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Alexander Curtis |
Bacchus |
Chapter 7 |
The glory of the world resides in the fact that all that is above is akin to all that is below, for all was created by the action of a goddess dancing over the waters of herself. In thus becoming aware of herself, she created the world and all the things that exist, so that they might reflect her nature.
[51]
On the bronze liver of Piacenza, the Omphalos of the Lobus Sinister and the Mount Parnassus of the Lobus Dexter are to be imagined as joined by the "S" shape of a snake. This is none other than Ophion. Curving around the gall-bladder, his tail points towards the Omphalos while his head rests at the foot of Mount Parnassus. He is the snake of the Zodiac who at the beginning of each season manifests himself as a bull, then a lion, a scorpion and finally a snake. With each subsequent sign that the sun enters, Ophion takes on a new form, which like the others, must be symbolically outwitted and slain by the Year King. In this the King may invoke the help of one god. The gods who are to be invoked in the conquering of these signs are the gods over whose houses Ophion's imaginary body lies.
At his initiation, the King is given an egg, such as the Etruscan egg of black trachite, found at Perugia, which has an arrow running round it. This recalls Ophion's splitting open the Cosmic Egg but also reminds the King of his duty to rule until the arrow has completed its circle. With the help of Laran, the King's first task is to defeat Ophion in his guise as a bull. Subsequently it is Hercules and Maris who help him. During the summer, Ophion's appearance as a lion is countered with the help of Consus, Catha and myself. The scorpion of autumn is then subdued by the lasas, the nymphs of Venus, who drive Ophion into a frenzy by anointing him with incense. Laran and Neptune are the King's guides for the rest of autumn, while during the winter he has the right to call upon Zeus and the highest powers of fate.
Just as Ophion may be imagined as slithering past the gall-bladder of the liver, so he is also to be imagined as interwoven with the signs of the Zodiac, against which the sun, the eye of Zeus, rises. For although Eurynome confined Ophion to the dark places below the Earth, twelve times a year he would be released to test the King's loyalty to the goddess. The task of repeatedly confining and releasing Ophion was traditionally performed by Hercules but when the sacrificing of the Year King was replaced by the treading of grapes, Ophion was dispatched once and for all, by Apollo. This took place at Delphi and hence in the liver, Ophion's body is to be thought of as linking the Processus Pyramidalis with the centre of the Lobus Sinister.
After slaying Ophion and learning the art of prophecy from Pan, Apollo took over the shrine at Delphi and made it his own. Apart from the sun, represented by the gall-bladder, the other planets are represented in the liver by the inner regions of the Lobus Sinister, known as the Wheel. This shows the earthly deities whose duties it is to watch over the planets. Thus on the bronze liver, some gods' names occur a number of times, like for example, Laran whose name is written on the outer ring, on the wheel and on the curving "S" of the gods who defend the King against the trials of the Zodiac.
[52]
From the Middle Ages right up until the beginning of the sixteenth century, a host's place at table was customarily marked by a nef, a model ship, made predominantly of silver. Though some held the host's cutlery and "a cup of essay", the majority were solely ornamental. At important banquets, the places of any attendant sovereigns were also denoted by nefs. In addition tables would be adorned with elaborate salt-cellars, ewers and automated models. Often these would be formed from such curiosities as Nautilus shells, Seychells nuts or ostrich eggs, for like their Roman ancestors, men of the Renaissance had a passion for rarity. Impressive displays were also created with spun sugar so that guests might just as well sit down to a table glistening with edible sculptures. And of course, political motifs were common. In pride of place among the decorations at Cosimo I's wedding was a nest of six red eggs with a black eagle on top of them. To contemporaries this was immediately recognisable as the six Medici balls being nurtured by the imperial eagle of the Emperor.
As an aid to digestion, among the many dishes of the antipasto, sweet fruits were often served, such as melons, peaches, apricots and strawberries, while tart fruits were considered as only helping digestion when taken at the end of a meal. The antipasto would then be followed by soups, pasta, fish dishes, meat courses, vegetables and desserts. Pasta had been a feature of the Italian kitchen since the Middle Ages and in Florence the pasta-makers, the lasagnai had their own guild. Known in both its fresh and dry forms it was usually cooked in stock and served with grated cheese although the Medieval/Arab habit of adding sugar and cinnamon was not uncommon. Cooking in almond milk or goat's milk and then sweetening were other variations. By the middle of the seventeenth century all the basic forms of pasta had appeared, including the infamous tortelloni, modelled on the navel of no lesser person than Venus herself.
