Vajrapani

"...And to Vajrapani, holder of the diamond,
The very sight of whom will rout
All dangers like the deadly host of Yama (Death);
To him indeed I fly for safety.
Formerly your words I have transgressed.
But now I see these terrors all around.
To you indeed I come for help,
And pray you swiftly save me from this fear."
- Shantideva

Vajrapāṇi (from Sanskrit vajra, "thunderbolt" or "diamond" and pāṇi, lit. "in the hand") is one of the earliest bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism. He is the protector and guide of the Buddha, and rose to symbolize the Buddha's power. Vajrapani was used extensively in Buddhist iconography as one of the three protective deities surrounding the Buddha. Each of them symbolizes one of the Buddha's virtues: Manjusri (the manifestation of all the Buddhas' wisdom), Avalokitesvara (the manifestation of all the Buddhas' compassion) and Vajrapani (the manifestation of all the Buddhas' power as well as the power of all 5 Tathagathas). Furthermore, Vajrapani is one of the earliest Dharmapalas and the only Buddhist deity to be mentioned in the Pali Canon as well as be worshiped in the Shaolin Temple, Tibetan Buddhism, and even Pure Land Buddhism (where he is known as Mahasthamaprapta and is one of a Triad comprising Amitabha and Avalokiteshwara). Manifestations of Vajrapani can also be found in many Buddhist temples in Japan as Dharma protectors called Nio. Vajrapani is also associated with Acala who is venerated as Fudo-Myo in Japan where he is serenaded as the holder of the Vajra.[1] Vajrapani here is different from that mentioned in the Vedas as Indra, the king of the Gods and the most widely mentioned deity in all of the Indian scriptures.

(...)

On the popular level, Vajrapani, Holder of the Thunderbolt Scepter (symbolizing the power of compassion), is the Bodhisattva who represents the power of all the Buddhas, just as Avalokitesvara represents their great compassion, Manjushri their wisdom, and Tara their miraculous deeds. For the yogi, Vajrapani is a means of accomplishing fierce determination and symbolizes unrelenting effectiveness in the conquest of negativity. His taut posture is the active warrior pose (pratayalidha), based on an archer's stance but resembling the en garde position in Western fencing. His outstretched right hand brandishes a vajra and his left hand deftly holds a lasso - with which he binds demons. Although he wears a skull crown in a few depictions, in most depictions he wears a 5 pointed Bodhisattva crown to depict the power of the 5 Tathagathas. (The skull crown is an iconographic symbol of another similar Dharmapala called Mahakala).

Vajrapani's expression is wrathful and he has a third eye. Around his neck is a serpent necklace and his loin cloth is made up of the skin of a tiger, whose head can be seen on his left knee.
The Pali Canon's Ambattha Suttanta, which challenges the caste system, tells of one instance of him appearing as a sign of the Buddha's power. At the behest of his teacher, a young Brahmin named Ambatha visited the Buddha. Knowing the Buddha's family to be the Shakya clan who are Kshatriya caste, Ambatha failed to show him the respect he would a fellow Brahmin. When the Buddha questioned his lack of respect, Ambatha replied it was because the Buddha belongs to a "menial" caste. The Buddha then asked the Brahmin if his family was descended from a “Shakya slave girl”. Knowing this to be true, Ambatha refused to answer the question. Upon refusing to answer the question for a second time, the Buddha warned him that his head would be smashed to bits if he failed to do so a third time. Ambatha was frightened when he saw Vajrapani manifest above the Buddha's head ready to strike the Brahmin down with his thunderbolt. He quickly confirmed the truth and a lesson on caste ensues.


According to the Pancavimsatisahasrika and Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita any Bodhisattva on the path to Buddhahood is eligible for Vajrapani's protection, making them invincible to any attacks "by either men or ghosts".

(...)

Just as Buddhaghosa associated Vajrapani with the Hindu god Indra,[21] his first representations in India were identified with the thunder deity. As Buddhism expanded in Central Asia, and fused with Hellenistic influences into Greco-Buddhism, the Greek hero Hercules was adopted to represent Vajrapani. He was then typically depicted as a hairy, muscular athlete, wielding a short "diamond" club.


In Japan, Vajrapani is known as Shukongōshin (執金剛神, "Diamond rod-wielding God"), and has been the inspiration for the Niō (仁王, lit. Benevolent kings), the wrath-filled and muscular guardian god of the Buddha, standing today at the entrance of many Buddhist temples under the appearance of frightening wrestler-like statues. He is also associated with Fudo-Myo, an incarnation of Acala and the prayer mantra for Fudo Myo references him as the powerful wielder of the Vajra.


Some suggest that the war deity Kartikeya, who bears the title Skanda is also a manifestation of Vajrapani, who bears some resemblance to Skanda because they both wield vajras as weapons and are portrayed with flaming halos. He is also connected through Vajrapani through a theory to his connection to Greco-Buddhism, as Wei Tuo's image is reminiscent of the Heracles depiction of Vajrapani.

From: Wiki

On the popular level, Vajrapani, Holder of the Thunderbolt Scepter (symbolizing the power of compassion), is the angelicBodhisattva who represents the power of all the Buddhas, just as Avalokiteshvara represents their great compassion, Manjushri their wisdom, and Tara their miraculous deeds. For the yogi, Vajrapani is an archetype deity of fierce determination and symbolizes unrelenting effectiveness in the conquest of negativity.


His taut posture is the active warrior pose (pratayalidha), based on an archer's stance but resembling the en garde position in Western fencing. His outstretched right hand brandishes a vajra and his left hand deftly holds a lasso - with which he binds demons. He wears a skull crown with his hair standing on end. His expression is wrathful and he has a third eye. Around his neck is a serpent necklace and his loin cloth is made up of the skin of a tiger, whose head can be see on his right knee.


Vajrapani is believed to be the savior of snakes (nagas), and since the Nagas are believed to control the rain-clouds, Vajrapani as their protector is looked upon as the Rain God, and it is to him Buddhists appeal when rain is needed, or is too abundant. In this capacity Vajrapani is identified with Indra, the Indian god of Rain.

From: Here (also see statue)

Rooted in the early Indian notions of ritual authority, Bodhisattva Vajrapani embodies the great power of a Buddha's enlightened heart-mind (mahabala chitta) to convert others of different persuasions into the Buddhist path. As the embodiment of wisdom of a fully enlightened Buddha, Vajrapani has received a great deal of attention in iconological literature, much of it speculative. Historically, the name Vajrapani, "Vajra-handed", is of great antiquity and is found in the Rig Veda as an epithet of Indra. In the Vedic context, the term is used primarily to connote Indra as a weapon carrier; because it is with his vajra (a lighting bolt) that Indra defeats the demons, and enemies. When and how Vajrapani enters the Buddhist world is obscure, however by the 1st to 2nd century in the Kushana period, representations of Vajrapani are well established elements of Buddhist imagery. In the literature, the term vajra has come to have a nuanced implication of 'adamantine' with connotation such as pure, perfect, and true. Moreover, a yakkha named Vajirapani (skt. Vajrapani) appears in the Pali canonical literature, to pressure defaulting debater to answer the questions of the Buddha. When they have not answered the third repetition of the question, Vajrapani appears "holding a huge iron club (vajira in Pali cannon), flaming, ablaze, and glowing, in the sky just above Ambattha, (who was debating the Buddha), and was thinking – if this young man (Ambattha) does not answer a proper question put to him by the Buddha the third time of asking, I will split his head into seven pieces. Upon seeing Vajrapani, Ambattha became terrified and unnerved, his hairs stood on end, and he sought protection, shelter and safety from the Blessed one. The story is described in the Ambattha Sutta of Pali Sutta Pitaka.


Yaksha Vajrapani became extremely popular in Gandhara school of Art and is found in many narrative sculptures, where he appears as a Herculean warrior with a double-ended club. The cult of Heracles was well-known in Indo-Greek Bactria and Gandhara. At Ahicchattra, near Mathura in central India, Vajrapani was being rendered in stone sculpture belong to the period circa 1st – 2nd century A.D., in Partnership with Avalokiteshvara attending a Buddha, as the two embodiments of wisdom and compassion. The Avalokiteshvara-Vajrapani partnership continues to develop in the western caves at Ajanta and Ellora. The modification in these representations is that Vajrapani has changed from his Hellenistic Herculean appearance and is depicted as a princely, Indian figure, with the upper torso bare and wearing the dhoti as lower garment. This change in appearance was probably a cultural reinterpretation rather than a change of status. It is obvious that the primary Bodhisattva pair, Avalokiteshvara embodies the compassion while Vajrapani, the power of the Buddha's mind and wisdom. Later on, in circa 6th century A.D. a distinct form of Vajrapani appears with an acolyte, Vajra Anuchara as seen in Nepal and Western Indian caves. It is said that Vajra Anuchara is a hypostasis of Vajrapani, who himself is the embodiment of the heart-mind (Bodhicitta) of all the Tathagatas. He represents Vajrapani, and acts with the authority of Vajrapani, but is not Vajrapani. According to tradition, Shakyamuni called Vajrapani both as Yaksha and Bodhisattva.


