TYPHOEUS OR TYPHON
ZEUS
AND TYPHON
Who is
Typhon? G.R.S.Mead writes:
"But
Typhon is the passionate and titanic and reasonless and impulsive (aspect) of
the soul, while of its corporeal (side he is) the death-dealing and pestilent
and disturbing with unseasonable times and intemperate atmosphere and
concealments of the sun and moon - as though they were the charges and
obliterations of Typhon...Typhon was also called BEBON, and the name signifies
"holding back" or "hindering", since Typhon (the power of)
stands in the way of things going on their way and moving toward what they have
to do."
Kerenyi tells us that
TYPHON was a male Dragon:
"...the
dragon TYPHOEUS - who is also called TYPHAON, TYPHON, or TYPHOS, and is also
confused with the TYPHON of the Egyptians - was born to GAIA as her youngest
son. His father was said to be TARTAROS."
Tartaros is HELL, the
place to whence the Titans were banned. Tararuga is a tortoise, it is a `shell'
existence.
He was born in CILICIA in Asia
Minor and inhabited a cave called " Leather Sack - the KORUKION
ATRON." Kerenyi describes TYPHON as "...half man and half
beast." He was therefore theriomorphic:
"He
surpassed all Gaia's other children in size and strength. Above the hips he was
shaped like a man, and was so tall that he overtopped the highest mountain and
his head often knocked against the stars. One of his arms extended to the
sunset and the other to the sunrise. From his shoulders grew a hundred heads of
serpents. From the hips downwards he was shaped like two wrestling serpents,
which towered up to the height of his head and yelled hissingly. As for the
voices of the hundred heads, it is reported that the gods could often
understand what he said, but he could also bay like a dog, or hiss so that the
mountains echoed. The whole body of the monster was covered with wings, his
eyes were afire.Hissing and bellowing, he flung stones at Heaven, the wild hair
of his head and chin waved in the wind, and from his mouth spurted flames
instead of spittle."
Kerenyi, Gods of
the Greeks.
This image, in all of
its visual and textural richness, as described by Kerenyi, can be truly called
Typhonic, or Titanic.
TYPHOEUS OR TYPHON, ZEUS, AND AIGIPAN. [Kerenyi, Gods.]
Another very old
story is one that not even Hesiod, or those who expanded his poem of the origin
of the gods, cared to tell us. It came back to us from Asia Minor. One is
entitled to say 'come back', for the cave named 'Leather Sack' (korukos) - the
korukion atron - is as well known to us at Delphi as it is over there in
Cilicia; and so is a female dragon named Delphyne, who in parts of the world
was ...
Links between CILICIA
and DELPHI in the name of the CAVE: KORUKION ATRON.
It was still uncertain whether
or no Typhoeus would gain mastery over gods and men. But Zeus struck him from
afar with lightning, and at close range with the steel sickle, and pursued him
to Mount Kasion. When he saw that the dragon was wounded, he went in to fight
him at close quarters. But he was at once caught in the writhing coils of the
huge serpents, and the dragon seized the sickle from his hand and cut the
sinews from the gods hands and feet. Typhoeus picked Zeus up on his shoulder,
carried him through the sea to Cicilia, and left him in the cave...
--------------------
Note: TYPHON was born
after the Overthrow of the Titans. The TYPHAON of Delphi was born to Hera
without a father. (Kerenyi.) Delphyne, the female Dragon inhabited a cave at Delphi
and in Cilicia and: "...in both parts of the world was associated with a
male dragon named Typhon. The only difference is that in Asia Minor the
dragon's opponent was Zeus, whereas in Delphi he was Zeus's son Apollon; and
that Zeus defeated the male dragon, whereas Apollon defeated the female."
Kerenyi, Gods.
SATURN/KRONOS - THE CASTRATOR
Saturn/Kronos, is
generally identified as the castrator of his father - URANUS. But there is
another facet to the operations of Saturn/Kronos that is generally ignored -
and this is the fact that Saturn/Kronos does not only castrate his father, but
that he separates Heaven and Earth. It is not only a mere act of castration.
SATURN/TYPHONIC
ENERGIES IN MAIER.