The courses of a meal, served on ornate platters, were lain, buffet-style, down the length of a table so that guests could help themselves. Whereas during the Middle Ages, diners were seated on long trestles on one side of the table, so that all would have a good view of the entertainments provided, Renaissance diners sat on separate chairs on both sides of the table. Though entertainers were still important, their performances were restricted to the pauses in between courses and pride of place was given to the food itself. Wines were served throughout, becoming sweeter and spicier with each course. At the end of a meal guests could "sweeten their breath" with slices of raw fennel, sweetmeats and nuts. Typically a meal might be concluded with Vin Santo, a sweet dessert-wine that is produced throughout Tuscany, from grapes partially dried in the rafters of farmhouses. Until 1439 it was known as Vin Pretto, or "special wine" as it was only served on festive occasions. But that year the council of the Roman and Greek Orthodox churches met in Florence and one of the Greek bishops, on tasting the Vin Pretto, declared "But this is Xanthos!" thinking his hosts had served him this Greek speciality as a mark of honour. The Florentines however thought he meant that the wine was Santo and so it has been called "Holy Wine" ever since.
1 Pumpkin
Nutmeg
Parmesan
Salt
700g Flour
Pepper
7 Eggs
The tortelloni should be cooked in either salted water, stock, or almond milk until the pasta is al-dente. When they rise to the surface they are ready and can be served with olive oil and grated Parmesan, or alternatively with butter, and a sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon. To make almond milk: mix 50g of ground almonds with 600 ml of milk, then bring to the boil and simmer for three minutes.
One night, Venus, delayed on an earthly errand, elected to spend the night at an inn in Central Italy. While she slept, the cook, overcome by her beauty, could not refrain from staring at her and the next day, inspired by the shape of her navel, created the first tortelloni in honour of it. In Roman symbolism, the pumpkin represents stupidity, empty-headedness and madness, this being the customary fate bequeathed to mortals who anger the gods. Venus though, is seldom moved to anger and in the case of the cook, she benevolently greeted his creation with a smile, accepting it as a humble declaration from one who was already simple.
[53]
The classical art of memory consists in memorising a series of rooms or places and then assigning to them, objects which act as mnemonics for the various things that are to be remembered. This method was used chiefly by orators who would imagine themselves as wandering through the rooms of a house, or on a journey, passing through different places. The rooms or buildings they visited in their mind's eye as they made their speeches, would contain images which they had placed there to remind them of the points of their speech. They could thus go systematically from the forecourt of a house to its living-rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and parlours, utilising not only the rooms themselves but also the doorways, corners, archways and any prominent statuary. These rooms (which the orator would etch onto his mind at a time when they were empty of people, so as to create the strongest impression) would be akin to a wax writing tablet, onto which he would afterwards impress the mnemonics of his speech. For different speeches he could use the same or different rooms according to his choice.
This system, invented by the poet Simonides of Ceos, was developed following a disastrous dinner given by the Thesalian, Scopas. Simonides had been commissioned to write and recite a poem in honour of his host but as he had spent half the time singing the praises of the twins, Castor and Pollux, Scopas said he would only pay half of the fee originally agreed upon for the panegyric. The other half he declared, was to be obtained from the twins, to whom he had devoted half the poem. Presently, Simonides was informed that there were two young men waiting outside who wished to see him. The poet excused himself and went to the door, only to find that there was no-one there. It was at this point that the roof of the banqueting hall collapsed and Simonides realised that the mysterious visitors had been Castor and Pollux, who had decided to pay for their part of the poem by saving him from death. The next day, when the relatives arrived to claim their dead, the bodies were found to be unrecognisable but Simonides, by recalling the architecture of the room, was able to remember where everyone had been sitting and could thus identify the bodies. As a consequence he concluded that an ordered system of places was a useful aid to maintaining a good memory.
