Anybody familiar with the symbolism represented in this old print?

[Dover]

Notice that the young woman has an old woman's face attached to her head (looking backwards) and she stands with one foot on a dog. She holds a book in one hand.
Any thoughts about it's meaning?

[Gin]

1. What is your interpretation of this print? I missed the face on the back

of the head...I like the things you post.
gin

[robertarctor]

2. It's a strange illustration, Dover

But with the crone on the right holding the compass, and the angel figure behind the two women holding a reaper's scythe, I'd guess that the plate is Masonic in origin.

[Matariki]

3. I believe it's a representation of Saturn.

The medieval idea of 'humors' holds that 'melancholics' (i.e. those of a Saturnine nature) excel in the arts and scholarly pursuits. That's where the calipers and book comes in. I sort of think that the animal is not a dog - if you search for symbolism of Saturn (planetary or alchemical) you'll probably figure out what it is. It reminds me of the Durer print called Melencolia - which also has a woman holding calipers. The scythe is a classic symbol of Saturn - and he is also holding an hour glass, another Saturn symbol. Janus (the god with 2 faces) is the god of January, when the main feast of Saturn occurred. She looks back at the old year and ahead to the new.

These sort of astrological and alchemical allegories were a well understood visual language in the middle ages. Sometimes you run across them in art history.

[Matariki]

4. more on saturn

here are some traditional symbols of saturn:

Specific to Sphere: Scythe, Keys, Hourglass, Drawing Compasses, Astrolabe. Cauldron, Mural Crown, Starry Robe.

And some animal symbology:

Ass. Goat. Antelope. Goose. Peacock. Cuckoo. Dove. Seamew. Bat. Spider. Fish-Goat. Chimaera.

Agrippa Adds: Cranes, ostriches, owl, lapwing, crow, quail, eel, lamprey, dogfish, tortoise, oysters, cockles, sea-sponges, mole, wolf, hare, mule, cat, camel, bear, hog, ape, dragon, basilisk, toad, all serpents, mice and "general vermin, scorpions and such things as proceed from putrefaction".

Crowley adds: Woman. (This is because of the Qabalistic correspondence to Binah - The Great Mother)

[Dover]

5. Thanks for the input. Interesting.

It's a puzzle for me, but I do love that about symbols. Symbols, myths, parables, art, and drama were and are the only way to relate Truths that are too great for words. I'm familiar with some of the symbols depicted in this print, but don't know what the "message" is as a whole.

So, of course, there are layers of meaning in these symbols which have a much deeper esoteric significance that doesn't often get discussed, and are associated with the mystery schools. For instance, Saturn and the alchemical concept of Time has many more layers of significance, though most are satisfied with a simple explanation. Just depends on how deep you want to go....and how extensive your study. It's thought that most of the teachings that led up to these symbols and myths, etc. go back to ancient Egypt.

Masonic and Hermetic, alchemical, astrological, and mythological symbols often overlap. Many share a common lesson that can also be found through study of the Kabbala. It all has to do with our journey through earthly illusion, to a higher consciousness that lies beyond intellect and leads to Enlightenment...the Truth and the Light. No man can learn the Truth for another, and none can learn it alone.

I agree with kineta, that the central male figure represents Saturn (Time, the clearing away of the old to make way for a new beginning) for all the reasons she pointed out (the hour glass and scythe are classic symbols).
And while the two-faced woman may carry some of the same meanings as Janus (new beginnings, old/new, transition, and btw Janus is one of Saturn's moons), Janus was a male God and was depicted as such, often with one of the two faces having a beard and holding a key. So, I'm still not sure if this female character has a specific mythological identity, or what it might be.

If you've ever seen the optical illusion of a woman's face that looks at once like a young woman, while if looked at a little longer looks like an old woman (the crone), there is more to it than just a visual exercise. It has, again, to do with time..it hints that our perception of time (past/present old/young) is but an illusion and that it's all ONE.

It is indeed a dog she has her foot on (sorry that my reproduced image is not very high resolution or it would be obvious) and dogs have many different symbolic meanings depending on context. They are guides to Truth, they are healers, they are representatives of our baser instincts, fidelity and companionship, etc.

The compass is a common masonic symbol. God is a circle whose center is everywhere, and its circumference nowhere. We human apprentices cannot possibly fathom this in full knowledge, so we must rest one point of our compass on the innermost center of our being and with the other draw a circle which marks a parameter beyond which we cannot go...until we are ready and able. We must learn self knowledge, self reverence and self control to master our circle.
If we lose one of these, we have lost all three and are lost to ourselves. Without these disciplines we cannot proceed to then set our point more broadly and cannot be free. So each concentric step must be bound by these parameters that we set for ourselves.
That is my understanding of the deeper meaning of the compass.
It is also associated, I believe, with those levels of perception having to do with pure reason and speculative philosophy within Masonic learning.

I don't know what the compass means relative to the figure that is holding it in the print, or the context in general...

