(A very brief restatement of my interpretation of Hesiod's "Ages of Man" (from the Works and Days) and Empedocles on Nature:)

Above all are the eternal gods: bright Spirit, clear Heaven, the dark Abyss, and twilit Earth. Spirit pervades all, but the others are inhabited by five races: the immortal, good Golden, native inhabitants of Heaven; the long-lived, ambivalent Silver, native inhabitants of the Abyss; the wicked Bronze, guests of the Abyss; the righteous Heroic, guests of Heaven; and us, the weary Iron, native inhabitants of Earth. When one of the Iron race dies, if they too are righteous, they join the Heroes in Heaven; otherwise, they join the Bronze in the Abyss for a time before being reborn to Earth.

Photograph of Athena, Nike, and Dionysus by @franditaynch.

As in my last essay, I have compared the myth of Osiris to its precise Greek equivalent, the myth of Dionysus. For being perhaps the most discussed myth of late antiquity, it is very difficult to find a comprehensive, authoritative version of that myth! The best I've managed to find is Thomas Taylor's synthesis (The Eleusinian and Bacchic Mysteries II) of the myth from "a variety of authors:"

I mentioned before that I think Isis and Osiris are universal, and hence the mysteries of Isis and the story of her wandering represents a universal process. Similarly, I think that Horus is the individual soul, and hence the mysteries of Horus and the story of his war with Set represents an individual process. In the same way that Plato (Symposium 202E ff.) mediates gods and men with daimons, and Iamblichus (cf. E. R. Dodds, Proclus: the Elements of Theology pp. xix, xxii) relies on the "law of mean terms" to unite disparate principles, I think that this myth acts as a mediator between the two other myths; so if the mysteries of Isis describe the macrocosm and the mysteries of Horus describe the microcosm, then the mysteries of Osiris must describe the mesocosm. In that sense, it is no wonder that Apuleius (Golden Ass XI) says that the mysteries repeat themselves: they are describing the same process over again from three perspectives.

Recalling that the Isis myth is universal in scope, it refers to a global reunification, in which Earth becomes able to reflect Fire as perfectly as it is capable of, in humanity. We haven't talked about the Horus myth yet, but given that Horus is the individual soul, it refers to the reunification of the individual soul with Fire, it's father and source. Therefore, the Osiris myth is between them in scope, and if it is to preserve a sort of fractal self-similarity, it must refer to a reunification in human society. I don't think this is a stretch at all: we clearly see these three scales reflected in the myth when Isis institutes the mysteries [C8], explicitly linking the parts of Osiris (the universal) with the parts of Egypt (the societal) and with the parts of Man (the individual). (For a listing of which part is which, see E. A. Wallis Budge, Legends of the Gods p. 224 fn. 2). We also see this fractal self-similarity in the very structure of Egyptian architecture, as R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz discusses.

Therefore the pieces in which Set divides Osiris refer to the division of humanity into parts of whatever sort (regions, classes, professions, individuals, etc.), while Isis gathering them back into a whole refers to the organization of society in a "natural" fashion, according to the skills and abilities of each part of society, so that each might work towards the benefit of all. (Presumably, the specific number of fourteen refers to the major cult centers of Osiris; because each of these refers to a specific body part, and each body part has a particular function, it is plausible that there was once some formal association with certain professions or skills, which I can only guess at. I have conjectured that the specific number of fourteen may have a geometric mnemonic related to it; but that, too, is only a guess.) Such an ordering of society, like Plotinus tells us, causes society to mirror Mind as perfectly as possible, creating peace and leisure. Not only is this rewarding of itself, but freeing that part of humanity which is capable of reascent at a given time from animal concerns allows them to focus on spiritual concerns, which is represented by the fish eating Osiris's penis and Isis making and consecrating of a new one. Therefore, the cultivation and education of individual souls from the abundance produced by a civilized society is how Isis draws the essence of Osiris from the fragments and gives birth to Horus the Younger, those souls who have reached the point of reascent and have the freedom to be able to do so. Thus the universal becomes individual and the One becomes many.

I don't think this cultivation necessarily refers to an explicitly priestly class; Empedocles says of those who are drawing near to reascent:

εἰς δὲ τέλος μάντεις τε καὶ ὑμνόπολοι καὶ ἰητροί
καὶ πρόμοι ἀνθρώποισιν ἐπιχθονίοισι πέλονται·
ἔνθεν ἀναβλαστοῦσι θεοὶ τιμῇσι φέριστοι.

Finally they become prophets and hymn-singers and doctors
and leaders among men who dwell on earth;
thence they sprout up as most-exalted gods.

Plotinus speaks of lovers, aesthetes, and philosophers in a similar way. Presumably there are as many avenues for individuals to develop as there are individual souls, and this is why any organization of society must be done along "natural" lines by Isis (that is, by evaluation of each individual's talents, interests, and capacities), rather than forced by some other means of classism. To be honest, I really wonder about all this: our "leaders" are the most dangerous enemies of their nations, our "physicians" promote sickness rather than healing, our "singers" sing only the most vapid "poetry," our "philosophers" have taken a nosedive into nihilism, and so our society is almost the photographic negative of an ordered one; and yet, here I am, trying my very best to do as my angel bids, and they would not push me so if there were nothing to be gained from it. Indeed, I'd imagine that the making of a heaven-on-earth would prevent people from seeking that higher Heaven—after all, it is well said that "man's extremity is God's opportunity." So while it's clearly a good to have a society that reflects divinity as clearly as it can and we might wish to live in such a society, we should be careful what we wish for and trust that Providence knows what it is doing when it places us here. Still, we know so little about Egypt's material accomplishments even when they were literally set in stone—how much less can we know about its spiritual accomplishments, which leave no record behind? So I suppose I should give them the benefit of the doubt.

Either way, I think we see the exact same process in the Dionysus myth. Dionysus ("Zeus of Nysa," that is, the god of the upper world) is Osiris. The Titans are the separatory forces of the lower world ("matter"). I think Dionysus becoming fascinated by his reflection is a cute development of Set's beautiful box, showing Mind wishing to reflect itself in matter. Similarly, the boiling of Dionysus in water (the last of the roots) and roasting in fire (the first of the roots) is a cute description of the loss of Mind in matter and the restructuring of matter to form a reflection of Mind to form humanity, just as Zeus does from the ashes of the Titans. Athena is civilization, and her snatching away and restoration of Dionysus's heart is the structuring of civilization to reflect the order inherent in Mind as closely as possible. Apollo is Horus, and the giving of the pieces of Dionysus to Apollo indicates that, by so structuring society in an orderly manner, its parts—individual souls—can become as Apollo (who fell to Earth, served Admetus for a time, and reascended to heaven).