This technique, or art of memory, was classified in the Ancient World as one of the disciplines of rhetoric. However Cicero in his De Inventione, says that natural memory is an attribute of prudence. Although De Inventione was concerned with the composition of speeches, it also included discussions on virtue and was to become an important source for all future discussions on what were to be known as the Cardinal Virtues, (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance) which were to be so important for the Middle Ages. Prudence Cicero defined as, "knowledge of what is good, what is bad and what is neither good nor bad. Its parts are memory, intelligence, foresight. Memory is the faculty by which the mind recalls what has happened. Intelligence is the faculty by which it ascertains what is. Foresight is the faculty by which it is seen that something is going to occur before it occurs."
Moreover in Cicero's second book of rhetoric, a work on memory now known as the Ad Herennium but which the Middle Ages falsely ascribed to Cicero, it was stated that artificial memory improves the natural memory. The Medieval Scholastics therefore concluded that the practising of the art of memory was a part of prudence, to be properly classified as an ethical discipline rather than a rhetorical one. For Medieval man memory was "the treasure house of all things," the most important thing being knowledge of the ways to heaven and hell, which was nothing more than a knowledge of virtue and its opposing vices. Heaven and hell were therefore treated as memory places on which the believer placed images of the blessed and the dammed, so that they might exemplify and remind him of the virtues and vices of the good deeds and sins they had committed. This is taken to an extreme in Dante's Divine Comedy. After the haunting scene with Paolo and Francesca in the fifth Canto of the Inferno, who can forget that the lustful inhabit the second circle of Hell? Prudence is a major theme of the book and after memorising vices by means of their respective punishments in hell, purgatory is presented to the reader as a place where the intelligence is made to see the difference between virtue and vice. Heaven finally, is glimpsed by the reader as a place that awaits him, if by foresight he diligently practices virtue. Due therefore, to the false attribution of a book on memory to Cicero, the art of memory was changed from an oratory aid to a devotional technique, intended to help the pilgrim on his journey through the snares and pitfalls of the World.
It was this separating of virtues from their opposing vices in the hearts of men that prompted Zeus to call the meeting at which it was decided to cleanse the stars of the vices associated with them and to exonerate their virtues. Further, the devotional use of the art of memory paved the way for its adaptation by the hermetic philosopher, for whom memory places were the celestial hierarchies into which the world was ordered and perceived by the mens. The images denoting the contents of these categories were no longer striking so that they could be easily remembered, rather, they were striking because they were images of talismanic power, which by sympathetic magic drew down the spiritus of the gods. Place and image thus became one, for place was now an abstract scheme of spaces filled with the images the magnus had placed there. Having ordered the microcosm of his mind according to the same rules that governed the macrocosm, his mind would thereafter order itself, as the magic images drew into their correct places all that the magnus saw and knew. To be truly like the mens, it remained only for the hermetic philosopher to allow the images in his memory to form different combinations - as happens in the macrocosm, producing night and day, the months and seasons and the succeeding ages of world-history. Philosophers like Bruno, therefore arranged their schemes of memory loci on concentric circles, which by rotating were capable of reproducing all the possible combinations into which the forces of the universe could be combined.
This is perhaps a far cry from the static world of the Etruscan liver-seer; and yet it is merely as if the houses of the gods have moved from the unconscious realm of the liver, up to the conscious regions of the mind. The outer ring of sixteen houses now rotates while inside, Ophion and the Zodiac, represented by the twelve houses of the gods who successively defeat him, slither around the eye of Zeus, leaving the wheel of planetary deities to revolve around the Omphalos of the Lobus Sinister. In this way the ancient system can acquire the dynamism of the new and it is hardly surprising to find that the last in the line Italian Renaissance philosophers, Tommaso Campanella (1568-1639), believed that the seven bumps on his head represented the seven planets. Nor is it surprising that such men, like the Etruscan haruspixes, had insights into how the gods and the future might be influenced.
