DOCSLIB.ORG

Satan Origins Symbols

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Satan O rigins Symbols This essay will explore the pagan symbolism of Satan. It directly addresses the controversy of why some Satanists identify themselves as pagan. It will trace the origins of Satan back, to the beginning, it may at times address biblical context, but my focus is dedicated to pagan origins and attributes of Satan. There are many reference books which address the birth of Satan. Many of those references will be found throughout this paper. This essay will also explore the differences between Satan, devil and demon. These labels are often interchangeable when discussion the topic of Satanism. There are many books and articles which address the differences between all the types of Satanism, and what is considered the True and Authentic Satanism. This paper will not fall into endless abyss of that pretentious debate. There are many resource books which address the How To or education For Dummies (series reference), this paper is not an instruction manual for would-be Satanists. Satanism, is vast. It is no longer the Satanism from the late 1960's, and has evolved into a variety of philosophical paradigms, and religions. Satanism is, but is not limited to: Humanism, Atheism, Hedonism, Libertine Philosophy, Objectivism, Human Psychology, Sociology, Luciferianism, Setianism, Asetianism, Theism, Religious, Spiritual, Non-Spiritual, Humanistic, Materialistic, Carnal, Left-handed, Right-handed, and Middle-pillar. In order to truly understand what each Satanists believes and practices, you should engage them in dialogue. It can not be assumed that because a person self-labels as a Satanist, they are either an Atheist or a Devil-worshiper. Things are not so black and white, but often many shades of gray but most often neutral. It would take a small volume library to cover the topic of Satanism properly. I will provide some references at the conclusion of this essay for further research. They are not the be-all, end-all resources for all things Satanism. Nor, will any one resource define Satanism. I suggest that material from Satan O rigins Symbols any/all Satanic writers be examined before drawing your conclusions about what is and isn't Satanic. It would also serve you to understand that organizations which are dedicated to Satanic philosophy are not Satanisms unto themselves. They are simply organizations in place to serve the agenda as put forth by that organization, often published in a mission statement. Satan serves as an allegory, metaphor, and a literal being to Satanists. To determine which Satanists believes what, you have to ask them. I am one Satanist, I do not speak for the whole of Satanism but have studied nearly all the Satanic philosophies out there (new ones pop up all the time) to get a full grasp of what it means to be Satanic outside of my own perspective. I find the topic of Satanism invigorating, and have my own opinions about what it means to be Satanic. This however does not cloud my judgement when tracing Satan back in time, to the beginning. Satanism does not always require worship, but some Satanic philosophies/religions have a strong focus on the worship of external beings. Whether those beings are deity or something else is completely reliant upon the Satanist's personal beliefs or adherence to an established religion/philosophy. Satanism has a strong focus on study and intellectualism, as many Satanic schools of thought believe in becoming the Super-man, and achieving hyper-intelligence. As such, Elitism is often part of their Satanic paradigm. This does not mean that all Satanists study, nor are Elitists. Satanists, are human beings - subject to all the same fallacies as other human beings. They are also emotional and spiritual beings. How the emotional/spiritual is conceptualized is as individual as the person. Satanism often contains dogma, for those that need it but it often rejects it. There is no universal set of laws, rules, or ethics to follow but if a Satanist feels the need for some structure, many Satanic philosophies offer it for consumption and adherence if desired. Satanism is often associated with darkness, all things carnal and sometimes 'evil'. While Satanists enjoy a dark aesthetic, not all Satanists seek this environment. There is no cookie-cutter for a Satanist, though many fit established molds based on cultural influences and sometimes the longing for a sense of 'belonging'. This does not mean that all Satanists are social, or can be easily categorized based on established paradigms. Many are complete enigmas. Satanists will often be found in the Art, Goth, Vampire, Diabolist, Black Metal, Death Metal, or Heavy Metal communities. This does not mean that all Satanists are Artists, Goth, Vampires, Diabolists or Metal heads. Satanists are every day people. You may not be able