Another form of Vajrapani, emerged between 11th – 12th century A.D., is called Krodha (wrathful) Vajrapani and while his symbolism remained the same as other forms, his wrath took on a very literal representation. In this form he has muscular body, tiger-skin skirt, ferocious eyes, and brandishing the vajra as a weapon. His wrathful form was an important part of the Tantric methodologies in the Pala period (c. 750 – 1199) in the eastern India, and was probably taken to Tibet by Atisha or one of his successors. The wrathful Vajrapani displays his rightful indignation at hindrances that impede the practitioner on the path to enlightenment or is directed toward the stupidity of someone who has encountered the Buddha's teaching and who is, even so, too arrogant and prideful to take refuge in the Buddha, Dharma, and the Sangha. Invoked for both protection and purification, a wrathful Vajrapani is also invoked during the Krodhavesha ritual in the Kalachakra practice. For the yogi, Vajrapani is an archetype deity of fierce determination and symbolizes unrelenting effectiveness in the conquest of negativity.


This fierce manifestation of Vajrapani is a powerful portrayal. His wild hair, brows, mustaches, and beard burn with evil-consuming supernova flames, his eyes laser-red in intensity. He wears five-lobbed jeweled crown with flowers and bone tassels. Moreover, he wears flowing silk scarves tiger-skin skirt, jewel and bone ornaments. Vajrapani is brandishing a vajra in his right hand, the Buddhist symbol of the absolute truth, while his left hand holds a noose, which binds the meditator to the highest wisdom. He dances in alidha posture on a lotus throne and there is a flame aureole behind him.

From: Here (also see statue)

Vajrapani, dark blue in colour with one face and two hands, appears in the form of a raksha (a daemon of classical Indian mythology) with three large staring eyes, a gaping mouth with bared canine teeth and orange beard, eyebrows and hair flowing upward like flame. The body is squat, large and fleshy. Adorned with a crown of five skulls with red pendants and gold earrings, bone necklace and bracelets, anklets, and a large green snake, he wears a long green scarf and a lower garment of tiger skin tied with a green sash. With the right leg bent and the left extended above a sun disc and multi-coloured lotus Vajrapani stands in the middle of the blazing fire of pristine awareness. Placed in front as an offering, framed by two ivory elephant tusks, an assortment of wishing jewels are arranged on a plain green landscape - painted in the style of Eastern Tibet.


At the top left is a seated buddha, yellow in colour with the right hand performing the mudra of ?earth witness? and the left placed in the mudra of meditation; seated in vajra posture above a moon disc and lotus. At the right is the deity of purification, Vajrasattva, white in colour with one face and two hands holding a vajra in the right held to the heart and with the left an upturned bell in the lap. Adorned with a crown, jewel ornaments and variously coloured silk garments he sits in the vajra posture above a moon disc and lotus seat.


Vajrapani represents the power aspect of complete enlightenment, and known as Guhyapati (Tibetan: sang wa'i dag po), he is the 'Lord of Secrets' - the keeper of all the tantras of Vajrayana Buddhism. As a bodhisattva, like Manjushri and Avalokiteshvara, he dwells on the 10th bodhisattva level just prior to attaining complete buddhahood. In actuality all three were completely enlightened aeons ago and only appear, for the sake of training others, in the guise of bodhisattvas.


Vajrapani is common to all Schools of Tibetan Buddhism and has numerous forms and practices which span all sets of tantric classification and levels of complexity from a solitary aspect up to the large and complex mandalas with many deities.

From: Here (and to see art this is referring to)

Prayer to Vajrapani
From a Vajrapani sadhana compiled and translated by Lama Thubten Yeshe
To the magnificent one who dwells in Chang-lo-chen:
You, the owner of all the tantras
And destroyer of all demonic interferences and harm,
Holder of the mighty vajra,
Unstained by what is false and possessing awakened knowledge:
To you, O Vajrapani, I pay this heartfelt homage.

From: Here

Also see:
Vajrapani - The Spiritual Emanation of Aksobhya
Mantra & info
Article: Chinese Manifestations of Tibetan Buddhas - Vajrapani
Art & Painting
Mantra & Practice
Puja, Sadhana
The Gods of Northern Buddhism: Chapter V - Forms Of Vajrapani
Vajrapani

Video:
Mantra: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7WbV1AaFto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC2z1h7Wuf4

Janus/Ianus

The word January comes from the name of the Roman God Janus is usually seen with two faces and a key. One looks forward, the other behind; one is bearded, the other smooth. These represent, among other things, the Sun and Moon. More rarely, Janus was depicted with four faces, Janus Quadrifrons.

Janus symbolized transition; past to future, the flow between vision and realization, stasis and revelation, one state of consciousness to another. He represented maturation as well. He was worshipped not only at the New Year but at the planting and harvest, at marriage, birth and other occasions that heralded change.

In Roman mythology, Janus came from Thessaly, and later shared a kingdom with his wife, Camese in Latium. They had many children. He also had a wife named Jana, who may refer to an older tradition where one side was feminine. When ruling there, he ushered in a Golden Age, bringing money, law and agriculture to the people.

Janus used his double vision to great advantadge. He caught the nymph Carna with the gift and gave her power over door hinges, (door hinges? well, he was the God of them for reasons I've yet to fully understand except that he was the keeper of the kings treasures (hence the key), as a thanks for her attention.

In times of war, the doors to the temple of Janus were kept open to encourage his intervention. This came from the tradition that, when Romulus and his men kidnapped and attempted to rape the Sabine, Janus used his powers to erupt a hot spring to drive the attackers away. caused a hot spring to erupt, causing the would-be attackers to flee.

Though associated with the Etruscan God Ani, Janus has no greek equivillant, though he is in some ways similar to Hermes.
FROM: Janus: God of January - Mythology

The temple of Janus in Rome was situated in a street named Argiletum, an important road that connected the Roman Forum and the residential areas in the northeast. It was a small, wooden temple, and the building material suggests that the cult of Janus was of a venerable old age. This is confirmed by several facts. The oldest lists of gods usually began with his name; he was surnamed divom deus, a very ancient form of Latin meaning "the god's god"; and his portrait can be found on the oldest Roman coins.

Janus was, therefore, a very old and important Roman god. Before every sacrifice, he was invoked and received a libation. But this does not mean that modern scholars really understand the cult of the god of doors (ianuae) and beginnings. Neither did the Romans themselves. During the reign of the emperor Augustus (27 BCE - 14 CE), they started to connect things with the cult of Janus that originally had nothing to do with it. Unfortunately, we have hardly any texts that antedate this period, which makes it impossible to reconstruct the original cult. The only thing we know about it, is that the god was also venerated in several other towns in the Tiber valley.

The temple in the Argiletum consisted of two gates; the cult statue was between them. It was a very ancient statue; the author Pliny the Elder mentions it as proof that the sculptor's art existed in Italy in times most ancient (Natural history 36.5. The god was portrayed with two bearded heads. The fingers of his hands were placed in strange positions, which Pliny interpreted as an indication of the number 355, which he thought was a reference to the number of days of the oldest Roman calendar. This may be true, but it is, of course, pure speculation.

Other speculations are mentioned by Plutarch of Chaeronea, a Greek author living in the early second century, but using a source that can be dated between 29 and 25 BCE:

Janus also has a temple at Rome with double doors, which they call the gates of war; for the temple always stands open in time of war, but is closed when peace has come. The latter was a difficult matter, and it rarely happened, since the realm was always engaged in some war, as its increasing size brought it into collision with the barbarous nations which encompassed it round about. But in the time of Augustus it was closed, after he had overthrown Marc Antony; and before that, when Marcus Atilius and Titus Manlius were consuls, it was closed a short time; then war broke out again at once, and it was opened.

(Plutarch, Life of king Numa 20.1-2 tr.Bernadotte Perrin)

FOR THE REST: Janus

Imagery
Though he was usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions (Janus Geminus (twin Janus) or Bifrons), in some places he was Janus Quadrifrons (the four-faced).

His two faces (originally, one was always bearded, one clean-shaven; later both bearded) originally represented the sun and the moon, and he was usually shown with a key. The two-faced image of Janus was often depicted on coins of the Roman Republic. January is named after him.

