Re: The Moon
Posted: 01 May 2010, 00:00
O Dionysos Phanes, Illuminator of my heights and depths,
Help me to see my divine being within.
Help me to see my divine being within.
In "Between Pharos and Pharillon" I deliberately included some structural devises common to Cavafy's poetry.mikeh wrote:SteveM: Reading Forster, I was also struck by Cavafy, and how Forster's prose seemed to in part be an extension of his verses, with British irony thrown in. Your poems remind me of Cavafy, too.
I have in mind the bible, 'judgement begins with the House of God', it says: there are numerous way that can be interpreted, in the immediate literal and allegorical context of its setting, in terms of Christian typology as being allied to biblical events (many, not just one, a group of events as prefigurements one of the other back to the fall), to the history of the Chrisian faith, to apocalyptic traditions (in which the Pope is identified with the anti-Christ for example) or as social commentary...mikeh wrote: When you say "judgement," in your last post, do you have in mind a particular event or group of events--
One gate leads up, for immortals, and one leads down, for mortal humanity. But why north and south? In Porphyry's view they are like the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn:Perpetual waters through the grotto glide,
A lofty gate unfolds on either side;
That to the north is pervious to mankind:
The sacred south t'immortals is consign'd.
(http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pearse/morefat ... lation.htm)
Let me interrupt here. Porphyry is not talking about the Tropics that we know, invisible lines on the earth's surface, but about places in the sky, its north and south poles. When he says that Capricorn is the southernmost point, he means, I think, the southernmost point attained by the sun in its yearly movement north and south in the sky. For earlier in the essay he said, speaking of Homer..there are two extremities in the heavens, viz., the winter tropic, than which nothing is more southern, and the summer tropic, than which nothing is more northern. But the summer tropic is in Cancer, and the winter tropic in Capricorn. And since Cancer is nearest to us, it is very properly attributed to the Moon, which is the nearest of all the heavenly bodies to the earth. But as the southern pole by its great distance is invisible to us, hence Capricorn is attributed to Saturn, the highest and most remote of all the planets. Again, the signs from Cancer to Capricorn are situated in the following order: and the first of these is Leo, which is the house of the Sun; afterwards Virgo, which is the house of Mercury; Libra, the house of Venus; Scorpio, of Mars; Sagittarius, of Jupiter; and Capricorn, of Saturn. But from Capricorn in an inverse order Aquarius is attributed to Saturn; Pisces to Jupiter; Aries to Mars; Taurus to Venus; Gemini to Mercury; and in the last place Cancer to the Moon.
What is important for our purposes is that the gate for mortals, Cancer, is associated with the lowest of the planetary wanderers, the Moon, and the the one for immortals, Capricorn, is associated with the highest, Saturn.He likewise elsewhere speaks of the gates of the Sun, signifying by these Cancer and Capricorn, for the Sun proceeds as far as to these signs, when he descends from the north to the south, and from thence ascends again to the northern parts. But Capricorn and Cancer are situated about the galaxy, |33 being allotted the extremities of this circle; Cancer indeed the northern, but Capricorn the southern extremity of it.
On the Moon card we have two guard-houses, one for each Tropic; and we know from Clement of Alexandria's account of pagan beliefs that each has a dog. I quoted him in an earlier post: here it is again, from Stromata Book V Chapter 6, at http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02105.htm)Theologists therefore assert, that these two gates are Cancer and Capricorn; but Plato calls them entrances. And of these, theologists say, that Cancer is the gate through which souls descend; but Capricorn that through which they ascend. Cancer is indeed northern, and adapted to descent; but Capricorn is southern, and adapted to ascent. The northern parts, likewise, pertain to souls descending into generation. And the gates of the cavern which are turned to the north are rightly said to be pervious to the descent of men; but the southern gates are not the avenues of the Gods, but of souls ascending to the Gods. On this account, the poet does not say that they are the avenues of the Gods, but of immortals; this appellation being also common to our souls, which are per se, or essentially, immortal.
A couple of years ago Michael Hurst sent me a different scheme from Plutarch, where Clotho is the Sun and Atropos is the Moon -mikeh wrote: Plutarch at the end brings in the Fates:Of the three Fates too Atropos enthroned in the sun initiates generation, Clotho in motion on the moon mingles and binds together, and finally upon the earth Lachesis too puts her hand to the task, she who has the largest share in chance.
Atropos, the one who cuts the thread, for Plutarch is the one associated with the Sun and generation. For while in being taken back by the sun the soul dies in bliss, pure mind is born in the sun, and the sun generates new souls in the womb of the moon. Clotho, the one who spins the yarn, the stuff of soul, is associated with the Moon, the place of soul-substance. Finally, Lachesis, the one who measures the thread that determines the length of life, is for Plutarch the fate associated with the earth, for "she has the largest share in chance."