Another related myth is that of Attis and Kybele: Attis falling in love with a nymph is the same as Dionysus becoming fascinated with his reflection; leaving Kybele to live with her is the Mind's descent into matter; the cutting off of his penis is the turn from material concerns to spiritual concerns; and finally Attis returns to Kybele's side, that is, Mind reascends to heaven. Plutarch doesn't specify where Set scatters the pieces of Osiris, but since Isis is said to search up and down the Nile in a reed boat, I must suppose that the pieces are scattered beside the Nile, which is just the same as Attis lying by the Gallus ("Galaxy," i.e. Milky Way), indicating the scattering of Mind at the border of the material world now that matter can reflect Mind (however imperfectly).

Perhaps because of the apalling time in which we live, I've always found politics somewhere between distasteful and outright dangerous, and so I have paid very little attention to the political side of the philosophical tradition (and, indeed, have expressed my bewilderment at Plotinus's involvement in it). But there is a very important political side to it: the Pythagoreans were destroyed because of it, Plato's most acclaimed books concern themselves with it, Plotinus's great regret was his failure to implement it, Plethon's life work was its attempted restoration, etc. If my interpretation of the Osiris myth is correct—and I'm not the first to propose Plato got his politics from Heliopolis—it's clear why it is such an important thread woven through the tradition: is Plato's wish for a philosopher-king really any different from Egypt's (admittedly imperfect, but remarkably durable) example of a Horus-Pharaoh? I suppose I'll have to hold my nose and make a close reading of the Republic, Laws, Epinomis, and the remaining fragments of the Book of Laws one of these days...

I've focused on the myth itself and ignored all the really weird shit they say about the cults and festivals of Osiris, Dionysus, Attis, Baal, Adonis, and so on. It would take a book to do so and I'm not the one to write it, since I can't even make heads or tails of my own culture, let alone those of three thousand years ago! But let me at least spend a brief moment on an anecdote which I was reminded of lately: the story of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great. If you're not familiar, Plutarch tells us a very silly story about her and her snaky cuddle-buddy in his Life of Alexander:

We are told that Philip, after being initiated into the mysteries of Samothrace at the same time with Olympias, he himself being still a youth and she an orphan child, fell in love with her and betrothed himself to her at once[. ... After the marriage,] a serpent was once seen lying stretched out by the side of Olympias as she slept, and we are told that this, more than anything else, dulled the ardour of Philip's attentions to his wife, so that he no longer came often to sleep by her side, either because he feared that some spells and enchantments might be practised upon him by her, or because he shrank from her embraces in the conviction that she was the partner of a superior being.

But concerning these matters there is another story to this effect: all the women of these parts were addicted to the Orphic rites and the orgies of Dionysus from very ancient times [...]. Now Olympias, who affected these divine possessions more zealously than other women, and carried out these divine inspirations in wilder fashion, used to provide the revelling companies with great tame serpents, which would often lift their heads from out the ivy and the mystic winnowing-baskets, or coil themselves about the wands and garlands of the women, thus terrifying the men.

However, after his vision, as we are told, Philip sent Chæron of Megalopolis to Delphi, by whom an oracle was brought him from Apollo, who bade him sacrifice to Zeus Amun and hold that god in greatest reverence, but told him he was to lose that one of his eyes which he had applied to the chink in the door when he espied the god, in the form of a serpent, sharing the couch of his wife.

(Philip lost his right eye a couple years later, during the siege of Methone.) This whole story is almost certainly completely false, but apparently, Alexander took it to heart, as Aulus Gellius (Attic Nights XIII iv, paraphrased) tells us:

Alexander had written a letter to his mother addressed as, "King Alexander, son of Zeus Amun, to his mother Olympias, greetings." Olympias replied, "My son, please be silent in such matters and do not slander me before Hera, for she exacts cruel vengeance upon her husband's paramours." This courteous reply from the wise and prudent woman was meant to dissuade her son from his foolish arrogance, stoked by his great successes in battle and the flattery of his courtiers, without herself earning his ire.

Snakes, which periodically shed their skin and so appear to become young again, are representative of immortality: they are therefore a fitting symbol of the mysteries, which teach that humans are essentially immortal and attempt to show them how they may attain to higher Life, which is, in fact, the meaning behind the myth of Cadmus and Harmonia being turned into snakes (by Dionysus, no less!) before being led to Elysium (cf. Pseudo-Apollodorus, Library III v).

How many initiates—to say nothing of the masses!—attain to that degree of understanding, though? It is no wonder, especially given the association of the mysteries with maenads and orgies and phallic idols, that all sorts of silly stories concerning snakes crop up. Presumably, if Olympias was known for her wisdom then she made something of her initiations!

But the reason I mention all this (besides the story being amusing) is because it made me remember something about Apollo's own Revealer of the Mysteries:

Of Plotinus's last moments, Eustochius has given me an account. He himself was staying at Puteoli and was late in arriving. When he at last came, Plotinus said: "I have been a long time waiting for you: I am striving to give back the Divine in myself to the Divine in the All." As he spoke a snake crept under the bed on which he lay and slipped away into a hole in the wall; at the same moment Plotinus died.

(Porphyry, Life of Plotinus II.)

The snake should have been a hint: Plotinus never died! Like Cadmus, he merely shed his skin.

Earlier this year, I spent a month or so going over the Corpus Hermeticum. I didn't think a whole lot of it at the time; I had just figured it was something worth studying to round out my exploration of Hellenistic philosophy a little. But my angel pulled my attention back to it a couple weeks ago: some of the images it contains helped to crystalize my thoughts concerning the myth. I suppose this should not be so surprising, since Hermetism developed out of a blending of Egyptian (including Heliopolitan), Greek (including Pythagorean), and Assyrian religious sensibilities... consider, for example, the following in light of my last post:

I saw an endless vision in which everything became light—clear and joyful—and in seeing the vision I came to love it. After a little while, darkness arose separately and descended—fearful and gloomy—coiling sinuously so that it looked to me like a snake. Then the darkness changed into something of a watery nature, indescribably agitated and smoking like a fire; it produced an unspeakable wailing roar. Then an inarticulate cry like the voice of fire came forth from it. But from the light a holy word mounted upon the watery nature, and untempered fire leapt up from the watery nature to the height above. The fire was nimble and piercing and active as well, and because the air was light it followed after spirit and rose up to the fire away from earth and water so that it seemed suspended from the fire. Earth and water stayed behind, mixed with one another, so that earth could not be distinguished from water, but they were stirred to hear by the spiritual word that moved upon them.

(Corpus Hermeticum I "Poimandres" iv–v, as translated by Brian P. Copenhaver.)

The plunging of fire above into water below, being infused with a holy word, and rising again above earth and water sounds quite a bit like Empedocles's separation and recombination of roots, does it not? Indeed, in his summary of Empedocles, Hippolytus gives us (Refutation of All Heresies VII xvii) the elegant image of the Demiurge acting as a blacksmith, taking souls as if they are irons and successively plunging them into fire and water in order to temper them. With all that successive expansion and contraction, is it any wonder that mortal life is so stressful?