Patronage

Janus was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of future to past, of one condition to another, of one vision to another, the growing up of young people, and of one universe to another. He was also known as the figure representing time because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other. Hence, Janus was worshipped at the beginnings of the harvest and planting times, as well as marriages, births and other beginnings. He was representative of the middle ground between barbarity and civilization, rural country and urban cities, and youth and adulthood.

Other myths

Janus was supposed to have come from Thessaly in Greece and he shared a kingdom with Camese in Latium. They had many children, including Tiberinus. Janus and his later wife, Juturna, were the parents of Fontus. Another wife was named Jana.

As the sole ruler of Latium, Janus heralded the Golden Age, introducing money, laws and agriculture (making him a culture hero).
When Romulus and his men kidnapped the goths of the Sabines, Janus caused a hot spring to erupt, causing the would-be attackers to flee. In honor of this, the doors to his temples were kept open during war so that he could easily intervene. The doors and gates were closed during peace.

Because he was the god of the door and hinges he was one the guardians of the Greek gods' treasures. From his name, we derive the English word janitor, meaning doorman.

Origins

The Romans associated Janus with the Etruscan deity Ani. However, he was one of the few Roman gods who had no ready-made counterpart, or analogous mythology. We can find in Greece Janus-like heads of gods related to Hermes, perhaps forming a compound god: Hermathena (a herm of Athena), Hermares, Hermaphroditus, Hermanubis, Hermalcibiades, and so on. In the case of these compounds it is disputed whether they indicated a herm with the head of Athena, or with a Janus-like head of both Hermes and Athena, or a figure compounded from both deities.
FROM: Wikipedia

Attributes: Janus is associated with doorways and gates. He is the god of beginnings.
Honors: There was a temple to Janus in Rome called the Ianus Geminus. When the doors were open, it signified to neighboring cities that Rome was at war. When the doors were closed, Rome was at peace.
Janus in Art: Janus is usually shown with two faces looking forward and backward as through a gateway. Sometimes one face is clean-shaven and the other bearded. Sometimes Janus is depicted with four faces.
The Family of Janus: The wives of Janus included Jana and Juturna. The children of Janus were Tiberinus and Fontus.
History of Janus: Janus was the ruler of Latium. Janus was responsible for the Golden Age and brought in money and agriculture.
FROM: Janus - Roman God Janus

Other sites:

• Translation of Ovid's Fasti, a section on January, and Janus
• Janus (pantheon.org)
• Janus, God of Beginnings
• Mythography | The Roman God Janus in Myth and Art
• Janus - God of Gates and Doors - Crystalinks
• Janus - Roman God Janus
• NASA - Janus: God of Beginnings (one of Saturn's moons is named after him)
• The Mystery of Janus
• Latin 1 - Mythology - Roman Gods - Janus
• About Janus
• Backwards and Forwards
• Livius Picture Archive: Rome - Arch of Janus Quadrifrons
• Janus.html
• Portal Symbolism
• "Janus: Guardian of the Open Door" by Grace F. Knoche
• Janus - January History
• *Ø* Wilson's Almanac free daily ezine | Book of Days | January 1 Part 1 ...
• Ani
• Ani (Etruscan God) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also:
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Ianus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portunes
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/portunes_2.html
http://www.mythicjourneys.org/newsle...06_sutton.html
http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/...-3/me-gfk4.htm
http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roma...-god-janus.htm
http://books.google.com/books?id=T4H...page&q&f=false
http://beccaelizabeth.livejournal.com/386630.html
http://www.neosalexandria.org/ianus.htm

&

Janus: Etruscan Ani: Pater Matutinus, "breaker of the day," the oldest God, the God of gods, the Good Creator, the beginner of all things. Light, the sun, opener of the heavenly gates. As Consiuius (The Sower) He is the spouse of Juturna, goddess of springs, and father of Fontus. Janus is also spouse of Venila, a Goddess of shallow seas who is sometimes considered the wife of Neptune. As Janus Quirinus he is a god of peace, that is, peace won by the vigilent Quirites. Janus Pater the creator of 1 January and 17 August. He is called

Janus Bifrons (two-faced), Janus Patulcius (the opened door during wartime), and Janus Clusivus (the closed door during peace). A minor deity of same name is a guardian of doorways.
http://www.societasviaromana.net/Col...is/deities.php

Min

I worship Min, I extol arm-raising Horus:
Hail to you, Min in his procession!
Tall-plumed, son of Osiris,
Born of divine Isis.
Great in Senut, mighty in Ipu (i.e. Panoplis=Akhmim),
You of Coptus, Horus strong-armed,
Lord of awe who silences pride,
Sovereign of all the gods!
Fragrance laden when he comes from Medja-land,
Awe inspiring in Nubia,
You of Utent, hail and praise!

Hymn to Min of the Deputy-treasurer Sobk-iry, Middle Kingdom
M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, Vol.1, p.204

Symbols: phallus, lettuce, bull
Cult Center: Koptos, Akhmin


Min was a fertility god who was believed to bestow sexual powers to all men. He also was a god of the rain who was a generative force of nature. In one of the most important Min festivals, the Pharaoh would hoe the fields as Min looked on. At the harvest festivals, the Pharaoh would ceremoniously hoe the fields under Min's supervision. When the Pharaoh begot his heir, he was also identified with Min.


He was portrayed as an ithyphallic bearded man, with his legs close together and wearing the same headdress as Amon. Min is shown with one arm raised wielding a thunderbolt.


His sacred animal was a white bull and his special plant, long lettuce, lactuca sativa, was believed to have aphrodisiac properties. Lettuce is believed to be associated with him, not due to its vaguely phallic shape, but rather to its white milky sap which is reminiscent of semen.


Min was a predynastic god. In the earliest times he was a sky-god called the "Chief of Heaven". Until the Middle Kingdom he was identified with Horus the Elder and he was called the son of Re or Shu. In the New Kingdom, Min became closely linked to Amon-Re. During this time, Min became immensely popular and orgiastic festivals were held in his honor.


Min's cult was centered in the Delta city of Chemmis and Koptos.

From: HERE

Patron of: fertility, sexuality, and travelers through the eastern Sahara.

Appearance: a man with a large erect penis. Sometimes he is shown in the garb of a pharaoh, wearing a feathered crown and carrying a flail.

Description: a very ancient god, Min has become rather popular in the modern era, a sort of resurgence of his cult. Min was honored with a variety of ceremonies, some involving the harvest, others praying for a male heir to the pharaoh. Lettuce was his sacred plant, for it was believed by the Egyptians to be an aphrodisiac. The Greeks identified him with their god Pan, and the Romans believed Min to be the same god as Priapus.

Worshipped: Worshipped widely throughout Egypt by the end of the New Kingdom, his cult centers were at Koptos and Akhmin (Panopolis).

From: HERE

(...)

Min was always a god of fertility and sexuality. He was shown as a human male with an erect penis. In Egyptian times, he was usually an ithyphallic bearded mummiform man, standing with both legs together, an arm raised holding his symbol or a flail and wearing the same low crown with twin plumes as Amen. (The way he holds his flail might be symbolic of sexual intercourse - the flail forms the V while his upraised forearm seems to thrust inside the V.) The Egyptian paintings and reliefs on tomb walls and temples didn't show Min's other arm, but the statues of the god show him with his hand encircling the base of his penis. During New Kingdom times he was sometimes shown as a white bull, an animal sacred to the fertility god.

.. Min, Bull of the Great Phallus,
...
You are the Great Male, the owner of all females.
The Bull who is unites with those of the sweet love, of beautiful face and of painted eyes,
Victorious sovereign among the Gods who inspires fear in the Ennead.
...
The goddesses are glad, seeing your perfection.


-- Hymn to Min

He was associated with the Egyptian cos lettuce - an aphrodisiac to the ancient Egyptians because the lettuce was tall, straight and secreted a milky substance when pressed! (This was also a favourite food of Set.) Min was often shown standing before offering tables, covered with heads of lettuce.

The fertility god was associated both with Horus the Elder (Min-Horus) in the Middle Kingdom and with Amen (Amen-Min) in New Kingdom times to show the creative force of both gods. At times, even some goddesses have been shown with the body of Min!

The goddess Sekhmet as the Eye of Ra, for instance, showing that Min also has a destructive side, rather than just creative. (There are some indications that there was a ritual in the Egyptian military for ensuring the subjugation of prisoners - as in the story of Set and Horus - it involved 'impregnating' (and so emasculating) the prisoner, and so the erect state of the penis could relate to victory over the enemy.) The flail was often used to show the pharaoh's supremacy over his enemies, and was therefor linked to both power and destruction.