to identify them by their mode of dress nor do they wear black all the time, rock fedoras, or listen to specific music. The desired aesthetic is as individual as the Satanists. Satanism, is represented by many symbols which will be discussed here. It is often considered synonymous or kin to the Egyptian god Set, Egyptian Aset, Lucifer, Devil, Daemon, Daimon, Demon and historically pagan gods. As part of a Satanist's desired aesthetic, a specific cultural reference may appeal to each of them. This will lead the researcher around the world, culture to culture chasing down the devil. Satanism, can be studied by using a variety of sources. There is not a single book that can do it justice. Since Satanism is not a unified or universal philosophy/religion, many sources can be resources for Satanic thought. Satanism, is not limited to Satanic writing. It draws from many subjects such as Anthropology, Archaeology, History, Language/Music, Science, Sociology, Psychology, Literature, and Occultism. This is just a handful; you could literally study this subject for the whole of your life if you are passionate enough about it. If you have questions regarding this essay, feel free to contact me. I am not infallible, and my ideas are ever-evolving especially with the introduction of new information, and examination of outside perspectives. I enjoy discussing the topic with knowledgeable individuals. Which leads me to modes of communication. Satanists often adhere to Lex Talionis, otherwise known as the Silver Rule, and do not appreciate pointed statements which aim to insult or degrade their person. If you do this, be prepared for back-lash. Satanists are often aggressive in personality vs. passive. Satanism has a strong focus on the beast within, and if you tease the dog you are libel to be bitten. For everything else, there's duct-tape. Satan O rigins Symbols From this point on, I will convey my personal opinions and address generalized viewpoints. I will also share historical references for your examination. My position on this topic is by no means an absolute. It is intended to present information in an organized fashion for further research. It is my hope that it will foster critical thinking, self-examination and pave the way for the development of additional papers which cover the topic of Satanism in the 21st century, from both a pagan and secular perspective. What the hell is a pagan? Before I can address Satan as a pagan symbol, I must address the term pagan. I have written in the past about the use and mis-use of this term, in the form of diatribes. This is a more serious approach to the term and its meaning. Latin is an Italic dialect, which was spoken in the Italic peninsula, along with Greek, Celtic and Etruscan language. Eventually all of these languages were taken over by imperial Rome, but not before they left their mark on the Latin language. Before the collapse of the Roman Empire, Latin became standard in places like Spain, France, Romania, and other surrounding areas. Latin had become absorbed into what we now refer to as Italian, Spanish, French, Romanian and other romance languages. Language study has relied heavily on existing antiquarian manuscripts and artifacts. There are surviving pre-Abrahamic (religions of Abraham) religious texts referred to as pagan rites. During your own quest for truth, you will find the following references referred to (and often): History of Livy Virgil's Aeneid Ovid's Metamorphosis (Classical era) There is also a heavy reliance upon Greek myths. The problem is, that when examining Greek mythology, outside of the Roman names for gods, there is very little historical reference to Roman culture. It is heavily Greek. This often confuses scholars into believing that the two are identical. An additional source is the Golden Bough. However, it is riddled with inaccurate theories and focuses too much on irrelevant detail - if one were looking for something truly Roman. Context is everything. Especially when examining language. To further complicate matters, there is a heavy Etruscan influence which by the study of Etruscan culture, you can see as far back as 8th century BCE. The Etruscans influenced the early Greeks and vice versa, plus the Etruscan language is not considered Indo- European. So now you have Italic languages (which are pretty muddy as it is) being brought into the fold of what is considered Latin today. If you want to truly understand the evolution of the term pagan, I strongly recommend that you delve into language study. For the sake of keeping this paper as condensed as I possibly can, I am only going to focus on paganus to deliver my point of view. There are many forms and the etymology study could be an entire chapter in itself. In antiquity, the term was used to address people living in rural areas, outside of cities.
Recommended publications
  • Durham E-Theses