We have talked about how Osiris is Fire; Set, Air; Isis, Earth; and Nephthys, Water; but we have not talked about what the roots really are. I think there's good reason for that: nobody knows. This is not to be critical of any commentator in particular, but rather simply because we are speaking about the gods, and the gods are beyond human comprehension: you can't categorize the gods because they're the categories! So the best we can do is to classify phenomena in terms of the gods, as Fiery or Airy or Earthy or Watery; this will help us to sketch broadly some of the meanings of the myth, but of course the myth has as many different meanings as the gods themselves do.

One of Empedocles's fragments gives a poetic illustration of the properties of some of the roots which can help us:

ἠέλιον μὲν λαμπρὸν ὁρᾶν καὶ θερμὸν ἁπάντῃ, [...]
ὄμβρον δ' ἐν πᾶσι δνοφόεντά τε ῥιγαλέον τε·
ἐκ δ' αἴης προρέουσι θελυμνά τε καὶ στερεωπά.

the Sun, bright to look on and hot in every respect, [...]
and rain, in all things dark and cold;
and there flow from the Earth things dense and solid.

Our old friend Proclus further provides a rigorous classification scheme (Commentary on the Timaeus III xxxviii–xliv), describing the roots in terms of three properties: ὀξύτης "sharpness" (vs. ἀμβλύτης "bluntness") indicating that Fire pervades the other roots and suffuses the cosmos; λεπτομέρεια "fineness" (vs. παχυμέρεια "coarseness"), indicating that Fire and Air are spiritual while Water and Earth are material; and εὐκινησία "ease of motion" (vs. ἀκινησία "stasis"), indicating that Earth is bound by inertia while the other roots are not. Each root varies from the next densest root by the presence or absence of exactly one property, as follows:

This classification scheme is Proclus's, but there's support for it elsewhere in the tradition: Plato (Timaeus 56A ff., 58B ff.) and Aristotle (On Generation and Corruption II iii) make the distinction between sharp Fire and the other roots; Hippolytus (Refutation of All Heresies VII xvii) summarizes Empedocles by calling Water and Earth material, but Fire and Air immaterial; etc.

There are other traditional schemes of classifying the elements—Aristotle, for example, famously classifies them as secondary to the properties hot, cold, wet, and dry—but Proclus demonstrates that these disagree with Empedocles and so I will ignore them.

In light of these properties and the metaphysics they imply, let me hazard a rough guess at one possible way of interpreting what the gods refer to in the myth, with the understanding that there are surely many others that are all valid.

Osiris, as Fire, is (among other things) energy and light. I have in the past equated light with the soul, and I think that applies here, with a caveat. Osiris is what the Greeks call νοῦς "Mind," but this isn't what we normally think of today as the mind, the thing that thinks; it is more like pure, unreflective consciousness (hence why Osiris is naive and innocent). Susan Brind Morrow (The Dawning Moon of the Mind I) says that his name (𓊨𓁹, Ꜣusjrj) means "the seat of the eye," presumably whatever that thing is that "sits behind the eyes." (This strikes me as a very curious conception, since I don't think one's consciousness sits anywhere, but it seems that I am unusual in this regard.) When Plato and Proclus say that Fire is "sharp," they are saying that it is able to penetrate through the other roots, suffusing the entire cosmos with Light and Life (an image also evoked by Air and Water being transparent). Pythagoras tells us that the Monad is Fiery; Plotinus tells us that the Mind is unitary; and the Poimanders corroborates:

[Poimandres said,] "I am the light you saw: mind, your god [...]. The light-giving word who comes from mind is the son of god. [...] This is what you must know: that in you which sees and hears is the word of the lord, but your mind is god the father; they are not divided from one another for their union is life."

Thus I suppose there is only one Fire—that is to say, there is only one consciousness, and our experience of individuality is merely that consciousness "seeing" through individual bodies, the same as a single Fire emits many rays of light. Presumably consciousness is universal and indivisible because meaning is separate from judgement: Osiris does not discriminate good from bad, but considers everything as good and right just as it is (which is why everything is joyful and perfect at the beginning of the myth when he rules in Egypt). But, just like Osiris's "essence" is born as Horus, so too does the universal Mind contain "the light-giving word," the individual soul, within it. This is reiterated by Aetius, who tells us (Doxographi Graeci CCCXCII) that Empedocles says "that soul and mind are the same thing:" Fire is what animates the cosmos, and there is no corner so dark that it does not penetrate to.

Set, as Air, is (among other things) the world of Hesiod's golden race (and the righteous part of the lower races) and which Plotinus cryptically describes as vast and diverse. It is perhaps unsurprising that our notions of this world are vague, as Air is, of course, invisible and sparse. Air mediates between energetic Fire and dense matter: it is therefore, somewhat paradoxically, separatory from the perspective of Fire (hence why it is Set that tricks Osiris into a box and chops him into pieces) but unitive from the perspective of matter (hence why Set is also the protector of Ra in his underworld journey).

Isis, as Earth, is (among other things) the familiar Material Cosmos which gives form and structure to things, and of which your body makes up a very tiny part. It is her skirt that the Western scientific tradition has spent the last four hundred years trying (and failing) to peek under. (This failure is because Earth, being a god, is ever-fecund: the more Fire works upon her, the more she brings forth. This is why Plotinus calls Nature infinitely-divisible and why scientists find more and more subatomic particles the closer and closer they look.) I had noted previously that her name in Egyptian (𓊨𓏏, Ꜣusat) simply means "the seat;" I think this is because Earth, as the densest root, is the foundation of the world upon which all else rests. Isis is depicted as stern and severe because Earth is static: Nature's laws cannot be broken—woe unto them who attempt it—and it is for this reason that she and Demeter are both called θεσμοφόρος (thesmophoros, "law-giving").

Nephthys, as Water, is also matter but of a much more subtle sort: she is (among other things) the Underworld, the world of Hesiod's silver race (and the unrighteous part of the lower races), the substance of dreams, mental imagery, ghosts, etc., and of which your "lower soul" ("astral body") makes up a very tiny part. Empedocles's commentators all call Water "nutritive" because it connects dense Earth to the all-pervading light (energy, vitality, etc.) of the immaterial, and it is for this reason that while Isis is the mother of Horus, Nephthys is said to be his nurse; this association is echoed by Homer (Odyssey XI) when Odysseus first offers a libation of milk to the dead.