(...)

Min wasn't just a fertility god, such as Hapi or Osiris, who only presided over the fields - he was also a god of male fertility who could give the pharaoh (and other men) the power to father a child. He also presided over the sed (jubilee) festival of the pharaoh (where the pharaoh had to run around a course set by the priests, carrying different objects), symbolically rejuvenating the pharaoh to give him long life... and the fertility of his youth.

(...)

He was also a god of the Eastern Desert, and it has been suggested that the description in the Pyramid Texts - 'the one who raises his arm in the east' - is actually talking about Min. With his association with the east, Min became a god who offered protection to travellers and traders - the caravan route went through Gebtu and headed out east to the Red Sea. At Wadi Hammamat (on the trade route), prayers and thanks to the god Min were found. Min was also worshiped by the men who worked the mines and the men who quarried the stone at Hammamat. At this particular Wadi, Min was given the title "Min, the Male of the Mountain", a title with the word 'male' being similar to the hieroglyph for 'foremost'.

(...)

Despite being a god of the desert, Min was still a fertility god, and rather than being painted red (such as the desert god Set), he was painted black to represent the fertile land along the Nile. Min was also a moon god - lunar gods tended also to be gods relating to moisture and thus of fertility. As a lunar deity Min was sometimes given the title "Protector of the Moon". In this capacity, the god was related to the Egyptian calendar - the last day of the lunar month was consecrated to the deity, and the day was known as "The Exit of Min".

For the FULL article see: MIN, GOD OF FERTILITY, POWER AND THE EASTERN DESERT

Min is an Ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in predynastic times (4th millennium BC).[1] He was represented in many different forms, but was often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail. As Khem or Min, he was the god of reproduction; as Khnum, he was the creator of all things, "the maker of gods and men".[2]

As a god of fertility, he was shown as having black skin. His cult was strongest in Coptos and Akhmim (Panopolis), where in his honour great festivals were held celebrating his “coming forth” with a public procession and presentation of offerings.[1] His other associations include the eastern desert and links to the god Horus. Flinders Petrie excavated two large statues of Min at Qift which are now in the Ashmolean Museum and it is thought by some that they are pre-dynastic. Although not mentioned by name a reference to 'he whose arm is raised in the East' in the Pyramid Texts is thought to refer to Min.[3]


His importance grew in the Middle Kingdom when he became even more closely linked with Horus as the deity Min-Horus. By the New Kingdom he was also fused with Amen in the deity Min-Amen-kamutef (Min-Amen - bull of his mother). Min's shrine was crowned with a pair of bull horns.[4]


As the central deity of fertility and possibly orgiastic rites Min became identified by the Greeks with the god Pan. One feature of Min worship was the wild prickly lettuce Lactuca virosa and Lactuca serriola of which is the domestic version Lactuca sativa which has aphrodisiac and opiate qualities and produce latex when cut, possibly identified with semen. He also had connections with Nubia. However, his main centres of worship were Qift (Coptos) and Akhmim (Khemmis).


As a god of male sexual potency, he was honoured during the coronation rites of the New Kingdom, when the Pharaoh was expected to sow his seed — generally thought to have been plant seeds, although there have been controversial suggestions that the Pharaoh was expected to demonstrate that he could ejaculate — and thus ensure the annual flooding of the Nile. At the beginning of the harvest season, his image was taken out of the temple and brought to the fields in the festival of the departure of Min, when they blessed the harvest, and played games naked in his honour, the most important of these being the climbing of a huge (tent) pole.


In Egyptian art, Min was depicted as wearing a crown with feathers, and often holding his penis erect in his left hand and a flail (referring to his authority, or rather that of the Pharaohs) in his upward facing right hand. Around his forehead, Min wears a red ribbon that trails to the ground, claimed by some to represent sexual energy. The symbols of Min were the white bull, a barbed arrow, and a bed of lettuce, that the Egyptians believed to be an aphrodisiac, as Egyptian lettuce was tall, straight, and released a milk-like substance when rubbed, characteristics superficially similar to the penis.


Even some war goddesses were depicted with the body of Min (including the phallus), and this also led to depictions, ostensibly of Min, with the head of a lioness. Min usually was depicted in an ithyphallic (with an erect and uncovered phallus) style. Christians routinely defaced his monuments in temples they co-opted and Victorian Egyptologists would take only waist-up photographs of Min, or otherwise find ways to cover his protruding penis. However, to the ancient Egyptians, Min was not a matter of scandal - they had very relaxed standards of nudity: in their warm climate, farmers, servants, and entertainers often worked partially or completely naked, and children did not wear any clothes until they came of age.


In the 19th century, there was an alleged erroneous transcription of the Egyptian for Min as ḫm ("khem"). Since Khem was worshipped most significantly in Akhmim, the separate identity of Khem was reinforced, Akhmim being understood as simply a corruption of Khem. However, Akhmim is an alleged corruption of ḫm-mnw, meaning Shrine of Min, via the demotic form šmn.

From: Wiki

Also see:
Henadolgy article: MIN
Article
Longer article
Kemet.org Names of Netjer : Min

Kheiron/Chiron - Χειρων

Teaching the young Achilles:


As a constellation:

KHEIRON (or Chiron) was the eldest and wisest of the Centaurs, a tribe of half-horse men. But unlike the rest of this tribe he was an immortal god, a son of the Titan Kronos and half-brother of Zeus. Kheiron's mother was the nymph Philyra who was coupling with Kronos when his wife suddenly appeared on the scene. To escape notice he transformed himself into a horse, and in this way sired a half-equine son. Some time later when a tribe of Kentauroi (or Centaurs) were spawned on Mount Pelion by the cloud nymph Nephele, Kheiron and his daughters took them into their care and raised them as their own.


The Kentauros was a great teacher who mentored many of the great heroes of myth including Jason, Peleus, Asklepios, Aristaios and Akhilleus. Eventually, however, he passed away from the earth, after accidentally being wounded by Herakles with an arrow coated in Hydra-venom. The wound was incurable, and unbearably painfall, so Kheiron voluntarily relinquished his immortality and died. However, instead of being consigned to Haides, he was given a place amongst the stars by Zeus as the constellation Saggitarius or Centaurus.


Kheiron's name was derived from the Greek word for hand (kheir), which also meant "skilled with the hands." The name was also closely associated in myth with kheirourgos or surgeon. In Athenian vase painting Kheiron was depicted with the full-body of a man, from head to foot, clothed in chiton and boots, with a horse-body attached to the human rump. The image probably reflected his appearance in Greek drama, where costume-limitations reduced his centaurine-form somewhat. By contrast the other Kentauroi, who do not appear in Athenian drama, were depicted unclothed with fully equine forms below the waist.

(snip)

CHIRON INVENTOR OF MEDICINE & SURGERY


Homer, Iliad 11. 832 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"[Eurypylos addresses Patroklos in the Trojan War:] ‘Cut the arrow out of my thigh . . . and put kind medicines on it, good ones, which they say you have been told of by Akhilleus, since Kheiron (Chiron), most righteous of the Kentauroi (Centaurs), told him about them.’"


Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 175 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Phoinix had been blinded by his father . . . Peleus led Phoinix to Kheiron (Chiron), who healed his eyes."


Aelian, On Animals 2. 18 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) :
"In Homer skill in treating the wounded and persons in need of medicine goes back as far as the third generation of pupil and master [see Iliad 11. 832 above]. Thus Patroklos, son of Mentoitios, is taught the healing art by Akhilleus (Achilles), and Akhilleus, son of Peleus, is taught by Kheiron (Chiron), son of Kronos (Cronus). And heroes and children of the gods learnt about the nature of roots, the use of different herbs, the concocting of drugs, spells to reduce inflammations, the way to staunch blood, and everything else that they knew."


Ptolemy Hephaestion, New History Book 1 (summary from Photius, Myriobiblon 190) (trans. Pearse) (Greek mythographer C1st to C2nd A.D.) :
"Kokytos was the name of a pupil to whom Kheiron (Chiron) had taught medicine and who cared for Adonis when he was wounded by the wild boar."


Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 274 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Inventors and their inventions . . . Chiron, son of Saturnus [Kronos, Cronus], first used herbs in the medical art of surgery."


Virgil, Georgics 3. 549 ff (trans. Fairclough) (Roman bucolic C1st B.C.) :
"[A great dearth is followed by hunger and disease:] On this land from the sickened sky there once came a piteous season that glowed with autumn's full heat . . . masters in the art [of medicine] fail, Chiron Phyllyrides (son of Phillyra), and Melampus, Amythaon's son."