1 kg Eels
1 Glass White Wine
12 Mushrooms
Olive Oil
Bread Crumbs
Salt
400 ml Stock
Pepper
Flute the mushrooms and fry in olive oil. While they are cooking, wash and dry the eels before beheading them. Then roll them in flour seasoned with a little salt and pepper and fry with the mushrooms until light brown. Add the stock and wine, bring to the boil and leave to simmer gently. After half an hour remove the eels from the sauce and thicken it with bread crumbs. When it has reduced to a thick sauce, return the eels and serve.
Eels from Lake Bolsena, stewed in sweet Vernacchia wine, were the favourite dish of Simon de Brie who became Pope Martin IV in 1281. His pontificate is remarkable for its ending four years later with his holiness' death from a surfeit of eels. Contemporary wit composed for him the following epitaph:
There was joy among the eels
When death laid him by the heels
For he skinned'em and sorted'em.
As though death had country-courted 'em
and Dante consequently places him among the gluttons on Mount Purgatory:
That, the most puckered face in all the band,
Once in his arms did Holy Church entwine;
He came from Tours, and fasts to purge the famed
Bolsena eels and sweet Vernaccia wine.
Eels were popular with the Romans as well as during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Though they mature in fresh water, they migrate to the Sargasso Sea to breed. Over a period of two or three years, the larvae are the swept by ocean currents towards the coasts of Europe, where they arrive as elvers. After maturing they then begin to make their way back to the Sargasso Sea and it is at this stage that they are most prized. Once caught they should be killed and skinned at the last moment possible, as their flesh deteriorates rapidly.
[54]
It was Giordano Bruno's personal mission to bring about no less a project than a full-scale restoration of the magical religions of the Ancient World. Prior to him, hermetic philosophers had always been anxious to maintain a Christian tenor in their work. But Bruno was unambiguous and unrepentant in his view that the older mysteries were superior to those of Christianity. In his prison-cell in Rome, Bruno explained to a fellow prisoner his theory that the sign of the cross was really an Egyptian sacred sign. This had first been aired by Ficino who cautiously presented it as a presage on the part of the Egyptians concerning the coming of Christ. But Bruno boldly maintained that the Egyptian cross was the true cross, the cross of Christianity being a changed and corrupted form.
The crux ansata or ankh is formed from the male and female symbols of Isis and Osiris and is held by Maat, the Egyptian goddess of Truth. The oval stands for eternity while the "tau" below it represents extension in length and breath. This is also true of the liver and of the concentric circles of the hermetic philosopher's memory systems. In both cases the all-enclosing outer-circle represents the eternity and unity of the One, while the lines dividing up the interior space represent extension in space and time, with the spaces in between being the gods of the universe. The Ankh is therefore the most powerful of Egyptian hieroglyphs and symbolises the union of the sexes and the union of heaven and earth. It is also the sign of life and is associated with immortality, hidden wisdom and the life that is to come.
In Bruno's Spaccio della Bestia Trionfante, Isis explains the basis of the magical religion as being the glorification of the divine in all things. "Diverse things", she says, "represent diverse spirits and powers, which beyond the absolute being they have, obtain a being communicated to all things according to their capacity and measure. Whence God as a whole (though not totally but in some more, in some less, excellently) is in all things." Later the goddess observes that, "Mars is more efficaciously in natural vestiges and modes of substance, in a viper or a scorpion, nay even in an onion or garlic, than in any inanimate picture or statue. Thus one should think of Sol as being in a crocus, a daffodil, a sunflower, in the cock, in the lion; and thus one should conceive of each of the gods through each of the species grouped under the divers geniuses of the mens." The art of memory is therefore indispensable if the philosopher is the apprehend the nature of the One. Through the furor of Venus not only are men and women united but man may ascend up through the levels of the gods up towards the mens. Then by an actual or symbolic death in time, he is able to apprehend the goddess who is beyond time.
Whilst a man may ascend to the level of the One, gods are mostly too proud or too preoccupied with themselves to allow Venus' divine furor to lift them up to the heights of their divine mother. They are thus hindered by their immortality. But I, by dying in time, constantly prove my humility to the Great Mother and am able to ascend to the level of the mens. In this sense, in my dying in order to prove my loyalty to her, I do indeed resemble Christ who died so as to fulfil his father's will and it is no accident that the cross should become symbolic of Christ's passion, while being thought of by Bruno as sculpted onto the breast of Isis.