Those are the gods in macrocosm. In the microcosm, we have the Fiery, Airy, Watery, and Earthy parts of one's self, and I personally have been wondering if this is where Plato got his tripartite theory of soul: one's Fiery part is the λόγος (logos, usually translated "reason," but also "word," as in the Poimandres, above), the seat of consciousness; one's Airy part is the θυμός (thumos, "passion"), the seat of emotion; and one's Watery part is the ἐπιθυμία (epithumia, "desire"), the seat of appetite, since Empedocles says that desire is caused by a lack of nutrition. (One's Earthy part is of course the body, the seat of sensation, and hence is not counted as a "part of soul" at all.) I think we should be careful of words like "reason" for Fire: we think of "reason" as one's capacity for discursive or logical thought, but Empedocles is emphatic that thinking occurs in the blood because it is as close to a perfect mix of the roots in the body as possible: thought involves all of one's capacities. Instead, I think "word" is meant in the sense of "the expression of an idea:" the soul is the expression of a unique idea in the divine Mind, which is just what Horus is with respect to Osiris.

It is interesting to compare (my interpretation of) Empedocles's roots with Plotinus, since while there are broad similarities, we have a few differences, too. Empedocles's roots are co-eval, while Plotinus's hypostases are explicitly ordered. Empedocles's roots all co-exist and indeed seem to mix to various degrees, while Plotinus's hypostases seem much more discrete and separate from each other. Plotinus separates Mind and souls and makes them eternal, while Empedocles equates them and makes them merely immortal. Plotinus considers the Mind to be the demiurge ("Creator"), while Empedocles assigns this role to Strife (as the force that brings beings into becoming) rather than Fire. I haven't spent a lot of time unpacking these differences, but I think doing so would be worthwhile; my "Bayesian prior," so to speak, is to assume that Plotinus is a refinement of Empedocles, since while we don't know what became of Empedocles—certainly, he didn't jump into Etna!—we have on unimpeachable authority what became of Plotinus! Alas, it's impossible to know what the Egyptian priests throughout the millennia believed and taught (and, indeed, what may have become of them).

With those keys in hand, let's proceed to the mysteries of Isis. Hesiod gave us the authoritative Greek version of the theogony, but the authoritative version of the Demeter myth comes from the Homeric Hymns, and this is what I have compared Plutarch with. The two agree so closely that the relationship between them is certain:

This part of the myth has two broad sections: B1–14 and 26–7 (which describes Isis wandering), and B14–25 (which describes Isis instituting her mysteries). The Osiris part of the myth also has a section on the institution of his mysteries, and while it is very brief, we could probably reconstruct a bit from the comparable Assyrian, Phrygian, and Greek mysteries (no doubt there were lots of penises involved). The Horus part of the myth lacks such a section: I suppose that it must have existed but any details are lost to us.

While the Isis myth and the Demeter myth both share nearly identical structures, I think that they have very different meanings. The latter is, of course, about the descent of an individual soul into matter due to desire and getting stuck in the cycle of reincarnation. But Osiris isn't an individual soul: Horus is, and he will not be seen until the end of the Isis myth's sequel. This myth, then, is universal in scope: it is about the descent and loss of consciousness in matter in its entirety, and the slow, slow process by which material bodies are evolved to be capable of admitting the reascent of souls at all. That is, we are speaking of the creation of humanity.

Initially, Osiris rules Egypt, teaching the Egyptians all good things. Egypt is the spiritual world of Fire and Air: Osiris is Fire itself and the Egyptians are Empedocles's daimons, the denizens of Air which Osiris "illuminates"—that is, gives life and consciousness to. Hesiod seems to imply, and Plotinus says explicitly, that some great souls never descend into the material world of Water and Earth at all; I think the myth teaches the same thing, since Osiris teaches them to refrain from cannbalism, which is what Empedocles says causes daimons to fall. In the same way, in the Demeter myth, Nysa is the spiritual world and the Oceanids are those souls that do not fall. Egypt and Nysa are both the sky, and the Egyptians and Oceanids (the daughters of the heavenly Ocean) are, of course, the stars. (Indeed, because of the ease of identifying Egypt and the Egyptians, or Nysa and the Oceanids, with the stars, I wonder if my previous association of Nut with Love was incorrect: perhaps Nut is simply the spiritual world of Fire and Air, while Geb is the material world of Water and Earth. Something to consider further—alas, so many of my speculations raise more questions than answers!)

Plotinus tells us that the reason for the descent of souls is that the Mind endeavors to be comprehensive, conscious of all that it can possibly be conscious of. This is why Osiris desires the box and allows himself to be tricked into it: the descent of souls isn't an individual sin so much as a universally necessary byproduct of the Mind's comprehensivity: it is not man that falls, but Man—or, perhaps, the entire category of beings of which humanity constitutes but a small part. The Nile is the Milky Way, the "bridge" by which the divine (the greater world, the galaxy) connects to the material (the smaller world, the solar system). Byblos is the Earth. So Osiris being sealed in Set's box, dumped in the Nile, coming to rest in Byblos, and being encased in a stalk of heather shows Mind being encased first in Air, then in Water, and finally in Earth: matter is not initially capable of supporting consciousness, and so Mind in the lower world is lost, incapable of expression, "dead."

And that is just why Isis wanders and frets so over Osiris: there need to be forms such that the Mind can express itself in Earth as completely as possible, but Earth is so solid and fixed that it is difficult to contort it into a shape that makes this possible, and so it takes long, long ages of time to accomplish. That is, Isis's wandering represents the process of evolution. We think of this as a modern notion invented by Charles Darwin, but several of Empedocles's fragments discuss it, saying that the first creatures appeared out of the earth parthenogenically, and gradually combined and mixed into ever-more sophisticated forms which can exemplify, however imperfectly, the attributes of the higher world:

οὐλοφυεῖς μὲν πρῶτα τύποι χθονὸς ἐξανέτελλον,
ἀμφοτέρων ὕδατός τε καὶ εἴδεος αἶσαν ἔχοντες·
τοὺς μὲν πῦρ ἀνέπεμπε θέλον πρὸς ὁμοῖον ἱκέσθαι,
οὔτε τί πω μελέων ἐρατὸν δέμας ἐμφαίνοντας,
οὔτ' ἐνοπὴν οὔτ' αὖ ἐπιχώριον ἀνδράσι γυῖον. [...]
ᾗ πολλαὶ μὲν κόρσαι ἀναύχενες ἐβλάστησαν.
γυμνοὶ δ' ἐπλάζοντο βραχίονες εὔνιδες ὤμων,
ὄμματά τ' οἶ' ἐμπλανᾶτο πενητεύοντα μετώπων[, ...]
αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ κατὰ μεῖζον ἐμίσγετο δαίμονι δαίμων,
ταῦτά τε συμπίπτεσκον, ὅπῃ συνέκυρσεν ἕκαστα,
ἄλλα τε πρὸς τοῖς πολλὰ διηνεκῆ ἐξεγένοντο. [...]
πολλὰ μὲν ἀμφιπρόσωπα καὶ ἀμφίστερνα φύεσθαι,
βουγενῆ ἀνδρόπρῳρα, τὰ δ' ἔμπαλιν ἐξανατέλλειν
ἀνδροφυῆ βούκρανα, μεμιγμένα τῇ μὲν ἀπ' ἀνδρῶν
τῇ δὲ γυναικοφυῆ, στείροις ἠσκημένα γυίοις.

