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Article GEOMETRICAL AND OTHER SYMBOLS. ← Page 3 of 7 →
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Geometrical And Other Symbols.
side of an opaque object—and it at once struck me as more probable that what was intended to be represented might be a small double mirror , one forming a handle to the other ; or , indeed , a single mirror with a co-symmetrical handle ; the studded side being the back of the mirror : and sure enough , in my hurried
glance over the plates , I came at last to a veritable mirror and comb , placed together at one side , as if to how more clearly what was intended to be signified by the similar but more promiment form combined with the N symbol . This single mirror closely resembled one of the discs of the double figure or symbol . And
here I may note that on a Phoenician coin , found , I believe , at Citium or Cyprus , and engraved in Ili ggins ' s . Druids , ]) . 117 , there is , on one side , a form which very much resembles the studded mirror , but without a handle , with an E and an 8 > which might stand for the comb and the double or handled mirror ; and it is also notable that on the same coin there are a cross and an animal something like a hippocampus or
sea-horse , both of which , or the cross at least and some such animal , also appear on the sculptured stones of Scotland . The same two things , a cross and a half mammal half fishy or reptile looking animal , but called by Mr . Hodgsou , of Newcastle-upon-Tyne , a basilisc , appear together also on a mythraic sculptured slab of
of the Roman period , found in the north of England ; and what is more remarkable still , the star and crescent , or sun and moon , as in the monumental mark given by Mr . Godwin , here also appear , —the whole , moreover , being enclosed in what has been called the fire triangle , or triangle with its apex upwards . I may
here also observe that on a Roman altar , found at Maryport , and engraved in Dr . Bruce ' s lioman Wall , ( 2 nd Ed ., p . 377 ) , a water-jngis surmounted by a handled mirror , just as the triangle alluded to by Dr . Barlow is surmounted by the bird drinking out of it ; the symbols being , perhaps , equivalent . The altar is inscribed on one side to the Genius loci , with the words Volanti vivas on the reverse side .
As regards the mirror and comb , there is a curious magical traditionary superstition in Scotland ; namel y , that if , " on Hallowmas eve , when the ni ght hags do glide , " a maiden , at midnight , proceed to a solitary apartment , with a candle , and there comb her hair , before a mirror ; the vision , image , or apparition , of Iter true lover will show itself in the mirror . The
' ' magic mirror , " too , is a well-known article , in use even at the present day ; and not only in Egypt and India , and probably in China ; but in Scotland and also in England . Among the hill tribes of India the comb is held sacred , and is given by the priests to newly married persons . The double mirror , if it be
such , may be denotive of the same duality of principles as those symbolised by the two angles of the N symbol , which is always dashed across it , very much in the distorted and elongated form of that one of the N symbols recently seen by Mr . Godwin at Canterbury Cathedral , and already specially alluded to as crossing
a straight line somewhat like the serpent on the caduceus of Mercury . The N symbol itself , as well as the hexalpha and other kindred" symbols made up of reversed angles may also be said to bear another relation to mirrors , inasmuch as their reversed angles are images one of the other , reversed , as images are in a mirror . Mirrors and Images are of peculiar significance both in magical science and in the ancient mysteries , as
well as in true religion . Thus Bishop Warburton , in his "Divine Legation of Moses , " speaks of the "Shining Image" of Isis ( the"Midnight Sun , " ) which Shining Image " appeared " by night to , and in fact in , Lucius or Apuleius ; and Warburton says it is often referred to b y the mystics , as representing the divine nature in general . This Shining Image was
probably imagined to be identical with that Image of Glory , or Shiniug Image , alluded to by St . Paul in the following singularly mystical passage : — "We all , with open face , beholding , as in a glass [ or mirror ] the Glory of the Lord , are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory , "—from Image to Image , or the
" glorious body , "—or body "full of Light , " just as we nightly are from sleep to sleep in the body full of darkness . The same idea of a shining image or likeness , or a luciform body , is given in such other Scri ptural passages as the following : — " We know not what we shall be ; but we know that when He [ the Lord , at his second coming shall appear , we shall be like him , "
for " this vile body shall be changed into the likeness [ or Shining Image ] of his glorious body ; " going " in and out , " or " aseending and descending , " from glory to glory ; or , in other words , mankind shall be made or created anew , in Paradise regained , or the inward kingdom of heaven , in the likeness or Image of God ,
as he was in Paradise lost . The same twofold , principle in life or existence , one the Image or likeness of the other , is denoted in the myth of Narcissus seeing his Image in the water , and falling in love with this his own ghostly double , simulacrum , counterpart , or . second self—whom , according to Plato and
Aristophanes , every one is seeking—as Isis sought Osiris , Ceres Proserpine , or as the Jews and Christians seek " the Lord for the body , " into whose image of Glory —body full of Light , or Shinin g linage , " as in a glass , " —the counterpart of themselves—in their own physical form—they ( docfcrinally ) desire to be daily or nightly changed ;— "dying daily , " as from their own vile body , into his glorious body , in this divine transfiguration of ecstatic entrance and God-possession .