    Durham E-Theses

    Durham E-Theses Rethinking mythology in Greek museums through contemporary culture Antonopoulou, Marina How to cite: Antonopoulou, Marina (2010) Rethinking mythology in Greek museums through contemporary culture, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/2511/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk lml'Hlm:ING MYTHOLOGY IN <mEEK »KUSE{]Ml$ THROUGH CONTEMPORARY ClJL1UllB MARINAANTONOPOULOU Appendices The copyright of this thesis rests with the author or the university to which it was submitted. No quotation from it, or information derived from it may be published without the prior written consent of the author or university, and any information derived from it should be acknowledged. 2 6 MAY 2010 Appendix 1 Socratis Malamas Date: 15/01/2005 Venue: Hotel'Olympia', Thessaloniki. Q: Could you tell me what is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the words 'Greek mythology'? A: The usual, what we learned in school.
  • Phosphorus (Morning Star) - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

    Phosphorus (Morning Star) - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

    פוספורוס فوسفوروس http://www.wordsense.eu/%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%81%D9%88%D8%B1%D9%88%D8% B3/ فوسفوروس Phosphorus (morning star) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphorus_(morning_star) Phosphorus (morning star) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Phosphorus (Greek Φωσφόρος Ph ōsphoros ), a name meaning "Light- Bringer", is the Morning Star , the planet Venus in its morning appearance. Φαοσφόρος (Phaosphoros) and Φαεσφόρος (Phaesphoros) are forms of the same name in some Greek dialects. Another Greek name for the Morning Star is Heosphoros (Greek Ἑωσφόρος He ōsphoros ), which means "Dawn-Bringer". The form Eosphorus is sometimes met in English, as if from Ἠωσφόρος (Ēō sphoros), which is not actually found in Greek literature, [1] but would be the form that Ἑωσφόρος would have in some dialects. As an adjective, the Greek word φωσφόρος is applied in the sense of "light- A 2nd-century sculpture of the bringing" to, for instance, the dawn, the god Dionysos, pine torches, the Moon-goddess Selene accompanied day; and in the sense of "torch-bearing" as an epithet of several god and by perhaps Phosphorus and Hesperus: goddesses, especially Hecate but also of Artemis/Diana and the corresponding Latin names are Hephaestus.[2] Luna , Lucifer and Vesper . The Latin word lucifer , corresponding to Greek φωσφόρος , was used as a name for the morning star and thus appeared in the Vulgate translation of the helel ) — meaning Venus as the brilliant, bright or shining ) הֵילֵל Hebrew word one — in Isaiah 14:12 (http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Isaiah& verse=14:12&src=!), where the Septuagint Greek version uses, not φωσφόρος , but ἑωσφόρος .
  • Bulfinch's Mythology the Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch

    Bulfinch's Mythology the Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch

    1 BULFINCH'S MYTHOLOGY THE AGE OF FABLE BY THOMAS BULFINCH Table of Contents PUBLISHERS' PREFACE ........................................................................................................................... 3 AUTHOR'S PREFACE ................................................................................................................................. 4 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 7 ROMAN DIVINITIES ............................................................................................................................ 16 PROMETHEUS AND PANDORA ............................................................................................................ 18 APOLLO AND DAPHNE--PYRAMUS AND THISBE CEPHALUS AND PROCRIS ............................ 24 JUNO AND HER RIVALS, IO AND CALLISTO--DIANA AND ACTAEON--LATONA AND THE RUSTICS .................................................................................................................................................... 32 PHAETON .................................................................................................................................................. 41 MIDAS--BAUCIS AND PHILEMON ....................................................................................................... 48 PROSERPINE--GLAUCUS AND SCYLLA ............................................................................................. 53 PYGMALION--DRYOPE-VENUS
  • The Greek Myths 1955, Revised 1960

    The Greek Myths 1955, Revised 1960

    Robert Graves – The Greek Myths 1955, revised 1960 Robert Graves was born in 1895 at Wimbledon, son of Alfred Perceval Graves, the Irish writer, and Amalia von Ranke. He went from school to the First World War, where he became a captain in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. His principal calling is poetry, and his Selected Poems have been published in the Penguin Poets. Apart from a year as Professor of English Literature at Cairo University in 1926 he has since earned his living by writing, mostly historical novels which include: I, Claudius; Claudius the God; Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth; Count Belisarius; Wife to Mr Milton (all published as Penguins); Proceed, Sergeant Lamb; The Golden Fleece; They Hanged My Saintly Billy; and The Isles of Unwisdom. He wrote his autobiography, Goodbye to All That (a Penguin Modem Classic), in 1929. His two most discussed non-fiction books are The White Goddess, which presents a new view of the poetic impulse, and The Nazarene Gospel Restored (with Joshua Podro), a re-examination of primitive Christianity. He has translated Apuleius, Lucan, and Svetonius for the Penguin Classics. He was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1962. Contents Foreword Introduction I. The Pelasgian Creation Myth 2. The Homeric And Orphic Creation Myths 3. The Olympian Creation Myth 4. Two Philosophical Creation Myths 5. The Five Ages Of Man 6. The Castration Of Uranus 7. The Dethronement Of Cronus 8. The Birth Of Athene 9. Zeus And Metis 10. The Fates 11. The Birth Of Aphrodite 12. Hera And Her Children 13. Zeus And Hera 14.
  • Who's Who in Classical Mythology