Putting all this together, my thought is that this print is communicating something about acquiring higher knowledge, perhaps specifically about the idea of Time. The dog beneath the woman's foot might suggest an instinctive level of knowledge, the book (another Masonic image of cognitive understanding) a still higher form of knowledge and the dual face suggestive of a timeless or "no time" comprehension. This is occurring under the gaze of the representative of Time itself...Saturn.
And the person with the compass might suggest yet another level of perception that either has already been employed or is there as a tool toward achieving greater perception.

Of course it's just a guess. It might well be as kineta suggests, simply a mythological representation of a month of the year, harvest time, or some such thing.

If anyone else has any guesses I'd love to hear them.

[Matariki]

6. do you have any idea what year the print is from?

My guess is that the print predates something that would have direct Masonic symbolism. Have you seen much stuff by Albrect Durer? It is similar in some ways. He was working end of the 15th, start of the 16th century.

The compass was a very common symbol of Saturn. Saturn had a bit of a different flavor in Medieval magik than it does in modern astrology. To call Saturn 'The Great Architect' perhaps wouldn't be too far fetched. Even in modern astrology a strong Saturn can give talent in architecture. And, of course, it used to be the only ruler of Aquarius - which has a link to astrology and science.

ps. I like your very astute analysis of the symbolism of the compass.

[Dover]

7. It is from the late 17th C. Flemish School, the Netherlands

I'm glad you asked that. I looked it up and the print is referred to as a "mythological allegory of Time". I wish I knew which book it was from.

When did Masonic symbolism come into use?

I am familiar with Durer's work and specifically the one you referred to, and I can see the similarities in style and subject matter between the two. Are both also using alchemy symbols or just Durer?
I'd never heard that the compass was a symbol for Saturn. Do you know of a reference for that use in pre-masonic symbolism that I can read about?

Perhaps the old woman is using the compass as a measuring tool...to measure her steps? She also seems to be of Middle Eastern or Eurasian descent.

Janus:



Durer's Melancholia:


Interpretation of this Drawing (by John Read)

Early in the sixteenth century, the famous German artists and engravers, Albrecht Durer and Lucas Cranach, were influenced to some extent by alchemical ideas and symbolism, but they left no pictorial impression of an alchemist or his laboratory. Durer (1471-1528), one of the two greatest artists Germany has ever produced, was particularly skilled in drawing on the block for the wood-cutter and in engraving on copper with his own unsurpassed hand. In 1513 and 1514 he wrought three engravings on copper that will rank for all time among the world's select masterpieces of this form of art. These were "The Knight " (1513), "St. Jerome in his Study" (1514), and "Melencolia" (1514).

There is no evidence that Durer had an acquaintance with alchemy so intimate as, say, that of Chaucer in an earlier age; nevertheless, alchemy formed an essential ingredient of the cultural background of his times. To contemporary men of culture in general, as to the alchemist in particular, the "Melencolia" must have appeared as a rich repository of the pictorial symbolism of alchemy.

The Roman numeral "I" following the engraved title suggests at once that Durer had it in mind to design and execute a series of four copper-engravings illustrating the Four Temperaments: melancholic, phlegmatic, choleric, and sanguine. These were linked in the medieval mind with the Four Elements of the alchemists and certain other mystical groups of four, a magical number inherited from the early civilizations that flourished long before the time of Pythagoras.

The Four Temperaments were connected immediately with the Four Humors of the body (black bile, phlegm, yellow bile, blood). Somewhat more remotely, they were connected with the four outstanding colors that indicated the stages of alchemy (black, white, citrine, red). The number four is emphasized in the magic square shown so prominently in Durer's design. This magic square of the fourth order (i.e., containing the consecutive numbers 1,2,3,4 and adding up in various directions to a constant sum) shows the date of the engraving (1514) in the middle cells of the bottom row. Similar magic squares of the orders three through nine were constructed by Durer's contemporary, Cornclius Agrippa, and assigned to Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon. Such squares were sometimes engraved on plates of the corresponding metals and worn as amulets.

The rainbow, seen in the background, was the alchemist's favorite symbol for the colors that were held to appear, in a definite sequence culminating in red (within the Vase of Hermes) during the operations of the Great Work or in the preparation of the Philosopher's Stone. The magic square, the compasses, the polyhedron and sphere, all reflect the Pythagorean insistence on the importance of number and form in the Cosmos. The Pythagorean and Platonic conceptions formed an important constituent of alchemical doctrine; further, the compasses, the balance, and the hour-glass, with its graduated scale, are suggestive of a common alchemical dictum, borrowed from The Wisdom of Solomon: " Thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight."

The alchemical significance of the crucible requires no explanation, for this most familiar of all pieces of alchemical apparatus was to be found in every alchemist's laboratory, den, or kitchen. The most familiar agent used by the alchemists in their operations was fire; so much so, that the alchemist was often called the "Child of Fire." Fire was commonly symbolized by cutting, penetrating, or wounding implements and tools, like the saw and plane and the hammer and nails of Durer's design. The alchemical imagination embodied archetypal Fire in another form as Sophic Sulfur, one of the two final ingredients of the Philosopher's Stone, and occasionally shown in the similitude of a dog.