[55]
Consciousness is the perception of a similitude pertaining between a microcosm and a macrocosm and a soul may therefore be defined as that which perceives the similitude pertaining between the world and the liver. Hence it was thought that the liver was the actual dwelling-place of the soul. As a man has consciousness of the analogy existing between himself and that which is around him, so too the soul of the world perceives the analogy existing between it and the innumerable host of microcosms it contains within itself. And as the One descends to the smallest of things in communication with itself, so too, by the same scale the magus by means of the art of memory may ascend to the height of the One.
Where the world-soul is immutable, due to the immutability of the matter of which its corporeal part is composed, the soul of a man is not immortal, as his body, in which a microcosmic model of the world is contained, may so easily be reduced to dust, destroying the liver and the analogy pertaining between it and the world. The consciousness of an individual god may be explained as arising from the perception of a similitude pertaining between all that is sacred or emblematic of that god. All these things, statues, trees, plants, minerals, etc., reflect the god's world and thus provide him with a host of microcosms which he may perceive as being analogous to the macrocosm of all that falls under his jurisdiction. Gods are therefore immortal as to kill a god one would have to destroy all that were sacred to him and all that was emblematic of his presence. This is clearly impossible, though it does explain why some gods grow tired and fade away. Sometimes, when the boundaries defining and delineating a god's extension in the world fade, their responsibilities are merged with those of another god. Or, as happened during the Renaissance, they may be re-awakened, as soon as prayers, offerings and tributes are made to them and their crops are once again cultivated and revered.
[56]
Where once spiritual and moral dilemmas had been solved by consultation with an oracle, the message of Christianity taught that Christ had taken responsibility for his followers' sins. The release from care and worry that wine had customarily brought, was thus extended into the after-life, giving exemption from judgement and guilt. As long as the believer trusted in Jesus, he would be saved, his master's death and resurrection sparing him the torments of hell. In this, the figure of Christ is not unlike the King of the Year, whose subjects' spiritual and earthly fates were intertwined with those of their kings. Like Christ, the Year King is faced with the choice of either serving his people and their goddess, or of fleeing his responsibilities and siding with Ophion, the snake of darkness. For Ophion not only challenges the King in the form of a bull, lion, scorpion and snake but also appears as a virgin, tempting him with sweet words and promises of power if only he were to abandon his duties. As the twins, he may mock the king or as the water-bearer, promise to anoint him with the springs of eternal youth. All these temptations the king must resist and the curving chain of gods in the liver, whom he may call upon for help in this ordeal are sometimes known as the Snake of Light or the White Snake. The snake is thus a complex symbol and Eurynome, Hecate and Isis all have snakes as their emblems. In the present-day province of Abruzzo, the Great Mother was worshipped under the name of Angitia with offerings of snakes. When the ceremonies were Christianised, the snakes were offered instead to Saint Domenico, who was reputed to have cleared the region of them. Still to this day, in the town of Cocullo on the first Thursday in May, the Festival of Snakes is held, when a statue of Saint Domenico is draped with live snakes and paraded through the town, accompanied by the townspeople, who likewise bear snakes.
Just as oracles and the Year King were subject to manipulation by the priesthood, so too the ministry of Christ is open to interpretation by the church, producing in the seventeenth century the violence and intolerance of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. In Protestant countries figures such as Bruno were denounced as Catholics in league with the Devil, in Catholic countries they were simply accused of heresy, often having to spend years in prison before being brought to trial. Prior to his death Giordano Bruno languished for eight years behind bars while Tommaso Campanella, though he was not sentenced to death, spent a total of twenty-seven years in prison.
In the cult of Mithras, the trials and temptations of the Year King are symbolised by the figure of Aion, who with a lion's head denoting his sovereignty and the keys to the solstices in his hands, is entwined in the coils of a huge snake. This is of course, Ophion, who in this guise also represents eternal time while the figure of Aion stands for not just one king or magus but for the whole line of kings and maguses throughout eternity. In withstanding Ophion's temptations, the king acquires the keys to the solstices and on being slain, is absorbed into my being to become one of the Immortals.