Propertius, Elegies 2. 1 (trans. Goold) (Roman elegy C1st B.C.) :
"Medicine can cure all human pains . . . Chiron, son of Phillyra, healed the blindness of Phoenix."


Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7. 197 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :
"[On inventions:] The science of herbs and drugs was discovered by Chiron the son of Saturnus [Kronos] and Philyra."


Statius, Silvae 1. 4. 98 (trans. Mozley) (Roman poetry C1st A.D.) :
"If there be any herb [to cure this illness] in twy-formed Chiron's health-giving cave."


Nonnus, Dionysiaca 35. 60 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"What ridge of the paturing woodlands must I traverse to summon old lifebringing Kheiron (Chiron) to help your wound? Or where can I find medicines, the secrets of Paieon the Healer's [Asklepios] painassuaging art? Would that I had what they call the herb Kentaurida (of the Centaur), that I might bind the flower of no-pain upon your limbs, and bring you back safe and living from Haides whence none returns! What magic hymn have I, or song from the stars, that I may chant the ditty with Euian voice divine, and stay the flow of blood from your wounded side? Would I had here beside me the fountain of life, that I might pour on your limbs that painstilling water and assuage your adorable wound, to bring back even your soul to you again!"

For the rest, see THEOI entry

Like the satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild and lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, given to violence when intoxicated, and generally uncultured delinquents. Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind, but he was not related directly to the other centaurs.[2] He was known for his knowledge and skill with medicine. According to an archaic myth[3] he was sired by Cronus when he had taken the form of a horse[4] and impregnated the nymph Philyra,[5] Chiron's lineage was different from other centaurs, who were born of sun and raincloud, rendered by Greeks of the Classic period as from the union of the king Ixion, consigned to a fiery wheel, and Nephele ("cloud"), which in the Olympian telling Zeus invented to look like Hera. Myths in the Olympian tradition attributed Chiron's uniquely peaceful character and intelligence to teaching by Apollo and Artemis in his younger days.


Chiron frequented Mount Pelion; there he married the nymph Chariclo who bore him three daughters, Hippe (also known as Melanippe (also the name of her daughter), the "Black Mare" or Euippe, "truly a mare"), Endeis, and Ocyrhoe, and one son Carystus.


A great healer, astrologer, and respected oracle, Chiron was said to be the first among centaurs and highly revered as a teacher and tutor. Among his pupils were many culture heroes: Asclepius, Aristaeus, Ajax, Aeneas, Actaeon, Caeneus, Theseus, Achilles, Jason, Peleus, Telamon, Perseus, sometimes Heracles, Oileus, Phoenix, and in one Byzantine tradition, even Dionysus: according to Ptolemaeus Chennus of Alexandria, "Dionysius was loved by Chiron, from whom he learned chants and dances, the bacchic rites and initiations."[6]

(...)

From: Wiki

Chiron (or Cheiron) was a noble centaur, half-man and half-horse, the son of the Titan Cronos (Cronus). Chiron was unique among the centaurs, because the others, who are descended from Ixion, were badly behaved. Chiron taught (music, medicine, horses, hunting, and martial arts*) several Greek heroes: Achilles, Asclepius (Asculapius), Herakles (Hercules), Jason, Aeneas, and Peleus.


Chiron is credited with inventing medicine, a topic in which he instructed the heroes -- a good thing too since the athletic heroes must have made ample use of a short course in sports medicine. In the story of Phineus and the Harpies, Jason uses this received instruction to remove the curse of blindness from the king's eyes.


During a fight with the Ixion-sired Centaurs, Herakles accidentally wounded Chiron with a poisoned arrow. Chiron willingly gave up his immortality in order to die. Hyginus (2.3 says he was placed among the stars as either the constellation Centaurus or Sagittarius.

From: Here

Cheiron (Χείρων) was the most famous Centaur. Not only was Cheiron immortal, but he was one of the wisest beings on earth. Cheiron was the son of the Titan Cronus and Philyra, who was the daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.


Cronus had raped Philyra, while he was in the form of a stallion. When she gave birth to the Centaur, she was so ashamed that the gods had taken pity on her and had transformed her into a linden tree.


Cheiron had married Chariclo and they had several daughters – Endeis, Ocyrrhoe (Menalippe) and Theia. Endeis had married Aeacus, king of Aegina. This would make Peleus, his grandson, while Achilles would be his great-grandson.


Cheiron befriended many heroes, including Heracles and Peleus. Some heroes were even brought up by the wise Centaur, like Jason and Achilles. Cheiron taught these heroes how to hunt, and fight.


Cheiron was also a famous healer, who had taught Asclepius, son of Apollo, and later his Asclepius' two sons – Machaon and Podalirius, in the art of healing. He was also responsible for rearing and educating Aristaeüs, the agricultural god.


He even gave advice or prophecy to Apollo, in regarding to the heroine, Cyrene, foretelling how a city in Libya would be named after her. So even the god of prophecy listen to the wise Centaur.


His friendship with Heracles brought about his own death. As Heracles fought against the Centaurs during his fourth labour, the hero accidentally wounded his Centaur friend. Heracles' arrows were smeared with the venom of the monster Hydra. Cheiron had to live in great agony from the venom.


Later, during the eleventh labour, Heracles freed the Titan Prometheus from his chain; Cheiron found release from his torment. The gods allowed Cheiron to give up his immortality to Prometheus, to end his agony. The gods probably placed among the stars, as the constellation of the Centaurus.

From: Timeless Myths

The mythology of the Southern Centaur is believed to be of Greek origin, developing later than that of the more warlike Sagittarius, whose imagery is known to be Mesopotamian. Centaurus barely featured in the 4th century BC text of Aratus, but according to Eratosthenes, who wrote of the constellations in the 2nd century BC, the star group depicts the mythological figure of Cheiron: a half-man, half-horse creature who was remarkable amongst his wild and lawless race because of his wisdom, gentility and love of humanity.


Tales of the centaurs describe them as aggressive and brutal. That Cheiron was different proclaims his ability to rise above, rather than be pulled into, the expectations of his environment. He was proficient in many arts - astronomy, philosophy, botany, music, divination and medicine - and he was also a great teacher under whom many Greek heroes studied. As the son of Chronos and the ocean nymph Philyra he was immortal, but he received a terrible, poisonous wound from an arrow which was shot (in error) by Hercules. His own incurable injury gave him the empathy to understand the pain of others, and earned him a reputation as the healer who could not, himself, be healed. His place in the heavens was awarded in honour of his selfless renunciation of his immortality in favour of the Titan Prometheus.

From: Here

To the Greeks CENTAURUS represented Chiron, the leader of the Centaurs. These creatures - half-man, half-horse were aggressive and warlike, Chiron being the one exception. The only immortal Centaur, he was exceedingly wise and kind. His story is closely connected with the Fourth Labour of Hercules who, on his way to capture the rampaging Erymanthian boar, called on the Centaur Pholus. After eating a good meal, and despite warnings from Pholus, Hercules opened a cask of wine belonging to all of the Centaurs. They were incensed at such a liberty and furiously attacked Hercules but he managed to overcome them and chased them to Malea, the home of Chiron. Sadly, the kindly creature was accidentally struck on the knee by one of Hercules' poisoned arrows. In spite of Hercules' desperate efforts to help his friend, the wound would not heal, and Chiron seemed doomed to an eternal life of suffering. However fate, in the form of Prometheus, intervened. Zeus agreed that Prometheus should take over Chiron's immortality, thus allowing the stricken Centaur to be freed from his agony. He was then placed by Zeus in the heavens.

From: Here

Also see:
Theoi - THE KENTAUROI (or Centaurs)

Constellation: Centaurus lore/myth --
StarLore page
Centaurus - detailed
LacusCurtius • Allen's Star Names — Centaurus - another good site
Wiki page

Ba'al Hammon

Baʿal of Carthage


The worship of Baʿal Hammon flourished in the Phoenician colony of Carthage. Baʿal Hammon was the supreme god of the Carthaginians, and is believed that this supremacy dates back to the 5th century BC, apparently after a breaking off of relationships between Carthage and Tyre at the time of the Punic defeat in Himera.[4] He is generally identified by modern scholars either with the Northwest Semitic god El or with Dagon,[5] and generally identified by the Greeks, by interpretatio Graeca with Greek Cronus and similarly by the Romans with Saturn.