The second ingredient, Sophic Mercury, was sometimes represented by Water ; that is to say, "our Water" of the Hermetic Stream (or heavy water, not wetting the hands). Alternatively, this philosophical Water was regarded as a menstruum uniting Sophic Sulfur and Sophic Mercury. Occasionally, the seeker after the Stone is shown balancing the opposed elements, Fire and Water, in a pair of scales, and at one time it was imagined that, in alcohol, such a combination of irreconcilable principles had been achieved.

The seven-runged ladder is another common feature of alchemical symbolism, the rungs representing the seven metals, the operations of alchemy, and the associated heavenly bodies. One of the paintings of Splendor Solis (1582), for example, shows a man standing on the sixth and seventh rungs (representing silver and gold) and gathering the golden fruit of the Philosophic Tree, from the roots of which issues the Hermetic Stream. In the later Mutus Liber a young man, using a stone for his pillow, is shown asleep at the foot of a ladder bearing ascending and descending angels; this stone, upon which the biblical Jacob poured oil, was sometimes accepted as a symbol of the Philosopher's Stone.

We now come to the central theme of Durer's "Melencolia." The alchemist's lot was such that he was often depicted as a melancholy and frustrated being, as, for example, by Chaucer, Weiditz, Brueghel, and Teniers. In a wider sense, melancholy was held to be an attribute of students or seekers after knowledge. The doctrine of melancholy, moreover, is inseparable from the Saturnine mysticism that permeates alchemy. This association, which was widely recognized in the early sixteenth century, finds many reflections in Durer's masterpiece. One of the elements of Saturnine mysticism is measurement, typified by the compasses, balance, and hour-glass.

..cont'd
http://www.alchemylab.com/melancholia.htm

[Behind the Aegis]

8. Damn...you beat me to it!

I just looked it up and found, because he is also carrying an hourglass, he is probably a representative of Time link. I will keep looking...and see what I can find.

On edit: I also found..."In the legends, Brighid sometimes is called the 'Two-Faced One'. They tell us that one side of her face is dark and ugly, and the other white and beautiful. Each year, one can observe the "Mystery of Bride" in the transformation of the hag of winter into the fair maiden of Spring." from Brighid

[Dover]

9. Oh, good find! That supports what we've been talking about

as regards the two-faced woman in the print, which is just another way of depicting what your linked print illustrates a bit more literally...the Time element, age, etc.

So perhaps each of the three figures in my print are illustrating some element of the Time equation.

I think the young woman in my print is probably not a specific mythological person, but just "any young woman". But that info you found about Brighid is pretty compelling as a possibility too. I'll bet that woman in my print and Brighid share at least some of the same symbolic meaning. It all seems linked.

Here's another interesting image, titled, TIME UNVEILING TRUTH


http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/work?workNumber=NG6454

[Pallas180]

10. Very interesting. How about looking up mythology of the god Kronos -

or Chronos - which would have been the name of the god instead of
Saturn.

Love the prints. And the depth of the conversation .

[Dover]

11. Hi Pallas. Good idea.........here are three >>>

I also found a wonderful explanation of Time in an old book on Free Masonry which I'll share later. It helps to understand the limitations of our human perception of Time and how that perception changes when you introduce Space into the equation.

Of course astrologer Liz Greene did an entire book about Saturn which is excellent if anyone is interested in the psychological qualities associated with Saturn in one's astrological chart.

http://www.myastrologybook.com/[e-mail]

Kronos/Chronos/Saturn/Satan

Kronos | Saturn
Kronos, lord of time, was the youngest son of Ouranos (Uranus, heaven) and Gaia, sky and earth. These two emerged from primal chaos coupled in an endless embrace in which there was no room for children. Gaia was forced to confine them within her body as soon as they were born. She resented this and grieved the loss of her children, so she conspired with Kronos to end the embrace.

She gave him a specially-fashioned adamantine sickle with jagged teeth. Deep within the earth, his mother, Kronos located his father's penis and cut it off, then took it and threw it into the sea. Ouranos and Gaia sprang apart, never to be reunited. Thus did the Lord of Time create the separation between spirit and matter.

The severed member floated for a long time, and eventually, from the foam that surrounded it, Aphrodite was born. From the flecks of blood that were flicked from it, the Erinyes were created to avenge wickedness and the spilling of blood within families.

Thus the Titans, Kronos' brothers, were released and they declared that Kronos should be the second ruler of heaven. He released the Cyclopes and other prisoners in Tartarus, but while he vowed to rule differently, it was not long before the corruption of power overcame him, and he became the same tyrant his father was. Gaia warned him that, like his father, he would be overthrown by one of his children.

When Kronos married his sister Rhea, he swallowed all the children of the union lest one of them overthrow him. Rhea, like Gaia, was unhappy with this, so when Zeus was to be born she fled to Crete, delivering the child in secret, and bringing back to Kronos a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes. Kronos demanded she feed the child, so Rhea expressed milk that became the stars of the Milky Way.