[57]
In the world of Ancient Rome, the decadence and god-lessness of the aristocracy was mirrored in the populace by a lack of faith in the official Roman religion. Of all the gods and goddesses honoured by the various cults in Rome at this time, only two seemed to be attracting new devotees and these, the Senate noted with concern, were both of Eastern origins. The cult of Isis had been imported from Egypt by the Roman army and like the cult of Mithras which derived from Persia, was exported by it all over the Empire. At first the public worship of Isis in Rome was banned but eventually a temple was planned, to curry favour with the populace. Following the death of Augustus, the suppressive measures that had been taken against her worship were no longer enforced and her cult went on to become one of the most popular both in Rome and throughout the Empire. In the solemn rituals performed at sunrise and sunset and in the jewelled image contemplated to the accompaniment of tinkling bells, her worship closely resembles the veneration accorded to the Virgin Mary during the Middle Ages, and it was this that stirred Venus from her sleep after the Dark Ages, and persuading her to step into the empty role.
The clearest and most inspired account of the nature of Isis is given by Apuleius, writing in the second century AD. At the end of his book, The Golden Ass, the protagonist, Lucius, invokes the goddess and prays that she deliver him from his predicament:
Note: It is illegal to download the extracts from THE GOLDEN ASS - translated by Robert Graves without the permission from AP Watt Ltd at 20 John Street, London, WC1N 2DR, UK
"At about the first watch of the night, I awoke in sudden terror and saw a dazzling full moon rising from the sea. I knew that it is at this secret hour that the Moon-goddess, sole sovereign of mankind, is possessed of her greatest power and majesty. She is the shining deity by whose influence not only all beasts, wild and tame, but all inanimate things as well, are invigorated; whose ebbs and flows control the rhythm of all bodies whatsoever, whether in the air, on earth, or below the sea. Of this I was well aware, and therefore resolved to address the august apparition of the goddess, since Destiny, it appeared, was now sated by my calamities and was offering me a hope of release, however belated.
Jumping up briskly and shaking off my drowsiness, I went down to the sea to purify myself by bathing in it. Seven times I dipped my head under the waves - seven, according the divine Phythagoras, is a number that particularly suits all religious occasions - and with joyful eagerness, though tears were running down my face, I offered this soundless prayer to the potent goddess:
'Blessed Queen of Heaven, whether you are pleased to be known as the original harvest mother who in joy at the finding of your lost daughter Proserpine abolished the rude acorn diet of our forefathers, who makes her way across the soil of Eleusis; or whether as celestial Venus, now adorned at sea-girt Paphos, who at the beginning of the world coupled the sexes in mutual love and so contrived that human beings should continue to propagate their kind forever; or whether as sister of Phoebus Apollo, reliver, by your healing care, of birth pangs of women, and now adored in the shrine of Ephesus; or whether as Proserpine, fearfully howling by night, whose triple face is potent against the malice of ghosts, keeping them imprisoned below earth; you who wander through many sacred groves and are propitiated with many different rites - you whose womanly light illuminates the walls of every city, whose moist radiance nurses the happy seeds under the soil, you who offer your ever-changing illumination in accordance with the vicissitudes of the sun - I beseech you, by whatever name, in whatever aspect, with whatever ceremonies you deign to be invoked, have mercy on me in my extreme distress, restore my shattered fortune, grant me repose and peace after this long sequence of miseries...
When I had finished my prayer and poured out the full bitterness of my oppressed heart, sleep once more overcame me as I lay upon that same bed. I had scarcely closed my eyes before the apparition of a woman began to rise from the middle of the sea with so lovely a face that the gods themselves would have fallen down in adoration of it. First the head, then the whole shinning body gradually emerged and stood before me poised on the surface of the waves. I will try to describe this transcendent vision, for though human speech is poor and limited, the goddess herself will perhaps inspire me with an eloquence rich enough to describe her.