Emblem 44 of `Atalanta
Fugiens' expresses aspects of the operation of TYPHON within the context of
the Egyptian OSIRIS - ISIS Myth.The TITANS dismember Dionysus.Therefore,
Typhonic is essentially, a TITANIC energy.
TYPHON IN ATALANTA FUGIENS
EMBLEM 50 - THE BLOOD BATH -
sub-Heading:
The 50th and final Emblem of
`Atalanta Fugiens' presents us with a very deep psychic enigma in visual form:
All of the material that has
been used to amplify Emblem 50, points to one great theme: there are two major
protagonists, HUMANS AND REPTILES. This confrontation manifests itself in
various permutations.
Emblem 50 continues the theme in
which the Anima is shown linked or in Union with the Animus in theriomorphic
form e.g. the chameleon fear of some women.
In Emblems 25 and 50 Maier
treats the subject of the Dragon is a very unorthodox way.
But the unique aspect of Emblem
50 is that there is no Hero to defend and protect the woman, or to kill the
Dragon, and the Dragon and the Woman are participants in a Union, or Marriage.
Yet another unique aspect of
this Emblem, is that the 'Marriage-bed', is also the Grave. Beneath the surface
of the narrative, there is also the unspoken fact that this 'Marriage' is
consummated with a conception, simultaneous to Death. Is this saying, in
metaphysical terms, that conception and death are simultaneous events?
Different sides of the same coin, or in other words, this is not a journey from
the Womb to the Tomb, bur rather that the WOMB is the TOMB, and the TOMB is the
WOMB.
Are there any other
instances in the History of mythology where this dynamic correspondence takes
place? Yes. Dionysus shut up in the 'coffin' with the body of his mother; Orion
born from the grave of his mother - and Osiris impregnating Isis after his
death.
The position of the Male/Female figures recalls the countless other variations on this theme, and the 'St George and the Dragon' tales where the Dragon always occupies the position between the stereotyped threatened Feminine and the protecting masculine forces. In Emblem 25, Maier shows the actions arising from both 'Brother' and'Sister', the Sun and the Moon.This is a more credible paradigm.
There are obviously profound
resonances between Emblem 49 and Emblem 50. In Emblem 49 we have the Blood of
the sacrificed bull, in whose skin the sperm of the Three Fathers of Orion is
placed and then buried in the Grave of the deceased Mother. This Grave is again
the Matrix and Birthplace of Orion. Maier suggests an esoteric parallel between
these last two Emblems when he states:
"Three rivers water our work,
and a Dragon, most black."
We also have to bear in mind,
that in the Alchemical?Hermetic cluster of images, the REBIS, or Divine
Androgyne is seen to emerge from the Marriage, and the REBIS Androgyne is shown
standing on a Dragon in many Hermetic images.
In all cases, the
Dragon/Serpent/Reptile - though exterminated, is not without its used In the
Grimm Fairy Tale, the Snake brings the healing Three Green Leaves. In the
Slavonic tale, it is the blood of the Great Serpent that brings the wife back
to life. In the case of Asklepios and Glaucus, the serpent/snake brings the
healing herb.
Show the thread of healing,
victory over death, blood as the agent, birth from blood, eg. Medusa &
Pegasus, the blood that Athene gave to Asklepios was the blood of Medusa, who
had serpents in her hair. General associations with serpents and healing, the
serpent is both poisonous and healing &c.
"...man probably
had the salt of the sea in his blood." E.Wynne-Tyson.
Even The Head of Medusa, had its
uses.
The Dragons in the stories of Python, the Hesperides and Cadmus, are often referred to in other versions as Snakes. Jane Harrison seems to adopt this approach, which is illustrated by classical Greek iconography. How did the Snake become the Dragon? .
"Saturn
will hold the Earth, which is Occidental, Retentive and Autumnal, in the West;
then proceed to the North, where Mercury holdeth the Water, where the Matter is
Watery and Flegmatic, and it is Winter, and the North expulsive."
Philalethes
in " An Exposition"
SATURN; The
position of Saturn/Typhon in the Osiris-Isis myth. See: Eliade on Mefistoles in
`The Two and the One'. Plutarch on TYPHON, has many images of this Arcanum.
