping their sheep by night when they saw a star much brighter than the rest (Jesus). They took this as a sign.
Not only the shepherds had been watching the heavens. Herod had also consulted with some oriental astrologers and determined
from them that the bright star corresponded to the location of the prophesied Christ. He obviously believed in all that
"claptrap", because he sent his henchmen to slaughter any child who fit the description of the Messiah.
The anguish of these mothers of the slain
children, weeping for their infants, might be comparable to Maurya's loss of all her men folk.
New Testament, Rachel Weeping For her Children
Old Testament, Rachel Weeping For Her Children
Painting: "Rachel" Weeping For Her Children
Sculpture: Rachel Weeping For Her Children
In addition to astrology, telling the future with
wood chips or using some type of divinization, is mentioned in Norse history as a form of divination. But how ancient
is this practice?
Give some thought to this Biblical passage from
The Holy Bible From The Ancient Eastern Text, George M. Lamsa's
translation:
"Samaria has cast away her king like a chip on the face of the water. The high
places of the idol of Aon, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed; thorns
and thistles shall grow on their altars..." Hosea 10:7-8
The practice of divination by several methods
is described in the Bible. Likely, the practice of throwing of chips was extremely ancient.
It has been consistently true through
the ages that those people in charge of looking at the heavens are always looking for "signs" of what is going to happen. That's
what astrology and astronomy have in common.
Astrologists were interested in divining
the future as well.
The Mayans were dedicated both for
use in their calendars and for predictions. The Babylonians studied them for the same reasons. Other
cultures made up elaborate myth cycles with the stars being given personification as deities.
In Riders to The Sea, Maura
had said something in her speech about not seeing a sign anywhere, which was a sketchy statement. The conclusion
might be that she was saying something about finding her missing children.
Tammuz and the Dragon
An aside: Bel and the Dragon
"An End of Days and The Sun is On the Cross
by C. Donald Martin, Second Revision "The Sky on December 21, 2012 The
check mark is on the calendar and we are asked to look for "Signs in the Sky." So, what does the sky look like on December 21 2012?"
"At the solstice, Saturn is just above the horizon. By
five thirty Venus is on the horizon and the Sun is on the cross. "
The Sun is On the Cross
Silver Nails by Carl Sandburg
In Riders to The Sea,
a group of women cross the threshold and enter Maurya's cottage. A reference to an ancient custom of avoiding stepping
on the threshold is mentioned in the Bible at Zephaniah 1:8-9:
"On the day of the Lord's sacrifice I will punish the princes and the king's sons and all
those clad in foreign clothes. On that day I will punish all those who avoid stepping on the threshold, who fill the temple
of their gods with violence and deceit." Zondervan NIV Study Bible
A footnote for those verses explains:
"1:9 avoid stepping on the
threshold. Perhaps referring to a pagan custom that began in the time of Samuel (see 1 Sa 5:5 and note)." Zondervan
NIV Study Bible
I Samuel 5:5 states "That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple
at Ashdod step on the threshold." Zondervan NIV Study Bible
The footnote for 1 Samuel 5:5 says "this day. The time of the writing of 1,2 Samuel
(see Introduction: Literary Features, Authorship, and Date). step on the threshold. Apparently, the threshold was
thought to possess supernatural power because of its contact with parts of the fallen image of Dagon. Zep 1:9 appears
to be a reference to a more general and rather widespread pagan idea that the threshold was was the dwelling place of spirits."
Zondervan NIV Study Bible
This is how the pagan custom of avoiding
stepping on the threshold of Dagon's temple came about:
"They carried the Ark of God into the
temple
of Dagon and placed it beside the idol of Dagon. But when the citizens of Ashdod
went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark
of the Lord! So they set the idol up again. But the next morning the same thing happened. The idol had fallen face down
before the Ark of the Lord again. This time his head and hand had broken off
and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact. That is why to this day neither the priests of
Dagon nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon
will step on its threshold." 1 Samuel
5: 1-5
Life Application Study Bible, New Living Translation,
(414).
Is there any connection with this Biblically
told superstition to the present day superstition "Step on a crack and break you mother's back"?
The scene in the play Riders
to the Sea has the mourning women with their backs to the audience, This is reminiscent of some pagan
and occult practices from ancient times.
Consider this Biblical passage in Ezekiel
the eighth chapter:
"12. God said,
'Ezekiel, do you see what horrible things Israel’s leaders are doing in secret? They have
filled their rooms with idols. And they say I can't see them, because they think I have already deserted Israel.
13. But I will show
you something even worse than this.'
14. He took me to the north gate of
the temple, where I saw women mourning for the god Tammuz.
15. God asked me, 'Can you believe
what these women are doing? But now I want to show you something worse...'
16. I was then led into the temple's inner
courtyard, where I saw about twenty-five men standing near the entrance, between the porch and the altar. Their backs were
to the Lord’s temple, and they were bowing down to the rising sun.
17. God said, 'Ezekiel,
it’s bad enough that the people of Judah are doing
these disgusting things. But they have also spread violence and injustice everywhere in Israel
and have made me very angry....'"