" Every night to this life lost ; in the Spirit all safe slept ; In ecstacy entrane'd till each morning ; Beyond fell Age's reach while in Youth ' s " fair Fountain dipp'd ; Death conquering , and Grave ever scorning . * # * * * Every night in lucid rest ; every limb arrayed in Light ; Vile bodies into glorious brighten'd ; ] Sfo sun needed for TJTE EYE ; no eye needed for THE SIGHT ;
Night itself by the Glory enlighten'd . * # * * « Every night a holy day , with an Angel lover spent , In bliss divine , at will , never failing ; Thus pervading Mesh and Blood , God , indwelling , will prevent . Disease and death from ever prevailing . "
What has just been said of Shining Images also reminds us of the occasionul similitude of the Eerocher to him who is protected b y this guardian angel , or " Image of his Soul , " as Maurice , not altogether incorrectly , calls it . Much more might be said on this curious and interesting subject;—as in reference to the mirror of
Venus , called " the divine mirror , " and " the mirror of the Deity ;"—to the use of the mirror in the Japanese temple crypts , cells , or " caverns of initiation , —a significant emblem of the all-observing eye of the God Tensio Dai Sin . —and to the Braminica
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Geometrical And Other Symbols.
side of an opaque object—and it at once struck me as more probable that what was intended to be represented might be a small double mirror , one forming a handle to the other ; or , indeed , a single mirror with a co-symmetrical handle ; the studded side being the back of the mirror : and sure enough , in my hurried
glance over the plates , I came at last to a veritable mirror and comb , placed together at one side , as if to how more clearly what was intended to be signified by the similar but more promiment form combined with the N symbol . This single mirror closely resembled one of the discs of the double figure or symbol . And
here I may note that on a Phoenician coin , found , I believe , at Citium or Cyprus , and engraved in Ili ggins ' s . Druids , ]) . 117 , there is , on one side , a form which very much resembles the studded mirror , but without a handle , with an E and an 8 > which might stand for the comb and the double or handled mirror ; and it is also notable that on the same coin there are a cross and an animal something like a hippocampus or
sea-horse , both of which , or the cross at least and some such animal , also appear on the sculptured stones of Scotland . The same two things , a cross and a half mammal half fishy or reptile looking animal , but called by Mr . Hodgsou , of Newcastle-upon-Tyne , a basilisc , appear together also on a mythraic sculptured slab of
of the Roman period , found in the north of England ; and what is more remarkable still , the star and crescent , or sun and moon , as in the monumental mark given by Mr . Godwin , here also appear , —the whole , moreover , being enclosed in what has been called the fire triangle , or triangle with its apex upwards . I may
here also observe that on a Roman altar , found at Maryport , and engraved in Dr . Bruce ' s lioman Wall , ( 2 nd Ed ., p . 377 ) , a water-jngis surmounted by a handled mirror , just as the triangle alluded to by Dr . Barlow is surmounted by the bird drinking out of it ; the symbols being , perhaps , equivalent . The altar is inscribed on one side to the Genius loci , with the words Volanti vivas on the reverse side .