    Who's Who in Classical Mythology

    Who’s Who in Classical Mythology The Routledge Who’s Who series Accessible, authoritative and enlightening, these are the definitive biographical guides to a diverse range of subjects drawn from literature and the arts, history and politics, religion and mythology. Who’s Who in Ancient Egypt Michael Rice Who’s Who in the Ancient Near East Gwendolyn Leick Who’s Who in Christianity Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok Who’s Who in Classical Mythology Michael Grant and John Hazel Who’s Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History Edited by Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon Who’s Who in Contemporary Women’s Writing Edited by Jane Eldridge Miller Who’s Who in Contemporary World Theatre Edited by Daniel Meyer-Dinkegräfe Who’s Who in Dickens Donald Hawes Who’s Who in Europe 1450–1750 Henry Kamen Who’s Who in Gay and Lesbian History Edited by Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon Who’s Who in the Greek World John Hazel Who’s Who in Jewish History Joan Comay, revised by Lavinia Cohn-Sherbok Who’s Who in Military History John Keegan and Andrew Wheatcroft Who’s Who in Modern History Alan Palmer Who’s Who in Nazi Germany Robert S.Wistrich Who’s Who in the New Testament Ronald Brownrigg Who’s Who in Non-Classical Mythology Egerton Sykes, revised by Alan Kendall Who’s Who in the Old Testament Joan Comay Who’s Who in the Roman World John Hazel Who’s Who in Russia since 1900 Martin McCauley Who’s Who in Shakespeare Peter Quennell and Hamish Johnson Who’s Who of Twentieth-Century Novelists Tim Woods Who’s Who in Twentieth-Century World Poetry Edited by Mark Willhardt
  • 'Meidias' Hydria

    'Meidias' Hydria

    The ‘Meidias’ hydria: a visual and textual journey of a Greek vase in the history of art of antiquity (c. 1770s–1840s) Emmanouil Kalkanis Figure 1 Attic red-figure hydria, attributed to the Meidias Painter, (420–400 BC), Trustees of the British Museum, London. The cultural history of artefacts is a rewarding field of enquiry for understanding the many different ways that certain objects have been seen and valued in the past by different people and for various reasons. Not least, these stories in all their variety can provide fresh insights into our own way of seeing how people make things meaningful and why they ascribe value to them.1 In examining a particular * A number of scholars have given me much help and advice for which I am deeply grateful. I should record my warm thanks to Robin Osborne, Jas Elsner, Daniel Orrells, François Lissarrague, and Robin Skeates for sharing their knowledge and expertise in the preparation of this article; their telling criticism and encouragement has been indispensable on a great many points. Sole responsibility for errors rests with the author. 1 For example, the excellent work by Adolf Greifenhagen on the artistic interpretation of ancient Greek vases and their impact on late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century art was exemplary in discussing the extent to which such objects featured in various paintings, although it is limited by the Journal of Art Historiography Number 9 December 2013 Emmanouil Kalkanis The ‘Meidias’ hydria: a visual and textual journey of a Greek vase in the history of art of antiquity (c.
  • Introduction 1

    Introduction 1

    NOTES Introduction 1. See, e.g., Guthrie (1967, 101–3), in the case of Artemis; Farnell ([1896–1909] 1977, 1:179–204), in the case of Hera. 2. See, e.g., Spretnak (1978), Dexter (1990), Baring and Cashford (1991), Sjöö and Mor (1991), Downing (1992), and O’Brien (1993). 3. See Rigoglioso (2009, xx) for a brief discussion of contradictory views regarding the utility of such an approach. 4. For the classical exposition of matriarchy (one that is interesting but in many ways problematic from a feminist viewpoint), see Bachofen ([1861] 1897), portions of which can be found in English translation in Bachofen (1973; [1861] 2005). For a recent critique of theories of matriarchy, see Eller (2000). For a counter response to Eller, see Dashu (2000) and Marler (2005). 5. Papers from First World Congress on Matriarchal Studies: http://www. second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com/1st_congress_submenu.html; Web site of the Second World Congress on Matriarchal Studies: http:// www.second-congress-matriarchal-studies.com; Web site of A (M)other- world Is Possible conference: http://www.motherworldconference.org/; Web site of the International Conference on the Gift Economy: http:// www.gifteconomyconference.com/. 6. See, e.g., papers in Goettner-Abendroth (2009) and those available on the Web sites mentioned in n5. 7. This theory received yet another confirmation in the summer of 2007 by the Mount Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project, which uncovered evi- dence of the worship of a pre-Olympian deity in the archaeological layers under an altar to Zeus on the summit of Mount Lykaion in Arcadia in Greece (Wilford 2008).