First there came up from the Earth whole-natured outlines
having a share of both Water and Heat;
Fire sent them up, wanting to reach its like,
and they did not yet show any lovely frame of limbs,
nor voice nor again the male "limb." [...]
Then sprouted up many heads without necks
and arms wandered naked, bereft of shoulders,
and eyes roamed alone bereft of brows[, ...]
But when daimon mixed more with daimon,
and these things came together as each happened to meet
and many others in addition to these were constantly emerging. [...]
Many grew with two heads or two torsos;
oxen with the heads of men, and others arose as
bull-headed men, and still others with mixed male
and female natures and so rendered sterile.

Note the presence of chance in Empedocles's description and reproductive fitness in this process: many bizarre and useless combinations are produced, but as Aristotle (Physics II viii) comments, "wherever all the parts came about as if they had been appropriately designed to, such creatures survived; but those which grew otherwise died out, just like Empedocles says his 'oxen with the heads of men' did."

In the Demeter myth, Persephone—the individual soul—already exists and is fully-formed in the mind of god before she falls; but in the Egyptian myth, it is universal Osiris who falls, containing Horus the Elder—the potential for individual souls—within him. Note also how Empedocles speaks of "daimon mixing more with daimon:" the Neoplatonist conception of souls as individual, discrete atoms clearly can't apply if they are capable of mixing! Instead, I wonder if the teaching here is that soul descends en masse like a cloud of fog, and it is only when it has reached the ground does the water vapor begin to condense into droplets, some greater, some less, which can finally reascend as unified wholes. Thus when Isis wanders aimlessly and when Empedocles speaks of chance, this seems to be saying that the descending soul is amorphous and that the individual soul that will eventually arise doesn't necessarily have a fixed form or unique place in the cosmos from the outset: it is only when Isis brings Osiris back to the Egyptian coast, which represents the creation of material forms (like humanity) that are on the very edge of the upper world and capable of individuation and reascent, that the amorphous group soul can begin to differentiate and individual souls begins to form. Until that point, we're dealing with something more akin to an undifferentiated continuum of soul-stuff; while Osiris is always one, it is Isis, in a sense, which draws the lines between which parts of Osiris go into one kind of creature and which go into another, and thus what eventually constitutes the "individual soul." It is uncomfortable for me to give chance much of a place in a universe ruled by Providence, but Plotinus says that happenstance is involved in the sublunary world, and perhaps this is the reason why Isis is said to invent while Osiris is said to teach: what Isis brings forth by chance, Osiris imbues with purpose? Certainly, it at least makes good sense of Iamblichus's and Proclus's argument that a human soul can't reincarnate as a beast: once the human part of the soul-continuum has differentiated, it is no longer the right "shape" to fit in bodies adapted to other parts of the soul-continuum. In any case, once Horus—whose purpose is to take flight—is born, it is hard to see how lower bodies can further that purpose, so even if it is possible, it must be impractical.

As a consequence of the above difference between the two myths, I think Demeter's wandering must mean something different from Isis's. Hesiod tells us (Theogony, l. 713) that "a brazen anvil falling down from Heaven nine nights and days would reach the Earth upon the tenth;" that is, nine days is presumably how long it takes for her to get from Heaven to Earth. As soon as she reaches the Earth, she meets with Hekate and Helios, the Moon and Sun, also suggesting this. But if this is so, her quitting Olympus in a huff afterwards seems to be confused: did she not already quit it?

Speaking of Hekate, we have not yet discussed Anubis, her counterpart in the Isis myth. By being the child of bright Fire and dark Water, he is obviously native to both the upper and lower worlds simultaneously, which of course is why he is said to be a psychopomp. But I think there's another side to it: Fire is the first of the roots while Water is the last, hence Anubis is the child of cause and effect; that is to say, he is the link between them, or karma. (He sits in judgement in Duat because one reviews their conscious actions (Fire) when they are dead (Water), as any number of near-death experiencers can tell you.) The dogs that lead Isis to Anubis are, as Pythagoras tells us, the planets, which are the mechanism by which karma operates: the circumstances or energies that cause us to have experiences (and to develop experience) in the lower world. Hippolytus (Refutation of all Heresies I iv) says that Empedocles believed that evils only existed in the sublunary world, and this is why Anubis attends to Isis—what we call "evil" is simply the consequences of selfish action. The equivalent of Anubis in the Demeter myth is Hekate, who follows Demeter (representing natural law generally) and eventually clings to Persephone (representing individual karma); the general Greek equivalent is Artemis (sibling of Apollo in the same way Anubis is the sibling of Horus): consider the myth of Actaeon, who is devoured by his own dogs (that is, his own deeds). Artemis and Hekate are both associated with the moon because this is where their influence begins.

The remainder of the myth concerns the institution of the mysteries themselves, and I think that this part switches gears significantly, since it appears to no longer be speaking of cosmic processes, but rather of the "ground rules" of the mysteries that initiates must abide by. No longer is Isis, Earth; or Osiris, Fire; etc.: Isis is now the initiator, Osiris is the mystery teachings themselves, Astarte and Malkander are the initiate, Diktys and the unnamed younger son are the initiate's personal Horus (soul) and Anubis (karma), etc.

Malkander is most likely a Greek transliteration of Phoenecian Melqart ("King of the City"); Astarte and Melqart were the local Isis and Osiris of Tyre. Indeed, Ishtar/Astarte/Aphrodite and Dumuzid/Hadad/Baal ("King")/Adonis ("Lord") were the local Isis and Osiris of many different cities in the Near East, just as Demeter and Zeus were at Eleusis. I think all this syncretism is because the mysteries were intended to be as tolerant and anti-dogmatic as possible; indeed, we see many, many local reflections of the myth: most of the heroes (ahem, Horuses) of Greek myth have echoes of the Isis myth in them, suggesting that they weren't historical kings but rather the names attached to local mystery cults. My favorite example of this is Achilles: Pseudo-Apollodorus (Library III xiii §6) tells us how Thetis would feed him ambrosia by day and burn him in a fire at night to make him immortal, but Peleus's outcry halted this. (He even says that the etymology of Achilles is ἀ-χεῖλος "without lips," indicating that Thetis never nursed him with her breast, just like Isis.)