As regards the mirror and comb , there is a curious magical traditionary superstition in Scotland ; namel y , that if , " on Hallowmas eve , when the ni ght hags do glide , " a maiden , at midnight , proceed to a solitary apartment , with a candle , and there comb her hair , before a mirror ; the vision , image , or apparition , of Iter true lover will show itself in the mirror . The
' ' magic mirror , " too , is a well-known article , in use even at the present day ; and not only in Egypt and India , and probably in China ; but in Scotland and also in England . Among the hill tribes of India the comb is held sacred , and is given by the priests to newly married persons . The double mirror , if it be
such , may be denotive of the same duality of principles as those symbolised by the two angles of the N symbol , which is always dashed across it , very much in the distorted and elongated form of that one of the N symbols recently seen by Mr . Godwin at Canterbury Cathedral , and already specially alluded to as crossing
a straight line somewhat like the serpent on the caduceus of Mercury . The N symbol itself , as well as the hexalpha and other kindred" symbols made up of reversed angles may also be said to bear another relation to mirrors , inasmuch as their reversed angles are images one of the other , reversed , as images are in a mirror . Mirrors and Images are of peculiar significance both in magical science and in the ancient mysteries , as
well as in true religion . Thus Bishop Warburton , in his "Divine Legation of Moses , " speaks of the "Shining Image" of Isis ( the"Midnight Sun , " ) which Shining Image " appeared " by night to , and in fact in , Lucius or Apuleius ; and Warburton says it is often referred to b y the mystics , as representing the divine nature in general . This Shining Image was
probably imagined to be identical with that Image of Glory , or Shiniug Image , alluded to by St . Paul in the following singularly mystical passage : — "We all , with open face , beholding , as in a glass [ or mirror ] the Glory of the Lord , are changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory , "—from Image to Image , or the
" glorious body , "—or body "full of Light , " just as we nightly are from sleep to sleep in the body full of darkness . The same idea of a shining image or likeness , or a luciform body , is given in such other Scri ptural passages as the following : — " We know not what we shall be ; but we know that when He [ the Lord , at his second coming shall appear , we shall be like him , "
for " this vile body shall be changed into the likeness [ or Shining Image ] of his glorious body ; " going " in and out , " or " aseending and descending , " from glory to glory ; or , in other words , mankind shall be made or created anew , in Paradise regained , or the inward kingdom of heaven , in the likeness or Image of God ,
as he was in Paradise lost . The same twofold , principle in life or existence , one the Image or likeness of the other , is denoted in the myth of Narcissus seeing his Image in the water , and falling in love with this his own ghostly double , simulacrum , counterpart , or . second self—whom , according to Plato and
Aristophanes , every one is seeking—as Isis sought Osiris , Ceres Proserpine , or as the Jews and Christians seek " the Lord for the body , " into whose image of Glory —body full of Light , or Shinin g linage , " as in a glass , " —the counterpart of themselves—in their own physical form—they ( docfcrinally ) desire to be daily or nightly changed ;— "dying daily , " as from their own vile body , into his glorious body , in this divine transfiguration of ecstatic entrance and God-possession .
" Every night to this life lost ; in the Spirit all safe slept ; In ecstacy entrane'd till each morning ; Beyond fell Age's reach while in Youth ' s " fair Fountain dipp'd ; Death conquering , and Grave ever scorning . * # * * * Every night in lucid rest ; every limb arrayed in Light ; Vile bodies into glorious brighten'd ; ] Sfo sun needed for TJTE EYE ; no eye needed for THE SIGHT ;
Night itself by the Glory enlighten'd . * # * * « Every night a holy day , with an Angel lover spent , In bliss divine , at will , never failing ; Thus pervading Mesh and Blood , God , indwelling , will prevent . Disease and death from ever prevailing . "
What has just been said of Shining Images also reminds us of the occasionul similitude of the Eerocher to him who is protected b y this guardian angel , or " Image of his Soul , " as Maurice , not altogether incorrectly , calls it . Much more might be said on this curious and interesting subject;—as in reference to the mirror of
Venus , called " the divine mirror , " and " the mirror of the Deity ;"—to the use of the mirror in the Japanese temple crypts , cells , or " caverns of initiation , —a significant emblem of the all-observing eye of the God Tensio Dai Sin . —and to the Braminica