The meaning of Hammon or Hamon is unclear. In the 19th century when Ernest Renan excavated the ruins of Hammon (Ḥammon), the modern Umm al-‘Awamid between Tyre and Acre, he found two Phoenician inscriptions dedicated to El-Hammon. Since El was normally identified with Cronus and Ba‘al Hammon was also identified with Cronus, it seemed possible they could be equated. More often a connection with Hebrew/Phoenician ḥammān 'brazier' has been proposed, in the sense of "Baal (lord) of the brazier". He has been therefore identified with a solar deity.[6] Frank Moore Cross argued for a connection to Khamōn, the Ugaritic and Akkadian name for Mount Amanus, the great mountain separating Syria from Cilicia based on the occurrence of an Ugaritic description of El as the one of the Mountain Haman.


Classical sources relate how the Carthaginians burned their children as offerings to Baʿal Hammon. See Moloch for a discussion of these traditions and conflicting thoughts on the matter. From the attributes of his Roman form, African Saturn, it is possible to conclude that Hammon was a fertility god.[7]
Scholars tend to see Baʿal Hammon as more or less identical with the god El, who was also generally identified with Cronus and Saturn. However, Yigael Yadin thought him to be a moon god. Edward Lipinski identifies him with the god Dagon in his Dictionnaire de la civilisation phenicienne et punique (1992: ISBN 2-503-50033-1). Inscriptions about Punic deities tend to be rather uninformative.


In Carthage and North Africa Baʿal Hammon was especially associated with the ram and was worshiped also as Baʿal Qarnaim ("Lord of Two Horns") in an open-air sanctuary at Jebel Bu Kornein ("the two-horned hill") across the bay from Carthage.


Baʿal Hammon's female cult partner was Tanit.[8] He was probably not ever identified with Baʿal Melqart, although one finds this equation in older scholarship.


Ba`alat Gebal ("Lady of Byblos") appears to have been generally identified with ‘Ashtart, although Sanchuniathon distinguishes the two.

From: Wiki

Ba'al-Hamon ("Ruler of a Crowd or Multitude") was the chief god of Carthage. He was a deity of sky and vegetation, depicted as a bearded older man with curling ram's horns.[1] Baʿal Hammon's female cult partner was Tanit.[2]


Cult and attributes


The worship of Baʿal Hammon flourished in the Phoenician colony of Carthage. His supremacy among the Carthaginian gods is believed to date to the 5th century BC, after relations between Carthage and Tyre were broken off at the time of the Punic defeat in Himera.[3] Modern scholars identify him variously with the Northwest Semitic god El or with Dagon.[4]


In Carthage and North Africa Baʿal Hammon was especially associated with the ram and was worshiped also as Baʿal Qarnaim ("Lord of Two Horns") in an open-air sanctuary at Jebel Bu Kornein ("the two-horned hill") across the bay from Carthage.[citation needed] He was probably never identified with Baʿal Melqart, although one finds this equation in older scholarship.[citation needed]


Ancient Greek writers identified him with the Titan Cronus. In ancient Rome, he was identified with Saturn, and the cultural exchange between Rome and Carthage as a result of the Second Punic War may have influenced the development of the Roman religious festival Saturnalia.[5]


Greco-Roman sources report that the Carthaginians burned their children as offerings to Baʿal Hammon. (See Moloch for a discussion of these traditions and conflicting thoughts on the matter.) Attributes of his Romanized form as an African Saturn indicate that Hammon was a fertility god.[6]

Name and functions


The meaning of Hammon or Hamon is unclear. In the 19th century when Ernest Renan excavated the ruins of Hammon (Ḥammon), the modern Umm al-‘Awamid between Tyre and Acre, he found two Phoenician inscriptions dedicated to El-Hammon. Since El was normally identified with Cronus and Ba‘al Hammon was also identified with Cronus, it seemed possible they could be equated. More often a connection with Hebrew/Phoenician ḥammān 'brazier' has been proposed, in the sense of "Baal (lord) of the brazier". He has been therefore identified with a solar deity.[7] Yigael Yadin thought him to be a moon god. Edward Lipinski identifies him with the god Dagon.[8]


Frank Moore Cross argued for a connection to Khamōn, the Ugaritic and Akkadian name for Mount Amanus, the great mountain separating Syria from Cilicia based on the occurrence of an Ugaritic description of El as the one of the Mountain Haman.

From: Another Wiki

The chief deity of Phoenician Carthage and a fertility god. His cult spread to Malta, Sardinia and Sicily, and sacrificing children played an important role in this cult. His names means something like "lord of the incense-altars". The Greek equated him with their Cronus and the Romans with Saturn. His wife is Tanit.

From: Here

Also see:
Phonecia.org - Baal-Hammon, God of Fertility and Renewer of all Energies in the Phoenician colonies of the Western Mediterranean
Baal Hammon
Ba`al Hammon, Ba`al Khamon

Zephyros/Zephyrus - Ζέφυρος

LXXX. TO THE WEST WIND [ZEPHYROS]The Fumigation from Frankincense.
Sea-born, aerial, blowing from the west, sweet gales [Aurai], who give to weary'd labour rest:
Vernal and grassy, and of gentle found, to ships delightful, thro' the sea profound;
For these, impell'd by you with gentle force, pursue with prosp'rous Fate their destin'd course.
With blameless gales regard my suppliant pray'r, Zephyrs unseen, light-wing'd, and form'd from air.

ZEPHYROS (or Zephyrus) was the god of the west wind, one of the four directional Anemoi (Wind-Gods). He was also the god of spring, husband of Khloris (Greenery), and father of Karpos (Fruit).

Zephyros' most famous myth told the story of his rivalry with the god Apollon for the love of Hyakinthos. One day he spied the pair playing a game of quoits in a meadow, and in a jealous rage, struck the disc with a gust of wind, causing it to veer off course and strike the boy in the head, killing him instantly. Apollon in his grief, then transformed the dying boy into a larkspur flower.

Zephyros was portrayed in classical art as a handsome, winged youth. In Greek vase painting, the unlabelled figures of a winged god embracing a youth are sometimes identified as Zephyros and Hyakinthos--although other commentators interpret them as Eros (Love) with a generic youth. In Greco-Roman mosaic the god usually appears in the guise of spring personified carrying a basket of unripe fruit.

(...)

CULT OF ZEPHYROS

Valerius Flaccus, Argonautica 1. 188 ff (trans. Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) :
"[The Argonauts prepae to depart on their voyage :] Next in joy they pile altars; chiefly unto thee, lord of the waters [Poseidon], is reverence paid, unto thee, unto Zephyros (the West Wind) [for a favourable sailing wind] and unto Glaucus upon the shore Ancaeus sacrifices an ox decked with dark blue fillets, unto Thetis a heifer."


I) RHODES Island (Greek Aegean)
Bacchylides, Epigrams 1 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) :
"Eudemos [of Rhodes] dedicated this temple on his land to Zephyros, richest of all winds; for in answer to his prayer he came to help him, so that he might winnow most speedily the grain from the ripe ears."

II) LAKIADAI Town in Attika (Southern Greece)
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 37. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"[At Lakiadai, Attika :] There is also an altar of Zephyros."

For the rest, see THEOI PAGE.

Zephyrus, or just Zephyr (Greek: Ζέφυρος, Zéphuros, "the west wind"), in Latin Favonius, is the Greek god of the west wind. The gentlest of the winds, Zephyrus is known as the fructifying wind, the messenger of spring. It was thought that Zephyrus lived in a cave in Thrace.

Zephyrus was reported as having several wives in different stories. He was said to be the husband of his sister Iris, the goddess of the rainbow. He abducted another of his sisters, the goddess Chloris, and gave her the domain of flowers. With Chloris, he fathered Carpus ("fruit"). He is said to have vied for Chloris's love with his brother Boreas, eventually winning her devotion. Additionally, with yet another sister and lover, the harpy Podarge (also known as Celaeno), Zephyrus was said to be the father of Balius and Xanthus, Achilles' horses.

One of the surviving myths in which Zephyrus features most prominently is that of Hyacinth. Hyacinth was a very handsome and athletic Spartan prince. Zephyrus fell in love with him and courted him, and so did Apollo. The two competed for the boy's love, but he chose Apollo, driving Zephyrus mad with jealousy. Later, catching Apollo and Hyacinth throwing a discus, Zephyrus blew a gust of wind at them, striking the boy in the head with the falling discus. When Hyacinth died, Apollo created the hyacinth flower from his blood.[2]

In the story of Cupid and Psyche, Zephyrus served Cupid by transporting Psyche to his cave.

From: Wiki

Zephyr was the Greek god of the west wind, which was considered the gentlest wind, especially if compared to the colder north wind, Boreas. The warm west wind brought the spring season. Even today the name of the god means a warm and light breeze.
Zephyr was the father of two immortal horses, Xanthus and Balius. Their mother was the Harpy, Podarge. The Harpies were terrifying and greedy monsters with the head and trunk of a woman and the tail, wings, legs and talons of a huge bird.