Her long thick hair fell in tapering ringlets on her divine neck and was crowned with an intricate chaplet in which was woven every kind of flower. In the middle of her brow shone a round disc, like a mirror, or like the bright light of the moon, which told me who she was. Vipers curving upwards to left and right supported this disc, with ears of bristling grain beside them. Her many-coloured robe was of the finest linen; part was glistening white, part crocus-yellow, part glowing red, and along the entire hem a woven bordure of flowers and fruit clung swaying in the breeze. But what struck my eye more than anything else was the deep black lustre of her mantel. She wore it slung across her body from the right hip to the left shoulder, where it was caught in a knot resembling the boss of a shield; but part of it hung in innumerable folds, the tasselled fringe quivering. It was embroidered with glittering stars on the hem and everywhere else, and in the middle beamed a full and fiery moon.
She carried a variety of objects. In her right hand she held a bronze rattle; its narrow rim was curved like a belt and a few little rods, which sang shrilly when she shook the handle, passed through it. A boat-shaped gold dish hung from her left hand, and along the upper surface of the handle writhed an asp with puffed throat and head ready to strike. On her fragrantly scented feet were slippers woven with palm leaves, the emblem of victory.
All the perfumes of Arabia floated into my nostrils as the heavenly voice of this great goddess deigned to address me: 'You see me here, Lucius, moved by your prayer. I am Nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, Queen of the Dead, first also among the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are. My nod governs the shinning heights of Heaven, the wholesome sea-breezes, the lamentable silences of the world below. Though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names and propitiated with all manner of different rites, yet the whole earth venerates me. The primeval Phrygians call me Goddess of Pessinus, Mother of the Gods: the Athenians, sprung from their own soil, call me the Minerva of Cecrop's citadel; for the islanders of Cyprus I am Paphian Venus; for the archers of Crete I am Diana Dictynna; for the trilingual Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; and for the Eleusinians, their ancient goddess Ceres.
'Some know me as Juno, some as Bellona, others as Hecate, others again as the Goddess of Rhamnus, but both races of Ethiopians, whose lands the morning sun first shines upon, and the Egyptians, who excel in ancient learning and worship me with their appropriate ceremonies, call me by my true name, Queen Isis. I have come in pity of your plight; I have come to favour and aid you. Weep no more, lament no longer; the day of deliverance, shone over by my watchful light, is at hand.' "
50g candied Orange Peel, chopped
50g candied Lemon Peel, chopped
50g candied Melon Peel, chopped
50g chopped Almonds
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
50g chopped Hazelnuts
1/2 tsp. Mixed Spice
50g Plain Flour
Rice Paper
75g Honey
Icing Sugar
75g Flavoured Sugar
To candy melon peel: Boil the skin and pith of a galia melon until the pith is soft and then candy as above.
To make flavoured sugar: The remaining syrup from the crystallised peel can be reduced further to make flavoured sugar. When ready it will solidify if a little is removed from the pan with a cold spoon. As it cools, stir with a fork to granulate.
Chop the nuts and mix thoroughly together in a bowl with the peel, flour and spices. In a pan bring the honey and sugar to boiling point and stir in the nuts etc. In a baking tin lined with butter to which rice paper has been stuck, spread the mixture out evenly and bake at 150°C for thirty-five minutes. When cool remove from the tin and sprinkle generously with icing sugar. To store, wrap in tin foil and keep in an air-tight tin.
Like quinces, roses, oranges and lemons were all brought from the East by Aphrodite. In the Semitic version of my rites lemons took the place of apples, while citrons were used by both Hebrews and Romans for the decoration of bridal chambers. Nuts represent the hidden wisdom of the Great Mother and orange blossoms are emblematic of Diana.
[58]
Like Zeus, Isis derived her power from her father, Ra, by means of a trick. For Ra had grown old, his speech had become slurred and he dribbled as he talked. Moreover Ra had many names, including one known only to himself and it was this that was the secret of his power. Therefore from out of the dust of the earth and the spittle that fell from her father's mouth, Isis fashioned a serpent to bite the sun god as he passed by. The heavens shook as the great god cried out in pain and his followers gathered around him asking what was the matter.