The early tarot cards, such as the "Charles VI" and "Beaux-Arts-Rothschild," had it differently: Clotho was on the Sun card, perhaps, among other things, by virtue of such verses as Ecclesiastes 1:3: "What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?" But the Vieville of 1650 fits Plutarch's text.
Michael -Today I have spent some time trying to figure out how a woman with a distaff could be thought an appropriate vignette to illustrate the Sun. I learned someting from Lacroix and Kastner, that "la Parque" is a collective term for the three Fates. This reminded me that the person who discusses the Sun card in Berti and Vitali's 1987 book used the term "la Parca" for the spinster in the card. So a century and a half ago somebody also saw Clotho (standing for all three) in that card. The dictionary says that "la Parca" is also a term for "death", and if you check images under "la parca" you get mostly the Grim Reaper.
But that doesn't answer the question - why would the Fates illustrate the Sun? Diogenes and Alexander brings to mind the punchline of the Sun immediately. Why the two children in the Tarot de Marseille? And for some of the other vignettes on the Star, Moon and Sun...
Anyway, I have come up with four possible subjects, which might be recognizable to an early 15th century audience, given what I know so far -
Eve (helps explain the two children, if boys - but still doesn't explain why relevant to the Sun - unless "toil under the blazing sun" is implied)
Mary (unconvcing, since she might too sacred a subject, and there is no Annunciation indication - so it's far-fetched)
Clotho (seems to be favored by generations, but still I don't understand why it would be a way to illustrate the Sun)
A woman spinning = woman's work (thus back to the "toil under the blazing sun" notion... but it seems a bit ad hoc)
Me -Apparently Plutarch says, "Atropos is situated in the invisible, Clotho in the sun, and Lachesis in the moon."
"A couple more quotes re Clotho in Plutarch (De genio Socratis 591B)I got a good Bible quote for it - Proverbs 31:19 "She lays her hands to the spindle, and her hand holds the distaff." Since it is the last chapter, there might be a tradition of illuminating Proverbs with an image of such a woman (the whole last section is about the qualities of a righteous woman, who is worth more than anything in the world). So, it might tie in with the next book in the Bible, Ecclesiastes, which starts off about vanity and everything being the same under the Sun. I'm guessing about some such kind of association, but I haven't found any illumations yet. I haven't seen much really, to tell the truth.
Cosmic Christology in Paul and the Pauline SchoolAccording to plutarch, if the air between the earh and the moon were to be removed and withdrawn, the unity and connection of the universe would be broken up since there would be an empty and unbound space in the middle. Similarly, there are said to be four principles of all things, the principles of life, motion, generation, and decay which are bound together at the various levels of the cosmos. The monad at the invisible (the outer rim of the celestial sphere) binds the first principle together with the second, the second in turn is bound together with the third by the demiurgic mind at the sun, while the third is bound together with the fourth by nature at the moon. These bonds are taken charge of by Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis respectively, the goddess of fate and daughters of necesity.
With the emphasis of the irrational soul and the mixture of forces in the sublunary realm, Plutarch's cosmology allows for the possibility of astrology. Plutarch also posits four principles (arkhê) in the cosmos, Life, Motion, Generation and Decay (De genio Socratis, 591b). Life is linked to Motion through the activity of the Invisible, through the Monad; Motion is linked to Generation through the Mind (Nous); and Generation is linked to Decay through the Soul. The three Fates (Moirai) are also linked to this cycle as Clotho seated in the Sun presided over the first process, Atropo, seated in the Moon, over the second, and Lachesis over the third on Earth (cf. De facie in orbe lunae, 945c-d). At death the soul of a person leaves the body and goes to Moon, the mind leaves the soul and goes to Sun. The reverse process happens at birth. Plutarch is not rigid with his use of planetary symbolism, for in another place, he associates the Sun with the demiurge, and the young gods with the Moon, emphasizing the rational and irrational souls.
In De Genio Socratis, 591B Atropos is situated in the invisible, Clotho in the sun, and Lachesis in the moon. The order there is the same as it is here and different from that in the De Fato (568E), where in interpretation of Republic, 617C Clotho is highest, Lachesis lowest, and Atropos intermediate. Both orders differ from that of Xenocrates (frag. 5 [Heinze]), which was Atropos (intelligible and supra-celestial), Lachesis (opinable and celestial), Clotho (sensible and sublunar). The order of De Facie and De Genio Socratis is that of Plato's Laws, 960C, where Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos are named in ascending order as the epithet of Atropos, Τρίτη σώτειρα, shows; here in the De Facie it is the passage of the Republic, however, that Plutarch has in mind, for his συνεφάπτεται is an echo of Plato's ἐφαπτομένην and ἐφάπτεσθαι there. Cf. H. Dörrie, Hermes, LXXXII (1954), pp331‑342 (especially pp337‑339), who discusses the relation of these passages to the pre-history of the Neoplatonic doctrine of hypostases and argues that in writing them Plutarch was inspired by Xenocrates.