Zephyr was attracted to the Harpy Podarge while she was grazing beside the Ocean after having transformed herself into a splendid young female horse. The gods gave the two horses, as a wedding present, to Peleus, the father of the famous hero Achille. Xanthus and Balius became the loyal companions of Achille helping him in numerous battles.

From: Here

Zephyrus is the Greek god of the West Wind, believed to live in a cave on Thrace. He is the son of Eos and Astraeus and the brother of Boreas, Eurus and Notus. Some consider him and Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, as the parents of Eros, the god of love, and of Pothos (Longing) who was an attendant of Aphrodite.

The West Wind had fallen in love with a handsome youth named Hyacinthus, who also was a favorite of Apollo, the god of light. One day Apollo was teaching Hyacinthus how to throw the discus, when the insanely jealous Zephyrus caught it in mid-air and blew it at Hyacinthus, striking the young man on the head and killing him. From his blood sprang the hyacinth flower.

Zephyrus also abducted the goddess Chloris (Flora in Roman) and gave her dominion over flowers. In Roman myth, he is Favonius, the protector of flowers and plants.

With Podarge, one of the Harpies, Zephyrus fathered the famous horses Xanthus and Balius, who are the Trojan War hero Achilles' immortal horses. Hera endowed the horses with human speech. They served Poseidon first, and next Peleus, Achilles and Neoptolemus.

The union of Zephyrus and Podarge produced also Arion, a horse given by Heracles (Hercules) to Adrastus. Arion saved the life of Adrastus during the war of the Seven Against Thebes.

From: Here

Also see:
Theoi: Anemoi
Theoi: Khloris

Ra-Hoor-Khuit/Heru-ra-ha (Thelema)

Ra-Hoor-Khuit, in the Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley, is the manifestation of Horus of the Two Horizons. As the son of Isis and Osiris he became the warrior-slayer of Seth (Set) or Typhon, the serpent of the Nile. Crowley affirms that Horus in his many forms was the spiritual child of the former mother and father; the act of slaying his father's murderer is symbolic of destroying the former Aeon in which Christianity ruled and destroyed religions before it. Therefore Horus would rightly govern the new Aeon as the Crowned and Conquering Child; the Aeon that would put an end to the worshipping of death as Christianity demanded and worship the joining together the spiritual and material in Horus, the Child and the Future.

From: Here

Heru-ra-ha (literally "Horus sun-flesh", among other possible meanings[1]) is a composite deity within Thelema, a religion that began in 1904 with Aleister Crowley and his Book of the Law. Heru-ra-ha is composed of Ra-Hoor-Khuit and Hoor-par-kraat.[2] He is associated with the other two major Thelemic deities found in The Book of the Law, Nuit and Hadit, who are also godforms related to ancient Egyptian mythology. Their images link Nuit and Hadit to the established Egyptian deities Nut and Hor-Bhdt (Horus of Edfu).

Active aspect
The Active Aspect of Heru-ra-ha is Ra-Hoor-Khuit (Egyptian: Ra-Hoor-Khu-It,[3] Ra-Har-Khuti or possibly Ra-Har-Akht), more commonly referred to by the Greek transliteration Ra-Herakhty, means "Ra (who is) Horus on the Horizon."[4] Ra-Hoor-Khuit or Ra-Hoor-Khut is the speaker in the Third Chapter of The Book of the Law. Some quotes from his Chapter:


"Now let it be first understood that I am a god of War and of Vengeance." (AL III:3)[5]

"Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms." (AL III:17)[6]


"I am the warrior Lord of the Forties: the Eighties cower before me, & are abased. I will bring you to victory & joy: I will be at your arms in battle & ye shall delight to slay. Success is your proof; courage is your armour; go on, go on, in my strength; & ye shall turn not back for any!" (AL III:46)[7]


"There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt." (AL III:60)[8]


Within Thelema, Ra-Hoor-Khuit is called the Lord of the Aeon (which began in 1904 according to Thelemic doctrine), and The Crowned and Conquering Child.


According to the instructions that Crowley claimed to have received from the 8th Enochian Aethyr, the five-pointed "star of flame" symbolizes Ra-Hoor-Khuit in certain contexts.[9]


An appellation of Ra, identifying him with Horus, this name shows the two as manifestations of the singular Solar Force. "Khuit" also refers to a local form of the goddess Hathor at Athribis,[10] who guarded the heart of Osiris.[11] "Khut" refers to the goddess Isis as light giver of the new year,[12] and by some accounts[13][14] can also mean the fiery serpent on the crown of Ra. This last meaning serves as a title of Isis in one of the hymns to "Isis-Hathor" at the Temple of Philae. Hathor also has the titles "Uraeus of Ra" and "Great Flame".[15]


Passive aspect
The Passive Aspect of Heru-ra-ha is Hoor-pa-kraat (Egyptian: Har-par-khered), more commonly referred to by the Greek transliteration Harpocrates, meaning "Horus the Child"; Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, sometimes distinguished from their brother Horus the Elder,[16] who was the old patron deity of Upper Egypt. Hoor is represented as a young boy with a child's sidelock of hair, sucking his finger. The Greeks,[17] Ovid and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn attributed silence to him, presumably because the sucking of the finger is suggestive of the common "shhh" gesture.


Ra-hoor-khuit, the speaker in the third chapter of The Book of the Law, introduces himself as "the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat."[18]


Also known as "The Babe in the Lotus", Hoor-paar-kraat is sometimes thought of as the baby Ra-Hoor-Khuit[19] and sometimes as the younger brother of Horus.[20] The former view in the works of Aleister Crowley portrays Ra-Hoor-Khuit—in place of the Golden Dawn's Osiris/Jesus -- as a model for the initiate, and thus describes attainment as a natural growth process, de-emphasizing the metaphor of death and resurrection. In the second view, the Golden Dawn placed Hoor-paar-kraat at the center of their Hall of Ma'at while the officers of the temple (one of whom represented Horus) revolved around him.

Combined form
The Cry of the First Aethyr in Crowley's Liber 418 presents Horus, the Crowned and Conquering Child, as the union of many opposites.


It is a little child covered with lilies and roses. He is supported by countless myriads of Archangels. The Archangels are all the same colourless brilliance, and every one of them is blind. Below the Archangels again are many, many other legions, and so on far below, so far that the eye cannot pierce. And on his forehead, and on his heart, and in his hand, is the secret sigil of the Beast. (fn: Sun and moon conjoined) And of all this the glory is so great that all the spiritual senses fail, and their reflections in the body fail.(...)This child danceth not, but it is because he is the soul of the two dances, --- the right hand and the left hand, and in him they are one dance, the dance without motion.[21]

From: Wiki

Thelema draws its principal gods and goddesses from Ancient Egyptian religion. The highest deity in the cosmology of Thelema is the goddess Nuit. She is the night sky arched over the Earth symbolized in the form of a naked woman. She is conceived as the Great Mother, the ultimate source of all things.[54] The second principal deity of Thelema is the god Hadit, conceived as the infinitely small point, complement and consort of Nuit. Hadit symbolizes manifestation, motion, and time.[54] He is also described in Liber AL vel Legis as "the flame that burns in every heart of man, and in the core of every star."[55] The third deity in the cosmology of Thelema is Ra-Hoor-Khuit, a manifestation of Horus. He is symbolized as a throned man with the head of a hawk who carries a wand. He is associated with the Sun and the active energies of Thelemic magick.[54] Other deities within the cosmology of Thelema are Hoor-paar-kraat (or Harpocrates), god of silence and inner strength, the brother of Ra-Hoor-Khuit,[54] Babalon, the goddess of all pleasure, known as the Virgin Whore.[54] and Therion, the beast that Babalon rides, who represents the wild animal within man, a force of nature.[54]