Kronos eventually discovered the deception, but he did not know where the child was, so he hunted through the earth. On his travels he saw the Oceanid Philyra and swore to have her. She resisted by turning herself into a mare to escape but Kronos changed into a stallion and had his way with her. The product of this union was the centaur, Chiron, a god with the form of half man, half horse. Philyra was so distressed by this monster offspring that she changed into a linden tree.

Meanwhile, Zeus, now grown, persuaded the Oceanid Metis, his first wife, to administer a drug to Kronos to force him to vomit up the remaining children. Zeus promised that those who had suffered under Kronos would be raised up and honoured if they would fight with him to overthrow Kronos and the Titans. When this was done he bound them in chains and cast them into the darkness of Tartarus. Zeus later released Kronos and granted him dominion over the Islands of the Blest, a heavenly abode of the virtuous after death.

Despite the tyrannical nature of Kronos' rulership, it was known among men as the Golden Age, the first age of man, when there was no punishment, no war and no work, a time of milk and honey and eternal spring. In this age men did not steal or quarrel, and had the gift of speech with animals. Sexuality was unknown and children were born from the earth, so there was no social structure and no demands. This may well have changed by means of the union of Kronos' son Eros with the mortal Psyche.

cont'd

http://www.groundedheavens.com/mythpages/saturn.html



.............................~*~............................



This is by astrologer Robert Hand:

Saturn mythological
Saturn was the Roman god of agriculture, first appearing as Etruskian god of sowing, education and law. Sat is an Etruskian word for sowing but also for satiate. Due to the Greek influence Saturn’s attributes have been assimilated with the early Greek deity of Kronos. In Greek mythology Kronos was the youngest son of Gaia (Earth) and Uranos (Heaven). They begat six female and six male Titans, all of them thrown into the Abyss (Tartaros) by Uranos. But Gaia contrived a plan and she could win Kronos over to help her.
Kronos castrated his father with a sickle that Gaia gave him, and Uranos's blood that was dropping to the earth produced the Erinyes, Giants and Nymphs. From his sperm which fell into the sea Aphrodite was born - in other version was Aphrodite a daughter of Zeus and the Titan daughter Dione.
Kronos took the throne and his Titan sister Rhea in marriage. Together they reigned the so called ”Golden Age”, a period of incessant joy, where people lived carefree without any laws, wars and discord.

Kronos, predicted to be overthrown by one of his children, devoured five of his offspring right after their birth. But Rhea was able to preserve her sixth child Zeus from the fate of his other brothers and sisters by outwitting Kronos and giving him a stone to swallow instead of the new-born child. And so could the prophecy come true, as so often in Greek mythology, at the attempt to avoid it. Zeus grew up hidden, returned and conquered the Olymp, overthrew his father and compelled him to vomit the five children he had swallowed. Zeus brought Kronos to Ogygia from where he is watching the deeds of his son in his dreams, waiting for the day to recreate and reign again the Golden Age.
The Roman more and more took to the legend of the Golden Age, as well as to the ritual feasts in honour of the deity. For example the festive days of the Saturnalia were soon identified with Kronos and were completely hellenized.
In later history Saturn also appeared as god of time and death.

Saturn astrological
It takes Saturn 2,5 years to move through a sign of the zodiac and 29.5 years to run once around the zodiac. Saturn rules Capricorn and Aquarius. Its position in the horoscope indicates mental conflicts and uncertainties. Saturn makes rules, shows one’s own limitations, represents structure, learning, knowledge and patience, and enables oneself to mature and to take responsibility.

In the following an astrological description of Saturn by Robert Hand from the book ”Horoscope Symbols”:

Saturn is central to an understanding of the individual and his awareness, though its importance is of a different kind from that of the Sun, Moon, and other personal points. Since Saturn is so slow-moving, its position in the zodiac does not distinguish one individual very well from another. Yet Saturn is an energy that concerns collectives, and the relationship of an individual to the collective aspects of life is one of the most important things we can know about a person.
One matter must be dealt with immediately. Saturn is undergoing a great rehabilitation nowadays, and most modern writers agree that it is not as malefic as was once thought. Just as Jupiter, once called the ”greater benefic,” can indicate difficult energies at times, it is also now recognized that Saturn can play a positive role. Yet its power for destruction is still great, not because it is intrinsically destructive, but because in many cases we do not know how to handle Saturn energy. Those who have studied planetary energies have learned to handle what is traditionally describes as ”Saturn's malefic effects,” but few have learned that Saturn's greatest threats to happiness come at precisely those times when it seems to be operating positively. In order to understand this, we must first understand Saturn's basic meanings.
In the course of this text we shall see that Saturn can be seen as the opposite pole of several planetary energies. This stems from the all-pervasive nature of Saturn. Before we look at Saturn's polar relation to Jupiter, let us examine the concept of polarity.
The experience of the universe that we share with each other is founded directly upon the principle of polarity: up-down, left-right, male-female, backward-forward, I-thou, I-it, good-evil, and so forth. In every pair of polar opposites, each member of the pair derives its meaning from the opposite member: each would be meaningless without the other. We all have noted that anything, no matter how pleasurable it might be at first, in excess becomes cloying and even unpleasant. We enjoy cooling off when it is too hot, warming up when it is too cold. And it is not just a matter of finding a balance. Most people need to go back and forth at least to some degree in order really to appreciate one or the other side of any polarity. This is true even of good and evil. At times, most of us enjoy doing what might be considered evil, but few appreciate unalloyed evil. Similarly, most people find those who are too good rather trying. I believe, along with the various schools of Eastern philosophy, that polarity is intrinsic to the nature of the universe, and that it is proper for humanity to follow the shifting paths between polar opposites. This is the path of the Tao.
Reality itself gains its varied nature from the interweaving of polar opposites. Without them, there would be no reality that we could relate to, in fact, no existence. Even existence is polarized by nonexistence.