What are these "ground rules?" Isis speaking to nobody and making-over Astarte's maids teaches how the mysteries did not proselytize, but how people were supposed to come to them of their own volition, whether by seeing the effects they had on other initiates (as here in the myth), or by being so directed in a dream (cf. Pausanias, Descriptions of Greece X xxxii; Apuleius, Golden Ass XI), or by intense personal drive (Apuleius, Apology §§53–6). Malkander making Osiris into a pillar in his house indicates that the initiate should take the mystery teachings into their heart (and, indeed, make them of central importance). Isis suckling Diktys with her finger rather than her breast indicates feeding one's soul spiritual food rather than indulging in material pleasures. Isis burning Diktys in the fire indicates meekly bearing material misfortunes. Astarte's outcry depriving Diktys of immortality is a censure of discussing the mysteries: one is only to contemplate them within their heart. Isis lamenting Osiris and killing Astarte's younger son thereby indicates that one must not bewail their lot: one can only become immortal by embracing their karma as a friend and guide, rather than a curse. Diktys peeking in the box to see Osiris and dying is a censure of trying to pry into the mysteries without having been legitimately initiated.

Isis's homeward journey with Osiris seems to me to be something of a reference to overcoming the elements: the heather stalk is earth, the Phaedrus river is water, the wind coming off the river is air, and Osiris himself is fire. But I don't think these are the actual Earth, Water, Air, and Fire, but rather merely the vulgar forms those principles take when reflected in Earth: the passage through them represents the mystery teachings giving one authority to overcome, or even command, the material world, just as Empedocles says:

φάρμακα δ' ὅσσα γεγᾶσι κακῶν καὶ γήραος ἄλκαρ
πεύσῃ, ἐπεὶ μούνῳ σοι ἐγὼ κρανέω τάδε πάντα.
παύσεις δ' ἀκαμάτων ἀνέμων μένος οἵ τ' ἐπὶ γαῖαν [· ...]
καὶ πάλιν, ἤν κ' ἐθέλῃσθα, παλίντιτα πνεύματ' ἐπάξεις· [...]
ἄξεις δ' ἐξ Ἀίδαο καταφθιμένου μένος ἀνδρός. [...]
εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἐν σφ' ἁδινῇσιν ὑπὸ πραπίδεσσιν ἐρείσας
εὐμενέως καθαρῇσιν ἐποπτεύσεις μελέτῃσιν,
ταῦτά τέ σοι μάλα πάντα δι' αἰῶνος παρέσονται,
ἄλλα τε πόλλ' ἀπὸ τω-νδε κτήσεαι· αὐτὰ γὰρ αὔξει
ταῦτ' εἰς ἦθος ἕκαστον, ὅπῃ φύσις ἐστὶν ἑκάστῳ.

All the potions which there are as a defence against evils and old age
you shall learn, since for you alone will I accomplish all these things.
You shall put a stop to the strength of tireless winds, [...]
and again, if you wish, you shall bring the winds back again, [...]
and you shall bring from Hades the strength of a man who has died. [...]
For if, thrusting [my words] deep down into your crowded heart,
you gaze on them in kindly fashion, with pure meditations,
absolutely all these things will be with you throughout your life,
and from these you acquire many others, for these things themselves
will expand to form each character, according to the nature of each.

Finally, there's one last thing I'd like to mention. When she becomes aware of Osiris's death, Isis puts on a mourning garment. As far as I can tell, this was a black linen cloth which was tied with a rope or long shawl, which went around the neck and arms as was tied between the breasts, supporting them, keeping the garment secure, and shaping it to the body. This girdle, I think, is the tyet knot of Isis, representing the shaping or binding principle, which is the property of Earth. The heather stalk that Osiris was contained within and which grew to prodigious size thereby is, of course, the djed pillar, representative of Mind as a quickening (erm, penetrating) principle, which is the property of Fire. When you combine the form of the tyet with the rigidity of the djed, you get an ankh, which is the symbol of Horus as the union of Earth and Fire, the individual soul, and that greater Life which it might aspire to. I think these three—a small knotted cord, a stalk of heather, and an ankh of reed or something—were made, perfumed, wrapped in linen, and given to initiates as mementos, in order to encourage them to contemplate the mysteries in private long after their initiations.

𓎬 𓊽 𓋹

Once upon a time there was a lamb who was being chased by a wolf and fled into a temple. The wolf stopped short of entering and called to the lamb, saying, "You know the priest will sacrifice you if he catches you in there, don't you?" The lamb replied, "Better sacrificed than eaten!"

(Æsop, "The Lamb and the Wolf.")

Suppose you are wronged: need that trouble an immortal? Suppose you are put to death: you have attained your desire! From the moment that your citizenship of the world becomes irksome, you are no longer bound to it!

(Plotinus, Enneads II ix "Against the Gnostics" §9.)

This universe of ours is a wonder of power and wisdom, everything by a noiseless road coming to pass according to a law which none may elude. The base man never conceives though it be leading him, all unknowingly, to that place in the All where his lot must be cast. The just man knows and, knowing, sets out to the place he must; understanding, even as he begins the journey, where he is to be housed at the end, and having the good hope that he will be with gods.

(Plotinus, Enneads IV iv "Problems of the Soul (2)" §45.)

You know, I've been bumping into a number of modern Gnostics lately, and I realized that thinking about the levels of reality per Hesiod and Empedocles has clarified my problem with their belief system.

Let us suppose they are right and there are wicked "gods" that farm humans and eat them. Then so what? Those "gods," being more subtle than us (and therefore not Earthy) but self-serving (and therefore not Airy), must be Watery beings. Water is a kind of matter; therefore these "gods" are material beings; therefore they are of a lower order than the soul; therefore they are not meaningfully different from abusive parents or a corrupt government or a spiteful witch. If you cultivate the purificatory virtues, their wickedness can act only as catharsis, speeding you on your way Home.

That is, the problem isn't necessarily that the Gnostics are wrong, but that the scope of their vision is too narrow. Aim higher!

Persephone's name, we are told, was taboo; this is why she is usually referred to as ἡ Κόρη "the Maiden" or ἡ Δέσποινα "Milady" or the like. But this makes no sense. In the Demeter myth, Persephone is you: her generic name is because there are as many Persephones as there are initiates. And if I'm right in synthesizing the Isis myth with Empedocles, and if Persephone/Nephthys is, in fact, the dread queen of the dead, then she is nonetheless the nurse of Horus (that is, you) and one of those who supports and aids you on your upward way.

Death is no evil; indeed, it is the gift which Zeus, in his infinite pity, bequeaths to us. Why fear that which is good? Is it because we do not wish to be rid of our illusions?

Empedocles writes,

All the potions which there are as a defence against evils and old age
you shall learn, since for you alone will I accomplish all these things.
You shall put a stop to the strength of tireless winds, [...]
and again, if you wish, you shall bring the winds back again, [...]
and you shall bring from Hades the strength of a man who has died. [...]
For if, thrusting [my words] deep down into your crowded heart,
you gaze on them in kindly fashion, with pure meditations,
absolutely all these things will be with you throughout your life,
and from these you acquire many others, for these things themselves
will expand to form each character, according to the nature of each.

