The Evil Eye, Thanatology, and Other Essays — John Shaqi
The Evil Eye, Thanatology, and Other EssaysPark, Roswell
Religion
The Evil Eye, Thanatology, and Other Essays
Park, Roswell
Bruno, Giordano, 1548-1600; Evil eye; Knights of Malta; Medicine; Mythology; Religion; Students
Undoubtedly Abraham brought with him from Chaldea into lower Egypt
symbols of simple phallic deities. The reference in the Bible to
the Teraphim of Jacob's family reminds us that Terah was the name
of Abraham's father, and that he was a maker of images. Undoubtedly
the Teraphim were the same as the Seraphim; that is, were serpent
images and were the household charms of the Semitic worshippers of the
Sun-God, to whom the serpent was sacred. In Numbers, 21, the serpent
symbol of the Exodus is called a seraph; moreover when the people were
bitten by a fiery serpent Moses prayed for them, when Jehovah replied,
"Make them a fiery serpent, (literally seraph) and set it upon a pole,
and it shall come to pass that every one who is bitten when he looketh
upon it shall live." The exact significance of this healing figure of
the serpent is far to seek.
In this connection it must be remembered also, that among several of
the Semitic tongues the same root signifies both serpent and phallus,
which are both in effect solar emblems. Cronus of the ancient Orphic
theogony, probably identical with Hercules, was represented under the
mixed emblem of a lion and a serpent, or often as a serpent alone. He
was originally considered Supreme, as is shown from his being called
Il, which is the same as the Hebrew, El, which was, according to St.
Jerome, one of the ten names of God. Damascius in his life of Isidorus
mentions that Cronus was worshipped under the name of El. Brahm, Cronus
and Kneph each represented the mystical union of the reciprocal or
active and passive regenerative principles.
The Semitic Deity, Seth, was certainly a serpent god, and can be
identified with Saturn and with deities of other people. The common
name of God, _Eloah_, among the Hebrews and other Semites, goes back
into the earliest times; indeed Bryant goes so far as to say that El
was the original name of the Supreme deity among all the nations of the
East. He was the same as Cronus, who again was the primeval Saturn.
Thus Saturn and El were the same deity, and like Seth were symbolized
by the serpent.
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