SATURN - on the Tree -
is between Tifareth (6) and Hod(1).
ASPECTS OF SATURN
During the reign of Janus, the
most ancient king of Italy, Saturn came to Italy and was received by Janus with
much hospitality. Janus even made Saturn his colleague on the throne. This
co-rulership of Janus and Saturn has its inner applications - and would suggest
a root source for the identification of Saturn with 'The Dweller on the
Threshold' - because Janus "presides over all gates and avenues, and it is
only through him that prayers can reach the immortal gods." Lempriere on
JANUS.
The JANICULUM, was the
original colony and town in Rome, founded by Janus.
NOTE: The psychic need
of images of horror; crucifixions, bull fights, JAWS, Dracula, Frankenstein,
Dali & Kudo, snails of flesh, ants, and so on.
APPENDIX
Commentary to Emblem
50, by Michael Maier.
"It
is not for nothing that the dragons guard the chemical treasures, they are
shown as vomiting flames, as are those of the Golden Fleece, the Gardens of the
Hesperides and Cadmus and other similar myths. The Dragon lives in places
closed by the subterranean stone and it is necessary to capture them to unite
them to an eagle or a woman in a tomb, or if one prefers - to that in its own
nest, because the nature of the Dragon in different circumstances is to take the
egg of the eagle which would lead to a mortal (deadly) clash.
This is similar to the conflict
between the scarab beetle and eagle in the `Monas' of Dr John Dee.
It happened according to Greek
writings that a Dragon loved a young woman and took her to bed (they slept
together) - But what is so strange then if the Philosophers wish to close up a
Dragon and a woman in a Cave? Grevero unites the black dragons and the red at
the bottom of the abyss of a mountain, and burns them with fire - and when the
black ones are dead he tells the guardian of the mountain to take them to the
mountain.
Merlin in his Vision (if this
isn't a fiction) speaks of a white Dragon and a red Dragon. Who are these
Dragon and do they belong with a woman or a female Dragon?They act together
until both die and the blood from the wounds runs and covers them. It is
intended that the Dragon is the elements of Earth and Fire and for the woman
the elements of Air and Water.
Therefore `The Sound
of the Trumpet' says: "The Dragon is the matter that stays at the bottom,
while the water (i.e. the blood-Pelican) is used for distillation."
The circular nature of the
distillation process, the rotation of the fantasy, well equals the operations
of the ANIMA, that is - volatile, while the earth, is the FIXED ANIMUS.
"And quoting the words of
Hermes: "The water and air between heaven and earth is the life of
everything. In fact, the water revolves the body into spirit, vivifies the dead
earth and realizes the union of man and woman.This is in fact the benefit of
the Art." And equally speaking about the Earth: "That which we rest
on isn't the real element Earth."
"But at
the centre of the earth there is a virgin - and our true incombustible element.
It is the Dragon we are talking about - that goes to the centre of the earth.
It brings about a great heat which burns the woman or the eagle."
The woman or the eagle, the
Water or the Air - some say the White Eagle or the Blue - thanks to common
Mercury or Salt sublimated - leaving us to be guided in the Art by some who are
blind.
But the truth is,
declares the Count Bernado in his Epistle:
"When
you have understood the above - you have comprehended the eagle and the woman
and also the Dragon and the secrets of the whole internal art - secrets at the
base of Nature for the Child of the Teachings in these pages."
It is strange that the cold Dragon emits a hot flame, nevertheless it is true since the Burning Serpents give out poisonous flames which damage those who are near - and it is for this reason that the dragons guard our chemical secrets.
The Great Struggle -
between the TYPHONIC and the OLYMPIAN elements is also-
The Great Confrontation: CON
(with) - FRONT - (us) or:
(FACE TO FACE.)
Face is to be understood in its
Mystical Sense, of Beholding the FACE (or Facet) of God. BEHOLD! The Face of
God.
The `Great Quarrel' is a theme that repeats from Osiris and Set, right through to St George and the Dragon. It is, of course, the basis for our Devil/Satan mythology.
"The
spirit mercurialis and his transformations represented as a monstrous dragon.