That is, if you learn the true nature of things, you will gain all manner of magical powers and other things besides. Personally, I find the pursuit of power uninteresting, but the old magus isn't wrong: meditating on his poem has, indeed, given me other things, to my mind of far greater worth than mere magic. I'll be talking about some of these once I get my next Isis and Osiris post together, but in the meantime, let me share one of them with you that's tangential to that myth.

Empedocles's four roots are not mere elements; in fact, I think:

1. Fire, Air, Water, and Earth are all gods. (Thus we are firmly in polytheistic territory.)
2. Fire and Air are spiritual, while Water and Earth are material.
3. Fire is (among other things) νοῦς "Consciousness." There is only one Consciousness but that Fire emits Light, and every ray of Light is a ψυχή "soul." Since there is only one Fire and nothing can be experienced apart from it, there is a sense in which it is not only a god, but the god. (Thus we are also firmly in monotheistic territory.)
4. Air is mediate between Fire and the material world. It is (among other things) the substance of θυμός "emotion" and home of the higher category of daimons.
5. Water is mediate between the spiritual world and Earth. It is (among other things) the subtle matter of the underworld, "the stuff dreams are made of" [NB: video link], the substance of ἐπιθυμία "desire," and home of both the lower category of daimons and the dead.
6. Earth is (among other things) the dense matter of the waking world, the substance of the body and sensation, and home of the living.

I've mentioned that I think this model is Egyptian in origin and imported to Greece several times; we see versions of it used all through classical philosophy, from Plato to "Hermes Trismegistus" to Plotinus. One of these imports was by Pythagoras, from whom Empedocles got it. I think another was by "Orpheus" (Diodorus Siculus, Library of History I xxiii), from whom Hesiod got it, and I would like to consider my favorite statement of theology, Hesiod's Ages of Man (Works and Days ll. 106–201) in light of it. The poet says that his story is about "how gods and mortals come from the same source," and so I think he is speaking of the nature and placement of beings in the cosmos in the above model.

If you wish, I shall recapitulate another story, correctly and skillfully, and you lay it up in your spirit: how the gods and mortal human beings came about from the same origin.

Let me give some preliminary keys first. Remember that Zeus is Fire, Hades is Air, Nestis is Water, and Hera is Earth. The Cyclopes gifted Zeus his thunderbolts, which are the rays of Light emitted by Fire (e.g. souls). They also gifted Hades his cap of invisibility, which is the incorporeality of Air and its denizens. When Hesiod speaks of "the immortals who dwell on Olympus," he is referring to the gods (e.g. roots) collectively. When he speaks of Zeus, he is referring to Fire specifically; the "time of Zeus" is the world subordinate to Fire; e.g. the material world of Water and Earth. When he speaks of the "time of Cronus," he is referring to the world of Zeus; e.g. the spiritual world of Fire and Air.

Golden was the race of speech-endowed human beings which the immortals, who have their mansions on Olympus, made first of all. They lived at the time of Cronus, when he was king in the sky; just like gods they spent their lives, with a spirit free from care, entirely apart from toil and distress. Worthless old age did not oppress them, but they were always the same in their feet and hands, and delighted in festivities, lacking in all evils; and they died as if overpowered by sleep. They had all good things: the grain-giving field bore crops of its own accord, much and unstinting, and they themselves, willing, mildmannered, shared out the fruits of their labors together with many good things, wealthy in sheep, dear to the blessed gods. But since the earth covered up this race, by the plans of great Zeus they are fine spirits upon the earth, guardians of mortal human beings: they watch over judgments and cruel deeds, clad in invisibility, walking everywhere upon the earth, givers of wealth; and this kingly honor they received.

The immortal, happy, and carefree golden race are Empedocles's δολιχαίωνες δαίμονες "daimons with lives a mile long." These are the beings that natively inhabit Air and never needed to descend into the material world at all to actualize their purpose. They are immortal since Fire and Air are spiritual substances. (They "die as if overpowered by sleep" if they violate the oaths of Necessity and thus fall into the material world.) They are "clad in invisibility" because they are made of Air. They are happy because Air is the substance of emotion; they are carefree since, without a Watery or Earthy component, they do not have appetites or needs. The overall description of the race is, presumably, what life is like in the world of Air (at least to the degree we can comprehend it).

Afterward those who have their mansions on Olympus made a second race, much worse, of silver, like the golden one neither in body nor in mind. A boy would be nurtured for a hundred years at the side of his cherished mother, playing in his own house, a great fool. But when they reached adolescence and arrived at the full measure of puberty, they would live for a short time only, suffering pains because of their acts of folly. For they could not restrain themselves from wicked outrage against each other, nor were they willing to honor the immortals or to sacrifice upon the holy altars of the blessed ones, as is established right for human beings in each community. Then Zeus, Cronus's son, concealed these in anger, because they did not give honors to the blessed gods who dwell on Olympus. But since the earth covered up this race too, they are called blessed mortals under the earth—in second place, but all the same honor attends upon these as well.

The long-lived but foolish silver race are those beings that natively inhabit Water and never needed to descend into Earth to actualize their purpose. They are long-lived since Water is much more mobile than Earth, but are mortal since Water is material. They seem unaging until just before they die since, not having an Earthy component, they have no fixed form. People who have near-death experiences report that beings appear to support and assist them and that these beings always conform to one's expectations or beliefs: Greek pagans might meet Vestal daimons, Christians might meet Jesus or St. Peter, Buddhists might meet a Boddhisatva, etc.; this is presumably because these beings are members of the silver race and because Water always takes the shape of its container. Similarly, the overall description of the race might be what our sojourns are like in the world of Water.

(Regarding those Vestal daimons, note that Latin Vesta is Greek Hestia, who I have hypothesized is Egyptian Nephthys and Empedocles's Nestis, who is Water. Thus Vestal daimons are precisely the ones we should expect to meet when we die.)

Zeus the father made another race of speech-endowed human beings, a third one, of bronze, not similar to the silver one at all, out of ash trees—terrible and strong they were, and they cared only for the painful works of Ares and for acts of violence. They did not eat bread, but had a strong-hearted spirit of adamant—unapproachable they were, and upon their massive limbs grew great strength and untouchable hands out of their shoulders. Their weapons were of bronze, bronze were their houses, with bronze they worked; there was not any black iron. And these, overpowered by one another's hands, went down nameless into the dank house of chilly Hades: black death seized them, frightful though they were, and they left behind the bright light of the sun.

When the earth covered up this race too, Zeus, Cronus's son, made another one in turn upon the bounteous earth, a fourth one, more just and superior, the godly race of men-heroes, who are called demigods, the generation before our own upon the boundless earth. Evil war and dread battle destroyed these, some under seven-gated Thebes in the land of Cadmus while they fought for the sake of Oedipus' sheep, others brought in boats over the great gulf of the sea to Troy for the sake of fair-haired Helen. There, the end of death shrouded some of them, but upon others Zeus the father, Cronus's son, bestowed life and habitations far from human beings and settled them at the limits of the earth; and these dwell with a spirit free of care on the Islands of the Blessed beside deep-eddying Ocean—happy heroes, for whom the grain-giving field bears honey-sweet fruit flourishing three times a year.