cont'd

http://www.communitas-saturni.de/English_Home/Saturn_Views/body_saturn_views.html

...............................~*~.............................

All about Saturn (in Cabbalism, in Tarot, in mythology, etc.) http://www.skyscript.co.uk/saturnmyth.html

[Pallas180]

14. Some Fine Art Interpretations & mythological explanations at

this site:

http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Cronos.html


And a more pleasant painting/sculpture of Chronos - definitely Time.
further down are busts/artwork of all the children, wives, etc





(Interesting, Chronos is associated with Time, while Saturn
is always associated with the Sickle....and as Robet Hand says
the two myths have become melded together..and yet they seem to
be very different if you go back to the Greek mythology.

It is Uranus, in this Greek mythology interpretation who makes nothing from everything...and Chronos who built a pleasant and orderly world...thats something to think about since we are most
definitely in a Uranian period.

[Matariki]

13. masonic imagery, etc.

myth aside, the Freemasons were founded in the early 1700's. So this print predates that. Of course the ideas/themes/imagery used by the Masons comes from older sources, so similarities in the interpretation aren't far fetched.

The in-depth interpretation of the symbols you eloquently wrote about Dover isn't negated by this being 'merely' a representation of Time and Saturn. Those things you wrote of are the deeper contemplation of the allegory and symbols used.

As to the compass - not sure of the origin of that as a symbol for Saturn, but it goes back. The list I posted previously in this thread is part of a 'traditional' list of correspondences for Saturn in planetary magik. I believe it comes, it part, from Agrippa - who was cataloging older sources. What you posted by John Read sums it up well: "One of the elements of Saturnine mysticism is measurement, typified by the compasses, balance, and hour-glass."

Interestingly in that Durer print - the 'magic square' is for Jupiter, which was considered a remedy for Saturnine melancholy.

ps. If anyone is interested in planetary magik - my partner and I have some of our ritual notes from some work we did with the Olympic Planetary spirits online here: http://www.dadamancer.org/olympic.html - A warning: it's kind of geeky and probably only appreciated (and the abbreviations understood) by other ceremonial magicians. We haven't transcribed all our notes up yet (soon, soon) and in light of this thread I'd like to get the notes up for the work we did with Aratron - the Olympic spirit of Saturn.

[Eloriel]

23. The dog under her foot

what comes to mind for me is having or exercising control over animal nature or forces -- which comes from studying enough or the right things?

Edit: I posted this before reading all the other comments. Don't know if they alter my opinion or not.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. Here are my crazy thoughts

What does this print symbolize? I have been thinking about it all day. I see it as an over all comment on life. Time and Death are inevitable, and often seen as our "lord." There is no escaping their eyes. The two-faced woman represents the two phases of our life, youth and old age. During youth, we learn as much as we can, so that we are wise in our old age. The other woman measures out the length of life before her master, Time and Death. The dog at the woman's feet is a search for a loyal partner. The woman with the compass has one foot on the ground the other on the pedestal, showing the measure of our life has two levels, destiny and free-will or, two planes, the ethereal and the mundane. The two-faced woman's young face gazes down at "what is" and the older woman gazes to the sky, "or what can/will be."

Did I think too much?

[Pallas180]

15. More than you ever wanted to know about DOGS in mythology

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/k.westgate/history4.htm

[Dover]

16. Interesting analysis.

I don't think you thought too much at all! Your contemplation on the subject has yielded some interesting things.
I'm not sure about the Dog interpretation, but I like the "two levels"/"two planes" insight.

I've been told that one of the things initiates to Freemasonry must do is simply sit alone and concentrate on a symbol, like the hourglass, for several hours. So contemplation is key to the process. Monks also favor contemplative periods in their spiritual discipline.
It's a great exercise to begin penetrating something that I think we dismiss too quickly without even scratching the surface.
If you study some of the mystery schools/alchemy/Cabbala, you might find that the concepts you touched on can be understood to hold even MORE profound truths....