Come to me, he cried. O my children, offspring of my body. I am a prince, the son of a prince, the divine seed of a god. My father devised my name; my father and mother gave me my name, and it remained hidden in my body since my birth, that no magician might have magic power over me. I went out to behold that which I have made, I walked in the two lands which I have created, and lo! something stung me. What it was, I know not. Was it fire? was it water? My heart is on fire, my flesh trembleth, all my limbs do quake. Bring me the children of the gods with healing words and understanding lips, whose power reacheth to heaven. As his children gathered round, he asked them to chase the poison away but they could not. Then Isis approached her father saying,
What is it, divine father? what is it? and Ra replied,
I went upon my way, I walked after my heart's desire in the two regions which I have made to behold that which I have, and lo! a serpent that I saw not stung me. Is it fire? is it water? I am colder than water, I am hotter than fire, all my limbs sweat, I tremble, mine eye is not steadfast, I behold not the sky, the moisture bedeweth my face as in summer-time. To this Isis replied,
Tell me thy name, divine father, for the man shall live who is called by his name. And Ra answered,
I created the heavens and earth, I ordered the mountains, I made the great and wide sea, I stretched out the two horizons like a curtain. I am he who openeth his eyes and it is light, and who shutteth them and it is dark. At his command the Nile riseth, but the gods know not his name. I am Khepera in the morning, I am Ra at noon, I am Tum at eve. But instead of the poison being taken away from him it burned hotter and colder than before and Isis knew that he had not told her his true name.
That was not thy name that thou spakest unto me. Oh tell it me, that the poison may depart; for he shall live whose name is named. By this time Ra could no longer walk and reluctantly he was forced to admit defeat as he murmured,
I consent that Isis shall search into me, and that my name shall pass from my breast into hers. Hiding themselves from the other gods, the name of Ra was transferred from father to daughter and Isis was able to command the poison to leave her father's body.
Flow away poison, depart from Ra. It is I, even I, who overcome poison and cast it into the earth; for the name of the great god hath been taken away from him. Let Ra live and let the poison die.
Though a single mortal cannot hope to usurp the power of a god, if a man knows the secret name of a god, through love, he can aspire to union with that god. By the end of the Renaissance hermetic philosophers were not merely invoking us gods; they were hoping by means of the art of memory, to arrive at the secret name of the mens and through love ascend to the very highest levels of being.
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Born in 125 AD, in the Roman colony of Numidia, Lucius Apuleius was educated in Carthage, subsequently teaching rhetoric and grammar there before embarking on a period of further study in Athens. Afterwards he journeyed to the East with the intention of becoming initiated into some of the religious mysteries. For some years he settled in Rome, practising as a lawyer before returning to North Africa. Bound for Alexandria, he happened to fall ill at Oea and was visited by a friend Pontianus, whom he knew from his time in Athens. Pontianus was studying in Rome but had returned to Oea as his widowed mother, Pudentilla, was proposing to marry her brother-in-law and Pontianus and his brother were afraid they would no longer inherit her money when she died. Pontianus therefore suggested that Apuleius marry his mother. After some opposition this was arranged but soon after the wedding, Pontianus died and Apuleius was accused of murdering Pontianus and of having gained Pudentilla's affections by magic. The first charge was subsequently dropped but the second was tried at Sabratha, in AD 158/159. Apuleius defended himself and was duly acquitted but decided nevertheless, to return to Carthage, where he became chief priest of the province. Written in the style of the Greek Sophists, The Golden Ass takes the reader through a variety of adventures in which the dignified and bizarre, the voluptuous and the horrible, all succeed each other in a bewildering kaleidoscope, which ends with Lucius pledging the rest of his life to the service of Isis. In life and art Apuleius succeeded in escaping from the spiralling void of debauched godlessness and self-defeating cynicism into which so many of his contemporaries fell. On being restored to human form, the officiating priest proclaims solemnly to the fictional Lucius: "Neither your birth and rank nor your excellent education sufficed to keep you from falling a slave to pleasure; your luckless curiosity carved you a sinister punishment. But blind fortune, after tossing you maliciously about from peril to peril, has somehow, without thinking what she was doing, landed you here in religious felicity. Let her be gone now and fume furiously elsewhere; let her find some other target for her cruel hands. She has no power to hurt those who devote their lives to the service of the goddess's majesty." Though the priest is addressing Lucius, the message is clearly for Rome.
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | References | Bacchus Table of Contents