0 Comments
Lunar beasts (part four)

1. Lunar Beasts (part 1)
2. Lunar Beasts (part 2)
3. Lunar Beasts (part 3)
4. Lunar Beasts (part 4)
5. Lunar Beasts (part 5)
6. Lunar Beasts (part 6)
7. Lunar Beasts (part 7)
8. Lunar Beasts (part 8 )

In both the Zoroastrian Creation myth and the Taruoctony (Bull Slaying scene) of the Mithras Cult, the Cosmic Man and Bull are depicted as separate entities, the bull being associated with the moon, while the cosmic man is likewise associated with the sun.

Minotaur and the Lunar Bull

In the myth of the Minotaur (Bull of Minos), the Bull, which is primarily the temporal-theriomorphic representation of divinity, is combined with that of the cosmic man, whose earth bound representative would of been that of the king incarnate Asterion/Asterios, the eternal principle within the temporal realm (virgin birth motif), symbolized by the Labyrinth: the place of the Labrys (double-axe).

Symbolism of the Labyrinth

Concerning the symbolism of the Labyrinth depicted on coins from Knossos (dating from the 5th century B.C), Kerényi informs us;

To the Labyrinth belonged its mistress or the Minotaur-or both. The connection between Ariadne on the face of the coin and the Labyrinth sign on the other is made clearer when the meander quaternion embraces a sickle moon…

…This view of the world became still more complete when astronomical signs were added beside the four meander patterns: one or two sickle moons-one waxing and one waning-and in the middle, inside the labyrinth, a star. “Minotaurus,” “the bull of Minos.” was not a true name. For the inhabitant of the labyrinth the names “Asterios” and “Asterion” have come down to us, both synonymous with aster, “star.” They also become the names of the first Cretan king, who received Europa, the beloved of the bull-formed Zeus. No Greek myth attaches to these names. No luminous aspect of the Minotaur was accepted by the Greeks outside of Knossos, but the Knossos coins bear witness to the star in the labyrinth, to the lunar nature of Ariadne… Kerényi, Karl, 1996, ‘Dionysos: Archetypal image of indestructible Life’, p.105-6 (Princeton University Press)

Slaying of the Divine Incarnate King

According to The Library of Apollodorus, Asterius was again the Minotaur born of Pasiphae (3.1.4), queen of King Minos, who, like both his father and bull-headed son, would also of been the incarnate Star-King.

“The Minotaur… like both his father and bull-headed son, would also of been the incarnate Star-King.”

The Star symbol is related to the celestial rosette that appears in Mesopotamian iconography, associated with the tree of life and the gateway to eternity, and is probably based on the naturally occurring star shape (often with eight points) that crowns the head of the sophoric poppy.

The Labyrinth and Star as depicted on a Cretan coin

James frazer in The Golden Bough makes the connection between the culmination of the allotted eight year period of Cretan kingship, when the King was required to seek the divine guidance of Zeus in an oracular cave, and give an account of his past rule in preparation for his future term, and the sacrifice of seven Youths and seven maidens to the Minotaur in the Labyrinth at the end of every eight year period, demanded by King Minos of the Athenians in restitution for the death of his son Androgeous.

It is possible that the ritual slaying of a divine King at the end of his term, was originally part of the Minoan religious system, and that the King himself was an incarnate Threshold God (between death and life, embodying both the temporal-lunar and eternal-solar aspects of divinity) who must enter the heart of the cosmic womb cave between the past and future cycles of time, and prove himself worthy in an eternal encounter with the divine, before passing safely back into the temporal realm.

Womb of the Cosmic Goddess

The labyrinth is also the cosmic womb of the Goddess, and the double-spiral that winds inwards and back out again represents death and rebirth within the temporal threshold, patterned on the period of darkness between the waxing and waning moons.

“Ariadne’s ball of thread is also symbolic of the cosmic womb”

Ariadne’s ball of thread is also symbolic of the cosmic womb, it’s secrets she unravels for Theseus alone guiding him to the heart of the Labyrinth to slay the Minotaur, and back out again accompanied by his fellow Athenians.

Death and Rebirth

Ariadne’s agreement to help Theseus, places her into the role of Goddess in death aspect who murders her lover (i.e: guides him into death’s realm), and is an important theme in the Cosmological drama of the mythological victim, which also results in her own death (Ariadne’s abandonment). But she is also the goddess who guides her lover back into the realm of life, often through a virgin birth, and so is also the goddess of Life, and further, also shares in the eternal boon, brought forth by her lover within the temporal round of existence. After Theseus abandoned Ariadne, she married the Bull-man Dionysos.

The Elixir of Eternal Life

The boon is the elixir of eternal life, and is the god himself (As in the case of Dionysus and Soma, as well as the Christian Eucharist of bread and wine), his divine essence, brought forth miraculously from the cosmic goddess, as he enters the hidden mystery (the solar gateway) of eternal light, from within the otherwise perpetual night of creation’s womb. There is iconic evidence of a poppy goddess related to ancient Minoan culture that indicates that the divine ambrosia was sometimes equated with the juice (milk) of the poppy.

Theseus slays the Minotaur

Death of the Minotaur

While inside the heart of the labyrinth, Theseus becomes one in death with the Minotaur, as the god who is both slain and slays himself. Through the death of the bull, Theseus, within the cosmic threshold in the role of Solar hero, confronts the unbridled force of divine power and virtuously remains unscathed (much like the Cretan king in his meeting with Zeus in the cave), himself clothed through death in the same divine splendor.

« The wound motif | Regenerating Reality »