If you are interested, the symbolic and esoteric knowledge associated with "time" might be a great place to start. These symbols are a language for a whole other 'world' of understanding, so if you learn the language of these symbols then next time you come across a painting or a mythological story you will be able to grasp its significance on several layers at once.

Mainly, they are for those who are questing after Truth.

[Dover]

17. Time/Space - The One Eternal Now (from an old freemason's book)

This is from a very old book on freemasonry (so there shouldn't be any copyright restrictions). While our discoveries in science have
caught up with this centuries old esoteric knowledge, this early explanation of the Time/Space riddle is beautiful and very helpful. It's very much in keeping with what Eckhart Tolle (in his book, The Power of Now) has reintroduced and made accessible. Experience of the Now, is available to the seeker through disciplines such as meditation, but is not acessible or understood through the intellect (experientially, that is).

Enjoy.

A SYMBOL OF OMNISCIENCE UNCONDITIONED BY SPACE AND TIME

In Masonry the All-Seeing Eye, ever beholds us. Indeed, the expression implies even more than this. Not merely does the Deity behold us – everyone – wherever we are, and however employed – so that all existing facts throughout the material universe, at this present moment, are equally apparent to Him – but it necessarily follows that to an Omnipresent Being, such finite terms as Past, Present and Future can have no meaning; for to Him all Time is one eternal Now.

Space and Time are in fact the two mysterious Pillars which flank the Porch of the material universe – the great Temple of the Deity whom we serve. The celestial and terrestrial worlds rest upon these twin pillars, yet the pillars themselves seem to us illimitable. So far as human reason and thought can fathom them, Space is infinite and Time is infinite; only the All-Seeing Eye of God can comprehend the two in their entirety.

Let us examine these two Pillars more closely. In other words, let us try for a few moments to realise the stupendous scale on which the material universe has been constructed. Perhaps the simplest way to do this will be to adopt an illustration by taking an imaginary journey through Space. We will call to our aid Astronomy. By Astronomy we observe the motions, measure the distances, and comprehend the magnitudes of the celestial bodies.

For our hypothetical voyage let us harness the wings of Light to our chariot. I will not pause now to discuss what Light really is; but you all know that it travels – travels with a velocity almost incredible – about 186,000 miles in a second; or in other words, a velocity equivalent to shooting a particle seven and a half times round the earth whilst your watch marks one second.

Launching ourselves out into the ethereal concave at this almost inconceivable speed, over an abyss of 50,000,000 miles, directing our course to our nearest celestial neighbor, the plant Mars, we arrive in about four and a half minutes at that wonderful world; in many respects so similar and yet in others so different from our own.

We must not stay, howeer, to inspect its marvels. Away again into space we continue our journey for nearly four hours, crossing the orbits of three far mightier spheres – Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus – each separated by a more stupendous distance from the other, until we reach our planetary outpost, Neptune. Our glorious luminary the Sun appears from there but as a glimmering star in the sky. Practically no heat, no daylight ever penetrates the distance from it. Only the mysterious force called gravitation governs and guides it from its solar center 2,740 million miles away. To convey some idea of this enormous distance, may I say that if the path of light and force from the Sun to Neptune be represented by a line 76 yards long, every single inch in that line would represent a million miles.

Thus far have we proceeded; yet this vast planetary system which we have been considering covers but a fraction of the space in the Universe. Standing now on the planet Neptune, let us look forth into the abyss beyond it. The starry firmament surrounds us here just as at home, all the stars still far, far away – at distances of appalling immensity, inexpressible by miles. The velociy of Light at which we have been travelling must be our unti of measurement.

We will select Sirius, the Dog Star, the most brillian (though not the nearest) of all the stellar orbs. Sirius is an enormous binary sun, similar to, but far larger than, our Sun. It is the center of a Sirian planetary system, and dispenses light and heat under the same conditions as in our solar phenomena. Its mass is about twenty times that of our own grand luminary, and its distance about 100 billions of miles; so that the rays of light from Sirius require about 15 years to travel to Earth.

Still, even at this almost incomprehensible distance, there are immeasurable depths of space before us. Far away beyond Sirius we see a misty zone of light, forming an immense girdle around the firmament. From time immemorial it has beeen called the Galaxy or “Milky Way”. As we approach it, this luminous mist resolves itself into a countless multitude of stars, bounded by more nebulous haze. Penetrating still further, this haze is again resolved into myriads of yet more distance stars, and still unexplored haze comes into view from the dark depths of space beyond. We should have to travel with the velocity of Light for ten thousand years ere we could reach the extremity of this stupendous star-cluster, which comprises millions of mighty spheres of incandescent matter, our own Sun being but a unit – a comparatively insignificant unit – amid the host. Remember, too, that every one of these millions of luminaries (together with its planets or satellites) is rolling ever through the vast expanse of Space with terrific rapidity, in its own particular path among its fellows.

Yet again, we must turn our thoughts away beyond this countless multitude of suns. The Universe extends far beyond them. Still on the wings of the Light, you must project your minds across voids which (even with our postulated tremendous velocity) would require thousands of years to traverse, until at length our glorious Galaxy shall have shrunk in retrogressive remoteness to the appearance of a small vesica-shaped cloud.