The Promise, Contemporary English Version,
Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1995, p. 946-947
Ezekiel 8:16, "...about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east;
and they worshipped the sun toward the east."
The gist of Ezekiel the 8th chapter was that the Jewish people
had turned their backs on their God in favor of a foreign god. Is there a similar suggestion in Riders to The Sea
about the women mourners who have their backs to the audience, and in that case, what might the audience symbolize?
Ancient sacred Gnostic texts are not as completely
unrelated in thought to the Bible as you might think.
Compare the material in this link to excerpts and Biblical text. The
idea that the false god to whom the Gnostic text refers is blind and the god of the blind may somehow offer a clue
as to what source the legend of Odin may have sprung
Their god is blind and god of the blind.
The Archons
The Nag Hammadi
translations read:
"Our contest is
not against flesh and blood; rather, the authorities of the universe and the spirits of wickedness."
http://gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html
This is virtually the same thought expressed
in The Promise, Contemporary English Version, Ephesians
6:11-12:
"Put on all the armor that God gives, so you
can defend yourself against the devil's tricks. We are fighting against forces and authorities and against rulers of darkness
and powers of the spiritual world." or, as the New World Translation
puts it, "against the wicked spirit forces in the heavenly places."
2 Peter 2:4, New World Translation,
"Certainly if god did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but by throwing them into Tartarus, delivered them
to pits of dense darkness* to be reserved for judgment."
* spiritual blindness, (author's
note)
The Nag Hammadi
Library, Hypostasis of the Archons: "since beings that merely possess a soul cannot lay hold of those that
possess a spirit - for they were from below, while it was from above."
http://gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html
Compare with the thought in 1 Corinthians
15:44-48 in The Promise, Contemporary English Version: " As surely as there are physical
bodies, there are spiritual bodies...Everyone on earth has a body like the body of the one who was made from the dust
of the earth. And everyone in heaven has a body like the body of the one who came from heaven."
Nag
Hammadi:
“Thus the authorities cannot approach them, because of the spirit of truth present within them; and all who have become acquainted
with this way exist deathless in the midst of dying mankind. " and " Then they will be freed of blind
thought, and they will trample underfoot death, which is of the authorities, and they will ascend into the limitless light
where this sown element belongs.”
http://gnosis.org/naghamm/hypostas.html
1
Peter 3:18-20, New World Translation, " ...he being put to death in the flesh, but being made
alive in the spirit, In this [state] also he went his way and preached to the spirits in prison..." and 1 Peter 1:22
"Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth..." and 2 Corinthians 4:4 "...the god of this system
of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers..."
While
mainstream Christianity generally eschews Gnosticism, the Bible does have a similar quote at 2 Corinthians 12:2-3,
The Promise, Contemporary English Version, page 1347, "I know about one of Christ's
followers who was taken up into the third heaven fourteen years ago...but he was taken up into paradise."
The footnote
for this reads, "paradise: in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, this word is used for the Garden of Eden.
In New Testament times it was sometimes used for the place where God's people are happy, and at rest, as they wait for the
final judgment."
The
New Testament, then, states that there are levels or separate worlds of heaven. If it could be said that by mentioning a third
heaven, there would logically be a first and second and maybe other heavens not specified in the text.
Jesus may have alluded to this when he said, "In my Father's house, there are many mansions."
There
were nine worlds in Norse belief and Valhalla
was the paradise of the dead.
Two
ravens whispered secrets they had gathered, one at each ear, to Odin. Maurya's two daughters whisper to each
other in the loft.
In
the Biblical story of Noah and the flood, After 40 days and nights of rain, Noah first sends out a raven that returns
because there is no dry land. It is the dove that brings back an olive branch, a sign that the floodwaters have subsided.
In
the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, the hero first looses a dove and then a swallow. Both return, for there is no dry
land. It is the raven that does not return, because it has found dry land.
These
universal flood stories are nearly identical in their main aspects.
The stories
of the flood are rooted in archetype.
These
two accounts are two ravens, one at each ear, telling slightly different versions of "the truth". Which one of
these stories is the fishy one?
Perhaps
neither, because the two hemispheres of the brain, like any two individuals, perceive the same situation slightly differently
according to their own perceptions.
Wordshop
The
two hemispheres of the brain look much alike, but have different regions and functions. They are much alike in their
communication to the body and between each other through the corpus callosum, but different and specialized.
Fish
"preferentially use one eye for particular tasks", the left eye to the right hemisphere of the brain and also the opposite.
According to the University
of Oxford, "preference for one side actually seems to be to do with where the information
is processed in the brain."
Can
the ravens be symbols for deep-seated functions in the brain, so basic to brain functioning that their parallel positioning
in the two flood accounts and as Odin's counsel provides a satisfying means of balance?
New and a bit fishy? Put it in the left side of my brain.
"...could you expect to get anything except cudgels? Give
thanks to God, Sancho that they signed the cross on you with a stick just now, and did not mark you per signum crucis with
a cutlass."
Don Quixote to Sancho Panza
Chapter 28
from Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Naked At The Seventh Gate
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