If only then I did not have to live among the fifth men, but could have either died first or been born afterward! For now the race is indeed one of iron. And they will not cease from toil and distress by day, nor from being worn out by suffering at night, and the gods will give them grievous cares. Yet all the same, for these people too good things will be mingled with evil ones. But Zeus will destroy this race of speech-endowed human beings too, when at their birth the hair on their temples will be quite gray. Father will not be like-minded with sons, nor sons with their father, nor guest with host, nor comrade with comrade, nor will the brother be dear, as he once was. They will dishonor their aging parents at once; they will reproach them, addressing them with grievous words—cruel men, who do not know of the gods' retribution!—nor would they repay their aged parents for their rearing. Their hands will be their justice, and one man will destroy the other's city. Nor will there be any grace for the man who keeps his oath, nor for the just man or the good one, but they will give more honor to the doer of evil and the outrageous. Justice will be in their hands, and reverence will not exist, but the bad man will harm the superior one, speaking with crooked discourses, and he will swear an oath upon them. And Envy, evil-sounding, gloating, loathsome-faced, will accompany all wretched human beings. Then indeed will Reverence and Indignation cover their beautiful skin with white mantles, leave human beings behind and go from the broad-pathed earth to the race of the immortals, to Olympus. Baleful pains will be left for mortal human beings, and there will be no safeguard against evil.

The remainder of the races all refer to those beings who descended all the way to Earth (e.g. incarnated as humans). The brazen race are the unrighteous, who after they die live in the world of Water for a time before reincarnating: they are thus, in a sense, the non-native inhabitants of Water, living beside and under the guidance of the silver race. The heroic race are the righteous, who after they die transition through the world of Water and go on to the Blessed Isles ruled by Cronus (e.g. the world of Air): they are thus, in a sense, the non-native inhabitants of Air, living beside and under the guidance of the golden race. The brazen race precedes the heroic race because it takes many lifetimes for one to develop and grow. Finally, the iron race are those who are presently living in the world of Earth. Their hard labor is because of the density and rigidity of Earth. They grow gray at a younger and younger age as the soul grows more and more world-weary every time it reincarnates. That they seem abandoned by the gods and must seek their own justice may be seen all around us: it is an injunction to accept the labors of this world and become as a hero from it.

Per Plotinus and Proclus, I presume some of us mortals have tutelary daimons of the golden race, while others of us have tutelary daimons of the heroic race. Whichever they are, may we follow them whole-heartedly...

䷮
47: Oppression. Fifth nine moves.

To those who yearn for life, the great sacrifice is to die for an ideal.
To those who yearn for death, the great sacrifice is to live for an ideal.

If the grace we see in bodies is due to a seeming ease or effortlessness in complex transitions in space, is the grace we see in minds due to a seeming ease or effortlessness in complex transitions in thought?

Is one who is training to easily switch between models or modes of thought, then, training to be graceful in their mind?

Is combining the "left-brain" and "right-brain" into a cohesive and fluid whole, then, under the domain of Venus?

There's a very famous geometric pattern inscribed on the Temple of Osiris at Abydos, called the "Seed of Life," which looks like this:

Nobody really knows the formal significance of the shape, but I noticed something interesting about it while I was pondering the mysteries this evening.

Pythagoras was famously the first Greek to formally be initiated into the mysteries of the Osiris cult (though, of course, there must have been prior transmission since the Demeter and Dionysus mysteries are related). A generation later, Empedocles was initiated into the Pythagorean brotherhood, but later expelled for revealing the mysteries in writing. I conjecture that Empedocles' poem was derived from the Osiris cult, since it concerns the same phenomenon (the descent and reascent of the soul) and features the four gods:

τέσσαρα γὰρ πάντων ῥιζώματα πρῶτον ἄκουε·
Ζεὺς ἀργὴς Ἥρη τε φερέσβιος ἠδ' Ἀιδωνεύς,
Νῆστις θ' ἣ δακρύοις τέγγει κρούνωμα βρότειον.

First, hear of the four roots of all things:
shining Zeus and life-giving Hera and Aidoneus
and Nestis, who wets the springs of mortals with her tears.

It seems pretty reasonable to equate Osiris with Zeus, Hera with Isis, Set with Hades, and Nephthys with Nestis. Now Empedocles talks about how the roots begin united in Love, but peel off one at a time as Strife begins to intervene: first fire, then air, then water, then earth; this is the same as the first part of the Isis myth, where Osiris (fire) is killed, sealed in Set's box (air), dumped in the Nile (water), and encapsulated in a heather stalk (earth). We have a geometric symbol for the same thing: Pythagoras's tetractys, showing the progression of unity (1) into completion (10). It fits very nicely onto the Seed of Life:

Now, the second part of the myth has Osiris chopped into fourteen pieces, but his penis gets eaten by a fish and is never found, so Isis has to make do with the thirteen remaining pieces. Guess how many intersection points the Seed of Life has?

Finally, the last part of the myth has Horus (in place of Osiris) defeating Set and becoming king. This is a myth about the re-ascension of the soul back to its source: the three battles between Horus and Set are the rise from earth to water, water to air, and air to fire. (Diogenes Laertius tells us that Empedocles's Hera is earth, which makes sense to me in a roundabout way since Hera is Isis is Demeter is earth. Notice how, after the first battle, Horus deposes Isis by taking her crown, indicating the soul rising above earth.) Empedocles talks about that, too, since as Strife gives way to Love, the elements re-collapse into themselves in reverse of the way they separated. We might suppose that Pythagoras would have symbolized the regression of the cosmos from completion (10) back into unity (1) with a reverse tetractys, which, too, fits nicely onto the Seed of Life:

So if Pythagoras and Empedocles are (as I conjecture) faithful interpreters of the Isis, Osiris, and Horus mysteries (or if they aren't but my crazed speculation is at least somewhat valid anyway), then the Seed of Life is a nice little mnemonic for the exploration and contemplation of them. Hopefully that's helpful, since I continue to have a lot of contemplation ahead of me...

Fun fact: the first we know of to argue that light has a finite speed is our good old friend Empedocles:

Empedocles, for example, says that the Light from the Sun arrives first in the intervening space before it comes to the eye, or reaches the Earth. This might plausibly seem to be the case. For whatever is moved [in space], is moved from one place to another; hence there must be a corresponding interval of time also in which it is moved from the one place to the other. But any given time is divisible into parts; so that we should assume a time when the sun's ray was not as yet seen, but was still traveling in the middle space.

(Aristotle on Sense VI)

(Aristotle, by the way, disagreed, believing that light was a static phenomenon. Funny how much of modernity vindicates the mystics and mages and castigates the scientists.)