Meanwhile before us another self-luminous cloud grows grander and grander, till the darkness is dispelled by its glittering haze. On and on, till the haze resolves itself into more myreads of suns – glorious and immense as that whence we came; a cluster whose extent would unquestionably require at least another ten thousand years to transpierce with all the speed of Light.

In other words – night after night, by means of our largest and finest telescopes, waves of Light enter and impinge on a human eye after having been travelling through space for more than sixty-thousand years. Yet, beyond this awful circuit, boundless Space spreads away as unfathomable as ever.

We have passed from planet to planet, from sun to sun, from star-cluster to star-cluster; yet only to discover that the limits of Space – tri-dimensional Space – extend beyond our grasp in every direction.

“The human spirit can only cry out that it finds no limit. Notwithstanding all its strivings the finite mind cannot really get any nearer to where the might sea of Time breaks in noiseless waves on the shore of Eternity” (Klein).

We have reached the point where human thought must halt, and imagination grow giddy in conceiving God's ominiscience.

Like two parallel lines, these mighty pillars of Space and Time raise their heads about the Temple of the Universe, converging at Infinity; where the All-Seeing Eye of the Deity looks along them from beginning to end, in simultaneous inspection.

Now standing at the top of the Winding Staircase of Arts and Sciences, we pause – and from this vantage point concentrate and direct our attention upon that sublime symbol which is the subject of our study. Let us see whether our brief astronomical survey will enable us to comprehend more clearly how – to the All-Seeing Eye – there can be no such distinctions as here and There…Past and Future. To the Almighty and Eternal God there can be – there must be, only an ever-constant Here and Now.

I ask you to remember the velocity at which light travels, and look at the light shining in the east of the Lodge. You do not see its form, size and color as they really ARE at this very instant; but as they WERE when the waves of luminositywhich now enter your eyes left the source a certain fraction of time ago. In the same way we see the Sun only as it existed either minutes previously, and we see the planet Neptune only as it existed four hours previously. To go further, to what are termed the “fixed stars”, we see Sirius as it was fifteen years ago. During the long interval Sirius may have disappeared or exploded into atoms; yet we on this planet still see it shining, and we shall continue so to see it until the long line of luminosity emanating from it has run itself out.

In fact, to us, the Vault of Space is bespangled with images of blazing suns not as they are now, but as they WERE centuries ago; whilst stellar photography reveals light which left other firmaments even thousands of years ago.


Let us take the converse of this thought. If we were situated now on the planet Neptune, and we had eyes (or else some suitable optical instrument) to see in minute detail occurrences upon the Earth, the scene here which we should behold would not be that of the present moment but that of four hours ago.

Proceeding still further away, on the star Sirius would be visible the events which were occurring on Earth 15 years ago. On some other yet more distant star, there is just arrving that historic spectacle when the English Grand Lodge was inaugurated more than two centuries ago. At another spot, still more remote, is only now arriving the scene which occurred at Jerusalem nearly 3000 years ago when Solomon King of Israel was marking out the designs for their wonderful Temple; at that particular point in space every incident will be depicted in its true succession, until the stately pile becomes completed and the workment are bidden to cease labor.


By the same logical sequence it is obvious that in worlds still more exceedingly remote, the whole history of the Earth could not yet have begun to be. What would occur if from such a point we could return to Earth in one year, endowed with the wonderful faculty which I have been assuming? The whole of the events from the Creation down to the present moment would pass in view before us as we approached, only thousands of times more rapidly. Make the journey in one month instead of one year, and the speed of consecution will be proportionately accelerated. Make the journey in a day, an hour, a second, or a moment, and all those events in Existence which we denominate “the Past” will be visibly enacted in an infinitesimal unit of time.

In fact we may thus understand that wherever we are, and whatever we do, the survey of the Omnipresent Diety is not only upon us now, but is also simultaneously beholding every event which has occurred since the beginning of all Time. To an Omnipresent Being an eternity can be at will compressed into a moment, and conversely, a moment can be protracted to an eternity; for, to his All-Seeing Eye, Time can have no objective reality.

There is another method which may help us to grasp the idea that to the All-Seeing Eye, the infinitesimally little must be just readily and entirely apparent as the superlatively large. I have show that to the Omnipresent Being, what we call Time (or duration) cannot exist. Any event may be drawn out to a thousand times its length or may be enacted a thousand times more rapidly; but it will, of course, still constitute the same scene or series of scenes. Now, such are the limitations of our human faculties that we cannot distinguish in any quivering object more than twenty vibrations per second as single separate movements. At any quicker rate such vibrations are perceptible to our sight only as a blur, and to our hearing only as a hum.

But many a tiny insect regularly vibrates its wings a thousand times in a second (as we know by the musical note produced), and, so far as we can scertain, that insect is itself cognizant of each separate beat. How absolutely different from ours must its appreciaton of Time be!!! Its entire life extends only over a few hours. There can be not alternation of day and night – none of the ordinary criteria whereby WE measure duration. It would be, as it were, viewing Time through a microscope.