From: Wiki

Chapter 3 --
Abrahadabra; the reward of Ra Hoor Khut.
There is division hither homeward; there is a word not known. Spelling is defunct; all is not aught. Beware! Hold! Raise the spell of Ra-Hoor-Khuit!
Now let it be first understood that I am a god of War and of Vengeance. I shall deal hardly with them.
Choose ye an island!
Fortify it!
Dung it about with enginery of war!
I will give you a war-engine.
With it ye shall smite the peoples; and none shall stand before you.
Lurk! Withdraw! Upon them! this is the Law of the Battle of Conquest: thus shall my worship be about my secret house.
Get the stélé of revealing itself; set it in thy secret temple—and that temple is already aright disposed—& it shall be your Kiblah for ever. It shall not fade, but miraculous colour shall come back to it day after day. Close it in locked glass for a proof to the world.
This shall be your only proof. I forbid argument. Conquer! That is enough. I will make easy to you the abstruction from the ill-ordered house in the Victorious City. Thou shalt thyself convey it with worship, o prophet, though thou likest it not. Thou shalt have danger & trouble. Ra-Hoor-Khu is with thee. Worship me with fire & blood; worship me with swords & with spears. Let the woman be girt with a sword before me: let blood flow to my name. Trample down the Heathen; be upon them, o warrior, I will give you of their flesh to eat!
Sacrifice cattle, little and big: after a child.
But not now.
Ye shall see that hour, o blessèd Beast, and thou the Scarlet Concubine of his desire!
Ye shall be sad thereof.
Deem not too eagerly to catch the promises; fear not to undergo the curses. Ye, even ye, know not this meaning all.
Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth. Nu is your refuge as Hadit your light; and I am the strength, force, vigour, of your arms.
Mercy let be off; damn them who pity! Kill and torture; spare not; be upon them!
That stélé they shall call the Abomination of Desolation; count well its name, & it shall be to you as 718.
Why? Because of the fall of Because, that he is not there again.
Set up my image in the East: thou shalt buy thee an image which I will show thee, especial, not unlike the one thou knowest. And it shall be suddenly easy for thee to do this.
The other images group around me to support me: let all be worshipped, for they shall cluster to exalt me. I am the visible object of worship; the others are secret; for the Beast & his Bride are they: and for the winners of the Ordeal x. What is this? Thou shalt know.
For perfume mix meal & honey & thick leavings of red wine: then oil of Abramelin and olive oil, and afterward soften & smooth down with rich fresh blood.
The best blood is of the moon, monthly: then the fresh blood of a child, or dropping from the host of heaven: then of enemies; then of the priest or of the worshippers: last of some beast, no matter what.
This burn: of this make cakes & eat unto me. This hath also another use; let it be laid before me, and kept thick with perfumes of your orison: it shall become full of beetles as it were and creeping things sacred unto me.
These slay, naming your enemies; & they shall fall before you.
Also these shall breed lust & power of lust in you at the eating thereof.
Also ye shall be strong in war.
Moreover, be they long kept, it is better; for they swell with my force. All before me.
My altar is of open brass work: burn thereon in silver or gold!
There cometh a rich man from the West who shall pour his gold upon thee.
From gold forge steel!
Be ready to fly or to smite!
But your holy place shall be untouched throughout the centuries: though with fire and sword it be burnt down & shattered, yet an invisible house there standeth, and shall stand until the fall of the Great Equinox; when Hrumachis shall arise and the double-wanded one assume my throne and place. Another prophet shall arise, and bring fresh fever from the skies; another woman shall awake the lust & worship of the Snake; another soul of God and beast shall mingle in the globèd priest; another sacrifice shall stain the tomb; another king shall reign; and blessing no longer be poured To the Hawk-headed mystical Lord!
The half of the word of Heru-ra-ha, called Hoor-pa-kraat and Ra-Hoor-Khut.
Then said the prophet unto the God:
I adore thee in the song—


I am the Lord of Thebes, and I
The inspired forth-speaker of Mentu;
For me unveils the veilèd sky,
The self-slain Ankh-af-na-khonsu
Whose words are truth. I invoke, I greet
Thy presence, O Ra-Hoor-Khuit!


Unity uttermost showed!
I adore the might of Thy breath,
Supreme and terrible God,
Who makest the gods and death
To tremble before Thee:—
I, I adore thee!


Appear on the throne of Ra!
Open the ways of the Khu!
Lighten the ways of the Ka!
The ways of the Khabs run through
To stir me or still me!
Aum! let it fill me!


So that thy light is in me; & its red flame is as a sword in my hand to push thy order. There is a secret door that I shall make to establish thy way in all the quarters, (these are the adorations, as thou hast written), as it is said:


The light is mine; its rays consume
Me: I have made a secret door
Into the House of Ra and Tum,
Of Khephra and of Ahathoor.
I am thy Theban, O Mentu,
The prophet Ankh-af-na-khonsu!


By Bes-na-Maut my breast I beat;
By wise Ta-Nech I weave my spell.
Show thy star-splendour, O Nuit!
Bid me within thine House to dwell,
O wingèd snake of light, Hadit!
Abide with me, Ra-Hoor-Khuit!


All this and a book to say how thou didst come hither and a reproduction of this ink and paper for ever—for in it is the word secret & not only in the English—and thy comment upon this the Book of the Law shall be printed beautifully in red ink and black upon beautiful paper made by hand; and to each man and woman that thou meetest, were it but to dine or to drink at them, it is the Law to give. Then they shall chance to abide in this bliss or no; it is no odds. Do this quickly!
But the work of the comment? That is easy; and Hadit burning in thy heart shall make swift and secure thy pen.
Establish at thy Kaaba a clerk-house: all must be done well and with business way.
The ordeals thou shalt oversee thyself, save only the blind ones. Refuse none, but thou shalt know & destroy the traitors. I am Ra-Hoor-Khuit; and I am powerful to protect my servant. Success is thy proof: argue not; convert not; talk not over much! Them that seek to entrap thee, to overthrow thee, them attack without pity or quarter; & destroy them utterly. Swift as a trodden serpent turn and strike! Be thou yet deadlier than he! Drag down their souls to awful torment: laugh at their fear: spit upon them!
Let the Scarlet Woman beware! If pity and compassion and tenderness visit her heart; if she leave my work to toy with old sweetnesses; then shall my vengeance be known. I will slay me her child: I will alienate her heart: I will cast her out from men: as a shrinking and despised harlot shall she crawl through dusk wet streets, and die cold and an-hungered.
But let her raise herself in pride! Let her follow me in my way! Let her work the work of wickedness! Let her kill her heart! Let her be loud and adulterous! Let her be covered with jewels, and rich garments, and let her be shameless before all men!
Then will I lift her to pinnacles of power: then will I breed from her a child mightier than all the kings of the earth. I will fill her with joy: with my force shall she see & strike at the worship of Nu: she shall achieve Hadit.
I am the warrior Lord of the Forties: the Eighties cower before me, & are abased. I will bring you to victory & joy: I will be at your arms in battle & ye shall delight to slay. Success is your proof; courage is your armour; go on, go on, in my strength; & ye shall turn not back for any!
This book shall be translated into all tongues: but always with the original in the writing of the Beast; for in the chance shape of the letters and their position to one another: in these are mysteries that no Beast shall divine. Let him not seek to try: but one cometh after him, whence I say not, who shall discover the Key of it all. Then this line drawn is a key: then this circle squared in its failure is a key also. And Abrahadabra. It shall be his child & that strangely. Let him not seek after this; for thereby alone can he fall from it.
Now this mystery of the letters is done, and I want to go on to the holier place.
I am in a secret fourfold word, the blasphemy against all gods of men.
Curse them! Curse them! Curse them!
With my Hawk’s head I peck at the eyes of Jesus as he hangs upon the cross.
I flap my wings in the face of Mohammed & blind him.
With my claws I tear out the flesh of the Indian and the Buddhist, Mongol and Din.
Bahlasti! Ompehda! I spit on your crapulous creeds.
Let Mary inviolate be torn upon wheels: for her sake let all chaste women be utterly despised among you!
Also for beauty’s sake and love’s!
Despise also all cowards; professional soldiers who dare not fight, but play; all fools despise!
But the keen and the proud, the royal and the lofty; ye are brothers!
As brothers fight ye!
There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.
There is an end of the word of the God enthroned in Ra’s seat, lightening the girders of the soul.
To Me do ye reverence! to me come ye through tribulation of ordeal, which is bliss.
The fool readeth this Book of the Law, and its comment; & he understandeth it not.
Let him come through the first ordeal, & it will be to him as silver.
Through the second, gold.
Through the third, stones of precious water.
Through the fourth, ultimate sparks of the intimate fire.
Yet to all it shall seem beautiful. Its enemies who say not so, are mere liars.
There is success.
I am the Hawk-Headed Lord of Silence & of Strength; my nemyss shrouds the night-blue sky.
Hail! ye twin warriors about the pillars of the world! for your time is nigh at hand.
I am the Lord of the Double Wand of Power; the wand of the Force of Coph Nia—but my left hand is empty, for I have crushed an Universe; & nought remains.
Paste the sheets from right to left and from top to bottom: then behold!
There is a splendour in my name hidden and glorious, as the sun of midnight is ever the son.
The ending of the words is the Word Abrahadabra.
The Book of the Law is Written
and Concealed.
Aum. Ha.


From: The Book of the Law