It is a quarternity, in which the forth is at the same time the unity of the
three, the unity being symbolized by the mystagogue Hermes. The three (above)
are (left to right) Luna, Sol, and conjunctio Solis et Lunae in Taurus, the
House of Venus. Together they form Mercurius."
This Dragon called PYTHON, or
MERCURIALIS is a clue connecting the Python and the Spirit Mercurius:
"The
Pythian Games founded in memory of Python who was both the fertilizing North
Wind and the ghost of the sacred king killed by his rival Apollo." -
Lempriere.
Mercury is well
represented as a `wind' being aerial and the `North Wind' appears in Emblem 1 -
and is a direct quote from the Emerald Table of HERMES TRISMEGISTUS.
DRAGON/ SPHINX:
The Sphinx appears in Emblem 39 in the Oedipus Myth - and the Dragon kills the woman and she kills it in Emblem 50, while in Emblem 25 "The Dragon does not died if it is not killed by its brother and sister i.e. Sol and Luna."
TYPHON - KRONOS AND TIME
TYPHONIC ELEMENT OF TIME
Typhon in Plutarch. SET =
Saturn/Kronos = Arcanum 15. How many parts is Osiris (Sun?) dismembered into?
14 including the Phallus? 13 without. 13 is the Exaltation of the Sun again,
and 14 the Exaltation of the Moon. See: the Number of Lion Heads (13 and 14)
(14 = Venus in Taurus.)
ANUBIS, the Keeper of
the Parts, a Jackal-Headed God restored the 13 parts recovered by Isis (Veiled
Isis - 2.)
The ONE (1) unrecovered, was the
Phallus.
Seven Arits or
"Mansions" in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
See: Plutarch p. 214,
in Mead, is associated with TYPHON HIPPOPOTAMUS.
In a dream, information was
obtained about the Nature of Time and Space. When Mindell quotes Jung as saying
"Mercury is the God of the unconscious.." - this is not accurate. The
Mercury\Plutonic interfaces are many.
In the dreambody,
Space is conquered, in the simple sense that "one" can fly -
dimensions can be shifted to create dynamics of space which do not exist in the
so-called "real" world, which is the domain of KRONOS\TIME.
This Polarity could be expressed
as Saturn-Mercury, the Fixed heaviness of LEAD, contrasted to the volatility of
MERCURY.
Another axis would be that of
SATURN and VENUS - Time and Love. Love conquers Time. This again, can be seen
as The Sun and The Moon. The Fixed Solar and the Mercurial Lunar.
The masculine rationality is
Time - the feminine intuition is Space.
Simplistically stated, - Time is
the conscious ordering Mind; Space, the unconscious, unordered Mind.
What, therefore are the Dwellers
on the Threshold?Though they have associations with Kronos\Saturn\Time, as in
Arcanum 15 - it is obvious that this cannot be a terminal definition. More
likely, the "shell" is a "threshold" that has to be broken.
The Guardians, or Threshold
Dwellers, such as Mermaids, Nagas, kLu, the Sphinx, Chimera etc. are at the
point of Outer Time (the encrustations, or shell thereof) and Inner Space.
Time is of the
Substance; Space the Essence.
The Lineage of Time Guardians -
e.g. Geryon is a Time God associated with Three Heads - perhaps the Three Times
of Buddhism e.g. The Past, the Present and the Future.
Graves confirms that
CADIZ is GADES, an oracular island, a certain Time\Kronos\Geryon power point.It
is associated with "redness" as in red earth and the Red Sea,
Erytheia, linked to the Sibyls, and to the Sea from which Dagon, Oannes, Ea,
Enki, Oceanus emerged.
THE SEED OF TIME: AEON
AION
TION
TIME - Infinite (ITUM)
SAECULARIS - ETERNAL
SAECULUM
AEVUM -
AION
The Obstructors, the
Guardians of Time.
The Symbol of Kronos is the Sickle/Scythe and Hour Glass.He thus precipitates his mother/wife Rhea, whose hands held the original sickle - the sickle of origination which castrates Uranus, and is also seen in the hands of The Reaper, MEM, the Mother Letter - Aries.See: "Before the right Time." Craven, and The Book of Enoch.
Kronos signifies the
actual TIME for the division, parting or separation. Prof Guthrie gives this
account:
"It
was a common feature of early Greek cosmological beliefs, which they shared
with those of the near East and elsewhere, that in the beginning all was fused
together in an undifferentiated mass. The initial act in the making of the
world, whether accomplished by the fiat of creator or by other means, was a
separation, or division."
Guthrie gives examples
from Diodorus, Euripides, Hesiod, and the Orphic Egg of Orpheus. (p. 68,69.) An
example from Genesis:
"God divided the
light from the darkness... and divided the waters which were under the
firmament from the waters which were above the firmament."
Kronos/Saturn appears again in
Egyptian form as Typhon who dissects the body of Osiris. As Dissection is on
one level an analytical process, we can view the Typhonic operation in the
alchemical terms here expressed by C.G.Jung:
"...the
alchemists saw the essence of his art in separation and analysis on the one
hand and synthesis and consolidation on the other."
This opens up a dual
interpretation to the operations of Saturn/Kronos/Typhon, shown clearly in one
of the esoteric Emblems associated with Saturn/Kronos in his form of 'The Goat
of Mendes', a reflex of Arcanum 15 of The Sacred Tarot; which bears the motto:
'SOLVE
ET COAGULA.'
(Dissolve
and Coagulate.)
Saturn/Kronos thus cuts up, or
dissects structure, but also acts as a coagulator, which is perfectly expressed
by the metal LEAD, associated alchemically with Saturn.
Kronos/Saturn as TIME
is of vital significance in all processes. The first Emblem of Atalanta
Fugiens carries a series warning to the practioner who overlooks the factor
of TIMING. This is translated by Craven as:
"The
fruit which lives concealed in the wind - look that it is not unsuitably born
before its time, but comes living to earth in right measure."
The theme is repeated in one of
the cosmic visions of 'The Book of Enoch', which the angel describes as:
"This
place is the end of heaven and earth: this has become a prison for the stars
and the host of heaven. And the stars which roll over the fire are they which
have transgressed the commandment of the Lord in the beginning of their rising,
because they did not come forth at their appointed times."
Kronos/Saturn embodies
the right timing of the fruition. The "undifferentiated mass" is
separated and divided. The One is dissolved into the Many. The shell of the
Cosmic Egg is cracked.
NOTES:
As we see/ will see in
the BES -ALL GOD symbol, the Uroboros has to be considered within general
Typhonic symbolism. It contains all the Typhonic/Chthonic/Titanic qualities
within its encircling. It emerges at the deepest layers of consciousness.
TYPHON, was born AFTER
the Titans were banished.
"Typhon is the
passionate and titanic and reasonless and impulsive aspect of the
soul..."&c Mead.
The TITANS dismember
Dionysos. Therefore Titanic is essential a Typhonic Energy.
TARTAROS is Hell, the place
whence the Titans were banned/banished/exiled. TARTARUGA is a TORTOISE, it is
the 'Shell' of Existence.
"Titans
were first introduced into poetry by Homer, who says they are gods in Tartaros:
the verses are in Hera's oath."
Pausanias 8,
v.37,5.
This Homeric source is
in the Illiad, 14,278f.
For the Titans, see
Hesiod's THEOGONY.
Faber, vol.ii,p.277
gives the following Hymn to the Titans by the Orphic poet:
"All
hail, ye Titans, children of the earth
And starry
heaven, of our departed fires
The
illustrious progenitors! Ye, who dwell
Within the
deep recesses of the earth,
The gloomy
realms of Tartarus, all hail!
From you the
toiling race of hapless men
Deduce their
ancestry; from you the birds,
The scaly
tenants of the briny deep,
The beasts
of earth, and all the generations
of living
things, their origin derive."
(Check to see if
Thomas Taylor translated this Orphic Hymn in Raine...)
Jane Harrison, in 'Themis'
says:
"The
new gods stood on Olympus and the Titans on the older religious seat,
Thessalian Othyrs."
OTHYRS, says Lempriere, is a
mountain, or rather a chain of mountains in Thessaly, the residence of the
Centaurs.
Also in Thessaly and perhaps on
the Othyrs chain, is Mount Pelion, the home of the wise old Centaur Cheiron.
Pelion may be related to PELOR one of the men who sprung from the teeth of the
Dragon killed by Cadmus.
See: Pausanias 9,c.5.
Kerenyi:
"On the
sixth century B.C. the Orphic theologian and poet Onomakritos had already
undertaken, surely not without reason and evidently not without success, to
identify the Titans with the Kabeiroi. He attributed the murder and
dismemberment of the child Dionysus to the Titans."
Here we see the Titans as the
murderers of Dionysos, or the Cretan Zeus in his form of Zagreus. This is an
Orphic symbol. The Titans, as Dismemberers, perform the same task as Typhon to
Osiris in the Egyptian Myth.
Pausanias continues:
"Onamakritos
took the name of Titans from Homer for the revels of Dionysos he composed; he
made the Titans responsible for Dionysos's suffering."
Were not Titanic
energies responsible for the Crucifixion of Christ?Is all Martyrdom (Arcanum
12) precipitated by a Titanic cause?
*.*.Notes:Levi:
"Onamakritos was an Athenian religious and ritual poet; he lived at the
end of the sixth century and got into trouble for forging an oracle."
See: Herodotus 7,6.
Kerenyi, mentioning
the inscription of Imbros:
"...which,
in an invocation of the Kabeiroi, lists the Hesiodic series of the great
Titans, the sons of Uranos, with the exception of Okeanos: Kois, Krios,
Hyperion, Iapetos, Kronos."
Kerenyi, Prometheus,
p. 57.) quoting: (Inscriptiones Graecae XII, 8 74 p. 33.)
Sanchonianthon: S.D.
vol.i,pp.110,340; vol.ii, pp. 692, 490 on Aeon, Time, 392,342,361.
---------------------------
Note: The Lightning of
the new Ruler, Zeus was the overwhelming factor in his Battle with the Titans.
What does this say.
Zeus:
"...
received Thunder and Lightning out of the depths, from the Kyklopes whom he had
freed. In any case, the Sons of Heaven and Earth were defeated with the help of
Gaia and her sons, who were Sons of Earth and Heaven."
Kerenyi,
Gods.
TYPHONIC AND VENUSIAN
"At Heliopolis
there was also a primordial serpent enemy called IMY-UHAF - which seems to mean
something like `Slippery One."
R.Clark, p.53
"...'what
happened when Re had an altercation with the Slippery Serpent about the
inheritance of Heliopolis. His mouth was hurt...Then he said, "I will take
my harpoon that I may inherit this city," and Re said, "I will stir
up my brethren against him to drive him away." Now it happened that...the
Slippery One surprised him before he could raise his arm against him (26n.) ensnaring
him in the form of a curly-haired maiden. And thus came "he with the lock
of hair' in Heliopolis.' " (27n.)
This event was commemorated by
the side lock worn by the High Priest of Heliopolis. Also, the side lock of
Harpocrates, seen within the Uroboros in 'Rebel in the Soul.'
"Since
Re is both the Master of the World and the Lord of Heliopolis, the serpent's
challenge over `the inheritance of Heliopolis' was really a contest for
universal supremacy. In the first phase the enemy must be a water monster, for
the god has to take a harpoon against it. Apparently the serpent then resorted
to a ruse, taking the shape of a beautiful woman. One senses an echo of a
legend quiet different from the serious, hieratic creation myths. Who was the
seductive maiden with the curly hair? Kees thinks she is the Moon Goddess, but
whatever her cosmic connotations she is the prototype of the temptresses who
are the most dangerous forms of the dragon of chaos - from Circe to the
Wagnerian Venus, the representations of an earlier dispensation who must be
overcome by the High God in his heroic form."
The High, heroic and
supremely Masculine God.
Here we see typical
God as Cock and Balls Propaganda.
Esoterically, Saturn -
15 is changed into Venus - 6. (15 = 1 + 5 = 6.) Selfishness can only be
conquered by Love, Lead polarized to the conductivity of Copper.
SUN |
MOON (20) |
MALKUTH |
YESOD |
LEO (19) |
VEILED ISIS (2) |
GOLDEN LIGHT |
BLACK EARTH |
SACRED UNION |
SCIENCE |