Now, if we travel away from such insect at exactly the velocity of light (as, in imangination we did a short time ago) that which we call “the present instant” would continue always with us; the wing of the insect (although really vibrating at tremendous speed) would appear to us quite stationary; and would for ever remain so if we thus continued our flight concurrently with the rays of light. Therefore, to the All-Seeing Eye of the Deity who formed that tiny insect, and endowed it with life, its entire existence must be instantaneously apparent – every minute circumstance indelibly portrayed in waves of light, which circulate for ever through the illimitable Space which we have been surveying.

A SYMBOL OF OMNISCIENCE REGARDED MONITORALLY

In conclusion, let us see whether these thoughts will not help to solve (at least partly) some of the moral enigmas which confront us when we contemplate the evil and injustice perpetrated on Earth. A crime, committed hundreds or even thousands of years ago, may have remained undiscovered by Man, but somewhere in Space the scene still exists from beginning to end. The victim and the criminals of that fatal catastrophe have been for centuries turned to dust. Both site and surroundings have been swept from the Here. But the entire sequence of events is protrayed There – the ghastly wound still appeals for justice before the All-Seeing Eye, and (adopting an argument of the eminent astronomer Flammarion) if the ghosts of the assassins were condemned to move ceaselessly in space with the point where the etherial vibrations display their crime, and with the velocity of light, they would thereby be compelled to a perpetual contemplation of it. A penalty, surely, as terrible as the crime itself !

So must it be with every lapse from that undeviating line of conduct laid down in Sacred Law. And every such defection must remain – would have to subsist in perpetuity – except that the dazzling brilliance of Judicial Power in the All-Seeing Eye is blended with an Infinite Benignity. It is this which permits that hereafter – somehow, somewhere, these penal offences will be annulled from existence.

Here, our circle of human conduct is bounded by Divine Mercy. But parallel lines converge at Infinity. Hence, though the Seord of unerring and impartial Justice impends the one parallel, we raise our eyes to that Bright Morning Star which illumins the other, and we trust that by humility and contrition the doom will bee be averted.

Yet the deeply solemn thought reamins. Wherever we are, and whatever we do – ALL is perpetually present to the scrutiny of our Just though merciful Judge. To Him our real intentions are plainly apparent, the criterion of our actions; and He will reward or punish as we have obeyed or disregarded His Divine commands. Whatever be our faults, the Eye of Omniscience exercises an unwearied supervision over the actions and affairs of the whole human race; and while we continue to act according to the principles of our Craft, let us not fail to discharge our duty to the Grand Overseer with fervency and zeal.

[Dover]

18. New model 'permits time travel'

New model 'permits time travel'

By Julianna Kettlewell
BBC News science reporter



The concept of time-travel is laden with uncomfortable paradoxes.
If you went back in time and met your teenage parents, you could not split them up and prevent your birth - even if you wanted to, a new quantum model has stated.

Researchers speculate that time travel can occur within a kind of feedback loop where backwards movement is possible, but only in a way that is "complementary" to the present.

In other words, you can pop back in time and have a look around, but you cannot do anything that will alter the present you left behind.

The new model, which uses the laws of quantum mechanics, gets rid of the famous paradox surrounding time travel.

Paradox explained

Although the laws of physics seem to permit temporal gymnastics, the concept is laden with uncomfortable contradictions.

The main headache stems from the idea that if you went back in time you could, theoretically, do something to change the present; and that possibility messes up the whole theory of time travel.

Clearly, the present never is changed by mischievous time-travellers: people don't suddenly fade into the ether because a rerun of events has prevented their births - that much is obvious.

So either time travel is not possible, or something is actually acting to prevent any backward movement from changing the present.

..cont'd

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4097258.stm

[KittyWampus]

19. Saturn Manifesting On Earth As Time (Left) & Space (Right)

[KittyWampus]

20. Dogs Always Symbolize Unenlightened Human Consciousness Or Ego

[Eloriel]

24. Ooo! Some support for part of my theory.

:D

[KittyWampus]

25. Absolutely. Our Egos Are Always Hunting For Truth. Also, A Dog Is Usually

willing to take direction from a stronger "Alpha". :)

[Dover]

21. Some reading references for those interested in interpreting symbols

1) Golden Game: Alchemical Engravings of the Seventeenth Century, by Stanislas Klossowski De Rola

2) The Secret Language of Symbols: A Visual Key to Symbols and Their Meanings by David Fontana

3} Art and Symbols of the Occult : Images of Power and Wisdom
by James Wasserman (pictures very good, text just so-so)

4) A Dictionary of Alchemical Imagery
by Lyndy Abraham

[Cleita]

22. Kick

:kick:

[Dover]

26. Christ and the Compass

This is the first picture I've seen showing Christ with this symbol. Trying to figure out what the circular thing is that he holds it up to......the Earth?: